Tag Archives: bochy

Episode 50: Scott Garrelts y Jose Mijares

garrelts_y_mijares

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The Week in Review

  • 2-5 since our last recording (lost 3/4 to A’s, lost 2/3 to STL)
  • Somehow they’re still in 2nd place, only 2 GB of AZ
  • After 57 games in 2012: 32-25 (2 Games ahead of where they are now), and 4 GB of LAD
  • Our first game of 2013 in the press box on Thu vs. A’s. Hey, Giants are 2-0 with TC in the box!

Talking Points

  • Once again, horrible starting pitching, only Gaudin and Zito saved the day

The Big Question

“Extra Baggs: The Giants would turn Lincecum into a late-inning reliever “in a
heartbeat,” according to one club source, if they had another starting
pitcher in the system ready to take his place in the rotation.

How would he feel about that?
“I’m always open. It’s just, right now I don’t want to be open to
it,” said Lincecum, adding he is committed to remaining a starter for
the rest of this season. “I’m sure if my career takes that turn, I’m
definitely open to changes, especially if it’s beneficial to the team
I’m playing for.””

 

Armchair Manager

  • Do you keep Gaudin in the rotation?
  • How do you set up the coming weeks?
  • More rest for starters or skip the 5th spot when possible.
  • Skip Lincecum in AZ?

On Deck

  • Quick 2 games at home vs. Toronto, then a 9 game road trip through AZ, Pit and ATL, all winning teams
  • June is going to be rough: 18 of 27 games are on the road

Tweet At Me, Bruh

  • Willie: @TortureCast: I’ll keep on this juice fast as long as Lincecum remains a starter. #mightlose30pounds
  • Chad: ‏Tom Tolbert – ‏@byronjr23: Halos 6 outs from being swept by the Astros..It would be a 4 game sweep no less..Fun fact: Astros payroll 17 mill..Hamilton salary 17.5 mill”

Our New Favorite Guy

  • Chad: Chad Gaudin
  • Willie: Bengie Molina

We Should Hate This Guy

  • Willie: Every Cardinals player
  • Chad: Yadier Molina

Why We Will Win It All

  • Chad: We won’t if the starters don’t shape up
  • Willie: Yeah, I’m not feeling it right now

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Episode 44: The Willie McCovey Episode

Stretch

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It’s been a while, but the boys are back with the first podcast of the 2013 regular season.

Talking Points

  • Giants return with 21 of 25 members from the 2012 WS team
  • Surprise guys who made the team, Nick Noonan and Guillermo Quiroz
  • We talk a bit about our amazing experience at Media Day in February, and the opportunity to interview many of the Giants players. (if you missed it, go to our YouTube channel for the treasure trove of video interviews with Posey, Lincecum, Belt, Crawford, Zito, Romo, Bochy)

The Week in Review

  • Giants first week of the 2013 season and they go 4-3, taking 2 of 3 from LA and losing the last 2 to StL, and winning the first one from Colorado.
  • Pence is HAWT: 3 HRs in the first 7 games, .292
  • Lots of cold hitters: Scutaro, Posey, Belt, Torres all under .200  

The Big Question

  • Any concern about Cain or Vogelsong or Lincecum? Nahhhh

Armchair Manager

  • Would you have pulled Cain earlier on Sunday?

Tweet At Me, Bruh

  • Chad: “Bay Area Sports Guy @BASportsGuy Get me some shots of sad cheerleaders, stat! AND Wendy Thurm @hangingsliders: Obligatory sad cheerleader photo dot tumblr”
  • Willie: @Nicolevolgelsong is now following us, we win

Our New Favorite Guy

  • Willie: Chad Gaudin – great pickup, really good stuff and looks like he’ll be a fixture in the pen this year
  • Chad: NICK NOONAN! first hit and fun name
  • Ben: Brandon Crawford, Honorary Mention: Aubrey Huff

We Should Hate This Guy

  • Chad: The designer for the Giants WS Gold jerseys…SF logo on a HOME jersey?
  • Willie: Clayton Kershaw
  • Ben: Jose Castillo

Why We Will Win It All

  • Chad: Because they have home gold jerseys with the SF on the chest
  • Willie: This team should be better with no Huff, Torres back and Lincecum should at least be better than last year, full season of Pence and Zito having a resurgence
  • Ben: SMALL SAMPLE SIZE

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Episode 43: The Dave Dravecky Episode

This dude is inspirational and will forever be a Giant

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We welcome in the new year with our first TortureCast of 2013. Unfortunately, Ben couldn’t make tonight’s recording, but Willie and Chad discussed the recent deals to avoid arbitration for Posey, Pence, Blanco, Arias, and Mijares. We also bitch about the BBWAA and the injustice of not a single player being voted into the Hall of Fame, as well as pimping FanFest on Feb 9, the excitement of pitchers and catchers reporting on Feb 12, a banana in an unfortunate hole, and we dream about the possibility of Bruce Bochy driving Jim Harbaugh down Market Street with another championship trophy for THE City.

Talking Points

  • Buster Posey ($8m) and Hunter Pence ($13.8m) sign one year deals to avoid arbitration
  • Giants control Posey through 2016 and will probably seek a long-term deal sometime this year
  • Other Giants that signed one year deals to avoid arbitration: Arias ($925k), Blanco ($1.35m), Jose Mijares ($1.8m)
  • Only arbitration-eligible player left is Romo, who filed for $4.5 million and the Giants countered with $2.675 million
  • BBWAA chose not to vote in Bonds and Clemens, in fact, NO ONE made it in

Coming Up

  • FanFest is Feb 9 at AT&T Park
  • We will be interviewing the Giants “Social Media Consigliere,” Bryan Srabian this Saturday to talk to him about his job and FanFest!
  • Pitchers and catchers report Feb 12!

Tweet At Me, Bruh

lomotweet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • SFG10032: @TortureCast – Turns out Hunter Pence is a pretty hardcore Blizzard gamer. Pretty cool. http://t.co/ZZK9rsab

We Should Hate This Guy

  • Willie and Chad dish out serious hate for the BBWAA who “made a stand” against the PED users. It’s an F-ing game, and you are not holier than any of these athletes that you help to create. Baseball ignored the issue, you voted them as MVP and Cy Youngs, STFU.

Why We Will Win It All

  • Willie – Wrapping up the last big pieces from last year and didn’t fall in love with guys who won’t help, Sabean is making all the right moves and there’s no reason to think he won’t make the right moves at the trade deadline either.

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Episode 42: The Jackie Robinson/Hot Stove Episode

it burns…like a Brian Wilson non-tender

We shake off the World Series hangover with an episode to review the Giants’ moves in the offseason thus far, and we even challenged ourselves with listening to our season preview episode that we recorded at The Public House (at AT&T Park) with Thomas and Danny from Two Guys, a Glove and a Coke Bottle.

Talking Points

  • Scu-Scu-Scutaro signs 3 yrs/$20 – We all like this one, even if he sucks at age 40
  • Pagan signs 4 yrs/$40m – Thank the baseball gods that he signed one day before Victorino signed with Boston for 3/$39m!
  • Affeldt signs 3y/$18m – Quality signing, he likes the stability of the Giants
  • Pence will be signed, probably for $13-$14m in arbitration, Giants not seeking long term contract, though
  • Torres is Back! 1 yr, $2m
  • Blanco is arbitration eligible, probably won’t cost that much
  • Sabean and Bochy contracts extended through 2014
  • Dodgers with the largest payroll in MLB history at $225m
  • Melky gets 2/$16m from Blue Jays who are loading up for a run at it

The BIG Question

  • What will happen with Brian Wilson? We all concur that the Giants had to make the business decision that they did, and that frankly, Wilson is being a whiny douche if he’s hurt by their non-tender. He doesn’t deserve $7 million for a year after his second Tommy John. In fact, he earned $8.5 million last year for two appearances before he went on the shelf. Suck it up, sign an incentive-laden contract with the Giants and we’ll all move along as a happy family.

Revisiting our 2012 Pre-Season Predictions with GiantsPod (4/1/12 @ Public House)

  • Chad put out an over/under of 92.5 wins for the Giants and EVERYONE LAUGHED AT HIM
  • The group reset the over/under to 87.5 wins, and everyone took the over, except the self-titled “realist” Thomas
  • Chad also put the over/under for games Freddy Sanchez plays at 100 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
  • What does Crawford have to hit to be worth it?we all said .230, he hit .248 and played dazzling D down the stretch, I say he surpassed expectation
  • Thomas says Blanco will not be on the roster by the All Star break
  • Hamate bone was a freak injury – thomas
  • Danny says now that steroids are over…
  • Danny says top offensive player won’t be Posey or Pablo
  • How high would we go for Cain extension? The highest we said was 125 over 5, he got 127 for 6 with an option for 7 that could bring it to 141
  • Willie wanted to win a WS and defend with the exact same team. Well, he’s pretty much getting his wish
  • Why will the Giants win it all? (asked in April, 2012)
    • Willie predicted that the Giants would win it all because they weren’t going to have a freak injury
    • Ben – rotation getting better
    • Michael (from The Grubby Glove) – Dbacks won’t come together, Bumgarner steps up big time, says division winner
    • Chad – dumb luck!!! hahhaha
    • Danny – second wild card
    • Thomas – “we won’t, I’m a realist”

Tweet At Me, Bruh

  • Bryan Murphy @Every6thDay: Obviously, the Giants will have to raise ticket prices significantly to afford Andres Torres, but that’s what happens w/ a break-even team.”
  • “Miss Erin ‏@Love4PatTheBat: Brian Patrick Wilson, you quit your pouting and come back to those who love you and tolerate your insanity! @BrianWilson38 #SFGiants”

Our New Favorite Guy

  • Chad – Brian Sabean for signing Pagan a day before Victorino signed with the Red Sox
  • Willie – Duane Kuiper for his joke during the parade, asking Affeldt to take a swing after he called a homer for Pablo and say Swing and a miss!

We Should Hate This Guy

  • Willie – Magic Johnson, go muck up basketball if you’re gonna get all ridiculous in a sport, although basketball is pretty screwed up already

Why We Will Win It All

  • Chad – They’ve brought the gang back (mostly)

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TortureCast Goes to the PressBox…wait…WTF?! And “Bonusode” 38.5

Just your standard Willie-Chad lineup in the Giants dugout

Click above, right here, that little arrow, to play our “Bonusode” 38.5 from 9/20/12.

The article below, written by Chad King, summarizes his thoughts about the TortureCast’s trip to the Giants’ press box during the Rockies/Giants game on September 20, 2012, 2 days before the Giants clinched the NL West. Excuse the USA Today writing style, but it was written and submitted to a local newspaper.

The podcast embedded above was recorded by Willie and Chad right after the game.

Enjoy!

 

Confessions of a Press Box Rookie

Chad King

So why was a marine biologist suddenly thrust into the world of sports journalism? Much like George Costanza followed his lust for a woman who was worried about a beached whale in “Seinfeld,” I was coerced by my love for writing, podcasting, and the Giants.

Podcasting is a relatively new form of media. Anyone with a recording device and an internet connection can record and upload spoken words for the potential of millions to listen to. Many are trying and become the next Walter Cronkite or Ryan Seacrest (laugh track). I aspire to become neither. I follow my passion for parenting, gaming and the San Francisco Giants through podcasting. A trained sports journalist or radio DJ, I am not. Neither are most of those who occupy those professions, however.

As a co-host of “The TortureCast,” we’ve always had a passion for the Giants. A passion that has taken me and my two co-hosts to commit hours of pre-show research and preparation, hour long recordings, and hours of audio and website editing. There’s something to be said about the passion of the knowledgeable fan.

The San Francisco Giants recognized something within this passion and granted media credentials to the three of us to cover the Giants-Rockies game on September 20. Typically, Major League Baseball teams only grant media passes to “legitimate” media. We were officially legitimate media, if only for a day. With copious notes from hours of research, we hit the press room like kindergartners on the first day of school. We didn’t ask questions of manager Bruce Bochy in the pregame conference in the dugout nor the postgame conference, and pretty much relegated ourselves to scoring the game, tweeting satirical updates while consuming massive amounts of free caffeine. We gawked at KNBR broadcasters taking seconds in the media dining room, and tried to take “illegal” photos with our smart phones in the press box while skirting Major League Baseball’s official media dress code.

And yet, this was more of a service to the fans than what I saw around me as nine innings of baseball unfolded within the confines of the press box. First, I saw some journalists playing solitaire over several innings, many seasoned professionals reporting incorrect statistics, and found the “TortureCast” crew answering questions rhetorically asked by 30 year veterans such as, “how many homeruns did Buster Posey have coming into today?”

Although this day will be one of the most memorable in the “sports” section of my gray matter, one of the reporters left me with this little nugget: “The only thing that separates the sports writer from a truly knowledgeable fan is the credentials.”

Maybe George Costanza was more qualified that we give him credit for.

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