Results tagged ‘ Duane Kuiper ’

Posey Starting Tonight, Last Night’s Game and Why I’m Still Going to Follow the Giants This Season

Finally it’s Posey time.

He’s getting the start behind the dish tonight, catching Tim Lincecum as the Giants face Carlos Zembrano and the Cubs.

So after last night’s crushing loss that Bruce Bochy said was a must-win, is this a sign that the Giants are waving the white flag with nine games to go? Yes, it’s happening when Bengie’s unavailable after getting hit in the catching hand, but why is Bochy turning to Posey now after sitting him for over three weeks for Whiteside or Molina? Is this a(nother) sign that management realizes they need to start giving Posey chances because they’re thinking less and less about resigning Bengie? Guess it’s hard to say now with Molina; we’ll have to wait until the offseason for real verification on that. It’s just nice to see that Posey is getting his long-overdue first Major League start tonight.

Speaking of last night’s game, Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote a pretty eloquent article on the Jeff Baker home run off Brian Wilson and how it pretty much symbolizes the sure end of the Giants’ playoff hopes in the eyes of the players and fans. He put it a lot better than I could by recapping it, so here’s a link to it:

Bruce Jenkins Article on Last Night’s Loss

So I know by now there are probably a lot of Giants fans who are questioning why they should even watch the remaining games and/or go to the ballpark besides to see a Tim Lincecum start. I can understand those sentiments, as now that it feels like the rest of the season is meaningless unless Colorado goes into a big tailspin and I feel like I don’t need to be as attached to the radio or TV following the game. But like I’ve said before after disappointing losses, I’m still going to follow the Giants for the rest of the season as much as my class schedule will allow me. It’s not so much because I have a sliver of hope left, a whisper of “Maybe, just maybe” meandering in my mind. Right now it’s more for the simple pleasure I get out of listening to my favorite team and my appreciation for baseball. The last time I went to the ballpark I made sure to take the atmosphere in more than I already do because I knew it would be my last game of the year, the last time I would see the Giants play for six months. That’s what I’m going to do the next week and a half by continuing to pay attention to the games: appreciate the little things that I love about this team and the game itself. I know it may sound kind of corny, but I love the sport of baseball irrevocably, and I know how much I’m going to miss it when it gets to be December and January and all I have left are my lackluster Golden State Warriors to follow. So I’ll continue to listen to hear Jon Miller as he describes the fog rolling into San Francisco Bay and banters with Dave Fleming. I’ll watch the games just to see my favorite players, to see the wide expanse of emerald green grass and hear the crack of the bat (insert Giants lack-of-offense joke here). I’ll watch for the Kung Fu Panda, the Franchise and Shotgun Cain (credit to Mychael Urban for the latter nickname). I’ll watch to hear Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper pick on a fan with a ‘boiler’ in the bleachers and for an Amy Gutierrez update (kidding on the last one).

Nine more games to take in Giants baseball. However disappointingly they may finish, I will still try to take this small window of time to just appreciate the game of baseball itself, as I feel that I may overlook the little things that I love about the sport too often.

A Loss They Couldn’t Afford

To quote Duane Kuiper from a couple weeks ago, “This is not good, folks.”

Giants fans, we just lost a series to the San Diego Padres.

And this isn’t like when we got swept in San Diego to start the first road trip of the season, when it was only April and expectations were low, anyway. This was in September when we’re supposedly in a playoff race with two tough teams in our division that we’re in direct competition with–the Dodgers and Rockies–coming in on their heels.

Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhh.

This simply wasn’t a game we could afford to lose if we’re going to be a legitimate playoff contender, and we did. It means a loss of momentum going into a series with our biggest rival, the division-leading Dodgers, and a loss in the Wild Card standings again because the Rockies are still on fire.

I guess I was hoping for too much after Monday’s stomping of the Padres. I didn’t expect another offensive outburst by the Giants’ lineup the next two games, but I at least hoped things would start to click more with our two-three-four hitters back. Unfortunately that didn’t happen, especially today. We hit a bunch of home runs this series in comparison to the norm, but I think that has a lot more to do with the ballpark playing smaller due to warm weather than it does with our lineup actually hitting better; otherwise we would’nt have let another no-name pitcher in Wade LeBlanc get us today.

When I was looking at the probable pitching matchup before the game and saw LeBlanc’s name, my immediate reaction was, “Oh crap, this is the guy who shut out the Dodgers the other night. If he did that against their potent lineup, the Giants are in trouble today.” And sure enough, the only trouble we really gave him was in the third with Torres’ home run and in the eighth with two on and nobody out. It was obviously a time to bunt (which for the Giants is a four-letter word as profane as any others), and Bochy brought out…Kevin Frandsen.

Frandsen? Uh, okay…sure, Boch. He’s barely been up in the Majors this year but sure, why not give him a pinch at-bat in a big opportunity.

So what does he do? Pop up the bunt with a 3-1 count. The Giants’ bunting inability continues.  

And Zito didn’t look sharp for a second start in a row in a big spot, which will make Giants fans wonder if the overall good second-half performance is a fluke. He’s scheduled to start against the Rockies next week, and needless to say he absolutely has to pitch well in that start.

Not much else to say about this one. We couldn’t afford to drop the series to the Padres and we did. But there’s no time to dwell on it with LA and Colorado coming into town. If this club is going to step up again and prove they belong in the Wild Card race, now’s the time they have to do it.

“Folks, Do You Believe?”

Well, now I feel stupid.

But come on, I definitely wasn’t the only Giants fan who, after the worst loss in five years on Monday, mourned the loss of the season a month early. I’ve been a diehard fan of this team for several years now and I know how they operate–they’re aggressive hitters but can’t hit, they don’t walk easily and they tend not to mount large comebacks or go on inspiring runs after bad losses.

There are not enough negative words in the English dictionary that do justice to describe how bad Monday night’s loss was for Giants fans. It would be a hard loss for any team to recover from, let alone the San Francisco Giants; they have a weak lineup and left Colorado with several of their key guys battered (Freddy Sanchez on the DL, Bengie Molina and Pablo Sandoval hurting), so needless to say it was looking dismal for this team.

But this homestand–the two come-from-behind wins against Arizona fueled by home runs from Ishikawa and Molina, the dominant pitching performances by Lincecum and Zito and today’s improbable victory to finish off the sweep of the Colorado Rockies–proves this team does have what it takes to make it to the postseason.

As a side note, Duane Kuiper’s call of Edgar Renteria’s grand slam today gave me chills. I know it sounds corny and maybe cliche, but it truly did. Just standing in my living room watching in disbelief as the ball sailed over the left field wall, then hearing Kuiper ask, “Folks, do you believe?” to cap off his call…it was just all so incredible and it was a moment that encapsulates the unbelievable nature of this season.

Duane Kuiper’s call of Edgar Renteria’s grand slam

I’m still going to be cautiously optimistic; I don’t want to get my hopes up too high in case something like Monday night happens again (oh man, I shouldn’t say that…I can’t fathom dealing with something like that again). But I will say this: for a team to have a shot at or get to the postseason, a lot of components have to be in play. There’s the basic essentials of having a couple reliable hard-hitters, a solid rotation, etc. But I think it’s also necessary to have a little magic (for lack of a better term), the kind that comes from games like today’s with Renteria’s grand-slam, or Zito’s curtain call worthy performance yesterday and Jonathan Sanchez’s no-hitter back on July 10.

Mike Krukow said it best on the postgame wrap today: forget the past five months, because it starts now. This homestand was great, and the sweep of the Rockies was amazing and integral for building momentum going into September. But now’s the time to show this is all for real. The Giants go on the road and play Philadelphia and Milwaukee, then come home and play the Padres, Dodgers and Rockies. If this team truly is built tough enough for the playoffs, they need to continue maintaining and building on the momentum from this past week.

And to answer Duane Kuiper’s question from his home run call: yes, I do believe.   

Penny For Your Thoughts?

It’s 9-0 Diamondbacks in the ninth inning, and Kruk and Kuip are now covering a rock-paper-scissors match between two kids. At this point I would rather watch that than the game…but hey, I’m a masochist when it comes to this team, so I still have it on in the background.

Oh look, Bob Howry can pitch decently–when there’s no pressure on him.

Thanks Bobby.

No wait, he just gave up two doubles in a row. 11-0 Arizona. Finally. I was getting worried that Howry might suddenly become a dependable guy out of the bullpen.

Yeah, I’m bitter tonight. We’re getting absolutely whooped by a team that’s 15+ games under .500 when we had a chance to sweep them and gain ground on the Rockies in the NL Wild Card, since they lost to the Dodgers earlier today.

Can I say I’m that surprised? Not really. Joe Martinez was probably kept in too long but hey, the bullpen has been battered lately and it was evident from the get-go that we probably didn’t have another comeback in the bag tonight, especially as the runs started to pile up.

To me, this game makes it obvious that we need someone else in the five-hole of this rotation. One can argue that the Giants have more things to worry about than who the fifth guy in the starting rotation is (like their offense), but I still think it’s of concern. Sadowski and Martinez have both been feel-good stories coming onto this pitching staff and looked decent in their first couple starts, but both subsequently went downhill in their outings. Plus as I recall, both Sadowski and Martinez benefited in their first start or two from a rare outpouring of offense by the Giants that guaranteed wins for them in those starts. 

So I’m of the opinion that the Giants should find a more reliable guy to plug into the five-hole. Yes it’s the fifth spot in the rotation, but every game counts going down the stretch if the Giants have any semblance of playoff aspirations left and we can’t afford to have Joe Martinez getting blown up in any game, whether it’s against a contending team or not. Who should the Giants’ fifth starter be? Well the first name on the tips of many Giants fans’ tongues is probably Madison Bumgarner. He’s been brilliant at the Double-A level with a 9-1 record and an ERA under 2.00–but the problem is that he’s only in Double-A right now. You can’t just have Bumgarner skip Triple-A and come immediately to the big leagues, no matter how much of a phenom he looks like right now. Even if the Giants might be making a playoff push here, I wouldn’t want to see his development hurt or him rushed too much for that sake. Promote him to Fresno soon and at least give him a couple starts, then if the Giants are still in it in mid to late September, maybe consider giving him a shot at his first Major League start.  

Who else? Eh, maybe you can throw out a Kevin Pucetas at me, but he’s got an ERA over 4.00 and besides, the past two times the Giants have brought up a minor-leaguer to fill in the five-hole it hasn’t worked out too well.

The most intriguing option to me is Brad Penny, who was released by the Boston Red Sox yesterday and is garnering interest from many teams, including the San Francisco Giants. Has he struggled lately? Yes. For the year he’s gone 7-8 with a 5.61 ERA, and in August his record is 0-3 with an ERA of 8.31. But he is a veteran pitcher and would be benefited by pitching in AT&T Park. Plus as a former Dodger he’s familiar with the National League West and he would probably enjoy the opportunity to stick it to his old team since they didn’t part ways well. And hey, he’s out there for $1 million. If we’re paying Rich Aurilia one million dollars to be a benchwarmer so management doesn’t have to be the heavy and outright release him, can’t we pay Brad Penny that to quite possibly be the best #5 guy we’ve had all year?

Sounds like a good idea to me.

Gut-Punched

Wow.

There are no words that can fully encapsulate what it felt like as a Giants fan to see the Colorado Rockies win that game against us in the 14th inning on a walk-off grand slam after we’d just gotten three runs. Seeing the first pitch hit that hard, hearing Duane Kuiper say, “This isn’t good, folks”, watching as the Rockies celebrated…I don’t know.

I felt numb and weak. It’s like at that moment you could feel all other Giants fans around the Bay Area react by collapsing on the couch, gaping at the TV, covering their eyes or shouting profanities at Merkin Valdez in disgust (or all of the above).

I don’t know…maybe I sound really dramatic. One of my friends who isn’t a sports fan thought I sounded like someone had died when I answered the phone. But I can’t really help it; that kind of reaction to a loss like this is the pure definition of a ‘diehard fan’. I do live and die with this team. I am really emotionally invested in them (maybe too much). But what can I say? I can’t turn off my passion and just be one of those casual fans who jumps on the bandwagon and comes to the park when the team is doing well or their slugger is about to reach a home run milestone. And even after this loss, I still can’t throw down the remote control and just say, “Forget this team, I’m done.” I may be upset now, but I’ll still probably be back tomorrow watching them again because I can’t help it. I stuck around through all these crappy years, and I can’t turn my back on them now.

But this loss…man. I just can’t explain eloquently how much it hurt. It was nothing like any of their other losses this year. It wasn’t like the three times Bob Howry has choked and given up a walk-off home run to the opposition, which had me irked and frustrated with a sense of unshakeable deja vu. It wasn’t like the bad series they’ve had against bad teams, like at PNC Park or at home against Cincinnati. It wasn’t even as bad as Saturday when the Giants were leading 6-1 and coughed up the lead, big-time. This one topped them all by far. I mean, they were ahead three runs almost five hours into a game, and that should have meant it was over; that’s what I expected, anyway, and I think it was safe to do so. But to have it end in such a dramatic way, with the walk-off grand slam after pretty much writing this in pen as a win and a 6-5 road trip…God. It just gave me flashbacks to how the 2004 season ended for us when Steve Finley hit that grand slam for the Dodgers to beat us and propel them into the postseason. Even though this one doesn’t clinch a playoff birth for the Rockies since there’s a month left of the season, it sure as hell feels like it. The Giants as they’re currently constructed just don’t seem like they’re good enough to get hot down the stretch and gain all this momentum and overtake the Rockies in the Wild Card. I mean, no one even thought they’d be contenders this year (and rightfully so). I know in some ways that should mean I should be grateful for the surprisingly good season they’ve had overall, but I’m not, really; it just makes me more bitter about tonight’s loss. With this pitching staff, I feel like we would’ve had a shot in a short series in the postseason, but now it looks like we’ll never know, at least not in 2009.  

I know there’s another month left of the season, so statistically all is not lost. And of course I’d like to be proven wrong; I would love for the Giants to get on a hot streak and sweep the Diamondbacks and Rockies coming up. But it just doesn’t seem realistic. Regardless of what happens though, I’ll still stick around til the end because I can’t just ignore my team, even after all this.

Two Out of Three IS Bad

Was it only two days ago that the Giants scored four runs in an inning in a come-from-behind, extra inning victory that was supposed to build momentum for the offense? Or three days ago since they stomped over the New York Mets and scored ten runs and had a season-high eighteen hits?

Seems like that was a long time ago.

Aaaaaaarrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhh!!!!!

Another gem by Matt Cain, wasted. Another ridiculously horrible day in the batters box for the orange and black against a subpar pitcher in Aaron Harang. Another walk-off home run given up by Bob Howry. Another day of lost momentum.

Yesterday was a good win, but they got their only run on a misplayed ball in the outfield. Today they got their only run on a wild pitch. So without those runs, the Giants scored eight runs in three games against the friggin Cincinnati Reds.

It’s not like they didn’t have hits; they just couldn’t move anyone over. They had ten runners left on base today. I think the worst, most glaring example of this was sometime late in the game (I think the sixth or seventh inning) when the Giants had two on and one out and had two guys come up, each of whom swung at the first pitch and made outs. Two pitches, two outs, inning over.

Maybe Mom was right. Patience is a virtue. Now if only the Giants could adopt that philosophy.

The only guy who should be allowed to swing at first pitches on that team is Pablo Sandoval, and that’s because he’s shown time and time again that he has the talent to where he can get a ball thrown up around his eyes and get it down for a base hit. Even then it seems like lately that strategy hasn’t been as fullproof as it usually is for Sandoval.

You can tell it’s a bad loss when Krukow and Kuiper speak as bluntly as they did on the postgame show today. Kuip said, “The Giants should be ashamed of themselves [offensively]” and Kruk said, “If they play like they did today they’re gonna get their *** handed to them in Colorado.” Both of those are strong statements that are wholly accurate, and it shows that everyone knows this upcoming series against the Rockies is a do-or-die one for the Giants. 

Time to show what they’re made of. 

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