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No One Has Yet Won Back-To-Back World Series in The 21st Century

05 Saturday Sep 2015

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… and with our current seven-game slide, looks like there won’t be one now.

I am quite proud of our biennial success. 2010, ’12 and ’14 represent, at least in the absence of back-to-back championships, a kind of a dynasty. I call it the Bruce Bochy Era and it has been a blast! an incredible ride!

I’m not giving up on us yet, but being swept in LA after losing two to the Cardinals at home put us in need of desperation wins. Every game counts and the loss to the Rockies last night just about puts us away.

It has been another roller coaster season, horrible opening, followed by the best team in baseball in May, then an epic June swoon that turned right into an excellent July.

Injuries claimed our month of August.

HEY, MLB: STOP THROWING AT AOKI-SAN!

The absence of Pence and Panik and Pagan and Aoki at the critical juncture of our season killed us. But the bright spots were brilliant – starting with the National League Rookie of the Year performance put in by Matt Duffy. The Duffman was fantastic.

Joe Panik had an incredible year and Brandon Crawford had his best year yet in every statistical category. Kelby Tomlinson and Josh Osich, rookies who debuted and performed exceptionally well under pressure, were another bright spot.

Cain’s problems, Huddy’s age, and Lincecum’s hip were a bummer, but Chris Heston threw the first no-hitter by a San Francisco Giant rookie in over a century!

Posey was excellent and our hitting was the best in the league for long stretches, with almost five guys hitting over .300!

It isn’t over, but I thought I would wax philosophical about the road to now.

Go Giants, do the impossible – win back-to-back for the first time in the 21st century!

Believe We Can Win Back-To-Back World Series with Champs Blood

09 Sunday Aug 2015

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Sigh. At this moment we’ve lost three of four games in Chicago and are down 2-0 in the last.

Last night, Brian Murphy, typically, doomsaid in the towel;

but our pitching is a hot mess from starters to the ‘pen and losing Joe Panik has sent our batting order round the bend. It’s an odd year and we look cooked. So Brian took to roasting the team.

This was the day after George Kontos muted me on twitter for sending a tweet saying the ‘pen has to tighten up … I suggested maybe we should all go out and throw darts together.

Yo, George! I meant it seriously! as a stimulant, let’s go to a bar and throw some darts in a few friendly competitive rounds of “cricket” to get the juices flowing – a little less oversensitivity and a little more performance appreciated, kid. It isn’t just sixteen-year-old girls who like your hair out here. It’s also long-time Giants fans who have seen a LOT of relievers come and go. I like you, man. You’ve improved a lot. But don’t get your panties in a wad when I beg you and your pals to focus and play better.

Anyway, let’s put all that aside. Because this bad mojo and weird vibage needs to fall away.

I say we’ve been here before and we can defeat The Odd Year Curse because we have the talent and we have the experience and our management knows what they’re doing.

Bochy

We’re only missing the timing.

and I think that’s starting to come together even as we make mistakes. Roberto Kelly at 3rd has been a learning experience, but I think he has climbed that steep curve swiftly. Same can be said for Cain. Everybody keeps dogging the big horse, but I see a work-in-recovery-in-progress. He knows the game. He is still hitting 92 occasionally. He can peak in September for all we know.

Jake Peavy, already looking better generally, may come through like he did last year at this time. He is way better than we expected when he came off the DL.

In 2010, we went through this game in August against the Reds and it was a seriously low point for the team. REALLY READ the entire blog entry of that  game. I wrote it in one fell swoop after the game happened and I think you’ll feel it. At that moment we were severely sunk. And what we did from that game on, was epic.

I am pretty sure the Sabean/Bochy private meeting with the guys that Brian Murphy refers to in his post happened immediately after that particular game. I am trying to get you someplace we have been before but with DEPTH.

Now in the 2012 season we faced the departure of Melky Cabrera. We were at the game almost exactly three years ago when it was announced Melky had tested positive and would be gone. Woah, what a weird vibe. Lincecum vs. Strasburg at AT&T. There were Milkmen and Milkmaids at the game … dressed! They were selling hats!

But again, everybody said after Melky was gone we couldn’t do it. And we swept the Tigers in epic style, with Panda’s three including two off Verlander and Cain outdueling Scherzer and my favorite closeout ever: Sergio Romo’s fastball – NOT SLIDER – getting Miguel Cabrera looking … ohhhhhhhhh, god … that is nice.

2014 came with it’s own challenges, but we were full strength and with Panda and Madbum and Posey and Cain and the whole machine working. Out here in the Bay, we knew what nobody in the country knew – that these guys have #ChampionshipBlood.

Ishikawa had to go yard. Panik had to draw that 9th inning walk so we could go nine more innings and finally win off the Belt homer in the top of the 18th. It all had to happen. For the rest of the country it was hard to chew and swallow. But we knew we’re the best.

We are the best TEAM around. We play as a team and we pick each other up. Every other night another hero. #25GuysOneCommonGoal

So there we were without home field advantage and we had to be the bad guys by beating the darlings of the nation in their house. We sent Madbum out there to handle it. He mowed ’em down in epic fashion.

(btw, Peavy’s still in and it’s still 2-0 Cubs in the 4th)

It would be easy to give up to the odd-year phenomenon. I say, don’t.

The National League is intensely competitive this year and the Mets, Nationals, Dodgers, Cardinals, Cubs, Pirates and others beat each other up as much as they beat us up; so anything can still happen. We gotta play smart, stay healthy, and win the right ones.

I think Bochy and upper management are staring intensely at the health and well-being of guys and trying to get ahead of that process. The absence of Joe Panik in Chicago this week speaks to that. (I even got to a point where I thought, maybe Boch doesn’t want Maddon to even see Panik – we do have to face them again this month after all).

So because of all this intense competition, we can win the division. I will repeat that: We can win the division. I’ve been using the hashtag #SeizeTheDivision because once we grab it we cannot let go.

I think if we field Aoki, Panik, Duffy, Posey, Pence, Belt, Crawford, Blanco and Maxwell.

And if we have Bumgarner, Heston, Peavy and Cain as starters and Kontos, Affeldt, Lopez, Osich, Vogey, Romo, Strickland and Lincecum as relievers

by August 20th.

And if those guys, are supported by Pagan and Hudson, Susac and Sanchez … we can spend the last six weeks of the season actually winning this thing.

I believe in that group of guys for the last six weeks, but the math has it that we play the Cubs again, and the Pirates, the Nationals, the Cardinals TWICE (who are due for some losses) and the Astros this next few weeks. So it may not happen right off.

This is the worst stretch of our schedule. All we have to do is what Rich Aurilia said and go .500 during this stretch to stay in the mix.

I think this year the NL is going to come down to the wire like in 2011 when the Cardinals went crazy and the Red Sox tanked and we all watched four TVs on the last night of the season.

and I think if we are smart we can take advantage of that. We can time Bumgarner right because we have lots of starters. We can sneak wins in when they matter most in the last few weeks of the season by juggling our talent.

We can do this.

I believe.

Let’s Go Giants!

Let’s win Back-to-Back and be a true #SFDynasty Tighten up, play the game right and with 25 Guys sharing One Common Goal, let’s Win Today!

It is the 7th inning in today’s final game at Wrigley and we are still down 2-0, so while I was writing this it sounds like Jake Peavy after giving up the initial coupla runs settled down and Arrieta is rolling along. I don’t know. I do know we can prey on a bullpen with only a two-run deficit and I do know that I love our community and I hope you all read this and believe we can do this. We can win back-to-back. We can turn all this around on a dime and take over.

BECAUSE WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS, MY FRIEND.

AND WE’LL KEEP ON FIGHTING TILL THE END.

Let’s go Giants!

At The All-Star Break It’s a Roller-Coaster Season

11 Friday Jul 2014

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First off, before doing an assessment of the G-men at the break, I want to chime in and agree with Alex Pavlovic’s view, made most clear by Grant Brisbee, that all, repeat every single replay review at AT&T Park should be broadcast live to the crowd over and over and from every angle and in highest def slo-mo, while the challenge is ensuing.

This is silicon valley. We should have the best possible view of every single play and all of these should be made available immediately, live to the fans. YES, “ON THE BIG BOARD!”

To which I would add two comments:

1. I love Brisbee’s thought. There should be, superimposed upon the screen as the fans watch the play in question, a “Review Porcupine” – an animated character that replaces the cursor for example, so it can be manipulated by an operator – I’d nominate Grant Brisbee – live, during the game at the park.

The porcupine would clearly point out to fans, to those watching at home and to the secret cabal in the star chamber in New York that decides the fate of games now, what exactly has taken place on the field of play in our park.

and

2. If you aren’t going to do that, at least just use the time to show everyone that cool footage of pre-quake Market Street, San Francisco in 1905 that was dug up, like we did during the Turn-Back-the-Century Game:

AT THE ALL STAR BREAK, IT’S A ROLLER COASTER RIDE

At the All-Star Break the San Francisco Giants’ season feels like we spent six weeks climbing this long, sweetly-delicious first hill of a roller-coaster, rising higher and higher until we were the best in baseball for more than ten days … only to then go flying down the first drop of this ride in the last three weeks of June.

And now we ricket-along clickety-click through the last of the first half, through the guts of this giant ride, bumping along.

We got smoked by the current best team in baseball a few times – who happen to be our brothers and cross-Bay rivals in Oakland. So for me, there’s hurt pride by those losses, but not as much as anger that we now play so many damn Inter-League games that everybody is telling us the DH in the NL is inevitable. (I reiterate – why doesn’t the AL drop the DH and let’s try that for a season and see how much fun we have?)

But I digress.

I’d say the health of team is good: Belt and Casilla were major losses for those six weeks in which we fell so hard and fast.

Michael Morse is not a first baseman. He isn’t comfortable there and after valiant – but often cockamamie – effort, the difficulties affected his batting. He was a BEAST during the front end of the season; doing everything we asked and more at the plate … and what did we do? Well, Bochy experimented again and shattered his rhythm.

Mind you, the injury to Belt forced his hand, and Bochy has a grasp of the helm and knows how long the season is. If he felt he wanted Morse to get the innings in, in case it’s necessary later in the year, I buy it. I didn’t four years ago as much, but nowadays I, like everybody else, just shrug and say, “Well, you know he has won us two championships in the last four years.”

But with the imminent induction of Tony La Russa into the Hall of Fame, it’s a good time to stare at Bochy during times like that.(reminds me of that insane attempt to put Cody Ross in left in August of ’10)

Morse was a mess at first, folks. Love this guy. Love Michael Morse. But his tall, gangly form and lack of experience at the position cost us numerous times. It was a relief to see basic plays completed to satisfaction. Let’s let him get comfortable again back out in left. He was immediately pretty comfortable out there, and now we’ve gone and messed with that rhythm, too. I feel his bat is most important for our team.

This line is here just to say, “Way to go El Tiburon Blanco!” Gregor’s work in substitution is reliable. He’s earning that fourth OF spot covering for Pagan and Morse. The Morse/Blanco platoon in left is the combination we have been looking for. It’s the platoon Torres/Blanco or Melky/Blanco could never have been.

Anyway, Belt is back. And so is Casilla. And Affeldt looks great. I like how when Sergio Romo started to falter we addressed it by using Relief by Committee on the fly.

Pablo is slowly getting back his numbers and has been his usual, exceptional self at third. The errant throws stopped as soon as he began hitting. It has been really nice to see.

Brandon Crawford is a puzzle. Excellent in the field, suddenly hitting well against lefties, now he struggles against righties and remains inconsistent at the plate.

After a great opening in substitution for Scutaro, Brandon Hicks’ numbers did drop off as expected from a rookie. The recent rest helps him, but obviously also costs us. The other role players, Colvin, Perez, Adrianza and Duvall have all had moments of brilliance, but simply don’t have the talent to keep the team afloat during a stretch like we had in June without the pop of the bat of Brandon Belt.

Yes, I said, the pop of the bat of Brandon Belt.

The pitchers deserve credit. It’s hitting that’s been the problem during the slump. Put Morse back in left and let him get his groove back. Move Belt up the lineup.

Finally, the biggest single individual upon whom success of the Giants can be associated is Angel Pagan; our leadoff man, center fielder and energizer. The loss of Pagan during the slump cannot be underestimated.

If we have Morse, Pagan and Pence in the outfield, Sandoval, Crawford, Scutaro/Hicks and Belt/Posey infield and Buster and Hector behind the plate, there should be at least three or four runs a game, minimum. Guys gotta start hitting.

We need to win games with our bats like we were doing in the beginning of the year.

That is what has to happen after the break. I like our chances. It’s just us and the Dodgers out West and if we keep up with them we could have a decent shot at one of the Wild Cards.

But I gotta say, it’s like being halfway through the ride on a roller coaster and my stomach still hasn’t settled from that first drop.

Giants Come From Behind, Hit With RISP, Beat Cards in St. Louis

30 Friday May 2014

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This was the game where I began to wonder if we might have this. We might have the division because we are a real team … built from good guys.

I was worried because St. Louis is a baseball town and they’ve won the most titles in the National League, and their … culture, their actual baseball culture is so much better than ours – I don’t mean our best versus their best, I mean our current fans versus their perennial ones.

[I am not DONE complaining about this, you people need to CHANGE].

But this team shows a flexibility and a stick-to-it-iveness that is quite impressive. Giants came from behind twice with power from Morse (doing what we hired him to do) and Pablo Sandoval – wow, the cowboy boots shift is turning crazy now – who hit for an RBI for the 9th consecutive time, with a homer, which has brought comparison to Barry Bonds from everyone.

It is interesting to remember that Bonds arrived in SF from Pittsburgh at the age of 28. Pablo Sandoval will be 28 this August. What if Pablo’s “Barry Years” lie ahead?

(Just tweeted the shit out of that line)

Vogelsong pitched well, the ‘pen continues to impress and Romo continues to be a little shaky. He gave up a run in the ninth and had runners on who, crossing the plate, could cost the game. He wrestled his way out, inducing a pop up to end the game and I tweeted:

TWEET by @giantsbaseballcorner : “I don’t mind Romo struggling a bit against a decent team on the road and fighting his way out of it. 17th save. Builds.”

Moments later Ray Woodson tweeted he would spend the post game show trying to calm down the Romo Angst. My reply was:

TWEET by @giantsbaseballcorner : “Romo angst is typical of the non-baseball playing bandwagonning dumbasses who now occupy our park claiming to feel “tortured”

and I still feel that way this morning.

But it did lead to a discussion for me about the word “torture” and why it offended me when taken on as a badge after Krukow said it. It was true when Kruk said it about 2010.

It was “Torture” for the fans who have watched for five decades as the G-men kept getting close and failed to win the World Series in San Francisco. It was torture for anyone who watched ’02 …. ’93 …. ’89 … ’62.

But after we finally won, the word for the first win in SF was “RELIEF”

See, it can’t really be “TORTURE” again until 2068.

If we don’t win the World Series until 2068, that summer would be torture. Use of the term before then is insulting to long time fans – well at least to me.

 

EVERYBODY’S talking bout “just enough runs”

04 Sunday May 2014

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I started talking about “just enough runs” a year and a half ago and have been on KNBR to discuss it. The idea that – comparable to the Rockies park where they rely on scoring runs at altitude – we at AT&T know we have a pitchers park and rely on hits dying.

We know at AT&T that pitchers come to our park and get pumped. They have epic performances and match our pitchers and defense.

Last year on this blog, and with Marty, I proposed that the formula reads:

1. Starting Pitching Hangs in There, ‘Pen Holds

2. Score Just Enough Runs

3. Play Crisp Defense

4. Take Advantage of Opponents Mistakes

I used to add about the 4th one that many people perceive of us as “lucky” and “unlikely champions” – because when Hunter Pence’s bat shatters so precisely as to find it’s way out of reach of Pete Kozma, they call it luck.

Marty and I chatted about it, but he was dismissive, like, “Well, yeah …” (duh)

In the face of the Dodgers and their $235 million budget. smart acquisitions like Tim Hudson and Michael Morse serve to buttress what is essentially a pitching-based team. We like locking games down with pitching. For us, scoring runs is secondary. Runs we need, but pitching and defense we must achieve to survive.

Hence our attitude … we don’t need thirty runs … we need just. enough. There’s no point in going after one huge hitter and allowing his contract to suck up payroll for a year or two, forbid six.

just enough runs.

Tactical Giants skill set.

been sayin’ it.