Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Forces of Evil Prevail

You knew the Giants' demise was imminent.  Even, even if they could have somehow swept LA, they would have still faced long odds going into the final 3 games of the season 2 games back.  What no one expected was that they would bow out quite like this.

The doggers put Clayton Kershaw on the mound, and he was superb.  He threw a complete game shutout in a little over 100 pitches.  He struck out 13 and walked only 1.  He allowed 1 hit, to Kevin Frandsen.  Kershaw was matched against Madison Bumgarner, who did not fare nearly so well.  Madison threw 26 pitches in the 1st inning, mainly because Kelby Tomlinson booted a double play ball to set up a 1st and 3rd situation that led to the first run.

That would have been enough, but the doggers kept plinking away.  A solo shot in the 3rd made it 2 - 0.  Another error in the 5th when Kevin Frandsen couldn't scoop up a low throw from Brandon Crawford with 2 outs caused Maddy to throw over 30 pitches, putting him at 100 for 5 innings.  Maddy was done in the 6th after 2 solo shots, the first time he has given up 3 home runs in a game since 2010.  Final score, 8 - 0.

The Giants were hapless.  Their starting line-up consisted of 4 of the hitters that were supposed to be there.  The 2 errors were costly.   Los Angeles clinched the division title in San Francisco for the first time since 1977.  I really can't be irate, though, because really, Kershaw was simply superb.  It will be interesting to see them match up against the Mets and see if Harvey is asked to pitch. 

Much to analyze, much to discuss as the season wanes.  For now, though, try to salvage some self-respect in the final 2 games, Hudson's last start is coming Sunday, and let's see some youngsters against Colorado.

25 comments:

M.C. O'Connor said...

Yeah, it was a sad end. I really wanted one more win, esp. Bum against Kershaw. But Kershaw was overpowering. Even a healthy lineup would have had a tough night against him. I felt bad for Young Kelby after his superb game on Monday.

The Dodgers won, fair and square, they are deserving NL West champs. The Giants just could not field a whole team consistently enough all season long to match up.

Let's see the lads finish with a winning month. They are 13-13 for September.

Brother Bob said...

Thank you, Kevin Frandsen, for sparing us from being 100% humiliated.

nomisnala said...

We should have never gotten rid of our secret weapon against Kershaw. Mr. Arias.

Brother Bob said...

Yeah, that's why the Giants aren't going to win it all again, they released Joaquin Arias!

Ron said...

Jeremy Affeldt, who had a great run for the Giants, including legendary post-season performances, is retiring. Despite the weird injuries & sub-par 2015 season, we'll miss him. He was a great regular season performer who became even more reliable & more versatile, when we needed him in the glory years. Osich has big shoes to fill.

M.C. O'Connor said...

The guy was Mariano Rivera in the post-season! What a great pitcher and a huge part of the championship seasons. A lefty that was not a LOOGY and could get out batters from both sides of the plate via the whiff or the ground ball. Physically he was obviously done, I'm glad he had the sense to leave when his time was up.

nomisnala said...

Affeldt was awesome in the post season, much more so than in the regular season.

Brother Bob said...

I don't give a damn about Hudson. He was lucky to get a piece of the action with the Giants. I will remember him for coming out of games very early, both yesterday and in game 7 of the World Series. Screw ex-A's pitchers. Hudson sucked less than Zito, I'll give him that.
Affeldt was great. HE will be missed.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Everyone who was part of a championship season is OK in my book. Even Aaron Rowand. No hard feelings here. They wore orange-and-black and contributed to the glory days of the SF franchise. All those cold nights and shitty teams back in the day make me eternally grateful for this recent run of success and to every guy who was part of it.

Ron said...

To add to what Mark said, this will now be our 7th consecutive year finishing above .500. This is the second longest prolonged period of not sucking that we have put together during my time as a Giants fan. And, one more year of plus .500, & we'll equal the other longish span (1997-2004). Of course, we won ZERO titles during that 8 year span, so 7 years which include 3 titles trumps that one by a long, long way.

The all-time SF Giants record is 11 years (1961-1971), but I was a little shaver, living in England from early 1961 through mid-1967, so, for me, that was only a 5-year span. I count 1967 as the year that my awareness & fan-dom started.

Given all of that, I also have no bitterness about anyone we've thrown out there. In fact, over the years, there's really only one standout shithead worthy of my bitterness (even that one's wearing off, ESPECIALLY because he is partly responsible for bringing us all together as Friends). We finished above .500 in 2 of his 8 years as a Giant (1976-1983).

You know what ... I think that we'll finish above .500 every year that our Roster includes a certain B. Posey. And, an additional title or two would be pretty cool, too.

Zo said...

There is no chance that the Giants would have a 2012 World Series ring without Zito. Almost every criticism of him is based on his salary. It's not his fault that the Giants were willing to throw WAY more money at him than anyone else was offering (if I remember correctly, it was something like 90 million dollars more). The guy did whatever was asked and never complained, and yes, gave the Giants some huge games when they were needed. Then there was Tim Hudson. 2014 game 2 v Washington, 7 1/3 innings, 1 run, 8 K. If there are teams that had players that are worthy of bitterness because of ex-Giants, it would have to be centered on ex-White Sox catchers.

Zo said...

Well said, Jeremy.

Zo said...

Then there's this from Baggarly on Ryan Vogelsong. The slant is a little different than what I picked up from the paper. I think it's clear that if Ryan Vogelsong is going to be a Giants, it will be as long relief. If he wants to start, it will be with another team (assuming, of course, that he has an offer).

M.C. O'Connor said...

Ron you forgot 2013, 76-86.

Ron said...

Oops ... somehow, 2013 didn't stick out in my mind as such a poor campaign. I guess that, given that it was bracketed by World Series titles, the sting must not have lasted. OK, so now we've started a 2-year streak, hopefully, to grow much longer.

M.C. O'Connor said...

I anticipate the team will continue with above-.500 seasons and that as long as they have Bum and Buster (and the farm system) they can build a contender.

As far as Vogie goes, I'm not surprised he still wants to start. But he's been on a decline since his excellent work in 2011 and 2012. Even last year he contributed some value as a starter, but I think his future, if there is one, is in relief. All the starters who aren't already on the payroll (Bum, Peave, Cain) are replaceable. Starting pitching was the team's Achilles Heel. I like Leake, and I'd be OK with trying to sign him, but he was a dud for much of his short time in orange-and-black. I don't know if that will change their minds about him. I really think they need to go after David Price. That's not been the Giants style, although they supposedly went hard for Jon Lester, and the team could have used a guy like that. Lester had a down year for him, and maybe this is his new level, but 21 QS, 2.92 FIP, 200+ IP, 3.0 WAR is damn good. They are expecting Cain to come back to something similar, and he might. A healthy Peavy for a whole season would be huge, but he'll be 35 so it is hard to say if he can deliver 30+ starts. LA, sad to say, is the new power in the West and they ride the backs of two ridiculous aces (and a $271M payroll, $100M more than SF) and the Giants will have to find ways to match up to get back to first place.

Ron said...

I might be wrong, but after the bad experiences with the Zito & Cain long-term Contracts, I really doubt that the Giants will be going in big on a Starting Pitcher any time soon. Lincecum's decline & injury prevented him from ever getting that deal - the Giants probably would have gone there, had his performance merited one. I think that reasonable targets for this off-season are Leake and/or Jordan Zimmermann on medium length, medium salary deals - getting both would be great. A rotation of Bumgarner, Cain, Zimmermann, Leake, & Peavy is pretty formidable. A co-Ace, like Price, is probably not going to happen.

Given that we won't spend big on a Pitcher, I hope that we do on a position player. I'd love to see us go for Yoenis Cespedes. I know that the Giants have publicly acknowledged that an Aoki / Byrd platoon would be fine with them. Not with me. Aoki is a huge defensive liability & has no power. Byrd is nice player, but very streaky. Pagan is declining. Blanco is a great #4 or 5 OF option. Another option we have is to acquire an everyday OF, move Posey more to 1B, Belt to LF, etc..

I don't know what move might be involved, but I have a gut feeling that the Giants may deal Belt. That would be sad, because we've seen Belt grow into a really good ballplayer. But, if we got someone important, it might be a move worth making.

And, like LA & a few other Teams, we really need to get into these instant overseas signing rights things, because we can afford to, & we can't afford to let everyone else do it, except us.

M.C. O'Connor said...

If you are going to blow a big wad on a guy he has to be a starter. You don't get the return on a position player unless he is a specialist, i.e. C, SS, CF. Almost all long-term contracts are bad--players age fast and you get most of the value in the early years. I hate to say it but OFs are a "dime a dozen" and you can get a solid guy for very little in relative terms. Look at what they got out of Morse! This is not a knock on Cespedes who is having a sensational second half, just a recognition of baseball economics. I could see the Giants going after mid-tier starters (I like the Zimmerman idea) but I would be reluctant to chase a guy to play LF, and Cespedes will have multiple suitors and will get a fat contract. Hell, even Hunter Pence broke down this year and he was Ironman Supreme. And Pence adds a lot of value with his range and speed. Most of Byrd's value is in HRs, he just doesn't hit well enough otherwise. I've been surprised by his glove work, he is pretty solid out there. But he is too damn old. I would rather take a chance on youth.

I agree Belt may be the guy they move if anyone. He's a fine player and I'd miss him but eventually the young catchers in the system will allow Posey to move to 1B. Perhaps Belt is the LF solution. We know he can hit, I don't think it is a stretch for him to learn LF. He's got good wheels and good hands.


Brother Bob said...

I wasn't around for 76-83 so I don't know who Ron was talking about.

Zo said...

a) Why do you think that Zimmerman would settle for a mid-price, mid-year contract?
b) Dealing Belt means that Posey is OK with being the full-time first baseman. Not US being OK with it, Buster being OK with it.
c) Without looking at Leake's performance before he got to San Francisco, all I will say is that he blew chow when he could help the team and looked like a stud when it was about his free agency.
d) Tim Lincecum was never on a long term contract because he didn't want one. The Giants would have put him on a long term contract up until his last (2 year) contract.
e) When the Giants had Aoki playing lead off, they won a lot of games. There is a lot more to that than just Aoki, but there it is.
f) I was thinking that maybe Kelby Tomlinson would be a good trade chip - but with Joe Panik not having a healthy back, he is absolutely not touchable.
g) Maybe Trevor Brown or Andrew Susac is trade-able. Two good looking, very young catchers that seem to be able to play in the show. We probably don't need both of them.
h) Heston has not looked good for awhile. Remember when he was a lock for next year's rotation? Maybe a winter will help him, maybe not.
i) Remember when the Giants were leading the league in runs scored? It does not seem to me that we have a problem with our position players, other than their health.
k) The Giants will have to swim in the free agent pool, and it will be for pitching.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Did you guys see the Willie Mac Award thing last night? I thought the parade of ex-winners was very cool. And Ron, Darrell Evans looked damn good for being almost 70. In fact, they all looked surprisingly fit. Lots of times the old jocks age fast. Not these guys. Tiny Felder, Larry Herndon, Chris Speier, etc. They all looked good. Both Sue and I picked Duffy to win. That was a no-brainer. If BCraw had been healthy all year he'd have been a lock. But Duffy was deserving, his rookie campaign was the high point of 2015. Oh, and Jack Clark was funny and insightful with Kruk and Kuip. He says what's on his mind and his honesty was refreshing. He's a real motor mouth. I remember when he was a youngster he had a slow, measured way of speaking--not any more.

Darrell Evans: easily the most under-rated and under-appreciated ballplayer of his time.

SIR said...

Bob - You must remember that JP & MC met Ron at The Stick because he always sat in Section 30, seat 17? of row ? and would stand up and rant when Darrell Evans was up so they called him "The Darrell Evans hater" until they finally decided they had to introduce themselves. The rest is history as Zo was Ron's friend and we all proceeded to sit in Section 30 for the rest of its time before the new bleachers.

Ron said...

Sec. 30, Row 18, Seat 6. Fuck Darrell Evans.

Sorry Zo, but, in my book, Aoki is a crappy ball player. He is a farce in the field & is weak at the plate. OF'ers need some thump. I'd rather see any of our other OF'ers out there, young or old.

Zimmermann will not be getting superstar $. These days, mid-$, mid-years means $12-18M per year for 3 or 4 years. Zimmermann's in that category.

Here's another name to consider: Iwakuma. Very under-appreciated, very effective Pitcher.

M.C. O'Connor said...

The Giants have such a strong infield that they can mix-and-match differently in the outfield. And I disagree about Aoki--"crappy ballplayer" he is not. Sure, he has some weaknesses in his game, but they all do. He can bring positive value to a club with his high OBP, good contact/low strikeout skills, baserunning, etc. His glove isn't great but it works with his range and speed to be effective. We've seen bad OF play (Mike Morse, for example) and Aoki is not that. My concern regarding him is age, he'll be 34 next year and with the injuries added on I doubt he can be a full-time starter anymore.

Ron said...

WAR 0.9, dWAR < 0 ... we can do better. A Team with the resources at our disposal should do much better.