We think that about half of Giants’ fans hate Brandon Belt, and the other half like or even love him. Or, perhaps it’s a very, very, vocal minority that bring their torches and pitchforks to social media. ALL. THE. TIME. Well, he’s hot now.
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Just to be clear, we do not hate Brandon Belt, but we know that many Giants’ fans do, and we are perplexed. Chad and Eric talk about that along with the week in review, who’s hot or not, a little lineup reconstruction, the return of the Mac, and much more. @torturecast
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Brandon Belt uses his newfound telekinetic powers to summon his bat to his hands….or he maybe just struck out for the umpteenth time this season. It was a bad week for Belt and the Giants.
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This is a week that you just wanna punch right in the face and forget about. It was a rough weekend bender, at best. Giants go 2-5, but the worst of it coming on the backend, losing three straight to the lowly Padres. Eric noted that after the Giants went 9-0 against San Diego in the first half of 2016, they are 10-23 since, and haven’t won a series against them during that time.
The Giants continue to have the worst batting average with runners in scoring position, a lowly .158, despite their overall team average at .244, which is 8th in MLB.
Struggling players include Beede (sent down, Cueto up), Pence, Belt, Dyson and Osich, versus the relatively few hot players (Posey, Crawford, Stratton).
We also talk about two SJ Giant teammates who hit for the cycle it the SAME game, then later that week, hit walk off homers each in back to back games! We review the injury report and bitch about Melancon. Overall, not a chipper episode, but a meaty one.
This, and so much more in episode #139 of the TortureCast! @torturecast
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Andrew McCutchen launches a walk-off 3-run homerun in the bottom of the 14th inning vs. the LA Dodgers to win the game, 7-5. (Photo: AP)
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Although it’s been a week since we last recorded, the Giants only played 4 games, thanks to off days and a rainout. They went 2-2 last week, splitting 2 game series each with the Mariners and Dodgers, but the Dodgers series was dramatic! The Giants blew a lead late to force extra innings, and actually went down 5-4 in the 14th before Andrew McCutchen launched the most memorable hit of this young season, a 3 run homer to win the game. He also went 6-7, the first time a SF Giant had 6 hits at home…ever! They also exploded for 10 runs in game 2 vs. the Mariners.
Chad and Eric discuss these four games, significant at bats, who’s hot and who’s not, and preview the upcoming week.
This, and so much more in episode #138 of the TortureCast! @torturecast
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San Francisco Giants second baseman Joe Panik has made history with two solo home runs in the first two games of the season, and pretty much saved the series as a split. Photo by Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press
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If you told us that the Giants were going to start the season without MadBum, Shark, and Melancon, yet split the first four games of the year in LA, we’d take that in an instant. We’d be even more flabbergasted if you told us that the Giants would be outscored 14-2 but STILL WIN 2 GAMES. Thank you, Joe Panik! His two solo shots in two consecutive games off of Kershaw and Jansen may have single-handedly prevented the Giants from being swept.
That said, winning the first two games of the series put the Giants in the driver’s seat to take the series, but they couldn’t do that, losing 5-0 and 9-0 in the last two games.
Chad and Eric dive into the stats of the series (mainly that the Giants were 1-20 with RISP, and Longo, Cutch and Jackson combined for 2-43!), the pros, the cons, the strengths and the weaknesses. But, hey…it’s only four games. @torturecast
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Opening Day is Thursday, March 29. Ty Blach vs. Clayton Kershaw.
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It’s our annual season preview! In this 7th preview in total, the gang has all been pretty close in guessing the Giants’ win totals…until last year. With all of us ranging between 84 and 92 wins, we were more than 20 games off.
That said, no one predicted that the Giants would lose 98. Taking that into consideration with this year’s injuries, we have the biggest range in our hosting history, with Chad going low with 76 wins, Willie just behind at 79, and Eric piling on the unicorn droppings with a whopping 96 wins, proclaiming that the Giants will win the West, the World Series, Duggar will win Rookie of the Year, and Posey and Panik will battle it out for a batting title.
Perhaps Eric is getting high off his new puppies?
We also read listener’s win total predictions, talk final potential roster moves, and our keys for getting off to a good start, considering that the Giants play the Dodgers 10 times over their first 29 games…and that’s without Bum or Shark.
Andrew McCutchen has joined the Giants via a trade last week. Last month, they acquired third baseman Evan Longoria via trade, and this week, they signed outfielder Austin Jackson.
You can download the episode here, or stream it below!
In episode 132, Eric and Chad talk about the big signing for the Giants this off-season. We also talk potential lineup options, pitching rotation, and Hall of Fame results.
Matt Cain, we are going to miss you. Photo by Brad Mangin
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What a horrendous day. Just coming off the news from Puerto Rico, then comes the Vegas shooting and now Tom Petty. Let’s talk about baseball, shall we?
Chad, Eric and Willie reflect on the end of the 2017 season for the Giants, including what went wrong, how they may address it, Pablo’s season-ending walk-off and how that affects the draft, and of course, Matt Cain’s last start. Chad talks about covering Cain’s last start and Eric shares a poignant moment he had with his father when they watched Matt Cain and Barry Bonds beat the Cubs in Chicago.
We also dwell upon the impending playoffs and offer up our predictions. Chad and Willie both predict Houston and Washington making it to the World Series with Houston winning it all, while Eric thinks the Dodgers will hoist the Tiffany trophy after defeating the Astros. (GOD I hope Eric is wrong)
That means it’ll be the Twins vs the Rockies in the World Series, of course.
We’ll be back in a week or two to reflect on the playoffs, then again after the World Series before we head into the hot stove season.
Can we never speak of, or see these creamcicle orange unis ever again? (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
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Although we didn’t dwell on the hurricane in Texas, we wanted to mention that thousands, if not more, people, are being severely affected by this storm. Please, donate money, pray, do whatever you can to help those in harm’s way.
As far as baseball, Chad and Eric reconnect with Ben to discuss recent developments in Giants-land from their earliest and official elimination from the West, being swept by Arizona, Kontos to the Pirates, Cain getting bombed…wait a minute, jeez, sounds like we didn’t have fun!
But actually, any time you get three guys talking baseball, no matter how depressing it may seem, it’s actually quite enjoyable, because you know what, there’s real life like in Texas. We do also dwell on more positive topics like the player’s weekend uniforms and the Giants mega-interest in Stanton (like that’s going to happen).
Remember this? Yeah, it’s about the only real memorable contribution made by Connor Gillaspie, who was DFA’s by the Giants yesterday. But, oh what a moment it was. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
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So, we lost track of the number. 127, 128…it’s about the same difference as in Matt Moore’s expected and real ERA.
Speaking of Moore, we talk about the huge disappointment he’s been, among other Giants. They are flirting with a 100 loss season, but are throwing in the towel with the youth movement, DFA’ing Connor Gillaspie, sending down Hwang, and calling up Suarez, Jones, Parker and others. If Beede and Arroyo weren’t hurt, we just might have the RiverCats playing out the rest of the Giants’ season!
And yes, we talk about the reunion with the Panda, and trading away a solid player in Eduardo Nunez to the Red Sox for some pocket lint that may not amount to anything.
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