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M.T. Karthik

~ midcareer archive, 1977 – 2017 plus 2022

M.T. Karthik

Tag Archives: theriot

The Trade Deadline Was Smart and Effective Use of The SF Giants System Under Sabean, Boch, and Evans

02 Tuesday Aug 2016

Posted by mtk in Commentary, SFG Off Day Posts

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

3B, baseball, baseman, best, Bochy, Bruce, cain, Casey, coach, coaching, Cody, deadline, duffy, Francisco, giants, Hudson, hunter, Jake, marco, matt, McGehee, mlb, Moore, Pabl, Peavy, pence, pitchers, Romo, Ross, Ryan, San, Sandoval, scutaro, Sergio, sf, smith, staff, theriot, third, Tim, trade, Will

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

 

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

01 Thursday May 2014

Posted by mtk in Post Game Blasts

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

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)

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

a minute of rain

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