From the Porch: Miller Time

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Giants 6, Brewers 4 at Miller Park

SF (23-20) 200 202 000  6 5 0

MIL (17-26) 000 200 200  4 11 0

WP: Cain (4-2)

LP: Marcum (2-3)

SV: Casilla (11)

HR: Arias (1), Posey (6)

Cain: 7ip 11h 4er 0bb 8k 2.94era

Marcum: 6ip 5h 6er 2bb 5k 3.93era

In the NL West: MIA beat CO, STL beat SD and, of course, LA came back from a 6-1 deficit to beat AZ 8-7. Giants in second, 7 games behind forever and ever, amen.

Comments: I like a game in which Bernie Brewer sits up there on his idiotic slide and has nothing to do all day but groom his ugly yellow plastic mustache and watch Buster Posey bomb away with about a 450-foot homer while rolling a steroids doobie for Ryan Braun. Actually, I don't know how steroids are administered, to be perfectly honest. All I know is that Braun used to get his munchies and Prince Fielder used to eat the Cheetos; they were team players. Now the Brewers suck. Oh, and this was two in a row where Matt Cain didn't have his best stuff but got a personal win and a win for the team somehow.

Pitching: Whew, Matty was shaky; I think it was two triples and five doubles, 11 total hits and four earned runs. Not up to standard. One of the few things I like about Bochy's decisions lately is that he's sticking with the bullpen vets, tonight Romo and Casilla, and even in yesterday's 14-inning marathon we didn't see guys like Edlefson and Loux, who just aren't ready for prime time.

Defense: Melky, Melky, Melky. Whew, what a throw he made to hose Aoki at the plate on a sac fly attempt by ... what's that little .199 piece of s--t's name? Nyger Morgan, that's it. Double play, bitch. That throw made Nate Schierholtz look like a noodle arm.

Offense: Power team all of a sudden! Six runs on five hits? What? Two homers. Posey is on fire; he is absolutely sick at Miller Park. Nice to see 1 for 2 RISP and only 2 left on base, while the other team leaves seven and goes 2/13 with RISP.

Baseball Quote of the Day: "It's such a beautiful sport, with no politics involved, no color, no class. Only as a youngster can you play and as a pro can you win. The game has kept me young, involved and excited and for me to be up here with gems of baseball." (Jack Buck)

Next game: Giants vs. Brewers, 10:10 a.m. PST Wednesday, May 23 at Miller Park. Zito (3-1, 3.00) vs. Estrada (0-3, 4.63). TV: CSN-BA

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Sollywood - SPOILER ALERT!

Hi loyal reader(s), I'm back after a two-week sabbatical. I don't really see myself as a writer so I guess I just had "block."

I don't think I've missed much with my daily Mets recaps, with them going 6-7 during my hiatus. More on them later.

My post tonight is going to deal with my other two teams - the New York Giants and the New Jersey Devils.

It's funny that the team I love the most of the three has been the least successful in terms of championships. The Mets have only won the World Series twice (Pre-Joo in 1969, and of course in 1986) while the Giants have won the Super Bowl four times, and the Devils have skated with the Stanley Cup three times.

What amazes me is not just how many times they've won but WHEN they won. Sure the Mets won in 1986 but I was on the verge of turning 11 and not really getting baseball. The Giants not only won in the 1986 season but also the 1990 season (thanks Norwood), as well as the recent triumphs over the fucking Patriots. The Devils won in 1995 (the lockout really soured me on hockey) and in 2000 and 2003, so you could say my "adult" life has been blessed in terms of football and hockey. Shit, the Devils are two wins away from ANOTHER Stanley Cup finals.

I absolutely feel spoiled when it comes to those two sports. Not that I don't relish the victories but a Mets WS win is going to be that much sweeter if and when it happens again. I don't know much but I know Frank Francisco won't be around when it does. Fuck that guy with Thor's hammer.  And his cock.

Game 43: Mets 3, Pirates 2

Mets 2012 record: 23-20

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From the Porch: Hector!

Monday, May 21, 2012

Giants 4, Brewers 3 in 14 innings at Miller Park

SF (22-20) 300 000 000 000 01  4 8 2

MIL (17-25) 000 001 020 000 00  3 6 0

WP: Casilla (1-2)

LP: Perez (0-1)

SV: none

HR: Posey (5), Sanchez 2); Braun (12)

Bumgarner: 7.2ip 5h 1er 1bb 10k 2.85era

Wolf: 7ip 5h 3er 3bb 4k 6.02era

In the NL West: LA beat AZ, SD lost to STL, CO lost to MIA; Giants still in second, 7 games back.

Comments: Whew! That was a grinder. Madison Bumgarner was really good, first 10-strikeout game for him this year. Giants really had the game in hand in "regulation" but in the bottom of the 8th Brandon Crawford (leading candidate for the Lead Glove at shortstop) made a critical error on a play that should have ended the inning with Giants ahead 3-1. Instead he put Aoki on first and Ryan Braun launched a game-tying homer soon after. Listen, there's a reason Braun was MVP last year. Steroids.

Pitching: Bullpen was really nice -- Romo, Affeldt, Hensley, Lopez, Casilla.

Defense: Not good enough, two errors.

Offense: All the scoring was on a 3-run homer by Posey in the first and Hector Sanchez's go-ahead homer in the 14th.

Baseball Quote of the Day: "There ain't much to being a ballplayer, if you're a ballplayer." (Honus Wagner)

Next game: San Francisco Giants vs. Shaun Marcum, 5:10 p.m. at Miller Park. Cain (3-2, 2.67) vs. Marcum (2-2, 3.31). TV: CSN-Bay Area.

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Wait 'Til Next Year - Episode 14: Interleague of Extraordinary Gentlemen

In this episode Solly and Nate recap some of the more intriguing matchups from this week.  Just kidding.  No they don't.  There were no intriguing matchups this week.  They also discuss the retirement of this generation’s Mr. Cub, and the glut of high profile players being demoted to AAA.  And keep an ear out for the two big announcements concerning the show.

Download on iTunes.

Discuss at Pun's House.

Also on Stitcher and at Flawedcast.net. 

And don't forget to get your Wait 'Til Next Year swag!

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FTP: On to Milwaukee

Wait a sec, I think I figured it out. I might be too old to blog if they change around the look of the bloggifier a little bit and I suddenly can't find anything! I'll skip all the tedious numbers; Giants lose to A's 6-2, breaking an 11-game winning streak in SF over Oakland.

I guess the big story is still Lincecum, now 2-4 with a 6.02 ERA; he hasn't really been the real Timmy this year yet, and on this icky pace might win 7 or 8 games all year. Plus, he was covering the plate after one of his many wild pitches and got clocked in the jaw pretty good on a headfirst slide by Collin Cowgill (isn't that a radio guy?). Might be pretty easy to get Lincecum signed to an extension if he's this lousy, but why would anyone want to? I don't know enough about him to know if there's just some weird mechanical thing wrong or if this is just how he is now after a few years. I'm sure he has already panicked and called his dad many times, at least I hope so.

One other thing -- Sunday was the first time the Giants have used the same lineup two days in a row, and I'm sure Bruce Bochy is thinking, "See? That didn't work!" So he'll go back to being the master of destroying everyone's confidence and rhythm.

Baseball Quote of the Day: "There are surprisingly few real students of the game in baseball; partly because everybody, my eighty-three year old grandmother included, thinks they learned all there was to know about it at puberty. Baseball is very beguiling that way." (Alvin Dark)

Next game: Giants vs. Brewers at Miller Park, Milwaukee, 5:10 p.m. PST. Bumgarnder (5-3, 3.10) vs. Wolf (2-4, 6.38). TV: CSN-BA

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From the Porch: Strafe A's

May 19,2012

Giants 4, A's 0 at AT&T Park

OAK (20-21) 000 000 000  0  1 0

 SF (21-19) 000 000 40x  4 10 0

WP : Vogelsong (2-2)

LP: Ross (2-4)

SV: None

HR: None

Ross: 6ip 2h 2er 4bb 4k 5.73.era

Vogelsong: 7ip 1h 0er 1bb 5k  2.27era

In the NL West: Nuthin, nuthin, nuthin at this hour. Probably a good guess that SF trails LA by 6.

Comments: Just a fantastic pitching performance by Ryan Vogelsong and a brief outburst of offense with a 4-run seventh

Pitching: Vogie-Vogie-Vgoie, but also, apparently, G's have signed Brad Penny.

Offense: I can't remember, somehow Giants scored 4.

Baseball Quote of the Day: "The one constant through all the years has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good, and what could be again." (Terrance Mann, er, James Earl Jones, ummm, Terrance Mann)

Next game: A's at Giants, 1:05 p.m. Sunday, May 20 at AT&T Park. Colon (3-4, 4.13) vs. Lincecum (2-3, 5.77). TV: CSN-BA, CSN-Yugoslavia.

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From the Porch: Laffer!

May 19, 2012

Interleague play generally sucks. I'm about to report to you, my friends, that Seattle beat Colorado. What in the effing hell does anyone care about the Seattle Whatever-the-Hells playing the Rockies. It's like that upcoming big SEC rivalry between Missouri and Ole Miss.

Giants 8, A's 6 at AT&T Park

Oakland (20-20) 001 014 000  6 9 0

San Francisco (20-19) 024 200 00x  8 8 1

WP: Zito (3-1)

LP: Parker (1-2)

SV: Casilla (10)

HR: Donaldson (1)

Parker: 2ip 4h 6er 4bb 0k 3.90era

Zito: 5.1ip 5h 4er 1bb 5k 3.00era

In the NL West: Damn Dodgers beat Cards, Colorado lost to Seattle, Arizona beat Kansas City. Guess what, Giants 6 back of LA.

Comments: Whew. A bit of a scary game that should have been a blowout; Gians scored highest number of runs (8) at home this year, and were leading very comfortably into the sixth but the score went from 8-3 to 8-6 very quickly with Edlefson (Future Pirates Report?) on the mound.

Pitching: Zito threw a ton of pitches as usual, but I think probably got the hook a litle early. I don't know jack about baseball, but it seems to me that when Zito has a big lead, he's one of the most dominant pithers. Hitters get anxious, watch Zito throw that horribly slow-ass sloppy curvy crap, and have a very hard time being patient. But The English Inpatient Bochy pulled him in the sixth and the bullpen came close to giving the game away. 

 

Defense: I am currently too impaired to remember what "defense" means in baseball, but it seems to me Angel Pagan and Jeremy Affeldt made good plays.

Offense: Belt had 3 RBIs; Crawford started out nicely in the 2-hole again; RBI double early. Hector Sanchez 2 RBIs; so nice to get a win without needing Buster. Hector can hit! Weirdly but perhaps importantly (if I understood Kuip and Dave corecctly) in past 4 games Giants have drawn 9 walks twice and 10 walks once. Please deliver that to us every day!

Baseball Quote of the Day: "The thing about Reggie (Jackson) is that you know he's going to produce. And if he doesn't, he's going to talk enough to make people think he's going to produce." (Catfish Hunter)

Next game: A's 1:05 p.m. Saturday, May 19 at At&T Park. Tyson Ross RHP (2-3, 6.25) vs. Ryan Vogelsong (1-2, 2.6). TV: CSA-BA, unless you're in Vermont, which means you're SOL.

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From the Porch: Splitsville

May 17, 2012

Happy Norwegian Independence Day

Giants 7, Cardinals 5 at AT&T Park

Cardinals (22-16) 202 000 010  5 9 3
Giants (19-19) 120 002 20x  7 8 0

WP: Cain (3-2)
LP: Wainwright (2-5)
SV: Casilla (9)
HR: Holliday (8), Molina (5)

Wainwright: 5.2ip 6h 5er 4bb 1k 5.77era
Cain: 6ip 8h 4er 1bb 6k 2.67era

In the NL West: Arizona beat Colorado; LA and SD play tonight, so at least temporarily, Giants are 5.5 back.

Comments: What a great game, and a weird one. Matt Cain is about as "off" on his command as you ever see him, but battled like crazy, gave up four earned runs but got a win! When he's Cy Young, he loses. The offense came alive a bit today; I couldn't have imagined sparking the offense by batting Brandon Crawford second, but it worked; he had a double and a single and two RBIs. Very nice. Kudos also to Emmanuel Burriss and Charlie Culberson, who had crucial RBI to regain the lead.

Pitching: Affeldt, Romo and Casilla followed Cain; Romo gave up the Molina homer but overall well done.

Defense: Nice to see a big, fat 3-error stat next to the OTHER team for once! Melky made some very nice plays in left field for a guy with a bad wheel, and during the time when STL was teeing off on Cain.

Offense: 3-for-12 RISP and 10 left on base is actually an improvement! Well done, lads. Fun to see that the Giants were doing infield practice before the game; I remember them doing that when they had a short-lived "go young" phase a few years ago after Bonds was gone.

Baseball Quote of the Day: "When I came up to bat with three men on and two outs in the ninth, I looked in the other team's dugout and they were already in street clothes." (Nate Schierholtz Bob Uecker)

Next game: Oakland A's at SF Giants, 7:15 p.m. Friday, May 18 at AT&T Park. Jarrod Parker (1-1, 2.10) vs. Barry Zito (2-1, 2.53). TV: KAILR (7.2, Comcast 191) in nasty-ass low-def in Fresno area; NBC Bay Area. 

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