SF 9 PHI 6
The Giants played a remarkable and memorable game this afternoon in San Francisco and took three of four from the Phillies with a come-from-behind win. Eight Giants pitchers gave up ten hits and walked eleven guys but prevailed behind a resurgent offense. Rookie Conner Menez was staked to a two-run lead but was out of the game in the next inning for fellow rookie Jandel Gustave and suddenly it was 5-2 Phils. Andrew Suarez and Trevor Gott righted the ship and the lineup battled back to take a 6-5 lead. Reyes Moronta and Williams Jerez held on but Tony Watson gave up the tying run in the 8th. Will Smith was called in to get the long save, which he did, but in the meantime got a two-RBI single during the Giants winning rally! It was crazy but in the end the Giants won a thrilling game on national TV. Mike Yastrezemski, Evan Longoria, Scooter Gennett, and Kevin Pillar were the hitting heroes.
The boys are off tomorrow and then the Athletics come to town for two. Madison Bumgarner matches up with Brett Anderson Tuesday night at 6:45 Pacific.
GO GIANTS!
--M.C.
p.s. The Giants retired Will Clark's number--22--in a pre-game ceremony honoring the 1989 pennant-winning club. He's certainly worthy. But I can't help but think of another Clark--Jack--also number 22, who could really rake and played over a thousand ballgames in a Giants uniform. Jack rates about 30 WAR in his tenure in orange-and-black, with Will about 35.
19 comments:
As big a Fan of the Nuschler as I am, & in addition to the Jack Clark issue, retiring Will's # sets a pretty low threshold for retired numbers. If Will's gets retired, then doesn't that mean that, at the very least, Posey, Cain, Lincecum, Romo, Affeldt, Crawford, & Bochy should all get retired numbers? That's 7 more retired numbers in the very near future. Seems excessive. And, what about Wotus???
What should be the WAR threshold for retiring numbers? Will's is less than any other retired number with the exception of Monte Irvin's, who of course was exceptional in that he was the first black player signed after Jackie Robinson. McCovey and Terry are at 54, WAR's increase from there.
Yesterday saw 3 pitchers get their first major league at-bat. Gustave, Gott and Smith. Hasn't happened since 1934.
Also, I have a new favorite radio commercial. I heard it the other day in the car and laughed out loud, but had to hear it again to make sure I actually heard what I thought.
The tag line is, "Baseball success depends on the visibility of your data." So, teams that have their signs stolen do better? I love this, it's just a bunch of words thrown together that have nothing to do with each other. But, of course, it has the word "data" in it, so probably everyone is just accepting whatever it is they're selling regardless of the complete non-sequitur of a sentence.
Yeah we were joking about the team running out of numbers! Will works for the team so that changes the relationship a bit. Perhaps one of those guys will do that at the end of his playing days (BCraw?). I think Posey should be the next manager. And you left out Belt, Lopez, Casilla, and of course Sandoval.
I forgot to mention Bumgarner.
I left out the other 4 guys on purpose:
- At the risk of igniting another series of comments about a much-visited topic, Belt has yet to put together a truly excellent Season.
- As important as he was, Lopez didn't rack up very many innings.
- As important as he was, Casilla was not as consistently good in the clutch as Romo & Affeldt.
- Sandoval's Giants' WAR is not that great.
And, if those 4 guys deserve consideration, so does Pence.
The guys that I did list either had awesome post-Season or, in the case of Lincecum, had important regular Season honors (or had both).
I don't think any of those numbers will be retired, including Boch. Like I said, Will has a long post-playing days relationship with the club and I've no doubt that was part of it. And he was hugely popular. Seems like only Timmy has generated that kind of fan worship since then, and I find it impossible to imagine Timmy returning to the organization, or even to working in MLB. I suspect we might see him at a team reunion one of these days.
The rest of the retired numbers are HoFers (except for Barry of course). Clearly the criteria are flexible!
As far as WAR goes, only MadBum and Buster are ahead of Will. Bobby Bonds is one conspicuous missing player, but he was #25 like his son!
If they stay w/ the Giants, Posey & Bumgarner are locks. Bochy probably, too. The rest should be marginal, but elevating Will seems to throw the whole thing off. Will has done some post-career stuff, but he hasn't been in any full-time capacity for very long.
Changing the subject, this should be an easy quiz, but some time has gone by now & maybe memories are getting fuzzier, so:
Can anyone name the other 3 prominent future ML players who were Will's Teammates at Mississippi State? No cheating.
Hints:
- One of them has > 500 MLB HR's.
- For 18 years, one of them held the single season Saves record.
- The other played part of his career for the Giants, & later led the league in Saves one Season.
Palmiero?
The save did not go to Smith, but the win did. He gave up a sac fly with a man on third, thus losing the save without giving up a hit. Great game for the giants as they had to beat the Phillies and the home plate ump. Great fight on the Panda's birthday, with the Panda on the bench.
Palmeiro is the answer the first one. How about the two Pitchers?
Come on guys. More hints?:
Last name of #2 rhymes w/ name of a Peanuts carácter.
Last name of #3 is same as a 2019 AL All-Star.
Thigpen?
I must admit "guys with a lot of saves" aren't very high on my baseball memory list.
Lee Smith?
Giants send Menez back down and pick up a new pitcher (Burch Smith) while DFAing another recent claim (Ryan Dull). Roster-bation, baby.
The 2020 schedule is out for all you planners!
Congratulations, Barbara - Thigpen is the answer to #2.
#3 played for Giants, Reds, Cardinals, Phillies, & Rangers. He's now a Reds' broadcaster.
Will Clark, Rafael Palmeiro, Bobby Thigpen, & Jeff Brantley were Teammates at Mississippi State from 1983 through 1985. Clark was drafted by the Giants w/ the #2 pick in Round 1; Palmeiro was picked by the Cubs #22 in Round 1; Thigpen went to the White Sox in Round 4; Brantley was picked by the Giants in Round 6. A pretty amazing group from the same College in the same Draft.
Mississippi State lost to eventual Champions Miami - depending upon how you look at things, they finished 3rd or 4th.
By the way, the #1 pick in Round 1 was B. J. Surhoff, picked by the Brewers. Other 1st Round notables were Bobby Witt (#3), Barry Larkin (#5), BARRY BONDS (#6), Pete Incaviglia (#8), Walt Weiss (#11), Joe Magrane (#18), & Joey Cora (#23). The Big Unit was the #8 pick in Round 2.
I forgot all about Jeff Brantley.
That's a lot of talent in one round of the draft. Of the 28 guys however, 8 never made it to the majors and another 8 had less than 10 WAR. It's not easy to find star ballplayers, even in the first round!
Tyler Beede talks about how he developed his changeup.
For Tyler he needs to continue to develop it.
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