Category Archives: Articles

by | April 10, 2014 · 11:26 PM

Vogelstrong

The boys had their first 2014 trip to the press box. It was Candlestick night, and although the boys didn’t realize the celebration they were about to walk into, I (Chad) stumbled onto the field for BP and after an hour, I was able to talk to Roger Craig (the Giant), Dave Dravecky, Brent Jones, and Matt Cain demanded his Aquarium photos.

Serendipitously, or actually because we are in San Francisco, the night was shrouded in fog, much like my childhood memories at Candlestick. No, I didn’t drink as a child.

After the pomp and circumstance, the game started with a swift 1-2-3 inning for Vogelsong, but that cadence would quickly change to a laborious outing for the veteran right-hander. He quickly fell into trouble in the second; after a lead-off ground out, he promptly grazed Montero’s jersey, walked Prado, and allowed a single to Parra to load the bases. Cliff Pennington, the number 8 hitter, delivered his first 2 RBI of the season with a solid single to left. The inning could have been worse if Parra wasn’t caught off of third on an attempted sac bunt by the pitcher Delgado.

The Giants quickly struck back when Brandon Hicks delivered yet another 2-out RBI hit to halve the lead, but that was short-lived. The D’bags pounced on Vogelsong with a 1-out double by Goldschmidt (pause here: this man is STRONG and should play in a level for Marvel characters), a single by Prado, and Montero promptly plated both of his teammates with a double into triples alley. No, he didn’t get a triple.

The third looked promising for the Giants after Pagan fouled off all of the balls until he drove a single into right and Belt followed with a walk. However, the cold, cold Panda hit into a 4-6-3 double play to extinguish any assemblance of a rally. Then, Buster Posey pulled out a card no one in Candlestick AT&T Park was expecting….a bunt down the third base line. And…it was kind of a good one. And the Giants kinda scored a run on that bunt single; by the catcher; who has one leg.

CUE MAJOR LEAGUE THE MOVIE

I don’t have YouTube rights to this.

After the Giants cut the lead to 4-2, Vogelsong settled down in the fourth with a 1-2-3 and 2 strikeouts.

Michael Morse’s beard implored him to make it to second after he hit one into the gap, and Brandon Crawford’s lucious locks wanted to mate with Morse’s beard by duplicating the aforementioned double to close the gap to 4-3. After a Hick’s walk, the Giants looked like they were looking for blood, but the pitcher Delgado pounced on a bunt by Vogelsong to narrowly force Crawford out at third. Give an assist to Kirk Gibson, as his decision to replace Delgado with Perez paid off when the turned-around Pagan grounded into an inning-ending double play from the right side. But, the Giants apparently only like to score with 2 outs, so….

Vogey continued to settle down into the fifth by striking out Goldshit, and inducing a 4-6-3 double play after hitting Prado.

The sticks kept digging Vogelsong out of his own hole, when Michael Morse doubled again off the bricks in deep right center, with 2 outs, to drive in Sandoval and Posey to take the lead at 5-4. The Giants have just been fantastic with 2 out hits this year, and we like to give a shot out to our friend Eric @2outhits.

No matter how much Vogelsong wanted to continue, Bochy had to pull him after he allowed a leadoff double to Trumbo to lead off the 6th inning, giving way to David Huff with the tying run on second.

Machi entered in the 7th and was greeted rudely by consecutive hits by Campana and Hill to put both runners in scoring position with Goldshmidt up. After he fell behind the lumberjack, the Giants opted to finish the intentional walk to load the bases with no outs. Martin Prado followed with a much-needed ground ball back to the mound to start a 1-2-3 double play to quickly bring the threat level down from red to a mild yellow-green. Bochy went to Javy Lopez to neutralize Montero with the strikeout. We all love the homerun, but I love getting out of a bases-loaded, no out jam even more so.

Casilla tried to set it up in the 8th, but after he got pinch-hitter Eric Chavez to fly out to Perez in left, Campana hit a soft grounder to Panda at third. Without a chance to throw out the speedy lefty, he launched an off-balanced throw over Belt’s head and into the AT&T Park stands to allow the tying run to score. This is when we would love access to the clubhouse to ask him, “WHY DID YOU THROW THE ROCK?!?” I just like saying that phrase, actually, it makes me feel like a man as I sip my coffee in the protected press box.

Brandon Crawford led off the bottom of the 8th with a shot into the centerfield night that apparently got lost in the Flock of Seagulls, as Campana erroneously ran straight back towards the fence, only to turn around to watch the ball fall harmlessly 10 feet in front of him for a “Ghost of Candlestick” double. Hicks walked , Perez sacrificed the runners over, and the pitcher Thatcher intentionally walked Pagan to bring up Belt with the bases loaded and one out. Belt couldn’t muster more than a shallow fly ball to left, and Panda, with 2 strikes, struck a decent poke to right, but Parra tracked it down on the warning track to end the threat.

Sergio Romo, who hadn’t pitched in 8 days, came into the game in the 9th to retire the side, but what’s concerning is that he departed in pain. We’ll be sure to talk more about that.

Unfortunately, Petit couldn’t hold the game in the 10th, but it took a great AB by Campana, who fouled off a series of 2 strike pitches before he floated a single just over the outstretched glove of Hicks.

Reed, the Arizona closer, made quick work of the Giants to drop San Francisco to 6-4.

 

 

Leave a comment

Filed under Articles

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

by | April 9, 2014 · 12:00 AM

Paper Trails: San Francisco at Los Angeles

What an end to the road trip!  It took me an extra day just to watch the last game of this series and yet another day to get this written up — I think no one (by which I mean everyone) remembered to warn me that having to take up to three hours out of the day to watch and score a baseball game kind of eats up what little free time is left in your day.  But watch I did, and I was rewarded with more than a few interesting things – let’s dig into a few!

  • Go For The Throat: Starting with a painful one, in Sunday’s contest the Dodgers left only one man on base the entire game, and that was Zack Greinke, stranded by a Carl Crawford groundout after a booming ground rule double.  Now, if they had barely hit, that would be one concern; however, they scored six on seven hits, and left only one man on base.  All game.
 
  • Late Night Web Gems: Does anybody get to watch these? Is there any way that Angel Pagan isn’t on there regularly?  When he’s healthy — and hopefully, staying that way — he is the combination of spark plug and leather-flasher that we desperately need at the top of the lineup and the center of the outfield.  Other than Shulman and Kruk — more on that later — saying it was good to have a ‘real center fielder’ again (I’m sorry, have you not SEEN Gregor Blanco play? Oh, right, you haven’t!) it’s easy to see that Pagan not only upholds stringent standards of center field defense for the Giants, but has been incredibly valuable in that leadoff spot as well, going 5-for-12 this series with two walks.  Besides that, Pence is no slouch, showing off a massive outfield assist on Saturday, and Pablo Sandoval has reminded a few people why we don’t usually worry too much about him out there at third base with some diving stops and leaps to knock down grounders.
 
  • In The Air Like You Just Don’t Care: Three games at Dodger Stadium.  Of seventeen runs scored by the Giants, seven came on home runs.  Of twelve runs scored by the Bums, seven came on home runs.  Was the ball jumping? A bit — it has been this whole trip — but this is a kind of Giants baseball we’ve only just started to get familiar with after years of low-power baseball and elite pitching, we find ourselves with inconsistently brilliant pitching but power developing to complement it.
 
  • Nattering Nabobs: I’ll say this about John Kruk: He’s honest.  I don’t think he tells it like it is; I think he tells it like he sees it from the mysterious Kruk-land that his brain lives in.  He has some solid stories, as any good national-level color analyst should, but he is not a good national-level color analyst.  When the best methods of dialogue you have are to shut down your partner (“Nope, I don’t think so”) and to provide commentary that just feels completely out of sync with what you see on the broadcast…but, hey, when you’ve got a color analyst like Mike Krukow around, I guess you get a little spoiled.
 
  • Gold Glove Offense: We frequently talk about the joke that you have to “hit well enough for a Gold Glove”, a joking reference to the idea that without offense, the coaches and others that vote on the Gold Glove awards won’t notice you for your defense.  Things like Web Gems, the Top 10, and increased access and attention to clips online have increased teams’ ability to be aware of these things, and some change is happening — but it doesn’t change the fact that this year, Crawford and Belt are starting to do it. Crawford, especially, is a wizard at shortstop and will likely be trading with Andrelton Simmons for the Gold Glove at the position, but in this series Crawford posted an 0-for-6 with two walks, all four outs on Sunday being strikeouts.  Belt, on the other hand, went 4-for-13 with three singles and a home run.  If the defense is there, and Belt is at least an above-average defender, some strong play, athletic ability, and difficult picks at first could well put Belt into the discussion.
 
  • The Only Good Bum is a Mad Bum: Madison Bumgarner cemented his role as the team’s ace with a sterling performance on Saturday against a strong, if inconsistent, Dodgers lineup.  In 6.1 innings, Bumgarner put together ten strikeouts, five of them coming against the heart of the order (Ramirez, Gonzalez, and Kemp) and only allowed two earned runs.  It seems like a safe bet that we still haven’t quite seen everything Madison Bumgarner has in the tank, and that he’s still getting warmed up; other than a clean fifth inning, Bumgarner allowed at least one hit every other inning.  He only issued one walk, and the limited number of runners and nature of spreading out the hits helped keep Bumgarner in control of the game — but the pitch count ran up, and once again, Bumgarner was gone by the middle of the 7th inning.  I’d like to see that dominant attitude translate into a complete game sometime soon, but you know what?  It’s damned fun to watch in the meantime.
 
  • Close to the Chest: Matt Kemp got in on a pitch on Sunday (one of many, it seemed like) that was in on his hands, and watching the slow-mo replay really can teach you a lot about how his swing can tighten in and shorten up without losing any momentum or power.  Hitters have wheelhouses, sure, but the kind of inside coverage that swing will get you is what keeps the “strictly a power hitter” label away for a long time.  Kemp’s a Dodger, but I respect what he can do (and, let’s face it, I like him better than Puig.)

Plenty of fantastic baseball this weekend, and if you’re going to end a road trip with a pretty crushing loss to your most bitter rivals…it doesn’t hurt to do it with a 5-2 record, plenty of home runs, and your first baseman right in the middle of a hot streak, does it?

Leave a comment

Filed under Articles, Reviews

Tagged as

by | April 4, 2014 · 8:30 AM

Paper Trails: San Francisco at Arizona

20140404-034216.jpg

I’ve mentioned it on the podcast before, but I’m pretty sure I’m certifiably nuts.  While I’ve mentioned it in general, in this case I’m specifically talking about my goal to try and score every single game the Giants play this year.  Am I going to succeed? Who knows — I may give up and decide I prefer sleeping at some point (I closed at work today, and it’s nearly 3 AM now that I’m finishing this), but in the meantime, I’m learning a lot about the sweet art that is scoring and how being engaged in a game changes the way that I consume and follow it.  And along the way, you always come up with a few interesting tidbits, so at the conclusion of the series, in parallel to our new series reviews, here’s a few things that I couldn’t help noticing over the course of our opening series at Chase Field!

Disclaimer: All observations are based on my own scorecards and note-taking. There will be errors. Feel free to point them out in the comments and I’ll swing back around to correct stats and things in the future if I can.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under Articles, Reviews

by | April 3, 2014 · 11:44 PM

Series Review: SF @ Arizona

I command the power of the giraffe!!

Here at TortureCast, we’re going to try something new that will probably abjectly fail during the season: a review at the conclusion of every series.

Expect mistakes.

Expect missed series.

Expect that we will quit this if the Giants suck.

Expect that we will review every series if Timmy keeps that mustache.

Ok, onto our first review.

Giants at Arizona

Record: 3-1 (3-1, 0.5 GB of LA)

Batting Average: .246

HR: 6

Runs: 23

Runs allowed: 18

Batting Average Against: .279

ERA: 3.34

MVP: Brandon Belt, who hit .333 with 3 homeruns and 5 RBI

Notables: Tim Hudson and Madison Bumgarner combined for 11.2 IP, 0 runs and only 2 walks with 10 strikeouts. Romo had 2 saves and could have had 3, but Bochy wanted to save him for LA. Pagan was 8-19 with 6 RBI and had the game winning hit in game 4. Posey was 5-12 and had the game-winning HR in game 1. Not a single ball was hit to Michael Morse until the moment he left the game.

Worries: The bees at Chase Field, Hunter Pence’s 1-16 (0.063) start, and Timmy gave up 2 longballs to strong men, umpires can get away with 2 wrong calls in the same inning even WITH the new replay system

Special Moments: The Giants came back late in 2 games, including a 5 run eighth in the series finale when down 5-3, capped off by a Pagan 3-run bomb. Brandon Hicks first HR with the Giants.

Up Next: 3 game series in LA

Synopsis: Hey, I don’t care that Arizona basically out-hit the Giants. The Giants won 3 out of 4 thanks to bees, timely hitting, Pat Burrell hitting a HR in khakis, and, ok, some late-game heroics. This could have easily been 3 losses. The Giants only outscored the D’bags 23-18. Let’s hope for a strong season opener from Vogelsong in LA tomorrow. He needs to throw a few more cereal bowls against the backsplash tomorrow morning before the rotation resets with Bumgarner and Cain. Speaking of Bumgarner, he wasn’t spectacular in the opener, but the Giants defense miscues led to a high pitch count and an early exit for him. He’s mad and a bum and wants to paint his face with Dodger blue blood.

2 Comments

Filed under Articles, Reviews

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

by | March 25, 2014 · 10:47 AM

Pab-lo or Pab-high?

Will we be seeing these made next year?

Will we be seeing these next year?

March 25, 2014 – Chad King

Horrible pun to start off an article, I know. Maybe it’s the three cups of coffee I’ve had this morning, or perhaps the ringing in my ears from all of the contact in Arizona off of Ryan Vogelsong is distracting.

Pablo Sandoval will be a free agent after this season. He’s lost weight and appears to be in the best shape of his MLB career. He wants to get paid at least what Hunter Pence is getting ($90 million for 5 years, that’s a lot of fast food).

Is he worth it?

To fully answer that question, you have to take into account many variables, which I’ve illustrated in a professional Venn diagram below:

 

I have know idea where everything meets. Now I'm even more confused.

I have know idea where everything meets. Now I’m even more confused.

Clearly I don’t know what I’m talking about, but I’m sure I’ve hit on a few salient points. For one, we have no idea what kind of production he will have this year, and if the Giants don’t sign him to an extension before the season, his value may only skyrocket. In fact, it’s already high when you look at the pool of free agents in the coming off-season. Pablo, even with a mediocre, injury-filled season, will look like Kate Upton in zero gravity while the rest of the lot may look like an overweight plumber with pants that don’t quite fit. Sexist analogy aside, take a look at the upcoming free agent third basemen (current age in parentheses):

  • Yuniesky Betancourt (33)
  • Wilson Betemit (33)
  • Alberto Callaspo (32)
  • Eric Chavez (37)
  • Jack Hannahan (35) – $4MM club option with a $2MM buyout
  • Chase Headley (31)
  • Casey McGehee (32)
  • Donnie Murphy (32)
  • Nick Punto (37) – $2.75MM club/vesting option with a $250k buyout
  • Aramis Ramirez (37) – mutual option
  • Hanley Ramirez (31)
  • Pablo Sandoval (28)
  • Ty Wigginton (37)
  • Kevin Youkilis (36)

Yep, I think the Giants could save a ton of dough and plug in an Eric Chavez or Nick Punto for a steal. Can’t wait for those Punto chants at AT&T! I also don’t believe that Chase Headley and certainly not Hanley Ramirez, will go for anything less than what Pablo is demanding, anyway. With the lack of options, Giants will probably have to overpay him a bit, but even then, I think Pence’s contract is close to his market value, regardless. The Giants know how to over-pay, anyway (see: Tim Lincecum), but I don’t think a contract will blow up in their faces like a Zito turd.

Then, there’s the matter of length. I would feel more comfortable with a 3 year contract, but he wants 5. Understandable, of course. However, what if he locks in a guaranteed contract and gets comfortable again and slacks off the exercise and diet regimen. It’s happened before. Most likely he shaped up this year because it’s a walk year. Do you think he will be this skinny next year, regardless for whom he plays for? Probably not. What about three years from now? Will he exceed Prince Fielder-like proportions?

I’m skipping a few points here to get to the final one. The Dodgers could add by subtraction…oh, and just plain add, too. If they sign Pablo, they replace a crappy former Giant with better former Giant, continuing the trend of Ned Coletti’s ex-Giants reclamation project. They would further improve their corner defense and offensive production at the same time the Giants decline. And then, suddenly, we’d see blue panda hats everywhere.

People, I just realized that we can’t have that.

RE-SIGN PABLO!!

 

BTW, the TortureCast crew and special guests will be recording a special season preview at the Public House at AT&T Park on Sunday, March 30 at 6pm. Come by and say hi!

 

 

Leave a comment

Filed under Articles

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , ,

by | January 3, 2014 · 2:52 PM

Giants’ Morse Code

Not sure why we signed this guy

Here’s a nice summary of all transactions that occurred in the second half of 2013 through today, January 2, 2014. Certainly the Giants haven’t lost any significantly notable players, but I did miss Moscoso signing in Japan. I will also miss saying his name on our podcast. Wait, maybe I never said it on air? Nevertheless, they have gained a quality veteran starter in Tim Hudson (at least now I can say “Huddy” on the podcast) and hopefully a little pop with Michael Morse, if he manages to stay off the DL from his various hot tub and mangina injuries.

Don’t let the door hit ‘ya where the sun don’t shine:

Player

POS

Former
Team

New
Team

Transaction
Date

Notes

Francoeur, Jeff

OF

SF

 

—

Released

Gaudin, Chad

SP

SF

 

—

 

Mijares, Jose

RP

SF

 

—

Minor league free agent

Monell, Johnny

C

SF

BAL

Nov 30, 2013

Traded for cash

Moscoso, Guillermo*

SP

SF

 

Dec 27, 2013

Signed with the NPB Yokohama Bay Stars

Peguero, Francisco

OF

SF

BAL

Dec 7, 2013

One-year contract

Rosario, Sandy

RP

SF

 

—

Non-tendered

Tanaka, Kensuke

OF

SF

TEX

Dec 20, 2013

Minor league contract

Torres, Andres

OF

SF

 

—

Club option declined

Zito, Barry

SP

SF

 

—

Club option declined

*I will miss saying his name….

Newly painted black and orange:

Player

POS

Former
Team

New
Team

Transaction
Date

Hudson, Tim

SP

ATL

SF

Nov 18, 2013

Lincecum, Tim

SP

SF

SF

Oct 25, 2013

Lopez, Javier

RP

SF

SF

Nov 26, 2013

Morse, Michael

OF

BAL

SF

Dec 17, 2013

Quiroz, Guillermo

C

SF

SF

Nov 13, 2013

Vogelsong, Ryan

SP

SF

SF

Dec 4, 2013

Unfortunately, this team is only slightly better (on paper) than the 2013 version which saw them sink to below .500 in an unsuccessful defense of their second World Championship in three years, and with the Dodgers opening up their wallets  to a whopping $211.5 million (and that could still go up with Tanaka (no, not Kensuke!) or perhaps a new dinosaur with laser beams for a new mascot), the status quo won’t suffice.

As fans, we can always chirp at Giants’ ownership to spend more, but they have committed $143.2 million to 16 players for 2014 (they still have to pin down salaries for the remaining roster). They also have continually increased their monetary commitment year over year. In fact, the payroll during their first championship run in 2010 was a mere $97 million. It was $118 million in 2011, $132 million in 2012 and $137 million last year. Here’s a fun pie chart that I took entirely too long making in between bathroom breaks, which breaks down of the Giants’ budget by the obligated 16 players:

2014_salaries

Notably, Matt Cain accounts for 15% of the budget, followed by Timmy, Hunter, and then Posey. Although we all breathed relief that Zito is off the books, his buy-out is still reflected here, at 5% of the payroll, which is more than Scutaro, Affeldt, Morse, Romo, Vogelson, Casilla, Lopez and Bumgarner (yes, MadBum has a lucrative future salary). 

So, with assumedly little money left to spend, can they stretch their dollar for another outfielder? Perhaps clip a coupon from the local circular?  Nelson Cruz has been rumored, but will command a mighty salary, and with the acquisition of Morse last month, it makes it unlikely that they’ll pursue anyone other than utility players and middle relievers. Think, clearance racks at the MLB player store.

Let’s just hope that Tanaka doesn’t end up somewhere else in the NL West (well, it’s okay if Kensuke does).

Chad

PS – After taking a couple of months off after the World Series, we’ll be heating up in the coming weeks. Look for new podcasts and articles from myself, Willie and Ben. We’re looking forward to another exciting (hopefully) season of San Francisco Giants baseball and post-game bonusodes at Zeke’s.

Leave a comment

Filed under Articles

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

by | November 19, 2013 · 7:46 AM

Giants Add Another Timmy

Giants signed Tim Hudson to a 2-year, $23 million deal yesterday.

The Giants announced yesterday that they had signed 38-year old veteran right-hander Tim Hudson, to a 2-year, $23 million deal to shore up their starting rotation, which is currently comprised of Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner, and Tim Lincecum. This is a great move for the Giants. He doesn’t come cheap, but when you consider his salary and performance compared to what Zito and even the last two years of Lincecum have given the team for their salaries, it’s most likely going to be a better deal. Hudson may also be a mentor to Lincecum, with a similar fastball velocity and having learned to pitch to his strengths and hitters’ weaknesses. Hudson owns a career 3.44 ERA, and the last 3 years his ERA has ballooned (3.22, 3.62, 3.97), which may be cause for some concern, although last year’s freak ankle injury cut short his season. Even a 3.97 ERA puts him ahead of 2013 Lincecum, Vogelson, and Zito.

That just leaves the 5th starter for a team that has won 2 out of the last 4 World Series (one reason Hudson signed with SF, he wanted to get past the first round, an affliction of the Braves). Within the organization, they only have Yusmeiro Petit to look towards, but they can still reach out and, for relatively cheaply, sign Chad Gaudin and/or Ryan Vogelsong. Now, there are rumors that Vogey is quite miffed by the Giants declining the $6.5 million option, but after last year’s disappointing season, you can’t blame the team. They still can sign him for a smaller amount, but it remains to be seen whether or not he would accept that or similar dollars elsewhere. Bronson Arroyo has also been rumored to be quite interested in signing with the Giants, but is looking for Lincecum-type salary ($17 million/yr) and has been quite vocal at only entertaining a 3 year deal, not 2. This is a stretch for the Giants. They have the cash for him, but it may not be wise to extend it to 3 years, and the cash may be better suited to a free-agent outfielder acquisition or later for a mid-year trade/cash deal. Arroyo’s ERA hovered near 4.00 the last 2 years, and was a stratospheric 5.38 in 2011.

Giants’ Assistant GM Bobby Evans has indicated that they may not make a move for an outfielder this offseason, but both he and Sabean have been clear about acquiring another starting pitcher. This is not for a lack of cash, they have about $140 million committed so far for 2014, and can spend a bit more, but there is currently a lack of outfielder supply. They may be better served waiting for a mid-season trade to pick up a hot outfielder for cash and prospects. Sabean has also said that Posey will not make the move to first base this year. This nullifies some fantasies of Posey moving to first base and Belt to left field. This may happen on an occasional basis, of course, but not as a permanent solution. I personally think it’s a bit too early to move Posey. He’s too valuable behind the dish, and has melded quite well with the staff. He may be just an average first baseman, both statistically and defensively.

Of course, they could always sign Brian McCann to don the tools of ignorance, and then make the Posey/Belt shift. Hmmmm…..

Hot stove is heating up!

Chad

Leave a comment

Filed under Articles

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

by | September 25, 2013 · 1:18 PM

The Last #RallyZito

Zito has way more than 75 million reasons to smile

Originally, we thought we’d witness Lincecum’s possible final start in the orange and black, but Bumgarner has been shut down for the year, and Timmy’s start was pushed back. Instead, we’ll be witnessing Zito’s final curveballs tossed in a Giants uni.

His contract was highly criticized, even back in 2007, but more so in the latter years. Sure, he didn’t live up to the Scrooge McDuck-sized pile of money, but he had key starts down the stretch in 2010 that helped them secure the West on the final day of the season, and of course, his proverbial highlight as a Giant is NLCS game 5 in St. Louis. As Giants fans, I think we can all agree that it’s certainly probable that the Giants wouldn’t have two titles, and possible they wouldn’t even have one if it weren’t for Zito. That is worth $126 million to any Giants’ fan.

Ben, Willie, and myself will be up in the press box tonight and Ben and Willie will return to the box again this Saturday against the Padres. Tweet us a line @TortureCast.

See ya at the yard!

Chad

Leave a comment

Filed under Articles

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,

by | September 16, 2013 · 10:11 AM

Kale Power

Pence should try and squeeze every dime he can out of the Giants, wouldn’t you?

We all know Hunter Pence is ridiculously hot. Well, the ladies may also think he’s “hot,” but of course I’m referring to his unbelievable production at the plate in the second half, specifically over the last two weeks. He absolutely crushed the Dodgers, hitting 5 home runs in the 4 game series. He’s also hit 6 in his last 6 games and 7 in his last 10, in which he’s also hitting .450 with 20 RBI…and that includes two games where he went 0-4! About the only thing he hasn’t done is somehow gain the ability of flight to catch that Chavez sinking liner that would have preserved Petit’s perfect game.

He’s hitting .421/9/25 for September, and .352/11/44 after the All-Star break, lifting his average to in impressive .295/25/92. Just a few weeks ago it seemed impossible that Pence could reach .300/25/100, but it’s absolutely within his grasp now (heck even 30 HRs), and although it’s been great for the Giants on the field, I wonder how it will affect their pocketbook.

It’s widely reported that Pence loves SF and wants to re-sign, but an extension wasn’t in the works before the trading deadline, and there was speculation that he might be traded. After his elation as the deadline passed, Giants fans took to Twitter to push for such a deal.

A few days ago, Pence himself confirmed that he’s talking with the Giants, telling Hank Schulman that there have been “conversations.” While this is encouraging, what does his recent hot streak do to his market value? No doubt it’s gone up, and if he hits those magical numbers in his slash line, Pence may cost quite a bit more than his assumed $13-14 million per year. He’d be an idiot, though, to NOT test the market, no matter how much I personally want him to resign. Why wouldn’t you? You don’t know what you’re worth until you have offers, and I assume that’s what his agent is pressing him to do. Other than the rare outlier who takes a hometown discount (Jared Weaver), most players want validation, if not the money. Even if his ultimate goal is to stay in SF, he can use other offers as leverage to force Sabean and co. to throw a few more simoleons, if not years into the deal.

Sabean and Baer have repeatedly acknowledged that they need a left fielder with a stick, but they would suddenly need two such outfielders should they let the market consume Pence. If these conversations progress, the Giants will have until five days after the conclusion of the World Series to lock him up, otherwise, he’ll find out what he’s truly worth.

Chad

Leave a comment

Filed under Articles

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

by | September 9, 2013 · 10:28 PM

Rockies v Giants, 9/9/13: Game Wrap

The weather in San Francisco was gorgeous today. A Giant win would have just capped this day off kindly. Not that it actually matters at this point, but losing to the Rockies always feels like losing HORSE to that younger, smaller, less-talented kid down the street. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Lincecum didn’t pitch poorly, nor did he pitch superbly. Somewhere in the middle. Two earned runs in 8 innings ain’t bad, but when you forget to cover home plate on a 2-3 putout with a runner on second, well, that’ll cost you a run. And tonight, it cost the Giants the game. Yet, it doesn’t go as an error, but rather, an earned run. I really do think MLB should introduce a new stat category for brain farts…except they should be more politically correct in that classification; perhaps ME for mental errors? Maybe a middle ground between earned and unearned runs, like SER (sort-of-earned runs)?

Regardless, the Giants offense continued to be perplexed by Chacin. Granted, he’s putting up the Rockies’ second-best ERA in the club’s 20 year history, but he feasts particularly on the Giants. Then again, the league feasts particularly on the Giants, who are we kidding.  The Giants only had two real threats. The first was in the 6th with runners and first and second and Panda at the plate. Unfortunately, he flied out routinely to center field after making Pagan and Posey run twice on a 3-2 count with 2 outs. With Belisle in relief of Chacin with one out in the eighth, Pagan dribbled one to third, and Arenado barehanded it nicely but threw wide of first, allowing Pagan to advance to second. After Scutaro grounded out to second, most of the 30,000+ (it was a sellout, but the stadium was certainly not at capacity), Belt came through with a double down the right field line to tie the game at 2. Posey worked a full count, but uncharacteristically waved at a slider outside to end the inning.

Romo relieved Lincecum in the 9th (to a much more subdued “El Mechon” crowd) and promptly retired the side in order. Lopez was the beneficiary of a blown call at first; after a single, pinch hitter Herrera attempted a sacrifice bunt that went about 2 feet, where Posey pounced on it and threw to Crawford at second, and then relayed it to Scutaro at first, where Herrera beat it out by a step. Alas, a double play was called.

The bottom of the 10th began with a Pagan single that just made it through the right side after an Arias strikeout. Scutaro finally got of the shnide with a single to left center, sending Pagan to third. That brought up Belt, already with heroics in the game with his game-tying single. After going down 0-2, he went with an outside pitch and drove it into the left center field gap past a drawn-in outfield to secure the walk-off win for the Giants on the same night they were eliminated from the NL West just moments earlier with the Dodgers win.

Not much else to break down. But, the baby giraffe hat manufacturer might want to increase their production.

See you at Zeke’s.

Chad

 

Leave a comment

Filed under Articles

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,