A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball

Not much going on other than the White Sox picking up Todd Frazier and Klay Thompson’s bro going to LA. What happened to Frazier last year anyway? He absolutely tanked in the 2nd half. People are saying the HR Derby screwed up his swing and I don’t buy that at all. Even if if was altered for the HR Derby he had ample time to work with his hitting coach and get it back to where it was previously. He was either playing with an injury in the 2nd half or it was just normal regression. Anyone can hit for half a season. Didn’t Johnny LeMaster have one decent half a season of hitting? I seem to recall that…….

Can you imagine the pendulum swing if The Art Dealers had gotten Cueto instead of us?

Our starting rotation now:

Bum, Cueto, J-Sammy, Peavy, Cain

Theirs:

Kershaw, Anderson (who will get hurt again), Bolsinger? I can’t even come up with the other 2. Ryu? Is he due back? Alex Freaking Wood? Someone said they were getting Iwakuma but I haven’t seen anything official on that.

With the D-backs improved and our rotation looking rock solid, it’s entirely possible that the Dodgers are going to finish under .500 next year.

lqtm……

First things first: Johnny Cueto is gooooooooooood. And he did almost all that goodness pitching in the band box confines of the NL Central. He’s gotta be ripping the hugest of beats when he eyes the long, rolling green fields of AT&T. Although that’s assuming there’s anything left after he beats to that 130 mil….

Somehow, he’s only started 3 games in San Francisco. But he was dominant in all 3. This cat is a true ace. If Cain’s arm starts to feel like his again, our pitching will rival any staff we have EVER had here at AT&T……

The bad news is the obvious stuff. Did the Reds get the best years of that arm? He’s 29 and thrown 1,420 mlb innings. I’m guessing he threw double that growing up in the DR.

But I’m not going to worry about *back of the baseball card stuff* today. I love everything about Cueto: his flair, his hair, his various deliveries and of course his production.

Celebrate good times, Flappers. Now i finally know what it feels like to be a Padre fan in the Winter time. lqtm. Hey, they don’t call it “Lose-ter”. It’s called *Win*-ter for a reason…..

“We just didn’t execute.” Colin Kaepernick made this one famous. If you end up saying this every week after a loss this has nothing to do with your ability to execute. At some point, “Next man up” stops applying. It’s a cute little mantra but it’s not accurate. If you asked me, Pawlie and Snarkk to be “next man up” on pleasuring Jennifer Montana in her prime, we’d be like “giddy up” and the damn job would get DONE. But put us on an NFL football field and things would get ugly. I feel like this is where we are with the 49ers right now. Too many *practice field* guys are hitting the *real field*.

But even more than “we just didn’t execute” I CAN’T STAND players, owners and especially coaches who “take responsibility” for a loss. The Big Sweat trotted this one out yesterday when he said “there’s not a man in this locker room who doesn’t own some part of this starting with me.”

I think some of that sweat has seeped into his brain— a tsunami that has washed away common sense. What did he expect would happen playing all of those replacement players and rookies? And what exactly is his consequence for “owning” yesterday’s loss? What is *starting* with him? His ultimate demise? If you own a failure, it’s not enough to just say it. Something of consequence should happen. I don’t know what that is for a head coach other than getting fired. I don’t think that should be Tomsula’s punishment. Yet. He is sweating through the end of this season with players who belong on the couch eating Chipotle on Sunday, not playing in the damn games. But if you aren’t trying to get fired, what is the point of “owning” the loss? That’s fake responsibility and as a fan it just pisses me off even more than the embarrassing loss did.

There. I feel a little better……

The good news is, now Steve Kerr can come back. There have been rumors that he didn’t want to come back during the streak….

Still waiting on Giants news. Still feel strongly that we will be getting another pitcher (Leake or =) and not one of the outfielders we definitely NEED.

Niners today. Shaun Draughn Revenge Game—a dark, stark reminder of how low our season has sunk.

Today is finally the day the Warriors will lose and I can’t even finish typing this sentence without laughing.

Last night was amazing. Draymond Green was teetering on the edge of his 6th foul for what felt like hours. And they just would not be denied. It helped a little bit that Isaiah Thomas kept trying to do his best Steph Curry impression.

They’re probably geeked up for tonight’s game in Milwaukee, right?

Ha. This is all just too funny.

Minor quibble with the *streak*. It shouldn’t be counted back to the end of last season. Different team. Different year. If that counts why don’t any of their playoff games count? Those were real games, too. So they won the last 3 games there, streak would be one less. Regardless, it should just be 24 in a row. They can still take their shot at the record, they just have a little more work to do. 🙂

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Giants News: there is none.

49ers News: Jed York is still a d-bag.

I have always thought Puig was overrated and more hype than production. This article details just how screwed up and dysfunctional things have gotten in LA. Man, I hope they keep this guy. 🙂

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2597460-is-there-anybody-left-in-los-angeles-whom-yasiel-puig-hasnt-alienated

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Warriors are going to lose tonight in Boston. There. I said it.

John Shea reporting that the Giants would be “all in” on trading for Jose Fernandez. Really? Shocker. I didn’t think any team would be interested in picking him up.

Well, there’s *all in* and then there’s ALL IN!!!!!!!! Evans joked yesterday on KNBR saying the Marlins would want “McCovey Cove” in exchange for Fernandez. Dumb joke. And I can only imagine the shit package the Giants would offer for this guy.

You can find me atop Mount Shady looking down on the rest of this off season with the shadiest of eyes. It just doesn’t feel like the Giants are going to do what it takes to step up and get another coveted player, either via trade or signing.

We shall see though…….

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and then there was this:

Giants pass on selecting a Rule 5 pick. You all can go back to sleep now.

Am I the only one not worried about a single thing the D-backs do? This is the same team that traded Max Sherzer for Edwina Jackson and Ian Kennedy. They gave Yasmany Tomas nearly 70 million dollars. And Dave Stewart is more qualified to be an agent than a GM.

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Fun end to last night’s thread from an old friend. In case you missed it:

Late night list making is a lost art..for a reason.

*Now it’s said that Zobrist wants a deal that will carry him over until he gets his AARP Card
*Manziel back as Brown’s QB- and just when things were going so well
*Latest on the Pan Fried Chicken front- A new neighbor named “Idalee” wants a Fried Chicken contest. I’m officially screwed- no way you can beat an Idalee.
*Maybe I’ll wait to go the biffy until after the Extra Point
*My sister sent 8 *more* boxes to us. Because we need so much. Yep, we really need 68 pillow cases, 24 bungee cords…
* 19 teams have submitted requests to play in the NFC East
* The Jints got a lot of grief for keeping Uggla for 4 games-the Gnats kept him * ALL YEAR*. That explains a lot
* I was wrong about Idalee- she skins her chicken and coats it with corn flakes. I suggested that she get the hell out of this state and never come back

Belt. Cain. Panik. Peavy. Pagan. Pence.

Those 6 guys have been a big part of the success the Giants have had over the last half decade. And as the roster is currently constructed, now that we’ve added J-Sam, the team looks pretty good. But that’s if you’re counting on those 6 guys listed above.

How many of those 6 can we truly count on to stay healthy and productive? About the only one I have complete confidence in is Pence.

So the construction of the team needs to continue. I know it’s not the Giants way to have contingency plans. They build a roster as if they don’t even consider the possibility of injury. To be fair, that’s the way most teams do it. But considering the uncertainty of that half dozen, I hope there are more moves coming……

Please let it be another team that signs him. Why do we want him? He’s 34 and is demanding a 4 year deal. Unless he’s taking a bunch of steroids, I don’t want my free agent pick ups to be 34. In his prime he was *barely* a 20/15 guy. And he did all of that in the hitter friendly confines of TB.

I was moderately supportive of picking him up for the stretch drive last year and then it would have been ba-bye.

4 years of Ben Zobrist?

No thank you.

Not news anymore, but we got Smardge. Gonna have to find a good nickname for him. I’m convinced there’s no set way to spell it. So I’m not going to spend any time learning it.

Heisman Trophy Winner: Christian McCaffrey. Of course, because of bias and idiocy he probably won’t actually win it. I know the argument against over valuing all purpose yards but in college, in this context, it should be a big deal. He didn’t break some dumbass record. He broke Barry Sanders record. Nearly 3,500 yards. If that doesn’t get appreciated, ESPECIALLY AT THE COLLEGE LEVEL, then the award is a joke.

I’m with Snarkk, I don’t want to hear any more nonsense from Giants management about who they are targeting. Hit your damn target, let us know about it after the deal is done…..

College football madness today. I’d love to see Iowa and Stanford win today but I think either happening is a tall order…..

Dubs go for 21 in a row to start the season…..

This Grienke decision that’s gotten dragged out tells me one thing: neither offer is that good and his agent is shopping the offers to other clubs. Why else would they be waiting so long? Typically, all you need is two offers to create a competition but with the Dodgers claiming new financial restraint and the Giants never wanting to truly compete with anyone since the Zito fiasco, it’s possible that both offers are underwhelming for a free agent like ZG.

We’ll see. Maybe a decision comes today. And maybe he signs with a dark horse……….

Supposedly, Grienke is deciding between the Giants and the Art Dealers. I think we know which way this will go.

One thing I don’t like about Giants management: they don’t seem to multi-task very well. Just as it happened last off season, they tunnel-vision on one guy, don’t get him, and then lose out on a bunch of other players too (who they could have signed while negotiating with their #1 target).

That’s an approach I’d expect from a poor, small market team.

Anyone see anything new? I’m busy but some quick scans of the internet are not yielding anything new or interesting.

Post below if you have heard or seen anything.

So my buddy Keith has an idea: buy up a block of tickets to the Warriors/Sacto game on December 28th and then re-sell them for a fat profit IF Golden State makes it to that game with the record on the line (that would be their 34th regular season win in a row).

We looked around online yesterday and most of the reasonably priced tickets were in the 3-4 hundred dollar range. So that’s a fair amount of cheddar to float out there in the hopes that the Warriors are still undefeated on Dec 28th. At the end of the day yesterday, he was still unsure of what to do.

Here’s the text I sent him yesterday. The first part is me telling him I was going to be late to work, then he’s at Safeway offering to get me something followed by my snarky response. And then I send him the “don’t buy the tix” text.

For the entire 2nd half and until about 30 seconds left to go in the game, I marveled at how prescient that text was and hoped he’d heeded my warning……

And then the Warriors do what they always do. Win.

It can’t be this easy, can it? I continue to be obsessed with what they’re doing this year. We are all human. Perfection isn’t possible. Well, that’s not really  true. You can be perfect for a while. We’re all perfect at living until that day we die, right? I don’t see what Golden State is doing as *chasing* anything. It’s really more like they’re just in lock step with perfection.

It’s fun to watch…..

After watching Zimmerman ink 110 mil and Cueto reject 120 mil I am reminded of why I don’t want the Giants to sign any free agent pitchers. I get it, it’s not my money. All I care about is performance and we never see pitchers who sign 100 mil+ deals work out. They leave the best years of their careers on the back of their baseball cards. Every. Single. Time.

This epic weekend of sports continues today with Stanford v the despised Notre Dame. Not going to this game but definitely will be watching it. Cardinal should roll……

There was twitter rabble of the Warriors possibly losing to the Suns last night. A 19 point drubbing took care of that nonsense.

No Giants news or even rumors has predictably slowed the blog down. Hope you guys don’t mind my “other sport” references until we have something baseball related to banter about…..

As we continue through the dead zone of the baseball off season, I continue to be fascinated by the Golden State Warriors season of perfection. Tonight they go to Phoenix shooting for win #17 (this season). The Suns are 7-8 but always seem to play us tough in Arizona. They have a back court tandem of Knight and Bledsoe that some are comparing to the back court that “couldn’t work” of Curry and Ellis. I see the comparison.

My daughter became a teenager today and, as such, Black Friday holds a different meaning for me…..

Still thankful for #3in5. Still thankful for the family and friends still in my life. Still thankful for Flappers far and wide.

Enjoy the day, however you choose to enjoy days…..

First things first: I do not like Kobe Bryant. For starters, he made Todd Fuller look really bad. Lqtm.

But seriously, for many, many reasons, I don’t like him.

Yesterday I called him delusional and here were some of his comments after the game last night:

“I could have scored 80 tonight, it wouldn’t have made a damn difference….I could be out there averaging 35 a game and we’d be what, 3-11?”

Listen up cry baby: you COULD NOT have scored 80 and you CAN’T average 35 a game anymore. You are done. Retire already……

“Everything ends badly or else it would never end…..”

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If you’re someone who likes to plan ahead, if the Warriors keep winning they will TIE the all time win streak record of 33 (Lakers, ’71) on Christmas Day vs Cleveland. Wow, think any ABC execs are rooting for that to happen?

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Barry hit 28 bombs with an OPS of 1.045 in his final season. Imagine if he had been allowed to keep playing. You KNOW it would have gotten ugly for him, the same way it’s falling apart for Kobe…..

Is tonight the night? Or does the pathetic Kobe channel his last reachable vestige of greatness and deny Golden State their place in history?

Non-Warrior fans are probably like, “what’s the big deal about breaking this record?” And the answer is, it’s a very big deal. The Dubs were the worst franchise in sports for decades. They made the Giants five decade Championship drought look like a winning streak.

So playing winning basketball and chasing perfection is a prime interest to basketball fans around these parts.

And to break the record against the team from LA that was everything the Warriors couldn’t be for 30 years?

Oh man, I am going to enjoy tonight’s game……

As if you needed a reason to put you over the tip top of excitement: Draymond Green Bobblehead Night…..

’nuff said.

Maybe I’m biased against Dave Roberts because he was a Giant during one of the worst times in franchise history. But I’m not sold on him being this *can’t miss* hire. In fact, I’m kinda glad he got the job. Can you imagine a newbie manager trying to match wits with Bruce Bochy? If the game is close next year, advantage Giants…….

Tomorrow night the Warriors will make history. After pummeling the Lakers into submission, they will be the first team in NBA HISTORY to start 16-0. And I can’t think of a better team to do it against. Golden State spent the better part of 3 decades smoking Laker pole. Now LA stinks and Kobe is delusional with his recent comments about his game. I freaking LOVE it…….

What would it cost to sign both of those guys? 300 million? More? I have to believe that ZG has quietly watched and appreciated how the Giants conduct their business on and off the field. He has GOT to want to get into a clubhouse like that. But who knows, maybe he doesn’t want that. I know he has his anxiety disorder under control but I think it’s clear that Grienke is a guy who beats to his own drum. Maybe he wouldn’t want a guy like Hunter Pence shoving Kale in his face every 5 seconds.

But man, those 2 guys joining the rotation? Winter is approaching, I might need to write a haiku about it…..

Cardinal….

Still blown away by the Warriors win last night. I watched the first half. Steph and Green in foul trouble. Dubs playing no defense. Chris Paul, he of the *doubtful* tag pre-game, raining in 3’s like he was firing away at a pop-a-shot machine….

I turn off tv at halftime…….

They win by 8.

Insane.

A couple of weeks ago when they were 6-0, my buddy jokingly asked me what the odds would be of them going 82-0. I said 5,000-1? Would you bet on that? I mean, it would actually be something more like 10,000,000 to 1, right?

Today, I think I’d lay a bet at 1,000-1 and not feel like a complete idiot.

Giants in on Shelby Miller? Fine, as long as he doesn’t cost too much. he’s definitely a *buy high* guy with an xFip more than a full point above his actual ERA.

But he’d definitely be able to stabilize a slot in the rotation…….

If you’re Freddy Freeman and you’ve been told you aren’t getting traded under any circumstance that’s gotta bum you out a little, right? To be the only guy left behind on that sinking ship?

The Brandon Crawford signing was a nice reminder of how good the Giants are at sustaining their team. We get to actually be fans of players who, by and large, don’t go anywhere. That’s old school baseball. Contrast that with Billy Beane and the lotto numbers he’s addicted to playing in Oakland.

I just scanned the A’s roster from 2010. I think Eric Sogard and Coco Crisp are the only guys still on the team. That’s going back a long way, I know. But I bet if I checked 2014 there wouldn’t be THAT many more players still on the team.

Locking up Crawford won’t be the most exciting thing to happen to the Giants this off season. But it will be one of the more comforting things to happen to the Giants this off season. and I appreciate Giants management for giving me a team to care about year after year…….

Come on down? At least, come on down and enjoy your minor league deal. If you like big dudes, Kyle Blanks is your guy. He’s like a less healthy Mike Morse. But whatever, if he can cobble together a healthy season he wouldn’t be the worst back up plan for the OF and/or first base vs LH pitching…..

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With Duffy finishing 2nd in the ROY voting, I thought it would be relevant to see where my favorite Giant of all time finished. Super interesting 1986 NL ROY voting, eh?

…..still out of town. Been in mountains and not really checking news. Any news or rumors to get excited about?

Kuip on radio this am saying he fully expects to big free agent pick ups. Who are your two guesses?

I’m out of town this weekend but I’ll be checking in and will post a new thread if any big news crops up.

Chris Davis….Cespedes……J-Hey…..the names fly around but will anything come of it?

Wake me up when something happens…..

Nice GG win for Brandon Crawford. Of course, they’re upset in Atlanta since Simmons didn’t win. I don’t watch Braves games so I have no frame of reference. But I can’t imagine a better defensive shortstop in the league today than Crawford.

Pre-2010, this award would do something for me. Post 2010? Eh, it’s nice. Happy for Crawford. That’s about it.

Sad news. I followed this guy’s career for some reason. He had a sick curve ball and a lively fastball. Got hurt and, like many injured pitchers, started a long, slow slide into various ranks of the minor leagues. Pitched for the Giants last year but I think he was released or became a free agent. And then at 29, out of nowhere, dead.

Yesterday’s Niner game was unexpected. It wasn’t just that I thought Gabbert was going to be horrible, because I did think that. What was a shocker was how the NIner defense contained the most productive running back/wide receiver combo in the league. And they did it with back ups and scrubs. Gabbert is going to get more praise than he deserves. He threw some passes that were on time and accurate. We haven’t seen much of that around these parts in a while so that was refreshing. Where did those clean pockets come from? And come on, this is the NFL. No one gets here by accident. Even the worst players are talented……

It got me to wondering, when has a “Gabbert-thing” ever happened to the Giants? When has a good player fallen on hard times and been replaced by someone who I didn’t think was going to be any good but turned out to be good? It’s probably happened at some point. Maybe a closer change?

Did Heston replace Lincecum? I can’t remember. But that would be the closest recent example I can think of that loosely relates to Gabbert replacing Kaep.

Thoughts?

New thread.

The exchange at the end of the last thread shows why fans aren’t GM’s. What seems a no brainer trade to me (Panik and Belt for Harvey and Duda) was shot down by a few of you. The point isn’t to rattle that specific discussion up again but it is interesting to see how differently we view talent and production.

I don’t see the Giants making a trade for 2 reasons: 1) we don’t have young players that other teams covet and 2) Sabean overvalues all of his players.

Free agent signings? So much for Leake giving us first crack, apparently the Giants haven’t spoken to him yet. Screw him. I don’t want Mike Leake for anywhere close to the deal he’s going to get offered by other teams.

Happy to hear the Giants declined BOTH the options on Aoki and Byrd. Two nice enough players but not nice enough to soak up 13 million dollars next season.

Keep your options open, see what happens. if they don’t get the free agents they start off targeting I’m guessing one or both of them will be around as a back up plan.

And if there’s nothing left to choose from, I’m down with Parker and Kid Specs getting a shot somewhere in the OF.

You have to wonder about Dusty’s desperation to get back into managing. I mean come on, The Nationals? I can see Baker shaking his head some time in June thinking, “I’m too old for this shit.”

Everyone talks about how he manages people and Bonds often gets cited the most often as his gold standard success story in player management. But that was a pretty long time ago, the game has changed and Baker is nearing *old man” territory. Additionally, everyone is different and Harper and Bonds strike me as two pretty polar opposite divas.

I’m not sure what he’s going to do about all the bat tossing, umpiring targeting, tantruming punks that litter their line up. Who knows, maybe they were all just mirroring the temperament of their last jackass manager.

No one questions the talent on the Nats but……

I just don’t think this is the slam dunk everyone else seems to think it is.

Jeeeeezus.

While we’re waiting for the hot stove to warm up, I thought we could take a look back at who the hottest free agents were 5 years ago. Here they are: Cliff Lee, Carl Crawford, Adrian Beltre, Jayson Werth and Adam Dunn.

Uhhhhhhhhhhh…..

Honestly, I don’t really mind all the dumb rumors although I pay almost no attention to them. The problem for me is when and if we get one of these chumps at 100 million dollars (or more). It almost never works out. I’m not going to do it now, it’s too early, but let’s play a game and see who can come up with 5 free agent pick ups that worked out over the course of their contract. Minimum deal: 100 million. Let’s say you can go back 10 years. If you can’t come up with 5, just come up with 1. One.

And….go!

Shoulda gone with my first instinct. KC in 5. Wanted leeway. Turns out leeway was unnecessary. LeeMay, on the other hand, was pretty decent ball player back in the day. He’s 72 years old now.

Final game celebrations are pretty typical, aren’t they? Usually, it’s a strikeout to end it. The pitcher does some type of celebratory  move as he awaits the onrushing catcher. One of them jumps into each other’s arms. The pile begins to form, tighten and bounce slowly. Every 3 seconds the network pans to the losers dugout and capture faces staring blankly at the widening, bouncing pile. There’s always a single shot of the rich ownership group shaking each other’s hands so hard it looks like an arm or two might get ripped off…..

And you want a *full circle* story line? Salvador Perez is the last out in Pablo Sandoval’s glove last year. This year, he’s the World Series MVP. That’s an incredible 365 days…….

Congrats to the Royals. They earned it and were it not for an angry North Carolinian, they’d have 2 in a row……

With KC primed to take out the Mets tonight in 5, I think we would be remiss in not honoring this day for what it is: the 5 year anniversary of Timmy throwing that single digit in the air, *fuck yeahs!!!!!* flying as freely as his flowing black hair. Below him players celebrated wildly. I remember that moment like it was last night.

Never forget your first……

I thought we could take a trip back through history.

https://oneflapdown77.com/2010/10/30/how-many-more-hours-to-go/

When I found out that The Mets were going to be off a week before the World Series, the first thing I thought of was *2012 Tigers*. Remember when they tried to run all those simulated games telling everyone that was good enough to keep them sharp? And then they were swept.

And it appears the exact same thing is happening to The 2015 Mets. The only thing I can think of that will save them is a “Hunter Pence” type speech from David Wright.

Otherwise, turn out the lights. And that’s fine with me. I really like the Royals……

If yesterday’s Game 1 is any indication, this is going to be an exciting World Series. Will anyone watch it? Seemed like the NBA dominated the night but maybe that’s just because we are in the heart of Dubs Nation. How about that ring, eh? Gaudy enough for ya? There’s a pic circulating twitter of Rick Barry comparing his lil’ guy to the lug nut on Joe Lacob’s hand. I’ll find it later at work this morning and post it.

lol, look at this thing:

I almost said KC in 5 but decided to give myself some leeway. Predictions are stupid. What’s yours? And you’re not allowed to predict rain. Or this:

No baseball. No Niners. Hockey is a word not to be spoken in our house. Maybe they’re having some good sales at Bed Bath and Beyond?

What do you guys do on sports-less days? Golf? Library? What?

Isn’t it funny how different the 49ers and the Giants are? At least in terms of how they are run. Larry Baer is EVERYWHERE. It’s nice to hear a voice from the ownership group. The 49ers? I follow Jed York on twitter and besides some re-tweets the ONLY thing he’s said in a month is some reference to losing someone in the 49ers family. And I can’t remember hearing him speak actual words since he fired Harbaugh. WHERE IS THIS DUDE? He’s turned into Chris Cohan. And for someone who was so pompous with the press after he begun tearing the team apart telling us all about the *standard* being Super Bowl wins….well, he can go fuck himself. Worst owner in football and he has overseen a team that is now a complete embarrassment. What standard are you using to judge the team now, Jeddy boy?

Six games in a row with a bomb? An OPS over 1.800? This Daniel Murphy thing has gotten crazy. Regardless, it’s bye bye Cubbies and I could care less.

Very little baseball for a while, unless Toronto can win the next one.

Walk Murphy? Screw that. This isn’t Barry Bonds or The Babe. Pitch to him. All of this will even out soon enough…..

*********Breaking***********

About an hour ago, PST, Two Trips took his final trip. He gone.