Well the Giants are on pace to lose 162 games so far this year.
Huff is on pace for a .000/.000/.000 slash line.
The Giants led MLB in UZR last year, and based on the defense from the first two games, that may not happen this year. In fact, it appears that before he retired, Jermaine Dye worked with the Giants as a special defense instructor during Spring Training. His classes included "Over-Running Balls" and "Rushing, Then Making Errant Throws".
I'm pretty sure Kershaw only threw 8 pitches total over innings 4-7.
Always nice to see Lincecum get a loss after pitching 7 innings and giving up 1 unearned run.
Not sure why Sanchez got taken out of the game since the "hit" he gave up to indicate he was "tired", was actually just a poorly fielded ball. Sanchez comes out, game slips away. Yay.
Re-signing Freddy Sanchez through 2012 seems like a really odd move after the first game of the 2011 season. Charlie Culberson has gotten rave reviews, so maybe it would've been nice to see how he progresses in the minors this year before locking Sanchez up for an extra year. 6 mil seems like a lot of money for a guy with 111 games in '09 and 111 games in 2010. His injury history is growing and 6 mil for a (then) 34 yr. old injured second baseman is a little rich. I guess I just don't get why they didn't wait until June to monitor Freddy and see if his paper mache shoulder holds up. I didn't see Sabean announce the extension, but I imagine it went something like this: "Batting Title".
Barry Zito looks completely awesome with his mustache. He needs to wear an aviator scarf and goggles and be called Baron Von Zito.
And Miguel Tejada is leading off game 3. The man with the worst career OBP on the team :( And our 8-9-1 hitters are Rowand-Cain-Tejada. Since that sounds like the 3 worst hitters to hit one after the other, that likely means they will all do amazing and we will be seeing nothing but Tejada/Rowand combos for the next two months.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Friday, October 29, 2010
Bruce Bochy > Ron Washington
I say some bad things about Bruce Bochy. Let's get that out of the way. Bochy does double switches, hit 'n' runs where the batter forgets to hit and the runner is slow, intentional walks, pinch ran for Posey with Eli Whiteside (twice!), played a crippled and HGH-riddled Jose Guillen corpse every day, etc.
But the more attention I pay to other managers, the more I see they do just as many things that would drive me straight up a wall if they were the Giants manager. Last night was a perfect example.
First, I thought it was smart of Bochy to pitch Matt Cain in Game 2 and use Jonathan Sanchez in Game 3. I liked that move because Cain is a flyball pitcher who has always been insanely lucky on his BABIP. He gives up a lot of fly balls and a homer-happy park like Arlington would not be the most ideal park for him to pitch in. So he flip-flopped the two of them in the rotation and the results spoke for themselves.
He's been using Nate Schierholtz as a late-inning defensive replacement (taking out Pat Burrell, shifting Cody to LF, and using Nate in RF where his excellent range and cannon arm are exceptional) and as soon as Nate came into the game he made an excellent running catch into the deep Triples Alley. Good move, Bochy.
Those are just a few. Clearly the Series has been managed nicely by Bochy. I whined and moaned about Renteria starting over Panda, and Renteria was the offensive catalyst last night. He also looked pretty decent at SS. So again, I love being wrong in these situations.
But Ron Washington. Wow. He took more flak than necessary for starting Vlad in Game 1. Nobody could have predicted that Jermaine Dye was not actually retired, but was working as Vladimir Guerrero's personal defensive trainer this whole season. We all knew Vlad stunk as a fielder, and Texas knew that too. Nobody could've guessed that he would do THAT in Game 1. And to give Washington a tiny amount of credit, Vlad was their best offensive performer in Game 1. He just looked like a Zombie Carlos Lee in the outfield.
But Game 2. First off I don't understand switching Colby Lewis to Game 3. He's a fly ball pitcher and AT&T is a WAY better park to throw your fly ball pitcher out there. Arlington can be a fly ball pitcher's nightmare. CJ Wilson gets a lot of ground balls, and he looked very good in Game 2. But he could've looked just as good in Game 3 and let Lewis have more advantage in Game 2.
There were other tiny Ron Washington goofs that I noticed, like using Borbon in the 9th when Vlad was RIGHT THERE as a pinch hitter. If he gets on, he could've used Borbon as a pinch runner. But the game was pretty far gone at that point.
But the main problem is his complete mishandling of the 8th inning. O'Day struck out Torres and Sanchez, and then gave up a solid single to Posey. Then he gets pulled for Derek Holland. Holland walks two straight Giants on 8 fastballs. At that point most managers would run out screaming to get the guy out of there. But he didn't.
That late in the game, in a game that wasn't totally out of reach but was fast approaching hopeless, when all you need is ONE out...why not bring in your closer?
Neftali Feliz had an amazing 2010, arguably the best relief pitcher in the AL (Matt Thornton, Joakim Soria, and Mariano Rivera being his only competition. He had not pitched in a game since 10/22/10. WHY NOT use your BEST PITCHER to get ONE OUT.
I feel that the "save" statistic has ruined the ways most Major League teams use their closers. A closer - by and large - is often the pitcher purported to be the best reliever on the team. As the best pitcher his role is to come in when the game is on the line, and pitch them to victory. The problem is, the 9th inning is not always the most crucial point in the game. Having your closer come into the 9th inning of a game you're leading 4-1 doesn't seem that important. Any pitcher in baseball can be called on to pitch 1 inning with the goal of "Don't give up more than 2 runs, OK?"
The closer SHOULD be used in the most crucial game situations, and who cares if he gets a save or not. Down 2-0 in the 8th, the Rangers chances of winning the game were not good. But they were a whoooooole lot better than their odds of winning a 9-0 game.
Ron Washington was saving Feliz for a situation that never ended up happening. His best relief pitcher was sitting on the bench while Holland and Lowe threw batting practice. You're limiting yourself seriously by ONLY considering your closer for "The 9th inning of games that we're winning". Bochy threw Brian Wilson - The Giants best relief pitcher - into the 8th inning of Game 6 in the NLCS...and he induced a double play.
The Rangers had little chance of winning when it was 2-0 in the 8th, but Ron Washington helped turn that little chance into zero chance.
On a lighter note, how 'bout them Giants!! 2 more wins!! I heart Matt Cain!!
But the more attention I pay to other managers, the more I see they do just as many things that would drive me straight up a wall if they were the Giants manager. Last night was a perfect example.
First, I thought it was smart of Bochy to pitch Matt Cain in Game 2 and use Jonathan Sanchez in Game 3. I liked that move because Cain is a flyball pitcher who has always been insanely lucky on his BABIP. He gives up a lot of fly balls and a homer-happy park like Arlington would not be the most ideal park for him to pitch in. So he flip-flopped the two of them in the rotation and the results spoke for themselves.
He's been using Nate Schierholtz as a late-inning defensive replacement (taking out Pat Burrell, shifting Cody to LF, and using Nate in RF where his excellent range and cannon arm are exceptional) and as soon as Nate came into the game he made an excellent running catch into the deep Triples Alley. Good move, Bochy.
Those are just a few. Clearly the Series has been managed nicely by Bochy. I whined and moaned about Renteria starting over Panda, and Renteria was the offensive catalyst last night. He also looked pretty decent at SS. So again, I love being wrong in these situations.
But Ron Washington. Wow. He took more flak than necessary for starting Vlad in Game 1. Nobody could have predicted that Jermaine Dye was not actually retired, but was working as Vladimir Guerrero's personal defensive trainer this whole season. We all knew Vlad stunk as a fielder, and Texas knew that too. Nobody could've guessed that he would do THAT in Game 1. And to give Washington a tiny amount of credit, Vlad was their best offensive performer in Game 1. He just looked like a Zombie Carlos Lee in the outfield.
But Game 2. First off I don't understand switching Colby Lewis to Game 3. He's a fly ball pitcher and AT&T is a WAY better park to throw your fly ball pitcher out there. Arlington can be a fly ball pitcher's nightmare. CJ Wilson gets a lot of ground balls, and he looked very good in Game 2. But he could've looked just as good in Game 3 and let Lewis have more advantage in Game 2.
There were other tiny Ron Washington goofs that I noticed, like using Borbon in the 9th when Vlad was RIGHT THERE as a pinch hitter. If he gets on, he could've used Borbon as a pinch runner. But the game was pretty far gone at that point.
But the main problem is his complete mishandling of the 8th inning. O'Day struck out Torres and Sanchez, and then gave up a solid single to Posey. Then he gets pulled for Derek Holland. Holland walks two straight Giants on 8 fastballs. At that point most managers would run out screaming to get the guy out of there. But he didn't.
That late in the game, in a game that wasn't totally out of reach but was fast approaching hopeless, when all you need is ONE out...why not bring in your closer?
Neftali Feliz had an amazing 2010, arguably the best relief pitcher in the AL (Matt Thornton, Joakim Soria, and Mariano Rivera being his only competition. He had not pitched in a game since 10/22/10. WHY NOT use your BEST PITCHER to get ONE OUT.
I feel that the "save" statistic has ruined the ways most Major League teams use their closers. A closer - by and large - is often the pitcher purported to be the best reliever on the team. As the best pitcher his role is to come in when the game is on the line, and pitch them to victory. The problem is, the 9th inning is not always the most crucial point in the game. Having your closer come into the 9th inning of a game you're leading 4-1 doesn't seem that important. Any pitcher in baseball can be called on to pitch 1 inning with the goal of "Don't give up more than 2 runs, OK?"
The closer SHOULD be used in the most crucial game situations, and who cares if he gets a save or not. Down 2-0 in the 8th, the Rangers chances of winning the game were not good. But they were a whoooooole lot better than their odds of winning a 9-0 game.
Ron Washington was saving Feliz for a situation that never ended up happening. His best relief pitcher was sitting on the bench while Holland and Lowe threw batting practice. You're limiting yourself seriously by ONLY considering your closer for "The 9th inning of games that we're winning". Bochy threw Brian Wilson - The Giants best relief pitcher - into the 8th inning of Game 6 in the NLCS...and he induced a double play.
The Rangers had little chance of winning when it was 2-0 in the 8th, but Ron Washington helped turn that little chance into zero chance.
On a lighter note, how 'bout them Giants!! 2 more wins!! I heart Matt Cain!!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Post-Game 1 Post: Giants Do As Everybody Predicted, Beat Cliff Lee and Score a Division Series' Worth of Runs
Well that game happened.
And it happened exactly as we all predicted it would. Exactly.
The Rangers pranked us by turning Lincecum's calendar pages back to August, and he didn't realize it was a prank until after the 2nd inning. Whatever jokester on the Rangers that pulled this prank must've been dying as Timmy fielded out #2 and then goofily started at Michael Young while he ran back to 3rd. Even August Lincecum was like, "Whoa, I'm gonna get blamed for that one."
But what was awesome was once Lincecum noticed the Rangers had flipped his calendar back to August, he sent Eugenio Velez up through the AT&T Park air ducts to sneak into the Rangers clubhouse, and flip CLIFF LEE'S calendar back to August. You see, Timmy wasn't the only one having a crummy August, as Cliff Lee spent his summer getting knocked around by the Rays, Twins, Orioles, and Royals.
And our prank won. Lee ended up hitting Andres Torres, which made sense since Lee hit a whopping ONE BATTER over the course of the 2010 regular and postseason, so of course he hit Andres Torres.
Freddy Sanchez was clearly filming Speed 3: Legging It Out, with the plot being that Freddy Sanchez has to keep hitting doubles or else the terrorists win (potential taglines: "Double the action!" "Double the Suspense!" "Tying David Eckstein and Trot Nixon's Record for Most Doubles in a World Series Game!").
Renteria looked like an honest to gosh Major League Shortstop in the 4th inning, running WAY up the middle and getting the out with slick spinning throw. He also caused Michael Young to play below-average defense...ahem.
Juan Uribe decided once home run to RF was enough, and made the choice to just continue blasting them into the 12th row of LF.
And who could have predicted that playing Vladimir Guerrero in RF was a bad idea? Let me be the very very first person to say that Vlad should probably just be used as a DH these days. I know he had a cannon arm in 2002, but now he has mortal arm and moves about as quickly as 2010 Willie McCovey. For all my griping about Bochy playing Jose Guillen over Cody Ross during the regular season, I'm sure there's a Rangers fan somewhere with a David Murphy blog that is losing his mind after last night.
And how awful was it seeing Bengie Molina "sprint" home on that sac fly? There was so much movement and bouncing and jostling under his shirt it looked like two ferrets fighting in a duffel bag.
What the hell happened in that game? 6 pitchers used in a game that you score 11 runs? What the hell?
Since everybody expected everything that happened last night to happen, let me give my Game 2 predictions:
~Matt Cain won't give up any fly balls
~Pablo Sandoval will start despite Renteria's one productive inning
~Buck/McCarver won't sound like Fox is just recording them saying "baseball-y" stuff for a new video game
3 more wins.
And it happened exactly as we all predicted it would. Exactly.
The Rangers pranked us by turning Lincecum's calendar pages back to August, and he didn't realize it was a prank until after the 2nd inning. Whatever jokester on the Rangers that pulled this prank must've been dying as Timmy fielded out #2 and then goofily started at Michael Young while he ran back to 3rd. Even August Lincecum was like, "Whoa, I'm gonna get blamed for that one."
But what was awesome was once Lincecum noticed the Rangers had flipped his calendar back to August, he sent Eugenio Velez up through the AT&T Park air ducts to sneak into the Rangers clubhouse, and flip CLIFF LEE'S calendar back to August. You see, Timmy wasn't the only one having a crummy August, as Cliff Lee spent his summer getting knocked around by the Rays, Twins, Orioles, and Royals.
And our prank won. Lee ended up hitting Andres Torres, which made sense since Lee hit a whopping ONE BATTER over the course of the 2010 regular and postseason, so of course he hit Andres Torres.
Freddy Sanchez was clearly filming Speed 3: Legging It Out, with the plot being that Freddy Sanchez has to keep hitting doubles or else the terrorists win (potential taglines: "Double the action!" "Double the Suspense!" "Tying David Eckstein and Trot Nixon's Record for Most Doubles in a World Series Game!").
Renteria looked like an honest to gosh Major League Shortstop in the 4th inning, running WAY up the middle and getting the out with slick spinning throw. He also caused Michael Young to play below-average defense...ahem.
Juan Uribe decided once home run to RF was enough, and made the choice to just continue blasting them into the 12th row of LF.
And who could have predicted that playing Vladimir Guerrero in RF was a bad idea? Let me be the very very first person to say that Vlad should probably just be used as a DH these days. I know he had a cannon arm in 2002, but now he has mortal arm and moves about as quickly as 2010 Willie McCovey. For all my griping about Bochy playing Jose Guillen over Cody Ross during the regular season, I'm sure there's a Rangers fan somewhere with a David Murphy blog that is losing his mind after last night.
And how awful was it seeing Bengie Molina "sprint" home on that sac fly? There was so much movement and bouncing and jostling under his shirt it looked like two ferrets fighting in a duffel bag.
What the hell happened in that game? 6 pitchers used in a game that you score 11 runs? What the hell?
Since everybody expected everything that happened last night to happen, let me give my Game 2 predictions:
~Matt Cain won't give up any fly balls
~Pablo Sandoval will start despite Renteria's one productive inning
~Buck/McCarver won't sound like Fox is just recording them saying "baseball-y" stuff for a new video game
3 more wins.
Pre-Game 1 Post: WHY is Edgar Renteria!?
Edgar Renteria. Edgar...Renteria. WHY is Edgar Renteria?
That might sound like a fragmented sentence, but really there were just so many different ways to finish that sentence that I didn't really know which option to go with. Why is Edgar Renteria starting Game 1 of the World Series? Why is Edgar Renteria on the World Series roster? Why is Edgar Renteria not being punished the same way Pablo Sandoval is being punished?
Pablo Sandoval had a bad game a couple weeks ago. Bad defensive play, poor game at the plate. Giants responded by batting Mike Fontenot for a few games. Dumb move, but whatever it worked out fine. Pablo was used in 3 games during the NLCS. Two starts, one pinch hit appearance. One game stank, one game saw him hit two doubles in one at bat in one of the most pivotal moments in Game 4, the PH appearance saw him have one of the best at bats of the game in working a walk.
Edgar Renteria appeared in 4 NLCS games, all starts, and proceeded to go 1 for 16 with a slash line of .063/.118/.063. His defense has been lousy at best. He can't move to his left or right at all, and he has a torn bicep so he can't do things like throw hard to first or be an effective cut-off man. But hey, those are luxuries!
Edgar Renteria is a bad option if Brian Bocock is your other option. We have Pablo Sandoval AND Mike Fontenot on the bench right now, and Edgar Renteria, in ALLLLLLLLL of his Veteran Grittiness is starting.
Aubrey Huff kinda had a lousy NLCS. Maybe we should bench him and play Ishikawa, or maybe Velez at first?
Am I missing something here? I Bochy being a huge boner here? Did Pablo die and I didn't hear about it?
EDIT: Renteria got a well-placed infield single and made a real nice play up the middle in the top of the 4th with a nice, hard, accurate throw to first while turning. I apologize and fully admit I have no clue what the hell I'm talking about most of the time. For the record, I ALWAYS am happy to be wrong in these situations.
That might sound like a fragmented sentence, but really there were just so many different ways to finish that sentence that I didn't really know which option to go with. Why is Edgar Renteria starting Game 1 of the World Series? Why is Edgar Renteria on the World Series roster? Why is Edgar Renteria not being punished the same way Pablo Sandoval is being punished?
Pablo Sandoval had a bad game a couple weeks ago. Bad defensive play, poor game at the plate. Giants responded by batting Mike Fontenot for a few games. Dumb move, but whatever it worked out fine. Pablo was used in 3 games during the NLCS. Two starts, one pinch hit appearance. One game stank, one game saw him hit two doubles in one at bat in one of the most pivotal moments in Game 4, the PH appearance saw him have one of the best at bats of the game in working a walk.
Edgar Renteria appeared in 4 NLCS games, all starts, and proceeded to go 1 for 16 with a slash line of .063/.118/.063. His defense has been lousy at best. He can't move to his left or right at all, and he has a torn bicep so he can't do things like throw hard to first or be an effective cut-off man. But hey, those are luxuries!
Edgar Renteria is a bad option if Brian Bocock is your other option. We have Pablo Sandoval AND Mike Fontenot on the bench right now, and Edgar Renteria, in ALLLLLLLLL of his Veteran Grittiness is starting.
Aubrey Huff kinda had a lousy NLCS. Maybe we should bench him and play Ishikawa, or maybe Velez at first?
Am I missing something here? I Bochy being a huge boner here? Did Pablo die and I didn't hear about it?
EDIT: Renteria got a well-placed infield single and made a real nice play up the middle in the top of the 4th with a nice, hard, accurate throw to first while turning. I apologize and fully admit I have no clue what the hell I'm talking about most of the time. For the record, I ALWAYS am happy to be wrong in these situations.
Pre World Series Nervous Rambling
The San Francisco Giants won the NLCS pennant for the first time in 8 years, and only the 4th time overall since moving to SF. You think present Giants baseball is torture, try being a Giants fan from 1972-1986. The 1987 Giants took the Cardinals to the 7th game of the LCS, two years after the 1985 Giants finished 62-100. How did the 1985 fans feel? Who was at Candlestick in 1985 (average Giants' attendance in 1985 per game? 10,107!!) telling people not to worry, as 1987 was gonna be a playoff year! Will Clark, Kevin Mitchell, Robby Thompson, Mike Aldrete and Candy Maldonado visited me from the future, telling me that '87 will be great! Jose Uribe will have his career year! It'll be awesome! Two more years!
That never happened. That guy never existed. As tortured as this season was, we didn't have to put up with a 100 loss season....wait....
The Giants went 72-90 in 2008. I was there. I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Jose Castillo: starting 3rd baseman. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I saw Eugenio Velez and Rich Aurilia as regular starters. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. Brian Bocock. Brian. Bocock. All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain...
Who would've known that two years after THAT season they would be in the World Series!? Well the World Series starts TONIGHT baby, and we have put the fans in Philadelphia behind us and have Cliff Lee in front of us. Keaton always said, "I don't believe in Roy Halladay, but I'm afraid of him." Well I believe in Roy Halladay, and the only thing that scares me is Cliff Lee.
Let's take this moment, the storm before the tornado, to reflect on the glorious series against the Phillies, and let me present to you MY choices for the NLCS MVP. The Giants came together as a team, and except for poor performances from Santiago Casilla and Edgar Renteria (who really did nothing to help the team in any way in the NLCS), everybody contributed. Here's my countdown of the biggest contributors:
Honorable Mentions:
~Buster Posey: Posey gets an honorable mention for his performance in Game 4 alone. He went 4 for 5 with 2 RBI, and was the first catcher to get 4 RBI in an LCS game since Javy Lopez in 1996. This guy is some kind of special.
~Madison Bumgarner: From his "much better than it looks on paper" start in Game 4 (2 of the ER he got dinged for were allowed by the bullpen) to his even better 2 innings of relief in game 6, MadBum is 21 yr. old (which was how old I was the last time the Giants were in the World Series) and will keep getting better.
~Javier Lopez: Oh man, did I gripe about the Giants trading for Lopez. "Joe Martinez AND John Bowker for a lefty who will give us MAYBE 13 total innings down the stretch!? We traded a 5th starter and an outfielder with high OBP upside for THAT!?" OK, I was way wrong. In the regular season Lopez gave the Giants 19 innings of relief, with 16 Strikouts with only 2 BB. His performance carried over big time in the NLCS, as he pitched in 5 of the 6 games, contributing 4.1 innings, and only allowing 1 hit and 1 BB, while striking out 4. I was way wrong, it was a GREAT move to trade for Javier Lopez.
And now on to the Top 5 NLCS Giants' MVP Countdown!
5. Jeremy Affeldt: Affeldt had a pretty so-so 2010, especially considering in 2009 he was arguably the best middle reliever in baseball (He got MVP votes as a middle reliever!! People gave some of their MVP votes to a middle. reliever. Awesome). For a guy who wasn't used during the LDS, he has come in during some pretty big moments in the LCS. He got 2 big outs in Games 2 and 5, but they're kinda overshadowed because those were the two games the Giants lost. However, nobody can forget his performance in Game 6. Jonathan Sanchez was wild, instigated a dugout clearing, and was removed after two innings. Our starting pitcher only went two innings. The game was clearly spiraling out of control early, and it could have continued spiraling even further. But Affeldt. Affeldt pitched his best 2 innings of 2010. 2 K, no hits, no walks. Just came on with a couple Phillies on base and never looked back. Awesome.
4. Juan Uribe: Uribe has not had the best postseason at the plate. In the LDS and LCS, he has gone 4 for 28, a .143 BA. Buuuuut...TWO of those hits came in Game 6, and ONE of those hits was the most important HR of the LCS. His 8th inning opposite field shot will live on forever in Giants history. Even more remembered will be his pinch hit sac fly to LF in Game 4. Uribe had two of the most important RBI this LCS. Those two RBI were arguably the biggest nails in the Phillies' coffin. He did exactly what a pinch hitter needed to do in that situation: Hit a deep fly ball, nothing more. And he did it with bells on. Juan, your timing is impeccable. Don't ever change. Oh, and it should be noted that his defense was excellent this series. He looks even better at SS after seeing Renteria thrown out there, seemingly unable to move to his left or right. Please, Uribe/Panda on the left side in the WS.
3. Matt Cain: Cain pitched only one game in the LCS, but it was the only game the Giants won by more than 1 run. Cain has been lights out this postseason, allowing no runs over 13.2 innings. His Game 3 performance was just great to see as the first LCS game in SF 8 years. They came back from Philly tied 1-1, and Cain made sure the Giants went up 2-1 in a very important game.
2. Cody Ross:
What can I say about Cody Ross that hasn't been said by every single reporter from every TV station/newspaper/blogger/message board poster/street team/pundit/soothsayer/fairweather fan/man on the street/neighbor who hasn't followed the Giants in years? The dude had a 1.385 OPS in the NLCS. He he two HR off Roy Halladay, he had 3 doubles in the series, 2 BB and the dude was just flat out Cody Ross. His socks are high, his eye black is smeared like Tammy Faye, and the guy is just Cody Ross. He's Cody Ross, plain and simple.
But the #1, in my opinion...
Brian Wilson
It's easy for Major League teams to overvalue the importance of a closer. But closers are a fickle bunch, with a high turnover rate. This year's Mariano Rivera is next year's Derrick Turnbow. This year's Heath Bell is next year's BJ Ryan. This year's Brad Lidge is next year's Brad Lidge. Closers fail early and often, and it SHOULDN'T be different from pitching in any other inning of the game...except it really is different. Brian Wilson pitched in 5 innings spanning the 8th and 9th innings of games that the Giants never lead by more than 1 run. His performance in game 6 was outstanding, and no different than anything else he did this year. He came in to get 5 outs, got an immediate HARD line drive double play (the most important out of the series, bar-none), then had the perfect Giants 9th.
When Duane Kuiper coined the phrase "Giants Baseball: Torture", it was after a game that Wilson saved, that was maddeningly, unnecessarily, and tortuosly close. That's the way the Giants played it all year, so it was only fitting that it happened in the 9th inning of the clinching game.
Wilson had 2 BB over the 5 innings he pitched in the NLCS...and both of them came in that 9th inning against Philly. It can never be easy :)
Brian Wilson was the man standing on the mound at the end of every single NLCS victory. 3 saves, 1 win. The man exemplifies this Giants World Series team, and I can't imagine ending every win with anybody different.
I will never complain about Cody Ross winning the NLCS MVP award. The guy deserved it and then some. But Brian Wilson was the Giants, and he's been the Giants all year long.
Let's do this. 4 more wins.
That never happened. That guy never existed. As tortured as this season was, we didn't have to put up with a 100 loss season....wait....
The Giants went 72-90 in 2008. I was there. I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Jose Castillo: starting 3rd baseman. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I saw Eugenio Velez and Rich Aurilia as regular starters. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. Brian Bocock. Brian. Bocock. All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain...
Who would've known that two years after THAT season they would be in the World Series!? Well the World Series starts TONIGHT baby, and we have put the fans in Philadelphia behind us and have Cliff Lee in front of us. Keaton always said, "I don't believe in Roy Halladay, but I'm afraid of him." Well I believe in Roy Halladay, and the only thing that scares me is Cliff Lee.
Let's take this moment, the storm before the tornado, to reflect on the glorious series against the Phillies, and let me present to you MY choices for the NLCS MVP. The Giants came together as a team, and except for poor performances from Santiago Casilla and Edgar Renteria (who really did nothing to help the team in any way in the NLCS), everybody contributed. Here's my countdown of the biggest contributors:
Honorable Mentions:
~Buster Posey: Posey gets an honorable mention for his performance in Game 4 alone. He went 4 for 5 with 2 RBI, and was the first catcher to get 4 RBI in an LCS game since Javy Lopez in 1996. This guy is some kind of special.
~Madison Bumgarner: From his "much better than it looks on paper" start in Game 4 (2 of the ER he got dinged for were allowed by the bullpen) to his even better 2 innings of relief in game 6, MadBum is 21 yr. old (which was how old I was the last time the Giants were in the World Series) and will keep getting better.
~Javier Lopez: Oh man, did I gripe about the Giants trading for Lopez. "Joe Martinez AND John Bowker for a lefty who will give us MAYBE 13 total innings down the stretch!? We traded a 5th starter and an outfielder with high OBP upside for THAT!?" OK, I was way wrong. In the regular season Lopez gave the Giants 19 innings of relief, with 16 Strikouts with only 2 BB. His performance carried over big time in the NLCS, as he pitched in 5 of the 6 games, contributing 4.1 innings, and only allowing 1 hit and 1 BB, while striking out 4. I was way wrong, it was a GREAT move to trade for Javier Lopez.
And now on to the Top 5 NLCS Giants' MVP Countdown!
5. Jeremy Affeldt: Affeldt had a pretty so-so 2010, especially considering in 2009 he was arguably the best middle reliever in baseball (He got MVP votes as a middle reliever!! People gave some of their MVP votes to a middle. reliever. Awesome). For a guy who wasn't used during the LDS, he has come in during some pretty big moments in the LCS. He got 2 big outs in Games 2 and 5, but they're kinda overshadowed because those were the two games the Giants lost. However, nobody can forget his performance in Game 6. Jonathan Sanchez was wild, instigated a dugout clearing, and was removed after two innings. Our starting pitcher only went two innings. The game was clearly spiraling out of control early, and it could have continued spiraling even further. But Affeldt. Affeldt pitched his best 2 innings of 2010. 2 K, no hits, no walks. Just came on with a couple Phillies on base and never looked back. Awesome.
4. Juan Uribe: Uribe has not had the best postseason at the plate. In the LDS and LCS, he has gone 4 for 28, a .143 BA. Buuuuut...TWO of those hits came in Game 6, and ONE of those hits was the most important HR of the LCS. His 8th inning opposite field shot will live on forever in Giants history. Even more remembered will be his pinch hit sac fly to LF in Game 4. Uribe had two of the most important RBI this LCS. Those two RBI were arguably the biggest nails in the Phillies' coffin. He did exactly what a pinch hitter needed to do in that situation: Hit a deep fly ball, nothing more. And he did it with bells on. Juan, your timing is impeccable. Don't ever change. Oh, and it should be noted that his defense was excellent this series. He looks even better at SS after seeing Renteria thrown out there, seemingly unable to move to his left or right. Please, Uribe/Panda on the left side in the WS.
3. Matt Cain: Cain pitched only one game in the LCS, but it was the only game the Giants won by more than 1 run. Cain has been lights out this postseason, allowing no runs over 13.2 innings. His Game 3 performance was just great to see as the first LCS game in SF 8 years. They came back from Philly tied 1-1, and Cain made sure the Giants went up 2-1 in a very important game.
2. Cody Ross:
What can I say about Cody Ross that hasn't been said by every single reporter from every TV station/newspaper/blogger/message board poster/street team/pundit/soothsayer/fairweather fan/man on the street/neighbor who hasn't followed the Giants in years? The dude had a 1.385 OPS in the NLCS. He he two HR off Roy Halladay, he had 3 doubles in the series, 2 BB and the dude was just flat out Cody Ross. His socks are high, his eye black is smeared like Tammy Faye, and the guy is just Cody Ross. He's Cody Ross, plain and simple.
But the #1, in my opinion...
Brian Wilson
It's easy for Major League teams to overvalue the importance of a closer. But closers are a fickle bunch, with a high turnover rate. This year's Mariano Rivera is next year's Derrick Turnbow. This year's Heath Bell is next year's BJ Ryan. This year's Brad Lidge is next year's Brad Lidge. Closers fail early and often, and it SHOULDN'T be different from pitching in any other inning of the game...except it really is different. Brian Wilson pitched in 5 innings spanning the 8th and 9th innings of games that the Giants never lead by more than 1 run. His performance in game 6 was outstanding, and no different than anything else he did this year. He came in to get 5 outs, got an immediate HARD line drive double play (the most important out of the series, bar-none), then had the perfect Giants 9th.
When Duane Kuiper coined the phrase "Giants Baseball: Torture", it was after a game that Wilson saved, that was maddeningly, unnecessarily, and tortuosly close. That's the way the Giants played it all year, so it was only fitting that it happened in the 9th inning of the clinching game.
Wilson had 2 BB over the 5 innings he pitched in the NLCS...and both of them came in that 9th inning against Philly. It can never be easy :)
Brian Wilson was the man standing on the mound at the end of every single NLCS victory. 3 saves, 1 win. The man exemplifies this Giants World Series team, and I can't imagine ending every win with anybody different.
I will never complain about Cody Ross winning the NLCS MVP award. The guy deserved it and then some. But Brian Wilson was the Giants, and he's been the Giants all year long.
Let's do this. 4 more wins.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Pablo Not Starting
Let me just say that I'm really disappointed that Pablo Sandoval isn't starting tonight for Game 6.
The media and Bruce Bochy seem to be making a really big deal that he didn't get his foot to 3rd base in time to get the lead runner after charging Roy Halladay's "100% completely fair territory" sac bunt. He was charging a bunt. He hadn't got back to 3rd in time. I'm not really seeing how this is his fault.
The upside of a Sandoval/Uribe lineup is more than a Renteria/Uribe lineup. Renteria has a torn bicep! I know he gritted out 2009 with only one arm working, and that showed how clutch and tough and old school and gritty and rugged and World Series experience and Gold Glove 10 years ago he is, but he also was legitimately horrible in 2009, playing average defense while being literally the worst hitter on the team. Worse than Randy Winn, worse than Rich Aurilia, worse than Emmanuel Burriss, worse than Bengie Molina. He was awful. He hit a grand slam in one game and that was it. He was awful the rest of the time.
Panda's 2010 was not nearly as good as his 2009. But I really don't care. I didn't agree with starting Fontenot so much, and I don't agree with starting Renteria.
I really just want the Giants to win. Five more wins. Hummmm baby. I've got a Giant Attitude. Let's do this.
The media and Bruce Bochy seem to be making a really big deal that he didn't get his foot to 3rd base in time to get the lead runner after charging Roy Halladay's "100% completely fair territory" sac bunt. He was charging a bunt. He hadn't got back to 3rd in time. I'm not really seeing how this is his fault.
The upside of a Sandoval/Uribe lineup is more than a Renteria/Uribe lineup. Renteria has a torn bicep! I know he gritted out 2009 with only one arm working, and that showed how clutch and tough and old school and gritty and rugged and World Series experience and Gold Glove 10 years ago he is, but he also was legitimately horrible in 2009, playing average defense while being literally the worst hitter on the team. Worse than Randy Winn, worse than Rich Aurilia, worse than Emmanuel Burriss, worse than Bengie Molina. He was awful. He hit a grand slam in one game and that was it. He was awful the rest of the time.
Panda's 2010 was not nearly as good as his 2009. But I really don't care. I didn't agree with starting Fontenot so much, and I don't agree with starting Renteria.
I really just want the Giants to win. Five more wins. Hummmm baby. I've got a Giant Attitude. Let's do this.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Game 4: Greatest Game Ever?
So who do you even call the MVP of last night's game?
Buster Posey went 4 for 5 which included one of the finest and timliest opposite-field singles I have ever witnessed. Posey has had insane opposite-field power all season. He's a righty and he hit a home run in AT&T park to right field. That doesn't happen. Nobody does that. Nobody except Buster. Huff moving to 3rd on that single was glorious in its own right, but factor in the other three hits and this guy was not playing in favor of Bengie Molina and Eli Whiteside earlier this season!
Cody Ross hit a double because he's Cody Ross and he's the most clutch player in the history of the postseason. He has the eye black of Will Clark, the bald pate of Matt Williams, and the highest, shiniest pair of black socks these eyes have ever seen. Cody Ross had me at hello.
Juan Uribe came up in the clutchiest situation possible, and he clutched that ball as far as his bad clutch wrist could take it. Clutch. And that play at short? Clutch. When Uribe sprains his ankle the doctor gives him clutches.
Huff decided to sprinkle 3 hits throughout the night, making sure that all of them came at the right time. Him sliding through home, then standing still with his arms raised while Torres, Panda, and all the Giants mobbed him was one of my favorite Giants visuals of all time.
In fact I'd say that 5 of my 10 favorite Giants visuals of all time came from last night (Panda clapping and laughing while standing on 2nd after his 2 rbi double, Huff's face while sliding home, Giants mobbing the field, Uribe dancing out of the box after hitting the greatest sac fly in history).
Brian Wilson had one of the more torture-free 9th innings of the season. That guy looked cold as ice on the mound.
And Pablo. Thank you Pablo. Did you ground into a double play that could've ended this mess earlier? Yes you did. But you hit two doubles in one at bat and laid off pitches and wow. That was easily the most important at bat of Panda's career. His 2009 was an amazing year. This year was a disappointment. His K and BB% match up really similarly to '09, but everywhere he hit it this year kept finding gloves and double plays. He was benched three games in his first postseason, and when given an opportunity to prove himself he did, in amazing fashion. This player is impossible to dislike. He could have spent those 3 games sitting on the bench looking like somebody popped his balloon, but he didn't. He was his same old energetic panda self, still doing goofy handshakes, doing his awesome booming clap, smiling huge when we would score runs, running to the top of the dugout steps whenever anybody did something good.
Panda could have been depressed about being bench. One year ago he was the best player on the team this side of Tim Lincecum, and now he's on the playoff roster but riding the bench. A lesser man would've let that get to him, let that get him down, send him into a downward spiral of sad and pity and chubbiness.
But that double. He hit that double. TWICE! And he can ground into as many double plays as he likes, because that's just a crazy BABIP thing anyway, and he hit that double!
Burrell drew two walks like he does, and it's pretty safe to say that Pat must be short for "Patience". Patience Burrell might make him sound like someone helping people on the Underground Railroad, and it might not seem as catchy as Pat the Bat, but hot damn if it ain't true.
Aaron freaking Rowand absolutely GUNNED Ruiz at the plate. I wanted Torres to start, but Bochy went with Rowand and he made his finest defensive play since saving Jonathan Sanchez' no-hitter last year.
Bumgarner's line doesn't look like much thanks to the two inherited runs the bullpen allowed, but he pitched better than anybody else expected a 21 yr. old rookie to pitch. 4.2 innings wih 6 K/1 BB and 6 hits is A-OK in my book.
Romo could've been postseason Romo after giving up that hit, but then he struck out 2guys and suddenly he was regular season Romo again.
Bruce Bochy only walked one guy intentionally. Baby steps. Also, he pulled guys at the right time and made way better decisions than Charlie Manuel all night. Rowand made the amazing defensive play, then gets pulled for Torres. Uribe gets put in for Renteria. Bochy kept Pablo in. And he looked as excited as anybody when Uribe hit that long fly ball.
Extra shout out to Duane Kuiper, whose radio calls were some of the most exciting and exhilirating I've ever experienced. His call when Pablo hit the double was perfect. His game ending call is something that I pray I will hear on Giants highlight broadcasts for the rest of my life. A lot of people talk about how much they love baseball on the radio, and Duane Kuiper made me fall in love with that statement all over again last night. Amazing game, Duane.
This game was truly one that everybody contributed to, and you can't say that often. I can't pick an MVP. Gun to the head I'm saying Posey, but that's besides the point. This was a team effort. A team that the majority of the media wrote off a week ago. This team of mercenaries play off each other perfectly, and holy cow this really could be the season.
I had a poster when I was a kid with Will Clark, Kevin Mitchell, and Matt Williams all holding bats that said "Pacific Sock Exchange". I want a poster of all the Giants decked out like Rambo that says "Mercenaries Deal Torture".
5 more wins.
Buster Posey went 4 for 5 which included one of the finest and timliest opposite-field singles I have ever witnessed. Posey has had insane opposite-field power all season. He's a righty and he hit a home run in AT&T park to right field. That doesn't happen. Nobody does that. Nobody except Buster. Huff moving to 3rd on that single was glorious in its own right, but factor in the other three hits and this guy was not playing in favor of Bengie Molina and Eli Whiteside earlier this season!
Cody Ross hit a double because he's Cody Ross and he's the most clutch player in the history of the postseason. He has the eye black of Will Clark, the bald pate of Matt Williams, and the highest, shiniest pair of black socks these eyes have ever seen. Cody Ross had me at hello.
Juan Uribe came up in the clutchiest situation possible, and he clutched that ball as far as his bad clutch wrist could take it. Clutch. And that play at short? Clutch. When Uribe sprains his ankle the doctor gives him clutches.
Huff decided to sprinkle 3 hits throughout the night, making sure that all of them came at the right time. Him sliding through home, then standing still with his arms raised while Torres, Panda, and all the Giants mobbed him was one of my favorite Giants visuals of all time.
In fact I'd say that 5 of my 10 favorite Giants visuals of all time came from last night (Panda clapping and laughing while standing on 2nd after his 2 rbi double, Huff's face while sliding home, Giants mobbing the field, Uribe dancing out of the box after hitting the greatest sac fly in history).
Brian Wilson had one of the more torture-free 9th innings of the season. That guy looked cold as ice on the mound.
And Pablo. Thank you Pablo. Did you ground into a double play that could've ended this mess earlier? Yes you did. But you hit two doubles in one at bat and laid off pitches and wow. That was easily the most important at bat of Panda's career. His 2009 was an amazing year. This year was a disappointment. His K and BB% match up really similarly to '09, but everywhere he hit it this year kept finding gloves and double plays. He was benched three games in his first postseason, and when given an opportunity to prove himself he did, in amazing fashion. This player is impossible to dislike. He could have spent those 3 games sitting on the bench looking like somebody popped his balloon, but he didn't. He was his same old energetic panda self, still doing goofy handshakes, doing his awesome booming clap, smiling huge when we would score runs, running to the top of the dugout steps whenever anybody did something good.
Panda could have been depressed about being bench. One year ago he was the best player on the team this side of Tim Lincecum, and now he's on the playoff roster but riding the bench. A lesser man would've let that get to him, let that get him down, send him into a downward spiral of sad and pity and chubbiness.
But that double. He hit that double. TWICE! And he can ground into as many double plays as he likes, because that's just a crazy BABIP thing anyway, and he hit that double!
Burrell drew two walks like he does, and it's pretty safe to say that Pat must be short for "Patience". Patience Burrell might make him sound like someone helping people on the Underground Railroad, and it might not seem as catchy as Pat the Bat, but hot damn if it ain't true.
Aaron freaking Rowand absolutely GUNNED Ruiz at the plate. I wanted Torres to start, but Bochy went with Rowand and he made his finest defensive play since saving Jonathan Sanchez' no-hitter last year.
Bumgarner's line doesn't look like much thanks to the two inherited runs the bullpen allowed, but he pitched better than anybody else expected a 21 yr. old rookie to pitch. 4.2 innings wih 6 K/1 BB and 6 hits is A-OK in my book.
Romo could've been postseason Romo after giving up that hit, but then he struck out 2guys and suddenly he was regular season Romo again.
Bruce Bochy only walked one guy intentionally. Baby steps. Also, he pulled guys at the right time and made way better decisions than Charlie Manuel all night. Rowand made the amazing defensive play, then gets pulled for Torres. Uribe gets put in for Renteria. Bochy kept Pablo in. And he looked as excited as anybody when Uribe hit that long fly ball.
Extra shout out to Duane Kuiper, whose radio calls were some of the most exciting and exhilirating I've ever experienced. His call when Pablo hit the double was perfect. His game ending call is something that I pray I will hear on Giants highlight broadcasts for the rest of my life. A lot of people talk about how much they love baseball on the radio, and Duane Kuiper made me fall in love with that statement all over again last night. Amazing game, Duane.
This game was truly one that everybody contributed to, and you can't say that often. I can't pick an MVP. Gun to the head I'm saying Posey, but that's besides the point. This was a team effort. A team that the majority of the media wrote off a week ago. This team of mercenaries play off each other perfectly, and holy cow this really could be the season.
I had a poster when I was a kid with Will Clark, Kevin Mitchell, and Matt Williams all holding bats that said "Pacific Sock Exchange". I want a poster of all the Giants decked out like Rambo that says "Mercenaries Deal Torture".
5 more wins.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Pre-Game 4 Excitement!
Matt Cain has 13.2 shutout innings during his first postseason. That is amazing.
Cody Ross is more of a Giants legend than Brian Johnston at this point. I'm not saying he's approaching Will Clark 1989 Championship Series levels yet....but he WAS wearing an obscene amount of eye black yesterday...
Aaron Rowand and Edgar Renteria are starting again. OK. Renteria has a torn bicep. I had to put up with him playing hurt through all of 2009 because that's what you do when you're a gritty vet, but IF Uribe is more hurt than him right now, this is fine. Rowand and Renteria both got hits yesterday, so I cannot complain too much. But Rowand. Rowand. I know Torres is slumping and he looked like a hot pile of garbage in Game 2, but...something about Rowands vs. a pitcher doesn't sit well with me. Something about that batting stance and that slow, slow bat.
But, again, he got a nice double yesterday so I can't gripe too much. In fact, if he does awesome today I'm going to go back and erase all the bad stuff up above.
Bumgarner and Blanton are really similar pitchers, except Bumgarner is slimmer and doesn't have really stupid facial hair. I was there live a couple years back when the Giants destroyed Blanton in Oakland, hitting what felt like 18 doubles back to back. Then this season he pitched so strongly against us that he was almost as good as Randy Wolf!! Yeah, Blanton was as dominant as THEE Randy Wolf!!
I'm bored, and I want this game to start. 6 more wins.
Cody Ross is more of a Giants legend than Brian Johnston at this point. I'm not saying he's approaching Will Clark 1989 Championship Series levels yet....but he WAS wearing an obscene amount of eye black yesterday...
Aaron Rowand and Edgar Renteria are starting again. OK. Renteria has a torn bicep. I had to put up with him playing hurt through all of 2009 because that's what you do when you're a gritty vet, but IF Uribe is more hurt than him right now, this is fine. Rowand and Renteria both got hits yesterday, so I cannot complain too much. But Rowand. Rowand. I know Torres is slumping and he looked like a hot pile of garbage in Game 2, but...something about Rowands vs. a pitcher doesn't sit well with me. Something about that batting stance and that slow, slow bat.
But, again, he got a nice double yesterday so I can't gripe too much. In fact, if he does awesome today I'm going to go back and erase all the bad stuff up above.
Bumgarner and Blanton are really similar pitchers, except Bumgarner is slimmer and doesn't have really stupid facial hair. I was there live a couple years back when the Giants destroyed Blanton in Oakland, hitting what felt like 18 doubles back to back. Then this season he pitched so strongly against us that he was almost as good as Randy Wolf!! Yeah, Blanton was as dominant as THEE Randy Wolf!!
I'm bored, and I want this game to start. 6 more wins.
Monday, October 18, 2010
So, Again, About Those Intentional Walks...
They are THEE most backwards way of getting outs in all of baseball.
"Man, I don't know, this hole is getting pretty deep. Have you thought of a way we can get out of here? It's getting too deep to climb out."
"Well, with the tools we have - namely shovels - I propose that we just keep digging!"
"Sir, you are currently down $12,000, are you sure you want to keep playing?"
"Well, you see, all I need at this point is for the wheel to land on black 5 times in a row, and if I keep betting everything I have then I'll be out of that hole in no time!"
"Sir, the producers of Cutthroat Island need just $20 million more to finish the project."
"Well by all means give it to them! I cannot WAIT to get this movie out into theaters so we can start printing money!"
Please. Do not intentionally walk the opposition anymore, Bruce Bochy. It makes zero sense in almost any situation. Using similar words but flipping them around, here is another way of saying it: It almost never makes any sense. Never ever.
When there are men on base, the solution to that problem is NOT to put another one on base without even attempting to get him out. But to do it TWICE in ONE INNING!? Come on!!
Intentional walks just confuse me in general. Why do they exist? Why throw 4 pitches way far outside so a guy can have a base free of charge? Why not just give him 4 really crummy pitches? Not so crummy that they bounce to the backstop, or so crummy that the batter crushes one, just bad, lousy pitches. Throw him some junk inside, throw him something at his head. What's the worst that can happen? He swings, makes bad connection on a bad pitch. You might get him out. There is at LEAST a small chance of getting him out. When you IBB him, you have zero chance. Unless he somehow punches an umpire on the way to first base.
And also, I like Mike Fontenot. When he did well in a game during the regular season, I cleverly dubbed him "Fonte-YES". By clever I mean I was happy that the Giants won and I was stupidly giddy. Fonte-yes.
But despite Pablo Sandoval's recent slumps, Fontenot is not better than Pablo Sandoval. It is nice to have Mike Fontenot on the Giants. He is a utility guy who can play below average-to-so-so defense all over the infield. He is not a defensive replacement. Pablo Sandoval is a better 3rd baseman than Fontenot. He actually had a really good year at 3rd base. Yeah, he makes some wild throws sometimes. Sorta like Mike Fontenot...
Fontenot is not a power threat. He had one homerun this season. Now, crazy things happen in the postseason. Cody Ross becomes the greatest Giant in the history of Giants. Scott Podsednik hits game-winning homeruns. But lets be realistic.
Pablo is a better defender, despite a less productive season than 2009 pitchers still know he can blast one, and he's a fucking panda! Let the panda romp through the championship series. The Fontenot experiment was cute and harmless but let's unleash the panda and see what happens. Starting Fontenot a third straight game will be detrimental to the Giants. Oh, and Panda had an amazing at bat in Game 2.
You're here, Giants. The odds are in your favor. No more boneheaded mistakes. No more getting outmanaged by Charlie Manuel.
7 more wins. That's all.
"Man, I don't know, this hole is getting pretty deep. Have you thought of a way we can get out of here? It's getting too deep to climb out."
"Well, with the tools we have - namely shovels - I propose that we just keep digging!"
"Sir, you are currently down $12,000, are you sure you want to keep playing?"
"Well, you see, all I need at this point is for the wheel to land on black 5 times in a row, and if I keep betting everything I have then I'll be out of that hole in no time!"
"Sir, the producers of Cutthroat Island need just $20 million more to finish the project."
"Well by all means give it to them! I cannot WAIT to get this movie out into theaters so we can start printing money!"
Please. Do not intentionally walk the opposition anymore, Bruce Bochy. It makes zero sense in almost any situation. Using similar words but flipping them around, here is another way of saying it: It almost never makes any sense. Never ever.
When there are men on base, the solution to that problem is NOT to put another one on base without even attempting to get him out. But to do it TWICE in ONE INNING!? Come on!!
Intentional walks just confuse me in general. Why do they exist? Why throw 4 pitches way far outside so a guy can have a base free of charge? Why not just give him 4 really crummy pitches? Not so crummy that they bounce to the backstop, or so crummy that the batter crushes one, just bad, lousy pitches. Throw him some junk inside, throw him something at his head. What's the worst that can happen? He swings, makes bad connection on a bad pitch. You might get him out. There is at LEAST a small chance of getting him out. When you IBB him, you have zero chance. Unless he somehow punches an umpire on the way to first base.
And also, I like Mike Fontenot. When he did well in a game during the regular season, I cleverly dubbed him "Fonte-YES". By clever I mean I was happy that the Giants won and I was stupidly giddy. Fonte-yes.
But despite Pablo Sandoval's recent slumps, Fontenot is not better than Pablo Sandoval. It is nice to have Mike Fontenot on the Giants. He is a utility guy who can play below average-to-so-so defense all over the infield. He is not a defensive replacement. Pablo Sandoval is a better 3rd baseman than Fontenot. He actually had a really good year at 3rd base. Yeah, he makes some wild throws sometimes. Sorta like Mike Fontenot...
Fontenot is not a power threat. He had one homerun this season. Now, crazy things happen in the postseason. Cody Ross becomes the greatest Giant in the history of Giants. Scott Podsednik hits game-winning homeruns. But lets be realistic.
Pablo is a better defender, despite a less productive season than 2009 pitchers still know he can blast one, and he's a fucking panda! Let the panda romp through the championship series. The Fontenot experiment was cute and harmless but let's unleash the panda and see what happens. Starting Fontenot a third straight game will be detrimental to the Giants. Oh, and Panda had an amazing at bat in Game 2.
You're here, Giants. The odds are in your favor. No more boneheaded mistakes. No more getting outmanaged by Charlie Manuel.
7 more wins. That's all.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
A (Long) Note About Sabean/Bochy/Guillen
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/10/08/SPOK1FPV85.DTL
So I had some nice words to say about Brian Sabean a few days ago, so I'll balance that out with some not-as-nice words about Bruce Bochy. I'm still 96.5% positive that it was Sabean's call to leave Jose Guillen off the playoff roster, so really this post SHOULD be directed much more at Bruce Bochy. If it comes out that Sabean also wanted Guillen on there but Gavin Newsom demanded that he not be allowed on, then I'll have to take back my nice words for Sabean. But onto some Bochy hate.
When Jose Guillen was left off the playoff roster, I was genuinely shocked. I had figured he would be starting every single game of the playoffs, regardless of performance...which has been exactly what had been happening over Guillen's entire run with the Giants. Guillen started 42 of 46 games with the Giants over August/September, and to say he did poorly would be an understatement.
Over those two months, the man the Giants acquired to be the "big bat" down the home stretch had a slash line that looked like this: .238/.286/.336, with only 24% of his total hits being for extra bases (26 singles, 5 doubles, and 3 HR). He grounded into double plays (8) more often than he took a base on balls (5). The player the Giants acquired for his power and his (sigh) "run production" was one of the more putrid players on the team, and that's if you only count his offensive production.
His "speed" and baserunning ranked as almost the worst on the entire team (even behind Bengie Molina!! Thinks about that!!), and that's including pitchers (who are rarely put into dangerous baserunning situations and don't exactly get used in speed situations). Over the season with the Giants, the only player who ranked worse on the team than him was Barry Zito (who ranks as almost his equal in baserunning). Lincecum, Bumgarner, Cain, even Todd freaking Wellemeyer ranked higher (actually WAY higher) in baserunning. So Guillen (whom the Giants acquired for his power) would most often get singles if he got a hit at all, and that would put arguably the WORST runner on the TEAM on first base, instantly clogging up the bases for anybody hitting after him.
His "speed" also significantly affected his defense, as it took him ages to get to balls. It would be painful at time to see him hobbling after balls, costing us runs more than a few times (I'm thinking 9/3/10, against the Dodgers, not being able to properly charge Chad Billingsley's line drive that ends up falling for 2 RBI).
The Guillen experiment failed miserably. It would be like if Kurosawa filmed Seven Samurai, handed it over to his new editor (who had been recommended by a friend), and the editor handed him back a finished product that turned out to be B.A.P.S.
So Guillen was left to fail day after day, as Bochy kept starting him despite horrid performance, and also despite Cody Ross sitting on the bench. There is not one thing Cody Ross does worse than Jose Guillen. There is a chance that Cody still gets carded when he buys alcohol, whereas Guillen definitely does not. So in theory Guillen would be more effective than Cody in regards to late night beer runs, as if both of them went to buy beer, and both forgot their ID, then Guillen would more likely be able to get beer than Cody. That's the only thing I can think of that Guillen might do better than Cody Ross.
I was not opposed to Jose Guillen being acquired, but I was opposed to him being an every day starter. Off the bench power, sure. Regular, almost EVERY DAY starter? No way, no how. But I knew that's how Bruce Bochy wanted to use him. When Cody Ross was acquired a week after Guillen, Guillen SHOULD HAVE become instantly obsolete. But he didn't. He still was played, almost daily, despite proving daily that he shouldn't have been playing.
So you'd naturally think that a man that starts 27 of the last 28 games of the regular season (when games were REALLY starting to mean something) would also land on the postseason roster. He wouldn't deserve it, but he didn't deserve to start the whole month of September either, and look what happened.
And then he didn't get put on the roster, and Cody Ross did.
So I said kudos to Brian Sabean for that move as I still assume that Bruce Bochy had nothing to do with it. Bochy showed over the last two months that Guillen was his guy in RF, and he was starting him no matter what. If he was available to be played, then by gum Bochy was going to play him.
Then that article (linked WAY above at the top of this post) came out that showed that despite being hardly able to move (obvious to anybody who had been watching Giants games), Bochy had continued to start Guillen. Guillen stated that he could not move his head from side to side, and could not lift his shoulder to drive the ball because of the daily pain he was in. AND BOCHY KEPT PLAYING HIM.
This is identical to what happened last year with Edgar Renteria, who looked and hit like slow hot garbage all season, yet continued to start all the way to the bitter end until hitting the DL. Renteria was easily the worst hitter on an epically horrible-hitting club, but he was Bochy's guy, he was Bochy's shortstop, and he was gonna continue to take starts away from Juan Uribe (the team's 2nd best hitter last year behind Panda). If Renteria was taking starts away from Emmanuel Burriss it wouldn't have been that bad, but he was taking them from an actual productive player. It later came out in the offseason that Renteria played through major pain the entire season due to bone spurs in his elbow. Bochy was quoted as saying it wasn't his call to bench Renteria, as Renteria kept saying he was fine and was putting on a GRITTY veteran presence for the younger players. Bochy KNEW Renteria's elbow was held together by duct tape and bubble gum, but because Renteria WANTED to start, he kept getting to start.
Just as Guillen kept wanting to start besides being hardly able to move and clearly affecting the team in a variety of negative ways. If he wanted it, Bochy was going to keep letting him have it, not caring about putting the best team on the field during the last month.
So thank you, Brian Sabean, again, for forcing Bochy's hand and not putting Jose Guillen on the postseason roster. I know he got a lot of tasty ribeyes and dingerz over the course of his mostly below-average career, but thank you for recognizing that he was affecting the team negatively in every way, and did not deserve a spot in the playoffs.
I'm sorry to be griping about stuff when the Giants only have NINE more wins to go this season, but I was just legitimately stunned by that article, that Bochy had played an injured unproductive player over better players two straight seasons.
Win the Series and I won't gripe for at least a few weeks, at least until Sabean signs Jose Guillen to a 2 yr./20 mil deal in the offseason.
So I had some nice words to say about Brian Sabean a few days ago, so I'll balance that out with some not-as-nice words about Bruce Bochy. I'm still 96.5% positive that it was Sabean's call to leave Jose Guillen off the playoff roster, so really this post SHOULD be directed much more at Bruce Bochy. If it comes out that Sabean also wanted Guillen on there but Gavin Newsom demanded that he not be allowed on, then I'll have to take back my nice words for Sabean. But onto some Bochy hate.
When Jose Guillen was left off the playoff roster, I was genuinely shocked. I had figured he would be starting every single game of the playoffs, regardless of performance...which has been exactly what had been happening over Guillen's entire run with the Giants. Guillen started 42 of 46 games with the Giants over August/September, and to say he did poorly would be an understatement.
Over those two months, the man the Giants acquired to be the "big bat" down the home stretch had a slash line that looked like this: .238/.286/.336, with only 24% of his total hits being for extra bases (26 singles, 5 doubles, and 3 HR). He grounded into double plays (8) more often than he took a base on balls (5). The player the Giants acquired for his power and his (sigh) "run production" was one of the more putrid players on the team, and that's if you only count his offensive production.
His "speed" and baserunning ranked as almost the worst on the entire team (even behind Bengie Molina!! Thinks about that!!), and that's including pitchers (who are rarely put into dangerous baserunning situations and don't exactly get used in speed situations). Over the season with the Giants, the only player who ranked worse on the team than him was Barry Zito (who ranks as almost his equal in baserunning). Lincecum, Bumgarner, Cain, even Todd freaking Wellemeyer ranked higher (actually WAY higher) in baserunning. So Guillen (whom the Giants acquired for his power) would most often get singles if he got a hit at all, and that would put arguably the WORST runner on the TEAM on first base, instantly clogging up the bases for anybody hitting after him.
His "speed" also significantly affected his defense, as it took him ages to get to balls. It would be painful at time to see him hobbling after balls, costing us runs more than a few times (I'm thinking 9/3/10, against the Dodgers, not being able to properly charge Chad Billingsley's line drive that ends up falling for 2 RBI).
The Guillen experiment failed miserably. It would be like if Kurosawa filmed Seven Samurai, handed it over to his new editor (who had been recommended by a friend), and the editor handed him back a finished product that turned out to be B.A.P.S.
So Guillen was left to fail day after day, as Bochy kept starting him despite horrid performance, and also despite Cody Ross sitting on the bench. There is not one thing Cody Ross does worse than Jose Guillen. There is a chance that Cody still gets carded when he buys alcohol, whereas Guillen definitely does not. So in theory Guillen would be more effective than Cody in regards to late night beer runs, as if both of them went to buy beer, and both forgot their ID, then Guillen would more likely be able to get beer than Cody. That's the only thing I can think of that Guillen might do better than Cody Ross.
I was not opposed to Jose Guillen being acquired, but I was opposed to him being an every day starter. Off the bench power, sure. Regular, almost EVERY DAY starter? No way, no how. But I knew that's how Bruce Bochy wanted to use him. When Cody Ross was acquired a week after Guillen, Guillen SHOULD HAVE become instantly obsolete. But he didn't. He still was played, almost daily, despite proving daily that he shouldn't have been playing.
So you'd naturally think that a man that starts 27 of the last 28 games of the regular season (when games were REALLY starting to mean something) would also land on the postseason roster. He wouldn't deserve it, but he didn't deserve to start the whole month of September either, and look what happened.
And then he didn't get put on the roster, and Cody Ross did.
So I said kudos to Brian Sabean for that move as I still assume that Bruce Bochy had nothing to do with it. Bochy showed over the last two months that Guillen was his guy in RF, and he was starting him no matter what. If he was available to be played, then by gum Bochy was going to play him.
Then that article (linked WAY above at the top of this post) came out that showed that despite being hardly able to move (obvious to anybody who had been watching Giants games), Bochy had continued to start Guillen. Guillen stated that he could not move his head from side to side, and could not lift his shoulder to drive the ball because of the daily pain he was in. AND BOCHY KEPT PLAYING HIM.
This is identical to what happened last year with Edgar Renteria, who looked and hit like slow hot garbage all season, yet continued to start all the way to the bitter end until hitting the DL. Renteria was easily the worst hitter on an epically horrible-hitting club, but he was Bochy's guy, he was Bochy's shortstop, and he was gonna continue to take starts away from Juan Uribe (the team's 2nd best hitter last year behind Panda). If Renteria was taking starts away from Emmanuel Burriss it wouldn't have been that bad, but he was taking them from an actual productive player. It later came out in the offseason that Renteria played through major pain the entire season due to bone spurs in his elbow. Bochy was quoted as saying it wasn't his call to bench Renteria, as Renteria kept saying he was fine and was putting on a GRITTY veteran presence for the younger players. Bochy KNEW Renteria's elbow was held together by duct tape and bubble gum, but because Renteria WANTED to start, he kept getting to start.
Just as Guillen kept wanting to start besides being hardly able to move and clearly affecting the team in a variety of negative ways. If he wanted it, Bochy was going to keep letting him have it, not caring about putting the best team on the field during the last month.
So thank you, Brian Sabean, again, for forcing Bochy's hand and not putting Jose Guillen on the postseason roster. I know he got a lot of tasty ribeyes and dingerz over the course of his mostly below-average career, but thank you for recognizing that he was affecting the team negatively in every way, and did not deserve a spot in the playoffs.
I'm sorry to be griping about stuff when the Giants only have NINE more wins to go this season, but I was just legitimately stunned by that article, that Bochy had played an injured unproductive player over better players two straight seasons.
Win the Series and I won't gripe for at least a few weeks, at least until Sabean signs Jose Guillen to a 2 yr./20 mil deal in the offseason.
Well, I Deserved That
That's what I get for making fun of 1999 All Star Alex Gonzalez. Of course he's the one who's going to hit a 2 run double in the 8th!
Now I'm worried. What other 1999 All Stars might come out of the wood work to make us look like idiots in the playoffs? Does BJ Surhoff still play? Is Joey Votto's late inning replacement John Jaha? Is Jose Rosado going to come on in relief? Lord knows I'm excited for more ex-Royals to get into these games.
So now we have to hear minimum 2 games of tomahawk chops. Awesome.
Now I'm worried. What other 1999 All Stars might come out of the wood work to make us look like idiots in the playoffs? Does BJ Surhoff still play? Is Joey Votto's late inning replacement John Jaha? Is Jose Rosado going to come on in relief? Lord knows I'm excited for more ex-Royals to get into these games.
So now we have to hear minimum 2 games of tomahawk chops. Awesome.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Defense, and Analysts, but NOT in Defense of Analysts
As the TBS analysts were going over the starting lineups for the Braves/Giants last night one of them pointed out that the Giants had the 3rd fewest errors in the NL. "Well that doesn't begin to tell the whole story" said the other analyst.
Yes!! Somebody was going to point out on national TV that errors do NOT tell the whole story, that errors favor people who DON'T go after the ball, and punish people who go hard after the ball, only to bobble it. If an infielder lets a hit go through for a single, it's a hit. If an infielder covers a great deal of ground, bobbles it, and the runner is safe, then it's an error. The guy that kept the ball in the infield gets an error. Now which would you rather have if there were men on base?
An outfielder can go a whole season without making very many errors, and still be wretched. If a ball goes into the gap, it's a double, no error. If an outfielder has the kind of range to go into that gap and catch the ball, it's an out, no error. So at the end of the season, one set of outfielders is allowing doubles and triples to go by (Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Carlos Lee, Jonny Gomes) while another set is running these balls down (Carl Crawford, Brett Gardner, Andres Torres, Michael Bourn).
Andre Ethier has LESS errors than Crawford, Gardner, Torres, or Bourn. If you have seen Ethier manning RF this season, you know it's been filled with bad routes and lousy throws and getting turned around and running the ball into the wrong endzone. If you've seen the other four, you've seen them get to balls that you wouldn't think possible! I'm a bit more biased towards Torres since I get to see him daily, but he has his technique down, even able to slide on the warning track after catching a ball to avoid running into walls. His body will thank him in a few years (see Rowand, Aaron). This guy is a marvel to watch. He's not flashy, but manning those gaps in 2010 at AT&T is no easy task, and hasn't been done this fine since Jose Cruz Jr. in 2003 or Randy Winn in 2009.
So clearly there is a problem with errors. They let real gaffes and errors slide while punishing people who run stuff down with much greater efficiency. And finally the good anaysts at TBS were going to explain why errors don't tell the whole story.
Except his follow-up line was "They may have few errors, but they have trouble getting to balls and covering ground."
Arrrrrrrgggghhhhhhh.
I thought we had done it.
http://www.fangraphs.com/teams.aspx?pos=all&stats=fld&lg=all&type=1&season=2010&month=0
That is a list of the 30 MLB teams ranked by UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating), a stat that exists solely to figure out who gets to the most balls and covers the most ground. The Giants are 2nd in that. The Giants are 4th in errors. By old-fashioned stats and newer/nerdier stats, the Giants seem to rank as a really really good defensive team. But I guess they just need to cover more ground. 2nd best isn't good enough! More Simon, less Garfunkel, Giants! More Coke, less Pepsi! Get your heads up and your gloves down and cover that ground!!
I eagerly await this analyst talking about all of Derek Jeter's intangibles and gamesmanship. At least it's better than Eric Karros or Harold Reynolds.
Yes!! Somebody was going to point out on national TV that errors do NOT tell the whole story, that errors favor people who DON'T go after the ball, and punish people who go hard after the ball, only to bobble it. If an infielder lets a hit go through for a single, it's a hit. If an infielder covers a great deal of ground, bobbles it, and the runner is safe, then it's an error. The guy that kept the ball in the infield gets an error. Now which would you rather have if there were men on base?
An outfielder can go a whole season without making very many errors, and still be wretched. If a ball goes into the gap, it's a double, no error. If an outfielder has the kind of range to go into that gap and catch the ball, it's an out, no error. So at the end of the season, one set of outfielders is allowing doubles and triples to go by (Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Carlos Lee, Jonny Gomes) while another set is running these balls down (Carl Crawford, Brett Gardner, Andres Torres, Michael Bourn).
Andre Ethier has LESS errors than Crawford, Gardner, Torres, or Bourn. If you have seen Ethier manning RF this season, you know it's been filled with bad routes and lousy throws and getting turned around and running the ball into the wrong endzone. If you've seen the other four, you've seen them get to balls that you wouldn't think possible! I'm a bit more biased towards Torres since I get to see him daily, but he has his technique down, even able to slide on the warning track after catching a ball to avoid running into walls. His body will thank him in a few years (see Rowand, Aaron). This guy is a marvel to watch. He's not flashy, but manning those gaps in 2010 at AT&T is no easy task, and hasn't been done this fine since Jose Cruz Jr. in 2003 or Randy Winn in 2009.
So clearly there is a problem with errors. They let real gaffes and errors slide while punishing people who run stuff down with much greater efficiency. And finally the good anaysts at TBS were going to explain why errors don't tell the whole story.
Except his follow-up line was "They may have few errors, but they have trouble getting to balls and covering ground."
Arrrrrrrgggghhhhhhh.
I thought we had done it.
http://www.fangraphs.com/teams.aspx?pos=all&stats=fld&lg=all&type=1&season=2010&month=0
That is a list of the 30 MLB teams ranked by UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating), a stat that exists solely to figure out who gets to the most balls and covers the most ground. The Giants are 2nd in that. The Giants are 4th in errors. By old-fashioned stats and newer/nerdier stats, the Giants seem to rank as a really really good defensive team. But I guess they just need to cover more ground. 2nd best isn't good enough! More Simon, less Garfunkel, Giants! More Coke, less Pepsi! Get your heads up and your gloves down and cover that ground!!
I eagerly await this analyst talking about all of Derek Jeter's intangibles and gamesmanship. At least it's better than Eric Karros or Harold Reynolds.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Intentional Walks. Why?
I don't understand intentional walks. I don't understand anything about them. When you intentionally walk somebody, you are literally saying, "We could try and get you out, but there is also a risk of you getting a hit, and we would rather not take that risk, and voluntarily put you on base at no cost." Okay.
I don't get when a runner is on second, the announcers start talking about how "First base is open". Well, first base is open when a runner is on first as well. If you walk the next batter, you end up with the lead runner on second, and a man on first. Same situation as when "First base was open" after your intentional walk.
Yeah, you get the whole "play at any base" thing, but does that offset putting another runner on base without even trying to pitch to him?
Two outs, Buster Posey was on 2nd, "first base was open", and Pablo Sandoval was up. They intentionally walk Pablo, to get to Cody Ross, who was batting .406 over his last 10 games. If you haven't heard, Pablo has been referred to as a "free swinger" by some pundits. If you're planning on just GIVING him a base, why not give him four crappy pitches. A couple away, one chest high, one in the dirt. If he somehow doesn't swing, he gets the same walk he would've been given anyway. If he starts swinging, odds are fairly high that he makes bad contact on a bad pitch and hits a bad ball to somebody's glove. Worst case scenario is that he gets a hit and Posey scores. Best case scenario is that you get him out and end the inning.
But the Braves didn't want to take that tiny risk of a hit, and instead put him on base with no fuss whatsoever. And Cody Ross came up and got a hit, Posey scored. That was the only run the Giants needed. After that, Tim Lincecum struck out.
If the Braves were using the intentional walk to get into a more favorable position (play at every base!) then why not go ahead and walk Cody Ross, too! Go for broke! There will be a force at EVERY base, and the worst hitter on the team in Lincecum would be up. Now they'd have two outs, a play at EVERY base, and a man with a .143 OBP up at the plate. 85.7% chance of getting the batter out on his own, and you have a play at EVERY base.
So why bother putting a man on base for free, if it only puts you into an even worse position? Why would you want to not take a risk...and because of that put yourself in a riskier situation.
Absolutely horrible managing, horrible decision, and a decision that ended up costing them the game.
I don't get when a runner is on second, the announcers start talking about how "First base is open". Well, first base is open when a runner is on first as well. If you walk the next batter, you end up with the lead runner on second, and a man on first. Same situation as when "First base was open" after your intentional walk.
Yeah, you get the whole "play at any base" thing, but does that offset putting another runner on base without even trying to pitch to him?
Two outs, Buster Posey was on 2nd, "first base was open", and Pablo Sandoval was up. They intentionally walk Pablo, to get to Cody Ross, who was batting .406 over his last 10 games. If you haven't heard, Pablo has been referred to as a "free swinger" by some pundits. If you're planning on just GIVING him a base, why not give him four crappy pitches. A couple away, one chest high, one in the dirt. If he somehow doesn't swing, he gets the same walk he would've been given anyway. If he starts swinging, odds are fairly high that he makes bad contact on a bad pitch and hits a bad ball to somebody's glove. Worst case scenario is that he gets a hit and Posey scores. Best case scenario is that you get him out and end the inning.
But the Braves didn't want to take that tiny risk of a hit, and instead put him on base with no fuss whatsoever. And Cody Ross came up and got a hit, Posey scored. That was the only run the Giants needed. After that, Tim Lincecum struck out.
If the Braves were using the intentional walk to get into a more favorable position (play at every base!) then why not go ahead and walk Cody Ross, too! Go for broke! There will be a force at EVERY base, and the worst hitter on the team in Lincecum would be up. Now they'd have two outs, a play at EVERY base, and a man with a .143 OBP up at the plate. 85.7% chance of getting the batter out on his own, and you have a play at EVERY base.
So why bother putting a man on base for free, if it only puts you into an even worse position? Why would you want to not take a risk...and because of that put yourself in a riskier situation.
Absolutely horrible managing, horrible decision, and a decision that ended up costing them the game.
Oh, and Tim Lincecum
This week has been a ridiculous jumble of nerves and headaches and fever dreams and sea legs and indigestion and anticipation.
This morning I was blessed with the news of Jose Guillen not being on the Postseason roster. Brian Sabean gets a lot of crap, and a lot of it is pretty deserved. He resigned Bengie this year when a lot of people wanted to see Posey start. Posey wasn't ready to catch, so they had him...play 1st in AAA in the meantime...and then he got called up to get some on-the-job experience...and played 1 game at catcher while spending most of his time at...1st. Later Sabean stated that Posey was learning catcher by observing from 1st base. Yeah.
But he realized Bengie was done and admitted his mistake and traded him knowing that Bochy was never going to start Posey at catcher as long as Bengie was around.
We gave Guillen a shot. Bochy gave him lots of shots. He started many games. He looked really bad in RF. He had one really great game full of ribeyes. And he kept starting. And Sabean didn't put him on the roster, and because of that, Cody Ross got the start tonight, and was easily the most productive offensive Giant tonight. Timely walk, timely hit and THEE RBI of the game. Guillen would've had two double plays and an uncomfortable hobble to the outfield.
And Lincecum. Tim Lincecum pitched maybe the greatest game I have ever seen him pitch. 14 Strikeouts. Without looking it up I believe that would be his 2010 high. When Jason Heyward came up in the 9th I was a tiny bit nervous. Posey had a triple and a (ahem) completely 100% safe stolen base, and somehow Heyward was going to show him up in grander fashion. And then Lincecum. Timmy pitched to every part of the zone up down left right and finally got Heyward swinging at a wicked sinker right in the dirt...it was a thing of beauty. He made Heyward look like a rookie. A rookie! And let's face it, Heyward really hasn't looked much like a rookie all year.
Tim, your performance tonight makes me even more upset that I had to listen to every single pundit and expert and video blogger talk about how "done" you were in August. You were awful that month, and everybody panicked. And then September happened and I was there live for your first start and WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED IN AUGUST, TIM!?!? You had your mother and I worried sick and then you show up September 1st and struck out 9 and looked like our son again. Who was that man?
This is my first taste of October Lincecum, and by golly is it delicious.
Only 10 more wins to go.
This morning I was blessed with the news of Jose Guillen not being on the Postseason roster. Brian Sabean gets a lot of crap, and a lot of it is pretty deserved. He resigned Bengie this year when a lot of people wanted to see Posey start. Posey wasn't ready to catch, so they had him...play 1st in AAA in the meantime...and then he got called up to get some on-the-job experience...and played 1 game at catcher while spending most of his time at...1st. Later Sabean stated that Posey was learning catcher by observing from 1st base. Yeah.
But he realized Bengie was done and admitted his mistake and traded him knowing that Bochy was never going to start Posey at catcher as long as Bengie was around.
We gave Guillen a shot. Bochy gave him lots of shots. He started many games. He looked really bad in RF. He had one really great game full of ribeyes. And he kept starting. And Sabean didn't put him on the roster, and because of that, Cody Ross got the start tonight, and was easily the most productive offensive Giant tonight. Timely walk, timely hit and THEE RBI of the game. Guillen would've had two double plays and an uncomfortable hobble to the outfield.
And Lincecum. Tim Lincecum pitched maybe the greatest game I have ever seen him pitch. 14 Strikeouts. Without looking it up I believe that would be his 2010 high. When Jason Heyward came up in the 9th I was a tiny bit nervous. Posey had a triple and a (ahem) completely 100% safe stolen base, and somehow Heyward was going to show him up in grander fashion. And then Lincecum. Timmy pitched to every part of the zone up down left right and finally got Heyward swinging at a wicked sinker right in the dirt...it was a thing of beauty. He made Heyward look like a rookie. A rookie! And let's face it, Heyward really hasn't looked much like a rookie all year.
Tim, your performance tonight makes me even more upset that I had to listen to every single pundit and expert and video blogger talk about how "done" you were in August. You were awful that month, and everybody panicked. And then September happened and I was there live for your first start and WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED IN AUGUST, TIM!?!? You had your mother and I worried sick and then you show up September 1st and struck out 9 and looked like our son again. Who was that man?
This is my first taste of October Lincecum, and by golly is it delicious.
Only 10 more wins to go.
Veteran Gritiness, What Does it Mean?
As long as I've been a fan of the Giants (first game, 1987, age 6 yr. old) the Giants have loooooved bringing in veteran talent over the offseason, before the trade deadline, post-trade deadline waiver pickups, etc. The Giants have always loooooved the gritty veteran presence in their lineup. Many a veteran has gritted and grinded his way through the twilight of his career in a Giants uniform.
Gary Carter, Terry Kennedy, Dave Righetti, Danny Darwin, Darryl Strawberry, Joe Carter, Andres Galarraga (twice!), Dan Quisenberry, Ryan Klesko, Mike Stanton, Randy Johnson, Rich Aurilia, Jose Guillen (shudder), Steve Finley and on and on andonandonandon.
Sometimes it worked (2003 Galarraga!), sometimes it was Jose Guillen. But the intangibles. The intangibles. That's what these men have brought to the Giants over my lifetime. Sure, they may be slower on the field, sure some of them might not be actually...good...anymore...
But the intangibles are what these elder gentlemen have brought and will continue to bring to the table. That grounder that he didn't run out because he has two bad quads? Well behind closed doors he ran a really organized session of kangaroo court. That double that he legged into a 420 ft. single? Well, later that weekend he had a Nightmare on Elm Street marathon at his apartment and invited all the guys. They watched ALL of them, even the one with all the gay stuff.
Grit, Gumption, Horse Sense, Moxie, Presence, Get-Up-And-Go, they all had it!
Veteran Grittiness. I love the Giants, and I always will. They're in the playoffs right now and I'm tickled pink. Do we have gritty vetz this season? Of course. But we also have a bunch of Poseys and Bumgarners and Romos and Lincecums and Cains and Torreseses (32 yr. old, ahem) that have made me fall in love with them more than I can remember. Yes, there's torturous magic inside, but I've been glued to more Giants games this year than any season of my life.
So I'm going to blog about them. And baseball. And other stuff. I hope you want to read about all of the above.
Oh, and alternate names for the blog:
~Gettin' Cozy with Posey
~Bluster for Buster
~Total Whorres for Torres
~The Right Huff
Gary Carter, Terry Kennedy, Dave Righetti, Danny Darwin, Darryl Strawberry, Joe Carter, Andres Galarraga (twice!), Dan Quisenberry, Ryan Klesko, Mike Stanton, Randy Johnson, Rich Aurilia, Jose Guillen (shudder), Steve Finley and on and on andonandonandon.
Sometimes it worked (2003 Galarraga!), sometimes it was Jose Guillen. But the intangibles. The intangibles. That's what these men have brought to the Giants over my lifetime. Sure, they may be slower on the field, sure some of them might not be actually...good...anymore...
But the intangibles are what these elder gentlemen have brought and will continue to bring to the table. That grounder that he didn't run out because he has two bad quads? Well behind closed doors he ran a really organized session of kangaroo court. That double that he legged into a 420 ft. single? Well, later that weekend he had a Nightmare on Elm Street marathon at his apartment and invited all the guys. They watched ALL of them, even the one with all the gay stuff.
Grit, Gumption, Horse Sense, Moxie, Presence, Get-Up-And-Go, they all had it!
Veteran Grittiness. I love the Giants, and I always will. They're in the playoffs right now and I'm tickled pink. Do we have gritty vetz this season? Of course. But we also have a bunch of Poseys and Bumgarners and Romos and Lincecums and Cains and Torreseses (32 yr. old, ahem) that have made me fall in love with them more than I can remember. Yes, there's torturous magic inside, but I've been glued to more Giants games this year than any season of my life.
So I'm going to blog about them. And baseball. And other stuff. I hope you want to read about all of the above.
Oh, and alternate names for the blog:
~Gettin' Cozy with Posey
~Bluster for Buster
~Total Whorres for Torres
~The Right Huff
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