Saturday, October 6, 2012

Blogger's Note: Live Blogging Tonight's Game

Hey everybody!  A colleague at work this morning suggested I live blog tonight's game.  I had been thinking about it, but this was the kick in the seat I needed to get me motivated.  Not sure I can pull it off, but gonna try.  Feel free to chime in.
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10 comments:

  1. DrBGiantsfanOctober 6, 2012 at 2:30 PM

    Nice post by Alex P over on Extra Giants re. the young players in their first playoffs. Gotta be especially sweet for Brandon Crawford who grew up a Giants fan in the Bay Area. He was in the stands as a spectator in 2010 for Game 2 of the WS. Now he's the starting SS in the first game of the postseason for his team in 2012. How great is that?

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  2. DrBGiantsfanOctober 6, 2012 at 2:50 PM

    Cueto has a great 2 seamer and backs it up with a wipeout slider. Can't get too greedy against him. He can get a wild hair up his nose so it can pay off to be patient, but when he's on, the first pitch is probably the most hittable one. Giants hitters have been great at going the other way against this type of pitcher this year. Cueto has owned them in his last 2 starts at AT&T so it'll be tough.

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    1. DrBGiantsfanOctober 6, 2012 at 2:55 PM

      Didn't realize Cueto had given up 3 runs in 6 innings his last start at AT&T. Maybe I'm just still smarting over Cueto's start against them last year. I think he beat Bumgarner 2-1 or something like that. This Giants lineup is vastly superior to last year's though.

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  3. DrBGiantsfanOctober 6, 2012 at 3:05 PM

    Just looked up Brandon Crawford's Fangraphs WAR. He finished the season right at 2.0 which I believe is right about league average. Not too many people thought Crawford could be a league average SS at the beginning of the season.

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    1. KellyOctober 6, 2012 at 5:29 PM

      Doc, do you prefer the Fangraphs WAR over BB-Refs?

      If you have a preference, why?

      I'm still learning the basics of WAR, let alone the nuances that differentiate the two systems.

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    2. DrBGiantsfanOctober 6, 2012 at 5:41 PM

      I don't have a preference. I visit Fangraphs daily and it's easy to look up, so that's what I use. I also like their explanation of UZR, but am open to other points of view.

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    3. campanariOctober 6, 2012 at 6:09 PM

      This isn't quite fair to Crawford. He compiled a 2.0 fWAR in 475 plate appearances. WAR is cumulative, however, so in fact Crawford did better than, say J. J. Hardy, who compiled a 2.8 fWAR in over 700 PAs. How much better, one can't say, since if Crawford had played more, he might have done less well. The situation is comparable to that of a player w, ho strikes out 100 batters or hits 25 home runs in half a season; the full-season results aren't calculable, but neither can one really call such a player simply equal to another who strikes out 100 or hits 25 HRs while playing a full season. I would say that Crawford has been noticeably better than a league-average SS in 2012, which is his first year when he was wholly a major leaguer.

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    4. DrBGiantsfanOctober 6, 2012 at 6:30 PM

      Good point!

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  4. DrBGiantsfanOctober 6, 2012 at 5:47 PM

    I've been catching short snippets of the A's/Tigers game during rest breaks from mowing the lawn.

    Just in those brief viewings I saw at least 4 called strikes the ump gave Verlander on pitches at least 4 inches off the plate. Not sure if Parker got the same courtesy as I did not see many of his pitches. I wonder if that ump realizes that Verlander is plenty good enough to shut down the A's with a regulation strike zone?

    The TBS Dugout Reporter made me realize how good Amy G is.

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    1. KellyOctober 7, 2012 at 12:37 AM

      The strike zone for the A's game was crazy. Both radio and TV announcers made multiple comments on it.

      "Surreal" was the word the radio play-by-play guy used to describe the strike zone.

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