Disappointed, by admiring their fight.

[klaiggeb]

We should have won the game... but goofy things happen when you're not going to win.

But consider what the team has been dealing with.

After our 3 starting outfielders, there was Byrd, Maxwell and Perez; that's a total of 6, Mac Williamson made our 7th outfielder HAVING to be used.

In the infield, Duffy, Crawford, Panik, Belt.

After them came Arias, Adrianza (that makes 6), and add to that list Tomlinson, Noonan and now Frandsen.. Hard to win when you're on your 9th infielder!

Behind the plate, as much as I think he's a really good receiver, Brown is our 5th CATCHER!

And in all my years, I've NEVER seen such a rash of oblique and concussion injuries.


As disappointed as I am... I also have to say I flat out ADMIRE the team's fight. They could have quit and phoned it in weeks ago, but they didn't.

And THAT is admirable.

boly

[sfgdood]

you forgot 6-4-3 McGehee

[klaiggeb]

I did.

That makes the total 10 infielders!

Wow!

boly

[Rog]

How could we forget Blanco, who has been a nice 4th starter? I'm not sure if Parker has started, but he's actually been pretty good. I think we could be as high as a dozen outfielders.

By the way, calling Casey "6-4-3 McGehee" is an insult. It ignores all the 5-4-3's.

By the way, Casey has sadly hit even less for the Marlins this season than he did for the Giants, but perhaps strangely he has grounded into only 2 double plays as compared with 15 with the Giants -- in only 29 fewer at bats. Go figure that one!

Once a decent power hitter, Casey now has only six homers in his past (nearly) two seasons. In the last (nearly) season and a half, he has driven in only 41 runs -- after driving home 53 in the first half of 2014 alone. And four of those 41 came on his early-season grand slam. Believe it or not, around the beginning of July, 2014, Casey was the NL leader in RBI's -- or at least close to it.

I don't think there was anyone who wanted more to play well for the Giants this season. And, sadly, I'm not sure there was anyone who played worse. This season Casey has only 62 total bases, while making 198 total outs. If we take Casey's total bases -- not his hits, but his total bases -- to at bats, his ratio of total bases to outs is only .248.

By comparison, Mario Mendoza's career figure was far higher at .318. That might be the new "Mendoza Line" (Mario actually hit .215, not .200 as the Mendoza Line is said to be). And Casey was 70 points below it.

Casey has nearly 250 plate appearances this season. I wonder if any non-pitcher has ever done worse in that many plate appearances? Probably someone has, but the list must be as short as our patience with Casey.

[Rog]

I may have slightly overstated McGehee's RBI status in the first half of 2014, but here is some perspective. Adrian Gonzalez led the NL in RBI's with 116 in 2014. Entering July, he had 50 RBI's. Casey had 48.

Casey has driven in only 44 runs since.

[Rog]

I stumbled on this even though it had seemingly died out several days ago. I resurrected it because I thought Boly put things into perspective here. Similar to what Bruce Bochy himself said in the Giants press conference.

Frankly, entering the off season, there are a few other teams I'd rather be than the Giants, but with a couple of really good starting pitchers, the Giants would place themselves in a nice position to compete.

Is any other team as strong behind the plate and around the infield? SOMEBODY almost has to have a down season next year, but unless Belt and/or Panik is damaged, they should once again be strong here. The outfield isn't particularly strong, but if they re-sign Marlon Byrd, it will have depth. The bullpen is aging, but there are also some young guys on the rise.

The question is the rotation, and the crop of free agent starting pitchers hasn't been this strong in years. Before we criticize the Giants too much, why don't we wait and see how they do with their rotation. Two strong starters to go with Bumgarner, Peavy and a hopefully-healthy Cain would be very nice -- especially with youngsters Chris Heston and Clayton Blackburn available for depth.

If the Giants don't significantly improve their rotation while they seem to have a good chance to do so, I'll be highly disappointed too. But shouldn't we in fairness give them a chance to see what they can do?

Or we could hang with Chicken Little.

[sfgdood]

Going on recent years experience, I wouldn't be too optimistic about the Giants signing top free agents. Usually they end up with table scraps instead of filet mignon. They can surely prove me wrong but judging by their rhetoric at the news conference, it doesn't sound as though they are hungry to get the best. They sound more like a group that is happy with what they have and aren't concerned about doing major improvement. That's concerning.

[Rog]

I don't trust your interpretation. To be honest, we're all wrong her on occasion, but no one seems to have a track record for mistakes as long or as deep as you.

I'm sorry to have to say that, but it's pretty true. Your worst mistake was giving up on the 2012 Giants with over a quarter of the season left. Even you would have to admit that was something no rational person or Giants fan should do. I know of no one else who did.

And to cite two more obvious ones, how did you fare in your assessments of Gary Brown and Pablo Sandoval?

[sfgdood]

Thank you for proving yourself to be what I've always known you to be...a petty, pompous ass who HATES being exposed as same. It is clear from reading ALL the posts here that everyone gets it wrong, probably a fairly equal amount. But since you despise me, my sig line, and the fact that I don't go along with your way of thinking, you go out of your way to try to make me look as stupid as possible. The fact that you can't let go of 2012, which I have owned up to several times, just shows how much you have it in for me. It's really very sad.

[Rog]

Sorry I offended you, Randy. I shouldn't have done so, even under the guise of turnaround being fair play.

I would ask though that you try to think a little more logically.