1st inning: 6-12
2nd inning: 6-12
3rd inning: 10-8
4th inning: 4-14
5th inning: 8-10
6th inning: 7-11
7th inning: 9-9
8th inning: 6-12
9th inning: 8-10
The final tally for 2017 is 64-98 (.395), 40 games out of first place and 23 games behind the wildcard. The Giants tie the Detroit Tigers for the worst record and will get rewarded with the number two overall pick in the 2018 June draft (the Giants had a better 2016 record than the Tigers).
It was a season in which everything went wrong. The team was a disaster from the opening bell and never found its footing. Considering the expectations and track record you could argue it was the worst season ever for the San Francisco Giants. The team was 16th of the 30 ML squads in runs allowed per game (4.79); they were 29th in runs scored per game (3.94). The league average for RA/RS was 4.65, I think you can see the problem. They couldn't hit and the pitching was sub-par. They also couldn't play the field or run the bases. The only players on the club with anything close to their expected performances were Buster Posey (.320/.400/.462, 4.3 fWAR) and Jeff Samardzija (207-2/3 IP, 3.8 fWAR).
One of the things about being a sports fan is that the outcomes are random. If you like movies of a particular ilk, say rom-coms or super-hero franchises, you can pick those when you go out and you will stand a good chance of getting your money's worth. If you go to the circus or to the opera you have a pretty good idea of what to expect. Sporting events don't give us that luxury. You have to take a risk--the performance could be a dud. Imagine if Broadway musicals had the variation we see in ballgames. Tuesday night's Hamilton could really stink but Sunday's would be epic, for example. Who would stand such a thing?
What we learn in life is to take the bitter with the sweet. There's no way to separate the bad from the good as the world is all jumbled up. It's not neat out there, it's messy, and it can't be untangled. We love the Giants so they drive us crazy. If we didn't care it would be a lot easier. But we do, so it isn't. We cry "wait 'til next year" when things are bleak. The 2018 Giants may be bad, or they may bounce back, there's no way to know for sure. One thing I'm sure of is that I'll be right here, chiming in on my beloved orange-and-blackers, and hoping you'll join me.
As always, my heartfelt thanks to all of you for reading, lurking, commenting, and posting. This is our 10th full season of blogging here at RMC, that's over 2200 posts! Writing about the Giants has taught me much about myself. It's brought into focus my lifelong relationship to baseball, allowed me to muse often on the nature of fandom, and forced me to ride out the highs and lows with some degree of equanimity. I can't wait to see what next year brings.
--M.C.
p.s. Baseball is a slow, sluggish game with frequent and trivial interruptions, offering the spectator many opportunities to reflect at leisure upon the situation on the field. This is what a fan loves most about the game. --Edward Abbey (from Vox Clamantis in Deserto)
5 comments:
Baseball is a slow, sluggish game with frequent and trivial interruptions, offering the spectator many opportunities to reflect at leisure upon the situation on the field. This is what a fan loves most about the game. --Edward Abbey (from Vox Clamantis in Deserto)
This is what MLB is trying to eliminate, the opportunity to reflect at leisure upon the situation on the field. The opportunity to reflect at leisure..... To what end? To fit into a televised format (I suppose). In a year where the ball has been smoothed out and hardened (to the Giants detriment) so as to produce more home runs, more offense, the quotes from MLB on how they want to speed up the game ring hollow. It is this, the misguided attempt to make the game an ear-splitting multi-media deluge to constantly distract the young minds that they believe will fill the stands, not the Giants' failures that will drive me from the game.
Enough about MLB (except for the smooth ball). I have yet much to get off my chest about this season. I have many questions to ask and many conclusions to make. I have spent all season in angst, and will need to take to this blog to relieve that angst. Either of our readers are invited to respond, and may doing so help you recover, too.
"Pace of game" means "pace of TV breaks."
I am fine with the pace of the game for the most part. Just do not like all the times, the pitcher and the batter, go in and out of the next pitch with some kind of kabuki dance. Baseball has a great pace, MLB, don't go changing it. Bad enough you went to the DL in the American league. Leave the rest alone. If you want to make up for the video call correction, which they still get wrong half the time, don't. The pace if fine.
I would like to see the home plate umpires have more discretion. Batters should not step out of the box and the ump should be able to say "batter up" and assess a penalty (a called strike) if he judges the batter to be delaying the game. Same with pitchers who take half a minute to throw a goddamn pitch--the ump should be able to assess a penalty (calling a ball) for delaying the game. Ultimately robots will call balls and strikes so why not give the home plate ump control over the movement of people and the pace of play?
I also think video review is too slow. I think teams should get unlimited reviews but they don't get to view it first and then decide. They should have to call it immediately. Once you get, say, two or three reviews wrong you lose the ability to make reviews. Of course umps should be able to ask for a review on their own. The crew should be able to consult each other before making a final call.
I think you could limit the number of pitcher-catcher visits, right now those are unlimited. Perhaps three per inning or something like that? I think those things could improve the spectator's experience. The other ideas (like limiting the number of pitching changes) seem pointless. And that stupid rule about intentional walks, wow look at all the time that saved! Baseball is a slow game, that's OK with me. A few tweaks here and there, perhaps could help. Unfortunately TV runs the show and that's what ruins the viewing experience. They don't broadcast games so much as run a TV show that happens to have a game in the background.
I read somewhere that the IBB rule saved 7.5 minutes. Not per game, for all of 2017. That's absurd. But I like your other ideas of moving the game by limiting those endless step-out-and-fuck-around-with-your-batting-gloves at bats and the pitching equivalent.
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