Madison Bumgarner bombed, Giants bummed

My mom always said "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything", but that philosophy wouldn't last very long in the blog-osphere. Sorry Mom.

from Giants Extra:
Extra Baggs: Madison Bumgarner breaks down what went wrong vs. Padres, etc. - Giants Extra:

Here’s his explanation:

“I was a little off. I got a little side to side and out of my delivery and I was just battling to put pitches where I wanted to. I just wasn’t very effective. I’ve got to get that squared away. I don’t think it’ll take a lot. I looked at video and it shouldn’t be a difficult fix. 

“Everything kind of flattened out a little bit. You lose some of your crispness on pitches, if that’s a word I can use. That’s part of pitching: you’ve got to keep on top of it. It cost us tonight. I can’t afford to have sloppy little mental mistakes. I’ve got to give us a chance to win. 

“I’m not trying to take anything away from those guys. You’ve got to hit the ball and they’ve got a good ball club. There’s a lot of talent within this division.”"

'via Blog this'

Let's start with the obvious. Bumgarner's beard was much neater than the gnarly offering Shields brought to the table. Does he trim that thing with a weed-wacker? I swear I saw a baby squirrel or an owl or something nestled in there. But he did win the battle, so who's laughing today?

Bumgarner's drop in velocity from 92 to 90 bothered me more than the lack of command, mainly with the curve ball. Maybe it's the whole mechanical issues leading eventually to arm maladies that I fear, but it could just be a little "dead arm" coming back to bite Bummer.

Bottom line is after last night, we now have to worry about McGehee's health and Bumgarner's effectiveness? Great!!



It is quickly becoming more important to read the Giants injury report than it is to look at the box score or stat sheet at this point. The trainers room must be standing room only.

The whole team was out of whack. Leaving Duffy to debut at 1B when you had to bring Arias in to spell a fallen McGehee was confounding. Mrs. TheSlav even said "Why don't they just move Duffy to 3B and put Arias at 1B?" Of course she was right and it was a thought bubble for me as well. At least Arias has 1B experience and Duffy is somewhat less out of his element moving from SS to 3B.

Mrs. TheSlav, by the way. has quietly but steadily developed her baseball analyst skills from someone who might have well-fit the Bill Parcells description of  "not knowing if the ball was full of air or stuffed with feathers" to someone who can be counted on to make informed, intelligent, blog quality second guesses of a three time World Series manager without prompting.

Great job, Mrs. TheSlav!!! A real keeper, that one.

 

Or, as Kruk and Kuip would describe, "A Gamer Babe".  I may have to get her one of these.




That is, if I still get my mail at the same address. You gotta love political correctness don't you?

Bring back "Gamer Babe Day". The world needs more Gamer Babes.