Ouch

PHI 9  SF 6
You don't expect Tony Watson to give it up when he enters the game, but by golly even that happens. "That's why they play the game." There's a bromide for ya.

Tyler Beede was confoundingly rookie-esque. He whiffed seven guys in five frames, but also gave up five runs. The Giants battled back most epically, but Bryce Harper splash-hitted, and it was done. All-Name Team candidate Jandel Gustave delivered some fine relief work.

*Smardj tomorrow afternoon. The Giants need a winning streak!

--M.C.


*if Samardzija was something like "Virgil Creed" or "Horatio Storm" instead of "Jeffrey Alan" he'd be right up there with Brock Stassi, Johneshwy Fargas, Hamlet Marte, and Caleb Baragar.

The Commodification of Madison Bumgarner

I got in the car this morning, and the radio was still set to the AM dial from yesterday's game.  Too early for game-time, KNBR was on some sports talk show (I abhor sports talk radio).  Before I could switch the channel, I hear some dickhead talking about how Madison Bumgarner would look great in a Yankees uniform.

Madison Bumgarner would not look great in a Yankees uniform.  Madison Bumgarner in a Yankees uniform would be a fucking tragedy.  Moreover, it would be a glaring indictment of how badly our former mis-management had let our farm system go to hell.  We will soon, as the constant stream of commentary would have it, be trading away our best players.  Think about that for a minute.  Trading away your best players.  Why?  Because that is the corner we have been backed into, and nearly everyone else has a no-trade contract or has no value.  Maybe back a few years we got a bit more out of some players coming up through the farm system than we should have (Tim Lincecum comes to mind).   Maybe we got a bit less than we should have more recently (Mac Williamson, perhaps).  But what is stunningly clear is that there was no plan to replenish our team with young talent from within or from outside the country.  Instead we went with the "sign a name and hope the band-aid works" style of management and pissed away our future.  As a result, our wonderful, wonderful core players; Buster Posey, Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford, Joe Panik, and yes, Madison Bumgarner are sure to never see another world series, at least not in a Giants uniform.

LA has a team with a 2016 Rookie of the Year, a 2017 RoY and NL MVP, and Walker Buehler, who debuted at the end of 2017 and pitched LA to their only victory in the 2018 World Series.  The Giants rookies are 25 and 28 years old.  The Giants lost 1 - 0 and are now 18 games behind.

Madison Bumgarner threw a great ball game.  He was allowed to stay in for 7 innings (removed for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the 7th with no one on and 2 outs.  He threw only 86 pitches, struck out 5 and walked 1.  He gave up 4 hits.  Unfortunately, 1 of those was a home run to Max Muncy in the 1st inning.  (Muncy's 13th.  He is third on LA in home runs.  The leading Giant is Belt with 9.)  Walker Buehler pitched 8 innings, struck out 9 and allowed 5 hits and walked 1.  The Giants were 0 for 7 with RISP, including the bottom of the 5th when they had a runner at 1st and 3rd with no outs..  Yesterday, they were 1 for 11.

Another Gem, Wasted Of Course

You really didn't expect anything different, did you?

Madbum threw a fine game.  7 innings, 100 pitches, 0 runs, 3 walks, 5 hits and several scrapes escaped.  He exited with the lead.  Brandon Crawford was again responsible for the Giants offense, with a double and the run scored courtesy of Chase d'Arnaud.

Ray Black gave it up in the 8th.  He has pitched well, not giving up a run in about 10 outings since his first, shaky debut.  Houston hit a home run with a man on base, because, of course they did.  The final score was 2 - 1.

Giants failed to score Alen Hanson after his lead-off triple in the 7th, because, of course.  I heard the announcers claim that the Giants have more blown saves (25) than any other major league team.  I assume they mean blown saves and holds, as today's fail was not technically a save situation.  It was not in the 9th inning.  No matter.

I like well pitched, low scoring games.  I realize that's an anomaly in today's market, where the goal seems to be more runs in less time elapsed.  I did not enjoy today's game.  As the innings mounted, I expected the Giants to cough it up, and they did.  I do not like listening to a game with this feeling.

Blach - Blah - Bah!

For a team that puts more effort into their myriad of uniform color schemes than they do into their baseball, Arizona certainly has had their way with us so far.

That's a grand total of 2 wins for the Giants of 7 meetings between the teams so far this year.  Ty Blach on the mound, he pitched well enough to win.  Not well enough for the Giants to win, but for another team.  He allowed 2 runs in 6 innings, threw 92 pitches, gave up 3 walks and 6 hits.  That seems pretty typical of what we can expect from Ty - he can keep us close and generate a lot of ground balls by which to get outs.  He struck out 4 tonight, he only has struck out 13 in 5 starts.  Tonight's score in yet another losing effort was 3 - 1.  Moronta gave up a run - his first on the year.  Brandon Belt hit a solo home run.

This was the Giants' 18th game - 1 inning as it were.  I'm sure Mark has some thoughts to post about that.   Some brief thoughts of mine:  This was the 10th time that the Giants have not been able to score more than 1 run.  10.  Of only 18 games.  Is this team even capable of playing .400 ball?  I am finding it very difficult to watch Giants baseball.

Ty Tired, Bum Bummed

Ty and Madison on the mound to start our season-concluding push against the western division.  That is where titles, and playoff spots are often won and lost.  Neither will be the case this year for the Giants, but there is something on the line.  That is: pride.  If they are going to compete next year, they are going to have to win against the Western Division.  There is no way around that inevitable truth.  And, if the Giants are going to compete next year, they are going to do it with much the same cast that they have today.  Not entirely, that can't happen, but probably most of them.   And among those guys, 2 of the ones you want on the list to actually be here next year are Ty Blach and Madison Bumgarner.

Ty Blach threw his third game in a row where he was not effective.  You could say that he was better than his previous 2 starts - 6 earned runs against both Miami and Philadelphia is 6 and 5 1/3 innings, respectively.   And in fact, he pitched pretty well, with one exception.  That was to Paul Goldschmidt in the 3rd inning with 1 run in and 2 runners on base.  That made the score 4 - 1 in favor of the dbacks.  After that, the Giants chipped away.  Chip, chip, chip.  But the best they could come up with was 3 for their 78th loss of the year and a final score of 4 - 3.  The thing is, in Arizona, you have to be able to put runs on the board.  Like in Colorado.  Dink-ball doesn't do it when one mistake to Goldschmidt can ruin your shit.  Brandon Crawford, was good though, getting 3 hits and scoring twice.  It is time to ask whether Ty is pooping out on the season.  That would be understandable, he has given us 144 1/3 innings, is not quite 27 and this is his first season in the major leagues (except for his most auspicious debut last year).  Still, as much as I am sure Bochy & Co. would like to see him get a full season in, but with Matt Cain available and Johnny Cueto rehabbing, his starts may be numbered.

Saturday: Put your ace on the mound and chalk up your 79th loss of the season.  I wouldn't put any money on the Giants NOT losing 100 games this season.   The 3 runs the Giants scored yesterday would have been plenty, but today they couldn't muster that.  In Arizona.  They lost, 2 -1.  To some guy named Tai-Wheezy.  Christ.  The player nickname promotion stinks of a MLB marketing guy who hasn't done anything but bullshit around the water cooler since he was hired 3 years ago until his manager finally caught on and was told to come up with something or lose his job.  Half the players don't even have nicknames, so they have to make them up for this shit.  It's terrible, as was the Giants offense.  Madbum went 7, struck out 7, gave up 5 hits and walked 1.  2 of those hits were home runs, with no baserunners.  That happens in Arizona.  It used to happen more when the Giants batted.  Jarrett Parker hit one, too, with no one on, and that, of course, was the extent of the Giants' offense.  Buster Posey is 0 for Arizona, and frankly, has looked bad doing it.  In fact, the top 4 hitters in the Giants line-up have 3 hits.  For 2 games.  Parker had 2 of them today and the other one came last night.  Crawford had a hit, now that he finally seems to have figured out his swing, Posey can't see the ball.

Taijuan Walker is new on the dbacks this year, so of course he befuddled the Giants.  If I were another team in the western division, I would just call up some minor leaguers the Giants have never seen before for September to face us.  It probably doesn't even matter if they are really pitchers or not.  I am so sick of getting beat by new/minor league/mediocre pitchers.  We do better against Greinke than against Tai-fucking-Wheezy.  The Giants washed out creamsickle-colored orange jerseys look.  Like.  Shit.  I'll give Joe Panik some credit, the nickname he put on his jersey is Panik.  Why would you want to mess with a name like that?  Ty actually is already a nickname.  So is Buster.   As much as I want to see someone, anyone, knock the cubs out of the NL Central lead, let's just can the season now, shall we?

The Magic Disappearing Offense

Step right up, ladies and gentlemen!  See the eighth wonder of the world!  Or maybe the ninth!  Or, maybe, it's no wonder at all!  A team that scores 11 runs one night, and only 1 the very next!  Hurry!  Hurry!  Hurry!  See your ace get skunked by [fill in blank, doesn't much matter....]; see that winning attitude, that championship spirit, that confidence disappear into thin air!  See it before they're gone like yesterday's breeze.

Madison Bumgarner.  Pitched good.  7, 5, 2 and 7.  Lost.  Of course!  3 hits.  None got out of the infield.  None.  I know it's a "different" day, and a "different" team, except it's really not.  It's the magical 2017 San Francisco Giants.  Watch closely....Poof!  They're gone!  Were they really ever there at all? 

San Diego...................and Another Giant Loss

Well, it's not like the Giants were facing pushover teams like last year's World Series runners-up.  No.  They were facing the tough, tough Padres, who lead the league in just about everything.   Wait, what?  They aren't even a .500 team?  I thought they were at least .850 for the season they way they manhandle the Giants with all their All Stars.  What, they have guys that were in A ball on their team?  Gosh.   Maybe the Giants aren't a really good team after all.  An unsurprising loss, at home, to team that is (unlike the Giants) intentionally crappy, 5 - 2.

We are now 3 - 7 against the Padres.  Oddly, the Giants are almost inversely successful against teams in the west.  We actually have a winning record, at this point, against the doggers.  I do not expect that to last.  We play better against the dbacks, then slightly better against the pudres than the roxies (.300 vs .285).   Weird.

Madison Bumgarner vs Jhoulys Chacin, who, as usual had the Giants flummoxed.  Bumgarner got through the first, then gave up a quick hit and a 2 run blast in the 2nd, then another 2 run shot in the 7th.  Madison gave us 6 1/3 innings, gave up 4 earned runs on 6 hits.  He walked 1 and struck out 5.  Kontos gave up the Padres 5th run, and Crick gave us 1 2/3 innings and looked pretty good.  Nunez and Span got rbi's for the Giants.  As usual, they had several chances to tie the game or take the lead, but they did not do that.  Beating San Diego?  No, we don't do that, either.

We Are Owned By the Worst in the West

The San Diego Padres are our daddies.  They totally own us.  Say it.  Say it out loud.  How does that feel?  Does it feel good?  It feels sort of like your stomach when you have a case of food poisoning.  Can you name the starting pitcher for the Padres from Monday when we were shut out (without looking)?  Can you name today's starting pitcher?  No and no.  We beat this team 9 games out of 9 before the half, and have lost to them all 6 games since then.  And it is not because they have gotten much better.  Jesus fucking christ.  Just when we finally, finally get some momentum, something positive from this utter shit-pile of a 2nd half, we come home to look just as bad as imaginable.  Can we get shut out by nobody pitchers?  Can we get a couple runs and then give them up with 2 strikes and 2 outs in the 9th inning?  Can we repeat our offensive ineptitude with our ace on the mound?  Yes, Yes and Yes.

Madison Bumgarner pitched.  106 times, to be exact, for 6 2/3 innings.  He gave up 3 earned runs, walked 2 and struck out 5.  So what?  The Giants lost 3 - 1.  Pence, Belt, Panik and Gillaspie, 1 hit.  Each.  Span, Pagan, Posey and Crawford, 0.  Each and collectively.  I am sick of these games where the announcers are talking about the Giants in the pennant race.  They're hunting nothing.  The Giants are aiming at their own feet and can't even hit those.  I am sick of seeing minor leaguers put in games because the regulars are so irregular.  If this team was somewhere about Rockiesville, that might be enjoyable.  As it is, it only reminds me of very far from contention we are, regardless of what the standings say.  If the doggers were anywhere near competent, this would not be any kind of a race at all.  The Cardinals are the next team to be invited into our stadium to rip into our soft underbellies.

Giants Slip Further Back

You had your ace on the mound and had a day off.  But it didn't matter, the Giants lost again and slipped to 2 games behind LA for the division lead.  Madison Bumgarner on the mound.  He gave up 5 runs and every one of them was earned.  Turner had a bunch of hits, new guy Segedin homered, and of course: Gonzalez.  Madison lasted only 5, threw 96 pitches, struck out 7 and walked 1.  9 hits.  Kenta Maeda was also chased, he only lasted 5, threw 103 pitches and gave up 3 runs.  After Madison, Gearrin gave up 2 and then Lopez gave up a 2-run home run to a lefty, new guy Toles.  The Giants showed a little moxie in the early innings, but that evaporated by the time the relievers came on.  LA kept scoring, the Giants barely had any hits (1 in the 6th, Span a meaningless hr in the 9th).  9 - 5 final.

11 and 24 since the ASB.  The doggers since then are 21 - 15.  Hardly stellar, but it beats a team that can't manage to win 1/3 of their games.  The dogger hitters are hot.   The Giants aren't.  Shit.

Madison Throws a Gem

The Giants cruised to victory today on the back of a strong, 1 run, 2 hit pitching gem from Madison Bumgarner, with plenty of run support.   Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.  No. The Giants Don't Do That.  1 - 0, another loss.

In fact, even when they had a chance, they wanted nothing to do with it.  4th inning, 2 outs and Posey standing at 2nd after his lead-off double.  Panik singles to center to the weak-armed Ben Revere.  Posey was held at  3rd to give Gregor (5 for 38 since the ASB) a shot.  Of course that was an out.  Why do I even bother to type it?  Brandon Belt hit one over Revere's head in the 7th with Span at 3rd and Pagan at 2nd.  But Revere ran it down and caught it with his back to the infield.  Yes, that was also the 3rd out of that inning.  Giants were 1 for 9 with RISP, and that 1 did not, of course, result in a run. 

Madison Bumgarner went 8 strong.  Wilson Ramos seemed to hit the right part of the yard (he didn't think so, he flipped his bat in disgust as he left the box) for a home run, and that was 50% of the total hits that Washington got.  He struck out 7 and walked 2.   And for that effort, he picks up a "L."  The Giants have lost 8 of the last 10 games in which he has pitched.  And of those, this was probably the best effort on his part.

It was great to see Matt Cain get some run support yesterday in the Giants 7 - 1 effort.  He deserves it, having been at the bottom of the league in run support for a good part of his career.  How many players get their names made into a verb because of the rest of their team?  But his recent success aside, I am shocked that the Giants are still in 1st place.  I don't expect it to last long.  As Mark said yesterday, "You can have all the baserunners you want but if you can't push them across no one gives a damn."  The Giants need to figure out how to push some of them across the plate, and fast.

Chow Blown

Here's the thing - if the Giants want to be relevant by the time September rolls around, they have to stop losing to shitty teams.  Padres, Reds, and now the Phillies.  After a stirring 5 run rally in the 5th inning to tie the score at 6 each, the Giants allowed a run, scored 2, allowed 1 more and then vomited 5 in the 8th for a 13 - 8 loss in Philadelphia.  Boo.

Madison Bumgarner started, he allowed about as many baserunners in 5 as he normally does in 3 games.  10 hits, 2 walked, 4 earned runs and 4 K in 94 pitches.  He pitched to the first batter in the 6th, and walked him.  He gave up 2 home runs, to Aaron Altherr, who has played 4 games this year, and to Maikel Franco.  Altherr had 5 rbi on the night, Franco 4 and Cameron Rupp, their catcher, had 3.  The first batter of each inning reached 1st base in every inning Madison pitched but the 3rd.  There was a Nunez throwing error in the 2nd before a Altherr rbi single and a Franco home run.  That was why Madison "earned" 4 runs when 8 crossed the plate under his tenure.

Hunter Strickland relieved Bumgarner in the 6th.  He allowed a run.  Derek Law had a clean 7th.  The Will Smith made his Giants debut in the 8th and promptly put the "F" in "FNG."  2 hits brought in Sergio Romo, and by the time he was done, it was 13 - 8.   So the Giants have now lost 7 of Madison's last 9 starts.  Again, not the way to ensure you are not an afterthought by September.  Giants hit a couple home runs.  Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford and Angel Pagan.  Brandon Belt not slumping would be big.  As I publish this, Colorado is ahead of LA by a score of 7 - 0.   Go Rox!

The Return of Punchlessness

Punchlessness  (n)  Without the state or quality of having punch, or possessing the state or quality of a distinctive lack of punch.  Weak.  Feeble.

Boy, after last night, I kind of got my hopes up that this post-All Star stretch of bad, bad baseball.  But I guess yesterday's victory was more of a oddity than a trend.  Giants drop the series to the worst team in the NL Central by a score of 2 - 1.  Yes, another start by Madison Bumgarner without a victory to show for it.

Well, let's talk about Madison's day.  He went 8, struck out 9, gave up 5 hits and walked none.  He gave up a home run, to Jay Bruce, of course, Bruce's 4th home run of this series.  Maybe we just shouldn't pitch to that guy.  So there was that run, which was earned.  And another, which wasn't.  In the 5th inning, with 1 out and Brandon Phillips on 1st, Suarez hit a ball to the wall, which Angel Pagan couldn't hold on to.  That put Phillips on 3rd, and a fly ball turned into a sacrifice.  So that was another run, not earned, but it gave Madison the loss.  Madison also had 1 hit.

And now, the rest of the team.  Conor Gillespie hit a home run with no one on base.  Pagan had 2 hits, Belt had a walk.  That was it, a total of 5 stinkin' baserunners the entire game.   So since the ASB, Madison has given up 4, 2 and 1 earned runs and been on the receiving end of 3 losses.  His run support in those games: 1, 2 and 1 run.  Well, good luck against Washington, guys, you're gonna need it.

Padres Return from Break. Giants, not so much.

After what some refer to as the All Star game, and what I refer to as the mid-summer time period in which there is no meaningful baseball, the Giants returned to action tonight in a losing effort against the Padres.  Well, action is a bad choice of words here.  Inaction is more like it.

Andrew Cashner was on the mound for the Padres in one of their awful baby-poop colored uniforms.  Did they forget that they got rid of those for a very good reason?  You will read about how good he was.  I think that the story is more about how the Giants were there in body, but not spirit.  They were asleep or maybe still on break.  At least, that's what the energy level they were displaying looked like.   So the Giants lost 4 - 1 and looked pretty bad against the team they have beaten all season.

Madison Bumgarner was on the mound for the Giants, and he was part of the problem.  He gave up a run in the 1st, which the Giants matched in the top of the 2nd thanks to back-to-back hits from Brandon Crawford and Conor Gillaspie.  Then he gave up another run in the 3rd, then a couple of solo shots on fat pitches in subsequent innings.  Maddys' line: 6 IP, 4 runs, all earned, 7 hits, 1 BB, 9 K.  Meanwhile, the Giants got 1 hit after that 2nd inning.  At least Mac Williamson got it on his birthday.  The umpire's strike zone was terrible.  He seemed to think Brandon Belt, in particular, had a strike zone at least twice as big as any other human.  Brandon Belt struck out as often as Buster Posey grounded out (4 x each).  All Stars.  Belt got thrown out (a first for him!) as did Bochy.  At least that was something.

In the 9th inning, Yangervis Solarte, the Puds 3rd baseman, made the 1st out of the inning with a catch of a Angel Pagan foul ball which sent him tumbling over the rail.  Here is a replay, but not of the best part.  Solarte came up with the ball and it was covered with nacho cheese.  Inside the glove.  Someone find this and post a link in the comments, please.  So if he did not drop the ball, exactly how did that nacho cheese get all over it?  As with the strike zone though, it wouldn't have mattered.  Someone leave a wake-up call for the team tomorrow, OK?

Mad Cain'ed

Man, these games..........

3 - 2, Giants lose in 10.

I'm not one to believe in or comment on baseball gods, or horsehide kismet, or whatever.  You can do that if you want.  My philosophy is simple.  I want the Giants to crush the doggers, every time they meet.  Every time.

So, I am not happy.  The Giants were up against a very tough pitcher*,  Clayton Kershaw and they managed to get to hit two home runs.  That was worth 2 runs and it could have been enough, but it wasn't.  A walk, a single, and a hit batter by Santiago Casilla put Adrian Gonzalez at the plate with 1 out.  A double play ball.....was botched on a wet infield by Kelby Tomlinson to allow a run.  LA then scored in the 10th on two doubles.

Madison Bumgarner was on the hill and he gave us 6 very good innings.  He pitched himself in and out of trouble, and LA's first run came in the 3rd.  Madison gave up 3 singles and then hit Van Slyke for a run.  Well, kind of hit, more like sort of barely touched.  Not Van Slyke exactly, his uniform.  Bruce Bochy made a case that the batter has to at least try to get out of the way, but that is not something that is appeal-able.  So Madison gave up the 1 run, 6 hits, struck out 8, and walked only 1 in 102 pitches.  Casilla blew the save opportunity, Kontos got the loss.  Madison Bumgarner hit a home run - off of Clayton Kershaw!  So did Ehire Adrianza!  Those were 2 of only 4 hits Kershaw allowed in 8.  He struck out 5, walked 1 and threw 91 pitches.  You could say that Madison outpitched Kershaw - while he was in the game.  But he could not match his innings.

* A note here: the wisdom spewed out by the media was that the doggers had "questions about their rotation."  So far, their starters have given up 8 runs in 39.1 innings (6 starts).  That includes the 5 given up by Wood to the Giants after he blanked them for 4 and the 1 earned by Stripling because he walked the hitter in front of Trevor Brown.  Come on Giants, LA started the year with 10 guys on the DL.  10!  Make hay while the sun shines!

To end this post on a lighter note, let's count the Giants who have hit home runs:
Denard Span
Hunter Pence
Joe Panik
Matt Duffy (2)
Brandon Crawford (2)
Ehire Adrianza
Buster Posey
Trevor Brown
Madison Bumgarner

The World is Going to Hell

You read about it every day in the paper.  Terrorism, global warming, asshole republicans, and now this.

"Adding the DH to NL would bring a number of benefits to the game, though: It would increase offense, since many pitchers are looked as easy outs (the Zack Greinkes and Madison Bumgarners of the world notwithstanding) and that's something that would benefit baseball overall, since fans like offense."   Fans like offense.  There it is, the simplemindedness that is in charge of our national pastime.  So those 45 - 28 run baseball games?  Fans must absolutely love those.  This is the crappy, fuzzy, illogical thinking that threatens the sport, and with it, America.  Baseball is packing them in a deriving record revenues.  MLB, who apparently already thinks the game it too long (although it means more time for fans to spend money and watch commercials), now wants to slow it down.  So Adam Wainwright tore his achilles tendon running to first?  Why not carry him to the mound and back and let him forego fielding grounders?  More offense, if that is what the effect is, will make the game longer.  I find American League baseball more boring in that where you are in a line up is really irrelevant.  Once you start a game, if you have all hitters then there is no point to putting your weaker hitters towards the end of the batting order.  It just doesn't matter anymore.  If baseball wants fans, making the game simpler isn't going to help - it will just lose those nerdy kids who love everything about the game and want to discuss it for hours.  Kids like we used to be before we all grew into nerdy adults.  I know that pitchers make outs.  But the worst thing in the world is to bloat up your roster with fat, old guys and watch them swing for the fences.  I can go to the park and watch senior league softball for free if I want that.  The honeymoon's over.  Fire Rob Manfred NOW!