Atlanta vs San Francisco

So who’s gonna win?  How the heck should I know?  The Giants I mean.  Definitely!  

But let’s look at stats, because much like religion, that’s what baseball people go to when they have no real control over things.  I’m no jerk statistician, but I’ll take a crack at it anyway, because what else do I have to do while impatiently waiting for Thursday?  

Er..uh…so what do I look at?   The obvious would be who’s “the best” overall?  As the Braves are the Wild Card, I already know that answer, but let’s rub it in anyway:

Rk	Tm	W	L	W-L%	last10	last20	last30
1	PHI	97	65	.599	6-4	15-5	23-7
2	SFG	92	70	.568	7-3	12-8	20-10
3	CIN	91	71	.562	5-5	10-10	14-16
4	ATL	91	71	.562	5-5	10-10	14-16

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/6/2010.

Giants eek by on the W-L column and last 10 and last 20 win record, and destroy in the last 30 games played column with a 20-10 record.  Giants win.

How about Giants vs the Braves specifically this season?

Date	Tm		Opp		RS	RA
2010-04-09	San Francisco Giants		Atlanta Braves	W	5	4
2010-04-10	San Francisco Giants		Atlanta Braves	L	2	7
2010-04-11	San Francisco Giants		Atlanta Braves	W	6	3
2010-08-05	San Francisco Giants	@	Atlanta Braves	L	2	3
2010-08-06	San Francisco Giants	@	Atlanta Braves	W	3	2
2010-08-07	San Francisco Giants	@	Atlanta Braves	L	0	3
2010-08-08	San Francisco Giants	@	Atlanta Braves	L	3	6
For 2010, SFG won 3, ATL won 4.

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/6/2010.

Whoops!  3-4 record?  I thought the Braves were the underdog?  Um…oooOOOooo I know, how about this?

Date	Tm		Opp		RS	RA
2010-04-09	San Francisco Giants		Atlanta Braves	W	5	4
2010-04-10	San Francisco Giants		Atlanta Braves	L	2	7
2010-04-11	San Francisco Giants		Atlanta Braves	W	6	3

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/6/2010.

Whew, that’s better!  2-1 record against Atlanta at home, which is where this goddamn epic battle is going to begin.  I wish it was a 3-0 record but I’ll take it.  

How about pitchers vs batters?  I’ll just stick with the first game because I don’t have all day: Derek Lowe vs Tim Lincecum.  

Derek Lowe:

	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA
Juan Uribe	2	1	0	0	2	2	0	.667
Pat Burrell	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.500
Matt Cain	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Mike Fontenot	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Jose Guillen	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Aubrey Huff	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	.000
Travis Ishikawa	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Edgar Renteria	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Cody Ross	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.500
Aaron Rowand	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Freddy Sanchez	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500
Jonathan Sanchez	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Pablo Sandoval	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Andres Torres	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	.500
Eli Whiteside	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 10/6/2010.

Tim Lincecum:

	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA
Alex Gonzalez	1	0	0	1	2	0	0	.333
Brian McCann	2	0	0	1	2	1	2	.400
Eric Hinske	1	0	0	1	1	1	2	.200
Rick Ankiel	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000
Melky Cabrera	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.167
Brooks Conrad	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Matt Diaz	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.333
Diory Hernandez	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Jason Heyward	1	1	0	0	0	1	2	.200
Omar Infante	3	1	0	0	0	0	2	.429
Jair Jurrjens	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Kenshin Kawakami	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Martin Prado	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	.333

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 10/6/2010.

Summary

STAT	GIANTS	BRAVES	WINNER
HR	3	0	Braves
RBI	5	2	Braves
BB	4	6	Giants
SO	15	6	Giants
BA	.244	.220	Braves

So the Braves “win” 3-2.  But which of those stats are most important?  I guess batting average is probably important, and the Giants have the worse average against Derek Lowe.  On the other hand, Derek Lowe hasn’t faced Posey yet and he’s got the best batting average of the team.  

All-in-all…I still have no clue.  The stats seem depressing, but then you can still find a silver lining when you’re not reading what you want.  And it’s the playoffs, so everybody’s stats are going to be too close to make any real determinations, I would think, as if you could regardless just based on stats alone.  From an overall perspective, the Braves are obviously the underdog in this series, but if you look at their work specifically against the Giants, I’m not so sure… 

So who’s gonna win?  How the heck should I know?  The Giants I mean.  Definitely! 

Disssssss

Well I got what I wanted.

Took the series, four AWAY games against a DIVISION rival.  I mean, yeah I guess not really a rival since the D-Backs have been way behind for quite some time, but the Giants are so bad at facing the NL West, a win is a win is a win is a win!  I talked about the first game already, but some things that stand out about the other three:

Posey Keeps On Hitting

And hitting and hitting and…a .371 batting average and an 18 game hitting streak, which places him second to McCovey for rookie Giants hitting streaks.  Is he stoppable?  Probably, but let’s enjoy the ride, eh?

Velez Knocked in the Head

The most hated player on the Giants roster, if you go by Twitter, is knocked in the head while drinking his Gatorade by a foul ball from Pat Burrell.  Dislike him or not, that’s still not cool.  Is there no way to keep the dugout safe from such random attacks?  It’s happened at least three times this year that I’ve read about. (Maybe he can do Mountain Dew commercials now, though.)

Juan Uribe’s Grand Slam

My step-daughter and I were shouting the “OOO-RIBEH!” chant in our living room when he decided to hit his fourth career grand slam in the 7th on game three, with two outs and on the first pitch to boot.  I totally think it was our chant that did it.

Still in second place and three games behind because the Padres JUST WON’T LOSE!

Rk	Tm	W	L	W-L%	GB	Strk
1	SDP	58	39	.598	—	W 3
2	SFG	56	43	.566	3.0	W 4
3	LAD	53	46	.535	6.0	W 2
4	COL	51	47	.520	7.5	L 5
5	ARI	37	62	.374	22.0	L 4

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/26/2010.

We’re also first now in the Wild Card race, but who wants to get to the series that way?

Rk	Tm	W	L	W-L%	GB	Strk
1	SDP	58	39	.598	—	W 3
2	ATL	57	41	.582	—	L 1
3	SFG	56	43	.566	—	W 4
4	STL	55	44	.556	1.0	W 1
5	CIN	55	45	.550	1.5	L 1
6	LAD	53	46	.535	3.0	W 2
7	PHI	52	46	.531	3.5	W 4
8	COL	51	47	.520	4.5	L 5
9	NYM	50	49	.505	6.0	L 2
10	FLA	49	49	.500	6.5	W 1
11	MIL	47	53	.470	9.5	W 4
12	CHC	45	54	.455	11.0	L 1
13	WSN	42	57	.424	14.0	L 3
14	HOU	40	58	.408	15.5	W 1
15	ARI	37	62	.374	19.0	L 4
16	PIT	34	64	.347	21.5	L 4

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/26/2010.

I also saw on the television that we’re number one hits this month.  Not sure if I saw that right and have no idea where to go to validate it but if that’s true?  MAN what a different team post-All-Star game, eh?

Nights With the Mets

Coulda been a sweep, but it was one of those stupid four-game series.  I don’t like those.  One, it’s possible to tie, and who the heck wants to tie in baseball?  And two, it’s just that much more unlikely a team will get through four games without losing at least one.  Oh well, went 3-1 against the Mets, and made them really earn that one win by going into the 10th inning. 

But who wants to talk Mets?  We’re going back on the road, and we’re playing the Dodgers, who we’ve stunk it up against so far, and the Diamondbacks, both of which are in our division, and we can’t seem to beat teams in our division.  While it seems like the team is finally coming together; the pitching is back, the line-up accomplishes runs, everybody’s got their game on, this will be the real test, I think.  Playing the Mets and Brewers doesn’t mean anything, we have to start beating up our division.  So this is the week, can ya feel it?

I think before yesterday’s loss, we were ranked two, but it didn’t even last twenty hours.  We are now at three, but that’s still better than four!

Tm	W	L	W-L%	GB	Strk
SDP	54	37	.593	—	W 4
COL	50	41	.549	4.0	W 1
SFG	50	42	.543	4.5	L 1
LAD	49	43	.533	5.5	L 4
ARI	34	58	.370	20.5	L 4
Avg	47	44	.517

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/19/2010.

The Dodgers are on a 4 game losing streak and, from what I’ve been listening to on the radio (Bay Area radio mind you, so there is bias) they aren’t really playing tight as a team these days, whereas I feel the Giants are finally gelling.  That said, according to Dodgers Trends, they are 23-6 in their division, which includes the Giants.  The Giants are 9-20 in their division. Yikes.  So I can’t say I’m feeling it, honestly.  I need some inspiration…

There we go!  (Whoever that guy is will probably sue me someday.)

Suck It, All-Star Game!

You don’t want to play our pitcher in your fancy special game, then we’ll play our pitcher instead and he’ll throw his first complete game this season and earn his 10th win this season and throw his fourth career shut out and his first career win against the Mets.  Neener!

Sorry I got all “bat” crazy the last couple posts, Mr. Lincecum.  Sorry I was all Buster around the Posey.  I got excited about the new and shiny, I admit it.  But you are still the best thing to watch on this team, especially when you’re on fire.  You are still the face of this franchise for me, hands down.  I love you.  Call me.

Speaking of my new and shiny love for hitting, where was it?  Another 2-0 game.  Pablo got a double, and everyone got stoked, especially Pablo.  I’m happy for him, but I don’t necessarily think it means anything, despite what Bay Area media would have me believe.  Everyone’s bound to his once in a while, right?  It was a nice hit for sure, and very timely.  I certainly hope it’s a turning point for him, and he keeps it up, because Pandamonium is much cuter when he’s batting .300+.

Nine innings for Lincecum though!  A complete game!  That never happens for any of our starters.  Bochy is a yanker.  But not last night!  Was it because he could tell Lincecum was hot?  Or was it that 6th inning foul ball that hit him in the head? 

Crawled up half a game and the second half of the season is looking good!

Rk	Tm	W	L	W-L%	GB	Strk
1	SDP	51	37	.580	—	W 1
2	COL	49	39	.557	2.0	L 1
3	LAD	49	40	.551	2.5	L 1
4	SFG	48	41	.539	3.5	W 3
5	ARI	34	55	.382	17.5	L 1

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/16/2010.

Brew Ha Ha!

So can we like play the Brewers ever day? 

GOD we needed that!  A four game winning sweep.  And it wasn’t even torturous like so many Giants wins.  I don’t even have to talk about awesome pitching today, because there was HITTING to be talked about!  50 hits to be exact, 34 RBIs, 36 runs, EIGHT homers!  Was I watching the right team? 

Game 3 was by far my favorite.  Right off the bat, home runs by Torres, Huff and Posey in the first inning.  THE FIRST INNING.  Three home runs in the first inning apparently hasn’t happened for the Giants since Bonds, Kent and Burks in 1999.

Then in the 4th, they load the bases.  Big deal, they load the bases all the time.  They also leave hitters stranded all the time.  But NOPE! everybody gets in.  Then they load the bases again.  And…GRAND SLAM by Posey for his second home run in the game, and first major league career grand slam. 

It was definitely Posey’s weekend.  9 hits, 9 RBIs, 6 runs and 4 home runs, in four games.  I’ve said it before, but I’m repetitive: you can’t be named Buster Posey and not be a good baseball player.  Forget skill and hard work, it’s the name.  His parents were geniuses.  (Unless they liked football or something.)  In 2083, there will be documentaries interviewing old, denture wearing dudes who can’t stop talking about what a great ballplayer Buster Posey was.  “He had it all!”  It just sounds right.  Buster Posey. 
Too bad he’ll probably be traded to the Yankees.

Anywho, we face the media circus tonight.  Strasburg!  Say that with a heavy German accent.  Sounds scary, right?  Bit worried of course, but I’m also feeling cocky after a four game winning streak and the fact that we did alright against Jimenez.  Besides he’s only one guy and one game.  We’ve got a 2-1 record against the Nationals this year and 225-207 all time.  We’ll be alright.

Still in 4th place, but only 5 games behind now.  Crawling our way back up!

Rk	Tm	W	L	W-L%	GB	Strk
1	SDP	50	35	.588	—	W 1
2	COL	47	38	.553	3.0	W 4
3	LAD	47	38	.553	3.0	W 1
4	SFG	45	40	.529	5.0	W 4
5	ARI	33	53	.384	17.5	W 1

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/9/2010.

Rocky Weekend

Hey kids!  Now you too can own a genuine authentic 4th of July MLB cap worn by the San Francisco Giants on the weekend they got slaughtered by Colorado!

Went 1-3 against Colorado.  At least the streak got broken.  And what the heck?  The only game they won was the game where Ubaldo Jiminez was pitching?  That dude practically had a negative ERA and yet somehow the Giants scored 11 runs that game.  They rarely get 11 hits, forget about 11 runs!  Look at what they did to him!

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	W	L	W-L%	ERA
2010	26	COL	NL	14	1	.933	2.27

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/6/2010.

HA!  He’s got a 2-something ERA now.  What a loser.  Actually, that’s still pretty ridiculous.  How the heck did they hit off that guy?  Huff is awesome.  I love Huff, he’s my favorite “new” guy, even though all these guys are new to me.  I thought it was going to be DeRosa, but look where that went?  Nowhere.  So yay Huff.  I don’t care if Googling you is kind of scary, you’re awesome. 

Speaking of awesome, congrats to Tim Lincecum and Brian Wilson for making the All-Star Team!  Lincecum has been in a slump, but he and his long hair are still popular thanks to his back-to-back Cy Youngs, so hardly a surprise.  And Wilson is awesome pretty much always, mohawk and all.  Hey!  They both have weird hair.  Coincidence or conspiracy?

Hey kids!  Don’t forget to buy your 2010 authentic All-Star gear!

Third Verse…

…same as the first (and second).  See yesterday’s post and then add this:

The Giants are really bad in their own division, which isn’t good, since teams generally can’t get to the playoffs without being good in their division.  Lookit this:

We’re neck and neck with Arizona when it comes to games within the NL West. ARIZONA!  Everyone in this division is beating Arizona, this is not an accomplishment.  We’ve got four games against Colorado coming up, we have to do better.  How?  I dunno, I’m no manager.  Maybe stop hitting every ball into a double play?  Maybe stop stranding people on base?  Maybe don’t require four hits for every one run? 

Every time I tune into the radio, they’re talking line-up changes to solve all ills.  Seems to me if you can’t hit, you can’t hit, who cares which order you hit in?  So yeah, start hitting the ball, or find a place to hit that isn’t the third baseman’s glove.  I think that would work.

Bummer

Just a ridiculous bummer.  I generally wait until after a series is over to rant or rave about it, but I need an outlet.  This is what it feels like to be a Giants fan today:

The problem with rivalries is that when you lose to one, it hurts more.  I assume the flip side is that when you beat a rivalry, it feels really good, but since we’re currently 1-4 against the Dodgers this season, I wouldn’t know about good feelings.

I’d say I hope we win today, but who cares?  We lost the series.  AGAIN.  They took the series in their town and then they came to ours and did it AGAIN.  Sweep or no sweep, the series is theirs.  Okay okay, I do want the Giants to win today (I’m not that crazy!), I’m just saying I don’t think it will be especially satisfying if they do. 

On the plus side, there’s still nine more games to go against the Dodgers, six of which are home games.  It’s still possible to outdo them this year. 

Meanwhile though, we’re on a four game losing streak watching the Rockies crawl right past us thanks to their success against the Padres.  Everywhere else in the league, the fourth place spot is seven-to-nine games behind, while we’re only 4.5 to the third places 4 and second places 3.  So it’s still a tight race, but I can’t say it’s awesome to be so low on the list again.

Rk	Tm	W	L	W-L%	GB	Strk
1	SDP	45	32	.584	—	L 2
2	LAD	42	35	.545	3.0	W 2
3	COL	41	36	.532	4.0	W 2
4	SFG	40	36	.526	4.5	L 4
5	ARI	30	48	.385	15.5	L 2

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/30/2010.

Maybe these are bad luck? 

Just throwing it out there… 

Olde Towne in Our Town

I haven’t posted since we got swept by the A’s back in May.  Maybe I was too depressed.  Maybe I’ve been too busy at work.  Maybe I have a hard time coming up with new ways to say “Yeah we won!” or “Boo we lost!” on a daily basis. 

In my absence, the Giants played the Nationals (2-1), the Diamondbacks (3-0), the Rockies (1-3), the Pirates (2-1), the Reds (2-2), paid back the A’s by sweeping ’em (3-0), the Orioles (2-1), Blue Jays (1-2) and the Astros (1-2).  In sum, we’ve won five series, lost two and tied once.  And we’re back in second place, with the Dodgers a half game behind us.  Not bad! 

Oh and my family and I were there for Friday night’s A’s game, Lincecum pitching, first of the sweep.  It was awesome. 

The day after the game, I ran in the Giant Race, which I won’t go into too much, other than to say it’s the farthest I’ve ever run, I don’t think I ate enough, I was pretty slow and it hurt really bad and I’ll probably do it again next year.  Oh and I got to touch home plate after the finish line, which was the only base I wasn’t able to touch during Fan Fest this year.   Here’s me almost dead.

Boston is in town, everyone is quite excited.  In the history of baseball, the Giants have only faced the Red Sox twice: in 2004 and in 2007. 

Date	Tm		Opp		RS	RA	W	L
2004-06-18	San Francisco Giants		Boston Red Sox	L	9	14	0	1
2004-06-19	San Francisco Giants		Boston Red Sox	W	6	4	1	1
2004-06-20	San Francisco Giants		Boston Red Sox	W	4	0	2	1
For 2004, NYG and SFG won 2, BOS won 1.
Date	Tm		Opp		RS	RA	W	L
2007-06-15	San Francisco Giants	@	Boston Red Sox	L	2	10	2	2
2007-06-16	San Francisco Giants	@	Boston Red Sox	L	0	1	2	3
2007-06-17	San Francisco Giants	@	Boston Red Sox	L	5	9	2	4
For 2007, NYG and SFG won 0, BOS won 3.

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/25/2010.

Our overall record with them is 2-4, which is not so hot.  The Giants are second place to the Red Sox third in their respective leagues right now, but the Sox have juuuuust a bit higher win percentage, and they’re on a winning streak while the Giants have just lost two: 

Rk	Tm	W	L	W-L%	GB	Strk
1	SDP	42	30	.583	—	L 1
2	SFG	39	32	.549	2.5	L 2
3	LAD	39	33	.542	3.0	W 1
4	COL	38	34	.528	4.0	L 1
5	ARI	28	45	.384	14.5	L 2
	Avg	37	34	.517

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/25/2010.

vs

Rk	Tm	W	L	W-L%	GB	Strk
1	NYY	45	27	.625	—	W 2
2	TBR	43	29	.597	2.0	W 1
3	BOS	44	30	.595	2.0	W 1
4	TOR	39	34	.534	6.5	W 1
5	BAL	20	52	.278	25.0	W 1
	Avg	38	34	.526

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/25/2010.

As far as pitching goes, we’ve got Sanchez, Martinez (who?) and Lincecum:

	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO
Tim Lincecum	8	2	.800	2.86	15	100.2	83	34	32	5	39	113
Jonathan Sanchez	5	5	.500	2.90	14	83.2	62	32	27	5	39	82
Joe Martinez	0	1	.000	4.91	2	7.1	10	4	4	1	2	3

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/25/2010.

The Red Sox have Wakefield, Buchholz and Lester:

	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO
Jon Lester*	8	3	.727	3.03	15	98.0	73	34	33	5	40	102
Clay Buchholz	10	4	.714	2.47	14	91.0	76	31	25	3	37	62
Tim Wakefield	2	5	.286	5.33	15	79.1	84	50	47	12	17	44

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/25/2010.

Saturday might be hairy, as Joe Martinez hasn’t put in enough time to really make a prediction about him, but otherwise we’re looking good in the ERA category. 

Still it’s the Red Sox, and that name comes with some heavy.  Aside from the Yankees, they’re probably the only team that has fans that are just everywhere.  You don’t see Giants hats in Utah or Rhode Island, but you’ll see Red
Sox hats.  They seem big, bad and scary, somehow. 

Needless to say, everyone is excited.  Nose bleed seats are $90 a ticket, which I believe is the highest price venue for this season (but don’t quote me on that).  Regardless of the outcome, can’t say I’m not looking forward to it!

GO GIANTS! 

Down a Step

Well, it’s official!

The D-Back, of all teams, officially knocked us down a peg. Weird game. We lose by one run, which is ridiculously usual for us, but Golden God Tim only pitches five innings, walking five and surrendering five hits, including a home run. And even weirder, the score on both sides exceeded one run. In fact, at one point, both teams scored five runs back to back. Unheard of this season! Bochy ejected? Affeldt allowing a stolen run to home? Weird game.

I was really expecting to sweep the D-Backs, not get swept. But it occurred to me that I should have known better. Here’s my theory on what happened. Behold this man:

That is my father-in-law. He’s one of those guys that are good at winning. He’s the guy who’s ahead of you in your fantasy football league. He’s the guy who’s going to take all your chips if you sit down with him at the poker table. He’s the guy who’s going to draw the elusive domino needed to go out in Mexican Train.

And this year he’s decided to get into baseball again, and since he lives in Arizona, he’s decided to be a D-Backs fan. And sure, they’re in last place, so one could argue that his winning powers aren’t all that. But that’s now how it works, folks. How it works is, he wins when it’s important. He wins when brother-in-law and I are dying to rub it in that the Giants creamed his team. THAT’s when his powers kick and we get swept. So again Giants fan, this guy is why we lost:

Bay Bridge Series next! Would love a win or three, but fun either way. Zito’s up tonight, pitching against his old stomping grounds, hopefully doing better than he’s done previous:

Rk	Date	Tm	Opp	Rslt	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1	2008-06-13	SFG	OAK	L 1-5	5.2	6	4	4	4	3	0
2	2007-06-09	SFG	OAK	L 0-6	4.0	9	4	3	1	2	1
3	2007-05-18	SFG	OAK	L 3-15	4.0	6	7	7	7	2	1

Apparently he doesn’t like being booed. But he’s doing great this year, reinvented himself, so here’s hoping he’s got thicker skin tonight.