Giants fans cheer for Hunter Pence in his first at-bat in a new uniform. (Photo by Mac)

1.

Hunter Pence arrived shortly after the game ended on Jul 31, greeted by the fans still at the park. Cameras followed him around and reporters talked to him and interviewed him in the clubhouse. It was #PenceWatch.

It was one of those “new eras” in San Francisco: the arrival of a somewhat big name player joining the Giants roster.

Now, it was only a matter of whether or not he’ll be loved as a ballplayer in the black and orange. » Continue reading “The Value Of A Pence”

(Photo by Keith Allison/flickr)

Here’s probably my favorite thing about this trade, not in a “good trade” way but in a “baseball, maaaannn” way:

Nate Schierholtz, AAA 2007: .333/.365/.560, .393 wOBA
Hunter Pence, AAA 2007: .326/.387/.558, .409 wOBA

One of them got called up, played daily, and developed into a middle-of-the-order force that has two years in a row been traded for at least one of a contending team’s top prospects. The other one got called up, demoted, called back up, benched, injured, given a starting job, benched, given another starting job, benched again, injured again, asked to pick up a quarter that had been superglued to the locker-room floor, and finally given a leadoff spot for some reason before being traded. He’s basically a fourth outfielder. » Continue reading “Free-swinging Trade Analysis”

This finally happened after the fake trades and the reports that it wasn’t true are true.

And. It’s not necessarily a bad deal. » Continue reading “Giants Acquire Hunter Pence From Phillies”

(Photo: rocor/flickr)

Another day, another very good Ryan Vogelsong start. If he keeps this up, I’m going to run out of things to say. It’s weird, considering how different they come across, but something in Vogelsong’s approach reminds me of Jonathan Sanchez. You never saw Sanchez say “hell with it, try and hit this”; he’d stubbornly nibble and nibble, trying to hit the corners and get the batter to miss breaking balls. It was kind of commendable, that refusal to give in, but of course he couldn’t find the strike zone so it never really worked out.

Vogeltron does the same thing, but he has the strike zone’s home phone number. He outperformed his FIP last year by nearly a full run and he may well do it again, throwing pitch after pitch that’s just crap to hit. The Texas Rangers lineup is essentially a bunch of Game of Thrones characters armed with baseball bats instead of bastard swords, and then they produced an assortment of dribblers, pop-ups, and a handful of loud outs. I don’t know if it’s sustainable, but holy crap is it fun to watch while it is. » Continue reading “Giants Recap: Nothing Brings ‘Em Out Like A Vogey Quality Start”

The San Francisco Giants returned home tonight for the first of six games in a seven day homestand, taking on the Texas Rangers. Yup, those guys. The two teams came into the game tied with the 3rd-highest winning percentage in MLB, at 33-25 each. Who could have predicted that?

Let’s just rip the band-aid off of this one. Here’s the starting lineup for tonight:

Tonight’s #SFGiants lineup: Blanco lf, Theriot 2b, Pagan cf, Sanchez c, Pill 1b, Arias 3b, Schierholtz rf, Crawford ss, Zito p

— San Francisco Giants (@SFGiants) June 8, 2012

Yuck. Just yuck. » Continue reading “Giants Recap: Giants Don’t Score. At All.”

Coming into tonight, Madison Bumgarner had a streak of winning in his last 8 starts at home, dating back to August 9, 2011. By the end of the game, the streak was broken.

The Giants lost 4-1 to the St. Louis Cardinals, who didn’t even need to deploy Carlos Beltran and his barking knee to beat the home team. The team continues to be mystified by runners in scoring position, going 2-for-11 in such situations. Maybe Bam-Bam needs to have guys stand on base during batting practice, since obviously the guys have no idea how to hit in games when presented with extra guys standing around out there.

How to summarize the Giants batters tonight? Maybe something like this:

This includes two strike-outs each for Charlie Culberson, Brandon Crawford, Nate Schierholtz and Emmanuel Burriss. Yikes. » Continue reading “Giants Recap: The One Where Bumgarner’s Streak Ends”

Matt Cain does not approve of your one T name, Latos. (Photo: dwighta3/Flickr)

The Giants head to the Great American Ballpark for a three game series against the Cincinnati Reds.

The Reds are … well, there’s only one team in the NL Central that is above .500 and that’s not them, so that should give you an indication of how things are going in that division.

But hey, Mat Latos is now in Cincinnati! How quaint. He’s also given up 14 runs in 15.1 innings.

[insert biased comment about how Mat Latos is not a pleasant person]

Tonight, though, it’s a battle of the Matts, except one inexplicably is missing a T from his name. » Continue reading “Series Preview: Giants Take On Cincinnati”

(Flickr/Linsey)

Madison Bumgarner made his first start against the Mets in the second game of a doubleheader tonight. And it was a good one. The Giants completed the doubleheader sweep with a score of 6-1.

For the second time today, the Giants came out swinging in the first inning. CF Gregor Blanco led off with a single, followed by a towering Pandamode HR from Pablo Sandoval for two runs. Nate Schierholtz continued his day’s hot streak with a triple*, followed by a sac fly from Hector Sanchez for another run.

*Nate would finish the game 3 for 5, and 6 for 10 for the day.

Of note, Sandoval extended his season-starting hit streak to 16, tying Willie Mays’ team record set in 1960. The Panda also has the longest current hit streak in the majors.

The Giants scored another 2 runs in the 4th inning, when Blanco’s fly ball to LF went into Jason Bay’s glove, but then right back out as Bay fell over, scoring Brett Pill and Emmanuel Burriss. When I was an assistant coach for my girls t-ball teams, I always told the kids that when the ball goes in the glove, you close the glove. Or, as we put it: “When the fish goes in the mouth, the croc snaps its jaws shut.” AND THAT’S WHY YOU DO THAT, JASON BAY. » Continue reading “Post-Game Recap: Giants Sweep the Doubleheader”

A quick recap of the game before the second game is underway:

Tim Lincecum got out of jams and got the win. Struck out eight, which is fabulous, but also walked five, which is eh.

Emmanuel Burriss and Brandon Crawford turned a slick double play that made Jon Miller speechless.

Buster Posey hit a bomb that was awesome, and so did Nate Schierholtz.

Bruce Bochy pulled another odd double switch. So I don’t know. It shouldn’t be surprising anymore at this point, but oh well.

Game two starts soon.