The Odd Year

Giants Review

K & K on television remarked Sunday that Bruce Bochy might have done his best managing job this year.  That could be very true.  Many point to all the injuries but the Giants were not a true contender from the start.  They had lost Pablo and Morse then Pence gets his arm broken by a pitch in the second spring training game and they had only one or two reliable starting pitchers for the majority of the season.

Once Pence returned after missing about six weeks of the season the difference in the team was very evident.  They seem to sparkle and they played great baseball.  Even the days Pence went hitless his presence was felt as they won 16 more games then they lost when he played.  Then an oblique muscle pull and he is finished for the season and many other Giant injuries continue to pile up which realistically made it almost impossible to catch the Dodgers.  Its hard to believe that Pence only played about 30% of the games after rarely missing a game since he joined the Giants in 2012.

The Giants strength is their infield of Belt, Panic, Crawford and the development of Duffy as an outstanding third baseman.  The relief staff was solid but was over worked because of the lack of starters who could go seven innings and the managers philosophy of always changing pitchers.  Other young players such as Tomlinson, Parker and the catcher Brown stood out once they were called up.

It was a very odd year with winning and losing streaks from 5 to 8 games constant. The Giants had one too many losing steak.

Giants Prediction

The Giants end of the season press conference told us nothing because it was said that they haven't made any decisions.  Larry Baer did not say that he told Evans and Bochy if they don't make the playoffs next year start looking for a job.  So read below to find out what will happen :

Three specific moves the Giants need to make this winter.
1.  Sign the pitcher Leach
2.  Either sign or trade for a second reliable starter
3.  Sign Bryd who was a run producer once he joined the team in August.

In my opinion here is the way the Giants will line up at the start of the 2016 season assuming they make the three moves indicated and all of their injured players will be able to return.

Catcher:

According to Bochy,  Posey will continue in the same role next year catching most of the time and filling in at first base.  Susac, Sanchez and Brown will battle for the back up catcher spot.

Infield:

This is the strength of the team as mentioned above.  If Belt is traded Posey will be able to handle first without a problem.  Adrianza and Tomilinson will be the reserves.

Outfield:

There will be a number of changes with Parker, Byrd, Blanco, Pence and Tomilinson making up the five outfielders.  Tomilison will be a reserve in both the outfield and infield.  Gone will be Aoki and Pagan.  Do the Giants have the guts to send Pagan who has played about 60% of the games over the last three years?  On Saturday Pagan failed again to cover a ball hit off a right field archway and bounced towards right center field where he should have been.  He was not in sight and in fact Tomilinson the second basemen retrieved the ball.  The big question is who will lead off?  Can not having a reliable lead off man save either Pagan or Aoki?  Or perhaps their contracts will save them.  Will the Giants lose Bryd because they did not give him the opportunity to get a total at bats to gain a $8 million bonus?

Relief Pitchers:

The current relievers on the squad (Gearrin, Romo, Osich, Lopez, Konkos, Petit, Strickland and Casilla) are very adequate to make up a solid staff.  Evans will be looking for other pitchers who can start the season at Sacramento and be available if needed.

Starters:

Bumgarner, Peavy, Leach,  a new pitcher and Cain would make up the starters.  Cain looked very good in his last game and we're all hoping along with the Giants who have 20 millions  reasons to hope  he has found himself again.  The Giants really wanted Cain to get his third win so it would only cost the team $6,666,666.67  per win instead of $10 million.   Chris Heston will have to pitch extremely well to make the staff next spring.  Vogelsong said good-bye to the crowd Sunday but he could return again if they don 't sign Leach or an additional starter.  That's what happened in the past two years. 

The Playoffs

A couple of months ago I mentioned that I expected some surprises in the major league races.  The Astros, Blue Jays and Mets fulfilled that prophecy but the Rangers were a complete shock.  The AL West champions were picked by most 'experts' end up close to the bottom.  It wasn't easy especially when they blew a four run lead in the ninth inning Saturday to lose to the Angels and prolong the agony another day.  It had to bring back memories.  In 2011 World Series the Rangers were twice within one strike of becoming world champions only to have the Cardinals pull it out. I believe it was the great late Yogi Berra  who said, "It's not over until its over!"   I  haven't got a clue who will be the champions come November.  All I know for sure is that the Giants will not repeat.

The Warriors

Last year the Warriors were relatively injury free so many thought that the odds might catch up with them this year.  No one  ever dreamed it would be the coach Steve Kerr.  This is a serious injury and I am not sure the Warriors will see their coach all season.  He had one back surgery that failed then he had to have a second and that seems to have made things worse.  I think he was sold a bill of goods by the medical profession.  Don't look for the Warriors to repeat without their coach. 

The NFL

I was enjoying a manhattan wasting my time watching NFL Sunday Night Football.  During the game Randall the Cowboys back jumped over the line at the one with ball hanging lose and of course fumbled.  The replay shows that he actually got the ball to break the plain of the goal line meaning it was a TD.  That's the correct all.  I don't understand when a player has control of the ball in the end zone after catching a pass and then is hit and hits the ground and loses the ball it is incomplete.   There is also the rule that says the ground cannot cause a fumble.  People that run the NFL must be a lot smarter then me that's why they have their job.  I personally think when you need to have instant replay to determine if a pass is complete or not your screwing up the game. 

The 49ers

Recently I finished reading Dave Newhouse's book Founding 49ers because it covered the early days of the 49ers up to the time Bill Walsh took over the team.  Here are a few personal comments that brought back some memories.

My father had taken me to a Stanford football game in either 1941 or 42 when Frankie Albert was the Indians qb and the 't' formation was introduced to college football by their coach Clark Shaughessy.  That's all I remember and Albert became my favorite player.  According to all the sources I was not surprised to read that it was Frankie that saved the 49ers in their early years and with his popularity that enabled the team to make it financially which eventually led them to the NFL in 1950.

In 1957 R.C. Owens made the 'Alley OOp' pass famous in the NFL.

In 1960 the Philadelphia Eagles won the NFL title with the original 49er coach Buck Shaw (fired in 1954) "who couldn't coach anymore" at the helm. 

Although we were reading about memories perhaps we wanted to forget the 60's.  In 1961 Red Hickey, hated by almost everyone, sent Joe Perry to Baltimore, Y.A. Tittle to the Giants and exposed McElhenny to the expansion draft and he ended up with the Vikings.  Tittle led the Giants to three Divisional titles in the early 60's and Hugh ran for a touchdown against the 49ers.

Hickey did invent the shot gun which thrilled 49er fans for three weeks with 49-0 win over the Lions a 35-0  shutout over the Rams and 38-24 victory over the Vikings.  The  Bears with a defensive coordinator named Clark Shaughnessy shifted his defensive lineman and the days of the shot gun were virtually over.  Well, it was fun while it lasted.  Yes, that the same coach that brought the 't' formation to college football and Stanford in 1941.

Final 49er Kezar  program

At the beginning of the 70's under coach Dick Nolan the 49ers lost three NFL Championship games in a row to the Dallas Cowboys.  The 1972 game was the Preston Reilly game which has been discussed in a pervious blog.  The 1970 game was the last 49er game at Kezar Stadium.  Lon Simmons reports in the book  that Brodie tried to throw the ball away and Dallas made a spectacular interception. I have seen thousand football plays in my life and forgotten almost all of them but I remember this play because it changed the game.  Brodie threw the ball low over center and the Cowboys linebacker reached to his ankles and made a one handed interception.

In 1973 Bruce Gossett saved the day in Denver with five field goals for a 36 - 34 victory.  The only reason I bring this up is that Barbara and I flew to Denver for the weekend to visit many old friends and see the game thanks to my wonderful  mother who kept our two young ones under control.  I could not believe the 49ers almost lost to Denver.

John Brodie was the 49er qb for 17 years and almost every year there was competition.  I was really shocked when I read that.  There are many stories about Brodie in the book.  But I love this one.   Remember last year the 49ers were criticized for taking so long to get the  play called from the coordinator in the booth to the coach on the  field to qb. It was different in John's day.  The 49ers were playing a playoff game at Candlestick and a play was sent in from the bench.  John calls a timeout and walks to the bench.  "Who in the f--k asked you all to send me a play?"  Everyone turned their backs and Brodie went back into the huddle.

The Blog

I was planning on cancelling the blog but instead I will review my predictions and express my thoughts on the Giants winter activities around the time of the baseball meetings in early December. 

I want to thank everyone for their support and comments.  We wrote 64 posts since January 27, 2015 and averaged between 75 and 80% readership for each post.

Family Note

I mentioned that my granddaughter had accepted a full ride scholarship to University of Arizona in the last blog.  Google 'Emily Knous soccer' to read an newspaper article regarding this decision.

Desperation!

The Giants

Remember the 2014 World Champion Giants had tried 7 or 8 players at second base and then out of desperation called up Panic.  The former #1 draft choice of the team was still a year away or so the talent scouts thoughts.  Panic proved them wrong and was the key addition to the team that led them to the world's title.

At the same time another rookie Duffy was brought up as a reserve infielder and to the surprise of many delivered a number of key pinch hits for the Giants in their drive to the playoffs.  The Giants lost Sandoval after the 2014 season and they were looking for a third baseman.  Duffy played mostly the middle infield positions and was not in their vision as Sandoval's replacement and in fact the question was after they signed McGehee should they send Duffy back to the minors so he could play everyday instead of sitting of the bench in the majors. The Giants got lucky.   McGehee was so bad from the start and again out of desperation they started Duffy at third on occasion.  He delivered and finally about six weeks into the season had won the job at third and did a fantastic job all season both at the bat and in the field.  In Wednesday night's game against the Dodgers, Jansen the Dodger closer shaved him pretty good putting Duffy on his back.  What did Matt do?  He smashed a single on the next pitch then immediately stole second and in a few minutes scored on Parker's single.  That's how to answer a knockdown pitch.  That's Duffy!


Bruce Bochy loves to play September baseball but he couldn't do it this year.  Gone for the season because of variety of injuries were three infielders Belt, Panic and Adrianza, four outfielders Pence, Blanco, Aoki and Perez., the two reserve catchers Sanchez and Sucac and also Lincecum who had been removed from the rotation before discovering he needed hip surgery.

Three rookie call ups outfielders Parker, Williamson and the catcher Brown have impressed the Giants brass.  They had to be surprised because none of these players were called up on September 1st but later in the month because the Giants were desperate and had no other choice with injuries mounting daily.  Parker has entertained the Giant fans with booming home runs and Mac Willamson seems to have all the tools and looks liked he could be the real thing  with a little more  experience and Brown has been raved about for his handling of pitchers and getting a few key hits.

We wrote early in the spring that Parker was one of two rookies that could impress the Giants.  He had a poor spring and when called up in June for a couple of weeks looked lost at the plate.  Obviously he learned his lesson and was ready when called up a few weeks ago.  We were also first one to write in early August that both Pence and Panic were most likely lost for the season. Panic did  come back for three games getting a few hits including a homerun before aggravating his back and the team decided the risk wasn't worth it.

Pagan still doesn't impress me.  I know he makes a lot of great catches but also does not know how to cut off a ball and has played many singles into triples.  In a game in Oakland last week Pagan stopped and watched Crawford drop a ball he tried to catch Willie Mays style over his head.  It was Pagan's ball and he should had called for it according to Bill Lasky and Vida Blue.  The botched play costs the Giants two runs.  Then a ball was hit over Parker  head in left against the fence and bounced back towards the infield.  Parker had crashed into the wall and was laying on the ground. Then we see Pagan in the picture chasing down the ball.  I guess he finally woke up.  He should have been over there since he had nothing else to do according to Lasky and Blue.  It reminded me of a play I saw at Wrigley Field. Dusty Baker was playing left for the Giants and the ball was hit against the left field ivy and bounce back toward the infield.  Where was Dan Gladden the Giants centerfielder?  I think he was sleeping in center.  People always raved about Gladden  defense and I thought at the time it was all bull.  He later became a fixture in Minnesota.  In fact when you see a center fielder come over to get a ball off the field after hitting the fence the announcers of the game are surprised and amazed because the player was hustling which is what he should be doing.

I will have one last article on the Giants outlining my thoughts on plans for the winter and spring and what I think the Giants will do.

In case you missed the news, the Dodgers won the NL West for the third straight year.  Veteran Kevin Frandsen a very recent call up saved further embarrassment by getting the only Giant hit in the game clinching win for the Dodgers.

As I mentioned earlier in the year we have been blacked out of Giant Dodger telecast just like 66% of the Dodger fans.  Time Warner could not sell the Dodger package at the price they wanted but the Dodgers got their money and that is one  reason they have close to a $300 million payroll including $90 million to players that are not on the team which is more then eight major league teams full salary base.  Who will be the new Dodger centerfielder next year? Cepedes!


"Money Ball Fired"

Billy Bean was fired!  This might have also been out of desperation.  You didn't read this in the media because he got a promotion.  Sure he did.  Now he is charge of some type of operations at the ball park.  The raves were all over the television.  Then I look and noticed that NY Mets had won the NL East.  The  Mets  made their big move once they got Cepedes from the Tigers via the Red Sox via the A's.  Then it was the Cubs who caught on fire in the National League once the former #1 A's draftee Russell started playing shortstop and hitting homeruns at Wrigley.  Then there is the third basemen for the AL East champion Toronto Blue Jays MVP candidate Donaldson who leads the league in runs  scored and has 41 homeruns.  The last I looked the A's were in the cellar of the AL West.


The NBA

They heard the critics and so out of desperation the NBA changed their playoff format setting up a system that is unfair because teams do not play each other an equal number of times and a few teams will have a much easier schedule that will provide for an more favorable  playoff matchup that might not be deserved the problem they were trying to solve.

The Forty Niners

I have completed reading Dave Newhouse's book "'Founding 49ers"  I will soon complete my comments and memories on a very interesting book.

I have one word for the 2015  Forty Niners --- Desperation!