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 Trade Deadline Was Smart and Effective Use of The SF Giants System Under Sabean, Boch, and Evans

02 Tuesday Aug 2016

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A lot of fans were emotional yesterday upon hearing the news the SF Giants had traded Matt Duffy, but I was surprised long-time fan Grant Brisbee was among them – he practically wept. I figured old guys like us were used to the business of baseball and would leap to the evaluation of the statistics of the swap – which he did of course, through his tears.

Me, I found the trade an excellent use of a system we’ve developed with great effort and the right balance of stats and human evaluation in the near-decade since Barry Lamar stalked off into the sunset of post-Giants life.

Sure, I’ll miss Matt Duffy, but he only played for us for two years. It was an intense and impressive couple of years because he had to step into Pablo Sandoval’s big shoes, but I don’t grow that attached to players that fast no matter who they are. It takes me a while to want to make someone “untouchable,” as Posey and Bumgarner are.

Actually, I can remember when fans – terrified about the absence of Panda and failure of McGehee – wanted to trade Matt Duffy for a “real third baseman,” in his rookie year.

And speaking of Panda – a home grown third baseman who was with us through three World Series wins and instrumental in at least one – I do and will miss the Pablo we all loved: an incredible Giant, with huge personality, beloved for his simple, crazy humanity.

Besides, I know Matt Duffy has a long career ahead of him and will excel wherever he plays. I will be watching this guy for a few years to come and heck, he could end up back with us with the way the business of baseball works.

We have done what we set out to do. We have grown our talent at home and added missing pieces to create championship teams, not once, but thrice in the last six years. It has been a stunning achievement, and I think a lot of fans have taken the subtle moves for granted.

It was inevitable that at least one or two or even some of all this home grown talent would have to be used as chips to gain the missing pieces needed. In this case we gave up a lot to get the specific missing elements of our pitching staff, and I for one, am glad we had the guts and aggressiveness to go all-in.

I do not know if Matt Moore and Will Smith are the answer, but I DO know that once they get in Buster Posey’s capable hands for the month of August they’re likely to be much better prepared for a championship run than they have ever been in their lives.

What the Giants have done these last six years is almost unheard of in the modern era. We have kept our coaching staff intact, core players aboard in Posey, Bumgarner, Cain, Lopez and Romo. Turned homegrown talent such as The Brandons, Crawford and Belt, into All-Stars and snagged and locked-up Hunter Pence.

We managed Angel Pagan and Gregor Blanco in balance with rotating OFs. We squeezed the last bits of greatness from Cody Ross, Marco Scutaro, Ryan Theriot, Jake Peavy and Tim Hudson.

We’ve had great coaching at farm club levels resulting in consistently good play from rookies and newcomers to the team. Bruce Bochy is a first-ballot Hall of Fame Manager at this point, and his staff, again mostly intact (MISS YOU, FLAN!) are an amazing group.

If we had rested on our laurels and not made a trade for the essential relief and starting pitching support we needed, I’m not sure we could beat this year’s Cubs. Now I feel we have a legitimate shot not only to achieve that in Bochy vs. Maddon I, but go on to win it all.

Matt, you were a great Giant and that is what made you valuable and in-demand. We will miss you and I wish you all the best in Tampa. I am confident you will excel. I hear you are returning to SS and it must be cool to be with your Dirtbag mentor, Evan Longoria. Enjoy yourself and knock ’em dead.

Meanwhile, turning back to August …

Welcome aboard Matt Moore and Will Smith. Get your gear from Murph, perk up and pay attention. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND LISTENING TO BUSTER POSEY.

Let’s all pull it together and go out there and Even-Year-the-Shit-Outta-This-Thing.

Go Giants,

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

 

 

 

 

 

Remembering and Forgetting the 1-7 Road Trip to Fenway and Yankee Stadium

25 Monday Jul 2016

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ugh.

I hate Inter-League.

I’ve NEVER liked it.

have been forced to tolerate it by idiots who spend absurd amounts of their energy trying to destroy the beautiful chess match that is the National League game. These loud, brutish and impatient fans are incapable of enjoying the game of baseball at its own pace.

So they’ve shoved Inter-League down our throats, as they do with the incessant and obnoxious demands we add Designated Hitters and limit the number of pitchers we can use.

I hate you people. Why can’t you just leave us alone?

You go watch AL ball and leave us alone to happily watch NL ball. I honestly think it would be way better for the game to go back to NO Inter-League games in the regular season and have the AL and NL meet only twice: in the ASG and the WS.

The AL fans can make all the changes they want to the game and they can let us real fans of baseball have our chess match. You go watch your blunt instrument version of the game and we will enjoy our defensive battles and five-tool play.

We’re not going to see the Yankees again for a while, since they aren’t in smelling distance of a wild card. It was fun to wax nostalgic about 1921 and 1962 and all the years between, but I really could not care less about these games.

I guess I’m not really too mad we went 1-7 and had such horrible outings offensively. We were playing three rookies every game. And in fact, we got some great plays out of them. It was good to give them experience. I am proud that our record is so strong we can withstand six losses and still lead the NL West and have the second best record in the majors.

Well, whatever … so glad we’re back home.

Let’s Go Giants, CRUSH the Reds.

 

Love,

MTK

 

 

 

 

The 1962 World Series Between The Yanks and Our SF Giants

22 Friday Jul 2016

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We’re playing in New York City against the Yankees this week, and immediately my thoughts turn to Willie McCovey whose line drive that could have won the first World Series in San Francisco was caught by Bobby Richardson in Game 7, beginning a 27-year World Series appearance drought for the G-men.

 

Hence my two new hashtags:

#BeatTheYanksForMcCovey

#SweepTheYanksForMcCovey

WillieMcCoveyMTK2012

Many long time fans associate the Game Seven loss with intense feelings not only because of the drought that followed, but because the drought implied we couldn’t win it all in San Francisco. The implication that we were somehow cursed not to win in SF grew for another 26 years and it’s the basis for the intense feeling of relief we all felt when at last we won in 2010.

The history of the ’62 Series fascinates decades later because of the incredible talent on both sides, but among fans I have interviewed about it, there lingers a feeling that the Giants let this one get away. So many of us ache for Willie McCovey.

Rather than share my interest in it, which would just be more historical slather, here are links to three from the net that might interest you:

From Wiki:

“This World Series, which was closely matched in every game, is remembered for its then-record length of 13 days, caused by rain in both cities, and its appropriately dramatic conclusion. The Yankees took the Series in seven games for the 20th championship in team history. The Yankees had won their first World Series in 1923; of the 40 Series played between 1923 and 1962, the Yankees won half.

The Giants had a higher cumulative batting average and lower earned-run average, hit more home runs, triples, and doubles, yet lost the Series.”

And here is the MLB’s one-hour World Series Film about the entire 1962 World Series

FUN!

Go Giants!

 

 

 

mtk

 

 

 

 

 

Who will be our Scutaro, Ross, or Peavy This Year?

20 Wednesday Jul 2016

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The Trade Deadline is 11 days away and it is clear the Giants, like many other teams, need a consistent reliever who can close. But I think we also need another bat even though Panik, Pence and Duffy are coming back. I would love to pick up a DH-style bench bat that can produce runs. If it’s an outfielder, even better.

Who will these players be?

Well, the Marco Scutaro or Cody Ross or Jake Peavy of 2016 will likely NOT be Aroldis Chapman as it looks like the efforts of the Cubs or Nationals are more intensely focused than ours to get him.

Evans was on Buster Olney’s podcast and said they’re actively scouting in Philadelphia and New York and elsewhere looking for the reliever, but that most of baseball is doing the same. He also said the Giants would have to find someone better than what we currently have for us to make a move. This is going to take some effort to pull off.

Grant Brisbee listed whom he thought qualified as better than what we have over at McCovey Chronicles on Monday:

  1. Aroldis Chapman
  2. Andrew Miller
  3. Dellin Betances
  4. Alex Colome
  5. Ryan Madson
  6. Ryan Dull
  7. Will Smith
  8. Arodys Vizcaino (DL)
  9. Hector Neris
  10. Tyler Clippard
  11. Daniel Hudson

“Maybe add in Huston Street and/or Joe Smith if you’re still a believer, but you get the point. Some of those up there are stretches. Some of them, like Dull and Betances, probably aren’t even available because they’re young and cheap. And because I’m a moron, I’ve almost certainly missed a couple. Still, that’s close to the full list of pitchers I might trust more than Hunter Strickland, Derek Law, and Sergio Romo in the eighth inning. That’s 18 teams looking for impact relief help and maybe — maaaaaaybe — 11 relievers who qualify. – GB”

He goes on to argue that Giants don’t seem to have enough to deal to beat out some of the other teams that are looking for relievers as well.

It is a conundrum.

 

 

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.

 

Belated Apology to Jake Peavy

10 Friday Jun 2016

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Wrote this ten days ago but didn’t have internet access to upload it.

June 1st, 2016
Giants Baseball Corner

I owe Jake Peavy an apology.

Jake, on your 35th birthday you were a badass.

I don’t know anyone who can say they dominated a Major League Baseball team from the mound and, being that it’s the NL, scored the winning run on their 35th birthday. That was awesome.

An aside: on my 35th birthday, my girl was three months pregnant with our son. I was shuttling back and forth between SF and LA working on projects. My girl was working for a major magazine down in LA. We were Giants fans in LA the year we we’d go to the WS and lose to the Angels. T’was rough.

As a former BoSox pitcher you must have seen the type of fan I am before … pining for years for victory, way too focused on irrelevant details. Quick to anger and panicky. Man, I am dumb.

That now 13-year-old boy and I got to see you pitch live for the first time this year, on Opening Day at the Yard. It was a rough start for you and in the subsequent weeks, I was critical of your performance and said some things I shouldn’t have. I apologize.

Sometimes, I’m the worst kind of fan – the one who vests too much into things that don’t matter, driven by my anxety and love for the team’s success.

Your game yesterday and the start before it put me in my place. I appreciate what all you have done for this team. The great starts are great and I will try harder to understand how difficult the game must be during the poor ones.

Well done, Jake, Happy Birthday.

Thanks for your efforts and let’s get Johnny a second ring!

MTK

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lincecum Showcase

10 Tuesday May 2016

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It’s been an up and down couple of weeks for the Giants – with Bumgarner, Cueto and Samardzija providing the ups and Peavy, Cain and the batting lineup bringing us down.

And of course last Friday brought the highly anticipated Tim Lincecum Showcase, made glaringly significant by the failure of Cain and Peavy. I watched the Lincecum showcase on the ‘net and my opinion is:

1. CSNBayArea still sucks. Their cameraman was an idiot who set himself up in the wrong position (directly behind the plate) and kept fiddling with the zoom button – making it practically impossible to fairly judge what Timmy was doing. And they had no gun.

So basically, CSNBayArea capitalized on the interest to make us all watch it on their site and, typically, gave us a crap product to watch. CSNBayArea remains so transparently interested in their own bottom line and drawing in non-baseball fans – being the soccer mom’s channel for watching baseball. When it comes to anything that matters, they can’t even film it right.

2. I’m glad John Shea (@SheaHeyKid) was there because he is reasonable and sound of judgement, but also because he provided some of his own footage from an angle that made it easier to see what was happening.

3. That said, to me, Timmy looked a little off-balance at first, most likely a bit of nerves, and then settled down by using a really good-looking breaking ball,  which seems to have impressed everyone else, too.  He also worked location on the fastball, which was average. If, as everyone says, he touched 92 and averaged 90-91mph, then the location on those fastballs was not bad. I think against a real batter, and with a real ump it would be much easier to judge.

4. And so in conclusion, 41 pitches, facing no batter in front of a handful of scouts is no way to judge if Tim Lincecum is ready to be a starting pitcher in the major leagues again.

However, Jake-Ed and Matty are pitching really, really, poorly right now. Nobody is afraid to just jack them, seemingly at will. They have cost us every single week and are hampering the starting three SPs and the rhythm of the team.

I could easily see offering Tim Lincecum a deal where he gets to work himself up to being a starter and gets his shot, as long as he is willing to return to the ‘pen as long relief if it goes poorly. I would be content with that. Tim Lincecum is beloved in the Bay Area. I would be proud to have him back.

We can’t deal Matt Cain because we owe him too much money, but we could deal Jake-Ed, who has two rings with two teams in the last three years and thus has trade value as a veteran with experience.

Conclusion: Promote Heston and sign Timmy. Keep looking for an SP before trade deadline, when we rid ourselves of Peavy.

Giants in Queens, no wait … I mean Flushing: Common Misconceptions

30 Saturday Apr 2016

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The New York Metropolitans play in Flushing Meadows, which is kinda … Queens, a borough of New York. There are 5 boroughs. So our history is related to all this:

OK. so. Shea stadium was in Flushing. It neighbored Citi Field.

The Giants played at the Polo Grounds, which was in upper Manhattan – which is what made them NEW YORK.

Brooklyn, which is just south of Queens, is where the Dodgers played.

BOTH teams, the Giants and the Dodgers moved to the West Coast in the same year.

1958.

In 1958, the Giants moved from Manhattan to San Francisco, and the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.

… which is why we believe we have a 132-year rivalry.

Now, the Mets, the Metropolitans, are a new New Queens, I mean Flushing, entity … which is another borough than Manhattan … so …

any baseball Giant fan, like Jaromir Jagr, who wishes the Giants still play in New York when we visit the Mets, when they play in Queens … is kind of a false-nostalgia person.

This is the whole point of the Manhattan being in SF and the Brooklyn being in LA.

 

 

GBC Off Day FLASHBACK: Opening Day 2016 at the Yard

28 Thursday Apr 2016

Posted by in Commemorations, full games, Opening Day, SFG Off Day Posts, Tony Bennett

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Another new feature at GBC this season is a FLASHBACK day on SF Giants off days.

Today’s feature is our delightful opener at the yard vs. the nemesis. I’m just going to stack up a bunch of short form videos and at the end drop in the three long form ones of our view of the day.

Here’s all that, in approximate chronological order. Enjoy. Love, MTK

Specs

D-Span’s first Home RBI as a Giant

G-men take the lead, courtesy Joe Panik

and here is the LONG FORM stuff … but I think section two is wrong … but what is on there is a score in which there is a slide at the plate and I can’t find the clip now … so …

Definitely Part One and Three are cool.

Part Two: the one I think is wrong ..

and Part Three which includes Tony Bennett loosely in the background …

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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!

 

Consensus Opinion Among Giants Fans? Screw Coors Field! Giants Lose Series 1-2

15 Friday Apr 2016

Posted by in Series Recaps

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Game One

It is easy to forget the lone victory in our three games in Colorado, but it is important not to do so. Jeff Samardzija looked as good as he has yet looked in a Giants uniform and the Giants took Game One of this series 7-2, behind a stellar performance by The Shark.

Samardzija went seven strong innings, gave up just two runs and six hits, striking out four. He had two walks, but managed the game well and was in control of a tough Rockies lineup throughout.

The Giants continued their Home Run hit streak throughout the series and rookie C Trevor Brown had two in that first game, bringing his total to three for the year – his first three hits in the majors are all home runs! Hunter Pence added another two-out, two-run homer in support and the Giants were looking good.

Then the wheels fell off …

Game Two

Jake Peavy is going to be a problem unless he can right himself quickly. His opening day start at the yard in which he put us in a 0-5 hole in the first four innings, was calamitous and in Colorado his second start was worse. He was shellacked by the Rockies early and often.

Jake Peavy gave up a NY/SF Giants franchise-high 10 Extra Base Hits in this one – the most allowed by a pitcher since Curt Schilling gave up 10 for Boston on Aug. 10, 2006, against Kansas City. It was seriously ugly.

Arenado homered twice, Peavy was a total meltdown. The Rockies ended the day with 12 XBH and a blowout, defeating the Giants 10-6. Brandon Belt did homer in this one to keep the Giants Home Run streak alive at nine games.

Game Three

Matt Cain came into the rubber match as a question mark, as usual. Which Matt Cain would we see? Well, for four innings the answer was AWESOME MATT CAIN.

Cain was precise, throwing 92- and 93-mph fast balls to great success. It was a thing of beauty long-forgotten since we hadn’t seen him this sharp in a while. It was pretty exciting for a few innings there.

Then all of a sudden in the fifth, Cain gave up a dinger, then a double and then found himself in a chippy battle with Craig Wolters, who finally just barely got the best of Matty with a bloop flare over the head of Matt Duffy. That was the beginning of a collapse that ended in embarrassment as the Giants gave up 9 runs in the 5th inning.

In this one, Matty had struck out Arenado twice and was to face him in the fifth with the bases loaded, but Boch decided Matt was done after a 35+pitch inning that had him on the hook for those three base-runners. He brought in Chris Heston who was pitching on consecutive days for the first time in his young career. Hesto gave up a double to Arenado and the run-parade began.

Meanwhile, Jorge de La Rosa pitched a great game and managed the Giants bats well. This was a tough loss. Belt managed to homer again though – a bright spot is our ten game homer streak.

But at  the end of the day, the Giants gave up 31 hits in the last two games to these Rockies at altitude, prompting a lot of fans on twitter to express their hatred for Coors Field once again.

Some injury news, Romo is out temporarily with an elbow thing. Brandon Crawford had to leave with a flexor flare, and Posey who was held out a couple of games to help heal his toe, came back and caught well for Cain during his comeback 4 innings.

Glad to be out of Colorado and on to face the Nemesis in Chavez Ravine with MadBum v. Kershaw II tonight at 7:10pm.