Category Archives: GBC Readers

GBC Reader Vol.2, Issue 5: Fights and Flights

09 Friday Jun 2017

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SFGiants (25-37), 4th in NL West

14 games back of Colorado, 3-7 in last ten games, road trip ended in Milwaukee with an extra innings win last night and home stand starts today against the surprising Minnesota Twins.

Since we last left you dear reader, Hunter Strickland decided to unilaterally employ the unwritten rules – on a two and a half year old personal grudge – and hit Bryce Harper square in the hip with a 98mph fastball in a two-run game we could have won.

A lot was written and said about it, but this piece by Jamal Collier at MLB is pretty succinct and without bias.

I was disappointed in Hunter, but since it happened I’ve cooled off. Maybe it was done at the exact right time – a ‘meaningless’ game in June with exacting precision to the hip – even Harper called the right way to do it.

I find the unwritten rules cool only when the whole team seems into it. I was with Buster on this one and I cannot believe the people who suggested he should have intervened. The guy just came back from a heater to the head!

But then last night, in a game that really felt like a turnaround game, Strickland came in for the first time since the incident and was scary and dominant. Made me wonder if maybe we need a guy like that.

There are a few pieces on how Samardzija is having an epic year but getting Cained hard. It’s a bummer.

 

 

Love ya fam

 

 

 

MTK

 

GBC Reader Vol. 2, Issue 4 – Slowly Improving Giants with Six Game Win Streak in May

18 Thursday May 2017

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The last ten days have been promising for the G-men. We took 3 of 4 from the Nemesis at the Yard! It was great. Kershaw beat us and Cueto got a little hot under the collar, resulting in a bench-clearing kerfuffle, but it was great to #BeatLA again.

We had a 17-inning game that ended on a Buster Posey walkoff HR! Around the Foghorn’s Vince Cestone ruminates it could be the game that turns things around.

Stat Man Doug Bruzzone has two pieces on our pitchers and our hitting that are interesting.

Barry Bonds is Finally Getting a Plaque on the Giants Wall of Fame

Brisbee’s take has a complete list of those honored and this gem: “If you’re agitated by the Belt Wars, you have no idea what it was like to live through the Great Snow Conflicts.”

While Haft has some nice, clean history and stats of the greatest power hitter to ever play the game (the GPHOAT) up on the Giants site.

Pence went on the DL and the Giants called Mac Williamson up. But he hasn’t done much yet. Christian Arroyo has been the star of May thus far. The rookie was called up and immediately brought fireworks and a clutch bat that seemed to juice the team. He needs a nickname and I prefer Spanky, case he looks like Spanky from Our Gang, but I am old, so it looks like the memory-less Millennials are gonna settle on The Kid or Boss Baby.

GBC Reader Vol. 2, Issue 3: Thankful to Turn the Calendar Page

01 Monday May 2017

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The first month of the season was turbulent, chaotic and unpredictable.

MadBum ripped two home runs on Opening Day, the only pitcher in history to achieve such a feat, and we lost. We scored a bunch of runs in the next several games and lost, then we lost Skip for a coupla games and a buncha guys for more and we lost, and then we didn’t score many runs and lost.

That adds up to 17 losses and a 9-17 month of April good for dead last in the National League West. There was always some weird issue in addition to the ones we were expecting – namely LF and the bullpen – and it’s apparent nobody’s comfortable except Johnny Cueto.

BASG sighting! SB’s take on the off-field difficulties stacking up for the G-men is a good read and very relevant.

Here’s AlPav’s Slideshow of Takeaways from the Giants opening month.

Daniel Sperry at Around the Foghorn calls the Giants’ April “Bad, Really Bad” but he includes some positives.

While his colleague Justin Rodgers asks and tries to answer what it will take to turn the season around.

Christian Arroyo is the star of the week: here’s Kaila Cruz at AtF on the kid. Everybody’s looking for a nickname and I am cool with #BossBaby.

BASG also chimed in loudly in favor of the Arroyo call up and brought up how the Boss Baby and Michael Morse have brought back the fun, reminding us of some of our fun times in the recent past.

On cue, here’s Michael Morse talking to Giants baseball bats to get hits out of ’em.

Ty Blach had another great start, pointed out by Michael Wagaman.

This is a team in transition from the World Series Championship Era (2010-2014), an era that’s deceptively long because Madison Bumgarner was almost single-handedly responsible for the last Championship, winning the WC play-in game and game seven at Kaufmann Stadium for us. The Nemesis has won the division four straight years while the Giants have just managed to stay in the playoffs twice via wildcard and #MadBum.

Our attempts to stay in it while re-organizing have been a war of attrition. Since the last Championship team, we’ve lost: Pablo Sandoval and Matt Duffy at 3B; Affeldt, Casilla, Lopez, Romo and Petit from the ‘pen; Vogelsong, Zito, Lincecum, Hudson, Peavy from the starters (and Cain has been absent).

ESPN Sr. Writer David Schoenfeld expands on this thought very effectively in his piece from a couple of days ago, Spring Setbacks Thwart NL Contenders and thankfully he includes the woes of the nemesis for some pain relief.

The nemesis and the Rockies and D-Backs have been tooling to win and it’s unrealistic in the modern game to expect to just fall back into the lead. It’s almost impossible to repeat as a champion these days. (There hasn’t yet been a back-to-back WS Champ in the 21st Century).

That said, when they’re rolling we have a pretty great starting rotation. Matt Cain has looked considerably better lately and though Samardzija is struggling now, I feel it is sort of his m.o. to pick it up as the season goes on. Bum, Cueto and Moore are legit playoff starters.

Brandon Crawford, Joe Panik, Hunter Pence and Buster Posey are all playing well. Though the bats with RISP are still just so bad.

Eduardo Nuñez and Denard Span have good at-bats and the platoon of LF are trying to find an identity. The addition of Morse is a real shot-in-the-arm.

The bullpen is a hot mess, but Mark Melancon is an elite closer and he has the capacity to anchor this squad and hopefully they can pull it together.

I am just blathering because we just don’t look very good right now … I don’t know what else to say, so I will just say

 

Go Giants!

 

love,

MTK

 

 

GBC Reader Vol. 2, Issue 2: 2017 Giants, a Work in Progress

18 Tuesday Apr 2017

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Well the first fourteen games (four series) of the season are behind us and a couple of things are already clear.

  1. The NL West is going to be a dogfight. The Rockies, Dodgers and D-backs all expect to be in the hunt.
  2. The Giants are unsettled in left field and in the middle inning bullpen.

Though we’re 5-9 and tied for last in the division with the Padres, we’re only four back because everyone in the NL West is actively beating up on each other. I have a strong feeling that’s how it’s going to be all year.

To get the Negative Nelly out of the way first, Grant Cohn of the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat is convinced after just 14 games that the Giants “dynasty is over,” and that we are not going to make the playoffs.

Me, I am not so sure. There’s a lot of baseball left to play.

Pluses and Minuses

Johnny Cueto is 3-0 while Madison Bumgarner has yet to win in three starts. Once again a Cy Young campaign for MadBum’s hamstrung early. sigh.

Our Gold Glovers Joe Panik and Brandon Crawford look awesome, but we lost Buster Posey to a fastball to the head. John Shea wrote this excellent piece on the after effects of getting hit in the head by a 90+mph baseball. It is reported that Posey may play in the series against Kansas City that starts tonight.

Nick Hundley has been really good in Posey’s absence, a stable veteran behind the plate who instills confidence in the position of backup C.

Nuñez ABs are fun to watch and he is a demon on the bases, but his play at third has been up and down. Let’s hope it’s early season stuff. I really like the guy.

Brandon Belt and Hunter Pence are looking good at the plate.

Matt Moore looks good for about 78- 85 pitches and then the drop off seems a little crazy. The fact Bochy doesn’t feel he can trust our ‘pen hurts in Moore’s starts.

But Mark Melancon turned around after his weak opening day showing and has looked considerably better.

Jeff Samardzija, like last year, is probably going to take a few starts to get going.

Matt Cain got a win! (Olney comments below)

LF has been a problem and it was compounded when Jarrett Parker made a great play only to crash into the wall and destroy his clavicle – gone eight to ten weeks.

On to the Reader

With Parker going down Chris Marrero could be seeing more time in left field. Kaila Cruz thinks that’s a good thing.

We traded Clayton Blackburn to the Rangers for a 21-year-old unproven utility infielder named Frandy De La Rosa – Brisbee explains why.

Jake Mastroianni has a closer look at the pitching and offense two weeks into the season.

Buster Olney had this to say about Matt The Big Horse and his win.

The Giants’ Matt Cain is facing a similar transition to the one that CC Sabathia has had to go through — adjusting to the reality that he cannot throw as hard as he used to and learning to mix his pitches differently. In Cain’s most recent start against Arizona, he did what catchers and pitchers refer to as pitching backward — by throwing breaking balls in counts in which pitchers typically throw fastballs and using his off-speed stuff to set up the less frequent use of his fastball. Cain allowed one run in five innings. Sabathia recalled an at-bat in which he pitched to Russell Martin a couple of years ago, when the left-hander had it in his mind that he would bust a fastball past his former teammate — but the best he could do was 90 mph, which Martin clubbed for a homer. Sabathia says now that he wishes he had started altering speeds with his pitches earlier in his career.

  • Buster Olney on ESPN

If you haven’t yet read the sweet, sweet quotes in AlPav’s look back at Madison Bumgarner’s relief appearance in Game seven of the 2014 WS in KC, do it now.

Love,

MTK

GBC Reader Volume 2, Issue 1: Torture While All Hail Madison Bumgarner

03 Monday Apr 2017

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Opening day in Phoenix was a massive, thick-beamed wood rollercoaster ride built by Madison Bumgarner that went off the rails in such a familiar manner it felt sickening – or for the less dramatic and more experienced fans, like typical Giants baseball.

During the frustration, I got into a Twitter discussion over the use of the word ‘torture’ to describe Giants baseball.

We all fell in love with Mike Krukow’s term in 2010 because it felt like a pure assessment of the near-misses that made it up: the earthquake, the 100 win season fail, the Angels in ’02, Pudge in front of the plate.

But personally, the torture I felt for 30 years was washed away by the immense wave of relief I felt on November 1, 2010 when we finally won it all for the first time in SF.

Giants fan Ted G, 57, disagrees. For him, SF Giants baseball is uniquely agonizing across decades win or lose. He thinks Krukow’s phrase, “Giants Baseball … Torture,” is emblematic of our pathos as an organization and the struggles we eternally endure.

“The term torture has nothing to do with not winning. Totally about how they go about creating situations that are torture.” – Ted G, @TedSFGman

I can see that, but whatever remnants of the feeling of torture that may have remained for me were certainly washed away by winning the way we did in 2012 – my favorite of the championships. We had to retire Melky Cabrera. Pablo hit 3Hrs – two off Verlander – and Romo dared and won with an incredible fastball to end it with Miggy looking.

Madison going out there in 2014 and ripping it away from the Royals cemented my feeling that we have earned well-deserved titles, establishing a kind of dynasty in an era when the back-to-back World Series championship has disappeared.

There hasn’t been a back-to-back World Series Champion in the 21st century. So for me, this ain’t torture any more, it’s working the details.

But enough about torture, lets get to

The first GBC Reader of the year:

It was a rough game because of the blown saves, but being opening day on the road, it really shouldn’t matter that much in the face of what Madison Bumgarner accomplished: the first pitcher in the 140 years of this game to hit two home runs on opening day put himself in position to win twice before the bullpen’s struggles came to bear. It was epic and #TheLegendofMadBum continues to grow.

Ashley Verala, the West Coast Fan Girl @wcoastfangirl has a sweet piece she calls Last True Renaissance Man of Major League Baseball about our Mad Bum.

Brisbee noted that Bumgarner was also the first Giant to hit two dingers on Opening Day since Barry Lamar. And Grant’s coverage of the debacle it became is actually considerably temperate – I think fatherhood is mellowing him out.

Hank is back in his seat for another long season and here’s his takeaways.

MLB dot com Columnist Joe Posnanski has some really excellent things to say about Madison’s performance, really putting the scale of MadBum’s audacity in nice perspective. He includes Statcast data regarding the speed of these HRs that if you haven’t checked out yet, you gotta see.

Haft chose to focus on MadBum’s dominance on the mound. Man, did he look good.

I like AlPav’s headline for his pretty close-up view of the guts of this one. Ruthian Game For the Ages from Bumgarner pretty much sums it up.

Baggs however seems to have felt more like I did. His piece drips with the wretched agony of cheating MadBum of the win.

But Mark Simon and Sarah Langs at ESPN were enthralled by our heroic pitcher.

I didn’t really have time to make this great, but hey, it’s the first one of the year. I’ll add some links later if I find more content.

I also apologized on Twitter for rage tweeting the value of Mark Melancon’s contract excessively yesterday. I am sorry. It was petty lashing out at the collapse and an irrelevant memory of last year that fueled my rage.

Which brings us to Jake Mastroianni’s piece about everyone who overreacted to the opening day loss.

Happy New Year everyone.

Love ya,

MTK

The GBC Reader, Issue 14: Final GBC Reader of the Year

03 Monday Oct 2016

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This was a really tough second half to endure – an exhausting grind.

I’m really proud of the Giants despite the epic collapse of the second half because they gutted it out. I’m proud they kept their eyes on the prize and just enough distance between us and the rest to do what we expected and make the playoffs.

Of course, I dreamed of winning the division, especially after our first half of the season, but I expected us to at least claim a wildcard, and it turned out to be a tough slog just to pull that off.

Kudos to Bobby Evans and co., for pulling the trigger on the Matt Duffy trade, without which I am unsure we would have done it. And for picking up Nunez, too.

Well on to the Reader:

Steve Berman sighting! The Bay Area Sports Guy found some pretty sweet stats

“I saw this on CSN and thought it was a small sample worth noting:

— in four starts at Citi Field, Madison Bumgarner is 4-0 with an 0.62 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 29 innings.

— Noah Syndergaard against the Giants: three starts, 3.66 ERA, 1-2 record, 14 strikeouts in 19.2 innings.”

and has some nice quotes and other data here.

Here is Brisbee’s piece on clinching.

And AlPav has his wrap of the season with CSNBA footage galore of the celebrations.

I don’t have much more except to say this will be the last of the GBC Readers because now I know we will all be reading everything out there together – making this compendium of links obsolete.

 

Let’s Go Giants!

 

 

Win It ALL!

 

 

 

come on Baby!

 

 

 

 

yeah!

 

The GBC Reader, Issue Thirteen: Headed to the Ravine to Seize Back the Division, Beat LA

22 Monday Aug 2016

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I was all excited to start the 13th Reader with a link to David Laurila’s excellent interview with Dave Righetti for Fan Graphs – a rare opportunity to hear Rags speak about pitching. It’s fascinating – particularly the comments concerning speed control and its importance to command.

I read it right when it came out and it was just so cool. I learned so much from just those few questions and answers. I was going to write about it, but then found Brisbee had already gushed, and since we agree materially that you should immediately go check it out, I didn’t.

Anyway I was all excited to get up and put it into this issue of the reader … but then this morning I had to endure Ken Rosenthal on Rich Eisen’s show talking about the gritty team in Los Angeles and how tough Chase Utley and Justin Turner and – “even the young guys”- Corey Seager are … gimme a break …

Then I had to watch them score 18 runs in Cincy in the day game that puts them a full game ahead of the Giants as we head into this week’s three game series down at Chavez Ravine – and now this reader is headed toward what’s wrong with us.

I am convinced we are the better, more stable and more experienced team. We’ve been on a streaky collapse, a downtrending rollercoaster, but it isn’t from injuries or bad play as much as difficulty getting things to gel.

We’ve been inconsistent in many aspects of the game at different times and we have a hard time getting it all to come together at once. But when it does, anyone can see we’re built to win.

We’re struggling to get long missing pieces to fit back together. Panik returned and took a while to warm up, and right when Pence got back he got a black eye. Here’s Brisbee on Hunter Pence‘s struggles since returning from the DL.

We’re working to bring on new guys – Eduardo Nunez and Matty Moore and Will Smith and others – Joe Nathan, possibly. Some of these are having moments of brilliance, but it isn’t easy to make it all work together right out of the box and there has been disarray.  Here’s Baggs on the Newest Giants and their struggles.

Make no mistake, we are going down there this week to Beat LA and seize back the division for good for the rest of the season. However, since we’ve fallen so mightily, there’s no shortage of “What’s Wrong With The Giants?” pieces.

John Shea did a genuine and honest inside-the-clubhouse piece about what the Giants themselves think is wrong with the energy or vibe of the team.

Around the Foghorn’s Laith Agha focuses on the hitting woes of the G-men and intends to address pitching as well, next.

Somebody called Mike Schwarz writing for something called isportsweb led with “The San Francisco Giants have been the worst team since the All-Star break.” – in this analysis of our woes.

On a lighter note, Speaking of Hunter Pence, ESPN Sr. Writer Eddie Matz did a nice little Burning Questions segment with the lanky, right fielder – such a personable and likable guy.

And Gregor Blanco’s White Shark Blog this week is a really heart-warming post about the guys on the bench – Conor Gillaspie, Ehire Adrianza, Trevor Brown and himself.

It was a well fought game that almost was a no-no for Samardzija: CSNBA posted the AP piece on Yespedes busting up Samardzija’s no-hitter.

Phil Rogers of MLB.com says the nemesis is better than us and will win the division.

But I believe in our team. Man, I hope we go down there and sweep the nemesis.

Beat LA.

 

 

 

 

Love,

MTK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The GBC Reader, Issue Twelve, As In a Dozen – with Four Dozen Games Left to Play, BCraw’s 7 Hit Game

12 Friday Aug 2016

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With 48 games left to play, the San Francisco Giants hold a one game lead over the nemesis in the NL West and have returned home to the confines of AT&T nee´ Pac-Bell Park for a much needed ten game home stand.

Hunter Pence came home with a black eye. Buster Posey’s face was all busted up. We lost a 1-0 CG by Bumgarner and we pounced on and beat Strasbourg. Brandon Crawford had a seven-hit game! We won a 1-0 game for Samardzija. It was a crazy trip.

But now we are home and we’re up a game and there are four dozen left to play. Here at Giants Baseball Corner we changed the avatar of the Twitter account to the one we have used for the stretch run since 2012, our photo of the dugout sign that was featured in the Emmy-award winning Episode 7 of SFG Productions Orange October.

25guys

I only have one wish left and that’s to see Bruce Bochy vs. Joe Maddon in the NLCS.

But I must be patient, be filled with fear and hope. I must focus on today. Win today.

ON TO THE GBC READER NUMBER 12:

Brisbee posted a really nice analysis of the way we swing the bat. What we hit, what we miss and how. I encourage you to read it ’cause there are silver linings galore.

Brandon Crawford had SEVEN HITS in a game! It was insane. He went 7 for 8! His batting average increased by 13 points in one night. It was boss. Doing what they do best, which is archiving, CSNBA and AlPav did a really cool bit covering two men to have seven hits in a game. While in Miami, they found the previous and they got them together. Was awesome.

Berman even wrote about Crawford’s wonder.

Baggs has a nice piece on a turning point for the bullpen. Stricky looking better, with more pitches and some command. Casilla coming back with a vengeance from the humiliation of the balk. Derek Law putting up numbers.

48 to play. Let’s get this done.

Win Today.

Have fun.

 

love,

MTK

 

 

The GBC Reader, Issue Eleven: Post-Trade Deadline Talk, Saying Hello to Will Smith and Bye to Duffman

04 Thursday Aug 2016

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Welcome gentle reader to The Giants Baseball Corner Reader, Issue 11, a compendium of links to stories and stuff about the Giants since the last GBC Reader.

BTW, You can always read all the Readers as a summation of the season to this point by clicking on the GBC Reader Category link to the right, and they all come up.

Steve Berman, Bay Area Sports Guy, hasn’t been writing much about the G-men this season, but the trade deadline brought this very nice analysis of what he figures the Giants did and why. Good piece.

AlPav has a nice get-to-know-ya with Will Smith, the Giants’ newest left-handed reliever. I am already on the record that anyone who makes an OBVIOUS pun about his name and the Hollywood actor who shares it, is boring me.

Brisbee still isn’t over the loss of Matt Duffy, which is kinda good because it inspired him to do one of his cool retro-looks at awesome Matt Duffy plays from his tenure with los Gigantes.

and the Rays decided to move Duffy to SS when he comes back up and their current SS was none to pleased to hear that news according to Baggs.

Oh! and in a crazy move in Philly, Balkin’ Bob Davidson threw out a drunk fan for yelling at him from behind the backstop. weirdness.

wild.

 

 

Let’s Go Giants!

bust the slump.

love,

MTK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The GBC Reader, Issue Ten: Season on the Blade’s Edge

26 Tuesday Jul 2016

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Well Dear Reader, the G-men have plummeted back down to earth in the second half. Though we are 58-41 and in first place in the NL West, that lead has shrunk from six and a half to just two and a half games after the 1-8 stretch since the All-Star Break.

Optimism is hard to find, but I have faith in Bochy and the staff because I know we  faced weird difficulties each of the previous times we won it:

  • Chase the D-Backs all year and take it from them the last weekend in 2010
  • Lose our best bat Melky Cabrera, one of the best hitters in baseball, in 2012
  • Forced into a committee of closers, having to send MadBum on short rest out to finish the job against the darlings of the nation at Kauffman in 2014

Maybe it’s par for the course. There has to be struggle for the championship to mean something. Maybe there aren’t going to be 100-game winners that often anymore. Maybe there is just so much parity in the long season of baseball, so much Law of Averages, that from now on there will never be a consecutive World Series Champion or end-to-end first place finishers.

I don’t know, but here’s GBC Reader Issue Ten, filled with doom and gloom.

  • Hank Schulman wrote an excellent break down of the pursuit for a reliever
  • AlPav talked to Skip about WTH happened on the road trip.
  • Baggs turned his blog over to Carl Steward, a joyful fellow who titled his piece cheerfully: “The Skid Continues, the Postseason Could be in Jeopardy, and the Trade Options Look Sketchy at Best.”
  • Brisbee is depressed, and not nearly as fun, but he humanizes when he is depressed which is nice.
  • And just so we end on a positive note, Berman showed up again to write about how cool Mac Williamson is.

And speaking of Mac Williamson, for me the biggest excuse is we’ve had three of our major bats out: Pence, Panik and Duffy – lotsa situational hitting, power, RBI’s, average on the DL there.

To their credit the rookies have worked hard and done pretty well filling in. One can’t expect them to produce like those three guys. I am glad they got experience here in July and it isn’t like last year when all the injuries hit us during the stretch.

 

 

I Still Believe.

 

Let’s Go Giants!

 

Love,

MTK

 

 

 

 

 

The GBC Reader, Issue Nine: Confidence is High Despite the DL

16 Saturday Jul 2016

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So the second half begins with the G-men in first place in the NL West holding the best record in baseball, which is why we lost last night naturally to the Padres for the first time this year and once again because we couldn’t provide enough run support for MadBum.

(I rewrote Take Me Out To The Ballgame last week so now I sing, “If They Don’t Win We Got Cained” instead of “If they don’t win it’s a shame”).

That said, the next few weeks should see the return of Hunter Pence, Matt Duffy and Joe Panik to our depleted lineup, so hopefully the hits start cranking up again.

It has been great  to see Sergio Romo back and really taking care of business, but personally, I want to add Aroldis Chapman to this lineup. Not so much because I distrust Casilla, but because I think a combo pack of Casilla and Chapman could be really devastating.

Once again, I didn’t watch the All-Star Game or the Home Run Derby. I really have ZERO INTEREST in the whole affair. I think my favorite part of  the All Star Game was that Brandon Crawford got well-deserved rest despite being the best short stop in the National League.

OK on to The Reader:

Here is Brisbee on the Giants’ schedule in the second half, but he tempers optimism by noting how easy  the Nemesis has it during this ride.

AlPav and the CSNBA crew covered rehab games of Pence and Cain and Panik

Before we leave the first half behind we HAVE to talk about that incredible outing by MadBum that ended our first half. He was utterly dominant in that start and the 14Ks were just … wow. I like Baggs on MadBum’s badass outing.

Steve Berman sighting! He weighed in on the Giants first half success.

Well that’s all I got this week. Let’s Go Giants!

Love,

MTK

 

 

 

The GBC Reader, Issue Eight: G-men Stay Hot, MadBum Has One for the Ages

03 Sunday Jul 2016

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First off, Madison Bumgarner was the first pitcher in 40 years to intentionally bat in an American League park as future HoF manager Bruce Bochy elected to refuse the DH in Oakland versus the A’s. It was rad … and it continues #TheLegendofMadBum

Here’s Brisbee’s tempered opinion on that game.

And here’s Andy Baggs waxing prosaic.

While AlPav’s take includes legends Kruk and Kuip chatting the coolness.

Obviously the injuries to arguably better, or at least day-to-day bats like Pence and Panik and Tomlinson made this decision possible and for me it is an excellent compromise to the insane lunatics who were asking MadBum to hit in the Home Run Derby – which I hope never happens.

Berman dropped in to write about the G-men during the hot streak. And indeed it felt to a lot of us like June Swoon was out of the picture until those pesky Swingin’ A’s came to town.

I haven’t been writing much but I did go on radio to talk Giants with Adam the Bull.

I also went to an American League game for the first time since 2012 (A’s vs. Mariners then) and got to see Big Papi’s likely last hit in Texas as the Red Sox came to Dallas.

The Rangers beat the Crimson Hose in both games I went to, and they looked really good doing it. Shin-Soo Choo was very impressive. And a lot of the Rangers can hit. I saw Prince rip one down the line for a homer that was an awesome display of power.

all right more when I get a chance.

Go Giants!

Love,

MTK

The GBC Reader, Issue Seven: Proof Positive This Is a Better Way to Post and … 69!

16 Thursday Jun 2016

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Much has happened, dear reader, since we last left our intrepid heroes facing the absence of Hunter Pence for two months.

After a smashing May for the second year in a row, the Giants opened June with two losses and there was a palpable Swoon/Gloom vibe that needed conquering.

Strangely, the conquering came during one of the losses … in the form of Brandon Belt finally achieving the long-anticipated Splash Hit 69.

It was, in a word, glorious.

The guy who jumps in the cove and grabs the ball from …. was it Splash Hit Steve, Dave? I don’t even know, but the story of long awaited SH69 lived up and then some. Everybody’s favorite number – men, women, straight and gay alike – was amidst a crazy week of SF Giants action.

We are on a 5-game win streak and at one moment we were SIX games ahead of the nemesis in first place in the NL West. Cueto has been masterful and has achieved 10 wins. MadBum rolls on like a machine on the mound and winning games at the plate. Samardzija has struggled lately but is generally on top of his game. Peavy has picked up his game with four straight strong starts and the relievers are responding well to relief by committee.

I want to take a minute to commend the improvisational skills of Bruce Bochy. It is one thing for us to proclaim him a Hall of Fame manager, it is another to see him do this time and time again and realize we are witnessing WHY he is a HoF manager.

Bruce Bochy and staff have been precisely improvisational in the three World Series Championship years. Forced to deal with crazy circumstances – Melky’s sudden banishment, closer-by-committee, Huff’s bunt.

I’m amazed this year that the improvisation seems ahead of the curve – we get Pence back in August when it matters; we’re exploring how to fill the Cain injury gap, bringing guys up for experience.

How has there not been a feature on Bruce Bochy, Rags, Wotus and co.? Personally I think the guy to do it is Flan and the network is MLB. I want some respect for what we have achieved these seven years and I don’t think they get it yet, but I know Flan could explain.

I also want to be distinctly clear about this MadBum in the HR derby nonsense. the Home Run Derby is a circus act that makes money for MLB and the broadcasters. I don’t watch it now and I absolutely don’t want Madison Bumgarner to risk injury to make money for MLB and Fox or whomever.

 

The GBC Reader, Issue 6:April Showers Bring May Giants Wins, the Nostalgic Goodbye to Big Time Timmy Jim

22 Sunday May 2016

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Been a while … ha!

The Giants turned it around with an eight game winning streak in which neither Peavy nor Cain hurt us, ’til Peavy finally did. It’s put us up 3.5 games on the NL West and with The Big Horse’s effort on Preakness Day against the Cubs? The best team in the league? It felt really really nice

Lincecum signed with the Angels … that happened.      sigh.

Tim Lincecum signed with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to be a starting pitcher in a struggling rotation for a one-year contract. It’s really tough for us to have memories or nostalgia about Timmy. I just feel so sad he isn’t a Giant. We love Big Time Timmy Jim around here. He brought us our first World Series Championship. and was the stable force against great talent like Strasborg. and when he had his 1000th strikeout against the Nats as well.

We will always love the lithe little Freak with ice in his veins who beat the Phillies and Rangers to bring San Francisco its first World Series Championship.

Jason Heyward made an incredible catch at the yard and reminded me of Pagan or Freddy Sanchez throwing himself out too early. That said. It was a great catch and luckily he’ll be okay.

I think Casilla is getting a bum rap.

Peavy is a nightmare.

Crazy that we can beat the best team in baseball behind Madbum tonight.

We should.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The GBC Reader, Issue 5: John Shea With Fresh SP-in-the-8 Data, Brisbee Covers the State of the Shift and some Cool Barry Lamar

25 Monday Apr 2016

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Giants got a couple back against the Marlins, but the last one we should have won … and let get away. Josh Osich may just need a second after the week he had. Consecutive beanings of the same DBacks player the second of which led to a bench-clearing, followed by giving up the dinger that cost us the last game. Ouch.

Just a quick Reader this week to feature, as usual, a few good bits you may have missed. In the parlance of our times ICYMI:

John Shea has an excellent piece on early returns from the experiment of using the Starting Pitcher in the 8-spot (which we of course love so much here at GBC). It’s too early to say anything definitive, but I LOVE that Bochy is committed to a serious sample size. This early data will be immensely useful down the road.

Brisbee has data about the infield shift and how the G-men aren’t doing it as much that is pretty interesting.

And with Barry Lamar back in town with the Marlins, Gutierrez at ESPN wrote about it, thusly, but I really loved this moment: Bonds seems so relieved of bad and idiotic and rude and hateful press. It is nice to see him laugh … and to hear him brag about himself again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The GBC Reader, Issue Four: Struggles on the Road, Infield Errors, Relievers Injured and Back to .500

19 Tuesday Apr 2016

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It’s absurdly early in the season, so there’s no reason to panic – because the Giants have shown us what they’re capable of in flashes of brilliance with the lineup we’re currently fielding: we had come-from-behind wins and a home run parade to start the season.

Still, other than Johnny Cueto’s start, the last week has been a bummer. Infield errors lost us a MadBum start in Chavez Ravine and we eventually lost that series to the Nemesis, three games to one.

The last one was one that got away. Jeff Samardzija (the #Smarj) was looking great, but one mistake to the phenom Joc Pederson was all it took for the Nemesis to pull out the win. Our bats went silent against new Japanese Nemesis Maeda.

Then last night in Arizona we had the lead three times and couldn’t hold on, with Santiago Casilla failing to close – his second blown save in five chances – and the snakes winning in extras.

Injuries, especially to the relievers, are playing a role in this. Romo and Kontos are now down for 15-day DLs, and the one game we lost BCraw turned into error-filled madness in the infield that cost Bumgarner a win. But I would much rather be injured now than in August – last year was a drag.

So the silver lining is that it’s early. Rather it might be good to take a look now down the road. Steve Berman’s got a piece on 10 Important Questions for the Giants season.

And at least Matt Duffy’s slump may not be as bad as you imagine, according to Brisbee.

Enjoy the Reader!

Love,

MTK

Go Giants!

 

The GBC Reader, Issue 3: feat. Baggs, AlPav, Haft and Brisbee

27 Sunday Mar 2016

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Welcome to the Giants Baseball Corner link archive, a reader of contemporary SF Giants stories of interest to us:

Andrew Baggarly has a nice longform piece here wherein he talks closely with Posey about his relationship with the new pitchers and with Samrdzija about his approach. Posey is such a valuable member of the San Francisco Giants – here Baggs has him actually sitting down and watching film with Cueto and Samardzija, functioning like an on-field player-coach. We are so blessed to have MVPosey.

Cool thing is, it may well have worked already, ’cause Samardzija had his best outing yet as we beat the Cubs 5-2. Duffy homered and drive in two – here’s AlPav and CSNBA on that game

Chris Haft has an up-to-date piece on who might make the Giants bench and remarks that versatility is going to be in high demand.

Brisbee on the value of the SF Giants being Two and a Quarter Billion Dollars.

BASEBALL SEASON IS JUST A WEEK AWAY!!!!!!!!!

love,

MTK

GBC Reader, Issue 2 – WOO HOO WE’RE PUTTING PITCHERS IN THE 8-SPOT

22 Tuesday Mar 2016

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I’m nothing if not petty about being hungry for acknowledgment from our community when I’m out ahead of something – it’s a terrible result of my insecurity. So like a petulant child I’ve been YELLING on Twitter that all last July and August I was calling for the Starting Pitcher to hit in the 8-slot.

I was tweeting we should do it well before Maddon did so successfully when the Cubs swept us out of Wrigley, taking four games last August on their way to the DS.

I mention this to say that our flavor here at GBC is basically avant-garde.

We propose all kinds of things, some of which aren’t popular (like when we wanted to start Peavy against Pittsburgh in ’14, for fear of not being able to use MadBum twice or even thrice in the division series) and some of which become implemented to success (like in 2010 when we pushed Bochy to let the new guy Javier Lopez share some of Affeldt’s outings), and some of which get implemented to failure …

but generally we are looking ahead.

So I LOVE this move by Bochy and am thrilled we’re starting the season with this as a protocol, from which to develop the concept against competition all year long. I hope we stick with it long enough to get a decent sample-size.

I am SUPER-FREAKING-EXCITED to finally see Madison Bumgarner hit in the 8-slot on Opening Day and to see Peavy in that position in the opener against The Nemesis at the yard this year! Peavy moves over runners against Kershaw? Yes, please.

The Giants play a day/night double today with Peavy on the mound taking on Mat Latos (now throwing for the White Sox) in the day game and Ty Blach, a 6’2″ and 200lb, 25-year old, pitching the night game against De La Rosa of the Snakes. But let’s get  to the Reader:

Brisbee projects his starting lineups for Opening Day with the recent round of departures for various layers of the organization

Brandon Belt went 4-4, homered and drove in four runs against the Rockies!

Here’s AlPav on the game March 18, when the Giants had it all working … from his piece:

“With every starting position player on the field for the first time this spring, the Giants beat the Padres 15-6 and scored 10 runs in the first two innings. When manager Bruce Bochy started pulling starters in the top of the fifth the Giants had 12 runs on 13 hits.

“There’s always some electricity the first time everybody gets out there together,” Buster Posey said. “It was nice to score some runs like we did. Hopefully it’s a sign of good things.””

Jeff Samardzija is riding out the idea that Cactus League is for working shit out. It definitely worries me a little, but it’s true these games don’t mean anything. Anyway,  Here’s Haft on the Shark’s attitude given his poor outings in terms of results.

Go Giants.

Love,

MTK

The GBC Reader, Issue 1: Cueto Drilled, Bonds Drills, Berman Predicts and Hesto’ll Play

16 Wednesday Mar 2016

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Hey everyone, excited for the season and I’m going to try a new type of post this year that I’m calling The GBC Reader, which I hope will serve as a link archive of current stories and topics of interest, because I feel like there’s a TON of coverage already of our Giants that’s a little redundant.

So instead of just repeating what Marty or Hank or Haft or Brisbee or AlPav or Baggs or KNBR or CSNBayArea has already, I’m going to drop these every three or four days or every week or ten days …let’s just say “as necessary,” to collect interesting pieces in one place – hence, a reader … like these:

  • Johnny Cueto on the first pitch of a night game against Oakland, got drilled in the forehead, which was pretty scary, but he got up and was all right. He stayed in the game and was diagnosed with a contusion, but not a concussion … here is a comprehensive piece by Haft on the matter.
  • Brisbee, predicting a lot of playing time for Chris Heston has some in-depth on the young hurler who became the first Giant rookie to throw a no-hitter (vs. the Mets last year).
  • At age 51 and as batting coach for Miami, Barry Bonds aka The Greatest Power Hitter to Ever Swing a Baseball Bat, defeated a bunch of Marlins – including Giancarlo Stanton – in a HR hitting contest. Brisbee, of course, gushed, but I really like the video clip at the top of this piece on CSNBayArea in which Barry speaks frankly about how he knows he is a Hall of Famer and the fraternity of people, like me and everyone here at GBC, who know it, too. Love you, Barry Lamar.

All righty, that’s GBC Reader No. 1, for ya then … don’t all rush to read it at once.

Love,

MTK