Episode 84: Santiago Ca-See-Ya

Episode 84: Santiago Ca-See-Ya is out!

In the eighty-fourth episode, Thomas and Danny talk with Wendy Thurm about the Giants, playoff hopes, Brandon Belt, the bullpen, and much more, and speak with Chris Faina of LND Apparel about their new MelkMen t-shirt.

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Go Giants!

Postgame Wrap: L.O.B. City

You can read the box score yourself. Hits: Giants 9, Braves 3. Team left on base: Giants 8, Braves 1. Runs: Giants 2, Braves 3. Throw in the fact that Giants players drew two walks and failed to give one out makes this one of the more frustrating games of the season. Tables were set, little shrimp forks were placed just to the left of the salad forks, and the centerpiece was gaudy and extravagant, something like this. The big hit- hell, even the medium ones- continue to elude the Giants.

Staring at the numbers, the prime example of the clutch-hitting inequality is Pablo Sandoval. While Panda is batting .303 on the season, his average drops to .284 when there are any runners on base, and .246 w/RISP. Blimey, the Giants’ stud third basemen becomes a league-average hitter (100 wRC+) when a hit would likely score a run. Considering Sandoval hits after Cabrera and Posey, who each get on base at a nice clip, this creates a black hole in the Giants lineup. Tell me how many times we’ve seen this scenario in the second inning: Continue reading →

Postgame Wrap: Giants Tie Early, Win Late Against Braves

After yesterday’s easy blowout, it made perfect sense that today’s game would get a little weird. Yesterday Buster Posey led the Giants on a rout of a pitcher who used to be fantastic, while Barry Zito shut down an excellent lineup, and the Giants shut down a team that has regularly dominated them in the past. That makes sense, if only to remind you that baseball is baseball, and you’re a fool for thinking that history repeats itself.

Now, Bruce Bochy is naturally going to take heat for pinch-running for Buster Posey (again!) in the top of the ninth inning. Now, I understand that there were many factors that went into the decision to pinch-run. After Posey singled to lead off the inning, Gregor Blanco represented the go-ahead run, and with his speed, Blanco could much more easily steal, go first-to-third on a single, or score on a double. That makes sense. I’m not sure why they didn’t give Blanco the sign to steal, but that’s a complicated decision and it just didn’t work out that inning. Fine.

What I really don’t understand is the decision to intentionally walk Tyler Pastornicky in the bottom of the ninth to load the bases for Michael Bourn. With two outs, it makes more sense to pitch to the weak-hitting Pastornicky than to Bourn, who is one of the best singles hitters in the league. Bourn’s one downside is his lack of power, but with the bases loaded in a walk-off scenario, that doesn’t matter nearly as much as his ability to do everything else like, say, beat out an infield single to knock in the winning run.

But hey, it worked out.

Continue reading →