NEW MONEYBALL MOVIE IN THE MAKING plus AMAZING A'S STORE
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As old-school baseball fans we've been missing REAL baseball as it was prior to the turn of the century (2,000) when the only performance enhancing 'drug' was an occasional greenie or spit ball. Since Barry Bonds and the San Francisco Giants made PEDs fashionable, the game has never been the same, with players sporting cartoonish numbers - not to mention physiques in some cases. Some are tired having to guess or know who's cheating and making for an unfair playing field.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
NEW MONEYBALL MOVIE IN THE MAKING plus AMAZING A'S STORE
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Forget Moneyball - 2013 Oakland A's The REAL Story
OAKLAND A'S Official On-field Capsand Tshirts and Playoff Souvenirs ON SALE NOW
Forget Moneyball - 2013 Oakland A's The REAL Story
Joe DiMaggio once worked with the Oakland A's and Charlie Finley in the 1970s/80s and would be proud of the current team, which plays much in the style of the old Yankee Clipper....good old, hard-nosed, no nonsense , smart baseball. There are no big name stars, just a lot of eager, aggressive, intelligent fun-loving 'lower paid' players who are playing for the love of the game as much as anything. There is also a manager, Bob Melvin, who has upset GM Billy Beane's old theory that the manager doesn't make a difference, who took over a team that revolted against it's previous manager - and the coaching staff is second to none. They've gotten the most out of their young team. No help from modern technology, ie PEDs, like the cross Bay team. This is good old, real Golden Era Baseball like when DiMaggio played.
FORGET MONEYBALL - WHAT MONEY? 'Low Paid' 2013 A's The Real Hollywood Story
by Mark Purdy, San Jose Mercury News
OAKLAND -- The Hollywood producers blew it. Completely.
Perhaps you saw "Moneyball" a few years ago, the movie about the 2002 Oakland Athletics team supposedly composed of inferior players that shocked the baseball world with the killer combination of creative strategic thinking and Brad Pitt's extremely evocative close-ups.Mundane stuff, compared with 2013.
The current A's team is the one that really deserves to have a film made about it. Maybe that will happen if the month of October becomes a rousing final reel. We'll see if that happens, beginning here Friday when the A's face the Detroit Tigers in Game 1 of the American League Division Series.
To be sure, the A's of 2002 were intriguing.
Oakland Athletics players and fans exult as the last out of the game is made against the Minnesota Twins, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2013, at O.co Coliseum in Oakland, Calif. (D. ROSS CAMERON)
"We do have some interesting guys," A's manager Bob Melvin conceded this week.
Not that many casual sports fans in the Bay Area would know. MORE
OAKLAND A'S PLAYOFFS CENTRAL
How The (2013 American League) West Was Won AN Style - In September
There were a lot of great months in the A's 2013 playoff run, but none better than the month of September, that saw the A's overcome a 2-game deficit to eventually win the Division and finish the season five games ahead of the Rangers, who were knocked out in the play-in Wild Card game. The A's played strong when it counted, and as Texas faded, they took complete advantage; even Texas' end-of-the-season winning streak was too little too late to dethrone the 2-time defending American League West Champions, and that's why the Oakland Athletics will be playing tomorrow.The A's started September by finishing a sweep of the Rays, obviously catching them, too, at their weakest point of the season. A lot of the A's success--winning the Division with a full week to spare--came by playing Texas and Tampa Bay at exactly the right time. Had the AL West and Wild Card gone down to the wire with the A's still in the mix, they would have had to win out to keep pace with the other teams, who won the remainder of their last games to get into the playoffs, even briefly. Before the penultimate showdown between the A's and the Rangers, the A's first took out the Rays, in game #136. Nico has the call: Joe Maddon thought he would try as many different pitchers as possible, so the A's decided to score in as many creative ways as they could and the end result was a 5-1 victory, a sweep of Tampa Bay, and just 1 game between Oakland and Texas in the standings as the Rangers come to town. This left the A's just one game back, as they geared up to face the Rangers.
Unlike previous experiences with the Rangers, the A's did not waste this opportunity, fighting hard to take two out of three, and climbing back on top of the AL West. Game one was recapped by Lev Facher, who coaxed the A's to a tie: A solid five innings from Dan Straily, home runs from Coco Crisp and Yoenis Cespedes, and scoreless relief work from Dan Otero, Brett Anderson, Ryan Cook, and Grant Balfour have the A's back in a tie for first place. In front of 23,495 frenzied fans on a sun-splashed day at the Oakland Coliseum, a few costly mistakes on Texas' part and a nerve-wracking yet effective four innings from the bullpen gave the A's a 4-2 win, and seemingly all of the momentum in the AL West race. There really wasn't anything "seemingly" about it. Aside from losing the following night, the game also handled by Lev Facher: Well, the A's are back in second place. An all-around uninspiring evening from the green and gold has the A's a game behind the Rangers, making the rubber match tomorrow afternoon almost a must-win with three games in Arlington looming on the horizon. Bartolo Colon was both mediocre and unlucky tonight, while the A's offense stalled repeatedly with runners in scoring position. The bullpen wasn't great, either. Heard this one before?, the A's would strap on their playoff underoos and decimate the rest of the month, winning series after series. They finished the Rangers' series with a win, as baseballgirl tells us, the game also marking the return of Daric. Barton. The plucky A's, winners of eight of their last ten games, shook off yesterday's loss like it didn't even matter, and continued their trend of stomping all over ace pitchers as they dismantled Rangers' starter Yu Darvish and gutted the rest of the Texas bullpen to the tune of 11-4. The big blows of the game were home runs off the bats of Moss, Donaldson, and Coco. Oh, and also: Daric. Barton. This tied the A's and Rangers for first place, with barely 20 games to go in the season. Hold me.
While Texas faced off against Anaheim, the A's tried once again to make Houston their September cushion. They lost the first game; however, and it wasn't pretty. Lev Facher tells us all about it: The A's are back in second place, looking up at the Texas Rangers, after a 3-2 loss to Houston tonight at the Coliseum. The Astros have now taken three of the last four games in Oakland between the two clubs, and the A's once-perfect record against them has now fallen 12-4. Back went the seesaw, dumping the A's into second place, again. But luckily, the A's remembered they are actually better than the Astros, and this is an all-important 4-game series, so they pulled it all together. Alan Torres called the game: It was necessarily pretty, but the A’s got it done today after failing to do so last night. A.J. Griffin was solid early, swerved around in the 3rd and 4th, and finished with a bang. Josh Donaldson and Jed Lowrie provided most of the offense, with Chris Young contributing both some bad and good luck. With this, and the Angels finally taking a game from the Rangers, the A’s finish out the day in sole possession of first place in the AL West by a half-game. The third game saw another A's win--guaranteeing at least a series split--as Nico handled the recap: Now one thing you need to know about the Houston Astros that they will never rest until they have made as many outs on the bases as they possibly can. Barnes broke for 2B against Doolittle on a pickoff throw to 1B, but made it thanks to an offline one-hop throw by Daric Barton. So then Barnes -- with 2 outs, mind you, and Villar at the plate -- broke for 3B as Doolittle kicked towards 2B. Doolittle calmly stepped off the rubber, fired to 3B, Donaldson slapped the tag on one of Barnes' 83 tattoos, and the inning ended. The A's had a chance to take 3 out of 4, and they would do just that. Lev Facher describes the scene in detail: Brandon Moss picked up the first Oakland RBIs of the day with his double to left field, which scored Eric Sogard and Stephen Vogt, both of whom reached base on singles. Yoenis Cespedes ripped a single to left, scoring Moss, and Alberto Callaspo drew a walk immediately thereafter. Daric Barton hit yet another single to center field, scoring Cespedes and bringing up Seth Smith with two on and two out. Smith, who's struggled mightily since the All-Star Break, broke the game open with a three-run home run to right field, giving the A's a 7-1 lead that would be more than enough for a win. With Texas losing more than they were winning at the time, this series would mark the very last time the A's ever flirted with second place. Taking a 1.5 game lead on the Rangers, the A's never looked back; not then, not now. It would just take another couple of weeks to officially crown them with the AL West title.
The A's flew out to Minnesota for their next series (the first time they had seen the Twins all year), where they dropped the first game, as Josh Willingham had his way with the Athletics,says Lev Facher: The A's lead in the AL West could very easily have grown to three games tonight. It also very easily could have been trimmed to just one. Oakland blew a late-inning lead in Minnesota, while the Rangers almost pulled off a huge comeback in the bottom of the 9th against Pittsburgh. In the end, the A's lead in the division held at two games, and I, for one, will take it. The A's rebounded in the next two games, and would win the series. Game 2 involved a lot of runs--all of them green and gold--as the A's scored a total of 18. baseballgirl explains: In what would turn out to be a much-needed laugher in Minnesota tonight (minus one very large injury scare), the A's had the perfect opportunity to play their bench, rest their starters for the day game tomorrow, and win the game with little effort after their 10-run fourth inning. With the Rangers' loss in Arlington, the A's have opened up a 3-game lead in the West as they steam towards the end of the season, looking to represent the AL West in the playoffs. Do you remember July 28th of this year; the very height of standings porn, where we checked the scoreboard to find the A's a full six games up on the Rangers? Barely 10 days later, on August 7th, the lead was gone entirely; the Rangers had tied the A's for the Division lead. They wouldn't stop there; by August 23rd, the Rangers held a 3.5 game lead over the A's, and things were looking grim for our heroes. But something funny happened on the way to September; the A's took on the powerhouses of the American League and clawed back, and tonight they suddenly find themselves with a three-game lead in the AL West with one more to go in this series before taking on the Rangers head-to-head this weekend. The series finale proved that the A's didn't use up all of their runs the day before, as Alan Torres starts to see the finish line: Behind another big third inning, the A’s took a lead they would both add on to and never relinquish. A.J. Griffin had an impressive outing – but of course allowing a solo HR, his only blemish – over 7 one-run innings. In winning two of three games in Minneapolis and now up 3.5 on the Rangers, the A’s are in prime position to really make it hard for Texas to overtake them for the division lead. With the series win, and the Rangers poor play, the A's had opened up a 3.5 game lead, just in time for the final showdown between the two AL West candidates, with Texas needing a sweep to upset the A's. Despite the benefit of hindsight, the West was very much in question right up until this series.
There was a sweep, all right, but it wasn't Texas. Our plucky little Oakland A's, battered and bruised, underdogs to the core, stormed into Arlington and swept the Texas Rangers, all but ending the Rangers' AL West hopes, and grabbing the title for themselves. It wasn't easy. Or stress-free. Let's start at the first game. The A's jumped out to a huge lead, and they ended up winning by a single, tiny run. baseballgirl with the Friday the 13th call: There wasn't one moment in the first seven innings that I didn't think the A's nine runs were more than enough to win. How can you blow a 7-run lead in six outs? Finding out cost me a refill of wine, large clumps of hair, most of my fingernails, and I'm still not sure my heart or blood pressure would register within normal limits. Although the offensive heroes of the game will be listed as the red-hot Cespedes, Donaldson (whose father saw him play for the first time tonight), and Moss, the true hero of tonight's game was Sean Doolittle, and by extension a ballsy Bob Melvin, who left Doolittle in to close the ninth, where he struck out the side for the all-important save; the only member of our vaunted trio of late-inning arms that we really wanted in the game when the season was on the line. The second game was equally stressful, as the A's hung onto a 1-0 lead all the way to the end. Trust me when I say that never happens in Texas. Or trust Alex Hall, who recapped for us, and our ownership of Yu Darvish: Yu Darvish just can't catch a break against the Oakland Athletics. He's tried being really good, and he's tried being really bad, but nothing seems to work when he faces the A's. He's lost all four of his starts against them this season, and today's game marked the second time this year that Oakland has beaten him by a score of 1-0. If you're going to own any pitcher in the league, I guess you couldn't pick a better one than the ace of your biggest rival's rotation. The A's completed the sweep in much less dramatic fashion, but it was the first single-digit magic number, as we counted down from 8 on. Nico made the call: Jarrod Parker was supposed to be the starting pitcher but he got sick. Yoenis Cespedes was supposed to start but nagging soreness in his shoulder kept him out of the lineup. That meant there was space on the mound for Tommy Milone and room in the OF for Chris Young and Josh Reddick. So Milone tossed 5 IP of 1 run ball to earn his 11th win, while Young and Reddick were instrumental in the A's scoring, and that depth may be all you need to know about why the A's are now a robust 6.5 games up on the reeling Texas Rangers with 13 games to play. Oakland's magic number to clinch the AL West is 8. With an almost insurmountable 6.5 game lead on the Rangers, the A's left Arlington to go back home to face the Angels.
I've said it once; I'll say it again, I'm glad we matched up against the Rangers and not the Angels, because despite the A's red-hot September, they still lost 2 series to the Angels. This was one of them. Billy Frijoles recapped the start by flu-ridden Jarrod Parker: Jarrod Parker continued heaving from the mound as the Angels teed off and CJ Wilson quieted the A's hot bats. But who cares? Magic number down to 7! The A's would win the second game, with pie!, as Lev Facher takes the magic number down to 6. Coco didn't get the walk off, but he did work a walk after an epic, 10-pitch battle with Kohn. That left the bases loaded for none other than Daric Barton, who was essentially tasked with getting the ball out of the infield, as the Angels brought Cole Calhoun in from right field to play first base and spread the four original infielders throughout the rest of the diamond. After taking the first pitch up and in, Barton proceeded to take two uncharacteristically huge cuts at pitches, took another ball to push the count to 2-2, and then took another huge cut on a 95mph four-seamer that he didn't come close to touching. Josh Donaldson came close to suffering same fate after falling into an 0-2 hole, but in the end, he did what an All-Star and MVP-caliber player does — he hit a line shot to the gap in right-center field that Mike Trout had no prayer of getting to, allowing Jemile Weeks to trot home for the game-winning run. The A's would drop the finale of the series, but as it goes, they still dropped the magic number after a Rays comeback against Joe Nathan and Texas (foreshadowing, perhaps?) baseballgirl explains: Just another day at the ballpark, where everyone collectively says, "Thank God this wasn't the playoffs!" Whatever, it's a loss. They happen to good teams over the season. More concerning however, continues to be the bullpen struggles of first Ryan Cook and now Grant Balfour, who have pitched a full season, yet need to be a whole lot sharper than they have been, and they need to do it in about 10 days. But with Texas' loss, it didn't matter; the A's magic number was down to 5!
The A's played the Twins again, en route to reducing their magic number even further, now to4. They would win the first game, as Alan Torres recaps: It was a wild game, but the A’s ultimately emerged victorious on the strength of their second-half power surge that they showed off in the sixth and eighth innings. In the sixth, pinch-hitter Alberto Callaspo tied the game, and Jed Lowrie would provide the big blow, a two-out three-run homer that for a time appeared to be the difference maker. However, after the bullpen wobbled too far, and some BABIP help, the Twins would tie it before Coco Crisp provided the crowning blow in the 8th, a two-run shot to wrap up the scoring for the evening. They would also win the second game of the four-game series, as baseballgirl tells us: Who would have thunk it? The A's end game #154 with a magic number of 2, which means that they can clinch the AL West as early as tomorrow. Of course, since the A's play during the day, and the Rangers at night, selfishly for fans, it would probably be more fun with the clinch on Sunday. But I know no one really cares; all we care about is clinching the AL West, and you know what? With a 7 1/2 game lead--the A's biggest since 2006--they are on the cusp of clinching the AL West. Just like that, the magic number was 2. The A's would win the next day as well, says Alex Hall, as they won the series, and would look for the four-game series sweep, and the clinch. The Oakland Athletics are the hottest team in the American League, and even Mother Nature couldn't steal their thunder on Saturday. She did her best to rain on their parade, but, after a two-hour delay, the A's improved their AL-best September record to 15-5 with a convincing 9-1 victory over the Twins. Things were looking cloudy at the end of August, but Oakland now finds itself one win away from clinching its second straight AL West title with a week left in the regular season. Magic Number 1! And with the four-game series sweep--well, technically with a Rangers' loss earlier that day, but this sounds better--the A's clinched the American League West and became back-to-back champs! Nico called this one: Thus, Sonny Gray took a 6-1 lead to the 3rd, as Kansas City loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the 10th. But Mike Moustakas popped up. And George Kottaras bounced into a force at home. Oh noes! No clinchies yet. By the way, the Twins got a couple runners on base against Gray, so anyway...KC's Justin Maxwell crushed a walk-off grand slam to eliminate Texas from AL West contention -- and moments later Gray served up a 3-run HR to Oswaldo Arcia to put the Twins right back in the game, 6-4. And the fans were standing, cheering, celebrating, because the A's had just clinched the AL West. Perhaps a bit anti-climactic that Gray gave up the 3-run HR when he did, but let the good times roll! There you have it: The 2013 American League West was won, by the Oakland Athletics!
More games were played to end the season, as the A's tried to overtake the Boston Red Sox for the best record in the AL, which would have matched them up against the red-hot Tampa Bay Rays instead of the vaunted pitching staff of the Detroit Tigers. Pick your poison, I guess. The A's won the first against the Angels, lost the second, and the third. They clinched home-field advantage against the Tigers on game #160, playing the Mariners, no small feat, and no small difference. They lost the second game, and lost the overall record to Boston the next day, but they would finish the season on a winning note.
And now, here we go! A's vs. Tigers, rematch of 2013. Tomorrow night. Hold on to your butts.
Continue
How The (2013 American League) West Was Won AN Style - In August , July , June, May and April - continued
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Add Newer Giant Hunter Pence to likely PED Roster
Add Newer Giant Hunter Pence to likely PED Roster
You have to wonder about Hunter Pence's otherworldly numbers against the Dodgers this week (9-15-13) - five homers and 12 RBIs in four games . In all the years nobody has ever hit better than that in a series against the Dodgers. And not just this week ...during the month of September Pence has been hitting close to .400 with 10 home runs , more than he's ever hit before during a stretch this long.
You have to wonder about Hunter Pence's otherworldly numbers against the Dodgers this week (9-15-13) - five homers and 12 RBIs in four games . In all the years nobody has ever hit better than that in a series against the Dodgers. And not just this week ...during the month of September Pence has been hitting close to .400 with 10 home runs , more than he's ever hit before during a stretch this long.
As a team, it's not unusual for the Giants to spike up their averages during September. If it weren't for incredible Septembers during 2010 & 2012 Giants would not have been in those World Series. No team has ever hit 19 runs in a game against the Dodgers at their home until the Giants did it Saturday night September 15.
They may not be playing for the World Series this year but perhaps their contracts for next year -especially guys like Hunter Pence. Why couldn't Hunter Pence play as well without the contract in front of him? Or even half as improved.
This is not to say Pence has been a constant user. Players today can go on and off PEDs on a whim since the newer 'designer' drugs, such as testosterone, can be out of one's system within hours after taking it. These are not mere hot and cold streaks with these kind of numbers against good pitching.
This is not to say Pence has been a constant user. Players today can go on and off PEDs on a whim since the newer 'designer' drugs, such as testosterone, can be out of one's system within hours after taking it. These are not mere hot and cold streaks with these kind of numbers against good pitching.
We've seen guys like Scutaro come to the Giants and increase his average almost a hundred points in half a season and guys like Sandoval hitting seven home runs in the month of September when he only had 10 during the whole season of 2012.
We're not saying that Hunter pence is using Peds but there's long been a drug culture on the Giants and it's notable that so many of the journeyman players the Giants get become much improved once joining the Giants. The Giants have long gone after the Hispanic players , namely Venezuelans of which they have eight on the team currently. During the previous Mitchell and biogenesis investigations they found that Hispanic players use far more peds then non-Hispanic players. We discussed a lot of specifics including numbers in previous posts which can be found at http://wheredidyougoJoeDiMaggio.blogspot.com. This is one mans opinion based on 10 years of giants numbers Including more PED players than any other team. Two indicted players in 2010 and 2012, namely José Guillen and melky Cabrera, were the difference ,alone , in putting the Giants in World Series - not to mention at least four other likely users, in our opinion
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Unlikely 148-Pitch No Hitter, Giants Up to Old Tricks Again?
The will of the person to succeed is strong, but sometimes the body is not as strong, and a little boost is all they need to get to the top. Perhaps this is a struggling person, who is looking for some sort of big breakthrough to live out his dream and take care of his family, is he evil if he were to give in to temptation that are performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs)?
- Jay Nault, from 'Train Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger: The Many Effects of PEDs in Baseball, NETWORKS, Cornell University
Lincecum says he wasn't tired after 148 pitches
Sorry but something, again, doesn't smell right with the #San Francisco Giants. As in the past,after a bad streak, the #Già nts suddenly and magically get better. The team starts hitting , the pitchers pitching - and now a no hitter from #Tim Lincecum, his first, on an astounding 148 pitches! This from a little guy who couldn't normally get past the sixth inning. When was his last complete game? And he says he wasn't even tired after this historic game, the first no hitter ever pitched in #San Diego Petco Park on this July 14.
Sure you can say the Padres are a patsy and have lost 14 of 15, but these were all on the road except for the three latest with the Già nts- and San Diego had most of its injured regulars back in the lineup . And it's middle lineup has a .300 lifetime average against Lincecum. Sure the Già nts get a lot of fans in San Diego but that's still not a home field advantage. Even Hunter Pence, cold as ice the past three weeks had five RBIs and Sandoval is suddenly hitting. No doubt Tim Lincecum, who's never been adverse to using artificial stimulants, was pissed off at their losing streak, along with his fellow Giants, as well as recently being no hit themselves, so Tim probably got in his head that he could throw a no hitter himself, whatever it takes, even in a season where he has a 4.26 ERA and not even complete game or much more than 100 pitches pitched.
And it's very interesting that this no hitter occurred on a day then Giants latest acquisition, Jeff Franquer came in from - you guessed it- Kansas City. Kansas City has long been Brian Sabean's favorite team (almost the exclusive team) with which he deals. Virtually every new player in recent years has come to the Giants by way of or thru KC. One-fifth - 11 - of all player suspensions since 2005 are Venezuelans (Wikipaedia) - and these are players who've been having career years as soon as coming to Già nts, namely Blanco, Mijares, Machi and, especially Scutaro, who has hit well over .300 since coming to Già nts and has cut his strikeouts in half, even whole being injured. Scutaro is 37 and never hit above .299 even in his prime until meeting up with his countrymen like Cabrera , before he was suspended from the Giants. Sandoval went on an amazing streak the end of last year with seven - many massive - homers the last few weeks after Scutaro , Mijares and Blamvo and Mijares came along . Even shortstop Crawford started hitting well above his average after Scutaro joined the team and playing next to him. Scutaro. Sandoval, along with Pagan, Casia and others ,while maybe not ALL coming over from KC have perhaps benefited from their new friends.Lincecum, no hitter, Giants, #no hitter, #lincecum
Much like Bonds and friends a decade ago, and still under Sabean's watch, it all seems very incestuous . Remember Bonds years where guys like Aurilea, Williams, Alfonzo and Santangelo, Santiago, Estrella and Bernard all benefitted - and were later indicted (not suspended) in the Michell report- for what was their likely associationwith Bonds. I even recall an interview -which most forget or never heard when it didn't mean much - with Bonds back around 2002, when he promised to pass on his 'secrets' of his new found success to fellow players. Wish I could find that tape.
And now, it's almost like Francoeur brings SOMETHING to the team - literally- and they're off and running again ala 2010 and 2012 . Hopefully, we're wrong about this - and Francoeur isn't from Venezuela - but why would the Sabean sign a guy who hit only .208 last year and .235 the year before to the World Champion Giants unless he had some ulterior motives up his sleeve, ie Remember the Già nts were just treading water around .500 and the Guillen came over with his 'package' and the Già nts had their best month before MLBcomvinced the Giants to keep the once convicted Guillen off the playoff team. But by now seemingly everyone was benefiting from Guillen!s likely gifts . There was Ross hitting his eight homers and guys like Uribe and Renteria suddenly becoming world beaters. suddenly the pitching staff got hotter. In 2012 the pattern was the same when Mijares and Scutaro came in mid season , the latter to hit over .350 , which suddenly triggered Sandoval and the Già nts
to have their best month in September.
And now just when the Giants are having their worst streak in years they suddenly and magically bounce back again. Whether Francoeur really had anything to do with it is questionable but by now the Già nts have become infested with PEDs, after a decade of deceit, just like Victor Contre warned us - in this permissive era where 'new ' MLB drug testing hasn't busted a single player this year after only busting two Già nts , one Athletic and one other last year.
Then Giants won their two World Series in three years with virtually two completely different teams but lots of ex -KC / Venezuelan players and the same system of bringing in 'infected' players of questionable backgrounds, Pitcher Chad Gaudin is just the latest such example - and besides his newsworthy 'hospital visit' suddenly pitching way below his lifetime 4.0+ ERA. It will be interesting to see if Sabean can dig up any more 'Gaudins' or Scutaros Watch your eye on Francouer and if he improves on that .225 average of the past two seasons at Kansas City. .But perhaps there's already enough ' juice' flowing in the Giants clubhouse.
Unlikely 148-Pitch No Hitter, Giants Up to Old Tricks Again?
Now, for the final 'Connect the dots....' We didn't want to have to go into this, hoping things would get better and the Giants would finally clean up its PED act...but it's already been in the news yet few probably saw this just like the implicating interview with Bonds back in 2002. We report this just to hammer home with all the evidence of unfair play, lest people continue to pass off the Giants as legit. Here it is:
A now retired Giant recently interviewed by the Salt Lake Times told how he was encouraged by a Coach in the Già nts minor league system to use PEDs to help his flagging career. This was no doubt an isolated incident , especially after what we've seen ane the type of players the Già nts have brought in. o have a player , albeit ex Giant , actually admit to this is very telling. What more do we need to connect the final dots. Baseball has devolved and San Francisco is the epicenter of devolution. If you really enjoy this type of baseball its a sad day for all concerned, at least for us fans who grew up with and remember the 'Golden Era' of baseball and the Mays and McCoveys when we didn't have to try to figure out who was or who wasn't taking PEDs. We thought there was still hope but it doesnt look like the 'Win at all costs' Già nts are going to go anything about it. Afterall, they've been at their shenanigans for so long, and the folks in liberal San Francisco, or the MLB powers aren't doing anything about it. Certainly Larry Baer doesn't want to break that consecutive sellout streak... which might have been in jeopardy after these past few weeks . (In fact I noticed large blocks of empty seats but the Giants have continued to calling all the games 'sellouts.') It will take a move now from above now , it would appear,, ie the commissioner, which may be a long shot. It's been over 10 years and ,yes, we believe , in our opinion PEDs are now as rampant as ever on the Già nts. So, stand up local sportswriters or just keep living the lie you know and saw manifest itself again in Lincecums unlikely 148 pitch no hitter.*
*Last guys to pitch no hitters with lose to this many pitches blew out there arms, one being Johann Santana with 136 pitches. Perhaps the onc e fragile Lincecum is now bionic and the giants untouchable.
How Did Little Timmy Possibly Pitch a 148 Pitch No Hitter for the Giants
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Gaudin PItches , Wins for Giants As If Nothing Happened
July 13. 2013
Not too surprised the Giants went ahead and let Chad Gaudin pitch last night against the Padres, a day after he was brought up on charges of lewdness for fondling a woman on a gurney in a hospital. Afterall, a 'nobody' until this year, he's suddenly the Giants' second best starter right now with a career best 2.41 ERA and 1.14 whip since coming to the Giants this year. Last year he was 4.54 ERA with the Marlins. Here's a guy who's been on nine teams in nine years with a lifetime 4.45 ERA, whose never had an ERA below 3.00 and suddenly a star for the Giants now in his thirties - but not an unusual pattern for the Giants. Players just don't suddenly improve their performance numbers like that except on the Giants it seems. We've cited similar performances from other Giants newcomers like Blanco, Scutaro, Mijares, Pagan, Vogelsong, etc. Not surprised Gaudin and the Giants won a rare game last night, although playing the Padres didn't hurt. Below chart was through June.
Re. the Gaudin hosptial incident, which happened in January, for which there was enough evidence to report it to the media now, there was little mention of it during the game. Giants announcer Dave Flemming just touched on 'Gaudin's touch week' right away and how he was handling things in a calm manner. San Diego announcer didn't even bring the subject up until the middle of the game and acted almost apologetic for saying almost nothing including ' I'm not going to talk about it anymore.' Well, he hardly did, but it was news for which one shouldn't be afraid to bring it up. The fans - almost half Giants fans in San Diego Petco Park - didn't show any reaction to Gaudin from what we could discern from watching the game on TV. Just business as usual - and that's the problem with the PED thing; most people seem to ignore it as if they don't care.
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