Validating your opinion about the Giants - McCovey Chronicles

I'm with you on the theme of the article and then some. And I'd like to be with the optimists, really I would. They are a more fun bunch of folks to be around, generally speaking. But gosh darn it, I've got to be a realist, and the realist in me says "Inconsistent teams not only don't win in the playoffs, they often have the darnedest of times just making the playoffs". It just seems like the Giants have perfected the art recently.

So the tie breaker is inconsistency. Therefore, I come down more on the pessimist side than the optimist side. But, nothing a decent road trip wouldn't cure. Or sweeping the Dodgers again,

from McCovey Chronicles:

Validating your opinion about the Giants - McCovey Chronicles:

For optimists: 

The Giants have the third best road record in the majors You know what road records are correlated with? Playoff success. And if the universally beloved new Five Thirty Eight doesn't convince you, then maybe this will: Anyone can win at home. It takes  a special team to win on the road. These Giants have proven themselves to be that special team.

For pessimists:

The Giants are awful at home

You know who can't win at home? Bad teams. There are six teams in the majors right now with worse home winning percentages than the Giants, and not one of them is within three games of .500. That's the company the Giants are keeping, and sooner or later, a team that can't win at home – and we're into AT&T Park Was Built On Top Of An Indian Burial Ground territory here – will collapse.

'via Blog this'

P.S. - The conspiracist in me says the Cardinals are cheating and have hacked the Giants training computers and messed up everyones training protocol to induce pulled hammys and concussions in key Giants personnel.

Damn Cardinals, what the hell were they thinking anyway?

Marco Scutaro designated for assignment, then released (thank Matt Holliday)

Perhaps more a career shortening injury rather than a career ending injury? Hard to say since Scutaro did march on like a good soldier into the World Series, as well as the next season....but still. The residual effects of The "so-called" Slide had to be pretty significant.

Marco Scutaro designated for assignment, will continue rehab - Giants Extra:

Shortly before attempting a comeback last season, Scutaro conceded that his back and hip problems could be due in part to a brutal collision with Matt Holliday in the 2012 NLCS. The Cardinals outfielder came in hard and late with a slide to second base, sending Scutaro’s body in two different directions.

“Who knows? I wish I would know,” Scutaro said last June. “When he hit me, it literally felt that day like he grabbed my leg and pulled it out of my hip like a chicken.”

'via Blog this'

IMO, still a dirt-bag play by a dirt-bag player. The slide doesn't even start until Holliday is clearly past the bag. This would be an illegal block/tackle in football, I'm still disappointed that nobody on the staff didn't drop Holliday. That fat melon of his had to have been on the radar as far as I'm concerned.

Matt Holiday should be so proud of himself today.
http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/story/2015-01-28/giants-release-marco-scutaro

Game 7 of the World Series: It doesn't get any better than that

Because all the pre-game speculation, all the "Royals will win because home teams have won XX% of Game 7's" or the "Giants can bring back Madison Bumgarner and he's invincible" melts away into history and then is argued about for eternity based on your perspective.

I read this clip about the 1985 World Series from Wikipedia about Bill James perspective as a Royals fan on the 1985 World Series -- a touchy subject for Cardinals fans -- and it dawned on me that while KC can take the Jamesian perspective that the Denkinger bad call had no material effect on the outcome of that Series, "the Cardinals just needed to get the next out" or "just keep your poise, don't meltdown, win the next day", etc. All valid points, there is another perspective. You could just as easily take the St. Louis cardinals fans perspective that perhaps the Kansas City Royals are Instant Replay away from being the baseball version of the Buffalo Bills with the cardinals having another World Series title on their resume.

Kansas City Royals - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

The baseball statistical analyst Bill James wrote a chapter in the 1986 edition of his Baseball Abstract titled "A History of being a Kansas City Royals Baseball Fan." In the style of an opinion piece as a longtime Royals fan, rather than in his usual analytical tone, James commented that "The truth is, the Royals kicked the holy crap out of the Cardinals" in the 1985 Series. The chapter asserts that it was the Cardinals' overconfidence and the Royals' ability to engage the Cardinals in "a conservative game of baseball chess," not simply Denkinger's controversial call, that led to the Cardinals' collapse, "leaving any other arguments...cutting little or no ice."

Following James's comments in the book, the Royals failed to make a single post-season appearance until earning a spot in the 2014 American League Wild Card Game. Many reasons besides one fan's hubris and a Cubs-style billy-goat curse exist for the Royals' 29-year long playoff drought, including their status as a "small-market team" without the budget or broadcast revenue to attract and keep playing talent. The timing of James's comments in the 1986 Abstract, juxtaposed with the beginning of the Royals' postseason drought, however, remains clear.

'via Blog this'

Anyway, the 2014 season ends tonight one way or the other and the results will be the retained for posterity.

But that's where the real fun of baseball actually begins: the post results debate over what should have happened, what could have happened versus what actually happened. And that, my friends will always clouded by your individual perspective. And that is what makes history and debates. The Game will be over soon enough, the rest of the stuff is virtually endless.

Game 7 of the World Series - Bring it On!!!!

Just the Giants being the Giants and A.J. being A.J.(ackwagon)

This is the worst acting job EVER. But the ump FELL for it. EPIC FLOP!!

You have to give it to A.J. - he is a top of the line ass-clown. He goes for the ball, then he remembers the rule, so OOPS, down goes A.J. Given that this is in slow motion, there is still a considerable delayed reaction. Hopefully, he'll take his con job back to booth real soon. Some have said that Matt Adams looks like the consummate beer-league softball player, and he looked like it on some of those throws, but A.J. IS that guy on the other team that just annoys the living S&*T out of you.

“If you play against him, you hate him. If you play with him, you hate him a little less.”- Ozzie Guillen

from the New York Post:

Giants keep conjuring up October magic | New York Post:

The Giants continue to win without home runs — they have two this postseason — but they do get contributions from so many different players and Wednesday night was no different. They put the pressure on the Cardinals and the Cardinals wilted, this time first baseman Matt Adams made two shaky throws in the Giants’ three-run sixth inning. Third base coach Tim Flannery said the Giants lead baseball in RTIs, “Runs Thrown In,’’ and this night was no different, one game after Cardinals reliever Randy Choate threw away the game on a bunt. Though these gritty Giants don’t win pretty, give them credit for fighting back.

'via Blog this'



It would be funny if both of the long shots entering the post-season end up in the World Series. Because the Royals played giddy up to get there, they wait and line up their starting rotation. The Giants, if tonight ends it, place Bumgarner at the end of the World Series rotation. That's the bad news, the good news is you're in the World Series, a trade-off I think the Giants will make. It would almost be better if the Royals have to sit and wait a week, but only the Cardinals want that option to play out at this point. For the Giants to get their druthers means a Game 7 in St. Louis.



Our ace on the hill, at home with the chance to advance to the World Series - If you had told me two months ago this would be where the Giants would be sitting, I would have said you were crazy. But here we are.



GO GIANTS - GO "BIG GAME" MADISON BUMGARNER!!!

Fun with Statistics II

These statistics are cumulative for the entire playoffs, not just this series but some things still stand out as trends.

For the Giants:

• Posey is hitting well, but no pop. A .665 OPS and zero HR's.
• Giants 2 HR's versus Cardinals 12 and the Cards were not a big HR hitting team. Biggest difference in the series so far, Giants power has left the building. The Cardinals power is surging. THAT trend needs to be reversed and reversed FAST.
• Neither team steals bases. Giants 2-5. Cards 0-1. Station to station. 
• Giants 27 BB's versus Cardinals 13 BB's. Who would've thought of the Giants as the more disciplined, patient hitters?
• Pence's .639 OPS stands out almost as much as Posey's low-OPS playoffs. 
• Brandon Belt is a walking machine at this point who, when he does choose to swing, does quite a bit of damage. 
• Ishikawa is sooooooo close to shedding that utility-man label. Another signature moment with the bat like last night might do the trick. 
• That would leave the Giants with a plethora of 1B/LF candidates for next year, but we'll deal with that next year. 
• I love Gregor Blanco and Brandon Crawford for their defense, but the fact that the Giants are winning with the lead-off guy hitting .111 with a .179 OBA and Crawford hitting .188 is amazing. Bochy for the HOF indeed!! It is the playoffs and SSS, but still. 
• By contrast, the Cardinals lead-off hitter (Carpenter) sports a .333 OBA and their 2nd hitter (Jay) comes in at .579 OBA. Ours is Blanco at .179 OBA and Panik .282 OBA. THAT trend needs to be reversed and reversed FAST.

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Ryan Vogelsong	1	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.500	.500	.500	1.000
Michael Morse	2	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500	.500	.500	1.000
Andrew Susac	2	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500	.500	.500	1.000
Tim Hudson	2	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.333	.333	.333	.667
Brandon Belt	8	28	4	9	0	0	1	6	7	6	0	1	.321	.444	.429	.873
Pablo Sandoval	8	35	6	11	3	0	0	1	3	6	0	0	.314	.385	.400	.785
Buster Posey	8	36	3	11	0	0	0	2	2	2	0	1	.306	.359	.306	.665
Travis Ishikawa	8	21	1	6	2	0	0	4	2	3	0	0	.286	.348	.381	.729
Joe Panik	8	37	3	9	0	1	0	2	2	1	0	0	.243	.282	.297	.579
Hunter Pence	8	33	5	8	3	0	0	2	3	6	1	1	.242	.306	.333	.639
Brandon Crawford	8	32	4	6	1	0	1	5	3	8	0	0	.188	.250	.313	.563
Juan Pérez	7	12	1	2	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	.167	.231	.167	.397
Gregor Blanco	8	36	1	4	0	0	0	2	3	4	1	0	.111	.179	.111	.291
Jake Peavy	2	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
Yusmeiro Petit	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
Joaquín Árias	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
Madison Bumgarner	3	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	0	0	.000	.100	.000	.100
Gary Brown	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
Matt Duffy	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000

from the Cardinals:

• Aside from the occasional bolts of lightning, Holliday, Adams, Grichuk and Perlata are really struggling, as was Molina with the bat before he went down. 
• The offense is almost being carried by John Jay, Matt Carpenter and Kolten Wong. 
• They Giants have to shut down Wong's power. 
• Matt Carpenter is really, really, really underrated as a hitter. One of the toughest outs in the league IMO. He puts some quality AB's out there on a consistent basis and like Panik, I think suffers in that you have to see him for an extended period of time to really appreciate him. 

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Jon Jay	7	22	3	11	0	0	0	1	1	2	0	1	.500	.577	.500	1.077
Oscar Taveras	5	5	2	2	0	0	1	1	0	1	0	0	.400	.400	1.000	1.400
Matt Carpenter	7	29	5	9	3	0	4	8	1	9	0	0	.310	.333	.828	1.161
Yadier Molina	6	21	2	5	1	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	.238	.238	.286	.524
Kolten Wong	6	21	2	5	2	1	2	5	1	4	0	0	.238	.273	.714	.987
Jhonny Peralta	7	23	2	5	1	0	0	1	4	5	0	0	.217	.333	.261	.594
Randal Grichuk	7	27	3	5	0	0	2	3	1	10	0	0	.185	.214	.407	.622
Matt Holliday	7	28	4	5	0	0	1	3	1	5	0	0	.179	.207	.286	.493
Matt Adams	7	23	4	4	0	0	2	5	4	4	0	0	.174	.296	.435	.731
A.J. Pierzynski	1	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
John Lackey	2	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.000	.250	.000	.250
Adam Wainwright	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
Lance Lynn	2	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
Peter Bourjos	4	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
Daniel Descalso	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
Shelby Miller	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
Pete Kozma	2	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
Tony Cruz	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
Marco Gonzales	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	N/A	.000	N/A	.000