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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

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

 

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.

Matt Duffy, NOT Kris Bryant, is National League Rookie of the Year

08 Tuesday Sep 2015

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Cubs fans, I like your team and your young talent Kris Bryant. I’ve admired your new manager for many years. In fact, I’m excited for your run. But there’s one award you guys don’t get this season, and that’s National League Rookie of the Year.

Before we even begin discussing statistics, I want to be clear why Matt Duffy is the NL ROY.

Simply put, he is the Rookie of the Year because among all rookies Matt Duffy has the most command of baseball’s five tools:

1)  Hitting for Power

2)  Hitting for Average

3)  Fielding Ability

4)  Throwing Ability

5)  Speed

Hitting for power among national league rookies belongs to Kris Bryant. It’s undeniable.

And if you can’t think deeper than that one aspect of the game, I can see why you might think Bryant should be the ROY. Bryant has more HRs, more RUNS, RBI and a better OPS, SLG (slugging percentage) and fWAR.

But back on August 20th, Sports Illustrated’s Chris Corcoran in a piece called Awards Watch had more to say about measuring the two players with adjusted stats.

“Based on the raw stats … you might think Duffy should rank behind Kris Bryant … but Duffy’s stats are depressed because he plays in an extreme pitchers’ park.

“Looking at park-adjusted OPS+, the two are in a virtual tie in terms of production (Duffy is at 125 to Bryant’s 128, with 100 being league average).

After power-hitting, it looks considerably less convincing for Kris Bryant as a candidate for NL rookie of the year.

Hitting for average belongs to Matt Duffy. He has more doubles, more triples, more hits, and a better average by almost 40 points than Bryant. But it’s Duffy’s average with RISP that should surprise and enlighten Cubs fans.

Avg. with RISP Matt Duffy .378

Avg. with RISP Kris Bryant .311

It shows Duffy to have been as clutch as Bryant. In fact, despite lagging in RBI, perhaps more so.

In terms of base running, Duffy has shown an awareness rarely seen by rookies. Recently scoring from first with heads-up alertness on a deep single, The Duffman consistently shows a keen knowledge of base running and how to use his speed. Duffy has never been caught stealing.

To his credit Kris Bryant has stolen four more bases, but he has been caught stealing four times and, like all power hitters, is much more susceptible to striking out.

Duffy’s better efficiency at the plate is clear in a comparison of the two young men’s walk-to-strikeout ratio.

While displaying massive power and great clutch-hitting skills, Kris Bryant is not performing defensively like Duffy, and what the Duffman has done is what puts him over the top.

Bryant has played outfield in 26 games, preventing him from having to play position defense. But as a result Bryant and Duffy have each played 123 games in the infield allowing a fair comparison … and statistics are clear.

When playing 3rd base, Bryant has committed 17 errors – seven more than Duffy at that position, and five more than Duffy overall. Bryant’s fielding percentage is 20 points lower than Duffy’s. Duffy’s dWAR exceeds Bryant’s significantly.

Corcoran agreed, back on August 20th:

“Beyond that, Duffy is a better fielder at the same position and has arguably contributed more with his legs (he has taken the extra base 12 times to Bryant’s nine, reached on an error eight times to Bryant’s four and is five-for-five in stolen base attempts, while Bryant is 12-for-15).”

Both these young men have been great rookies this year. Their clutch performances, poise and consistency over the course of the season have been a blast to watch and root for.

But since a decision has to be made, and towering home runs aren’t a single reason to award the Rookie of the Year in the National League, it should be awarded to Matt Duffy for his fullness as a player and for his impressive command of the five tools of baseball.

Double Hammy Whammy – Giants Win, Lose Cain, Casilla to DL

22 Thursday May 2014

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Even when the Giants win lately there’s some weird issue – an HBP directly on the thumb sidelines Brandon Belt, plays that should be routine for a first baseman in little league bungled by Michael Morse, nutty throwing errors by Pablo or, an injury by someone trying too hard, like Angel Pagan’s shoulder strain diving for a pop fly against the Marlins on Sunday.

The latter category still reminds me of how we lost Freddy Sanchez, in May, on a routine play when we had the lead in a game that “didn’t really matter.” He flew high and hard to snag that ball, landed on his shoulder and never played in a Giants uniform again.  Or how about Pagan last year, legs out the only ever walkoff inside-the-park homer in history and we lose him, and the season,the next day. Again … in May.

Of course, we love effort and those plays are exciting … how about just a little caution in the early months, guys? Not telling you to take it easy, but … what happened last night was completely unnecessary.

Yet they continue to win. The team experiences these careening moments even as they slug and claw their way into come-from behind victories; doing it with all home runs one game, and sudden inspired situational hitting, and no home runs in the next.

The only consistency has been that the Giants are inconsistent, yet somehow pull it together in the later innings behind a great bullpen to get wins. It isn’t confidence inspiring with regard to a long season, and the anhedonia has resulted in at least one blogger, Grant Brisbee of McCovey Cove Chronicles, losing his mind to the duality.

Yesterday, in Colorado, things were going along just fine – the game plan was in place and the Giants and Matt Cain were holding the Rockies offense down, when all of a sudden Cain came up gimpy. He had to be pulled from the game in the third inning with a strained hamstring, forcing Yusmeiro Petit into yet another emergency start. Worrisome.

Still, the plan was working. The Giants bullpen, with Petit working long, held the Rockies scoreless through seven innings. On the offensive side meanwhile, they used the altitude to their advantage and Hunter Pence, Pablo Sandoval and Brandon Crawford all homered, while Hector Sanchez had a deep double for another RBI. They had an early lead and held on.

Petit threw three scoreless and Bochy once again was masterful with the ‘pen; using four more guys to seal the win. Juan Gutierrez, Javier Lopez (LOOGY), and Santiago Casilla took it to the ninth.

In the top of the ninth, with a four-run lead and Sergio Romo resting after having been rocked the night before, Bochy decided to leave Casilla in the game at the plate, with the intention of letting him close the game.

Casilla was given specific instruction when he went to the plate, alternatingly described as, ‘to just stand like a statue,’ and ‘not to get hurt.’ Bochy says he told him just to jog up the line if he made contact.

But the veteran Casilla did none of these. Apparently inspired by the play of Juan Machi a few weeks ago, who legged out a bunt to drive in the winning run in a 13-inning game, Santiago Casilla tried to get on base. He was perhaps goaded by the dugout, as the guys teased him about doing what Machi did. For whatever reason, Casilla hit a ball hard to the infield and in, a totally loony moment, tried to leg out the single!

Casilla hit the bag and fell to the grass immediately, thrown out and flailing in the grass, pounding his fist on the ground in obvious pain. First base coach Hensley Meulens had no idea what to make of it.

It turns out that like Matt Cain earlier in the game, Casilla had strained his right hamstring. It was the same pointless injury that sent reliever David Huff to the DL two weeks ago – a pitcher trying to leg out a single.

Jeremy Affeldt came in and pitched a scoreless ninth with a strikeout to end the game, a non-save situation. But the mood was severely depressed in the wake of losing not one, but two pitchers to hamstring strains in the same game.

The win kept the Giants in first place in the NL West by three games going into tonight’s rubber match, which will feature the two teams’ best pitchers. The Giants’ aging ace, Tim Hudson (4-2, 2.09) returns from resting his back on the DL, to face Jorge De La Rosa (5-3, 4.14), a longtime nemesis of the G-men.

Both Casilla and Cain will undergo MRI’s today to determine the severity of their injuries, but it seems likely that Cain will miss at least one start and that Casilla may not be available for a few weeks; frustrating to say the least. [UPDATE: looks like Casilla’s was a strain and not a tear, so that’s good]

Hopefully the Giants can come away with one more win in Colorado before the upcoming home stand which could be an easier ride. The Twins are up first and the Giants seem to play Interleague well at home, having swept the Indians in April. The Twins will be followed at AT&T by a visit from the last place Cubs.

Finally! Cain Gets Run Support, First Win; Giants Overcome Marlins

16 Friday May 2014

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When the Miami Marlins came to town last year with Matt Cain on the mound, my son and I took his grandmother visiting from India. Here they are after the game, and you can see the Marlins crushed us 7-2:

DSCN3593

In fact, Miami historically score a lot of runs at AT&T and have forced the Giants to do the same to get their wins. So yesterday, after Matt Cain fell behind early 1-4, it looked like the same old script: Cain gets behind early, gets no run support, but settles in and quiets the opponent, scattering a few more hits, only to lose because the Giants can’t plate any runners.

BUT WAIT!

Not this time. Even with Belt out, the Giants lineup looked daunting and filled with guys who have been hitting this year: Pence, Morse, Colvin, Posey … and even Sandoval, who entered the game with a slump-breaking six game hitting streak. It looked on paper like a lineup that could, possibly, maybe, finally produce run support for Cain.

Flashback for Perspective

Five years ago, in 2009, when the Giants at (79-66) were chasing the Rockies (82-64) and a shot at the Wild Card for the playoffs, we were within a game and a half with a three game series at AT&T on tap. A sweep would put the Giants in first, my favorite Giant, Matt Cain was on the mound, and it was as close as we had been all year. So I took my son (that little cute guy in the photo there) for his first night game.

Cain followed his incredibly consistent modus operandi: scattering five hits and four runs (via two homers) across six innings. The Giants had runners in scoring position in the 9th down 4-3 and Nate Schierholtz struck out to end the game. This was close as we would get to the playoffs … until the next year when we won it all. : )

But as we all know that game was not only typical of what happened to Matt Cain all that year long, it has continued to this day. The poor guy hasn’t had a win all season because the Giants sometimes can’t score even one bloody run for him.

I want to be honest … it physically hurts when I think what we have done to Matt Cain’s win-loss record. This guy should be HoF bound and may not make it on any ballot because of that win-loss record. That is why he is my favorite Giant … because I know I’m going to be spending the rest of my days arguing for his election to Cooperstown.

But unless you’re the New York Yankees, or now, the Dodgers or Angels, help for the batting order requires an incremental build up of bats over a few off-seasons. To his great credit, Giants GM Brian Sabean has worked at it: Fontenot and Ross during the season of 2010; Melky, Pagan and Blanco in the offseason and Scutaro and Pence during the season of 2012; and now Michael Morse – the biggest bat of all – in 2014.

Cost Effective? Shoot “Mr. CE” should be Sabean’s nickname. With two rings in four years, he has out-Moneyballed Billy Beane.

So last night, when the Giants bats fought back from a 1-4 deficit to take a 6-4 lead for Matt Cain, I almost wept … years in the making.

Hunter Pence was 3 for 5 and scored three runs. Michael Morse crushed an opposite field home run to right and Buster Posey drilled the go-ahead two-run double to give the Giants the lead they would never relinquish. Way to go Gerald! The increasingly impressive ‘pen did the rest.

And though he wasn’t as much of a factor, Pablo did extend his streak with a hit that advanced Hunter Pence to third and later in the game moved Posey there on a deep sac fly. Posey would score on a Morse single.

This was a significant come from behind win for the Giants.

I really should make mention of Pagan’s at-bat that may have saved this game … but instead I will let El Lefty Malo do it.

There were some negatives: Pablo had another errant throw. We got lucky a ball that hit Pence on the foot (which would have been an automatic out) went unobserved by the refs (and that there is as yet no replay). But all those fall under Category 4: Take Advantage of Others’ Mistakes.

As you must have read by now, staff ace Tim Hudson has been scratched tonight for a minor injury that is basically a “rest scratch” for the oldest guy on staff. Yusmeirio Petit will get his second emergency start of the season. He has been up and down and we are starting to develop a really team-oriented approach to the early season, so I LOVE this: keeping Petit from getting cold and resting the old guy with potential to get injured. It’s just like spelling Pagan and letting Blanco develop in case it has to happen more often. These are all moves that create a 25-man roster that can win any game, with any lineup.

I am starting to get really good feelings about this season. Yesterday, when Cain was down 1-4, for the first time this season, I broke out:

The Necklace.

After I put it on, we swarmed back to win.

We have never lost the season or the World Series when either my son or I wear The Necklace every game day.

Yusmeiro Petit to Start vs. Pirates in Gm1

05 Monday May 2014

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Today the Giants have landed in Pittsburgh, PA. Yesterday, the team announced they are giving the Big Horse, SP Matt Cain, an extra start off to allow the small cut on his finger to completely heal and that today in his place against the Pirates Yusmeiro Petit will get the start.

The Giants website mistakenly had Jake Austin Dunning, starting. So there was some confusion. But @hankschulman and @knbrmurph both confirmed this a.m. that it will in fact be Petit.

Yusmeiro Petit’s been killing it and it’s good to go with the guy who’s hot right now and to let Cain’s finger fully mend. Schulman’s piece is crisp and clarifying on all that has gone on.

Since the team put Cain on the DL, they had space for Dunning, a tall (6’4″), 26-year-old, right hander who pitched twice for the Giants last year. He was 0-2, but had 2.84 ERA. So Jake Dunning has been called up for long relief, for example in the instance of a Lincecum or Vogey implosion.

Dunning will not be facing Jeff Locke, who in a weird twist of fate, is in fact, making his season debut after coming off of injury. He is 11-13 as a Brave and left rookie status in 2012.

Raise the Jolly Roger says this about him

“We all know about Locke’s up and down season last year, which pretty much made him an afterthought coming into this year. Now, the way the pitching has looked, he has a chance to step up and give the staff a boost. He was off to a pretty shaky start in the minors, so my confidence isn’t all that high, but even if the Bucs can get lightning in a bottle for a few games, that would be huge.”

Which makes me feel like we are going to light this 23-year-old young man up!

Here’s your lineup:

  1. Pagan CF
  2. Pence RF
  3. Posey 1B
  4. Morse LF
  5. Sanchez C
  6. Sandoval 3B
  7. Hicks 2B
  8. Crawford SS
  9. Petit P

I like this one a LOT, especially against a young guy, just back from injury, like Locke.

I expect the Giants to score a lot of runs in this one. Pablo should be able to jump on this kid and hopefully snap the slump.

Series Recap: The Cardinals Have “Figured Out” Matt Cain

02 Sunday Jun 2013

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Crazy double header in which the Cards scored an obscene number of runs off Matt Cain for the second time in a row in, specifically, the third inning – representing some adjustment they are making to a habit he has that allows them to shell him for hits the second time through the order. Ouch.

That said, in the final game of the series the Giants got back to basics, played crisp defense and got a GREAT start from Chad Gaudin. This win was important for many reasons, maybe later I’ll get into some of those but it was:

Cardinals 15, Giants 1 in the doubleheader as they won 8-0 and 7-1.

Giants 4, Cardinals 2 – Chad Gaudin gets the win in his first start of 2013.

Giants Come Back on the Snakes in the 8th

29 Monday Apr 2013

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The Giants five game losing streak ended with Matt Cain on the mound in Arizona, but sadly, The Big Horse got tagged for three home runs and gave up four runs and so has yet to earn his first win of the season.

Nick Noonan continues to show poise and ability at the plate. He pinch-hit lead off in the 8th and got aboard before two walks loaded the bases for Brandon Belt’s game-winning two-run single to bring him home. Belt also homered in the 2nd inning when the Giants got to their longtime nemesis Ian Kennedy, scoring three runs off him in the first two innings.

The Giants got another outstanding inning from Jean Machi in relief, who ended up getting his first win of the season. Sergio Romo picked up his 9th save.

Swept By the Brewers (0-3) Giants SPs Fall Apart

18 Thursday Apr 2013

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The Brewers swept the Giants out of Milwaukee with home runs. The discrepency on the road trip was 15-2. That’s fifteen home runs by the Brewers and Cubs to two (Pence, Crawford) by the Giants on this road trip to Chicago and Milwaukee – and both Giants homers were in garbage time or playing long catch-up.

Matt Cain and Barry Zito got blasted and the team ERA of the starting pitchers for the Giants exploded. It’s so early in the season that it isn’t that worrying, but that said, starting pitching – which was our centerpiece, our greatest strength – is suffering profound lapses of quality in recent days. Andrew Baggarly, Kruk and Kuip ask what’s up.

It’s crazy to me that our greatest weakness right now is starting pitching! I am reminded of the Phillies vaunted staff Halladay, Lee, Oswalt, and Hamels (that we beat in 2010) who struggled as they got older, too. But they were in their 30’s. Our eldest guys, Matt and Tim, aren’t 30 yet.

It is good news that other aspects of the team – bullpen, hitting, defense – are really pretty tight for April. Not a lot of errors. Giants showing fight and effort every night.

The Brewers hit well in their park and basically broke open two of the three games early, making it exceedingly difficult to catch up, which emphasizes what we have been saying – we have to pull these pitchers earlier; it changes up the game.

Starting Pitching

Ugh. Not a good series. Even Vogelsong who pitched well, got beat.

Relief Pitching

The relievers getting innings is one upside to a series like this and Kontos, Casilla, Lopez and Mijares got minutes in the absence of Jeremy Affeldt. Mijares could grow into a middle reliever in his absence. Kontos and Casilla looked good, except poor Santiago got set up for the loss last night and allowed the single that ended the game. Rough situation to walk into: down 7 or down 8 or 9 … let’s see what happens with the bullpen at home.

Hitting

Brandon Crawford, Brandon Crawford, Brandon Crawford – another homer, lots of hits and moving all around the order now – Brandon is looking great. Everybody, even The Big Kahuna, is talking about his WAR. Unfortunately he did have another error which was quite costly, but his work at the plate and in the field continues to impress and that was an anomaly.

Crawford and Sandoval have 10 game hitting streaks coming into the home stand against the Padres this weekend. Hunter Pence and Pagan are hitting well. Blanco is hot and cold after a day of horribly bad luck on Tuesday in Milwaukee. Torres, after impressing initially has cooled some.

Nick Noonan is a gamer. Though he struggled against Milwaukee, he continues to show big-league ability at the plate.

Not much else to say you can’t read elsewhere so I will wrap it up.

Go Giants!

Giants vs. Cubs at Wrigley Series Recap (3-1)

15 Monday Apr 2013

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This was a wild one in the windy city.

Let Cain and Bumgarner go six innings for the quality start and then pull them as standard procedure for a few months, maybe even the whole first half of the season.

This provides two benefits: rest for their arms over the long season and opportunities to develop middle, long and late relief.

One reason I started GBC was to capture memories of crazy weekends that get lost in the rapid, fluid pool of information we all swim through, hoping to memory-hole it prosaically but concisely for reference.

The Windy City

This was the earliest in a regular season that these two clubs ever played at Wrigley Field in the long, storied history of the NY/SF Giants vs. the Chicago Cubs.

The as-yet-unrefurbished park in early Spring and the weather were significant factors. It was 40 degrees when the Giants got off the team bus on Thursday, with icy rain. It was cold, wet, icy and even snowy at moments over the series.

There was no ivy on the wall and the exposed brick damaged Angel Pagan who ran into it and was forced to sit out the rest of one game. This broke up his seven game hit streak. Mike Krukow made an impassioned plea to put padding on the walls at Wrigley. The stadium is currently undergoing a 5-year, $300 million renovation.

There were errors galore in this series, many of which would define the losses for the Cubs.

But an indicator of the conditions is that the errors included Brandon Crawford’s first of the year. The young shortstop has been brilliant and was rock solid barring the error. Brandon is also having continued success at the plate: the weekend series featured his opposite field home run that decided game 1. [Bochy put Crawford in the 2 spot, resting Scutaro – a sweet piece of managing to test out possibilities].

All errors were superseded by the astonishingly bad Wild Pitch/Passed Ball/Balk Parade that lost the last game of the series for Chicago. The hapless Cubs tied a major league record for Wild Pitches in an inning (5) and in the same inning balked in a run! Jon Miller commented, “The last time I saw this many wild pitches was when I watched my ten-year old in a little league game.”

The Giants came from behind in all three victories and though they scored 23 runs in the four games, the lone home run came in the top of the ninth of the last game in dramatic fashion when down a run with two outs in the top of the ninth, ‘The Reverend,’ Hunter Pence, 30 years and a day old, ripped a solo shot to tie the game and take it to the tenth, allowing the Giants to win 10-7 and Sergio Romo to record his seventh save (7-1).

The Giants only loss, in Game Two, came on a pop fly that was carried by the wind of Chicago out of the park – resulting in Sergio Romo’s first missed save.

Since the series was all day games and the last game against Colorado at AT&T was also, the Giants played five straight day games for the first time in 17 years.

A Note on Defense and Nick Noonan

The weather was horrible and it made it hard to play. While the Giants made their share of mistakes, they also performed admirably under the conditions. Great catches by Pagan, Pablo, Blanco and Pence were keys to ending innings.

Nick Noonan’s first start was amazing: it started with his first error, a result of the horrible conditions and one of the first plays of the series, costing the team a run. But he quickly got past it and then shone in his debut going 3 for 4, recording his first hits and earning his first RBI’s.

In 2 games in Chicago, Nick Noonan had 4 hits in 6 at bats, scoring twice and knocking in two runs. In the last game, Noonan pinch hit for Lincecum, and hit a two-run single for the Giants first lead (5-4)! Great work, Nick – MAJOR LEAGUE HIT.

Hitting

The Giants were down and up in the series and developed situational hitting and better performance as the series wore on. They took advantage of Cubs mistakes by the end of the series to win it by being the better team, but they won by slim margins and were forced to fight back with good hitting, base running and defense.

Though the Giants were short on power and struggled with runners in scoring position much of the time, they made key hits.

Brandon Crawford, Gregor Blanco, Hunter Pence and Angel Pagan deserve particular mention. Hunter Pence legged it out to first to prevent double-plays several times. Pagan hustled (he also over-hustled, but that’s what we want from our lead-off man, El Caballero Loco). Crawford’s opposite field home run was a game-winner, but he was equally good getting RBI’s and key hits in the last two games.

Unfortunately, Hector Sanchez is the glaring issue at the plate. But he is a catcher. We are absurdly privileged to have Buster Posey as our catcher – an anomaly in terms of hitting ability. Most teams have a catcher they have to hide in the order because hitting isn’t what they’re on the team to do.

The problem is the absence of his bat coupled with the impression that Tim Lincecum doesn’t want to be caught by Posey. We say there is no conspiracy. Bochy knew he had to rest Posey from catching at least one game in the rotation. Lincecum got matched up with Sanchez early, and it’s better to be consistent, at least at first, especially if there are extenuating circumstances – like Brandon Belt’s stomach virus or Panda’s elbow, or Pagan running into a wall.

Sanchez slumping looks way worse than he is in this context.

Brandon Belt broke out of his slump with a key double in the top of the eighth with two out that gave the Giants the lead in Game Two. Unfortunately the wind carried a pop fly out of the park and Sergio Romo recorded his first missed save.

Starting Pitching

Poor Matt Cain. We had better start a Hall of Fame campaign for The Big Horse now because we have cheated this stable, big, powerful right-hander of run support for Wins for seven years and we did it again in this series – against a weaker opponent! Granted the weather was a factor, but Matt Cain remains winless in the early season.

Madison Bumgarner took his win, but was left in too long, resulting in the two-run homer that marred his otherwise great performance.

Tim Lincecum had his FreakOUT inning but then settled down and retired batters until the Giants could catch up. The formula worked to protect Tim: great defense, situational hitting and taking advantage of Cub mistakes.

Relief

Santiago Casilla glittered in relief Saturday night. The World Baseball Classic Champion pitched two scoreless innings to register his first save of 2013.

George Kontos handled business in Game Four, pitching a scoreless tenth to get the win and set up Sergio Romo, who picked up his seventh save in the bottom of the tenth.

Romo’s sole missed save was burdened with conditional problems – he was forced to go into Game Two suddenly on short warm-up because the Giants took the lead suddenly, with two outs in the 8th on a two-out double by Brandon Belt. Rushed in, Romo dealt and a pop fly turned into a wind-assisted homer.

I blame us:

Want this posted by 9am so I am ending here but wow! What a series with the Cubs in Chicago!

Karthik

GBC Recap – The Opening Series v. LA (2-1)

04 Thursday Apr 2013

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It took a perfect outing from one of the best lefties in baseball – including the first home run he ever hit in his life  – to mar what was otherwise an excellent opening series for the San Francisco Giants.

The Giants looked crisp off the mound and decent at the plate, hitting in rotation situationally and even manufacturing runs. The biggest issue at the plate is we are once again on pace to lead the league in hitting into double plays! But it’s early and that stuff will hopefully start to winnow out. Pitching – particularly Cain, Bumgarner and Romo – was stellar.

The Giants won the series 2-1 over their NL West division rivals the Los Angeles Dodgers to take an early season lead in what will likely be a fight for first place in the division with Arizona. The Diamondbacks made a statement in last night’s game – a scrappy, hard-fought, come-from-behind, 16-inning win over the St. Louis Cardinals to start their season 2-1 as well.

Pitching

Starting pitchers did not allow a single earned run.

Cain was, typically, Big Horse consistent and stable. Bumgarner was intensely precise and Lincecum used balls and walks liberally, but stayed on top of his game.

Madison Bumgarner’s performance was platinum. He had tight, controlled movement and dominated the Dodger lineup. It was great to see from the young, powerful Big Country Mad Bum.

Relief

Bruce Bochy showed smart sensitivity pulling Cain in the first game. Cain and Lincecum are the eldest on our very young staff, and both got pulled before the 7th. This is how to develop middle and late relief and to protect starters’ arms over the long season.

Over the course of the last two years Bochy has slowly shown an increasing willingness to use the bullpen rather than risk fatigue – either of arms in the long term or of minds on the mound in the short term – with our starting pitching. This has culminated in the masterful use of a committee of late relief and closers last year down the stretch.

It’s important because our most significant problem (as pointed out most clearly by Bay City Ball) is depth at Starting Pitching. If one of our big 5 goes down, we’d have to adapt fast.

That said, poor George Kontos …

Image

shake it off homes. freak swing by the opposing pitcher.

Before that Kontos had an excellent 7th inning and looked ready to work the middle and pass the ball over to one of our capable lefties before Romo. It was a shame it shook out like that. We believe in you George, it was a solid outing before the guy decided he wanted to make history in LA.

In a way George, we needed you to take that hit because a LOT of us really don’t want Matt Cain getting any more losses in tight games than he has to. The poor guy has suffered his entire career with win-loss records beleaguered by our inability to produce runs. You took those runs that night so Matty wouldn’t get them and the loss and we appreciate it.

Casilla’s wild pitch, Lincecum’s, others’ can be chalked up to the season being very young and we should be honest and expect more sloppy working it out in the first month or so.

In Casilla’s case especially, the guy is coming off winning the World Baseball Championship – The Dominicans ran the table! and he was overwrought and excellent in relief. (Haft has details on Casilla’s effort).

The guy has played more ball under pressure than most this year – Casilla gets a one month pass.

(DR vs. Japan would’ve been interesting)

TWEET

Casilla’sWP:coming off winning the WBC,beating PR to do it,more ball under pressure than most this year – Casilla gets a one month pass.

Sergio Romo was SOLID GOLD. and he tweeted throughout including one which read that his “goal” was 50 saves! That was exciting to read.

I hope you make it my man … That’s What’s Up!

Batting

Shutdown performance by Kershaw was followed by a solid job of hitting by the Giants in game 2, specifically by Joaquin Arias, but as YahooSports pointed out “The Giants scored their first run on three consecutive one-out hits, including Arias’ RBI single.”

Situational hitting and manufacturing runs was the story of the offense and this continued to game three when Crawford and Pagan joined in on the action. But the team added homers by Pablo and Pence! Thrilling stuff to see the offense coming together – power, contact, base-running (I’m excluding el caballero loco on that last one). Pagan leading off, Scutaro, Pablo and Posey behind him is going to work well.

The problem remains that too often the Giants destroyed opportunities by hitting into double plays. It is the beginning of the season and on any other team I wouldn’t bat an eye, but we have a historic problem that reaches back several years in this regard. Maybe bunt practice in order to take advantage of squeeze chances would help in other situations as well. If we aren’t going get a lot of hits, or score a lot of runs we have to at least keep runners on the paths and continue to manufacture runs as we have been doing the last year and change.

Defense

Infield

With Brandon Belt falling sick, Bochy had a chance to do more moving of the chess pieces. Arias on first and Sanchez behind the plate yielded and didn’t, had succeses and problems, but more I was happy to see this kind of constant moving about of players. I am of the mind we need a flexible team offensive scheme.

(Hec or Bus)ter at plate

Belt, Posey, Arias or Panda at first

Arias, Panda or Scutaro at third

Blanco or Torres in LF.

It’s flex-offense. I love Bochy for this team approach and have no problem with half a season going by with pieces moving in concert or individually to suit opponent, weather, interleague and etc. I have come around on this. Used to chew my nails to shreds over Bochy’s calls, now I see a logic in it. We can recreate units to suit. Cool.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Brandon Crawford also known as @bcraw35 continues to rock short. Golden Glove campaign [BCrawGG13] required.

Outfield

Hunter Pence still looks like a crazy-eyed wild man going after balls. I trust him … and yet … it makes me nuts to see Pence and Pagan still doing the chipmunk act from the old Looney Tunes cartoons .. “After you.” “No, After You. “No I insist.” (ball drops to the field). I know Pence has only been out there a few months for us, but he and Pagan have to work that out because problems we saw last year continue. Pagan manhandled CF again. LF hardly saw any action at all so the platoon was untested.

All told an excellent series for the Giants and a great way to launch Giants Baseball Corner. I will be posting Series Wrap-ups like this whether I post full series game for game or not. Feel free to comment, feedback etc. best is on TWITTER, in my opinion.

Sorry to everybody but particularly to Julian for over tweeting while getting GBC set up.

All are welcome here where we are focused on the relentless flow of the positive river.

Karthik

Developing Middle Relief – Masterful Bochy Evolves

02 Tuesday Apr 2013

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Last year, forced into it by injuries to staff, Bruce Bochy became masterful at relief by committee and in so doing joined managers of the future who recognize that the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series in 2011 under Tony LaRussa by allowing the pitching game to change into a game of specialists and team play.

In the past, fans like myself struggled with Bochy’s decision to repeatedly leave starting pitchers in because he wanted to believe in their toughness and ability to get it done or because, as many said, “he’s a player’s manager.” But last year, forced to create a platoon of relievers to carry tight games (the only kind we really play, since we don’t have a lot of big bats), Bochy learned what Tony LaRussa understood when LaRussa became the first manager in MLB history to win a postseason series using relievers for more innings than starters (50 – 49 in the 2011  ALDS).

Purists and 20th century guys grumble about the closer and middle relievers, but let’s face it: there will never be another 300-win pitcher in the MLB again. Over a long season, it makes no sense to leave a guy in there while your opponent uses a middle reliever to go two innings, a specialist lefty to get one batter out and a shutdown closer to end games.

I’ve been saying this for more than half a decade and most people either disagreed or found it an ugly truth they wish would go away. Instead, it grows and flowers in teams like the 2011 Cardinals and the 2012 Giants. It is an inevitability of the post-steroid era, and of course, pitching wins pennants.

It’s been a long time coming and began with the development of a specialist: the closer.

Now we have left handed specialists like Javier Lopez and Jeremy Affeldt, and hard throwing middle relievers like Mijares, Ramirez and Casilla. We are developing a staff that, if necessary, could pull Timmy or Zito out of a game in the fourth inning of a horrible outing and still win the game. But I think Bochy and Co. are thinking of it out of concern for longevity of our starting five. With any other staff, our glaring weakness would be lack of depth at starting pitcher. LaRussa had to throw Carpenter out there three times to get it done. So resting Cain in the first half is a smart idea.

Developing middle relief has to start early in the season and be massaged and worked all season long. It requires unselfish play by starting pitchers, team play and good defense at all positions and a willingness not only to understand your role as a pitcher but to have the fire and desire to want to perfect it.

But most of all it requires a Manager with the courage to take risks for the sake of the long season’s final outcome.

Yesterday, on Opening Day, I was thrilled to see Bruce Bochy pull starter Matt Cain in a tight game against Clayton Kershaw early in the season without hesitation because he wanted relievers to get work under pressure and on the road. He wants to develop middle, long and late relief alongside a closer. He wants, and doesn’t fear, options.

Bochy, who has gone from good to masterful in the past four years, may just end up as one of those managers who deserves the title of genius.

The Major League Baseball All Star Game

11 Wednesday Jul 2012

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The San Francisco Giants OWNed major league baseball’s All-Star Game.

Our pitcher started, was best and got the win (Matt Cain),

our big bat (Pablo Sandoval) got the only triple with bases loaded ever scored in the history of the All Star Game, scoring three,

the first of whom was our best hitter for average (Melky Cabrera) who won the MVP going 2 for 3, with 2 runs and 2 RBI, had the game’s only HR, and was the first and last man across home plate.

Together We’re Giant

Melky Cabrera in 1912 NY Giants Jersey vs. Cubs at AT&T Park

03 Sunday Jun 2012

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1912 NY Giants Jersey with blue pinstripes for Throwback Jersey Day.

also, check out the crazy image where a bubble blown by a kid behind home plate floats in front of the catcher (or appears to from my pov) just as a pitch comes in low for a ball. The result is Melky, catcher and ump all seem to be looking at this little bubble in the strike zone instead of a baseball.

Melky Cabrera in 1912 NY Giants Jersey vs. Cubs at AT&T Park

03 Sunday Jun 2012

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1912 NY Giants Jersey with blue pinstripes for Throwback Jersey Day.

also, check out the crazy image where a bubble blown by a kid behind home plate floats in front of the catcher (or appears to from my pov) just as a pitch comes in low for a ball. The result is Melky, catcher and ump all seem to be looking at this little bubble in the strike zone instead of a baseball.

Update

20 Monday Feb 2012

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rewrote the ABOUT tab and added INTERVIEWS and INSTALLATIONS and COLLAGE and FLORA and FAUNA and a C.V.

In the Interviews section there is a nice one with Daniel Ellsberg, I was hosting live radio on drive time LA during the Democratic National Convention in 2004.

The Alec Baldwin was a good one, too.

I will dig up some others and add them. I really don’t like how the collage looks online, but am cool with these little ones being up.