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M.T. Karthik

~ works, thoughts, events of 1977 – 2017

M.T. Karthik

Tag Archives: pitcher

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

25 Monday Apr 2016

Posted by mtk in GBC Readers

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Tags

AT&T, Barry, baseball, Bonds, Brisbee, chronicle, chronicles, coach, eight, eighth, giants, Grant, hits, hitting, infield, John, Lamar, less, marlins, McCovey, miami, mlb, park, pitcher, return, sf, Shea, shift, slot, spot

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

22 Tuesday Mar 2016

Posted by mtk in GBC Readers

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Tags

8, baseball, corner, gbc, giants, hitting, League, lineup, major, mlb, National, nl, order, pitcher, position, reader, samardzija, sf, slot, spot

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

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

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

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

but generally we are looking ahead.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Go Giants.

Love,

MTK

Thoughts on Jake Peavy Before Game Six of the 2014 World Series

28 Tuesday Oct 2014

Posted by mtk in Commentary, pitchers

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Tags

baseball, data, Francisco, game, giants, info, Jake, mlb, Peavy, pitcher, San, sf, six, stats, thoughts, two, world

Jake Peavy joined the Giants and went 6-4 with a 2.17 ERA in 12 starts.

He only gave up three home runs. He threw 58 strikeouts and 17 walks, for a 3.41 strikeout-to-walks ratio.

He gave up 65 hits and 24 runs, 19 of them earned.

Jake was particularly good in August when other starters were struggling. In his 13th season, Peavy is returning to play for the manager whom he entered the league under, Bruce Bochy, who managed the Padres when Jake debuted.

At the age of 33, he is the only player on either team in this year’s World Series who is a current World Series Champion, having won with Boston last year. In that way he reminds me of Ryan Theriot who won with the Giants in 2012 after having won with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2011. “The Riot” scored the winning run that completed our sweep of the Detroit Tigers and he remains a part of SF Giants lore.

But, Peavy got no decision in his only World Series appearance with the Red Sox and he took the loss in Game Two of this Series. In fact, in the post season he has more often than not, suffered defeat.

He made three postseason starts in 2013 and the Red Sox lost two of them. So despite good numbers in the regular season, against the stiff competition of the playoffs, Peavy has not induced confidence. In eight postseason starts, including this year, Peavy’s ERA is more than seven.

Two of those starts were “flaming disasters.” Tim Brown has written about that and more  today here.

There is no doubt Peavy wants to win and is a competitor. But the atmosphere in Kansas City tonight is going to be intense. The Royals, with their backs against the wall, against their own walls, are sure to be a formidable team. There are going to be no easy outs in this one. It’s the American League park, so a DH adds to the certainty of that.

Jake Peavy ended the 2014 season smoking hot. He was rolling along so well, I pushed hard for the Giants to use him rather than Madison Bumgarner in the Play-In Game against the Pirates. A lot of people teased me for my massive spamming in favor of starting Peavy. I was concerned we wouldn’t have Bumgarner available twice against the Nationals.

But Bochy, the Master, brushed off any such suggestion, started Bumgarner and we won it to advance, leaving Peavy to start Game One of the NLDS against Washington’s Nationals.

And he had one of his best Post Season starts ever.

Peavy didn’t allow a hit until the fifth inning and exited with three walks and three strikeouts in that one, an unqualified success. He was pulled after a two-out walk to Jayson Werth in the sixth, but kept the Nationals scoreless on only two hits.

The AL is a different animal and you have to stay crisp, sharp and on top of it against these hustling Royals. Their speed is crazy and they can hit. They haven’t been hitting, but they can hit. Which makes ’em even more dangerous. Backs against the wall and due. Here’s hoping Jake can #GetPeaved and the Giants can make this happen.

Giants in SIX.

M.T.

Take the Hair and Put it on the Face

24 Saturday May 2014

Posted by mtk in Commentary

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and, bobblehead, face, Francisco, hair, it, Karthik, Lincecum, milan, mlb, mtk, ocean, omm, on, pitcher, put, San, take, the, Tim

Hudson One Pitch from 89-pitch CG, Giants Win 3-2

01 Thursday May 2014

Posted by mtk in Post Game Blasts

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ace, AT&T, baseball, Brian, busch, championship, diego, fontenot, Francisco, giants, Grandal, hit, Hudson, inning, mark, match, mlb, padres, pagan, pitcher, pitches, ring, Ross, rubber, sabean, San, scutaro, sf, splash, ten, theriot, Tim

Tim Hudson was incredible. He averaged only ten pitches an inning over eight innings during which he allowed one run amongst five hits. It was a stunning display of command over himself and control of an opponent’s  lineup.

Thus, in the top of the 9th, with a 3-1 lead, Hudson faced the possibility of averaging ten pitches or less in a complete game. With the pitch count so low, Bruce Bochy left him in.

As Dave Flemming put it, on the radio, live: “Why not? He’s only thrown 80 pitches.”

Hudson quickly sat down the first two batters of the 9th on six pitches. Then he had a two strike count on the Padres Yasmani Grandal when he sent an 87mph cutter down the gut that Grandal timed perfectly, connected on wholly and sent into McCovey Cove – a solo shot. Hudson’s 89th pitch ended his night, one out shy of a CG.

That condemnable 30th Splash Hit by an Opponent was retrieved by kayaker Mark Busch:

MarkBuschOpponentsHR

I hope Mark’s dog rips that thing to shreds.

Because, as Alex Pavlovic of the Mercury News tweeted it best:

“If Grandal swings through that last one, Hudson has himself an 89-pitch complete game.”

Sergio Romo came in to get the one-out save, his seventh, and this one was in the books as another outstanding performance by the SP who must be considered the Giants’ ace of 2014 thus far, Tim Hudson.

The Giants’ offense did score twice early. A Michael Morse double was plated by a Posey RBI in the first. Then in the second, The Giants made it 2-0 on a solo shot by the increasingly impressive Brandon Hicks.

Hicks’ homer was hit right handed, inside-out to deep RF – only Bonds ever did that kind of stuff at AT&T. It blew minds. But afterward, the Giants struggled to support Hudson at the plate.

Padres lefty Robbie Erlin settled down and he found a groove. Pitchers love our park and often play to our level of pitching competition. It’s an issue. It means we have to fight, scrap and hustle – with knowledge of our park they don’t have – to produce runs.

The Giants had RISP on three occasions and blew them all. The worst was a leadoff triple by Brandon Crawford in the 4th, when he was left stranded by a clunky, sputtering Giant offense. But in the previous inning the Giants had Morse and Belt on 2nd and 3rd with two out and could do nothing.

Luckily, Buster Posey singled in Arias (who had doubled in the 7th) to provide an insurance run that would prove to be necessary. Had Buster not hit that RBI late in the game, Grandal’s massive splash hit would’ve tied it up!

The Padres’ bullpen is decent and will fight in extra innings to steal wins. We could have easily been involved in a dog fight again on a night when Tim Hudson was throwing like Greg Maddux.

Point being, the Giants need to be more consistent about situational hitting with runners in scoring position. After Buster’s RBI single, with runners in the corners, Morse struck out, failing to get Pence home from third.

Team RISP: 3-for-11.
Team LOB: 7

ugh. Mark my words: whichever team – Dodgers, Giants or Colorado – plays smart, crisp baseball and hustles most for 50/50 games, will take the NL West. The SF Giants shot at being that team will depend on sacs, bunts, steals and hits with runners in scoring position.

On the bright side, as May begins, the Giants (17-11) lead the division by one and a half games over the Dodgers. On the road for our first two weeks of this month we face the Braves, Pirates and Dodgers next.

It’s time to tighten up the hitting in these batter-friendly parks and to continue hitting well against the nemesis in LA. I’d love to see us take 6 out of 9. Go Giants!

TWEET: #kudos to Brian Sabean, GM of #SFGiants for @Mcode38 and #TimHudson; excellent calculated expenditures in face of $235million #Dodger budget

After Cody Ross and Fontenot in 2010 and Scutaro and Theriot in 2012, this looks like a pattern: Morse and Hudson in 2014. Hmm. “World Series Champions 2014,” has a nice ring to it.

(photo by McCovey Cove Dave @mccoveycovedave – whose sign they use for Opponents Splash Hits)

Sending Big Country MadBum to Wrangle Dodgers in Chavez Ravine

02 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by mtk in PreGame GBCs

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Tags

#BeatLA, #MadBum, 2, angeles, baseball, Bumgarner, corner, dodgers, Francisco, game, giants, los, Madison, mlb, pitcher, San, sf, sp, two

#BeatLA

Sergio Romo in the ‘Pen

07 Tuesday Aug 2012

Posted by mtk in baseball, S.F.

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baseball, delivery, giants, mlb, pitcher, Romo, san francisco, Sergio, sf

Sergio Romo in the 'Pen

07 Tuesday Aug 2012

Posted by mtk in baseball, S.F.

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Tags

delivery, giants, mlb, pitcher, Romo, san francisco, Sergio, sf

Giants vs. A’s in Oakland, Exhibition Game

03 Tuesday Apr 2012

Posted by mtk in full games

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Athletics, baseball, cain, cespedes, day, double, Exhibition, Francisco, giants, handed, highest, matt, mlb, oakland, pablo, paid, pitcher, RHP, right, Ross, San, Sandoval, signing, Tyson, yoenis

Giants vs. A's in Oakland, Exhibition Game

03 Tuesday Apr 2012

Posted by mtk in full games

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Tags

Athletics, baseball, cain, cespedes, day, double, Exhibition, Francisco, giants, handed, highest, matt, mlb, oakland, pablo, paid, pitcher, RHP, right, Ross, San, Sandoval, signing, Tyson, yoenis

M.T. Karthik

This blog archives early work of M.T. Karthik, who took every photograph and shot all the video here unless otherwise credited.

Performances and installations are posted by date of execution.

Writing appears in whatever form it was originally or, as in the case of poems or journal entries, retyped faithfully from print.

all of it is © M.T. Karthik

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