Tag Archives: series

D’Backs Series Recap(1-2), Snakes Outlast Giant Gameplan

25 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by in Series Recaps

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

With pitching, crisp defense, just enough runs and by taking advantage of their opponents mistakes to win in the late innings … the  Diamondbacks beat the Giants at their game.

The Arizona Diamondbacks won two of three in extra innings against the Giants at AT&T Park with alert play after the 7th that the Giants lacked, showing fight, focus and effort.

Arizona’s Didi Gregorius, the Snakes’ rookie shortstop, energized his team with hustle. Twice, late in games, Gregorius took second base because a Giant outfielder was lackadaisical in throwing the ball back to the infield on a shallow base hit, and both times. Gregorius crossed the plate as the winning run.

Home runs were once again costly in this series as the Giants continually fell behind not on situational hits but the long ball. To their credit, the Giants kept coming back from 2-run deficits, but in the end the comebacks weren’t enough.

The Giants fought back to tie Game 1 on a Posey homer and win it on a Belt walk-off base hit in the ninth. They took Game 2 to extra innings on a Belt homer, but fell apart defensively to lose it in 10. Last night’s loss was a carbon copy in the 11th, except for the glaring statistic:

0 for 10 with runners in scoring position.

The brightest positive from this series and really of the season is Brandon Crawford, who wrote in his blog that he has changed his stance and is “standing taller” – which is yielding great results. Here’s a three paragraph pullquote, because it’s great and emblematic of 25 Guys with one Common Goal:

“It’s great hitting home runs, believe me. I had four all last season and have three already this year. But to tell you the truth I take just as much pride in laying down a crucial sacrifice bunt, like the one last night in the ninth inning.

Sacrifice bunts might not get the scoreboard flashing and the water spouting, but they are noticed by your teammates. They know you did your job and that it was a key to winning the game. My job last night was to move Torres into scoring position, just as in the fourth game of the World Series it was to move Theriot into scoring position. In each situation, the next batter got a hit that scored the runner. If the runner is still at first, he doesn’t score.

OK, so laying down the sac bunt isn’t as much fun as getting the winning hit. You’re not in the newspaper the next day or on the highlights that night. But you know what you did. Last night, after everyone punched Belt in the ribs a few times, my teammates congratulated me on the bunt. I point this out to make the point that winning is a team effort. When you stop playing as a team, you stop winning.” – Brandon Crawford

Brandon went 4 for 9 (.444) with a double and a homer in the Arizona series. He has four home runs and remains the number one ranked SS in the majors in fWAR. Importantly Crawford knocked Ian Kennedy out of the game, allowing our current ace, Madison Bumgarner to outduel the D’backs starter who has given us the most trouble over the years.

The second takeaway has to be the redemptive hitting of Brandon Belt after intense scrutiny for his slumping bat. Bochy made a point to spend extra time and it paid huge dividends as Belt won one game from the bench and tied another to take it to extra innings.

Our bullpen performed admirably and indeed is starting to gel.

Uncharacteristically lackadaisical play and simple mistakes by Andres Torres, Angel Pagan, Santiago Casilla and Buster Posey cost us the tight losses.

The D’Backs were more focused in late and extra innings for two games. Reminded me that they beat the St. Louis Cardinals in 16 innings, in their rubber-match, third game of the season to ensure they won their opening series – coming from behind twice to do it. This past weekend at AT&T, they showed it wasn’t a fluke.

There is fight, effort and smart, crisp play happening under Gibson in Arizona. They’ve got good pitching and a decent bullpen (J.J. Putz got tagged, but is likely to settle down as the season wears on).

The Arizona Diamondbacks are whom the Giants will be fighting to win the division.

Series Recap: G’s Sweep Lowly Pads (3-0),Timmy and Zeets Bounce Back

21 Sunday Apr 2013

Posted by in radio, Series Recaps

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Padres were preyed upon by the Giants, who were licking their wounds after being swept in Milwaukee in games which exploded the ERAs of Barry Zito and Matt Cain.

So the Giants relished the opportunity to face a weak opponent back at home in the friendly, wide-open spaces of AT&T – they were eager to do what they do so well they’re the World Series Champs.

The formula is clear: pitching, defense, just enough hits and taking advantage of opponents’ mistakes. We should stop calling Giants Baseball “Torture,” because it’s the Giants’ method that creates the tension. They want to set the conditions taut and then to play crisp, so the other team will make a mistake first.

Giants Ball is small ball with four basic priorities.  The simple formula applied effectively, can be beautiful. In order of importance:

1. Pitching – quality starters and a stable pen. The Giants rely heavily on starting pitching and on the bullpen. Bochy continues to improve at making the necessary moves to prevent runs from crossing the plate.

2. Crisp Defense – Marty Lurie on Bench Coach Ron Wotus: “What Ronnie said was, ‘If you get a double-play ball you better turn it. (beat) That’s the difference between a pennant winning team and another team.'”

3. Just Enough Hits – situational hits to produce “just enough” runs. It’s a different philosophy … think Just Enough Hits as opposed to Murderer’s Rows. We keep mowing down Murderer’s Rows in the World Series. Pitching wins out over a month of postseason play. All you need is just enough hits.

Jon Miller: “Sandoval is now hitting a *cool* five fifty with runners in scoring position. Pablo’s playing the chauffeur telling those runners in scoring position, hop in, I’m driving you home.”

4. Take Advantage of Opponents Mistakes

Some may think of plays that result from opponents errors as lucky, but when you play tight, crisp, team ball like this, you create conditions by which to seize upon errors of the opponent.

It’s a plan that’s going to generally result in close games. Lurie: 14 of 19 games have been decided by less than 3 runs and the Giants are 10-4 in those games.” We’ll take that!

So quit chewing your nails and get used to it. Learn to enjoy the chess match from the defensive perspective, let’s talk pen vs. pen.

I joined Marty Lurie on the Post Game to talk about that and other joys of small ball … and it was fun:

Thanks, Marty!

The highlight of the weekend was Angel Pagan’s walkoff double on Friday night. Though the Giants had to come from behind and score late to win it, the score was low because the pitchers were doing their thing.

Pitching

Giants starting pitchers gave up two runs over 27 innings and had two shutouts.

Bumgarner got tagged by Chase Headley for those runs, which was an anomaly in his pitching. Otherwise he was on target and the team didn’t let him get the loss: Pagan’s walk-off  prevented it.

Tim Lincecum’s performance was dominant – with eight strikeouts over 6 innings – and the Giants’ system worked most efficiently in Game Two. Pablo Sandoval’s two run homer was all the scoring we needed and all we got. Mijares, Casilla and Romo cleaned up, held and closed.

In Game Three, Bruce Bochy left Barry Zito in through the 7th, which, if it were Bumgarner or Cain I would consider exactly the wrong move (please see other posts) … but Zeets is a special case, pitching perhaps the best of his life. He wants and deserves the innings. He was, to borrow Marty Lurie’s word for it, “electrifying” – seven shutout innings on 102 pitches with 71 strikes and pitched a great game.

Chad Gaudin came in with a five run lead and in a non-save situation maintained the shutout for the final two innings. The bullpen is really starting to gel.

Hitting

Pablo Sandoval and Buster Posey each had a two-run homer in the series: Buster’s first home run of the year and Panda’s game two decider. The Giants have hit 11 Home runs, and I believe that’s 3rd worst in the Major Leagues – Just Enough Hits as opposed to Murderer’s Rows.

In the absence of power, key hits are what’s important and several guys on the team are doing the job to create a collective effort – a different hero every night.

Pablo’s bat has woken up after back-to-back, 0-fer nights and he is now leading the team and ranked int he league in RBIs, hitting .550 with RISP, which prompted Jon Miller to remark: “Pablo’s playing the chauffeur telling those runners in scoring position, ‘Hop in, I’m driving you home.'”

Angel Pagan won Game One with that walk-off double but has been getting other key hits throughout the young season. Last year he tied the 109-year-old Giants record for home hit streak and he seems focused on breaking it this year. He and Andres Torres have been picking up the pace to get on base as Marco Scutaro starts to find his stride.

Hunter Pence has been getting key hits as well and has four home runs to lead all Giants. Brandon Crawford is having his best year hitting in the majors thus far, threatening to end the season as a .300+ hitter and a Gold Glove winner.

Zito is getting calculated, intentional hits: well-executed bunts, infield hits and even a base hit swinging that looked great. Bay City Ball has a great piece about where Barry Zito’s hits go. Hint: the same way all the time.

Nick Noonan continues to show presence that’s unusual for a rookie – key pinch hits, solid infield work. Brandon Belt has been streaky, still looking for his swing. The negative comments on a hole in his swing get ugly. I still have faith.

This was a good series against a weak opponent that featured pitching and just enough hits by the Giants.

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

15 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by in Series Recaps

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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

Revenge of the Cardinals Series Two Recap (1-2)

08 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by in Series Recaps

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sunday’s fiasco of onfield baseball effort by the Giants on ring ceremony day was frustrating for many reasons for fans who, like me, prefer playing  baseball to celebrating victory.

Giants Baseball Corner proposes a different view of our Giants than that promoted relentlessly by Comcast – the broadcaster I hold principally responsible for the excessive in-season ceremonies and schmaltzy, non-baseball content with which fans now waste their time.

I don’t mean to sound like a crank – but the soccer-momming of baseball makes it less enjoyable to me, and I think to some other fans as well, I’d rather be talking about squeeze plays than surfing Deloreans, rather be talking strengths and weaknesses of opposing pitchers than of the outfits on fans at the stadium. But the entertainment industry is wired differently – it’s why listening to FOX Sports during the World Series is almost unbearable.

All of this has emerged from the success of the team as we have at last become World Series Champions, but instead of adding to the value of those victories, Comcast and these overproduced ceremonies make us look kitschy, immodest and less classy. It makes us look like a superficial, self-centered team that couldn’t care less about anyone else – an arrogance of 49er fans that was never a part of being a Giant.

The St. Louis Cardinals must have been boiling in their dugout as we partied and gushed, bloviated and gave out bling.

The Cardinals began their season on the road with back-to-back series against Western Division foes. They split these to start the season .500 when they go back at home for their own opener. They showed real fight in the Sunday night game last week, the Diamondbacks season opening series, which ended in a scrappy, 16-inning fight in which the Snakes came back not once but twice to force extra innings and finally win it late at night.

Coming off that loss and forced to watch the Giants long-running designed-for-television celebrations, the Cards came ready to play and to make a mockery of our effort. The series with the Giants clarified the difference in attitude between the two teams at the moment of the contest. The Giants managed one run in their victory by virtue of a bases-loaded walk, stranded double-digit runners in scoring position and melted down in the face of hard effort by a Cards team that wanted to win.

They looked more focused and hungrier. We looked satisfied and uncaring.

Result: Cards win 2-1 with a crushing 14-3 explosion in our “pitchers park” to back their high-paid ace Adam Wainwright while we watched our Big Horse melt down the second time through their order – they’d figured him out.

I am not against celebrating – I just wish we could do all our celebrating in off-season and let the regular season be for playing baseball.

In baseball terms, exactly as exciting and thrilling as the opening series on the road against the Dodgers was, the home opener and the opening series at AT&T Park was miserable. Comcast better quit celebrating and let the G-men get going. They aren’t just going to give us the third one.

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

04 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by in Series Recaps

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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

The Triple Kiss and the Side Effects of Slow Motion

19 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by in baseball, essay, journalism, sport

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I refer to this broken bat double which swerved into play, as:

The Triple Kiss

This excellent .gif of The Triple Kiss is by @CorkGaines

Hunter Pence knocked in three runs when this ball left his broken bat after a crazy series of three collisions – the last of which caused it to swerve in the air and bound past the outstretched glove of the shortstop.

Second-year Cardinals shortstop Pete Kozma, who was very well positioned, reacted at lightning speed, but was caught going the wrong way for a fraction of a second because the third point of contact changed the ball’s direction.

The Triple Kiss happened in less than half a second. Watching it live, as broadcast, I had no idea the ball hit the bat three times; not until seeing it like this.

I knew it was a broken bat hit, my shoulders slumped at the same instant that Kozma jumped – and then suddenly, the ball took a crazy turn in the air and, as if it had eyes, bounced past the outstretched glove of the recovering Kozma, on the second base side.

The Triple Kiss was significantly faster than the human eye … even the highly trained eyes of a ballplayer, or an umpire. It affords us the opportunity to discuss the intense amount of new information that slow motion yields.

Slow motion was originally known – in analog filmmaking – as overcranking, a method by which the speed of the film was altered through handcranking the frames. Overcranking was first used in sports as long ago as the 1930’s in the coverage of boxing matches.

It took a long time for overcranking to become slow motion and in that time we got pretty used to it. We allowed slow motion to creep into our observation of games with such ease and normality that the NFL, NBA and MLB now all stop play to incorporate it as a tool in evaluating what has actually taken place.

But yesterday, after a fascinating conversation with an NCAA referee in another sport, David Ma, I began to wonder whether there’s a measurable visual side effect of using high definition slow motion when trying to call a game.

A paranoid part of me also began to wonder whether we’ve already begun what sci-fi feared: letting machines that are ‘more than us’ run our most human aspects.

David Ma believes we should alter the rules of instant replay review so that any referee or umpire using video replay should NOT be allowed to use the slow motion effect in the review.

Ma says, “I have no problem with the use of multiple camera angles for the review, but video review referees should not be allowed to use slow-motion.”

Ma believes there is a significant effect on the field when calling games with video review that includes slow motion, which he refers to as akin to “refereeing under a microscope.”

He points out that no human being could possibly see some of the things that slow motion reveals. In fact, Ma believes referees are already changing the way they call a game because of the presence of the super-slow-motion of HD:

“In pro football now there’s mandatory booth review on any score and in the final two minutes … if you’re a ref and you know that, why would you make a call? The camera can see everything you can’t so you’re most likely going to be wrong!”

Ma speaks with the authority of knowing what it’s like to have to make a call with a super-slow-mo eyeball looking over your shoulder: “With HD slow motion, by far, most of the time the referee’s call is going to be wrong.”

It opens up a discussion about what our perception of real-time is. For example would an umpiring or refereeing crew allowed only to watch the replays in real-time be more effective within the state of play? Ma believes assuredly yes.

This process by which we have accepted the super-slow-mo eyeball as the authority has taken place without significant consideration of the side effect – a human response to the presence of a machine that can see things we can’t.

But perhaps more significantly, the use of slow-mo in sports coverage points out that despite the presence of a tremendous amount of data being added to the information of the events of real-time by slow motion, it’s an effect we’ve subconsciously accepted without critique as a part of our capacity to watch something that has happened.

To David Ma, we’ve stepped onto an escalator which will take us to the point where it will be impossible for a human being to call a game.

I argued that perhaps the refereeing crew could judge the play on the basis of human terms: take in all the data, including the super-slow-mo stuff, and then the video review ref might say: ‘Well, sure we can see that under scrutiny, but there’s no way we could have seen that in real-time’ – thus overriding the machine.

But David Ma reminded me who pays the bills:

“The broadcast media, which is putting out incredibly detailed HD video in super slow-mo will grab that ref by the collar and say, you’re calling it like the nation just saw it, now.”

It rang true. But not one to make an issue of the problem without offering a solution, Ma says the only smart fix is to take slow-mo away from the refs. Alter our use of video replay to remove slow motion.

It’s a bold idea designed to keep the real-time on the field … well, real.

But there would emerge the huge issue that we, the fans, would have the access to all this information that the super-slow motion yields and would be stuck with an unresolvable dispute against the call made by humans trapped in a real-time consideration of events at hand.

The best example – when such frustration peaked – is the now infamous “intertouchdownception” that gave the Seattle Seahawks a victory in the waning seconds over the Green Bay Packers by virtue of a Hail Mary pass that was impossible to call with the human eye and replacement refs and the current NFL rules and the tacit agreement that management isn’t calling interference on Hail Mary’s (lol).

intertouchdownception

One of the refs on the field who signaled touchdown still believes he made an acceptable call as per one reading of the rule book. Fans remain unconvinced.

CBS, the widest, slowest form of sports broadcasting, interviewed two of the replacement refs a few days later.

If, as Dave Ma suggests, we were to remove slow-motion from the toolbox for referees, could we as fans accept the difference of our view being an enhanced view from that of the refs?

Would we hound the refs for their inability to see what only a machine can see?

Or could we embrace the idea that we are keeping machines out of what is a fundamentally human exercise – sport.

In games like tennis and cricket, slow motion is used to define where or when a fast-moving object or person is at a given moment: the ball on or outside the line, the bat past the line before the ball strikes the wickets and so on.

The absolute exclusion of the slow motion effect would be a pointless exercise. However, it may be that the exclusion of slow motion from video review in certain situations would help keep the game real.

The SF Giants Should Hire Usain Bolt to Pinch Run

04 Sunday Nov 2012

Posted by in baseball, S.F.

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

After listening to fans of Usain Bolt talk during the Olympics about using him as a wide receiver or kickoff returner in American Football, it suddenly struck me there may be a better fit for his crossover to commercial US sports:

The San Francisco Giants should hire Usain Bolt to pinch run.

He would never bat, never face a pitch. Why not teach the Jamaican how to position himself, when to run, how to turn the corner and how to slide?

He’d be used in the exact way Bochy used Darren Ford in ’10 and ’11:  to manufacture runs in key innings, in late innings and extra-inning games on the road, for our generally run-depleted squad.

Darren Ford’s exploits, which gained him the nickname The Bullet, are well remembered by fans of the current two-time World Series Champion SF Giants.

Most famous was his game-winning run in the 2-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies in September during our run to the division lead in 2010.

“With the game tied 1-1 in the eighth, Mike Fontenot drew a walk. Fontenot runs fine. Ford, however, might be one of the fastest guys on any big league roster. Ford ran for Fontenot and broke for second, and was standing on the bag, when Colorado‘s Ubaldo Jimenez fielded Tim Lincecum‘s quite average sacrifice bunt.” reads this b/r piece on the play.

But in Spring of the following year, Bochy used Ford to do it again.

Usain Bolt might be a very effective pinch runner if he can be taught the mechanics of base-running. Willie Mays stole home 5 times, Jackie Robinson 9 times … how many do you think Bolt could take if he could be put in position? Think squeeze play.

Bay Area Sports Guy hosted a piece on how important base-running is to the SF Giants just before this season started, but anybody who understands baseball and what just happened with the Giants versus the Tigers will get it, so please comment and spread the discourse.

Here’s the man, doin it:

Usain Bolt as solely a pinch runner – a specialist position. Inexpensive, but possibly very effective in tight games, when you have great pitching and defense. Discuss amongst yourselves.

Go Giants!

Image

Me and Marty on Willie Mays Plaza Pre Game 3 of the World Series

27 Saturday Oct 2012

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

ALL YEAR LONG I HAVE HUGE … OK NOT HUGE, BUT ALL KINDS OF LITTLE DIFFERENCES WITH THIS GUY AND YOU KNOW WHAT HE DOES?

He invites me on the radio to talk about it.

and last Saturday he let me wear the Championship Ring from 2010. wow.

Marty Lurie, radio host who joined KNBR after working to cover the A’s, was immediately a lucky element for the Giants.

He and I stood exactly where we are in this photo two years before, and bore witness during the run that finally made the Giants World Series Champs in San Francisco. Marty walked in and we won.

For decades a criminal defense attorney, and at that a New Yorker, Mr. Lurie became a historian of the game of baseball independent of what he does now for KNBR. If anyone must, Marty Lurie must be associated with the cross-country relationship the Giants have that reaches back to the Polo Grounds in New York City.

But yes, by providence and timing, Marty has grown into a unique role and is now an important member of the San Francisco Giants team.

Mr. Lurie’s an excellent radio interviewer whose competence is a direct result of his research. I loved watching him at the Public House in Game 5 against the Braves back in 2010. He sat down to score the game and pulled out a yellow legal pad to do it. He’s a baseball nerd trained as a lawyer!

Mr. Lurie’s interviews of baseball players and managers, which he’s been conducting season-long for three years now, are a growing chronicle of the game.

Lurie brought a whole lot of AL contacts over to KNBR  the first year and was eager to share with us NLers the value of certain stories. But slowly over the past three years, he has joined the stewards of the Giants Championships of 2010 and 2012 who collectively are arbiters of our first time championship memories.

So Mr. Lurie is an attorney who can discuss both leagues’ histories very effectively.

Marty, I’m saying it here for the first time: You’re the only lawyer I really like.

Thanks for letting me wear the Championship Ring and for doing such a bang-up job behind the mic.

sincerely,

“M.T.” and, in 2010, “Carter from Oakland”

(just pissed off a whole lot of lawyers I know who think me and them’re “real close”).

Posted by | Filed under baseball, S.F.

≈ Leave a comment

with Marty Lurie on the Plaza at Public House before WS Game Three

27 Saturday Oct 2012

Posted by in radio

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

ALL YEAR LONG I HAVE HUGE … OK NOT HUGE, BUT ALL KINDS OF LITTLE DIFFERENCES WITH THIS GUY AND YOU KNOW WHAT HE DOES?

He invites me on the radio to talk about it.

and last Saturday he let me wear the Championship Ring from 2010. wow.

Marty Lurie, radio host who joined KNBR early in 2010 after working to cover the A’s, was immediately a lucky element for the Giants. He and I stood exactly where we are in this photo two years before, and bore witness during the run that finally made the Giants World Series Champs in San Francisco. Marty walked in … and we won.

For decades a criminal defense attorney, and at that a New Yorker, Mr. Lurie became a historian of the game of baseball independent of what he does now for KNBR. If anyone must, Marty Lurie must be associated with the cross-country relationship the Giants have that reaches back to the Polo Grounds in New York City.

But by providence and timing, Marty has grown into a unique role with the World Series Champs and is now an important member of the San Francisco Giants team.

Mr. Lurie’s an excellent radio interviewer whose competence is a direct result of his research. I loved watching him at the Public House in Game 5 against the Braves back in 2010. He sat down to score the game and pulled out a yellow legal pad to do it. He’s a baseball nerd trained as a lawyer!

Mr. Lurie’s interviews of baseball players and managers on Talkin’ Baseball, which he’s been conducting season-long for three years now, are a growing chronicle of the game.

So Marty Lurie is an attorney who can discuss both leagues’ histories very effectively. He brought a whole lot of AL contacts over to KNBR  the first year and was eager to share with us NLers the value of certain stories from the lesser league.

But slowly over the past three years, he has joined the stewards of the Giants Championships of 2010 and 2012 who, taken collectively, have become arbiters of SF’s first time championship memories. (full disclosure, GBC hopes to be included in that group of stewards)

Marty, I’m saying it here for the first time: You’re the only lawyer I really like.

Thanks for letting me wear the Championship Ring and for doing such a bang-up job behind the mic.

sincerely,

“M.T.”

and, in 2010: “Carter from Oakland”

(just pissed off a whole lot of lawyers I know who think me and them’re “real close”).