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Beat LA and Seize The Division

30 Friday Sep 2016

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The second half has been very much like a root canal but at last, the playoffs are around the corner and the Giants have just a little more work to do to ensure we’re once again in the postseason in an even year this decade.

All Giants fans are of course confident that if we just get in we can go on an epic tear with our postseason roster, as we have done in each of the last even years this decade.

That confidence resides within all of us but was best phrased in all caps by Grant Brisbee in 2012 before the World Series vs. the Tigers. (You can’t spell Brisbee without S-E-E-R).

But today and this weekend the pathway is clear:

Beat LA and Seize The Division.

It is a pleasure to beat the nemesis, but certainly it means the most when there’s the postseason on the line and we handle business. I really hope we show some force this weekend and seize the wild card – a sweep would be sweet.

I still believe we can do this despite not having a closer, or even a bullpen I trust. Because I believe we do have Champions Blood. When the chips are down, we got as good a chance as anyone.

If we end up playing the Mets, as I think is likely now, I am starting to wonder whether we should start Cueto rather than Bumgarner … which seems crazy to type, but there it is.

Samardzija out of the ‘pen might be a thing we see this weekend and in the postseason, which also seems crazy.

But we gotta win one at a time, so for right tonight, I am dressed. Let’s get it on!

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Beat LA

Seize The Division

Let’s Go Giants!

 

Love,

 

MTK

 

The Giants Biggest Home Stand of the Year

12 Monday Sep 2016

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And so it comes to this.

The best first half in the majors and the second-worst second half in the majors sums to the most important home stand of the year with twenty games to play.

Seven games: three against the Padres and four against the Cardinals who are outside looking in and trying, with the Mets, to pry us from atop the National League Wild Card standings.

The difference between eking out the Wild Card and seizing the division from the nemesis lies in these next seven games. We have to take five.

We were happy in June. This team looked built to make the run. The pieces all made sense and our record was the result of beautiful play. We were happy because we won without Pence, Panik, Duffy and Romo. If anything we were enthused because we knew we’d have them all back healthy for the stretch run. The pain of last year when all the injuries hit in August was fresh in our minds. (To be honest we’ve been pretty lucky in that regard).

Johnny Cueto tore it up and started the All-Star Game. We voted Belt into the summer classic with vigor. Cain and Peavy were mostly bad, but it didn’t seem to matter. Until he went down Romo was a great set-up man for Casilla who collected the majority of his 31 saves and looked like he could be the closer. (That team still exists).

Then this epic collapse of hitting and failures in the bullpen in the second half necessitated re-engineering the rotation, forced us to deal beloved Duffy.

I for one fully support what I think was swift and bold decision-making by Bobby Evans, Brian Sabean, Larry Baer, Bruce Bochy and staff. We had to do something quick and if we didn’t pick up Matt Moore, I am not sure we would even have a chance right now. Add to that the success Eduardo Núñez has had at third and at the plate, and I’m more than pleased we made the deal.

If we have to play the Mets or Nats in the play-in game I am confident we can send out MadBum and have a great chance to win. But thanks to the trade, I now also feel, with Cueto starting against the Cubs, then Samardzija/Moore and back to Bumgarner, we actually have a shot to beat the league leaders, to win the NLCS.

and today, David Schoenfeld, the SweetSpot Blogger on ESPN says,

“Consider:

  • The Giants are due to play better. Maybe they weren’t actually the best team in baseball when they ended the first half with a better record than the Chicago Cubs, but clearly they’re not the second-worst team in baseball.
  • Baseball teams are streaky. While the Giants’ extreme splits are abnormal, a bad stretch doesn’t necessarily predict more losing. They’re just as likely to go on a nice winning streak now. That’s baseball.
  • The Dodgers play 13 of their remaining 20 games on the road, and they’re 47-27 at home and just 33-35 on the road.
  • The teams have six games remaining against each other, including the season-ending series in San Francisco.
  • Hunter Pence is hot, with eight hits in the Arizona series. Buster Posey is due to get hot as well, right?
  • Strickland, if he does win the closer’s role on a regular basis, will be fine. He has a 2.41 ERA in his major league career and has held opponents to a .202 average (.213 this season). He has been the Giants’ best reliever over the past two seasons. So why has Bruce Bochy been so hesitant to name him the closer? It probably goes back to the 2014 postseason, when Strickland, with just seven innings of big league time, allowed six home runs in eight appearances. It’s tough to trust a guy in close games after seeing that, but Strickland is a solid reliever and has earned the opportunity. (As a bonus, rookie Derek Law, with a 1.94 ERA and excellent peripherals, is due to come off the DL this week.)”

Which brings us to the biggest home stand of the year.

Our biggest concern is a big one: the bullpen is a mess. Our second biggest concern is an ongoing lack of timely hitting, a situational slump at the plate particularly with runners in scoring position that has made #RISPsigh a thing now.

But on the positive side we got what we asked for, all the pieces we need and we are healthy. Hunter Pence just decided to turn it up several notches. Brandon Crawford and Buster Posey know the stretch.

Panik has to follow Núñez who has also been making it happen. Span and Pagan gotta get hot at the same time and Belt … I need you Brandon, I need some power from you. More aggressiveness at the plate. I love the walks and the on-base percentage, but take a chance and rock that thing.

The sharpness is returning to the starters. I like that. And the bullpen? Well I know this, they can’t do it without our support. I can’t be there, but the yard better be rocking.

Let’s Go Giants! Take ’em one day at a time and win ’em all.

25 Guys One Common Goal

Win Today!!!

 

 

 

 

Love,

MTK

 

 

 

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

12 Friday Aug 2016

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

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

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

25guys

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

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

ON TO THE GBC READER NUMBER 12:

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

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

Berman even wrote about Crawford’s wonder.

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

48 to play. Let’s get this done.

Win Today.

Have fun.

 

love,

MTK

 

 

The GBC Reader, Issue 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

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.

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

19 Tuesday Apr 2016

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Enjoy the Reader!

Love,

MTK

Go Giants!

 

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

27 Sunday Mar 2016

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

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

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

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

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

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

love,

MTK

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

16 Wednesday Mar 2016

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

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

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

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

Love,

MTK

I Concede. I’d Rather You Awesome Guys Just Go Out and Enjoy Some Games

20 Sunday Sep 2015

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Go out and have fun.

It’s a shame the season turned out like it did, but not really.

After a weird-bad opening we OWNED May, June swooned, badassed July, and had the bottom fall out in August – injuries.

But there are so many reasons to be proud.

Special Thank You to Bumgarner You make us all want to play hard,work hard and win. Never Change

Thank you for quietly having your most outstanding season yet. Love your laid-back, get-it-done style. You are the SS.

Wow! What a ride you young guys gave us! Thanks! , and especially and for outstanding play!

Thanks for great stuff this season (good quotes, AlPav) (Get Well, Hank)

I really wish, Aoki-san, we could’ve gotten you, Marlon and a World Series Championship ring. Thanks to all.

Thank you vets , Nori Aoki, , Tim Hudson and especially Marlon Byrd for joining our team, giving your all.

Thank you , , and especially for outstanding play from rookie/first year

Well, we will have won half of the last six world series after this one is played. I’d like to see the Cubs take it all.

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!