2 for freakin 30!

[sfgdood]

I called it. When Brandon Belt got the undeserved spot on the All Star team, I called this. His 2 cent head has resurfaced and the old Belt we know and hate is back. He basically said, "duuuh gee George...I MUST be all that now and no longer have to work hard to get better because all those idiots with multiple mobile devices voted for me."

What a putz...nice job giving him all that unearned cash, Bobby

[Rog]

I'll be shocked if you're not right about Brandon again, Randy. The guy is a very streaky hitter. Yeah, he's been lousy since the All-Star game, but he'll almost certainly bounce back.

This is certainly Brandon's biggest slump of the season, but even in his excellent first half, he had a 7 for 46 slump. When Brandon gets hot again, I will look toward putting him on some of my fantasy teams. For now, I don't own him.

Not that Buster Posey is having one of his best seasons, but that is in great part because he went through a 10 for 61 struggle earlier. Some guys are just streak hitters.

Willie Mays was such a player. Even though he was hitting .477 when he was called up in 1951 (causing Giants owner Horace Stoneham to take out a full-page add in the Minneapolis paper to apologize), Willie struggled mightily when he was first called up.

He went 0 for 12 before finally homering over the left field stands off Warren Spahn. Willie then went 0 for 13 before getting his second hit. That's right, Willie Mays began his career 1 for 26, which is exactly what Belt had been since the All-Star game before his first-inning single yesterday.

Incidentally, the future Hall of Famer and future teammate Spahn later joked that if he hadn't given up that homer to Willie, he might have saved National League pitchers from having to face him all those years.

By the way, for those fools who call me a Dodgers fan, all that stuff about Willie was off the top of my head. When you know as much about the Giants as I do -- well, even then calling me a Dodgers fan is just idiotic.

And why do I know more about the Dodgers' prospects than you do? Because while others were worrying about all the money the Dodgers were spending to build their team, I was even more worried about the concurrent statement that they were planning to build from within, and that the huge amounts of money they were spending was just a temporary thing to make them competitive quickly.

So, yeah, I began paying attention to the Dodgers' prospects. If you're a Giants fan who wants the Giants to beat the Dodgers, why aren't you following them? By the way, I could know a lot more about the Dodgers' prospects than I do, but I'm aware of some of their best. The pitcher coming back from injury whose name I couldn't remember is Jose De Leon, who with the Dodgers' rotation in disarray, may be called up before the end of the season.

The Dodgers entered this season with two top-10 prospects and three top-25 prospects. As a Giants fan, that's something I want to know ahead of time so I won't be caught off guard.

Get this "Roger the Dodger fan" thing off your mind, lest you admit you don't have one.

[Rog]

By the way, as just about any true Giants fan knows, the Giants got a very nice hometown discount from both Brandons. One factor that should allow the Giants to be a good team for many years to come is that they have their entire infield, Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner locked up, giving them cost certainty.

[klaiggeb]

Send me a pair of those "Rose Colored" glasses, Rog. Seriously.

Right now my blood pressure is way up, (and I'm not being facetious), and all I see ahead is one big, long, fall to the Dodgers who can't seem to do anything wrong.


I've expected a slump for quite awhile... but NOT coming out of the break, and certainly NOT a slump of these proportions.

It might not be over, but the fat lady is warming up.

boly

[Rog]

all I see ahead is one big, long, fall to the Dodgers who can't seem to do anything wrong.


Rog -- Just to balance out the state a little, Dodgers fans down south are bemoaning that the Dodgers have gone only 5-4 since the break and aren't taking full advantage of the great opportunity the Giants are giving them!




Read more: sfgiantsmessageboard.proboards.com/thread/3392/2-freakin-30#ixzz4FQp4t3tx

[Rog]

Do you remember what your attitude was two years ago, Boly? I remember Randy was just over a week from officially giving up, but I can't remember where you were.

[klaiggeb]

I remember, Rog, and I remember well.

Morse was hurt, and we were spiraling down hill faster than Spanky and Alfalfa on a homemade car going down hill.

This team is in the same situation.

But just because we got it together near the end THEN doesn't mean it'll happen again.

For me, it's all about effort and mental preparedness.

We don't have either right now.

Still on vacation is where I see our boy's heads.

boly

[Rog]

ust because we got it together near the end THEN doesn't mean it'll happen again.


Rog -- It certainly doesn't. In fact, that was the exception, far from the rule.

But it does point to our needing to keep perspective. If the players had given up the way we did two years ago, there would have been no third World Championship in five years. They wouldn't have even made the playoffs.

I still think they'll make the playoffs this year. Not as strongly as I believed it before the break. But how long have we been saying that they're not as good as their record has shown? How long have we marveled at how well they have played despite their many injuries? How long have we been saying they're in first place?

How long have we been saying that they're almost never as good as they seem when things are going great, and not as bad as they seem when the roof appears to be falling in?

If we truly want to worry, how about the Cubs with Aroldis Chapman? In other words, with TWO closers who may be better than anyone the Giants have -- and one (Aroldis) who may be better than anyone else has either. Or the Dodgers if they trade Urias in a package for Sale? And then Kershaw comes back.

How would you like to play those two teams in the playoffs? We can point to Kershaw's postseason difficulties, but he'll be rested this time (assuming he makes it back).

How about the Giants? Probably a reliever or two. How about David Robertson? The Giants have said they would rather take on salary than give up prospects, and Robertson hasn't pitched anywhere near his $30+ million contract, even while saving quite a few games. How about new and less proven closers such as Jeanmar Gomez, Jeremy Jeffress or Steve Cishek? More likely, how about a guy or two who doesn't have closing experience but is simply a very good reliever?

Maybe a starting pitcher. Keep an eye on Matt Cain tonight. Two years ago the Giants got Jake Peavy, who turned out to be a revelation. A year ago they got Mike Leake, who turned out about to get injured.

An outfielder? With Hunter Pence closing in on his return, it wouldn't seem that way. The young guys have played decently and show occasional signs of playing even better than that. Maybe a waiver-eligible outfielder in late August or September if Pence doesn't pan out as quickly as they hope.

The Giants appear to be on the verge of getting back Pence, Joe Panik, Matt Duffy, Ehire Adrianza and perhaps Kelby Tomlinson. That's a lot of outfield, infield and bench.

Let's at least wait until Randy wails at the trade deadline that the Giants didn't do anything before we go crazy! Meanwhile, I'm hoping for a couple of "ham and egger" relievers to surface. Worked in 2010!

In 2012 it was BOTH Pence and Marco Scutaro. In 2014 it was Peavy. The point is that the Giants are better situated now than they were at this time in any of their three World Championship seasons.

How's that for effort and mental preparedness!

[klaiggeb]

Rog: But how long have we been saying that they're not as good as their record has shown?

**bolys says**

Only you've been saying that, Rog, not me. Because WHEN they WERE healthy, I believed they truly WERE that good.

As for tonight, I'll be watching "Fly ball Matty VERY closely."

Before the game yesterday I KNEW... just KNEW it was going to get as UGLY as it did.

So Peavy giving up three BOMBS did not surprise me.

Frankly, I look for Cain to give up 3 or 4 tonight.

boly

[sfgdood]

my recollection of 2014 was that the team's fall was much longer and more pronounced than the current skid. When the team falls behind LA as far back as we did in 2014, then I'll panic like Boly is...not before.

[klaiggeb]

Randy, boly, speaking of himself in the 3rd person, does not and will not panic regardless of the situation

Baseball, life or otherwise.

What boly IS, IS ticked off!

I(back to the first person) simply cannot and will not tolerate mental naps by professional athletes.

There was and is NO excuse for their suddenly horrific play coming out of the All Farce game.

My entire LIFE was geared towards playing pro baseball.

I was good, but not good enough to get past the College level.


But I'll say this; Mental naps are something I never did.

I love the game too much for that.

What the Giant team did at the end of the break was an embarrassment; an embarrassment that can never, and SHOULD never happen to professionals.

Never.

Ticked.

Irate

Furious

So anger my vision gets blurred.

Yes to all of the above.

panic?

I don't.

boly

[Rog]

my recollection of 2014 was that the team's fall was much longer and more pronounced than the current skid. When the team falls behind LA as far back as we did in 2014, then I'll panic like Boly is...not before.


Rog -- I can't remember about 2012, but in 2010, the Giants were behind the Padres almost all season -- something close to 10 games behind at the nadir. That teams didn't even make the playoffs until the final days of the season, and they needed an 18-8 September to do so.

I realize their present slump is getting really bad, but even good teams slump -- and sometimes badly. I realize this isn't exceptionally comforting, but the Giants are still in first place by a game and in the Wild Card by four.

Hang in there, Boly! This must be killing you.

Read more: sfgiantsmessageboard.proboards.com/thread/3392/2-freakin-30#ixzz4Fu6Ur6ot

[klaiggeb]

Roger, you have no idea.

You have no... idea.

But the worm turns tonight.

That triple play was rock bottom.

Now we start our rise up.

boly

[Rog]

I triple that emotion! So far so good. Man, Boly, do you have the POWER!

[klaiggeb]

I play hunches, Rog, and I had a hunch.

boly

[sfgdood]

OR...it could have been Pence and Panik have something to do with it

[klaiggeb]

Prior to posting that comment, Rog, even prior to THINKING about their return... I simply had a hunch.

There was something about the way we were swinging the bats, even though the results weren't there. I can't say for sure just what it was, but I could 'see' them coming out of it.

boly

[Rog]

But the longer things go on... the more I'm feeling we'll get nothing done.


Rog -- What I hate is not hustling, a subject about which little is said here. Over the weekend there were two separate plays in which Nationals players might well have had an inside the park home run had they been hustling.

And I won't soon forget that Alex Gordon might have broken our hearts by scoring on the final-inning play in which he was held at third base. Alex ran, but he didn't go all out. Had he done so, it might have made a good two-out gamble to send him.

Brandon Crawford is a very good relay man, so I think Gordon likely would have been out even had he hustled all the way, but with two outs, a team's chances of scoring a runner from third isn't better than one in three. Thus, a gamble might have been in order. But Gordon took the option away.

I'm rather glad it turned out the way it did.


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