Sigh. At this moment we’ve lost three of four games in Chicago and are down 2-0 in the last.
Last night, Brian Murphy, typically, doomsaid in the towel;
but our pitching is a hot mess from starters to the ‘pen and losing Joe Panik has sent our batting order round the bend. It’s an odd year and we look cooked. So Brian took to roasting the team.
This was the day after George Kontos muted me on twitter for sending a tweet saying the ‘pen has to tighten up … I suggested maybe we should all go out and throw darts together.
Yo, George! I meant it seriously! as a stimulant, let’s go to a bar and throw some darts in a few friendly competitive rounds of “cricket” to get the juices flowing – a little less oversensitivity and a little more performance appreciated, kid. It isn’t just sixteen-year-old girls who like your hair out here. It’s also long-time Giants fans who have seen a LOT of relievers come and go. I like you, man. You’ve improved a lot. But don’t get your panties in a wad when I beg you and your pals to focus and play better.
Anyway, let’s put all that aside. Because this bad mojo and weird vibage needs to fall away.
I say we’ve been here before and we can defeat The Odd Year Curse because we have the talent and we have the experience and our management knows what they’re doing.
We’re only missing the timing.
and I think that’s starting to come together even as we make mistakes. Roberto Kelly at 3rd has been a learning experience, but I think he has climbed that steep curve swiftly. Same can be said for Cain. Everybody keeps dogging the big horse, but I see a work-in-recovery-in-progress. He knows the game. He is still hitting 92 occasionally. He can peak in September for all we know.
Jake Peavy, already looking better generally, may come through like he did last year at this time. He is way better than we expected when he came off the DL.
In 2010, we went through this game in August against the Reds and it was a seriously low point for the team. REALLY READ the entire blog entry of that game. I wrote it in one fell swoop after the game happened and I think you’ll feel it. At that moment we were severely sunk. And what we did from that game on, was epic.
I am pretty sure the Sabean/Bochy private meeting with the guys that Brian Murphy refers to in his post happened immediately after that particular game. I am trying to get you someplace we have been before but with DEPTH.
Now in the 2012 season we faced the departure of Melky Cabrera. We were at the game almost exactly three years ago when it was announced Melky had tested positive and would be gone. Woah, what a weird vibe. Lincecum vs. Strasburg at AT&T. There were Milkmen and Milkmaids at the game … dressed! They were selling hats!
But again, everybody said after Melky was gone we couldn’t do it. And we swept the Tigers in epic style, with Panda’s three including two off Verlander and Cain outdueling Scherzer and my favorite closeout ever: Sergio Romo’s fastball – NOT SLIDER – getting Miguel Cabrera looking … ohhhhhhhhh, god … that is nice.
2014 came with it’s own challenges, but we were full strength and with Panda and Madbum and Posey and Cain and the whole machine working. Out here in the Bay, we knew what nobody in the country knew – that these guys have #ChampionshipBlood.
Ishikawa had to go yard. Panik had to draw that 9th inning walk so we could go nine more innings and finally win off the Belt homer in the top of the 18th. It all had to happen. For the rest of the country it was hard to chew and swallow. But we knew we’re the best.
We are the best TEAM around. We play as a team and we pick each other up. Every other night another hero. #25GuysOneCommonGoal
So there we were without home field advantage and we had to be the bad guys by beating the darlings of the nation in their house. We sent Madbum out there to handle it. He mowed ’em down in epic fashion.
(btw, Peavy’s still in and it’s still 2-0 Cubs in the 4th)
It would be easy to give up to the odd-year phenomenon. I say, don’t.
The National League is intensely competitive this year and the Mets, Nationals, Dodgers, Cardinals, Cubs, Pirates and others beat each other up as much as they beat us up; so anything can still happen. We gotta play smart, stay healthy, and win the right ones.
I think Bochy and upper management are staring intensely at the health and well-being of guys and trying to get ahead of that process. The absence of Joe Panik in Chicago this week speaks to that. (I even got to a point where I thought, maybe Boch doesn’t want Maddon to even see Panik – we do have to face them again this month after all).
So because of all this intense competition, we can win the division. I will repeat that: We can win the division. I’ve been using the hashtag #SeizeTheDivision because once we grab it we cannot let go.
I think if we field Aoki, Panik, Duffy, Posey, Pence, Belt, Crawford, Blanco and Maxwell.
And if we have Bumgarner, Heston, Peavy and Cain as starters and Kontos, Affeldt, Lopez, Osich, Vogey, Romo, Strickland and Lincecum as relievers
by August 20th.
And if those guys, are supported by Pagan and Hudson, Susac and Sanchez … we can spend the last six weeks of the season actually winning this thing.
I believe in that group of guys for the last six weeks, but the math has it that we play the Cubs again, and the Pirates, the Nationals, the Cardinals TWICE (who are due for some losses) and the Astros this next few weeks. So it may not happen right off.
This is the worst stretch of our schedule. All we have to do is what Rich Aurilia said and go .500 during this stretch to stay in the mix.
I think this year the NL is going to come down to the wire like in 2011 when the Cardinals went crazy and the Red Sox tanked and we all watched four TVs on the last night of the season.
and I think if we are smart we can take advantage of that. We can time Bumgarner right because we have lots of starters. We can sneak wins in when they matter most in the last few weeks of the season by juggling our talent.
We can do this.
I believe.
Let’s Go Giants!
Let’s win Back-to-Back and be a true #SFDynasty Tighten up, play the game right and with 25 Guys sharing One Common Goal, let’s Win Today!
It is the 7th inning in today’s final game at Wrigley and we are still down 2-0, so while I was writing this it sounds like Jake Peavy after giving up the initial coupla runs settled down and Arrieta is rolling along. I don’t know. I do know we can prey on a bullpen with only a two-run deficit and I do know that I love our community and I hope you all read this and believe we can do this. We can win back-to-back. We can turn all this around on a dime and take over.
BECAUSE WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS, MY FRIEND.
AND WE’LL KEEP ON FIGHTING TILL THE END.
Let’s go Giants!
M.T. Karthik 