No one would have remembered this guy if it weren’t for the line drive off his head. But, we’re running out of jersey numbers…
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Joe Martinez. He pitched in a total of 21 games over 4 season, some of which were with the Giants. Yes, lament as we run out of jersey numbers but celebrate as we talk about the team with the BEST RECORD IN BASEBALL. That’s right, the Giants haven’t started off this good since 1962, before all of us were born.
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Machi ain’t stinkin’ it up like last year.
Start streaming our latest episode, or download it here:
[audio http://torturecast.podomatic.com/enclosure/2014-05-26T23_20_40-07_00.mp3]
In the first solo TortureCast, Chad attempts to substitute rum and coke and brevity for the lack of conversation. Hey, the Giants have the BEST RECORD IN ALL OF BASEBALL, and we, er, Chad, needs to talk about it, as it may go south at any time. Also, Panda’s hot, Posey’s not, and MLB.com gives the Giants an 88.6% chance of making the postseason.
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It was the best of times, it was the worst and worser of times….
Click play below to stream Episode 61, or download it here!
[audio http://torturecast.podomatic.com/enclosure/2014-05-13T00_43_29-07_00.mp3]Willie and Chad talk about the great first quarter of the 2014 season, which finds the Giants in first place and somehow FOX sports ranks them as the best team in the MLB. We also discuss the Belt injury, entities we hate, and our new favorite guys.
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…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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Yep, this ex-Dodger held this trophy. We’re running out of numbers.
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Wille, Ben and Chad record the first 2014 regular season episode of TortureCast, reviewing the Giants’ fantastic 5-2 start, Belt’s 4 HRs, the Giants lead MLB in HR, taking 2 of 3 from the Dodgers, MadBum, Cain, Hudson’s first start, and who we hate this week (insert Puig).
And, did anyone notice that this new Buster Posey commercial shows an infielder, who receives the throw from Posey, THAT IS WEARING BILL TERRY’S RETIRED NUMBER 3?! C’mon man! Under Armour, do your research! Oh, and Buster is totally throwing out a Barry Larkin look-alike.
All three of us will be at AT&T on Thursday when the Giants host the D’backs. Tweet us, come by, and say hi! We’ll also be recording our traditional “Bonusode” after the game at Zeke’s if you want to hang out.
Filed under Episodes
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.
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.
Did this guy really throw a no-hitter for the Giants?!
[audio http://torturecast.podomatic.com/enclosure/2014-03-18T00_20_45-07_00.mp3]
Willie couldn’t make it tonight, so we brought in Jen Cosgriff to talk about her 6 days in Arizona for spring training. We talk about the 27 inning scoreless streak by Giants starters, then freak out about the pummeling of Sergio Romo and aforementioned starters. We can’t wait until the Dodgers melt down from their Australia series!
Man, we’re gonna miss his outfits…
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The boys are back in Episode #56 to talk about Ben and Chad’s experience interviewing players at Media Day, how Chad gave a 3 hour behind-the-scenes tour of the Monterey Bay Aquarium to Matt Cain and his family, early domination by the starters in Spring Training, how many wins we think Tim Hudson will get, our favorite tweets, and the first “Why’ll we’ll win it all” of 2014. Come join our Michael Morse swooncast!
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The same interview is posted in both video form above and audio form below.
Chad and Ben interviewed Giants’ starting pitcher Matt Cain during Media Day at AT&T Park and asked him about his 2013 first half slump, golfing at AT&T Pro-Am, what baseball rule he’d like to change, getting “Cained,” and surprisingly, he wants Chad to take him SCUBA diving in Monterey.
Be sure to check out our interviews with Michael Morse, Sergio Romo, Nick Noonan, Tim Lincecum, Javier Lopez and others!
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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 |
New |
Transaction |
Notes |
|
OF |
SF |
|
— |
Released |
|
|
SP |
SF |
|
— |
|
|
|
RP |
SF |
|
— |
Minor league free agent |
|
|
C |
SF |
BAL |
Nov 30, 2013 |
Traded for cash |
|
|
SP |
SF |
|
Dec 27, 2013 |
Signed with the NPB Yokohama Bay Stars |
|
|
OF |
SF |
BAL |
Dec 7, 2013 |
One-year contract |
|
|
RP |
SF |
|
— |
Non-tendered |
|
|
OF |
SF |
TEX |
Dec 20, 2013 |
Minor league contract |
|
|
OF |
SF |
|
— |
Club option declined |
|
|
SP |
SF |
|
— |
Club option declined |
*I will miss saying his name….
Newly painted black and orange:
|
Player |
POS |
Former |
New |
Transaction |
|
SP |
ATL |
SF |
Nov 18, 2013 |
|
|
SP |
SF |
SF |
Oct 25, 2013 |
|
|
RP |
SF |
SF |
Nov 26, 2013 |
|
|
OF |
BAL |
SF |
Dec 17, 2013 |
|
|
C |
SF |
SF |
Nov 13, 2013 |
|
|
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:
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.
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