Tag Archives: TortureCast

by | March 30, 2016 · 8:02 PM

Almost Episode 100

Hazel-Happy-1001

As many of you know we’re getting ready to record our 100th episode of TortureCast. Late Sunday night, from all corners of the country, we will join forces to bring you episode 100. Wait, you didn’t know? Where the heck have you been? WE’RE ABOUT TO RECORD OUR 100TH EPISODE!

It’s kind of a big deal. I mean, who thought we’d be here? We’re just one little show that was started by fans of the San Francisco Giants. Now, we’ve been doing this show for so long, the team actually lets us in the clubhouse. It’s a reality that was once a dream for every one of us on the show. We’re still not sure how we got here.

So, why should you care that it’s our 100th episode? Well, here’s your chance to be a part of the show. Is there a question about the Giants that you’ve always wanted to ask the guys? Fire away in the comments below. Feel free to ask anything from our favorite all time players to our most memorable moment as Giants fans. In other words, keep it in bounds and we’ll probably get your question on air.

Thanks so much for supporting us through the first 100 episodes, we hope we’re all here for 100 more. Subscribe on Stitcher or iTunes.

If you’d like to submit questions on social media please follow us on Twitter or give us a like on Facebook.

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by | March 28, 2016 · 12:09 PM

Giants roster is set, let’s play ball!

 

MLB: Arizona Diamondbacks at San Francisco Giants

We’re a week away from baseball games that count and it looks like the San Francisco Giants have set their 25-man roster for the trip north to Milwaukee. Yesterday, the Giants announced among nine cuts, Mac Williamson, Jarrett Parker, and Mike Broadway were optioned to Sacramento as a few other players were reassigned to the minor league camp.

This leaves 26 players for 25 spots but Andrew Susac has been slowed by injuries this spring and he’ll likely start the season on the DL. That gives Trevor Brown the backup catching spot which isn’t too bad. He’s batting .324 this spring and pitchers don’t seem to have a problem working with him.

Here’s how the roster breaks down, the Giants will carry 13 pitchers:

IF

Brandon Belt 1B, Joe Panik 2B, Brandon Crawford SS, Matt Duffy 3B, Kelby Tolinson INF, Ehire Adrianza INF

OF

Hunter Pence RF, Denard Span CF, Angel Pagan LF, Gregor Blanco OF

C

Buster Posey, Trevor Brown

SP

Madison Bumgarner LHP, Johnny Cueto RHP, Jeff Samardzija RHP, Jake Peavy RHP, Matt Cain RHP

RP

Chris Heston RHP, Georger Kontos RHP, Cory Gearrin RHP, Hunter Strickland RHP, Josh Osich LHP, Javier Lopez LHP, Sergio Romo RHP, Santiago Casilla RHP

I know, try to contain your excitement about that powerhouse bench. All we ever ask for is depth. It seems like every podcast we’re talking about a lack of depth and how it would be so nice to feel like the Giants have a strong bench. By deciding to carry 13 pitchers Bruce Bochy is left with a bench of Blanco, Tomlinson, and Adrianza. We’ll probably keep talking about depth on the next show.

All three of those guys have shown versatility and apparently Adrianza is stronger this season. I don’t know, I didn’t make it to Arizona this year, but how many times are we supposed to get excited about him? Let’s just hope that changes this year. Show us something Ehire!

It’s a little strange not to see Jeremy Affeldt’s name on the roster. It’s time for Osich to carry the load of the other lefty in the bullpen. I have to admit, I don’t know much about Cory Gearrin. I guess he seemed fine towards the end of last season. Let’s hope it’s not an issue but at least Brodway can be summoned from Sacramento.

The question of the spring has been the starting pitchers. Since Chad addressed that issue there have been good outings by Cueto and Shark and it seems that Matt Cain will indeed be the 5th starter. I suspect the Giants will break up Cueto and Samardzija in the rotaion once the season gets going. It may be taxing on the bullpen to have Peavy and Cain on consecutive days.

Overall health seems to be good for the Giants, although I will keep my fingers crossed until next Monday just in case. Make sure to follow us all season as we have new shows, articles and videos coming to the site.

Follow us on Twitter or Facebook. You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel or just make sure you’re subscribed to the podcast on Stitcher or iTunes. There’s all sorts of interviews there if you’re waiting for the season to start.

Our season preview show will be coming up soon for look out for that. It’s almost time for another even year to begin.

-Eric

@2outhits

 

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by | March 20, 2016 · 6:31 PM

Are you Concerned About the Pitching?

bumgarner-giants-2016-spring-usatsi

Let’s take a quick glimpse into the Giants spring training stats as of today. Ok, we all know that some players just “tinker” in the spring and settle down once the regular season starts, and this IS a small sample size, but it’s worth noting that the Giants have some new players that may be giving Giants fans a little indigestion.

 1. Jeff Samardzija

8.31 ERA in 13 IP, .382 BAA, 1.92 WHIP, 3 HR, 21 H

Maybe he took a little of the American League with him in his luggage. Hey, and I spelled his name correctly!

2. Jake Peavy

8.53 ERA in 12.2 IP, .450 BAA, 2.37 WHIP, 4 HR, 27 H

He always starts slow?

3. Madison Bumgarner

10.57 ERA in 7.2 IP, .371 BAA, 1.70 WHIP, 13 H 

Ok, we’re not really concerned, right? (about his sore foot, obliques, maybe his shaven beard that supplied him strength?)

4. Johnny Cueto

16.62 ERA in 4.1 IP, .409 BAA, 2.54 WHIP, 9 H

So, he used the word “testiculos” yesterday. So, there’s that.

5. Matt Cain

10.12 ERA in 2.2 IP, .538 BAA, 3.75 WHIP, 7 H

I want this guy to do well this year….so badly. Really. He’s such a nice guy.

=========================

Honestly, he and Samardzija give me the most concern. Jeff is a horse like Matt used to be, but Cain is just an injury factory at this point, and his career is definitely on the downward trend.

I listed all five of these pitchers, despite their low inning totals, because, well, THEY’RE THE STARTING FIVE! Combined they are:

9.82 ERA in 40.1 IP, 13 HR, 77 H

I’m pretty sure I could’ve pitched to 3 batters without significantly raising these numbers much. Thirteen! homeruns in 40.1 innings? 77 hits?! Egad, it’s batting practice, or they are helping some minor leaguers out.

Now, this could be just a bad week for starters in the regular season, and certainly they won’t have this line during the year, but does it give you cause for concern?

 

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by | February 14, 2016 · 4:45 PM

Torture Never Sounded This Good (well, at least these Giants’ interviews are cool)

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(cue Barry White)….You just might love the Giants more than your S.O., bae, or discreet one on the side, but even if you just kind of lust after the Giants, why not spend Valentine’s Day listening to Buster Posey whisper about the DH, or Hunter Pence profess his love for dogs. Perhaps a little bed talk about sore backs with Joe Panik is your thing. Whatever it is, Posey, Panik, Pence, Belt, Crawford, Cain, Duffy or Tomlinson, you’ll find it in our TortureCast interviews from this weekend. Because after all:
 

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by | February 9, 2016 · 10:47 PM

Interview with Matt Cain at Pebble Beach

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Download the interview here or stream it below!

[audio http://torturecast.podomatic.com/enclosure/2016-02-09T21_32_57-08_00.mp3]

Chad covered the AT&T Pebble Beach Chevron charity shootout which pitted the Giants against the 49ers. He was able to catch up with Giants pitcher Matt Cain to talk about his golf game, the offseason acquisitions, and his lack of fear of decapitating the crowd on the first tee. Also be sure to check out our interviews with Bruce Bochy and George Kontos, and look out for player interviews from this Friday’s “Media Day” at AT&T Park!

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by | February 8, 2016 · 11:28 PM

Episode 99.2: Puppy Monkey Baby

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Download the episode here, or stream it below!

I hope you are singing “Puppy Monkey Baby” in your head right now.

Now that the Super Bowl has happened, Eric and Chad take you through the maelstrom of Giant happenings over the past month. And spring training is almost here.

We talk about our grades for the Giants’ offseason, Juan Uribe is too expensive, the Giants have the highest payroll in 2021, Belt is heading towards arbitration, where Timmy may go, Vegas World Series odds, and Chad will be covering the Giants vs 49ers shootout at Pebble Beach and Media Day at AT&T Park with the internet’s own Veronica Belmont!

And, baseball is almost here!

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by | August 6, 2015 · 2:12 PM

And so it begins…

flickr - Jerry Reuss

flickr – Jerry Reuss

Here it comes. The meat and potatoes of the season. Starting tonight in Chicago the San Francisco Giants play 26 straight games against teams with records above .500. Every one of the teams is in contention for either the wild card game or a division championship. It’s such a rough stretch of games that LOLKNBR has dubbed it #ScheduHell.

Here’s the way this gauntlet lays out with records as of the beginning of play on Thursday the 6th.

4 @ Cubs 58-48

2 v Houston 60-49

4 v Washington 55-51

3 @ St. Louis 68-39

4 @ Pittsburgh 62-44

3 v Cubs 58-48

3 V St. Louis 68-39

3 @ Dodgers

There are 2 days off sandwiched in there. This coming Monday after the Cubs series and one after the road trip to Pittsburgh and St. Louis. I feel like they catch a break here as the final game in Pittsburgh is an ESPN Sunday night game and the Giants have to fly back west after an east coast night game. Unlike earlier this season when the team twice came home and played the next day, this time they get a day off to freshen their bodies.

There’s a light at the end of this tunnel. After the Dodgers series the Giants have what can be called an easier September/October. The farthest east they have to travel is Denver. The only time the Giants play an opponent that is over .500 is 4 games at home against LA during the final week of the season.

——————————————————————————————————————–

The beginning is in Chicago. I’ve paid a lot of attention to the Cubs this season. As some of you may remember I’m from Chicago originally and going to Wrigley Field is how I grew up watching baseball. You can read about that over at 2outhits.com if you’d like. It’s the genesis of me joining TortureCast in the first place.

I’ve always been a Giants fan but I rooted for the Cubs as well. I wasn’t some jerk that wanted to see the team all my friends root for be a failure every year. That’s just how it worked out. While a lot of people remember 1989 because of the Loma Prieta earthquake, which is a good reason by the way, I remember that year because the Giants beat the Cubs in the NLCS. It gave me bragging rights over all my friends from the age of 10 on. No matter what my Cubs fan friends tell you, the tie-breaker in 1998 did not make up for 1989.

It’s not often that both the Cubs and Giants are good at the same time. At least not recently. So I’m a little extra pumped about this weekend. Here’s some notes I dug up about these two teams.

  • The Giants start this series a half-game ahead of the Cubs for the 2nd wild card spot and 2 games behind the Dodgers for the division.
  • The Cubs recently won 6 straight games before falling to Pittsburgh last night.
  • Four of the six wins came in a sweep at Milwaukee. We know how bad they are, the Giants swept them this year as well.
  • The Giants haven’t lost a series at Wrigley Field since 2008.
  • Kyle Schwarber is the hot phenom tearing it up for the Cubs right now. In 24 games he’s batting .342 with 5 HR and an OPS at 1.031. Nine of his twenty six hits have gone for extra bases.
  • Sunday starter Jake Arrieta has been the stud of the Cubs rotation. He’s 12-6 with a 2.50 ERA and averages just over 1 strikeout per inning. Arrieta’s WHIP is 1.002 and he’s only given up 9 home runs in 147.2 innings.
  • This is a homecoming for Angel Pagan, he broke in with the Cubs back in 2006. Don’t expect him to go crashing into the ivy to celebrate.
  • Buster Posey likes Wrigley Field. He’s hit .354 with 3 HR’s and 3 2B’s there in 14 career games.
  • The Giants are 29-12 in games Hunter Pence has appeared and 30-36 without him this season. It sure is nice to have him back and healthy.
  • If you haven’t read it yet, go check out this USA Today article on Matt Duffy. Great to see him getting some national love.

I’m sure I’ll have more through the weekend. Like I said I’m a little excited to watch these 2 teams go at it. It’s either that or I have become afflicted with KelbyMania.

-Eric Nathanson

@2outhits

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by | July 31, 2015 · 4:34 AM

Once in a Blue Moon a Giantsy trade happens

BlueMoonCartoon

Was this deal you expected? Were you like me and holding out some rare hope that the San Francisco Giants would land David Price or Cole Hamels? Trading for Mike Leake from the Cincinnati Reds was an extremely Giantsy thing to do. He’s not the splashy front end starter type. Just a good, solid pitcher in his prime pitching years entering a rotation that has its home games at one of the more pitching friendly ballparks in all of baseball.

The price for Leake was not as steep as it would have been for one of the big names out there. The Giants gave up minor league RHP Keury Mella, and corner infielder Adam Duvall. Recently Mella played in the futures game over All-Star weekend and MLB.com rated him as the top prospect in the Giants organization. Duvall is a guy that needs to find regular playing time and there is no way he’s cracking that Giants infield any time soon. If the Reds want to get him at bats it may in the outfield. Duvall had 26 home runs and 25 doubles for Sacramento this season.

I liked Duvall as a Giant. He helped the team win a title last season. I love the fun fact that Adam Duvall’s first career hit was a home run off Mike Leake. By parting with Mella the Giants proved they feel comfortable with their organizational pitching depth. Tyler Beede, Phil Bickford, and Kyle Crick are probably at the top of the list now. Beede could be a part of the 2016 rotation.

This also means that Andrew Susac stays around. It’s clear there is no other player out there the Giants feel they need to trade for at this moment. Of course I wouldn’t argue with Aroldis Chapman coming to the Bay Area, but I don’t run the Giants or Reds. This is one of the best offenses in baseball and if they need to add depth to the bench it could come sometime in August by claiming a guy off waivers.

Tim Hudson is the odd man out in all this. He’s said that he’d accept a spot in the bullpen for the Giants. That starts another set of dominos. Who goes? Is it Yusmeiro Petit? It’s sure not Ryan Vogelsong who has been lights out since going back to the pen. We’ll see sometime today if Hudson heads to the DL or the bullpen.

I don’t know about you but I’m already thinking about Madison Bumgarner, Chris Heston, and Leake at the top in a playoff series. Every time one of those guys takes the hill it feels like the Giants have a chance to win that game. We’ve learned over the last few years that chance is the most important thing. Jake Peavy did the same thing in his start Thursday.

It’s crazy to think that Matt Cain is the biggest question mark in the rotation right now. Those words are strange to type. In fact typing Matt Cain’s name at all lately has been rare. He’s been missed and I hope he picks up where he left off at some point.

Wendy Thurm shared how Leake stacks up in the Giants rotation. I peeked at Brooks Baseball and it looks like Leake is relying on his Sinker and Cutter more than any other pitches lately. He throws one of those 2/3 of the time. It indicates he’s pitching to contact and getting ground ball outs. He should continue that trend because the Giants have a good defense that knows how to handle its home park.

Each of the past 4 years Leake has started a game at AT&T Park. In those 4 starts he’s gone 9, 8, 6, and 8 innings while only allowing 3 total runs. He never allowed more than 1 run in any start at 3rd and King. There was this one time, when he was a rookie, that Leake gave up 6 runs on 6 hits in only 1/3rd of an inning at AT&T. But we don’t have to mention that. Overall he has a 2.59 ERA in San Francisco in 31.1 innings.

How’s Leake pitching lately? He’s got a 1.25 ERA over his last 5 starts. Opponents are batting .183 against him with no homers and 7 doubles. He’s averaging just over 5 strikeouts a game and walking about a batter every 9 innings. Leake’s worst start this season came in Cincinnati against the Giants back in May. That was the game Brandon Crawford hit his grand slam.

Acquiring Leake was a good trade for the Giants. He’s a free agent after this season and GM Bobby Evans has already said that Leake was going to be a guy the Giants pursued this offseason. Now they have 2, hopefully 3, months to sell him on San Francisco.

I think the largest compliment you can give a Giants move is that is was a Giantsy thing to do. This trade fits that definition perfectly.

– Eric

@2outhits

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by | July 27, 2015 · 10:23 AM

Extra SF Giants notes

Earlier today I wrote about how great the San Francisco Giants offense has been during their recent run of 11 wins in 12 games. Here’s some extra notes I picked up while digging around.

  • The Giants are in the middle of a 21 game stretch against teams below .500. The average winning percentage of the 7 teams combined is .449. That means their competition is basically playing like the Reds (.448 win pct).
  • Flip it over. The next 26 games for the Giants are against teams over .500. That equates to playing the Yankees (.567 win pct.) for the next month.
  • Out of the top 14 teams in the majors in runs scored only 4 teams are from the NL. They are all from within the Giants division. 5. Colorado 6. Giants 9. Arizona 13. Dodgers.
  • The Toronto Blue Jays have scored 528 runs, he most in baseball. The Rockies lead the NL with 436. That’s almost a 100-run differential.
  • Nori Aoki leads the team with 12 stolen bases even after he’s missed 28 games. Brandon Belt and Angel Pagan are tied for second with 5 each. Calk that up as another reason I want to see him batting 1st when he returns.
  • Every game in which the Giants have had a 3 run lead this season they have gone on to win the game.
  • I didn’t even mention the Hector Sanchez grand slam at San Diego that made all Giants fans squeal with delight.

-Eric

@2outhits

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by | July 27, 2015 · 6:09 AM

Orange Crushing

Buster Posey

It’s a lot of fun to watch the San Francisco Giants offense these days. They’ve managed to hit their way back into a race for the NL West crown. After falling to 5.5 games back of the Dodgers on July 10th the Giants now sit 1 game back of their rivals. In the race for a Wild Card spot the Giants are 2.5 games ahead of the Cubs for the final slot. Pittsburgh holds the lead by 3 games for home field in the coin flip game.

As a result of being pretty much the best offense in baseball lately the Giants have won 11 of 12 games. If you want to push it a little further they have gone 12-2 since the return of Hunter Pence.

The offense just keeps going. The Giants are 1st in hits, batting average, and on base percentage in the NL. They are second in runs scored, and have the 3rd best on base + slugging percentage. Over the last 12 games the Giants are averaging 6.3 runs a game and 12.2 hits. My dad used to tell me you should average 2 hits for every run. His story checks out.

The guy going bananas right now is Buster Posey. During this 12 game stretch he’s batting .511 with an OPS of 1.066. He’s driven in 10 runs and scored 7. It just seems like he’s always on base. Posey doesn’t have any homers over this span but he hasn’t needed them. It looks like late 2012 without the power.

Angel Pagan has been a nice surprise in the leadoff spot during this run. He’s batting .315 and has scored 10 runs. With Nori Aoki coming back he’s made a bid to stay at the top of the lineup. For my two cents, I want to see Pagan dropped back down and allow Aoki to take the top spot in the order again.

It’s not the Pagan at bats leading off an inning or game that scare me. He has been pretty good at getting on base early. It’s the ones when he comes up with 2 outs and runners on that freak me out. And so often it seems like he swings at the first pitch in those situations. When Pagan works a count he’s usually trying to get an inning going. Maybe he thinks that every pitcher wants to throw a get me over pitch to start him off. I don’t know. I just know I want Aoki batting more than Pagan. Give me the guy with a .383 OBP which is second on the team behind Posey. Pagan has just a .304 OBP and that’s the worst of any regular player the Giants send out there.

Let’s go back to Hunter Pence. The first thing that jumps out is that the Giants are 30-8 in games he’s played. In those first 18 games he played between DL stints the Giants went 12-6, in the 14 games since Pence came back this time the team is 12-2.

Over the most recent 14 games Pence has driven in 15 runs. He’s homered 3 times, the most important one was in Arizona that tied the game right after the All-Star break. Pence is batting .321 since his return with an OPS of .948. In his first 18 games that was a .282 BA and .780 OPS. He’s also managed 5 doubles and that’s come primarily from Hunter’s right field approach. He’s been looking away recently and only turning on a pitch if it drifts to the inner half.

The 2-3-4 hitters in the Giants lineup are all batting over .300. There are only 14 guys in the NL doing that and the Giants have 3 of them. Posey is 4th at .328, Joe Panik is 8th at .311, and Matt Duffy is sitting 12th with a .302 average. Panik is 3rd in hits with 113 and Posey has 110 hits which places him 5th.

There’s also length in the lineup. Brandon Belt is 2nd in the NL with 26 doubles. That surprised me a little. Let’s not forget Brandon Crawford who shares the team lead in home runs (14) with Posey. These guys help keep the line moving after the top guys are getting on base.

I know this post is all about how kick ass the Giants offense is but I can’t let 2 pitching notes go by. First, I tip my cap to Tim Hudson. With the Giants 4-3 victory over the A’s on Sunday he’s now beaten all 30 MLB teams. He’s the 15th pitcher to do it. Hudson is the 4th one of those pitchers to spend time with San Francisco. The other three are Terry Mulholland, Barry Zito, and new Hall of Famer Randy Johnson.

The other great pitching note of late is the bullpen. Over the last 14 games Giants relievers have allowed 6 runs in 45.1 innings. A miniscule 1.19 ERA. They have a 2-0 record and are 7-for-7 in save chances.

The orange and black are streaking and tearing the cover off the ball in the process. The next 3 games are at home against the Brewers, a team they swept in 3 games while scoring 17 runs back in May at Miller Park. The Brewers are not scoring runs. They managed just 5 total this past weekend in 4 games at Arizona and were shut out each of the last 2 days. Hopefully this all means the Giants can keep up their winning ways the next 3 days at AT&T Park.

Remember to follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and subscribe to our YouTube channel if you haven’t already.

-Eric

@2outhits

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