The Night Natto Went Crazy

Why, why did I waste my hard earned cash on stupid tuition?! I lied in that stupid beer thread, those were just the empties sitting around my computer, taunting me with their lack of yeasty deliciousness.

I feel you. Yesterday might be the longest, most stressful day I’ve had with my current employer… by the time I got home, it was the 12th inning.
In the top of the 14th, I actually felt like ‘Hey, a least one thing didn’t go wrong today’. I was a fool – just as premature as Zorak was in the dugout before going out to that debacle of a bottom half.
And here I am at 5:30AM, also unable to sleep and two sets of craptastic events running through my head… not bunting with no-one out and a man on second, walking a pitcher (!) to force in a guy who could barely hobble, the only run until the 14th scored via walks and errors… Panda getting hurt!
This one hurts.

I heard Flem call the slam and turned off the radio while muttering one word:

“Douchebags”

I’ll be there tomorrow expecting the worst, but I can’t like this team. They are stupid.

You’ll get over it. It was a house of horrors before 14 innings of craziness.

I’ve had luck playing basketball at a certain court. Shots rim out, crazy bounces, bad calls, everything you can imagine goes wrong. Yes, it does becomes a self-fufilling prophecy and ideally you want to be able to overcome that. Sometimes you can’t, and you just need to get the fuck outta dodge.

I’d like to meet the Giants fan who truly thought “GAME OVER BABY” after we dropped three in the top of the inning. Did anyone really think that the three run lead was safe going into the 14th? This is Coors. The game went on so long it got to the point of “ugh just get this over with,” considering we’ve got the dbacks already tomorrow and need to catch a plane home. It’s not that tough a loss; it’s Coors. The players know it’s a bandbox and they know shit like this happens. Unbelievable is definitely the word of the night.

If I’m a player on this team, I laugh the entire way home. It was just so…silly the way it all went down. Walk off salami? Whatever dude. Oppo field to the deepest part of the yard? Yeah, sure. Double plays dotting all the extra innings? Yeah man. First extra innings game in Denver this season? Sounds good.

Of all the games to get really down about, this was not one of them. Pandoval’s calf needs to hold up, and if it can, we’ve still got an interesting month of baseball left in us. Hum baby go giants.

So sad today, mang.

I didn’t stay up past the 10th for this game (lol east coast) and I’m thankful. Watching the mlb.com highlights was enough.

I was just numb, staring blankly at the post game show like an idiot, even though it was approaching 3 AM back in New York. I actually thought it was the worst loss we’ve had since the 2003 playoffs when Jose Lose Jr. dropped that ball. I can see how the whole series could drive you crazy, but I prefer to focus on the last inning that cost us the split. Why pull Medders after he got Barmes out? If he walked him yes, but HE GOT HIM OUT!! I don’t care about the pitch count, he’s a veteran and you can give him a few days off afterwards. He was sharp and the other two fuckups left in the bullpen were dreadful on Saturday, with one of them being dreadful all season. As good as Medders was, how do you walk Fowler when he’s up there crippled? As it was, he threw strike three on the previous pitch, but the ump gave a late timeout. How the fuck does Justin Miller walk Adam Eaton? To add insult to injury, Tracy had told Eaton not to swing at anything, because he feared a DP. As for Merkin Valdez, he fucking sucks. He’s sucked all year, but the Giants’ have never done the right thing because he was out of options. As a result, they’ve wasted a roster space the entire season. With one week left before roster expansion they won’t cut him now, but they ought to, just to show they’re as angry as we are.
    By the way, I’ll be in front of my TV watching them again tonight. They’re my team.

For therapy, we should compile the worst losses over the last couple of years. The only one that comes to mind right now is Benitez’s double balk, walk-off HR loss against the Mets.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=270529121

A Benitez relieved R Ortiz.	
J Reyes walked.	
J Reyes to second on balk by A Benitez.	
E Chavez sacrificed to third, J Reyes to third.	
C Beltran grounded out to second.	
J Reyes scored on A Benitez' balk.	
C Delgado homered to right.

Last night’s game DESTROYS that game.

in the sense that I hated the teams the past two years. It’s interesting that these posts crop up every time the Giants stink up yards around the NL, often followed by all the “Sabean is a genius/I love Botchy” and “Why are you all complaining when we’re competing for the wild card” posts when they have a good home stand. All the wavers of both banners seem to forget that a team that goes 7-3 on homestands and 3-7 on road trips is a .500 ballclub. I admit that might be enough to get into the playoffs occasionally, but I don’t expect much more from a team that has gone an entire year with Molina batting cleanup and (basically) no one batting leadoff. At least Pablo has emerged to be a real middle-of-the-order hitter.

I don’t think we’ll see so many of those bipolar posts (biposts?) now, however, unless the Giants sweep the Rox in the upcoming visit. And I doubt that will happen, because what little depth or bench the Giants had seems to be banged up and the bullpen seems to be wearing down. JSanchez arose from the ashes just in time to pick up where “Randy” “Johnson” left off when he went out, but there’s been no one else to do that for the other spots.

Just tell yourself that getting FSanchez and Garko were really positioning for next year, trying to try to fill in some roster holes and be that much further along by winter meetings and free agent season. And maybe go back and read some of the very pessimistic preseason posts (likely including mine) that never thought this squad would sniff .500. I’m sad to see everyone disappointed, but I’m glad to have actually seen some good performances this year, a few water shots by the fellows in black hats, and a no-hitter by a guy who was yanked from the rotation. There might be a few more before October rolls around.

I agree with everything Natto said.

Except the part about Fred Lewis.

I don’t think I can watch tonight’s game either.

That was the first game I had watched in a week.

See I just started this whole “Giants fan”thing this season, and have had a hard time relating the the sense of hopelessness and despair that everyone here seems to have ingrained on them. But this series has brought out the cynic in me.

I went to Saturdays game, which was painful, and then stayed up to watch last nights debacle.

The awesome part is getting to hear the taunts from the biggest Rockies fan I know… My mother-in-law.

But at least I can say I’m a true Giants fan now… right? That’s gotta be worth something?

Anyone that walks a pitcher with the bases loaded on 4 pitches needs to go. I don’t care what kind of flukey good performance he has given to this point. Someone who does that in the biggest game of the year is not a major league ballplayer.

The sad thing is, this is basically going to be our offense next year. The only different players will likely be Winn and Bengie leaving. Nate will hopefully replace Winn, and while he’s an upgrade, he’s not going to change the offense much. Bengie will either (a) be extended and we have to endure more of his cleanup duties, (b) be replaced by a Zaun-type, which won’t hep much offensively, or © be replaced by Posey, which could be either a very good or very bad thing. You’d have to think Posey’s ceiling for a rookie season next year would be Pablo’s season this year, hopefully with more walks.

I don’t see how this team contends in the next couple years unless two things happen to the offense:

1) Posey is brought up and does well
2) They sign Holliday or Bay, neither of which will likely happen because they will get better offers elsewhere.

But hey, at least Zito and Sanchez are pitching well!

I thought this was going to finally be the photoshop of Ray Natto in a thong.

…by throwing Goliath a slider in the dirt.

I think we’ve officially set fire to the remaining $25,000.

last night, I couldn’t sleep. Usually when I go to bed, I’m out cold in about 3 minutes. Last night I lied awake for an entire hour and still couldn’t sleep.

I wasn’t even thinking about the game itself, it’s the frustration and the disappointment knowing full well that this season is over. That this team pretty much showed me everything I needed to know in one half inning of baseball.

Today is a new day, but I have canceled plans to attend any future games this season. I had setup a group of 6 ppl to go to the Rockies series, and all of us decided we just don’t want to be a part of this painful season any longer.

I’m still going to finish the video because I’ve put so much time into it already, it will be the last thing I do for the Giants this season.

When the Giants make me go crazy, I start talking about poop. Because that’s how I feel. Like poop.

The Giants are now 0-3 ever since I moved to Phoenix for school. Each gut wrenching losses. After following that entire 14-inning debacle on gameday, I don’t know if I have the heart to actually watch the game tonight – though it will be one of 7 games that will actually be broadcasted the rest of the season down here. Fuck this team.

For all the things that went wrong in last night’s game, the thing that makes it worse is that the weaknesses and faults of this team are blatantly clear, and yet they NEVER make necessary adjustments. NEVER.

I know that none of the players actually read fan blogs, but all season I figured that since everyone here keeps seeing this team make the same mistakes and shortcomings, some one in that clubhouse would see it as well. No plate discipline, for one thing. Previous batter walks, then Velez swings at the first pitch of the very next at bat. Bengie Molina still hasn’t learned to lay off the tricky slider that bounces TWO FEET in front of the plate. Ishikawa will swing at the low-inside breaking ball every single time.

And Bochy seems determined to get our pitchers to fail. Keep putting Howry into situations in which he consistently blows it, leave Timmy out there when EVERYBODY can see he has been laboring (and struggles in humid weather), remove a pitcher after one batter even if the result is a strikeout. Baseball is great because there are 162 games, and plenty of time to make adjustments, and I can’t stand to see our dumbass manager and braindead hitters make the same damn mistakes every single game. It never fails.

Having said that, I’ll be at tonight’s game. Mostly for the garlic fries.

In addition to last night’s loss, I’ve now come down with a nasty and my throat is killing me. FUCK ME.

/gives Natto a hug

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.

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/hides sharp objects

I think we all would have traded this bit of heartbreak for this team to be in this position (even now as that loss drops us to under an 8% chance of making the playoffs).

They still have the Rockies next weekend, with Lincecum and Cain pitching 2 of those games. If they can pull off a sweep, it’s like yesterday never happened. The only problem is they pretty much have to pull off the sweep.

I’ve been watching baseball games for 30+ years. But I’m not a major league manager, or a scout, or a stathead, so I don’t pretend to know anywhere near as much about the game as the “experts.”

That said, if you’re leading a team with an historically inept offense, one that can barely hit the ball out of the infield most of the time, why on earth aren’t you spending every BP during the regular season working on the elements of small ball—the bunt, the steal, the aggressive baserunning, and the sacrifice play? In the late innings of a tie ballgame in late August, with your team still in the playoff race, if you get the leadoff batter on base, WHY AREN’T YOU BUNTING? Why aren’t you exchanging as many outs as you have at your disposal to get this rarest of rare, a baserunner, 90 feet closer to home plate?

It’s a rhetorical question, of course.

It turns out, I have no soul left to crush! I found this out last night. Just another epic failure.

I think everyone (off MCC) going around and talking about what a great, epic game that was is making it worse.

Epic games, to me, are when two titans slug it out. This was more like David vs. Goliath, only this time, Goliath punched David in the side of the head, pissed on him and took his wife as his own.

“With the Giants failing so pathetically, maybe they won’t extend Bochy! Right? Right? … RIGHT!?!?!??!”

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have to take a break from the Giants for at least a couple of games. I didn’t sleep at all last night and now I feel like crap at work.

Comment from a post on the SF Giants Facebook profile

and eat his contract eh?

But did you guys discuss this nugget from Baggs

–The staff began discussing September callups. I wouldn’t assume everyone on the 40-man is coming up. There might be a surprising omission or two.

I take this as LOL Kevin Frandsen

I went to bed at 4:00 AM, after deleting all the music I deemed unnecessary from my computer and watching a documentary on youtube on the MS 13 gang.

Sad times…

I was able to get some rest and have slowly pieced together the remaining bits of sanity I still have. I changed the desktop wallpaper at work from a picture of Mays Field to this and some of my other artwork. I’m still not going to watch tonight’s game, but I’ll probably somehow muster the energy to watch tomorrow’s. At least it’s Taco Tuesday.

Also, I’m disappointed that no one got the Weird Al reference.

“I think it would be a good idea.”

The Giants have just been astonishingly bad at situational hitting. Joe Martinez gets the most boring job of the night as he pinch-runs for Garko after a leadoff double, and all he can do is stand on second base as Rowand and Renteria do the two things guaranteed not to advance a runner from second: strike out and ground to third.

Or, to rephrase that in shorter form: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

Justin Miller hasn’t retired any of the last nine batters he’s faced.

I fell asleep on the right coast. But then CRUELLY the Greek God of Noworldseerieswinsyetinyourlifetime woke me up, and I joyfully saw the top half inning’s score, only to watch the computer screen burp out the end score…

I can’t criticize Brian Wilson. Not for a while, at least. I was never a Wilson hater but he did annoy me at times. Even for those times, I will not say a word against him.

He earned it last night.

I think of “The Night Chicago Died”