Tag Archives: dodgers

July 18, 2012 · 1:50 pm

Buster Posey Being Buster Posey

I shouldn’t have worried so much.  The Giants had that down, obviously.  Then again, my worrying did create this, so no complaints there.

 

Yes, they were every bit as delicious as they look, if I do say so myself.  And the Giants were every bit as wonderful as the box score might imply.  Nine runs in the actually-tolerable Atlanta weather (77 at gametime, aka miracle) and Barry Zito pitched not at all like a melting ice cream cone, in addition to driving in a run and altogether making me wonder how I ever complained about him.  Buster Posey was kind of the star of the show – there were a lot of stars, but he was one of the big ones – driving in five runs on three hits.  As noted yesterday, Atlanta is close to home for him and family and friends come to watch him droves, so his performance was fantastic in more ways than one.

A tidy 2.0 has turned into an even tidier 3.0, which is the biggest lead the Giants have had in nearly a year, if memory serves me right, so basically everything is golden right now.  This roadtrip is off to a much better start than the, um, last one.   Much better.

The one piece of bad news from the game was Hector Sanchez’s injury.  He was placed on the 15-day DL today with a leg injury and Eli Whiteside is on a plane to join the team in Atlanta as I write.  A lot of people seem terribly dismayed by this and while it’s certainly not good news, I am inclined to think the drop-off in production from the backup catcher is not going to be all that tremendous.  Is Whiteside likely to tear it up?  Nah.  He batted .197 last year.  This year, Sanchez is batting .281.  That’s clear enough, but I still think Whiteside will be just fine for the team for a couple weeks.  Also, with Buster Posey Being Buster Posey, it may or may not make a terribly huge difference.

If it does, there are always blueberry muffins to be made.  It’s been too long since I’ve done those.

Diamond Girl

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July 15, 2012 · 7:06 pm

Sweeping the Astros Has Upsides and Downsides, Evidently

So, this happened.

The Giants have started off the second half with a bang, sweeping the non-pesky Astros in a three game series and taking hold of first place over the also non-pesky Dodgers.  That would make me happy under any circumstances but since I am heading down to Los Angeles for a family event later this week, it’s pretty much put me in full on the-world-is-a-beautiful-place-and-I-love-absolutely-everyone mode.  (Sweeping the Astros has upsides and downsides, evidently.)  Family event, see, means lots of Dodger fans.  Lots of Dodger fans.  Dodger fans everywhere.  (In addition to a lone Mariners fan, but he’s irrelevant.)  It is, therefore, of the utmost importance that the Giants hold on to a tidy division lead through my trip there so I can quietly – or non-quietly, as the case may be – gloat.

It sure looks like they will.  They’re not doing everything or blowing the competition out the water, but they’re doing enough of the little things right.  They’re playing neater baseball and Tim Lincecum came through in a huge way last night, in what might have been a start for his spot.  Bochy, in typical Bochy fashion, was oblique about what would have happened if he’d struggled, but he’s staved that off, if only for a little while.  Hector Sanchez one again proved his affection for walk-off hits and although Melky Cabrera is on paternity leave, the rest of the team actually hit.  Enough to score runs.  Enough to win games.  It’s been a pretty fab second half so far.

On Tuesday, East Coast Roadtrip 2.0 will get started, with the Giants hitting Atlanta and Philly.  In the visiting-them sense, but also, hopefully, in the hitting-off-of-them sense.  Since East Coast Roadtrip 1.0 was pretty much a disaster all around, there’s a lot riding on this one.  Although there’s obviously a while to go until the postseason, pulling ahead in July can big indeed later on.  Three in a row is making good things look pretty possible at the moment.

I told you I was spouting optimism.  I better go before I start reminiscing fondly of the days when Miguel Tejada and Aaron Rowand peppered the Giants field.  I was reminded of them when I experimented with MLB the Show ’11 yesterday and played as the Grizzlies against the ’11 Giants.  Let’s just say a Grizzly I’d never heard of took Tim Lincecum deep into the Allegheny River beyond PNC Park.  Video games are strange.  And no, I’m do not really have fond memories of Miguel Tejada and Aaron Rowand.  Not even close.  Even this breed of optimism has limits.

Diamond Girl

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June 21, 2012 · 3:20 pm

Hello from Red Sox Nation!

Seriously, guys.  Everyone here is a Red Sox fan.  Everyone.  And if they’re not a Red Sox fan, they still hate the Yankees.  It’s a little bit eerie, actually.  As I landed in Boston yesterday, a woman behind me was filling in her kids on the Sox game and said something about Cody Ross.  I was this close to turning around and being all, “2010 World Series, baby!” when I realized that I was in Boston now and they were not the least bit interested in the 2010 World Series.  I picked up my black-and-white checkered tote and zipped my lips.

I missed last night’s game because being a West Coast fan on the East Coast is horrible and I couldn’t stay awake, but I hear it was quite depressing anyway.  I would be lying if I said I was all sad about missing it.  Interleague Play has not treated us terribly well so far this year and I’m more nervous than I should be, heading into the Bay Bridge Matchup.  Series loss to the Rangers, series loss to the Mariners and now a series loss to the Angels.  When this Giants team is good, it’s really, really good.  But when it’s bad?  It’s really, really bad.  Not that there were’t good things about last night’s game and the past few series’ in general – Vogelsong did pretty much the best he could have, three runs over seven innings – but otherwise, they just seem off, for lack of a better word.  Everyone’s healthy, but not everyone’s good.

Also, the Angels of Anaheim are doing better than they should be.  It helps that the Rangers are 9-1 in their last 10, but the Angels are also 7-3 and exactly five games back.  Too close for comfort?  Yes.

The Giants meanwhile, are 4-6 in their last 10, but that’s exactly the same as the Dodgers, so nothing is too disastrous after all.  San Francisco is four games back from first place and heading into a series against the A’s who, while they might be hot right now, are sure to cool off sometime.  And starting tomorrow is sure to be “sometime”.

Am I not the best inspirational speaker in the history of the Giants blogosphere?  (Admittedly short history, but still.)

Go Red So– aah.  No.  This city is not getting to me.

Diamond Girl

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June 11, 2012 · 2:07 pm

The Rough Spot Strategies

Hello, hello!  Yep, that was me who said on Saturday that I thought “the Giants were coming into their own”.  Needless to say, by that I did not mean “were going to very nearly get no-hit by the Rangers bullpen”.  Yesterday’s game was just ugly.

I was excited about Alexi Ogando starting for the Rangers and figured if he shut down the Giants offense, I wouldn’t be too torn up about it, because he’s pretty much my favorite pitcher ever.  And he did do rather well, but then… he injured himself running out a bunt in the fourth before he’d reached his designated pitch count (65) and is now probably headed to the DL.  Also, Tim Lincecum now has the fourth-worst ERA in the National League and Aubrey Huff got the Giants first hit of the game, pinch-hitting in the sixth.

Ouch does not even begin to cut it.

The Giants have fallen to five games back from the Dodgers and the Rangers only narrowly lead the American League West by three games.  Additionally, Texas has won just one more game than San Francisco overall.  Did anyone see that one coming?  The plot has most certainly thickened.  (Also, who predicted that the White Sox would be super awesome this year?  If you say, “I did,” I do not believe you for a second.  Sorry, guys.)

The biggest story out of the weekend, I think, is Timmy, as mentioned above.  He is not looking good.  He is not even looking better.  There is the occasional encouraging sign here and there, but mostly, he is just not helping the Giants, period.  The numbers about their record without his starts is pretty mind-boggling, at least to me.  It’s June 11th and the season has not just started.  Very simply, every starter makes a big, big difference and the difference Lincecum is making is negative.  But as much as that’s all statically inarguable, I wonder how much good it does to repeat it over and over.

For the time being, the Giants have placed a lot of trust in Lincecum (not to mention the money) and the likelihood is, in my opinion, that to get to the playoffs and beyond, they would need him to help them out.  A lot of people are calling for them to skip him for one start and while that could help, I think there is something to be said for just hitting a rough spot.  Sometimes, the best way to get out of those is to simply keep moving.  Other options:

  1. Eating aforementioned player alive.
  2. Burning aforementioned player alive (could work with #1, theoretically).
  3. Tarring and feathering aforementioned player alive.
  4. Trading aforementioned player to the Kansas City Royals.  (Hihi, Jonathan Sanchez and Jonathan Sanchez’s walks.)

There will come a point when it’s not productive for anyone to keep sending Lincecum out, but I don’t think we’re there yet.  The Bud Selig G—I mean, the All Star Game isn’t even here yet.  Which reminds me, I gotta go vote.  I still have not worked up the motivation.  I mean, what would you choose if you could vote for the ASG or make apple cinnamon muffins?

I know.  I agree.  The apple cinnamon muffins.

Diamond Girl

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June 9, 2012 · 9:22 pm

Lopsided Eyebrows and Wide, Wide Smiles

Interleague Play has kicked off in earnest, with the Rangers and the Giants facing off in San Francisco this weekend.  It’s been an interesting series, to say the least, with Texas taking Game 1 by a final of 5-0 and San Francisco winning today, 5-2.  Last night also marked the Rangers first win ever at AT&T Park, in their twelfth game here.  Personally, I credit that to our vastly peculiar weather (did you see the Rangers huddled up in jackets in their dugout, looking completely shell-shocked?), but it also could have been a voodoo curse or the fact that even Jon Daniels’ magnificence takes a while to kick in and the Rangers, aside from the World Series, haven’t played here all that recently.   Maybe a voodoo curse is the most likely theory, after all.

Anyway, I am loving the matchup… AL vs. NL always is strange and fun (and no, the All Star game does not count) and that crazy game up in Seattle was another example of that.  The Mariners, bless their most-hipster-city-in-the-nation hearts, no-hit the Dodgers, using a total of six pitchers.  In San Francisco, there was nothing that wacky but that leadoff homer from Kinsler had my eyebrows a little lopsided and the fact that the Giants were shut out for the first time this year was also, probably, somewhat telling.

The other weird thing is just that, with a few exceptions, there seems to be much more goodwill to go around, during Interleague Play.  Maybe it’s that we won’t play these people again, barring the World Series, but the fans and broadcasters both seem much more willing to compliment the opposing team.  Seriously, there’s been so much Ranger admiration flying in Giantsland that it is kind of making me suspicious.  I mean, I love ‘em too.  Just not sure why Giants people seem so doting.

About that no-hitter, though, doesn’t that seem like lots of fun?  I mean, I’m sure for the starting pitcher who didn’t get to finish it due to injury, it wasn’t all that fun at all, but in general, no-hitters feel like a bit of a solitary achievement, even though the offense and defense are absolutely involved.  I think as a fan, seeing the whole bullpen come together to pull that off would be quite marvelous.  I can’t get into the heads of the (hipster) Mariners fan, so I can’t be sure, but that was my thought.

Overall, I think the Giants seem to be coming into their own, in a peculiar way.  The loss of Melky Cabrera for this series is a painful one, but Pablo’s return is so smile-worth it is not even funny.  The pitching is really as stellar as it’s supposed to be and the offense is beginning to step up.

They’re now 4 back from the first-place Dodgers (scoreboard watching?  Heck yes.), who played again in Seattle tonight and won.  The rubbermatch is tomorrow.  Let’s have a resounding, “Go Mariners!” can we?!

Diamond Girl

p.s.  Can the Josh Hamilton drug jokes please die?  Hamilton is a grown man and he did what he did.  From what I’ve read, he takes the jokes and the criticism alike in stride, but that doesn’t mean we should all do it.  The people in front of me at the Coliseum the other day had a running stream of them and during this Giants series, it’s been the same way.  What’s so very funny about recovering from drug addiction is foreign to me, not to mention, the whole taking-the-high-road thing.  Hamilton is a really, truly brilliant athlete and ballplayer and probably the best hitter in the in the game this year.  I would be more than happy to talk about that.

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