Nats win 3-0 in SF
The Giants couldn't do anything on Memorial Day other than create a little melodrama. Hunter Strickland hit Bryce Harper (below the belt I might add) in the 8th and that was the gasoline on the fire Harper needed to go bananas and go after Strickland. He charged the mound, feinting a helmet toss which got Strickland to flinch, then the two traded blows before the teams spilled out. The scariest/stupidest moment was Jeff Samardzija and Michael Morse knocking heads in the scrum. I'm hoping they are thick-skulled enough so I don't have to worry. Harper is the volatile sort, and it seemed like he way over-reacted, but Strickland's madness lasted longer and it took three teammates to drag him off the field. Plenty of silliness to go around. Both were ejected, of course. (Oh, Harper's run wound up scoring, just to rub salt in the wound, not that it mattered.) It was the only thing worth writing about today and that ought to tell you something. Moore pitched well and got Cained, ho-hum, that's the 2017 Giants in a nutshell.
--M.C.
11 comments:
After one day of moving out of last place for runs scored in the N.L. the giants moved right back into the cellar. Posey continues to be stuck at 11 RBI despit 2 hits. Right now ESPN has him at a pace to hit less than 34 RBI for the season at this pace. Rendon has 10 RBI in one game this season. Moore was good, and the pitch that went for a Home run looked like he threw it right to the target. Mistake idea for a good high ball hitter. Giants hitters once again seem to have deep warning track power. Hope we do not lose Nunez for long. Was a bit upset at the choice of hit and runs where both our guys were thrown out at second with time to spare. Clutch hitting once again non existant. We now are still tied with Washington for the most quality starts with 32, not sure if St. Louis held up their end. I keep waiting for a giants 10 game winning streak to get back into the race, but it looks like I may have to wait until next year.
Flemming's national TV partner, Eduardo Perez, wanted to make a big deal about Posey not jumping out to get in-between Harper & Strickland. My guess is that Strickland's been telling everyone in the Clubhouse for 2 1/2 years that he was going to do this. Buster probably told him to get over it & forget about it. So, when it happened, Buster probably just figured 'Fuck him ... he'll have to take care of it himself.' I thought it was pretty dumb, especially in a tight Game. Then, the run scored to make it less tight.
They talked about this a lot on the radio. Harper is a hothead. But then, so is Strickland. They had faced off only 2 x before, both in the playoffs and both times, Harper homered. Both times, Harper stood and watched his home run. Harper, by the way, has been tossed 9 times. That seems a lot for a young man. So the first guy was Moore and the second was Smardjy. Those are two guys I would not want to tangle with. The thing is, at this point, a 10 game win streak would not really get the Giants "back into it" given that the Rox would probably win at least 5. They need like, 20.
That whole scene involving Strickland & Harper yesterday was stupid enough - mostly, stupid on Strickland's part. But, the ridiculous way that, after Harper had long since gone to the Clubhouse, Strickland 'battled' w/ 3 of his own Teammates, attempting to resist leaving the Field was reprehensible. So, you had Pence, still on the DL, Kontos, who ended up needing to pitch immediately, & Williamson all risking injury, because that dumb clown had to continue w/ his fit - to what end? Who the fuck knows? Did he want to run out on the field to fight Dusty Baker? This was way dumber than a Manager continuing to yell at the Umps, after being ejected. This was just a dopey, violent, testosterone-laced clown risking the health of his own Teammates. Hope that he gets suspended for a long time; kind of hope that he gets DFA'd. 2 1/2 years he waited to fuck up our slim chances to win a close game w/ his little vendetta, one induced by his own shitty 2014 pitching ... nice job, Hunter.
Strickland is an interesting case, an 18th round pick (564th player chosen) by the Red Sox in 2007 (Bumgarner was no. 10 that year, Price no. 1), Giants picked him up off waivers in 2013. He's made himself into an effective pitcher, esp this year cutting down on homers, tho the walks are still an issue. Not many guys that low on the draft totem pole become major-leaguers.
Hopefully Boch will sit Strickland down and say "hit your spots and not your opponents" and he'll grow up and move on. Everyone fucks up, but not everyone learns from it. Let's hope he does.
I would understand Harper's charging the mound a lot more if the ball had been thrown at his head. How many times did Drysdale throw at Mays? and how many times did Mays rush him? How many times in Mays entire career was the suspended? He was probably thrown at as much as anyone in baseball. When the game was over it showed Posey with a 340 batting average having gone 2 for 3, But when I check the official averages today it has him only at 333. Was one of his recent hits taken away? The Ten game win streak is to get back in the race, not to lead it. But even 10 games out at this time is not insurmountable.
For what it's worth, I think this spells the end of the Strickland-as-closer-in-waiting experiment. He is still young, but has hardly been as consistent as he needs to be. He clearly does not have the temperament, either. I read where Bochy was quoted as having a talk with him about "We don’t do things (differently) from what I ordinarily want us to do." I would not be surprised to see him gone. I don't know if that will happen soon, maybe at the end of the season. It will be interesting to see what happens with Harper, too. He's got one more year on his contract, but if he keeps getting himself into fights and ejected, I can see teams being reluctant to give him his $300 million contract, or whatever he said he wanted. I also read where Pence might be suspended, for rushing the field when he was not on the active roster. That would be great.
With the increased wealth and job security in the game there ought to be less reason to plunk someone or to respond to a plunking by charging the mound. Hell these guys have often played on the same traveling or all-star teams in the course of their careers, even at the amateur and minor-league levels. Plus with free agency and players moving and changing clubs it seems nuts to have feuds that escalate to brawls. One day your enemy may be your wing man! Obviously benches-clearing 'incidents' are still part of the game's culture, which is unfortunate, but I don't see that changing. There's too much at stake (fame/infamy, glory, money), and the 24-hour ultra-slo-mo video scrutiny, instant social media response, constant "analysis" by "experts", all that adds to the pressure cooker. The one-on-one batter-pitcher matchup is a very high intensity event and it's easy for guys to lose perspective when things go wrong, even professionals. Not everyone has Buster Posey's sangfroid! (Admittedly it would be kind of dull if they did.)
If you like hearing ballplayers talk about their craft (I do) there's an article on FanGraphs about fly balls and Joey Votto has several observations. He's a very serious man when it comes to hitting (big surprise) and has some interesting things to say. FanGraphs is convinced that more players are deliberately taking a fly-ball approach, changing their swing planes to be more uppercut rather than level. Home runs and strikeouts are definitely up, so there may be something to it, but these things take time to reach any definitive conclusions. That bias colors the article somewhat, but it's still Votto talking hitting, and that guy knows a thing or two.
Strickland is arb-eligible for 2018 and isn't a free agent until 2022. I'm not sure the Giants will give up on a cost-controlled guy who throws big heat. Who else do they have that can bring it 96/97? I'm hoping they'll find a way to make good use of him, obviously Melancon is the closer, but there are plenty of spots in the late innings where you need a strikeout guy. So he has some growing up to do--is that such a big deal? Look how long they worked with Sandoval, talk about a man-child, I would think a good organization would focus on the positives and look to help him control his emotions and improve his behavior. Lots of ballplayers spent years in the bigs with way more nutty out-of-control nonsense than what we've seen here.
Harper has more talent than half of the Giants roster, and he's not yet 25. He'll get his, I'm sure of that. He's just the kind of player the Giants need, don't you think? Sure would help the lineup! They probably can't shed enough salary to afford him esp. with MadBum in line to get a big contract real soon. Plus it's not the Giants way to put all their eggs in one basket.
Orlando Calixte called out on strikes on a full count with runners on second and third two outs. He is called out on a pitch low and inside, ending the inning. Calixte is a hacker, and swings at anything close. There seems to be a pattern here of bad calls just when the giants are on the brink of a two out rally. This has to be the third or fourth time this week that an ump took the bat or the rally away from the giants on a terrible ball and strike call. I think at this point we need electronic calling of balls and strikes.
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