Post-Game Fun Chatter!
by Grant Brisbee on Apr 12, 2009 3:43 PM PDT
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PrintOne of my least favorite arguments of the offseason came from those in the pro-Manny faction who claimed that the anti-Manny faction were stupid for not wanting to "block" Fred Lewis. It wasn't that the anti-Manny faction thought Lewis was so great, it was...never mind. You get the idea.
And yet today, a lot of those pro-Manny people are feeling vindicated. That hurts almost as much as the sweep. Almost.
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Nice caption. Those jerseys are so stupid. My wife came home from work and said “Why the hell are they wearing those?” I told her that they were wanted men, and had to blend in.
You can see the excitement in Young’s eyes
NL West TempestTeapot
Nothing matters , and what if it did?
by victor frankenstein on Apr 12, 2009 3:46 PM PDT reply actions
Giants baseball
The customer is always wrong.
"While conservatives tell you 'leave things alone and no one will lose,' and liberals tell you 'interfere a lot and no one will lose,' baseball says 'someone will lose.' Not only says it - but insists upon it! ... Democracy is lovely, but baseball's more mature." BVCE supports SF Dugout and Manny Burriss.
by BaronVonCurrentEvents on Apr 12, 2009 11:38 PM PDT up reply actions
zoloft?
Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti. "I treat Timmy differently from most pitchers: I leave him alone."
by natteringnabob on Apr 12, 2009 3:50 PM PDT up reply actions
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
NL West TempestTeapot
Nothing matters , and what if it did?
by victor frankenstein on Apr 12, 2009 4:04 PM PDT up reply actions
Did it seem to anyone else that the Padres’ hitters were sitting on fastballs all day? I wasn’t paying that close of attention to the game, but I didn’t see them offer at most of the breaking stuff. Or maybe not.
Anyone notice how the Giants hitters kept looking for the fastballs up around their eyes. They know thats where Young throws it, yet they swung 9 out of 10 times.
The play (or lack-there-of) of this team is Depressing.
Proud supporter of the Fightin' Hydrants.
by Little Napoleon on Apr 12, 2009 3:58 PM PDT reply actions
I’d just again like to whine about how every time the Giants hit a drive deep, it gets caught and every time the Padres were doing it, it went out or for extra bases.
Matt Cain: He'll save children, but not the Dodger children.
PABLO SANDOVAL AM STEAL DEATH, DESTROYER OF WORLDS.
Take your Padre by the heel
And do the next thing that you feel.
NL West TempestTeapot
Nothing matters , and what if it did?
by victor frankenstein on Apr 12, 2009 4:07 PM PDT up reply actions
What a bad series. If the Giants keep playing this way then they can expect to get swept by the bums in the upcoming series. Someone needs to step up and light a fire under our players arses.
We gave the Padres way too many easy innings for their pitchers. When we had opportunities we couldn’t deliver the big hit. I am optimistic they can change this up this week.
Also, Get rid of Velez.
Giant Dirtbags: Brian Anderson, Todd Jennings, Steve Hammond, John Bowker
Wronghanded Affeldt doing it right
by Giant among Angels on Apr 12, 2009 4:18 PM PDT reply actions
Velez
I really don’t see how starting your powerless and iron gloved pinch runner helps the team,
especially when you have Nate Schierholtz.
I’d rather see Schierholtz at 3rd and Pablo at catcher than Velez with any sort of glove.
this
Proud parent of future rookie of the year, Gerald Posey!
by GiantsFanInExile on Apr 12, 2009 7:22 PM PDT up reply actions
but just think… when that “dynamic pricing” scheme kicks into place later on this summer, we’ll be able to go to games for like 50¢ bleacher seats!
Lower Box 108 $1.95
and still feel ripped off!
FIRE BRIAN SABEAN... UNLESS HE KEEPS DRAFTING WELL. .. AND SIGNS UNDERRATED PLAYERS LIKE AFFELDT OR PHELPS. .. OR ALRIGHT WHO'S PLAYING WITH THE ALIEN MIND-SWITCHING RAY?
-------
PARPG- Indy post-apocalyptic roleplaying game currently in early planning stages.
I expect to be paid to attend.
…162…162…162…
dammit
NL West TempestTeapot
Nothing matters , and what if it did?
by victor frankenstein on Apr 12, 2009 5:54 PM PDT up reply actions
In defense of Lewis
He really didn’t have that bad of a game. The line drive over his head has no defending, but I really don’t think that most LF’s would have caught Gonzalez’s bloop. They probably would have gotten a much better read on the ball, but they also would move a lot slower than Lewis, and many of them wouldn’t dive for the ball. Maybe they would stop a few feet in front of the ball and just make sure that it doesn’t get by them. That would have looked less ugly than what Lewis did, but it wouldn’t be any better.
Lewis’s defense can be really frustrating sometimes, because we know he has the physical tools to be a gold glover, but he just can’t manage to consistently get a good read off the bat. I don’t think anyone thinks that 2007 Bonds, for example, was a better fielder than Lewis, and yet he didn’t piss us off the way Lewis does. Bonds took great routes, but just wasn’t fast enough. We couldn’t blame him for that – it wasn’t his fault that he’s slow, and he was doing the best he could with the physical tools that he had.
But that’s the thing – I can’t fault Lewis for taking bad routes, no more than I could fault Bonds for being slow. Because reading the ball well is a skill, just like running fast is. Sure, the more you practice, the better you can get, and it’s possible that if Fred had taken few more practice fly balls every day, he would have gotten to the ball half a second earlier and made the play; it’s also possible that if Bonds had kept a better diet and practiced a bit harder he would have reached first base half a second earlier, beating out the throw and avoiding that double play in Dodger Stadium 2 years ago. But I wasn’t mad at Bonds, because he has never given me any reason to believe that he’s not making an enormous effort to become the best player he can be, and I’m not mad at Lewis for the same reason.
Fred Lewis takes bad routes. Bengie Molina is slow, Emanuel Burriss can’t hit for any power, Barry Zito can’t throw 91MPH, and Fred Lewis takes bad routes. The sooner we accept that, the better, because it can be maddening to wait for Lewis to improve in the field, just like it would be maddening to wait for Zito to start throwing in the low 90’s again, or for Burriss to find his power stroke. Lewis has been playing the OF for at least ten years now. He’s seen thousands of fly balls hit his way, and he still takes bad routes. Sure, he might improve a bit (just like Zito might be add a little oomph to his fastball, or like Burriss might be able to hit an occasional double) but he will still take bad routes.
Fortunately, he has his speed to make up for it, and it does. Even if at times it doesn’t seem like it, Lewis really is a fine LF, probably better than most. He’s also a pretty good hitter, and a good base runner, and one of the easiest Giants to love. He’s been our best player so far this season (even today he got our only XBH of the game), and I think that we all should be (most of us probably are) thankful that he’s on our team, and that he’ll be with us for years to come. And Manny Ramirez is a poopoo-head.
Adoptive parent of Noah Lowry. Because he was awesome once, and, goddammit, he shall be awesome once again!
I hope.
I understand and concur with almost everything you wrote
because it’s in English. And it’s sensible.
But would you please elaborate on “best player”?
I don’t necessarily disagree with you (There are no stats here in front of me and I’ve admittedly missed all but the tail end of this game) , I just like to hear explanations of generalities.
NL West TempestTeapot
Nothing matters , and what if it did?
by victor frankenstein on Apr 12, 2009 5:28 PM PDT up reply actions
I’m guessing you’re referring to this:
But I wasn’t mad at Bonds, because he has never given me any reason to believe that he’s not making an enormous effort to become the best player he can be, and I’m not mad at Lewis for the same reason.
What I meant was that it’s not that Bonds didn’t run fast because he was lazy or anything like that. He just lacked the ability to run fast. Just like Lewis lacks the ability to read flyballs well.
Adoptive parent of Noah Lowry. Because he was awesome once, and, goddammit, he shall be awesome once again!
I hope.
Wait, now I’m thinking that you made a joke I didn’t get.
Adoptive parent of Noah Lowry. Because he was awesome once, and, goddammit, he shall be awesome once again!
I hope.
Naw , I just wanted you to dish on why Fred’s been our best player.
Re Barry:
(inhales slowly and deeply)
First , let me state that I’m a Barry fan. The man was God to me. I’m firmly convinced I will never be entertained as thoroughly by another ballplayer as long as I live.
That being said , however , I think it’s safe to say that if you’d watched him for any length of time during his last years here (and I assume you have) not only was he capable of astonishing feats outside the batter’s box but those feats stood out not only in their own right but because he tended to rein himself in just as often , i.e. gunning for first base or the batted ball.
Call it knowing your limits , call it protecting your longevity , call it something much uglier – it happened. I can tell the difference between a slow man trying and a faster man giving up on the chance of beating the throw or the bounce.
Barry knew he ran the risk of pulling his hamstrings if he went all out , so he preserved his (and by association the Giants’) longevity by not hitting his personal redline.
NL West TempestTeapot
Nothing matters , and what if it did?
by victor frankenstein on Apr 12, 2009 7:27 PM PDT up reply actions
but I really don’t think that most LF’s would have caught Gonzalez’s bloop.
I guess that is right, but Fred took like 2 or 3 missteps before he broke in. It wasn’t just one misstep. Most LF’s wouldn’t have made all those indecisive steps before breaking in hard. To Lewis’ benefit, he made the play look much closer than it would have been if a slower player misplayed the same fly so badly (as you stated).
The fact is that his bad play extended an inning where we could have escaped with out any harm. There is no excuse for that. Those runs from that inning belong to him.
I can’t fault Lewis for taking bad routes
Yes you can. He is a MLB outfielder that is not named Velez.
There is a possibility that there was some glare or some factor that we couldn’t see from the TV, but it sure didn’t matter to the SD left fielder. But you’re right, he will improve and maybe this will make him take those extra reps during pre-game to work on this. I hope he uses it as a wake up call.
Giant Dirtbags: Brian Anderson, Todd Jennings, Steve Hammond, John Bowker
Wronghanded Affeldt doing it right
by Giant among Angels on Apr 12, 2009 5:39 PM PDT up reply actions
I guess that is right, but Fred took like 2 or 3 missteps before he broke in. It wasn’t just one misstep. Most LF’s wouldn’t have made all those indecisive steps before breaking in hard.
Lewis didn’t make the play because he took a bad route. Most LF’s wouldn’t make that play because they’re too slow. So? Why is being slow understandable, but misstepping isn’t?
The fact is that his bad play extended an inning where we could have escaped with out any harm. There is no excuse for that. Those runs from that inning belong to him.
Let’s say we had started Nate in LF. On that ball, he would have gotten a pretty good read of the ball, run straight forward (obviously much slower than Lewis), and then see that he’s not going to make the catch, slow down, and catch the ball on a bounce. Would you call that a bad play, or say that there is no excuse for Nate not getting to that ball? I’m guessing that you wouldn’t. But why? He made the exact same play as Lewis. Maybe he did it more gracefully, without hesitating in the way, but at the end of the day, his play hurt the team just as much as Lewis’s. That’s my point. We seem to be more upset with some defensive errors (bad routes, bad throws, dropped catches) than with pure lack of range, because those errors are uglier, more “out there”. But that doesn’t mean that they’re actually worse.
I can’t fault Lewis for taking bad routes
Yes you can. He is a MLB outfielder that is not named Velez.
You missed my point. Fred Lewis isn’t good at reading the ball. Emanuel Burriss isn’t good at hitting for power. Expecting Lewis to be good at reading the ball makes about as much sense as expecting Burriss to hit for power. Being angry at Lewis for not reading the ball well makes as much sense as being angry at Burriss for not hitting for power. That is all.
Adoptive parent of Noah Lowry. Because he was awesome once, and, goddammit, he shall be awesome once again!
I hope.
The way I saw it, if the ball was played correctly off the bat then it wouldn’t take a speedy Lewis-type runner to catch it. Slow or quick, it was a catchable ball. Your second point: I believe that Nate without any hesitation would have caught that ball.
I understand your point that players are only as good as they are. I guess I expect more from our starting left fielder on a routine fly ball.
Giant Dirtbags: Brian Anderson, Todd Jennings, Steve Hammond, John Bowker
Wronghanded Affeldt doing it right
by Giant among Angels on Apr 12, 2009 6:28 PM PDT up reply actions
Wait, what? My whole comment was based on you agreeing with me that most LF’s don’t make that play. I said “but I really don’t think that most LF’s would have caught Gonzalez’s bloop”, and you said “I guess that is right”. My point wasn’t just that players are only as good as they are, it was also that you can’t really say Lewis made a bad play if you agree that he did what most players would have done, only in a more, umm…let’s say…original way.
Adoptive parent of Noah Lowry. Because he was awesome once, and, goddammit, he shall be awesome once again!
I hope.
I meant that without all the missteps that an average outfielder would have made that play (but then again, I wasn’t there nor have I seen a replay of the play since). Regardless, the main point is that the team played bad as a whole and now I’m a bit irritable that we’ve got swept by MF’n SD.
Giant Dirtbags: Brian Anderson, Todd Jennings, Steve Hammond, John Bowker
Wronghanded Affeldt doing it right
by Giant among Angels on Apr 12, 2009 6:39 PM PDT up reply actions
OK
Except that it’s an issue that can be corrected. The fact that he SHOULD make the plays makes it a problem. Burriss hitting for power is a completely different topic. One’s mental and can be fixed, or should be able to be fixed.
Insanity is just a state of mind.
Theoretically yes, Lewis could improve, but after playing the OF for at least 11 years, 7 of which professionally, I think that expecting him to drastically improve his routes is only slightly more reasonable than expecting Burriss to learn to hit for power. I don’t see why it matters that one skill is mental and the other is physical (I don’t completely agree with those definition either). They’re both skills. You can work on them and try to improve them, as I’m sure Lewis does, but that will only take you so far.
Adoptive parent of Noah Lowry. Because he was awesome once, and, goddammit, he shall be awesome once again!
I hope.
At first glance, I was so sure this was going to be an ogc post.
Just want to say that most of this holds true for Velez as well. Very few center fielders would have even gotten near that ball he bungled into a triple yesterday. The difference between Lewis and Velez in the outfield is that Lewis has years of experience with which to demonstrate that he takes bad routes, while Velez has barely a hundred games out there.
Which is why I maintain that if Velez is to have any hope of ever being a useful player, he needs to be starting in center every day in Fresno.
While it’s true that most CF wouldn’t have caught that ball, they probably would have managed to limit it to a double. The big difference between Lewis and Velez, except for Lewis’s superior contact, on base, power, and (arguably) baserunning skills, is that Lewis plays LF, a position filled with Ramirez’s and Dunn’s. He makes up for his bad routes by being the second fastest LF in the majors, so overall he’s pretty good. In CF, Velez is a fast player in a position filled with fast players, which just leaves us with his bad routes. I agree that he’s probably better than what it looks, but overall I think that he’s still pretty bad. And really, I don’t see any reason to think that he’ll ever hit enough to stay in the majors, so I don’t particularly care either.
Adoptive parent of Noah Lowry. Because he was awesome once, and, goddammit, he shall be awesome once again!
I hope.
I agree that he’s pretty bad; I’m saying that there’s some chance that he might eventually stop being bad, if he focuses on it and gets enough practice.
And his bat has potential too, I think. He’s about to be 27, so it’s a real longshot that he ever turns his tools into production, but I’d still rather treat him as an up-and-coming prospect who needs to play every day than have him cluttering up the roster of the big-league club.
Look, right now, he’s a 27 y-o player who’s been playing professional baseball for more than 6 years, and is bad both defensively and offensively. I’d say he has a 1 in 25 shot of becoming a reasonable hitter, and a 1 in 40 shot of becoming a reasonable fielder. That means a 1 in 1,000 shot of ever being a reasonable player. That’s just science.
Adoptive parent of Noah Lowry. Because he was awesome once, and, goddammit, he shall be awesome once again!
I hope.
Also
WTF, we just got swept by the Padres.
Adoptive parent of Noah Lowry. Because he was awesome once, and, goddammit, he shall be awesome once again!
I hope.
THIS JUST IN
Giants pitchers don’t throw strikes, PWND by patient team.
also
Giants hitters swing at everything.
Giants would pretty much no-hit themselves everytime out.
FIRE BRIAN SABEAN... UNLESS HE KEEPS DRAFTING WELL. .. AND SIGNS UNDERRATED PLAYERS LIKE AFFELDT OR PHELPS. .. OR ALRIGHT WHO'S PLAYING WITH THE ALIEN MIND-SWITCHING RAY?
-------
PARPG- Indy post-apocalyptic roleplaying game currently in early planning stages.
Wow
I wasn’t able to watch today’s game, but I guess that was a good thing. Wasn’t the starting pitching the very last thing any of us were concerned about? And yet at the end of week one, Matt Cain is our only starting pitcher with a win, and Tim Lincecum has an ERA over 8.
My plans for 2009: getting married and attending Tim Lincecum Bobblehead Day.
yeah…excellent point. I think our hitters have more “k’s” than our pitching. Great.
Robby Thompson "hey Hinshaw, let me see your hat for a minute."
Alex HInshaw "Why?"
Robby Thompson ,"You'll see...."
Ks aren’t the problem for our pitchers. Not giving up runs is.
Judgment Day is coming
comics | art | Nattowear
Point taken but
The box score on this link puts The Enchanter at 7.58. He looks like he has a better chance of repeating as Cy Young winner this year than Cliff Lee…sigh. I don’t expect this team to be in contention but I will be depressed if this series is the last time this year we see .500.
by NearestNorwich on Apr 12, 2009 5:51 PM PDT up reply actions
...162...162...162...
NL West TempestTeapot
Nothing matters , and what if it did?
by victor frankenstein on Apr 12, 2009 5:52 PM PDT up reply actions
He saw the score in the SF Giants game and hopped a bus to LA so he could come save us?
by Merope on Apr 12, 2009 5:56 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
bummer
apparently Milton Bradley had been playing right field but got injured, took him out and put that Johnson guy in. Bradley never woulda caught it.
After the Giants outfielding debacle this afternoon that looked like a SPECK-TACK-U-LAR catch!
happened while running the bases iirc
not sliding
not jumping
just running…
who didn’t stretch before game time?
That was insane. What a catch.
"While conservatives tell you 'leave things alone and no one will lose,' and liberals tell you 'interfere a lot and no one will lose,' baseball says 'someone will lose.' Not only says it - but insists upon it! ... Democracy is lovely, but baseball's more mature." BVCE supports SF Dugout and Manny Burriss.
by BaronVonCurrentEvents on Apr 12, 2009 7:40 PM PDT up reply actions
Jesus F Christ.
"While conservatives tell you 'leave things alone and no one will lose,' and liberals tell you 'interfere a lot and no one will lose,' baseball says 'someone will lose.' Not only says it - but insists upon it! ... Democracy is lovely, but baseball's more mature." BVCE supports SF Dugout and Manny Burriss.
by BaronVonCurrentEvents on Apr 12, 2009 7:48 PM PDT up reply actions
I went to Petco for all three games
and left feeling like my mother-in-law admitted she’d been stealing my kids’ toys. What was most bizarre is that Padre fans weren’t really letting us have it, with brooms, cursing, chants and the like. They were mostly in shock themselves.
Expectations were at an all-time low down here in Whale’s Vagina, and all it took for the Padres to reverse the sentiments was a quick 3-game series where the Giants grabbed their own ankles.
I’m putting my Gore jersey back on. McCovey’s going in the wash. Cain and pray for rain might end up being our motto like it was in ’07. This early-season unraveling has me scratching my head.
Derin McMains had five fingers, but he only used three.
Ooree , your avatar's cracking me up.
NL West TempestTeapot
Nothing matters , and what if it did?
by victor frankenstein on Apr 12, 2009 7:38 PM PDT up reply actions
What did they do to Tim? This isn’t right. He was the chosen one. I’m spiraling into a faithless void.
"While conservatives tell you 'leave things alone and no one will lose,' and liberals tell you 'interfere a lot and no one will lose,' baseball says 'someone will lose.' Not only says it - but insists upon it! ... Democracy is lovely, but baseball's more mature." BVCE supports SF Dugout and Manny Burriss.
by BaronVonCurrentEvents on Apr 12, 2009 7:45 PM PDT reply actions
I think Timmy...
is going to have a season more similar to his 2007 season… Unfortunately… No more LinCyYoung.
by AmorVincitOmnia on Apr 12, 2009 8:39 PM PDT up reply actions
As I said above, I’m spiraling into a faithless void. I suppose that counts.
"While conservatives tell you 'leave things alone and no one will lose,' and liberals tell you 'interfere a lot and no one will lose,' baseball says 'someone will lose.' Not only says it - but insists upon it! ... Democracy is lovely, but baseball's more mature." BVCE supports SF Dugout and Manny Burriss.
by BaronVonCurrentEvents on Apr 12, 2009 7:49 PM PDT up reply actions
Re: Stockton
Hey can you email me with your cell phone number in case we have to call one another? I’ll send you my phone number too. I’m seasond_salt at yahoo dot com
"While conservatives tell you 'leave things alone and no one will lose,' and liberals tell you 'interfere a lot and no one will lose,' baseball says 'someone will lose.' Not only says it - but insists upon it! ... Democracy is lovely, but baseball's more mature." BVCE supports SF Dugout and Manny Burriss.
by BaronVonCurrentEvents on Apr 12, 2009 9:51 PM PDT up reply actions
No ,but maybe Tim is freaking out.
NL West TempestTeapot
Nothing matters , and what if it did?
by victor frankenstein on Apr 12, 2009 8:52 PM PDT up reply actions
Yeah , think about it...
…the team was meh last year , but was Tim? Has he ever had this level of consecutive failure?
The pressure of last year’s success , of the Cy , of the team’s hopes this year and more – and he’s still just a kid.
Here’s hoping Randy , Rags and the other vets keep him close. We don’t want this guy going all Byun – Hyung Kim on us.
NL West TempestTeapot
Nothing matters , and what if it did?
by victor frankenstein on Apr 12, 2009 10:11 PM PDT up reply actions
Cereally...
Watching Brian Giles play outfield has made me realize just how bad defensively the Giants are.
by AmorVincitOmnia on Apr 12, 2009 8:40 PM PDT up reply actions
But
I thought this team was being built around speed and defense!
Aurilia sounds like a planet out of StarFox.
by Gabafnerhagen on Apr 12, 2009 11:02 PM PDT up reply actions
I’m glad this series was over a holiday weekend. Family kept me from watching most of it.
Baseball is a lot like life. The line drives are caught, the squibbles go for base hits. It's an unfair game. -Rod Kanehl. Adopted brother of Jason Jarvis
I’m glad it wasn’t at home, so I didn’t have to watch it in person.
by sfgiantsgirl on Apr 12, 2009 9:52 PM PDT up reply actions
I looked at this picture about eight times and just now saw the nipple in question.
"While conservatives tell you 'leave things alone and no one will lose,' and liberals tell you 'interfere a lot and no one will lose,' baseball says 'someone will lose.' Not only says it - but insists upon it! ... Democracy is lovely, but baseball's more mature." BVCE supports SF Dugout and Manny Burriss.
by BaronVonCurrentEvents on Apr 12, 2009 11:37 PM PDT reply actions
Not one comment about two bad Lincecum starts?
Sure, it’s probably smart not to worry yet, but I still don’t like it.
"[Greg] Vaughn is in a funk so deep, George Clinton wearing a miner's helmet couldn't find him."
- Jim Baker, ESPN.com, May 2002
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