Giants Midnight Replay

Walking Off

Last night my boss took me out to eat, we went out for burgers and he tried to convince me to not quit my job. We ate our burgers and had a couple of uncomfortable moments. Eating, drinking, me talking about “how money matters to me now”, as if I’m some sort of adult. After dinner we split ways, I went drinking with a friend, had a few too many and ended up running around SOHO kicking trashcans over at 3 am. At some point I blacked out, got blue paint all over my pants, told a poet that I hate poetry and lost $20. I woke up at 1pm today, my head was throbbing. 

There’s no walk off hit in real life. I can’t make an amazing latte for someone, get cheered by a room full of satisfied customers, be mobbed by delirious co-workers and carried out on their shoulders. Life doesn’t provide the moments that baseball provides. I guess that’s why we get shitty drunk and run around manhattan kicking trashcans over. 

——————————————————————————————————-

The Omar Vizquel Defensive Excellence Award Goes To:

Aubrey Huff for sticking with the under-thrown ball to nail Miranda at 2nd. 

The Eugenio Velez Defensive Indifference Award Goes To:

Freddy Sanchez… surprisingly. For making 2 errors on one play, bobbling a ball and then throwing it too low for huff. 

——————————————————————————————————-

The Setoguchi Award (Hero) Goes to:

Lincecum…… I wanted it tonight. I was sniffing a no-hitter when I turned the game on when I got home in the 2nd inning. “is there a hit yet”?

My girlfriend goes to sleep and I ask her…..”should I wake you up if anything “historic” happens?”….. It’s gonna happen… someday. Until then, sleep tight. 

The Datsyuk Award (Goat) Goes to:

Ian Kennedy, not only for throwing a damn fine game but for breaking up the no-hitter in the 6th. disappointing, I was really feeling like tonight could have been the night for Timmy. But just like Datsyuk… you have to recognize greatness. 

——————————————————————————————————-

More Stuffs

This makes me wonder if the phrasing “Andre The Giant” is copy write, or if they felt it was appropriate to call it “Andre el Gigante” just because of his latin roots? Either way it is kinda cool, and kinda lame, I can’t decide yet.  

Buster sniffs out a hit. 

“Vaaat I git no vin today, eeez ok”

Cody Ross does the Freddy Sanchez “fake like it’s inside” dance

Then he throws his bat like a spoiled brat. haha

Tim threw two perfect corner pitches for strikes in a row in the 7th inning. Both times they showed a close up of his face and he was mouthing “fuck” with a disappointed look on his face. Perfection must be hard. 

Buster Posey is making gloves drop like beats……. ok that didn’t work as a metaphor. Whatever, Posey is playing great. 

Can some internet nerd draw some lasers shooting out of these eyes? Cause Ford is straight up cyclopsing dudes with these lazy browns. “Ya, I just stole on you… what?”

Huff has the swing of the game, with this karate chop fouling a ball at his eyes. 

Amy G. is the only thing in the world that makes Cody not want to smile. I feel ya Cody, I feel ya. 

Terribler Than Terrible

“These aren’t your father’s Nationals” That’s what Krukow said on the pregame show. I am assuming he was speaking about the endless futility of the Expos. At the same time Kruk might have a point. The Nationals are not terrible, but to say that the they are not terrible would be a lie. They ARE terrible, but the Giants are terribler. The Giants are the 111 loss 2004 Diamondbacks right now. The Giants are the fucking 43 win 2003 Detroit Tigers right now. The Giants are the fucking 1994-2010 Pittsburg Pirates right now.  The Giants’ bats are limper than a senior citizen’s wrist. Ok let’s leave it at that. So let’s all just do some jumping jacks, loosen up and settle in for a LONG road trip. Let’s enjoy this round of terrible baseball while it lasts. Let’s hope it doesn’t last long. 

——————————————————————————————————-

The Omar Award goes to: 

Aubrey Huff for the excellent play down the first base line early in the game. 

The Velez Award goes to:

Aaron Rowand and Cody Ross. I think everyone knows what I am talking about…… Just look at the picture.

“let’s share this ball and be happy” says those dorks.

————————————————————————————————-

The Dorus Rijkers Award (Hero) goes to: 

Tim Lincecum who found his good pitches a couple of innings too late. Poor bastard, if you don’t throw a shutout then you pretty much have no shot at winning with this lineup. 

I forgot to snap a pic of Tim tonight so I stole this pic from here..

The Sea Award (Goat) goes to:

Jason Marquis who is a mutha fucking Giant KILLER. It’s unbelievable how much the Giants suck right now, and Marquis is just the wrong type of pitcher for us to face right now. I would rather face Halliday, Sabathia, Josh Johnson or pretty much any number of aces. A ground ball pitcher is the last thing I want to see on an upcoming schedule. 

Here he is hitting an RBI hit and run on an impossible pitch to hit. 

————————————————————————————————-

Bonus Crap:

This bunt that worked (but ultimately didn’t work) doesn’t bother me. We are up against a ground ball double play pitcher, and we have a guy on base. Solid option. 

This bunt does bother me, Miguel Tejada, former MVP, former slugger is bunting with no one on base and 36 year old legs. Now Tejada made it to first, I know, fair enough. But it just proves that Tejada knows that he sucks, and in my opinion should not be playing. 

Right after Rowand and Cody decided that they wanted to share a fly ball Nix blasts a 2 run HR. Perfect timing. Can things go worse for the Giants?…….

Yes… Cody (why am I still in the lineup) Ross hits a single and gets throw out by 8-12 feet at 2nd base. 

Buster (Don’t vote for me for the All-Star game ) Posey along with the rest of the Giants hitters swing about 20+ times at this pitch. 

Posey throws his second runner out except he is called safe (make-up-call). This guy went on to score on that impossible hit and run Marquis hit. 

Bring in the scrubs!!!!

Bummed-garner

How many more games will we lose like this? That is the real question. But the bigger question is, are the Giants playing with any kind of heart? Cause it doesn’t really seem like it. Are they playing with a fire on their asses? No. And for some reason, I feel like Tejada does not help…. I don’t know why I relate the signing of Tejada to a weird sense of complacency among the players during the game. He seems like a professional player. He seems like he is well respected. But to be honest I sensed an edge among the players last year. A “fuck you” attitude that they don’t seem to have now. 

It’s just what I am seeing, what I’m feeling. I want the “fuck you” attitude back. 

——————————————————————————————————-

The Omar Award goes to:

Buster Posey, followed up a strikeout with a gun to third to get the base stealer and complete a double play. 

The Velez Award goes to:

Madison Bumgarner for throwing the ball behind his back in what would have ended the 3rd inning but instead gave up a run. 

————————————————————————————————-

The Garfield Award (Hero) goes to: 

 Strangely I am giving this to Mota… He came in and effectively saved our bullpen. I thought I would never ever give him any kind of award….. But here it is. Also he took an AB, which was kinda sad. 

The Odie Award (Goat) goes to:

I’m going with the umpire, who consistently called a strike on the outside part of the plate for Harang but not for Bumgarner. This also could have gotten us out of the third inning. 

This is the one that was called on Buster, which killed our rally. 

This is the one they didn’t call for Bumgarner.

And here’s one final bad call for Buster Posey even when Hundley drops the ball he calls a ludicrous strike three.

————————————————————————————————-

I took the liberty of making a schedule for the Giants tomorrow. 

———————————————————————————————-

Bonus Crap:

Pablo flashing some leather. 

The seats I wish that I had. 

J. Sanchez and Timmy were working some voodoo on their hats during today’s game. 

I don’t know, but it looks like Pablo got the tag down. 

Blooped to death in SD

The best part of our lineup right now. 

Tejada actually got to this one. He spun and made a terrific throw to get the runner. I have to give credit where credit is deserved. 

I want to see more of this from Pablo, patience at the plate!

Can’t really believe this play, Pablo walks, then he tries to steal 2nd and was out by….. 5 to 6 feet

ohhh, and Brandon Belt is not hitting that well….. just saying. 

Dodger Blues

The Giants win the Pennant! The Giants win the Pennant! .. oh wait.. it’s just a spring training game….. oh.

Ya…. it’s getting to be that time. Even the fans want to start the regular season. Not much to say today. I’m going to a pizza party in Bed-Stuy tonight so I won’t get all flowery on this post. Just gonna say….. WE WON!

—————————————————————————————————

The John Lennon award goes to:

Cody Ross for killing that home run in the 4th even Matt Cain was impressed. 

The Mark David Chapman award goes to:

Javier Lopez….. Your a lefty specialist. You gotta limit the damage with Ethier at the plate. We forgive you, it’s the preseason. But we won’t forgive MDC. I guess it’s kind of harsh to be handing out awards with that dudes named attached. Sorry it’s preseason… I’m only warming up. 

—————————————————————————————————-

 On a lighter note. The Velez award goes to:

Runzler for going into a full commando roll after being too slow, taking his eyes off the ball and getting beat to first base by Gwynn. 

 The Omar Vizquel award goes to: 

Huff for staying with a weird hop on a bounce hit down that line that came back into play, and tagging the hitter (forgot who this was). 

Bonus Award…!

The Josh Beckett “slowest mutha fucking pitcher ever” award goes to:

Mota who made 2 innings of work breeze by like it was 2 YEARS!!! No wonder Ethier struck out, he probably did so on purpose cause he had to take a bathroom break. 

Ya take your time buddy, no hurry.

—————————————————————————————————-

Bonus pics: I know it’s only spring but……. check out the average on Buster….  .526!!!

Ya Lincecum… You look nothing like that taxi driver on youtube… Nothing.
 

Interviewer: “So Matt I heard you hurt your arm.”

Matt: “Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr”

(side note:… I really hate these interviews in the middle of the game thing..it really is not that fun to watch. And as much as I want to relive the World Series I bet Matty, Bumgarner, and Affeldt are pretty sick of it. Especially in the middle of the one game I get to watch all week, cut this shit out. ) 

I felt this one coming….. Pat the Bat launches one. 

Some random fans. 

The whole elvis thing is tired…
 

oh San Francisco. Jam packed full of 20 and 30 somethings with raging cases of Peter Pan syndrome.

Annnnnnnd… The perfect ending. 

ROY Sophomore Slump?

Since Buster Posey is in my neck of the woods (NYC) I figure I would focus on him. We all know that our pitching staff is nails. And we also know that this babyfaced kid is the closest thing we have to an offensive superstar. We all know that if you ask any Giants fan if Posey’s rookie campaign was a fluke, they would start a hurricane by shaking their heads. But at the same time if you asked MOST Giants fans (at the end of 2009) if Pablo’s 2009 campaign was a fluke they would have probably twisted their be-pandad heads out of their shoulders, saying no. So let’s try on our turbans, rub some crystal balls and try to curb our enthusiasm about a player who could me the next Joe Mauer or god forbid….. the next Geovany Soto.

Let’s just take a gander at some of Posey’s stat line last year. Keep in mind that this is only 405 ABs.

• 2010 Buster Posey BA .305, OBP .357, OPS .862, WAR 3.0

Now let’s check out how each of the last 10 N.L. ROY’s (i know, small sample size!) did in their sophomore season.

• 2010 Chris Coghlan BA -.053, OBP -.055, OPS -.132, WAR -1.8 (big drop off)

• 2009 Geovany Soto BA -.063, OBP -.043, OPS -.166, WAR -4.1 (big drop off)

• 2008 Ryan Braun BA -.039, OBP -.035, OPS - .116, WAR +.5 (slight drop off)

• 2007 Hanley Ramirez BA +.040, OBP +.033, OPS +.115, WAR +.4 (slight increase)

• 2006 Ryan Howard BB +75, BA +.025, OBP +.069, OPS +.160, WAR +3.4 MVP (huge increase)

• 2005 Jason Bay BA +.024, OBP +.044, OPS +.054, WAR +2.3 (big increase)

• 2004 Dontrelle Willis ERA +.72, SO/BB -.20, WAR -2.4 (slight drop off)

• 2003 Jason Jennings ERA +.59, QS +2, WAR -1.4 (stayed pretty even)

• 2002 Albert Pujols BA -.015, OBP -.009, OPS -.058, WAR -1.1 (stayed pretty even)

• 2001 Rafael Furcal BA -.020, OBP -.073, OPS -.085, WAR -3.5 (slight drop off)

So we have some pretty good players here, and a couple mediocre players also. But overall I would say that the voters did a pretty decent job. Keep in mind that 2008 should have been Joey Votto instead of Soto. And that 2009 was a thin year and it could have easily gone to McCutchen or J.A. Happ.

So 5 players had a slight to big dropped off their second year, 2 stayed pretty even, and 3 players had slight to FREAKING (Ryan Howard MVP) HUGE second years.

Just for fun I took all the batters and averaged their second year changes just to see what we could possibly come up with.

• Average second year for ROY BA -.010, OBP -.008, OPS -.028, WAR -.5

Add (or in this case subtract) that to Buster’s ROY effort.

• Buster Posey 2011 (maybe) BA .295, OBP .349, OPS .834, WAR 2.5

This of course will not be the case for a couple of reasons.

1. Posey is no Geo Soto he beat out legit competition for the ROY award.

2. (bere with me here I’m leaving the realm of statistics) He is a fast learner, the speed with which he picked up catching was pretty rivaled only his ascension through our minor league system.

3. For a rookie he has an amazing sense of what the strike zone is. (now I can dig up stats for this, but screw that, just watch one of his at bats, he never takes wild hacks)

OK let’s wrap this up. I see Buster going on a career line that is a little better than a Ryan Braun, but maybe not as good as a Hanley Ramirez. Of course this is baseball and things like Rick Ankiel exist, and things like Pablo Sandoval exist, so you never know.

Just stay out of the way on those home plate collisions PLEASE!

Enjoy The Silence

Buster Posey gets promoted to the big club today. 

All worries are over.

All gripes are wiped clean.

All forums are ghost towns where once rode comfy-chaired GMs

All vile words and knee-jerk reactionist turned peacefully towards their televisions or radios and for once just watched the game. 

All qualms about multi-million dollar, multi-year, multi-player deals go untalked about.

There is a quiet that descends on a fan base with nothing to complain about, it is akin to the rush of a mighty river. All eyes, all thoughts, all attention flowing towards what will happen tonight. 

It is exciting to see the beginning of an era….. I agree. But for me it is even more exciting to simply enjoy the game. 

Everybody enjoy. 

But I hope to see at least 150 comments in ALL Giants blogs tomorrow about how FUCKING TERRIBLE ………….. (someone)……… is.