Tag Archives: Tim

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

02 Tuesday Aug 2016

Posted by in Commentary, SFG Off Day Posts

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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

Posted by in pitchers, Relief Pitching

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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.

If You’re a Giants Fan, This is for You. Game 7 World Series 2014

29 Wednesday Oct 2014

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I saw last night coming in the exact same way I saw us “losing one of three at home” to these guys. I saw it because unlike Texas and Detroit on this stage, these guys are hungry, fierce and fast as lightning.

There are no balls that runaway from them in their park.

These guys are GOOD.

If, before I go on, you’re in an argumentative mood or feel like trolling, do not continue reading here until you have at least read Grant Brisbee, whose piece “Giants, Jake Peavy force Game 7,” is the single best piece on the internet on the matter.

It cuts to the points and covers most of the major issues. It is the single piece capable of getting our immense and highly emotional fan base into a sharper, more receptive mode today for what is to come tonight. It crosses generations and media.

For years, Brisbee does what newsprint can’t, what radio is incapable of, and has been what Comcast longs to be, but can never be because of how obscenely, filthy rich they are thanks to our team, and our fans, and who, thus, run things.

Brisbee does what bloggers long to do better than most of them can dream, and so they jealously put him down. I will pick up where he left off.

Jake Peavy, the new guy, went into that game without our trademark humility and cool. He let his kids talk about how they were going to buy a cable car when we won and, being new to our way of doing things from a media town like Boston, he acted way too cool pre-game in general (hugs with Big Papi … uh, why?).

I tried not to be negative before the game:  this was as confident as I could possibly be about the guy after what I saw on media day.

The play where he is yelling at Belt to throw it home was the ultimate in blowing your cool. I was disappointed, but I understood it must be incredible pressure.

I only wish Brandon had the quick presence of mind to flip that to Joe – what the hell, though, it was happening pretty fast.

But honestly, thank you, Jake. The pressure was enormous on you this season coming over to our team and you rocked!

It was a rough outing and a terrible context to be thrown into. Add to the situation the death of Tavares and the young emotional man on the mound, Ventura, dedicating his performance to his recently departed friend, and you have a nightmare situation.

Thank you for the game against the Nationals and your earnest, competitive fire.

This season, Jake Peavy did good things, and in some cases great things, coming in as a quick replacement for the sudden departure of our Big Horse, Matt Cain. But I refuse to agree with those who demand we blindly say, “we wouldn’t be here without him.”

He would not be here without us, is more appropriate.

He is a guy Brian Sabean chose on short notice to replace one of the best right-handers in the game, a guy our whole starting pitching rotation was begun with, and he did an admirable job.

Thank you Jake, again. Forgive me for being impatient. I cannot wait for Matt Cain’s elbow chips business to be completely healed.

As I said yesterday morning:

The AL is a different animal though 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.

I am excited we’re starting Tim Hudson tonight. I trust Huddy and I dream of a storybook ending to his long and successful career as a starting pitcher in the major leagues. He has survived and indeed thrived to become the winningest pitcher active by exhibiting exquisite command and a level head under pressure.

A silver lining is our lineup got to go through that game last night as an ice breaker and I believe we will all be far more prepared for the atmosphere at KC tonight.

If we really want to be considered a Dynasty, if we really believe we have a right to elect Bruce Bochy to the Hall of Fame, tonight is when it should happen. We need to get the mental toughness, have the confidence to play our game and win it.

We have the better squad. Their pitcher is hittable. Victory can be ours.

Victory should be ours.

I honestly hope we play our best ball, because if we do, I am sure they cannot beat us. They rely on speed and hustle to ensure they make few mistakes. They capitalize on getting ahead before the 6th so they can shut it down.

We have the weapons to defeat that philosophy.

I honestly believe Tim Hudson could have the game of his life tonight and I wish him and his family all the best in the world win-or-lose.

The Bay Area loves you, Tim, and we believe in you because you have earned our trust.

In fact we admire you a great deal: your efficiency on the mound this season has been at times stunning.

This game in particular … You were one pitch from a complete game with ten pitches an inning. Wow, just, wow.

You and your family have been a welcome addition to our locker room and stadium and community. Thank you.

Good luck.

M.T.

in Giants Baseball Corner

The Battle for First Begins a Mile High

20 Tuesday May 2014

Posted by in PreGame GBCs

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After beating the Marlins 4-1 Sunday the Giants flew directly to Denver and checked into their hotels so as to enjoy as much of their day off yesterday as possible. Ryan Vogelsong’s strong outing made the home stand a winning one and kept the Giants three ahead of Colorado in the NL West standings. The rest was much needed.

The Giants are ready to get back to baseball tonight against the red hot Rockies who boast three of the top five best hitters for average in Justin Morneau, Charlie Blackmon and Troy Tulowitski. Tulo leads the league in average (.393) and Home Runs (13) and is third in RBIs.

Tulowitski’s line is staggering: .494 OBS/.764 SLG/1.259 OPS and he leads in every category by a wide margin including Wins Against Replacement. His 4.5 (WAR) is way beyond. The Denver Post has a nice article about Tulo today.

The Rockies have tasted first place in the NL West already this year and could tie for the lead with a sweep. They’ve been blasting the ball and have hit 62 homers as a team. They beat the Giants in Colorado on April 22 of this year on the strength of five homers and they smashed five in Cincy on the 10th to beat the Reds.

The Rockies clubhouse was struck by a viral infection which sent Catcher Wilin Rosario to the DL, but he has been reactivated from the injury list.

Madison Bumgarner pitches for the Giants tonight, followed by Matt Cain tomorrow night. Tim Hudson will likely be returning to the starting lineup for Thursday’s day game. Hudson missed his last start and was sent to the DL to rest a sore right hip, but has been throwing on flat ground since Saturday and will throw bullpen today.

Angel Pagan is listed day-to-day for the series because of his left shoulder, which he sprained diving for a ball in the last Marlins game.

Pablo Sandoval has begun hitting, stepping up in the absence of Brandon Belt. His solo homer yesterday was nice to see. His nine game hitting streak could include more long balls in the altitude of Coors Field. Let’s hope so.

Go Giants!

Tension! The Giants vs. Braves in Atlanta

03 Saturday May 2014

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Game one of this series was a doozy. A great pitching duel with crisp defense and good baseball all around. National League Ball. Again here’s the diagnosis I came up with last year of the Giants’ basic strategy:

1. Starting Pitching Hangs in There, ‘Pen Holds

2. Score Just Enough Runs

3. Play Crisp Defense

4. Take Advantage of Opponents Mistakes

and yesterday, it worked.

Tim Lincecum found himself starting the Braves Series in Atlanta facing the strong lefty Mike Minor, who was making his season debut after enduring several weeks off from baseball due to a urinary tract procedure.

Minor was cleared to play and given a minor league start to ensure he was all right. But in that start he gave up four home runs. Though Braves staff felt he looked good in general, it was a concern. Angel Pagan made sure they stayed concerned, by smashing a homer off him in the lead off at-bat of Game one, Giants up 1-0.

Minor was quick to settle down and rarely gave the Giants opportunities, though when they got them, the G-men continued to fail to plate runners in scoring position. This game would be decided by homers once again – a recurring theme in Giants’ wins this season (credit due to Morse, Belt, Pagan and Posey).

Tim Lincecum hung in there and showed command. He kept the ball down and looked like he was putting it where he wanted it. In the third he threw a pitch down and out and it was popped up into center field. Immediately after the ball hit the bat, Timmy pointed up and looked down, confident the ball wasn’t leaving the park. It showed an increasing confidence in his command.

Tim pitched his way out of jams twice and went six innings, giving up just one run off six hits. He had only four strikeouts, instead relying on his command to generate ground outs and popups. This was what we have been looking for from Lincecum: to turn to other options than a strikeout fastball, to work out the hitter and force him into a 3rd strike mistake like a weakly hit ball.

After Pagan’s homer, Michael Morse added a solo shot to give the Giants the 2-1 lead they would never relinquish, but it was a tense affair.

The Braves stranded 12 runners and were 1 for 9 with RISP. Timmy’s pitching at key moments wasn’t the only reason why. Brandon Crawford provided the crisp defense in this one. He made several good plays and one monstrous one that saved an inning. Crawford slapped down a hard driven liner and picked it up and fired it to first to end an inning and in another made a leaping throw to get the runner. Then there was this gem in the 9th:

BCraw Does It Again

Way to go BCraw!

Jeremy Affeldt entered in the 7th and was good again, getting two quick outs, but giving up a hit. Santiago Casilla came in and slowly, his way, picked up the third out and manhandled the 8th inning.

Sergio Romo struggled at the very end of this one again, giving up a walk and a steal. But as Marty said, “He was working.” With two-out and one on in scoring position, and the score 2-1, Giants, Sergio Romo battled with the Braves best hitter Justin Upton.

On a 3-2 count and after several foul balls, Romo froze Upton with a fastball to win it. Dave Flemming made an awesome call, “strike three called on a fastball in-there! and … shades of Miguel Cabrera in the World Series …”

It was a great pitching duel, with only the two home runs given up by the just-returned Mike Minor being the difference.

Brian Sabean looks like a genius right now for picking up Hudson and Morse in the off season. This week they looked AWESOME.

Game Two later today will be considerably tougher for the Giants as they face the Braves’ ace, Julio Teheran (2-1) – a big, hard-throwing right hander who has 26 strikeouts in the young season and boasts a 1.47 ERA.

Pitching for the Giants today, it’s the up-and-down Ryan Vogelsong. It’s very difficult to tell which Vogey we’re going to get nowadays. When he feels steady and gets support he can go six innings, but when he implodes he does so badly. Hopefully Yusmeiro Petit will be available if necessary, but I hate thinking like that.

These games are my favorite kind of baseball – National League pitching duels requiring alculated management, situational hitting and crisp defense. Looking forward to another good one. #RallyEnchiladas #RallyVogey #BeatATL

Go Giants!

 

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

01 Thursday May 2014

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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: to Brian Sabean, GM of for and ; excellent calculated expenditures in face of $235million 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)

Giants Score 4 Runs in 5th Inning, Beat Indians 5-3

27 Sunday Apr 2014

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Tim Lincecum struggled from the beginning of this one, giving up 9 hits and 3 runs in 4 and 2/3 and leaving the bases juiced with two outs for Juan Gutierrez, who struck out one batter and left the game.

The Giants put together a four run 5th after and the bullpen secured the victory. Jean Machi, Jeremy Affeldt and Sergio Romo all did their jobs, so Gutierrez got the win, though he pitched only one third of an inning, the 4th. Romo collected his 6th save.

The four-run 5th was the result of timely hits and a sacrifice as the Giants moved runners along. Gregor Blanco singled, scoring Michael Morse. A sacrifice fly by Angel Pagan scored Brandon Crawford and advanced Brandon Hicks and Blanco. Then Hunter Pence drove Blanco and Hicks in with a shallow single. Just like that the Giants who were down 3-0 with the bases loaded full of Indians, found themselves up 4-3.

Buster Posey tacked on a solo home run in the 6th inning to make it 5-3.

 

 

 

Giants Beat Indians 5-1, First Interleague Game Win of 2014

26 Saturday Apr 2014

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I didn’t see this game, but I’m trying to make at least a placeholder on the blog for every Giants game this season.

From the papers I gather that Angel Pagan had a great game at the plate and running the base paths, with two singles, a steal and two runs scored.

Tim Hudson continues his steady, consistent pitching for the Giants. He went 7+ and allowed only one run. Huddy is averaging 5Ks a game!

The Giants won in their first Interleague game, 5-1, and the Dodgers lost in 11 last night so we are back in first place by half a game.

Go Giants!

[the comment below is the comment below]

mtk

I happened to be at the game last night. The buzz where I was sitting centered around the Mike Morse homer in the 421 area of the park. A big blast! Hudson’s steady pitching–I believe he had a 5 pitch, 3 up, 3 down inning. Very cool to watch. Last but not least, Pablo legging out a triple with a thunderous belly flop into third base and no throw from the defense.

The Kuiper home run video, bobble head and interviews were fun too. Check out the Kuiper video —csnbayarea.com. Cheers

Andre Reynier

Timmy Goes Six, Fans Seven, Giants Beat Padres 4-3

20 Sunday Apr 2014

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As I Stepped Into the Pub, Buster Hit a 2-Run Homer …

It was incredible. The sun was shining into the doorway and as my foot hit the bright rectangle of light on the floor in the doorway, I heard the crack of the bat! I turned to the screen and saw Posey put Tim Lincecum ahead early. 2-0 Giants.

Timmy stayed in ’til the 7th giving up three runs, the last a solo shot in the 7th to bring the Padres within a run, 4-3. Then the bullpen handled the business, though Romo was shaky in closing and that made it interesting. Lots of crisp defense, double plays. Great game.

It was very much like last year today against the Pads:  A Timmy Quality Start (@SD4/21/13) in which he struck out 8 and got the shutout. Except there was more action on the basepaths. Buster made a tag at the plate that was called “safe” then reversed when challenged. He also gunned down a runner trying to steal second with a fluid rise and extremely accurate throw. MVP-type day for Gerald.

I started up this blog again with a mic check because of the torture of this past week.

Matt Cain remains my favorite Giant for seven years now and I feel terrible that we struggle to provide even two runs when necessary to get him these wins. #CainedAgain has become a thing. (sigh) Once again this week Cain was great. Bumgarner, too. Huddy – near perfect. and then the bats? (cricket sounds).

In that piece last year, I came up with what I see as Bruce Bochy’s basic formula for victory for the pitching/batting mix of our team, our budget and our pitcher’s ballpark. Thought I’d apply it to today’s game just for kicks.

1. Pitching

a. quality start  – Timmy, with a 2-run lead hung in there for a quality start (“one pitch too many” Marty said, and I like it). 7 Ks. Marty called it “acceptable, but I’d say not only consistent – look at the performance one year earlier (link above) – but he looked like he was in control and doing what he wanted to be doing. He kept the ball down. They swung at balls in the dirt because they assumed it was going to rise. Tim looked stable. Should NOT have sent him out there for the 7th. Should have left Matt Cain in the other day, should NOT have left Timmy in today.

b. stable relief pitching – Pen was good. Machi did his job. It was Affeldt’s first start and Jeremy was good. Looked solid, comfortable and handled it: 3 up 3 down.

2. sharp defense – must make mention of Hicks-to-Crawford-to-Belt 4-6-3 DP! beautiful! Hicks was textbook. Way too good to make a “Brandons” joke.

3. situational hits for “just enough” runs – Timmy’s bunt was perfect. That is the baseball we’ve been missing: bunts, sacrifices, moving guys  over and driving ’em in. Once Pagan did drive him in, however … back to (cricket sounds) not another hit!

4. take advantage of opponents mistakes – not many of these today.

HOWEVER

I think this year “just enough runs” is NOT going to cut it. We desperately need more: more situational hits to move people along, more hits with RISP, more early leads and more runs, in general.

GM Brian Sabean should be commended for doing what we all hoped: namely going after and locking up bats we can afford, including a true platoon in left with the addition of Morse. Torres/Blanco wasn’t a platoon since they’re so similar, so Mr. Sabean got a power guy, a hitter to pair with Blanco. He signed everybody. So that even without Marco Scutaro:

WE HAVE SIX GUYS WHO COULD POTENTIALLY HIT .300!

POSEY, PENCE, MORSE, SANDOVAL, PAGAN AND BELT

and Crawford, Blanco and Sanchez should be able to hit at least .230

An important point is that our pitchers are decent hitters, arguably good hitters. This is going to mean a whole lot against the American League in our pursuit of wins.

Recently I’ve read articles LA is using millions to go after “pitchers who rake.” We don’t need to.

Our defense shows brilliance one day and then utter idiocy the next, but it’s early and they seem like a crisp, capable group. Scutaro was struggling to make plays at the end of the year. To his credit, Hicks is a sharp addition. Love Brandon Hicks.

Happy Birthday Brandon Belt. My wish for you is that you are graced by the spirit of my second favorite Giants 1B, Long George High Pockets Kelly.  A HoFer who led the league in RBIs twice – once driving in 136 runs – and led the league in homers with 21 in 1921, thereby keeping Rogers Hornsby from the Triple Crown.

Brandon, High Pockets won two World Series, just like you. The Giants need to use the trip to Colorado to get the bats going again. Looking forward to altitude homers.

 

Giants 2009 Redux: Timmy’s Great, But We Can’t Hit

27 Saturday Apr 2013

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Argh. It was like looking at us back in 2009 again. The bright side was Timmy’s performance, and last night we tried  to stream the game live in Giants Baseball Corner,

pregame

so speaking of Tim Lincecum, here’s:

Timmy Getting Out of the Jam and

Timmy Getting Hit Hard and

Tim’s 3 up 3 down 5th inning and

Tim’s excellent bottom of the 7th

all of which were for nought as we could do nothing to get a runner across the  plate. Our one run in the game came off a single by Pagan, a stolen base, a hit and a Wild Pitch!

This one was winnable. I was hoping to sweep these guys … and sadly … we just couldn’t get it done.

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

21 Sunday Apr 2013

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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.

Lincecum and the System to Perfection, Giants Win 2-0

21 Sunday Apr 2013

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Tim Lincecum mowed down the Padres through six and 2/3, striking out eight, looking very much like the Cy Young Award winning Timmy. Bochy was crisp with his leash in a 2-0 ballgame, pulling Tim with two out and two on in the sixth. Mijares got the last out on a deep pop fly to left, and he and Santiago Casilla set up Sergio Romo, who picked up his Major-League leading eighth save (8-1).

The only runs in the game were the result of a 2-run homer by Pablo Sandoval that just got out of the park.

The formula is simple and when applied effectively, beautiful.

1. quality starting and stable relief pitching

2. sharp defense

3. situational hits for “just enough” runs

4. take advantage of opponents mistakes

Tonight the formula was executed to perfection.

Way to go Giants!

Hunter Pence Goes Yard, Romo Gets 4th Save

09 Tuesday Apr 2013

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Not much time to write before we play again, but just to take note of Hunter Pence’s Big Fly – which I understand was deep to left-center. I hope we see more of that this year. If we could get Hunter batting .300 along with Panda, Posey and Pagan; get Crawford up to .270 and get some timely hits from Blanco we should win the division outright.

Another strong outing from Madison Bumgarner whose mastery of the Rockies continues. Here’s hoping Timmy keeps it rolling tonight with a little better command and less walks.

Sergio Romo tweeted that his goal was 50 saves and he is well on his way with four in as many appearances. Rock on Sergio! That’s What’s Up!

Go Giants!

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

Tim Lincecum Analysis Articles Collected in One post

03 Wednesday Apr 2013

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POSTSCRIPT:

Tim Kawakami added this after Timmy’s start, but it’s a good read

PREGAME:

Tim Lincecum’s season debut evokes ink including national press like Senior Baseball Columnist Scott Miller at CBS and ESPN’s David Schoenfield calls it an important start. but Bay City Ball’s excellent two pieces analyzing Lincecum’s numbers over the past few years are best

about what to look for tonight

and

about fastball speed’s decay

Alex Pavlovic’s take in the Merc is here,

McCovey Chronicles post by Bisbee is here and some guy called Dylan Kruse adds drama with Tim Lincecum a Giant Question … in that rag the Examiner

I’ll add links to this post as they appear.

But for now, #RallyTimmy Go Giants! #BeatLA

Lincecum vs. Strasburg and Melky Suspended 1080HD video

17 Friday Aug 2012

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This past Wednesday was a crazy day at the park.

My son and I had been excited for weeks because we figured with both teams in the hunt for the pennant and young, premiere pitchers on the mound, it’d be a defensive battle. The Freak vs. The Phenom

Then SHOCK! – we find out at the ballpark moments before the game starts, that Melky Cabrera, who leads the Giants and the National League in hits and is second in batting average only to the Pirates’ Andrew McCutcheon, had been suspended for 50 games for violating MLB’s substance abuse policy.

Numb, speechlessness … and the game began:

Lincecum v. Strasburg [Melky Suspended] 1080HD

15 Wednesday Aug 2012

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This past Wednesday was a crazy day at the park.

My son and I had been excited for weeks because we figured with both teams in the hunt for the pennant and young, premiere pitchers on the mound, it’d be a defensive battle. The Freak vs. The Phenom

Then SHOCK! – we find out at the ballpark moments before the game starts, that Melky Cabrera, who leads the Giants and the National League in hits and is second in batting average only to the Pirates’ Andrew McCutcheon, had been suspended for 50 games for violating MLB’s substance abuse policy.

Numb, speechlessness … and the game began: