Category Archives: Articles

by | October 17, 2014 · 12:47 AM

Giants Quit Scoring Runs the Hard Way: Win Pennant

You'll be conjuring the name "Ishikawa" until the Giants move to London in 2134. (San Jose Mercury News)

You’ll be conjuring the name “Ishikawa” until the Giants move to London in 2134. (San Jose Mercury News)

Travis Ishikawa.

The guy who wore jeans to the 2010 World Series ring ceremony (in 2011).

The guy who bounced around on the Brewers, Orioles, Yankees, Pirates, and spent most of this year in AAA.

And he’s our starting left fielder in the NLCS?

When did this exactly happen? I know they say “all hands on deck” in the playoffs, but for the Giants, it’s almost as if Bochy asked Sabean, “Hey, got any stale donuts left in the break room? I’m looking for just a morsel to keep me from eating my large cap.” Yet, these seemingly stale morsels: the Paniks, Duffys, Perezes, Ariass (that looks bad there), and of course, the Ishikawas, may not be your first choice for a fresh pastry, but dammit THEY WILL FEED YOU!

And in a pivotal, uncharacteristic moment (for Bochy and this team), Ishikawa misplayed a ball hit to him in left, and as it sailed over his head for an RBI double, you could literally hear the moans escape from AT&T. The redditors and others just screaming, “SEE, I TOLD YOU ISHI CAN’T PLAY OUTFIELD, CLEARLY JUAN PEREZ IS THE ONE AND ONLY GATEKEEPER TO THE WORLD SERIES….DUMB BOCHY!”

No sense screaming about any and all mistakes made in June and July when they were in the trough of the big leagues. Much like the collective screaming of millions of not-Ishikawa-jersey-wearing Giants fans were abated a bit by the fact that Bumgarner minimized the damage to that one run. They were in the game.

Then Panik, who hadn’t homered since he grew pubic hair, yanked one just fair to put the Giants ahead.

Wait, the Giants hit a homerun? Ok, so Crawford and Belt have done it, I guess it’s been long enough. When do we get the run scored via the “ball-stuck-in-Pierzynski’s-orbital-socket,” a misplayed ball by the Cardinals because the ball literally split in two after a broken bat fragment julienned it, or the wild buffalo sacrifice at second base? Apparently that well dried up tonight, and the baseball gods smiled upon the black and orange masses to give us a game for the annals of Giants lore. Not only did Bumgarner give up a homerun to a lefty for the first time since April, but the third string catcher also launched one off of him in the third. It appeared that the devil magic was bubbling from the Cardinals side.

I myself was pessimistic. No matter how many improbable comebacks this team has made, you figure they can’t win EVERY GAME in dramatic fashion…..right?

Enter Michael Morse. After both starters settled down and cruising, the 8th inning came like a well-lubricated freight train. Morse was actually on deck in the 7th to pinch hit for Bum, but since they went so quickly, and with Bum wanting to pitch one more inning, Morse came back out with his neon orange cleats in the 8th against one of the best setup men in the game. Morse has had two ABs all NLCS and hasn’t played beyond that for more than a month. Of course. Because it’s the Giants. Neshek is nasty, but he hung a slider, and Morse jumped on it, tying the game at 8.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWwEmsUobA0

Again, where’s the ball off the seagull for a run?

After a 9th inning that left me guzzling Pepto and wailing on my children, (THANK YOU AFFELDT!), the bottom of the 9th unrolled the carpet to Michael Wacha, last year’s NLCS MVP. However, he hadn’t pitched since September 26, and with Rosenthal in the pen, I thought it to be a curious move in such a high leverage situation, both mentally and physically.

After a Sandoval single and Belt walk with one out, it set the stage for either a) a double play, b) a walk-off 3 error Benny Hill title sequence, c) walk off homer.

HAHAHA go the fuck home, you’re drunk, option c).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFKDsFYj3E4

Oh, and why don’t you replay this 45 times in honor of Ishikawa’s jersey number

The Giants, who scored 10 runs without a hit over their last 5 games, scored all 6 via the long ball tonight.

The Giants really are trolling the baseball world right now.

Dammit I love this mother f’n game, don’t you?

Chad

Post Article Notes:

Great images from the game by the mercury news

 

 

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by | October 1, 2014 · 11:48 PM

Mr. Bumgarner Goes to Washington

Brandon Crawford watches his grand slam sail over the right field fence in the 4th inning of the Giants’ 8-0 rout of the Pirates in the NL Wild Card game. (via Justin K. Aller of Getty Images)

The thing about parenthood and modern technology, is that we now have an obligation to put our children first before a Giants playoff game. Clearly parents didn’t do so before the age of the DVR. If I transport myself back to 1989 as a parent, I’m sure I could tell my wife that I couldn’t take our daughter to play rehearsal and our son to the park for some quality outside time because the Giants are playing the Cubs in the NLCS. When she responds, “just record it on the VCR,” I’d cooly respond with, “we only have our wedding tape here…no blanks!” Problem solved.

Well, not so much tonight. Despite the pit of despair that was wallowing in my soul at work as first pitch drew near, I did have fatherly duties to attend to, and my sidekick DVR could just suck up all the inning into its digital innards for viewing later. Of course, this meant that I had to cut myself off from the digital world and disable my MLB At Bat notifications as I ventured out into the natural environment and avoid eye contact from any other parent who might tell me the score.

Mission: success!

So, I finally tuned into the game 90 minutes after first pitch, and although I didn’t get to enjoy Crawford’s grand slam live, it was live to me. Plus, I got to skip any annoying Viagra and insurance commercials to boot. Oh, and I also muted the TV because I couldn’t stand the Kruk (Jon, that is) and company. I watched baseball alone and in complete silence. Wait, is that a scene from “The Fan?”

Alas, I was overjoyed with the progress of the game, and eventually caught up to live when it was 7-0. I listened to Posey’s RBI single in the car as I picked up my daughter, and we both enjoyed a live viewing of the final 3 outs at home before putting the kids to bed.

The moral of the story: have your wife’s homemade shredded chicken tacos before you watch a DVR’d Giants game.

Oh, I forgot to mention that. They were epic, and may now become my rally enchiladas. With Cholula and crema, of course.

As far as the baseball game was concerned, Bumgarner was incredible. Willie, Ben and myself all predicted Giants wins, but with different shades of orange. I predicted a tight 4-3 nailbiter, Ben an extra-inning win, and Willie just about Nostradamus’d it: a 3-hit shout out by Bum. Well, it was a 4-hit shutout.

Aside from Bum’s dominant performance, and maybe it wouldn’t have mattered IF the Giants had faced Cole, but I think that was the key to the Pirates’ chances in this game. I can’t (can) blame Hurdle for using Cole on Sunday, with a chance to win the NL Central, but the Cards had Wainright going later against lowly Arizona, a low probability of the Cards losing that game.

Giants benefited from the NL Central race, IMHO. If the Giants had the same chance to with the West, we might have seen Bum go on Sunday instead of tonight.

And perhaps the result would have been different in that alternate universe.

That’s 8 consecutive playoff victories and 7 consecutive elimination game victories for the Giants. At some point those streaks have to end…

…right?

Or, just perhaps, this even-year-thing has some teeth.

Let’s hope they can earn a split in Washington and close it out at AT&T Park on Tuesday, but that’ll be a tall order against the best starting rotation in the bigs.

Oh, is Hunter Pence the man?

YES! YES! YES!

Chad

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by | September 24, 2014 · 3:50 PM

Who Should Start the Wild Card Game?

Do the Giants start Bumgarner or Peavy in the wild card game? Does it matter if they are at home or in Pittsburgh? (photo: AP)

Now, before you yell at us, “BUMGARNER, YOU DIPSHIT!!” Just take a moment to ponder this:

It may sound crazy, and I’m not actually a proponent of this strategy, but I can see the logic in it…a little bit.

If the point of making the playoffs is to win the World Series, then you need to give your team the best chance to win each series. And, this is where it gets fuzzy. Some argue that Bochy should save Bumgarner for two starts in an NLDS by NOT starting him in the wild card one-game playoff. Insanity?

Well, if you throw Bum for the wild card game, and you win, you will only have Bum for one game on the NLDS. Does the thought of having Peavy throw 2 games in the NLDS sound ok? Maybe. By the same token, if you throw Peavy in the wild card game, and you win, Bum would start games 1 and 5.

Although this sounds like a plausible strategy, and Peavy has been incredibly hot down the stretch, being one of the best trades at the deadline, he has given up 24 earned runs in 23 career playoff innings, including a disastrous 2013 postseason with the Red Sox, despite the fact they won it all.

To further complicate this question, the Giants may be faced with the prospect of playing in Pittsburgh, where the Pirates are a striking 51-30, and under .500 on the road. However, to combat that, Bumgarner is 11-4 with a 2.22 ERA on the road this year (7-6, 4.03 ERA at home). So perhaps if he starts, those forces cancel each other out?

So, Giants fans, do you push in all your chips in the wild card game, or do you gamble by saving him for a potential 2-start NLDS? List your comments below!

Let’s hope the Giants can stave off Kershaw and the Doyers from clinching tonight, but to be honest, it looks bleak. However, it doesn’t mean the Giants can’t back into the playoffs and make it all the way. The beginning of the playoff journey is just getting there, and as we all know, the Giants had their back against the wall for 6 elimination games in 2012 and won every single one of them en route to their second trophy in three years.

Anything is possible, keep the faith.

Chad

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by | August 30, 2014 · 11:03 AM

Interview with Will Clark

Chad sat down with “Will the Thrill” before the Brewers faced the Giants. (image: SF Examiner)

Download the podcast here, or

Stream it below:

[audio http://torturecast.podomatic.com/enclosure/2014-08-30T10_55_46-07_00.mp3]

Before the Brewers opened up a three game series with the Giants, Chad was able to sit down with Will Clark for a brief interview. Parallels between the ’87 and ’89 playoff teams were made with the ’10 and ’12 teams, he talks about his first at bat against Nolan Ryan, and we discuss the new wildcard format.

After the Giants whalloped the Brewers tonight, we recorded our traditional “bonusode” at Zeke’s. The whiskey always tastes better after a win. You can listen to the bonusode here.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @TortureCast or like us on Facebook.  We stream our podcast live every Monday at 9:30 PM Pacific when you can call in at 415-799-SFG1.

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by | July 26, 2014 · 8:59 PM

Dodgers vs. Giants 7/26/14 Post-game wrap

Hunter tawwwk!

Hunter tawwwk!

We were hoping Veronica Belmont would be our lucky charm tonight to break the TortureCast’s losing streak when covering Giants games. Tonight would be a tough task against the MLB leader in ERA and wonky deliveriness, Clayton Kershaw.

Veronica, Willie and I decided to make a day of it with a pre-game beverage at Mo-Mo’s to discuss the Peavy trade, when you were conceived, and the bad bar service we were facing. After we picked up our passes, we headed straight for the “in-progress” unusual pre-game presser in the interview room, avec Sabean. Of course, the Giants had finalized a trade for Jake Peavy earlier in the day, so the purpose of this unusual format was primarily to discuss this trade. I’ll sum it up with the last question that Alex Pavlovic asked, “Is Cain going to pitch again this year.” Sabean responded, “I’m not a doctor.”

Ugg.

Speaking of egad.

Speaking of Ugg.

The figurative salve on that open wound was in the form of talking to Hunter Pence on the field during BP. Willie is a huge Hearthstone player (it’s a game, Google it), and so is Hunter. In fact, Hunter has been streaming his Hearthstone matches on Twitch.tv, and they are terribly entertaining. Hunter usually eschews conversation during BP, but his ears perked up when Willie started talking to him about it. He even came back TWICE after BP rounds to discuss deck strategy. Veronica, the internet behemoth that she is (1.7 million Twitter followers, folks) has a bit of a crush on Hunter…and plays Hearthstone, so yeah, she was also a kid in a candy store.

After a quick sandwich, we mingled through the center-field garden in all of its kale-glory with beers in hand. Not a bad place to hang out before a game. Now, considering you can’t really WATCH the game from the garden (yes, on TV), not so sure if I’d hang out in a chaise lounge.

Vogelson started out as strong as any Giants fan could hope for, retiring the first 11 Dodgers. However, with two outs in the fourth, Adrian Gonzalez hit a ball right at Hunter Pence, and with the early 6pm start time, Hunter, who had made two fantastic running grabs in the game thus far, completely lost it in the sun just above the stadium rim shadow for a gift double. Vogey pounded Hanley Ramirez hard, but he managed to flare off a two-strike pitch down the left field line for a run-scoring double. From our vantage point, Morse appeared to jog after the play as though he thought it would drop foul.

That seemed to set an ominous tone for the Giants.

The Dodgers opened up the fifth with back-to-back-to-back singles to open up a 2-0 lead, and if it weren’t for Pence’s third great running catch, it would have been 4-0. Of course, he did lose one in the sun.

Guess you can’t catch ’em all, eh?

Well, about that 4-0 advantage. It apparated in the very next inning through a combination of dinks, blown throws to home by players named Uggla, 2-out hits, and some pixie dust. Vogelsong was done after 6 IP with two earned runs, for a non-quality-start-feeling quality start (Uggla!).

Let’s face it, the Giants have beaten Kershaw before, but it wasn’t to be tonight. Whether the Dodgers scored just one run, or their eventual five, it was all the run support he needed.

Your move, Peavy. (sorry about the run support)

Chad

P.S. – We recorded our traditional “bonusode” after the game at Zeke’s. If you click the link here, you can actually hear the confidence fade from our voices.

 

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by | July 12, 2014 · 10:33 AM

Timmy 2.0

Timmy 2.0 dominated for his fourth-straight start. (Eric Risberg/AP)

We’ve all been hoping for his emergence, or better yet, his re-emergence as the dominant starter he once was. Even if he retired today, he would be one of the most popular Giants of all time with 2 rings, 2 Cy Youngs, 2 no-hitters, and a splash of playoff heroics. Yet, he just turned 30 last month, and that turn of the decade seemed to ring in a new Timmy, version 2.0. I just turned 40, but the only resurgence I’ve seen is the fat in my man-boobs.

We’ve seen flashes of brilliance in his last two dismal seasons, but nothing that was sustained, until now. Over his last four starts, he’s allowed only one run over a span of 30 1/3 innings. He had a scoreless streak of 23 innings that was snapped by a solo homerun, and he hadn’t had a streak like that since 2009, which was in between his two Cy Young seasons.

So why the change? We know his fastball velocity is the lowest it’s ever been, and will continue to drop with age. Perhaps he’s finally matured to the point where he trusts location more than “stuff.” He’s said as much in interviews, but the proof didn’t exist. Is that mentality finally translating to the field? To my un-professional eye (but I did just ‘retire’ after playing 20 years of amateur baseball, so at least I’ve seen a loooot of pitching), he is certainly more consistent, and he’s been pitching backwards as of late, with the curveball or change-up first, setting up fastballs low and on the corners, followed by either a change or another curve to keep hitters off-balance.

And to think that if Timmy was up to his old antics, the Giants would have even had a WORSE month of June? Is that possible? Let’s look at the starting rotation for the last 30 days:

Name W L ERA IP HR BB AVG WHIP BABIP
Tim Lincecum 4 1 1.49 42.1 1 12 0.140 0.76 0.171
Tim Hudson 1 4 4.91 36.2 3 8 0.297 1.42 0.336
Ryan Vogelsong 1 3 4.13 28.1 0 7 0.259 1.24 0.333
Matt Cain 1 3 4.83 31.2 4 9 0.282 1.39 0.323
Madison Bumgarner 1 3 5.18 33 2 13 0.260 1.39 0.320

 

Each starter only has one win in the last month, yet Timmy has four. But look at that sexy WHIP and BABIP. I know numbers turn our readers on, but you should probably go ahead and lather those up with oil, because they’re not getting any better than that. What’s remarkable is that Timmy’s walk percentage, although down slightly, is comparable with the other starters, and his strikeout percentage is actually second-lowest in the last month. It’s the quality of the pitches he’s making. His BABIP is a measly .171, which means players are making very weak contact, also translating into the .140 average against.

Now, let’s eliminate that one loss and look at his last four starts as a whole: his ERA, BA against and BABIP are 0.30, 0.101, and 0.120, respectively. Are you kidding me?!

The analysts all talk about his pitch selection. Let’s see how that stacks up in his last four starts vs his career:

Year FA% FT% SL% CU% CH%
Last 4 starts 24.8% 18.3% 27.2% 7.4% 22.3%
2014 30.5% 15.6% 27.6% 10.4% 15.8%
2013 37.2% 12.4% 21.2% 10.7% 17.6%
2012 39.3% 12.3% 21.3% 10.7% 16.0%
2011 42.1% 12.6% 24.1% 6.4% 14.4%
2010 37.9% 15.2% 7.2% 16.4% 21.3%
2009 55.1% 0.7% 7.1% 18.2% 18.8%
2008 65.5% 9.4% 9.8% 15.3%

 

I’ve heard a lot about his curveball lately, and it does LOOK GOOD, but he’s only thrown it 7.4% of the time in his last four starts, which is much lower than his career average. What’s notable to me is how his changeup (CH%) has replaced many fastballs (FA%), having thrown almost as many changeups as heaters. I think this is one key to his recent success, aside from location being number one. Delving further into his fastball selection, although that percentage is way down, he’s relying on the two-seamer (FT%) more than he ever has, comprising roughly 2 out of 3 fastballs over his last four starts. Historically, he’s used that pitch for less than half of his fastballs, going with the four-seamer the majority of the time, which is a higher-velocity pitch. The two-seamer has more movement than the four-seamer, indicating that he’s sacrificing a bit of velocity for movement, which is only adding to the reduction in BABIP. The variance of his pitch selection is also the lowest its ever been, by far, and this may keep the batters guessing a little bit more with a more even distribution of pitches.

One caveat that must be pointed out. Three of these four starts were against the Padres and D’backs, both woefully underperforming offensively this year. He did have a commanding start against St. Louis, but this is a small, yet promising sample size.

Maybe Timmy finally has reinvented himself, or version 2.0 will need to be returned before the warranty expires.

Chad

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by | June 28, 2014 · 11:30 PM

Another Post-game Autopsy: Reds vs. Giants

Here is Chad’s post-game NSFW rant as he drove home. Be prepared for F-bombs and general surliness.

You can download it here

Or stream it here:

I flew solo for TortureCast in the press box tonight, trying to bring some good luck to the men in black and orange as they began the day with a dismal 4-13 in their last 17, watching the Dodgers trim 7 1/2 games off their lead in a mere 2 1/2 weeks. Unfortunately, the Giants threw the first pitch tonight already knowing that the Dodgers crushed the Cardinals, trying to come within one game of the NL West lead.

Matt Cain was on the bump tonight, having a dismal year with only one win and an ERA near 5, the highest of all five starters. It’s hard to say that any game in June is a “must win,” but as a fan, I felt like tonight was just that. I think the psychological effect of their plummet back to the Dodgers has already played with their minds, but actually falling into second place may do more damage than the players and coaches would be willing to admit. They needed a boost, a vote of confidence, something, even if someone found an extra 20 dollar bill in their left pants pocket, that might turn an at bat around.

Cain was on the precipice of disaster early and often, but kept pulling out the Houdini card, with the Reds going 0-6 with runners in scoring position through the first five innings. He scattered 6 hits and a walk through 5 innings before he had his first 1-2-3 inning in the sixth (after an overturned call on a 6-3 put out on Bruce).

With run support for Cain again near the bottom of the league (10th worst entering tonight), we all feared that he’d get “Cained” again. After the first run of the game was driven in by the ever-exciting ground out, Cain seemed to feed off of that sole bread crumb to make it work in his favor. He shut down the Reds fairly well after that, leaving with an emphatic fist pump and yell that was audible from the press box after a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play to end the seventh. Although Cain toed the rubber in the 8th, he was pulled after a pinch hitter was announced. Affeldt and Casilla quickly took care of all three Reds in the 8th.

The sputtering offense cried for help as Panik deposited his first hit into the confines of AT&T Park, but any hope of a rally was doused when Tyler Colvin grounded into a deftly-turned 4-6-3 double play. Blanco followed with a hit, but was caught stealing to end the inning in a play that was challenge and upheld on the field.

Enter Romo…

Last time we attended a game, Romo entered to a jubilant AT&T crowd in the first game of three against the Rockies. We all know how that AND the next game went in the ninth. With Jay Bruce looming third in the order, the press box was buzzing about the impending rematch of their epic 10 pitch at bat in Game 5 of 2012 NLDS. With his recent shaky track record, this time, the crowd was moderately gyrating their hips to “El Mechon” as Romo warmed up.

I tweeted this before Romo threw his first pitch:

After the dreaded leadoff walk to Votto, Romo threw two fantastic frisbee sliders to Phillips before getting the count to 2-2. Then, Romo completely lost control, flipping a slider over the dead heart of the plate where, on “All Brandon Weekend,” the wrong Brandon took Romo deep to suddenly crush the crowd’s spirit as the Reds all of a sudden took a 2-1 lead. It’s the 5th blown save for Romo. He’s on pace for 10, as we’re at the halfway mark. I have always agreed to let Romo work out his kinks, but I think I’ve jumped the fence and just may want Casilla out there. In fact, both Mesoraco and Ludwick took consecutive balls to the wall with missed location. A few extra feet, and the game would have been 4-1 at that point.

Chapman, having just received his flame-throwing super power serum, came in to slam the door on the proverbial fingers of the orange-clad crowd. The Giants showed spunk with a leadoff single by Pence, followed by a truly “earned” walk in an epic 11-pitch at bat. Buster Posey, after donning his cape, came off the bench to deliver a crowd-pleasing double to the left field wall, tying the score at 2 and bringing the crowd to their feet and the Reds infield in for Hector Sanchez, who untimely hit a weak grounder to short for the out. Arias pinch hit for Crawford and duplicated Sanchez grounder to short for the second out. Duvall completed the heart-crushing end to the inning by striking out on Chapman’s 30th pitch of the inning, which registered 100 mph.

Nothing gets my goat more than not being able to score a runner from third with no outs. It’s simply abhorrent. What’s even more puzzling is Bochy’s decision to pinch hit Arias for Crawford. Sure, there’s the traditional righty vs lefty argument, but the stats are firmly against any of this normally sound baseball strategy. Crawford was hitting .338 against lefties this year, slugging over .600, while Arias came in hitting .176 against EVERYONE and hasn’t had an extra-base hit in over 100 at bats.

Nonetheless, we moved onto free baseball, where Gutierrez got through a slightly shaky tenth. Jonathan Broxton come in to pitch the home-half, and Panik squeaked a hit off of Phillip’s glove up the middle and was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Brandon Hicks. Blanco flied out to third on the first pitch, leaving it up to Pence to revive the Giants’ early-season amazing ability to drive in runners in scoring position with two outs, but Pence couldn’t muster up Posey’s heroics, striking out weakly.

Javier Lopez entered the 11th and quickly gave up an opposite-field double to Joey Votto, setting up the intentional walk to Phillips to set up the force. Bruce attempted a sacrifice bunt, and when Lopez fielded it, he had a clear shot at third, yet whipped around and threw to first after a quick glance. Panda’s body language said it all as he bent over at the waist for at least 10 seconds, showing a bit of frustration with another missed opportunity. Mesoraco was issued another intentional pass, and Machi came in to face Ramon Santiago, pinch hitting for Ludwick with one out and the bases juiced. The Giants tried to turn the Reds trick of getting out of a tough jam, and it looked promising after Machi struck out Santiago. Unfortunately, the magical bullpen faltered and allowed the .230 hitting Cozart to drive in two runs with a single to center and double up on the Giants 4-2. Not like it mattered, but the nail in the coffin was delivered in the form of a 2-run triple by Chris Heisey and an RBI double by Hamilton, pushing the lead to the eventual final score of 7-2.

And to think it was a 1-0 game in the bottom of the ninth.

With the Dodgers destroying the Cardinals earlier in the day, the Giants once lofty 9 1/2 game lead is down to a single game. All of this in less than three weeks. The brief euphoria of Lincecum’s no-hitter is not just gone, it’s left the.

The wheels have fallen off of not just a car, but a black and orange 18-wheeler.

Chad

 

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by | May 30, 2014 · 11:59 PM

2 out hits (with RISP)

Thanks, @2outhits

The Giants are hitting a paltry .232 with 2 outs.

However, when they have runners in scoring position, they’re hitting .299, best in the MLB. Not surprisingly, they also lead the MLB in SLG, OBP and OPS in that situation.

The Giants?

Yes, indeed, the 2 out, RISP matra is shattering the internetz and Twitter. The Giants’ ability to hit the ball with 2 outs and runners in scoring position has propelled them to the best record in all of Major League Baseball, and by a full 3 games, might we add.

 

More tidbits:

At this time last year, the Giants were 29-26 and 1.5 GB. That’s 7 GB of where they are now. Of course, the Dodgers were 6.5 GB and in last place

If MLB standing were one: SF with the best record:  Mil 3 GB Det 3.5 GB Oak 3.5 GB Tor 4.5 GB LAA 5 GB Atl 6.5 GB NYY 7 GB StL 7 GB LAD 7 GB Mia 7.5 GB Col 7.5 GB

Over the last 4 years, the #SFGiants haven’t had more than 29 wins entering June. They have 36 NOW. (29 in ’11and ’13, 27 in ’10 and ’12)

Last 4 seasons when #SFGiants got to 36 W: 2013: 6/18, 2012: 6/14, 2011: 6/10, 2010: 6/14

OPS w/2 outs and RISP is almost 100 points higher than second place! (0.874 vs Mia and Tex at 0.777)

More stats with runners in scoring position and 2 outs: #SFGiants lead MLB with .299 BA, .482 SLG, .874 OPS. .391 OBP.

The #SFGiants now lead MLB in batting average with 2 outs and runners in scoring position at .299. 2nd is Miami at .283.

 

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by | April 25, 2014 · 9:59 PM

Kuiper Bobbleheads and Double Rainbows

I only see one...

I only see one…

I was in the press box for game 1 against Cleveland. I live in Gilroy. It was raining very hard in the early afternoon. I wasn’t sure if I should go. Well, I put my stock into weather.com and made the drive up north through pouring rain. It let up near the park, and as of the 2nd inning, it hasn’t rained since 4pm. Maybe I do have to buy stock in weather.com.

Due to the rain, there was no batting practice, and my credentials don’t allow clubhouse access, so no questions fired at Bochy before the game. Apparently I’m scum when it comes to the 2 levels of press access. But, I ain’t hatin’.

Act 1

The Giants came into today not having a single non-homerun-driven-in-run in 6 days. That was quickly alleviated when Hunter Pence drove in Angel Pagan with his first triple of the year before an out was recorded in the bottom of the first. Pagan had led off the game with a single. Morse followed two batters later by knocking in Pence with a sacrifice fly to deep right to make it 2-0.

Another first was a walk by Tim Hudson. After 30 2/3 inning to start the season without a walk, he gave up his first free pass of the year to Carlos Santana with 2 outs in the first.

The Indians finally got on the board in the third when Michael Bourn sent one high off the bricks in right. Pence appeared to mishandle the carom, which allowed Bourn to take third, but it was officially scored a triple. Nick Swisher followed with a clean line drive single to right center to halve the lead at 2-1.

Pagan and Pence kept their night perfect when Pagan, with extreme bat control, poked a single to left and promptly swiped second. Pence raised his average to .256 with a single to right to drive in the Giants’ centerfielder to make it a 3-1 game.

Act 2

Michael “BEAST” Morse (he wore a BEAST orange t-shirt before the game to continue his moniker from Washington) tattooed a ball to right center field, well up into the seats to lead off the fourth and extend San Francisco’s lead to 4-1. This is Bonds’ territory, and he’s a RIGHT hander. He may just be the first right hander to get a Splash Hit.

Tim Hudson really settled into a groove, and at one point, had retired 9 batters in a row until Kipnis singled with one out in the sixth. After his second walk of the game and of the season, Hudson struck out Brantley, which was followed by a line drive smash by Cabrera which was snagged by Belt lunging to his right to end the inning, preserving the lead.

Carrasco settled down after the Morse homerun, though, retiring 9 consecutive Giants to close out the 6th. Brandon Belt struck out for the third time in as many at bats, but his defense at that point, had made up for the lack of contact.

Act 3

After Affeldt was not needed in the 6th after warming up, Tim Hudson pitched into the seventh, easily retiring the side in order on 8 pitches.

Pablo Sandoval led off the seventh and switched around to the right side with “I think it’s 1982 and I’ll wear my high white socks and stirrups” Josh Outman facing him. Pablo, who’s 0-41 this season with 2 strikes, took the first pitch off of arcade #2 in right field for a rare Panda triple. Crawford smoked a single to right field to drive him in. Crawford is not 10-22 off of left handers, and that be a sign of plate maturity for the young shortstop. Hudson was lifted for a pinch hitter (Blanco) in the bottom of the seventh, concluding Huddy’s night at 7 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, and 2 walks

Jeremy Affeldt had a rocky start to the top of the 8th, though, allowing a leadoff walk, and after a bizarre delay of game for a repair job that he requested to the pitcher’s landing spot, Kipnis laced a single to center. Affeldt summoned the powers of his not-yet-cut-while-making-hamburgers left hand to retire the next 3 hitters, the last 2 on strikeouts.

The ninth inning wasn’t a clean one for the Giants, as it included an error by Hunter Pence and a botched double play on a combacker to Javier Lopez, but alas, the 4-run cushion was more than ample to prevent any serious torture as he closed out a 5-1 win, pushing Hudson’s record to 3-1.

Chad

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by | April 22, 2014 · 10:17 PM

Don’t. Press. It.

…don’t press it…don’t press it…don’t press it….

 

Still above .500. Only 1 1/2 games back. No need to worry, right?

Big picture, who knows?

But, if recent history becomes a long summer of a trend, we’re in for a repeat of the 2013 season of mediocrity.

It’s only been a week since the precipitous fall from grace the Giants’ bats have taken, in fact, I think I saw several players actually chucking their bats off the Rocky Mountains after these last two miserable games.

SF has lost 5 of 6, and aside from Vogelsong’s start in Colorado, the pitching has been excellent and not to blame. You can put that squarely on the shoulders of the lineup, and aside from Belt and Pagan (but even Pagan has been quiet lately), everyone has shut down. Once the Giants were second in the NL in batting average and runs scored. Oh, so as the memories of when you got to second base with that blonde you were after in high school, so are the days of the Giants EVEN GETTING TO THE REAL ACTUAL SECOND BASE!

Let’s take a look at the big picture, stat-wise. The Giants have now fallen to second to last in the NL in batting average to almost my weight: .228. Only the Mets are worse at .224. We thought the Giants had scoring problems last year, but they still hit a relatively robust .260! Usually the runs are plentiful on both sides in Colorado, a veritable buffet where only the mightiest of the champion food eaters will come out on top, while the other, although defeated, still gets his full of extra base hits. True to the park, the giants have had 19 at bats with runners in scoring position in the first 2 games. That’s a crap-metric-ton of at bats! They’ve put runners on base! How many hits in those 19 ABs? Exactly 1: by Hunter Pence: AND IT DIDN’T EVEN SCORE A RUN! I might be able to get more than 1 hit in 19 at bats by just poking out the bat every pitch.

The runs have dried up, the hitting has dried up, my drink has dried up while I write this. Alas, the pitching is still in tact, despite some bumps in the road, and those bumps tend to be Giants fans running over Vogelsong with their metaphorical buses filled with toxic angst, rage, and maybe an occasional enchilada. There have been many questions about Vogey coming in. Some have predicted that he may not make it to June as a starter. I’m pulling for the guy, he’s a great story, and an inspirational one at that. A blue-collar type you want to see succeed, but his location has been off so far this year, the same affliction he suffered last year. With Petit shaking off the rust and pitching well, we may see a change in a month if Ryan continues to go south. Cain and Hudson have been great, and Bumgarner won an entire game himself with 5 RBI, but he has been hit HARD. Today he pitched a complete game (8 IP) and only allowed 2 solo jacks for runs, but still got tagged with the loss. The league is now hitting .314 off Madison, who happens to be tied with Lincecum for the 5th worst batting average against in the NL. This, this is not a good sign, despite his 3.14 ERA. He’s playing with fire by allowing all of those baserunners (Bum owns a 1.64 WHIP, 55th out of 58 qualifying pitchers).

Seriously, 3 runs for the Giants in 2 games in Denver. They’re passing runs out in the stands. Last night was “free runs” night. I think I even saw an elderly man score with that young blonde I was after in high school. What kind of offense is this team going to bring back to the thick air by the Bay on Friday versus Cleveland?!

By the way, Willie and Chad will be in the press box on Friday versus Cleveland to keep both an eye out for that blonde, Kuiper bobbleheads, and for any runs that may or may not score in the home half.

Chad

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