What the hell was Hurdle thinking???

by ahewitt13 on Jul 15, 2008 10:59 PM PDT

While WIlson didn't bring his best stuff to the stadium, he was effective in getting 2 outs and then out of no where in comes Wagner. Then Wagner just blows the game and costs Wilson a AS game win.

I'm pretty sure every other pitcher got atleast a full inning?? This just pisses me off that Hurdle would do something like this...wow

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Didn't you see?

Wagner was hitting 95 on the radar gun. NINETY-FIVE. Batters can’t hit that.

Castillo hits doubles.

by kennv on Jul 15, 2008 11:01 PM PDT 0 recs

NINETY-FIVE

At BEST!

FIRE BRIAN SABEAN

by zenbitz on Jul 16, 2008 9:46 AM PDT up 0 recs

BECAUSE GRADY SIZEMORE IS A LEFTIE AND LEFTYS CA’NT HIT LEFTEES DUH.

But seriously, Hurdle said he might play matchups in the 8th inning even before the game began, and if the NL won he probably wanted to get Wagner into the game in New York, which is the city where Wagner pitches.

Trent Kline: Decentish. Also, my website is called ChatterBalks Dot Com and on it I make jokes about things.

by groug on Jul 15, 2008 11:09 PM PDT 0 recs

Either the All-Star game should be played as a meaningful game, where you play to WIN!!! with this whole home field advantage for the World Series on the line or Bud Selig needs to fall back, step off his high horse on Mt. Highupous and admit this is just another glorified exhibition where all that matters is getting every player in for sh!ts and giggles. As far as I’m concerned, the All-Star game should be played for pride…but right now even a good game is a mockery because of all the constant forced fan-service.

And seriously…did we need G. Wheels Steinbrenner going around Yankee Stadium like he had been gone from the place for 10 or 12 years? Another shame of baseball is all the crap romantic sentiment pile-ups we get with events like this. If Wheels hadn’t looked like the deposed leader of the banana Yankee Republic, FOX probably would have had an ad for a retrospective on his reign, narrated by Donald Trump.

it's always noonan somewhere

by sectionop92 on Jul 15, 2008 11:53 PM PDT up 0 recs

Chill pill, dude.

by cheno on Jul 16, 2008 12:02 AM PDT up 0 recs

Sorry.

The All-Star game and the first Saturday of the NCAA Tournament usually bring out the worst in me during the sporting year.

it's always noonan somewhere

by sectionop92 on Jul 16, 2008 12:07 AM PDT up 0 recs

But Billy Packer’s gone!

by cheno on Jul 16, 2008 12:08 AM PDT up 0 recs

I like Billy as a color man in-game. Nantz needs the work…he gets too much sun from all the golf courses and country club bars he hangs out at in-between.

it's always noonan somewhere

by sectionop92 on Jul 16, 2008 12:10 AM PDT up 0 recs

I think Billy Packer might just be the worst broadcaster out there, which is saying a lot. Sure, Joe Buck gives him a run for his money, but my goodness I hate him.

by cheno on Jul 16, 2008 12:15 AM PDT up 0 recs

Watch some of the third and fourth-tier college basketball and football games on ESPN and then tell me Packer is the worst one out there. Hell, even some of the second-tier broadcasting teams are poorly put together.

it's always noonan somewhere

by sectionop92 on Jul 16, 2008 12:36 AM PDT up 0 recs

But at least is seems like they don’t hate the game. Packer really does seem like he hates college basketball.

by cheno on Jul 16, 2008 12:43 AM PDT up 0 recs

Packer's quitting

Thank God. Clark Kellogg is taking over color duties at the Final Four. I like the choice—solid, understated, not controversial, knows his stuff.

Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.

by PaulThomas on Jul 16, 2008 9:41 AM PDT up 0 recs

Billy Packer is absolutely positively the worst sports media personality there has ever been

yes, he knows the game and he is prepared, but he break the #1 rule of any kind of semblance of journalism he makes himself the story. He looks for ways to inject himself into the game and the story. That ridiculous episode challenging St. Joe’s being a #1 seed and then answering it by saying that back in the 60s or whatever he dropped 20 on St. Joe’s, was just such bullshit.

You can dislike other announcers all you want, but I defy you to come up with somebody more arrogant and more desirous of making the game about him.

by FluLikeSymptoms on Jul 16, 2008 11:10 AM PDT up 0 recs

Yeah, Packer is an ass off the court. But as an analyst he comes prepared and doesn’t mail it in or does the “happy buddy announcer” crap. The guy is an old coot, but he does his job as a color man and that’s what I respect about him. Now when it comes to the assortment of announcers on ABC who we do see during the college football season, all that slap ass commentary makes me wish for a noose and a elevated post with a trap door.

As for the worst sports media personality, my vote goes to Rick Reilly. The guy is arrogant, obnoxious and tries to turn everything he sees into a column or some sappy sentimental drivel that relates to either an obscure reference or someone he has a man crush on.

it's always noonan somewhere

by sectionop92 on Jul 16, 2008 1:42 PM PDT up 0 recs

I would vote for Reilly as #2

that guy is awful. I was just discussing with my friend after the HR Derby, why in the holy fuck would ESPN put that guy on the air? At least when he is writing his awful columns about paraplegic tricyclists I can just ignore them. When he is on TV pissing on our ears during an event that we would otherwise like to watch, that really pisses me off

by FluLikeSymptoms on Jul 16, 2008 2:00 PM PDT up 0 recs

ESPN has to hype up Reilly for what they’re paying him, so my guess is they’ll start injecting him into more TV events to get an absurd level of hype behind him as the messiah. It says something when Reilly leaves SI, Dan Patrick now is on-board at SI and Patrick and Olbermann will reunite to help put NBC’s football broadcast on a huge pedestal that ESPN won’t be able to topple.

it's always noonan somewhere

by sectionop92 on Jul 16, 2008 2:09 PM PDT up 0 recs

I’m not a fan of Billy, but I’ve never heard anyone take themselves so seriously as Nance does. Those interviews he did on KNBR about a month ago were amazing. You would think he acutally is brokering peace treaties between Isreal and Palastine. Wow.

by tyrannoman on Jul 16, 2008 7:57 AM PDT up 0 recs

Did You

have the audio off last night ? Seriously, there are no worse National Sports Broadcasters than Joe “Suck” and Tim “McDoucher”.

My adopted son Matt Downs. Bill Mueller without the two-flap helmet .

by nvsfg on Jul 16, 2008 8:23 AM PDT up 0 recs

I would begin by saying Tim McCarver is the worst announcer I’ve ever heard, including the guys who do Mountain West football on Thursday nights on ESPN. I can’t stand him. I am in awe of his amazing ability to tell me exactly what a hitter is thinking. What amazing ESP!

I’ve wanted to smack Joe Buck about the head and shoulders since he pouted his way through the 2002 NLCS. That was pathetic. We get you’re the Cards announcer, Joe, and your dad (whose coat tails you’re riding line Man O’War, BTW) announced for the Cards for 60 years, but try to be a little professional.

by tyrannoman on Jul 16, 2008 8:52 AM PDT up 0 recs

Have to agree. It’s hard to believe, but yes, Tim Mcarver is worse than Joe Morgan and the Mountain West Football Announcers. There is this web site,(which is chock full of McCarver’s insightful commentary). And who in their right mind would watch this ?

I would not hesitate to state that McCarver is even worse than than the local UNR radio announcers. It is still a toss up between "Skip and Chip" though :-)

My adopted son Matt Downs. Bill Mueller without the two-flap helmet .

by nvsfg on Jul 16, 2008 11:10 AM PDT up 0 recs

I’m far from a fan of any Carey save Harry, but McCarver makes Chip and Skip look like paragons of announcing perfection.

by tyrannoman on Jul 16, 2008 4:44 PM PDT up 0 recs

MLB All Star Game

Needs More Gus Johnson

Matt Cain: He'll save children, but not the Dodger children.

by jponry on Jul 16, 2008 12:26 AM PDT up 0 recs

Needs more Christopher Walken

& Cowbell

Adopted brother of the AnVil / GIANTSPACE™ returns!

by SoFa King Mike on Jul 16, 2008 7:46 AM PDT up 0 recs

yes, cowbell is Walken’s Weapon of Choice.

by tyrannoman on Jul 16, 2008 4:44 PM PDT up 0 recs

A Fatboy Slim (video) reference, too. Well layered.

My Dave Righetti is better than your Dave Righetti.

by howtheyscored on Jul 16, 2008 5:10 PM PDT up 0 recs

Gus Johnson FTW

He loses his mind with every big play, but that’s because he seems to really respond to the atmosphere of the event. Plus, he also appears to be genuinely interested in the game. He’s like the anti-Joe Buck.

by rightcenterfielder on Jul 16, 2008 9:31 AM PDT up 0 recs

That’s about how I felt the year I had to sit through all of John Cougar Watermelonplant’s “This Is Our Country” simply because Chevrolet was bringing the ASG to me.

NL West TempestTeapot - An ENTIRE DIVISION under .500!

by victor frankenstein on Jul 16, 2008 9:17 PM PDT up 0 recs

So, the long time owner

of the Yankees, who is in failing health, probably going to die soon, is given some love in the last AS game in his home stadium in front of his home fans is a bad thing? If you don’t like “crap” romantic sentiment, you can always not watch.

ZIPS: Milledge: 466 HR, 485 2B, 2282 hits, 278-379-524

by rfloh on Jul 16, 2008 11:44 AM PDT up 0 recs

I’m sorry, but Steinbrenner has made his name off of breaking the backs of others. With this new effort to make him out to be a soft, sentimental figure who deserves pity drips with a lot of irony.

it's always noonan somewhere

by sectionop92 on Jul 16, 2008 1:50 PM PDT up 0 recs

Oh I agree

Most non Yankee fans are going to hate Big Stein, and his little Steins.

That’s not the point. This game was held in Yankee stadium, in it’s last year. You could argue that the Yankees don’t need a new stadium, and NYC shouldn’t be helping them build a new stadium. Still, they are tearing down the old stadium. Non Yankee fans might hate him, that’s not true for Yankee fans. Go to a Yankee board / forum, and see what the Yankee fans are saying about him. There’s lots of sadness, some tears, etc.

If you don’t want a Yankee tribute, then the game shouldn’t have been held in Yankee stadium in it’s last year, with Big Stein dying. Given that it was, a tribute to the Yankees was inevitable.

ZIPS: Milledge: 466 HR, 485 2B, 2282 hits, 278-379-524

by rfloh on Jul 17, 2008 12:00 AM PDT up 0 recs

I’ll take Billy Wagner over Brian Wilson any day, kthx.

by cheno on Jul 15, 2008 11:15 PM PDT 0 recs

and looooook how that turned out...

by boonitez on Jul 16, 2008 12:58 AM PDT up 0 recs

Is one of those days last night?

yeah, well, the whole world stinks, francine -- so get used to it!

by satyricrash on Jul 16, 2008 9:00 AM PDT up 0 recs

Ok, with a game on the line, Billy Wagner will always be the safe bet compared to Brian Wilson. Unfortunately, even safe bets don’t work out every time. Especially in All star games.

by cheno on Jul 16, 2008 10:33 AM PDT up 0 recs

see 2003 when Dusty caught a full ration of shit for closing the game with Eric Gange. That was the most absurd thing I’ve seen in baseball.

by tyrannoman on Jul 16, 2008 10:44 AM PDT up 0 recs

You must be kidding. Billy Wagner in his prime maybe, but Billy Wagner is on his way down and Brian Wilson is in his first full season. And even in his prime, Billy Wagner was known as a poor big game pitcher in September and the post season. That being said, while I was mad during the game, when you think about it, it’s not a bad move. We were just mad that he took out the Giant and put in a pitcher that failed. If Wagner had started that inning and gotten the first two batters out, and then he brought in Wilson to face a righty, no Giants fan would have complained.

Brian Sabean's new dad: Firm believer in corporal punishment

by rxmeister on Jul 16, 2008 6:59 PM PDT up 0 recs

Umm, you’re telling me that a guy with a 49/9 K/BB ratio and a 0.95 WHIP is on his way down? Really?

by cheno on Jul 16, 2008 10:42 PM PDT up 0 recs

49/9 = (7×7)/(3×3)

There’s so much magic numbering go on there I can’t stand it!

My Dave Righetti is better than your Dave Righetti.

by howtheyscored on Jul 16, 2008 11:42 PM PDT up 0 recs

If wagner had secured that 4 out save, Hurdle woulda looked like a f’ing genius.

by i wish we were good on Jul 15, 2008 11:15 PM PDT 0 recs

he was bringing in Lidge for the ninth anyway if Wagner hadn’t blown it.

Matt Cain: He'll save children, but not the Dodger children.

by jponry on Jul 15, 2008 11:24 PM PDT up 0 recs

So either way it would have been a blown save. Wagner and Lidge = FAIL.

by Hobbes2d on Jul 15, 2008 11:33 PM PDT up 0 recs

Objection; you are assuming facts not in evidence.

I'm adopting a true Giant and an awe-inspring gamer: tk. "Atta babe."

by Mayor of 311 on Jul 15, 2008 11:29 PM PDT 0 recs

Sustained

Your 2011 SF Giants: the 2008 Augusta Greenjackets!

by Lyle on Jul 16, 2008 2:34 AM PDT up 0 recs

One pre-game story I read indicated that Wilson and Wagner were scheduled to share the 8th from the start, with Lidge promised the 9th.

The decision had little to do with Wilson himself, it was just the ‘Get Everyone In’ mentality.

SFDugout.com is BACK! See the Top 50 Giants Prospects!

by BruteSentiment on Jul 15, 2008 11:58 PM PDT 0 recs

Link:

http://origin.mercurynews.com/giants/ci_9889589

SFDugout.com is BACK! See the Top 50 Giants Prospects!

by BruteSentiment on Jul 15, 2008 11:58 PM PDT up 0 recs

product of not knowing your players?

Wagner has actually fared better against righties than lefties this season and his career (in far fewer ab’s against RHers), though lefties still suck against him. however, Sizemore is much better against RHP than LHP, and by a wide margin. AND, if Sizemore got on he would have faced Milton Bradley (a switch hitter who is killing RHP and LHP this season, but is typically much better against LHP) or a pinch hitter (who ended up being Longoria. Not sure if anyone else was available.) Longoria, who bats right handed, is much better against RHP than LHP (go figure).

I would have left Wilson in, just because there was no one on base and he was pitching fine, plus THE GAME MIGHT GO EXTRA FUCKING INNINGS!, but that’s just me and it’s hard to argue that Hurdle made the wrong call at the time without the benefit of hindsight. Billy Wagner is no slouch, after all.

Bonds stands alone.

Proud adopted parent of future big league slugger Thomas Neal

by nostocksjustbonds on Jul 16, 2008 12:04 AM PDT 0 recs

Plus, to be fair to Hurdle, it has to be incredibly difficult figuring out how to manage an all star team when you have your own team to worry about.

by cheno on Jul 16, 2008 12:12 AM PDT 0 recs

no

managing isn’t as hard as it’s made out to be. Especially when you have a very well paid staff to control every single aspect of player’s performance.

BROCK BOND LIKES HIS MARTINIS PUNCHED IN THE FACE, NOT STIRRED.

by SloIsLonelyForTheOrange on Jul 16, 2008 1:54 AM PDT up 0 recs

also to be fair to Hurdle

he’s an idiot that has the reigning NL Champs 3 games out of the worst record in baseball.

so, you know, he’s got THAT going for him…

by ExcuseMeSwing on Jul 16, 2008 8:15 AM PDT up 0 recs

This.

Eagerly awaiting Crazy Crab Bobblehead Night on 7/18.

by Kitspool on Jul 16, 2008 8:31 AM PDT up 0 recs

If you can’t trust Billy Wagner with two outs and no one on, you can’t trust any pitcher in the history of the game. The NL still had enough pitchers to go 15 innings, so I’ll give Hurdle a pass on this one. Heck, I probably would have done the same thing.

by Grant on Jul 16, 2008 10:54 AM PDT 0 recs

It's not so much that I think Wilson was a better pick to pitch the inning

It’s the partial inning crap that bugs me. Either give the inning to Wilson, or give it to Wagner.

Eugeniooooooo!!!!

by FairweatherFan on Jul 16, 2008 11:18 AM PDT up 0 recs

Just thought it was stupid how he didn't give even give him a chance.

He could have atleast let him get a 1-2-3 inning (we don’t even get to see that in SF). Take him out of he gives up a walk/hit. I mean I understand the whole letting-wagner-pitch-in-his-own-town business but he could have let him pitch the 9th. yeesh. I hate how AL wins everything.. ugh.

You guys think Hurdle would have taken him out even if Wilson struck out both his batters?

If my head is full of white hairs by the end of this season.. I blame Brian Wilson. (I'm only 22, dammit!)

by GiNgiNxbOi on Jul 16, 2008 11:32 AM PDT up 0 recs

^^ "of" = "if"

If my head is full of white hairs by the end of this season.. I blame Brian Wilson. (I'm only 22, dammit!)

by GiNgiNxbOi on Jul 16, 2008 11:33 AM PDT up 0 recs

Yes

It was planned from the start to have WIlson and Wagner share the 8th with Brad Lidge closing it out in the 9th.

Everybody Loves Durham
comics | cartoons | Nattowear

by Natto on Jul 16, 2008 11:39 AM PDT up 0 recs

oh. didn't know about that.

oh well. I’m just an angry Giants fan i guess =)

If my head is full of white hairs by the end of this season.. I blame Brian Wilson. (I'm only 22, dammit!)

by GiNgiNxbOi on Jul 16, 2008 11:47 AM PDT up 0 recs

Hurdle said, going in to the game,

that his plan was to split the inning b/t Wilson and Wagner, I assume to try and get all these guys into the game. Seems eminently reasonable to me.

Billy Hayes: His job is better than yours.

by delorean on Jul 16, 2008 11:39 AM PDT up 0 recs

The only problem is that a manager has to have a feel for the game and how it is going and make his decisions based on that. If he makes his plan on which pitcher is pitching where before the game and doesn’t adjust to the situation, then he’s a bad manager. If it’s a 4 run game in the eighth inning, he can make the assumption that the game won’t go extra innings and he can put everyone in the game, but if the game turns out to be as close as this one is, he has to adjust and realize that using two relievers in an inning where there is two outs and nobody on is not that bright. He has to see that there’s a good possibility that this game will go extra innings.

Brian Sabean's new dad: Firm believer in corporal punishment

by rxmeister on Jul 16, 2008 7:04 PM PDT up 0 recs

I don’t really have a problem with Hurdle’s decision. I think he actually did a better job overall of managing pitchers compared to Francona, considering the NL had plenty of pitchers available in the late innings while Francona had to dance around the issue of putting Kazmir in.

Everybody Loves Durham
comics | cartoons | Nattowear

by Natto on Jul 16, 2008 11:43 AM PDT 0 recs

Ummm…how about not putting Brandon Webb in when Cook was obviously not bringing his A game?

-D

by dw4848 on Jul 16, 2008 11:58 AM PDT 0 recs

He wasn’t supposed to use Webb at all, I don’t blame him for holding off on him.

That said, I really think that if there are pitchers whose teams really don’t want to appear in the ASG, they should replace them on the active roster. The original pitchers can go and have fun, but the roster actually gets a pitcher who the manager doesn’t have to feel bad about putting in.

Matt Cain: He'll save children, but not the Dodger children.

by jponry on Jul 16, 2008 12:05 PM PDT up 0 recs

Ummm…how about not putting Brandon Webb in when Cook was obviously not bringing his A game?

Not a huge Aaron Cook fan, but, that 10th inning was awesome. Uggla owes Cook big time !

My adopted son Matt Downs. Bill Mueller without the two-flap helmet .

by nvsfg on Jul 16, 2008 2:54 PM PDT up 0 recs

Wilson wouldn't have gotten a W anyway---

The win was lined up for Volquez who pitched the 7th, if I’m not mistaken. I don’t know, I was high on too much pizza. But I’m pretty sure I’m right there…

"If I can change and you can change, then everybody can change!" Rocky Balboa, Rocky IV

by WithTechron on Jul 16, 2008 2:04 PM PDT 0 recs