Willie, Ben and Chad sauntered over to Zeke’s following last night’s 4-2 victory over the Brewers at AT&T Park to record yet another “bonusode!” Joining us again were Jen and Ally as we once again lose any sense of decorum and control as we descend into the depths of despair of the Giants’ mediocrity. But, damn, it was fun.
Also, at about the same time the first pitch of last night’s game was being delivered, I sat down with Marty Lurie for a 20 minute interview. It was thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining, and you do not need to be a Giants fan to enjoy his dulcet tones and vast baseball knowledge.
My initial gut reaction (Ben and Willie do not necessarily share my opinions on this) was angst, disgust, betrayal. As witnessed by the twitterxplosion, I’d say many Giants fans felt the same way.
At first, that is.
But, when you break it down and look at the known facts (and not everything is known), I do believe it was a business decision, and nothing more. Let’s look at his motivating factors for the bearded one signing with our arch-rivals:
IT WAS THE ONLY CONTRACT OFFER HE RECEIVED: Initially it was reported that he received 3 offers, but as of what is known now, only the Dodgers gave him a formal offer on paper. The man is unemployed and looking for work. His loyalty to the Giants and their fans does not supersede a job offer. On the surface, I don’t blame him. He was quoted by TMZ as saying, “I just play baseball. You know, if there are 30 teams out there and 29 teams don’t want me, what am I going to do, say I’m not going to play baseball?” He’s also probably concerned about what he can turn this into in 2014, and this is a springboard to it, maybe his only one.
The Dodgers are in first place: Ok, it took me 5 minutes to type that sentence out. But, even though the Pirates and Giants were in “talks” with him, he knows the Giants aren’t going any where this year, and perhaps he felt it was more of a “sure thing” with the Dodgers anyway. Just look at how the Pirates fell flat on their face last year. Although, that beard would have been a true “pirate” look.
He lives in Hollywood: Ok, he lives in the neighborhood. He also loves California and apparently doesn’t want to move anywhere else.
Ned Colletti: Ned Colletti, the GM for the Dodgers, drafted Wilson when he was assistant GM with SF in 2003, and this was after his first Tommy John surgery. Now he’s signed him after his second TJ. There’s some loyalty there, perhaps, or perhaps that’s why he was the only GM to offer Wilson a contract.
It’s not out of spite: Asked how Giants fans will feel about seeing him in Dodger blue, Wilson said, “I’ve got much love for San Francisco. We had a good time. But there’s nothing I can do. They don’t want me back so it’s all good. I’ll just play baseball hopefully here with the major league team and see if I can help them win.” This doesn’t sound like spite to me. And, after firing up his Twitter account among other news sources, he’s fully aware of the backlash amongst Giants fans.
Brian Wilson speaks with TMZ today in LA
Standing Pat
Well, as of 1 pm Pacific today, it’s official: The San Francisco Giants did not make any trades. Hunter Pence raised his hands and yelled, “YES!” right at the stroke of the deadline. Javier Lopez was reportedly nervous up until then, but was relieved when it passed. It says something about their teammates and the organization when they would rather be on a last place team with these teammates, rather than going to a contender. I believe this is a great sign that they will want to re-sign for next year and they can regroup and have a Mulligan on their season.
@itsallyduhh mesmerized us with this fantastic photo of Andres Torres last night when we recorded at Zeke’s. It’s burned into the back of our skulls, and now yours, too.
All three of us watched the Reds dismantle the Giants man-parts on Monday night from the press box. Thank god we didn’t pay to watch this travesty of a game.
We did take a trip to Zeke’s afterwards with Ally Williams (@itsallyduhh) and Jen Cosgriff (@jencosgriff) to record our thoughts on the game, the second half, fans running on the field and Bud Norris?
We’ll be back in the press box on August 5 when the Giants take on the Braun-less Brewers.
While Posey hits in the cage, Panda, Scutaro, and Pence talk about their next Vegas road trip
AT&T Park, San Francisco, CA
Phoenix, the old ball-player returning to glory, my 10 year old dog learning new tricks. However you want to label it, Timmy’s first start since his no-hitter in San Diego certainly elevated him, if even ever so slightly, back to a level of semi-excellence that Giants fans hungered for, rooted for. We relived his glory days as he threw all 148 pitches at Petco Park. Maybe he was back? Or, maybe it was dumb luck, or the Padres, or a little of the old Timmy, or a little bit of everything. Ok, so no-hitters always involve one or two great plays or close calls, but obviously luck is only a small part of it. He induced 28 swing-throughs by Padres batters. That was an indication that his stuff was electric and mystifying.
So, here we were today. Willie and I watching Posey, Pence and Panda absolutely murder balls in batting practice. It really is something to witness from 20 feet away. It reminds me of the one time I followed Tiger Woods at Pebble Beach and was in absolute awe of his club speed. It’s something that doesn’t translate over TV.
Oh right, Lincecum. Anyway, the park was electric tonight, the press box was full as my belly was from the press dining room grub. Everyone was ready to tweet, “Lincecum now has 11 consecutive no-hit innings..” or something to that account. Well, the tension was released when Shin-Shoo Choo sliced a double down the left field line that we were all sure Blanco was going to catch (it was in his glove, afterall). Robinson, a last second replacement in left field, followed with a bunt single, and it looked like the inning was going to explode. However, Timmy settled down and struck out Joey Votto and when Tony Phillips nubbed a comebacker to Lincecum, he alertly ran Choo back to third and tagged him out. After an 0-2 count on Jay Bruce, Lincecum lost him on 4 straight balls, some of them tantalizingly close to strikes. Then Todd Frazier loudly opened the floodgates with a rocket over the head of Torres in dead center, clearing the bases for a 3-0 Reds lead.
Timmy never regained his composure after that. He might as well have been wearing a Reds batting practice jersey, because he started giving up gopher balls. One to Devin Mesoraco (who?), another one to Choo, then the third of the night to Jay Bruce. All of them hit hard, loud, and long.
Although many fans were calling for his early exit, Bochy still had him lead off the bottom of the third. Perhaps facing a 6-0 deficit, Bochy wanted to preserve the bullpen by having Lincecum absorb an extra inning or two with the game almost out of hand. Timmy did retire the first two hitters in the fourth before yielding to George Kontos after back-to-back hits given up to Robinson and Votto. Of course, Kontos didn’t do Timmy any favors, allowing a double to Phillips that scored 2 to close the books on Timmy: 3 2/3 innings pitched, 8 earned runs, 9 hits, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts, and 3 homeruns given up….all after a no-hitter. Many will point to the 148 pitch effort as taxing his arm, but I can point to numerous occasions when he yielded comparable hits after shorter preceding starts. Maybe it did tax his arm, but he did have extra rest with the All-Star break. A sample size of one won’t convince me. In fact, Bronson Arroyo, tonight’s Reds starter, gave up 10 hits in his start following his no-hitter. So, there’s that…
At this point, I generally leave my WordPress browser window open and type the story as the game develops. Except this time, aside from a monumental comeback or an incredible or notable personal achievement, I fear I’ll have nothing else to report after the bottom of the fourth.
Fifth inning: 1 run for the Reds
Sixth inning: 1 run for the Reds
Seventh inning: 1 run for the Reds
For the love of all baseball gods, can they not stop the Reds from scoring in one freaking inning?!
Eighth inning: Tanaka just entered the game on a double-switch and suddenly all of the Japanese press came to life, flipping open books, sheets, and typing wildly in unrecognizable characters on their laptops. Oh, and the Reds didn’t score.
Ninth inning: With 2 out, Francoeur hit a would-be homerun, but alas, Robinson snatched it from beyond the wall to end the game. Sufficient salt poured in wounds.
The post game presser by Bochy was a brief 3 questions punctuated by awkward silence.
We’re off to Zeke’s or somewhere….(edit): You can listen to our post-game bonus-sode podcast, recorded at Zeke’, by pressing the play button below:
From left to right: Ben, Willie, Chad. This is about 4 hours BV (Before Venable)
Press play above to listen to our brief, zany, and irreplaceable “conversation” between us and @jencosgriff as we dissected the Giants tough loss, bare thighs, boobs, and punching people in the face. Recorded in the wee hours of the morning at Zeke’s in San Francisco. Very limited quantities of alcohol were consumed.
Remember that horrible movie from 2001, “Princess Diaries?” Yeah, the Padres are just discovering that they are some long-lost royal blood line and just needed a little make up, hair, and braces removed to be noticed.
Well, they have my attention.
They are sitting just a half game back of the Giants, and two games behind the first-place Diamondbacks, whom they just swept. This is not a typo. I thought my iPhone was crapping out on me, so I referred to my desktop. Same standings. I triple-checked that it wasn’t 2010. Yep.
An alternate title to this post was, “The Padres are Like Your Ugly Ex-Girlfriend From High School,” but I thought it was a little harsh for a tag line. Therefore, you can send me your hate mail now, but of course, you’ve had to have read this far, so hell, I just thank you for taking the time out of your day to do so. We haven’t seen the Padres over .500 since 2010 when the Giants were battling them down to last day of the season to seal that fateful ride to their first San Francisco World Series Championship. So, we forgot about them. Dumped them after the season since we had our shiny new rings and Tiffany-made trophy. The Padres became an afterthought, left to their single life of living with their parents and getting on and off Weight Watchers about as often as Pablo Sandoval fractures small bones in his appendages. But alas, they have pulled off the transformation, without the 90 second movie-montage.
Wait, I’m comparing the Padres to a woman?
Back on track for a moment. The Giants blew a golden opportunity on Saturday, but two walks and an error in the 9th tend to lose ballgames for you. That win would have secured a winning road trip, and what a tough road trip it was. Instead, they played flat yesterday, and couldn’t pick up Lincecum and is technically-qualifying “quality start.” With the starting pitching woes this year, the offense has been their saving grace, and we’ve mentioned it many times before, but there’s only so long the Giants can overachieve with their run production while their number 1, 2 and 3 batters are all out. Pagan might require surgery, and Marco just may “tough it out” and live with a deformed finger, and Panda, well, he…never mind. Let’s just say he has a “slim” lead in NL All-Star voting and leave it at that. Although they hit .315 on the last roadie, that level cannot be sustained. The pitching will have to return, and let’s hope Zito can extend his home dominance (4-1, 1.94) tonight against the Friars.
Otherwise, the Giants will be looking at three teams above them.
Chad
PS – All three of us will be in the press box during tonight’s game versus the Padres, so expect the twitter account (@Torturecast) to blow up. At least one of us will be at the pre-game Bochy press conference. Any questions you’d like to ask him? Send them our way!
“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”
The TortureCast 