Where has our Sanchez gone?
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The Giants are in a tailspin towards the bottom of the MLB, trade talk, suicide watch and more…
P.S. This was recorded on the evening of July 29, the night before Brian Wilson signed with the Dodgers…ick…
@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.
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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.
You can read our post-game notes here.
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.
Don’t forget to follow us @TortureCast, or individually: @williedills, @friedduck @chadk21
Chad
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:
Chad
We had no one else to name this episode for
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Willie is out but Chad and Ben discuss the All Star Game, Timmy’s No-No and the second half of the season.
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Remember this guy?
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We are all doom and gloom and then…whiskey!
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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.
Chad
Let me explain.
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!
PPS – Giants are 2-0 when we’re in the press box
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“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.””
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Post game notes (I could get used to this):
Coming into AT&T Park today, there was an ominous feeling in the air. I was certain in my bones that it was going to be another heart-wrenching defeat at the hands of their cross-bay rivals. One that would end with a bloom of green and gold-clad fans waving miniature brooms. No basis for this, except for the fact that the A’s are hot, Giants are Arctic-cold, and I’m human.
Zito was walking the high-wire all day, getting out of self-made jams (not the fruit variety) after dishing out almost enough walks for the entire A’s lineup, including one to pitcher, A.J. Griffin, which put a runner in scoring position with two outs and enabled the production of the first A’s runs. However, he ended up no-hitting the A’s through 6…except for Coco Crisp, who was 3 for 3 off Zito with a double and an RBI.
However, Rip Van Winkle, dressed in black and orange, awoke in the 6th, erupting for 4 runs on key hits by Sandoval and Belt, giving Zito the unique position to actually WIN the game. But, no sooner did the A’s fans put their brooms away, than reliever Ramon Ramirez issued the dreaded momentum-killing leadoff walk in the top of the 7th. After an out an a seeing-eye single to right, George Kontos came in to face Cespedes, who promptly cue-balled a floater to right to score the A’s second run and put runners at the corners. But, Affeldt came in with 2 outs to face Brandon Moss and ended the threat with a full-count strikeout.
The Giants promptly got that run back in the bottom of the 7th. Noonan lead off the inning with a bunt single between the mound and second, past the mound. The rotation play was on, so the second baseman was already heading to cover first. He redirected to the ball, but couldn’t throw out Noonan in time. Brett Pill hit a rocket to left for the first out, then Gregor Blanco flipped his bat and dropped his head after hitting one up to shallow left center field. However, Rosales lost the ball in the sun for a mother-nature-aided single. Brandon Crawford hit a ground ball to Moss right, where he speared it on a dive, threw to second for one out, and Rosales air-mailed it into the A’s dugout, allowing Noonan to score, increasing the Giants’ lead to 5-2.
A quiet 8th and a Romo 1-2-3 9th ended the bleeding for the Giants.
In Bochy’s post-game presser, he stressed the need for the starters to pitch well, and he seemed to have a little something extra in his voice that seemed to indicate the desperate need they have for solid performances from those five. He also used the word “Houdini” regarding Zito’s escape act all game (I tweeted that earlier!!!). Scutaro is still feeling the “funk,” referring to whatever sickness he has, and Pagan will certainly miss the first game in St. Louis. He also acknowledged Pill’s contributions, and the bullpen’s ability to shut the game down in the end.
A suggestion to the Giants: take the TortureCast crew with you to St. Louis, you’re 2-0 when we wear the press hat.
Chad
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I’m not entirely sure why Javier Lopez is applying sunscreen in a SF Giants media photo shoot…but I can’t look away….
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Yeah, we missed a show, but they went 1-6 that week and would’ve had to have recorded the show on Zoloft. So, we skipped it. This week was a little better….
Oh, and by the way, Chad will be covering the A’s-Giants game on Thursday, 5/30 (12:45pm) from the press box, so be sure to tune in for sober tweets during the game.
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The TortureCast 