Matt Cain pitched another great game blah-blah-blah run support blah-blah-blah RISP death blah-blah-blah anemic offense blah-blah-blah I've written this post too many times before blah-blah-blah.
I'm only going to say this once: fuck, shit, goddamn motherfucking shit.
There's a few throwbacks out there who will get excited about speed and bunting and stolen bases and little ball and execution and the rest of the little things and playing the right way and blah-blah-blah but that ain't me by a long shot. The Giants needed another long shot tonight, one was not enough. The double is a fine thing, but it doesn't work in San Francisco, it is only two bases and not four and thus not a run-scoring hit. A double followed by a double is a lovely thing, no doubt, but that's just not how the Giants roll. A double play is more their style, blah-blah-blah.
Lame, Giants. Get a fucking RBI hit, fer chrissakes.
Lame, lame, lame.
--M.C.
9 comments:
The fish had a long hard series with Arizona and had lost 8 of their last nine with their closer getting bombed consistently. They were an overtired team, just waiting to lose, but the giants saved them, and failed to help Cain get a winning record. Cain now worsens the losing record he had from the start of the season through no fault of his own. Nolasco who has a career ERA about a run worse than Cain, has a winning record. I don't know why Bochy sent Theriot in the seventh, on a 3-1 count, it seemed to force the young Crawford to swing at ball 4. Giants had first and third with no outs in the 8th, and could not even get the Cainer off the hook. The only hope the Marlins had of winning this one was to hope Nolasco could continue his magic in SF, and he did. Which is worse than it seems, as Nolasco grew-up a die-hard dodger fan. Two more giant killers to be faced in this series, Zambrano and Sanchez. Time for the giants to beat this team who had lost 8 of its last 9 before the win vs the giants. Stanton seems to own the giants. I have been watching the Marlins blow one game after the other, but the giants seem to be even better than the fish when it comes to futility. At least in this last head to head matchup. Its time the giants hitters started getting Cain the wins he deserves.
We got 7 hits. 2 from Sandoval, 1 from Pagan, and 4 from the bottom of the line-up. Crawford, Theriot, Cain, and Blanco as a pinch hitter. You would think that would get us more than one run. The eighth - what nomisala said. The ninth: against a guy with an era of over 10, a WHIP of nearly 3, Belt and Scheirholtz coughed up two outs on five pitches, and I don't think any of them were strikes. Theriot got robbed, but by that point it didn't much matter. Would it hurt Belt so much to take a pitch? I think he made three outs against Nolasco on the same pitch. Another great pitching performance wasted, as the doggers win yet again.
ps. Note to Miami: Fire your logo and uniform designer. I know that they are supposed to be all deco-ish to go with Miami. Fail. They look terrible.
pps. Mark, why would you think anyone would get excited about doing the little things? The Giants didn't do that. Otherwise, we would have tied the game (at least) in the eighth. I think the throwbacks are equally disgusted this morning.
Yeah, it's very frustrating that the Giants have reverted to their awful RISP hitting, and particularly their pathetic run support for Cain.
One subject we haven't discussed much is how freakin wonderful Posey has been so far this year. Maybe we just assume this is baseline behavior for him, ho-hum. Unfortunately he was a goat last night, hitting into the inning-ending DP in the 8th with the bases loaded.
Zo: I think there's a mind-set out there that thinks the Giants will succeed if they channel Maury Wills and bunt and steal and "maufacture runs." I think that idea is crap. Execution is important, but executing HITS, esp XBH is what it is all about. The Giants won the World Series with pitching, fielding, and homers, not pitching, fielding, and little ball. Just a rant from a cranky guy watching a disgusting loss.
MC - More Earl Weaver. I love it. Small ball should be saved for the ninth inning. Execute your fundamentals there, but otherwise leave the bunting and situational ground outs the hell alone. Drive the ball. Giants need better hitting, they need to cut out all this Bochy platoon nonsense, and they need to execute their defense.
And as every Giant fan fears... CAINED. We'll get to that .500 W/L this year. I have hope.
Everybody better get a little thicker skin...this is how we roll. 17 of the 23 games we have played have been decided by 3 or fewer runs. Almost every game is going to come down to one or two key plays. Yesterday it really boiled down to the fact that their stud (Ramirez) got an RBI single and our stud (Posey) grounded into a double play. In fact, both plays were very similar except the infield was pulled in for Ramirez (damn wild pitch) so that is why it got thru. Truly a game of inches.
Considering that the Marlins won because of "little ball" I would think this is a bad time to gripe about it being a bad strategy. Getting a hit is not "executing" it is just having a skill. Executing is running plays that influence the action and increase your chance for success. Getting a hit is nothing a manager can effect...you either are a good hitting team or not. News flash: we are not a good hitting team. So you guys can keep saying we just need to hit the ball, but it just ain't going to happen. Executing small ball is something that good teams can do... and it wins games.
JC - That is a very good point, we are not a good hitting team. Combination of overall talent, youth, pressing, what not. I think a "takes a village" fill out the lineup gives a nice balance. Hackers, 3 true outcomes, contact hitters, you need em all. 2010 brought Pat Burrell into the mix, the 3 true outcome really anchored the lineup. So without wasting space on the exact order of things, I would say the Giants need something along those lines. Whether Belt can do that or not might be a stretch. Don't know enough about Melky and Pagan yet.
I'd revise the Weaver/Small ball to say with the back end of the lineup we have, yes, we should be playing small ball with that part of the order. The other thing needed is somebody to either step up or be acquired (or Huff/Sanchez return) to lengthen the lineup. Bochy does nobody any favors though with his constant tinkering. Ballplayers value consistency. Especially with the youth in this one.
Earl was right: pitching, fundamentals, 3-run HRs.
I have confidence the team can execute the sac when needed and whatnot. Early in the year I can live with some failure (like BCraw on the hit-and-run). He'll get better. And some speed and etc. is always nice to have in the quiver. But if the club expects to be champions, they cannot seriously believe dink-ball will do it.
The Giants will play close games, I get it. I like it, in fact. But ONE RUN ain't gonna fly. The team needed a big hit and didn't get it. Look at 2010--the team got HR power down the stretch as Shank pointed out. The 2011 team hit FORTY fewer HRs. I think this team has better hitters, but we'll see.
The 2011 team wasted a lot of good pitching and I don't want to see that happen again.
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