Monthly Archives: April 2016

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The Friday Five: Hello Big Apple

Johnny Cueto and Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants

AP Photo

Guess what? The San Francisco Giants are tied for first place again. The Dodgers just lost 4 straight to the Marlins (thanks secret agent Bonds), and both teams now have identical 12-11 records. After being swept by Arizona to open a 10-game homestand, the Giants responded by going 5-1 the rest of the way to bring their record back above .500.

Let’s dive right in to this week’s Friday Five.

1) The Giants start a 3-game series in New York against the reigning NL champion Mets this weekend. The Mets are 13-7, have won 6 straight games, and 9 of their last 10. The last 3 teams they played were the Phillies, Braves, and Reds, so the Mets did their job beating up on the bottom of the NL. Somehow, Neil Walker leads the Mets with 9 home runs but Yoenis Cespedes and Michael Conforto are the hitters to be most worried about this weekend. Continue reading →

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by | April 29, 2016 · 11:37 AM
by | April 22, 2016 · 12:58 PM

The Friday Five: Barry Returns

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Are you ready for an old friend to drop in?  I am. This 5-game losing streak sucks and the San Francisco Giants could use some inspiration. The Giants are 7-10, barely ahead of the Padres for last place in the NL West. There’s six games left in this homestand, it’s time to kick it in to gear.

1) The Miami Marlins are coming to town for a 3-game series at AT&T Park this weekend. You may have heard, Barry Bonds is their hitting coach. It will be the first time Bonds ever steps foot in AT&T Park in an opposing uniform. It’s not going to be weird though, right? It’s going to make sense seeing Barry standing next to Don Mattingly in the visitor’s dugout wearing a Marlins uni. Sure, why not? Nope, still weird. It’s going to take an adjustment. More on Barry later. Continue reading →

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by | April 18, 2016 · 2:36 PM

Episode 102: “The Bristol Curse”

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Download episode 102 here or stream it below!

In our 102nd podcast, Eric and Chad break down the second week of the 2016 season that saw the Giants go 2-4 while our livers broke down even more. Our G-men dropped 2 of 3 in each city of Denver and LA, but not all is lost as we look at the positives of Samardzija’s and Cueto’s starts. Posey snapped his 18 AB hitless streak, Romo and Adrianza went on the DL, Duffy’s slump, Derek Law made his dad very happy, we share our concerns about Peavy and Lopez, how Samardzija met his wife, and Vin Scully’s dulcet tones as he recounts how MadBum and his wife saved a rabbit from a rattlesnake’s belly. Don’t forget to follow us @TortureCast on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and check out our articles, including Eric’s “Friday Five” at TortureCast.com!

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by | April 15, 2016 · 12:37 PM

The Friday Five: Beat LA, Again

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AP Photo

 

We’re through 10 games of the 2016 San Francisco Giants season and the team currently sits at 6-4. Right now it’s a tie atop the NL West with the Dodgers, who share the same 6-4 record. Although we all know that 3 of those 4 losses came at the hands of our guys in orange and black.

So let’s look ahead to the weekend and recap another week that was in The Friday Five.

1) It’s time for Giants-Dodgers part 2. The series kicks off with Madison Bumgarner vs Clayton Kershaw tonight at Dodger Stadium. Let’s hope this time Bumgarner and the bats don’t leave it up to the bullpen. Saturday night has Johnny Cueto vs Scott Kazmir. It appears that Cueto is all right after taking a tumble during the comeback victory over the Dodgers last week. Continue reading →

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by | April 11, 2016 · 11:52 PM

Episode 101: First Week of 2016

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Download the episode here, or stream it below:

The Giants started the season 5-2, taking 2 of 3 in Milwaukee and 3 of 4 from LA. All 5 wins were from the comeback variety. The Giants also hit 14 homeruns and for the first time since 2003, hit homeruns in their first 7 games. Chad and Eric discuss the details of the week in episode 101 of the TortureCast!

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by | April 8, 2016 · 10:51 AM

The Friday Five: Beat LA Edition

 

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Wow! What a week to start the season for the San Francisco Giants. We all expected that they could hit and score runs in Miller Park, but to score 12 runs against the Dodgers in the AT&T Park opener? Nobody saw that coming. Let’s hope these guys stay healthy because this team is fun to watch. Now, onto The Friday Five.

1) The Giants have 3 more games at home against the Dodgers before their first off day of the season on Monday. All 3 pitching matchups for the rest of the weekend have some intrigue. Friday night it’s Matt Cain returning to the hill in what we all hope is the beginning of a return to glory. Some guy named Ross Stripling is starting for LA. He’s never pitched above double-A and is making his MLB debut because the Dodgers lost all their starters to injury this spring.  Continue reading →

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by | April 4, 2016 · 12:19 AM

Episode 100 – 2016 Season Preview

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Download the episode here, or stream it below!

Although this is audio recording 145 (or thereabouts), we’re celebrating the 100th episode of the TortureCast! No big cake. No confetti. Just us.

Ben, Eric and Chad gather around the proverbial campfire to talk about their expectations for the 2016 season, including their predictions for the number of wins for the Giants. Now, Chad has something at stake, as he’s predicted the EXACT number of wins for 3 of the last 4 years: 84 last year, 88 in 2014, and 92 in 2012. The only year he was off was 2013, but he predicted his low of 82, which corresponded with the low bar of 76 wins, the lowest since 2008.

The year’s predictions:

Chad: 90 first place
Ben: 86 first place
Eric: 94 first place
Willie: 93, f

We also discuss our favorite episode, the coolest thing we’ve done as a part of this podcast, and our predictions for most HR, lowest ERA and best batting average.

Come join us for our centennial!

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by | April 1, 2016 · 1:02 PM

The Friday Five: April 1, 2016

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Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

As the 2016 San Francisco Giants season is about to get under way it’s time roll out what I hope is a regular feature here on TortureCast. Welcome to “The Friday Five”. Each week I’ll take a look at a few different things going on with the Giants. It’s a chance to look ahead to the weekend as well as catch up on anything that you might have missed during the previous few days.

  1. The long, cold void of winter is over. Monday morning at 11 am the Giants open their regular season in Milwaukee. Madison Bumgarner (career: 85-58, 3.04 ERA) gets the ball for his 3rd straight Opening Day start. In the previous two openers Bumgarner has allowed 1 earned run in 11 innings of work. The Brewers send RHP Wily Peralta (35-37, 4.04 ERA) to the hill for his 1st career Opening Day start. The current Giants roster is batting .361 against Peralta so we may see lots of scoring in tiny MIller Park to start 2016.
  2. In case you missed it, earlier this week Andrew Susac was optioned to Sacramento. With that move Trevor Brown won the backup catcher role to start the season. I’m sure we’ll see plenty of Susac as the season moves along, if he can stay healthy. I poked around the Giants 25-man roster this past Monday.
  3. In ex-Giants news, the former lovable panda known as Pablo Sandoval has lost his job as the starting 3rd baseman in Boston. The 29-year old will begin the second season of a 5-year/$95 million contract on the bench. Feels like the Giants dodged a bullet when Pablo decided to leave town.
  4. Tweet of the week, make sure you check out this Brandon Crawford piece:

     

  5. To finish off “The Friday Five” every week I’ll link to various Giants and baseball related stories that caught my eye during the previous 7 days. Here’s a few to get us going.
  • We’re recording our 100th episode of TortureCast this weekend. Submit your questions to be answered on the show. See if you can stump us with trivia, share a favorite moment from the show, or just drop a line about the 2016 team.
  • In the SB Nation season preview, Grant Brisbee looked at what teams would look like without trades or free agents. It’s fun to see which teams some of today’s stars originally signed with.
  • The Giants were picked to lose the Wild Card game in that SB Nation preview.
  • Over on ESPN, two of their “experts” pick the Giants to win it all. To be fair, most have them in the playoffs and 5 of 31 analysts have the Giants winning the NL.
  • Sticking with the prediction theme, Sports Illustrated’s panel loves the Cubs and no one picks the Giants to win it all.
  • Finally for the predictions, Fox Sports checks in with theirs. Once again the Giants don’t get much love.
  • Make sure to head over to r/SFGiants. It’s fun place to interact with Giants fans from all over the world.

It’s great to be back for another season of talking about Giants baseball. You can follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and make sure to subscribe to our podcast on Stitcher and iTunes.

Don’t forget, our season preview is coming in our 100th episode this weekend. Thanks for all of the downloads, listens, and shares. It’s going to be another interesting Giants season.

-Eric

@2outhits

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