SF Giant Austin Slater rips a 3 run double against the A’s on July 20, 2020. Photo by SJ Mercury News.
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Honestly, we can’t believe it. We are having a season preview episode. In July. Whatever. We’ll take it. Joining Chad and Eric are long standing podcast veterans including a founder of TortureCast, Willie “Dills” Gregory and a woman who has joined us for numerous season previews and drunken “bonusodes,” Jennifer (formerly Cosgriff) Kent.
The four of us discuss the new rule changes, the potential roster, guess on the number of wins for the Giants, the World Series champs and even discuss the importance of Gabe Kapler and several Giants that took a knee during the National Anthem before the exhibition game against the A’s.
Eric and Chad met each other for the first time in 7 years in Las Vegas last week…masks and all! We talked a lot of shop, drank, and caught up.
You can download the episode here, or stream it below!
After months of frustrating negotiations…the owners and players failed to come to an agreement. But alas, MLB Commish Rob Manfred instituted a 60 game season, players agreed to the health protocols, and voila! We officially have a 2020 baseball season!
Here are the main points:
60 game season (40 against NL West, 20 against AL West)
Universal DH
In every extra inning, a runner starts the inning on second base
60 player pool; camp opens today, July 1
Season starts July 23 or 24
Trade deadline is Aug 31
30 man roster the first 2 weeks of the season, 28 the next 2 weeks, 26 the rest of the way
Playoffs remain the same (3 division winners, 2 wild cards in each league)
Separate COVID-19 injured list. A player has to test negative twice to resume play
Players and personnel not in game must be in stands, 6 feet apart
Eric and I talk about the ramifications these new rules have on the Giants, including who’s going to be DH most of the time, the Giants actually have a shot at a playoff spot with so few games, how do they handle stats of runners scoring in extra innings, and much, much more.
We are so excited to actually discuss real baseball, but we hope that the season not only starts, but can come to a conclusion. There is serious worry about what the virus may do to halt the season. But, in the meantime, we’re moving forward and will be back with an episode in mid-July and our annual season preview around July 22.
As noted in the photo above, Eric and I met up in Las Vegas last week, the first time we’ve seen each other in 7 years! We talked shop, drank, and caught up. We highly recommend “BEER PARK” at the Paris Hotel, a great outdoor venue. Next time, we’ll make a podcast out of it.
Bruce Bochy and gang take the Bay Bridge Series trophy in his 4,000th game managed on Sunday. They were apparently very happy with it.
You can download the episode here, or stream it below!
After a sweep at the hands of the Cubs essentially eliminated any chance the Giants have of making the postseason, Evan Longoria had a great weekend against the A’s, enabling the Giants to take the Bay Bridge trophy and climb back to 4 games out of the wild card. But, if they had just taken one game in that crazy series against the Cubs, they’d be 2 out right now. With precious little time remaining, the Giants have to step on the gas…now!
Eric and Chad review the 2-3 week and talk about players’ weekend, Bochy’s 4,000th managed game, Cueto’s rehab, Pablo’s TJ surgery, who’s hot and not and more!
Will Clark shortly after it was announced that his #22 will be officially retired in 2020. Photo by Ryan Leong (@ryanleong).
You can download the episode here, or stream it below!
It’s been a wild two weeks of Giants baseball. The Giants went 5-8 since we last recorded, but they only dropped from 2.5 games back to 3.5 games back. Alas, their playoff chances keep plummeting (down to 3% per fivethirtyeight.com). In episode 175, we covered the trade deadline, the fact that both Bumgarner and Smith will be with this team through the end of this season, Panik getting DFA’d, the losing streak, the 1989 Giants’ reunion, Will Clark’s #22 getting retired next year, Will Smith’s first AB, hit and RBIs…literally we couldn’t have chosen a worse regular season stretch to miss our weekly podcast. Nevertheless, Chad and Eric are back with a vengeance in an extended episode to catch all of us up on the happenings of Giants baseball.
I Feel Good. ish.
Here’s the video the Giants streamed of the 1989 celebration on Sunday. We opened this podcast with the first minute of this segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYvQ4QprPUU
Giants’ Evan Longoria (10) watches his 12th homerun of the season sail into the left field stands in the 7th inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Oracle Park on July 7, 2019. The homerun broke up a no-hitter and a scoreless tie and the game eventually ended with a 1-0 Giants’ win. Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
You can download the episode here, or stream it below!
The Giants have won 6 of 7 and head into the All Star break just 5 1/2 games out of the second wild card spot. The problem is that they have seven teams in front of them, and that is why the oddsmakers give the Giants only a 0.7% chance of making the playoffs. That said, we can still enjoy some good baseball as of late with a tremendous week by Evan Longoria, who hit 5 homeruns, including 4 in San Diego, the Shark is pitching very well, Dickerson continues to swing a hot bat, and Will Smith heads into the break converting 23 of 23 save opportunities and dipping his ERA under 2.
Chad and Eric talk about the last two weeks of Giants’ baseball, Chad’s experience covering the Diamondbacks game last Sunday, they give their All Star game and HR derby predictions, and look forward to baseball before the trading deadline to see if GM Zaidi will pull the trigger on any trades to help the farm system for future Giants’ teams.
Alex Dickerson, acquired by trade from the Padres just last week, produced immediately for the Giants, knocking in 9 runs in his first two games in Giants’ uniform, breaking a franchise record. (Photo by Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images)
You can download the episode here, or stream it below!
The title was just too sophomoric to pass up…sorry about that. But, we do want more production from Alex Dickerson, who knocked in 9 runs in the first two games in Arizona, including a grand slam, two doubles, and a triple. This performance prompted the chant, “Dick! Dick! Dick!” from the Giants’ dugout. Truly an awesome sight and sound.
We had a small break because of Chad’s vacation, but it was a fairly successful period for the Giants, as they went 7-5 during the two week break, but still find themselves in the cellar of the NL West. Eric and Chad review the last two weeks, the latest trade rumors about Will Smith and Madison Bumgarner, compare Mike Yaztremski’s stats through 92 plate appearances with that of his grandfather’s start, this week in Giants’ history, who’s hot and not and more!
Madison Bumgarner barks at Max Muncy shortly after Muncy deposited a 92 MPH fastball into McCovey Cove. Bum didn’t like the brief admiring pause that Muncy gave at the plate, but honestly, we didn’t think there was much to be upset about. Photo by CBS Sports.
You can download the episode here, or stream it below!
The Giants just can’t seem to push through in any particular week, and last week was no exception. Although they did win the first game of each series against the Mets and Dodgers, they proceeded to lose the next two games and each series. They also mustered a horrendous 2 for 24 with runners in scoring position against the Dodgers, glaringly one time unable to score with the bases loaded and no outs and again with runners on the corners with no outs in their 1-0 loss on Sunday. Speaking of Sunday, anyone see that Muncy splash hit and the subsequent reaction by MadBum? Yeah, Eric and Chad have thoughts on that.
We also review the draft, this week in Giants history, and who’s hot and who’s not. We’ll be back in two weeks for episode 170.
Madison Bumgarner propels the Giants to a win in Arizona on May 18. Photo by NBC Sports.
You can download the episode here, or stream it below!
The Giants went 3-1 after our last podcast, and have exceeded expectations (sadly) with a 17-17 record over their last 34 games. They took 2 or 3 from Arizona and their regulars have been performing well. Crawford won 2 games by himself with a game-saving play and a homerun. Panda hit 2 pinch hit HRs and won a game. Zaidi keeps the roster rotating with some shrewd trades and moves. Listen to this and more in episode 166 of the TortureCast, the podcast by and for fans of the San Francisco Giants!
You can download the episode here, or stream it below!
The Giants started off this week with a 2-game sweep in Toronto and finished a 4-4 road trip before heading back to San Francisco to face a depleted New York Yankees team that had 15 players on the injured list. That didn’t matter, as the Yanks swept the Giants at Oracle thanks to bad starting pitching, poor defense, and getting behind early.
Despite going 2-3 this week, the Giants sit at 11-17, last in the NL West and only surpassing the Marlins in overall record in the NL. Bum, Holland and D-Rod all did poorly against the Yanks, and Gary Sanchez hit the ball out of the yard twice, one time at 467 feet.
We talk about the week, the last visit to SF by the Yankees (Chad was there for Bonds v Clemens in 2007), who’s hot and not, should Mac be called up, should the pens be moved along with the elimination of Triples Alley and more.
Kevin Pillar hits a grand slam against the San Diego Padres. The Giants’ centerfielder hit 4 homeruns this week, propelling them to a 4-3 record. (Photo: SF Examiner)
You can download the episode here, or stream it below!
Where would the Giants be without Kevin Pillar? He dominated the week, hitting 4 homeruns with 12 RBI. In fact, no other Giant had more than 1 RBI for the week! The Giants sit at 7-10, 4 games back of the Padres, but it would be much worse without Pillar’s contribution. That said, he’s only hitting .155 on the season, so he’s getting timely hits. How long will this last?
We talk about Pillar and the week in review on episode #161, including the insane 18 inning win against the Rockies, surprising pitching from the Shark, and how the bullpen leads all of baseball with a 1.77 ERA. However, they also are at the bottom of the NL with a .199 batting average, and have mustered only 10 homeruns, which is the same as Kris Davis! Eric also introduced a new segment called “Guess that Giant,” which Chad performed poorly in. Let us know in the comments if you guessed this Giant faster than Chad did (we’re sure you did). This was a fun podcast to talk about a winning week. The Giants go on a long east coast trip, so their hitting has to come around at some point.
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