Monday, May 27, 2013

Game Wrap 5/27/2013: A's 4 Giants 1

Dan Straily and 2 A's relievers pounded the strike zone all afternoon against the Giants.  Meanwhile, Madison Bumgarner didn't have a strike zone to pound as the ump completely took away his outside corner and was none too generous with the inside corner.  Just to rub salt in the wound, the ump called Brandon Belt out on a pitch that was clearly outside.  As Kuip sardonically commented, "that was the first time he's called that a strike all afternoon!"  Key Lines:

Andres Torres- 2 for 3.  BA= .287.   Torres was the only Giants hitter to have a good day at the plate.  He is hitting .400 over his last 10 games and is 10 for his last 18 AB's.

Madison Bumgarner- 6.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 5 BB, 6 K's, HBP.  ERA= 3.13.  Bumgarner deserved a better fate.  In addition to the strike zone issues, George Kontos hung a slider to Yeonis Cespedes that resulted in a double to the R-CF wall that drove in 2 inherited runners in the 7'th.  Kontos then struck out Josh Donaldson with a filthy slider, but the damage was already done.  Earlier, after Bumgarner walked Cespedes on 4 pitches then went 2-0 on Donaldson, Quiroz came out to talk to him.  Watching on TV, I said to myself, "I bet he's telling him to just throw a strike.  Donaldson knows that and he's going to hit it out."  That's exactly what happened!

Camouflage Caps and Lettering- OK, I'll give this one a thumbs down.  The camouflage unis that the Padres sometimes wear annoy me to no end and this is even worse.  I mean they are the Padres, not the dougboys or the grunts or whatever other name you want to give the Marines and I'm not at all sure the military is honored by ballplayers donning those unis.  I'm also not sure how we are honoring either those we have lost in wars or the military by wearing terrible looking baseball uniforms.  Seems to me a simple ceremony and moment of silence before the game with a flag on the shoulder would get the job done and be more appropriate.

While we're at it, am I the only one who is sick to death of listening to God Bless America every last 7'th inning?  I mean, it's not the only patriotic song that's out there.  Who decided THAT was the only one that could commemorate 9/11 or express patriotism?  Listen, I'm as patriotic as anybody.  I faithfully put my hand over my heart and sing along to the National Anthem when it is performed before the games.  But, come on!  Woody Guthrie, for one, hated God Bless America so much he wrote This Land Is Your Land and put it to the music of an old Carter Family song just to put an alternative out there.  My proposal is to at least change it up a bit and rotate God Bless America with America The Beautiful and This Land Is Your Land. Heck, I'd even go for a brass band playing Stars and Stripes Forever once in awhile!

With the Loss, the Giants fall a game behind the D'Backs into 2'nd place in the NL West after the D'Backs topped the Rangers 5-3. Those two teams play a second game of a Day-Night DH later.  The Rockies lost to the lowly Astros 3-2 in extra innings to fall 2 games behind the leaders in 3'rd place.  The Pathetic Padres got whitewashed by the Seattle Mariners 9-0 to fall 6.5 games off the pace and the Dodgers play the Angels tonight starting out 7.5 games behind.

Let's just hope Kickham has a better K zone tomorrow night, or it could get real ugly real fast.  He'll be facing Jarrod Parker who has had his own struggles this year.

13 comments:

  1. the umpiring has been out of control for too long.

    why wont the teams stand up to the league and demand changes get made?

    re: the camouflage suits. never made sense for the friars, they have a NAVAL BASE in sd....they dont wear camouflage in the nave...as for it being done on memorial day...ya, its dumb and would be better to do something special during the pregame

    as for god bless america....ive always hated that song, cuz i always hear ethel merman and that woman couldnt sing. why couldnt they have chosen america the beautiful? wonderful song. this land is your land is a socialist hymn and no way is a capitalist org like the mlb gonna use it.

    i still believe that the a's are gonna win the west, mostly because of that pen...

    really looking forward to seeing what kickham can do. i take it that fat boy will be the dh and arias will work third tomorrow

    did i mention how much i hate interleague and the dh? the dh makes managers stupid and games longer...if they do expand rosters to 26, the dh should be dumped....post haste...

    bacci

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  2. Kontos better watch it, he's pitching himself out of a job. May be Hembree time too before long.

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  3. Curious about your reactions to the following:

    1a) Do we sense that umpiring is better, worse, or about the same this year as it has generally been?
    1b) Are we just better at detecting the errors, now that every pitch is charted and blown calls are scrutinized?

    2) What would be your recommendations for use of review?
    3) Some purists would say that the human element of umpires, and the luck element is part of the charm of baseball. Agree or disagree?

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    1. I think umpiring is getting worse. Not sure why. It's possible that they are intimidated by the increased scrutiny that technology has made possible. I think there are aspects of umpiring that are in the verge of becoming obsolete due to technological advances. The first priority is to get the calls right and if technology can help an umpire do it better, then bring it on.

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    2. Balls and strikes calls need to be taken out of human hands as soon as technologically feasible. Give the home plate ump a small handheld device that tells him if the pitch was a strike or not.

      Use video replay on all disputed homeruns, and on any disputed fair/foul calls after the play has continued. That should be automatic.

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    3. Handheld? Just have him wear an earphone device that tells him what the call is and he can "entertain" the crowd with his call, no need to have the technology shown.

      The umpiring has just been bad, period, for a long while. I was hoping that Alderson would clean things up and right when I thought he was making progress, he was pushed out. Video replay have shown a lot of mistakes for a long time.

      It almost seems like the umpire yesterday was purposefully screwing with the Giants because of the heat they gave the umpires over the weekend over the blown calls. As I described in my blog, it is almost like that Stanford experiment where students were assigned guard and prisoner designations and the "guards" just became nasty people, where the umpires are those "guards", and they will flex their power and muscle when they feel like it.

      Have computers tell the umps (great idea Lyle!) strikes and allow review under select circumstances, at least initially.

      Luck was part of the charm, now that we have tech that tells us when they are wrong, it is just aggravating.

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  4. Personally I get pissed every time I hear Kruk go over the umps different strike zones. I don't find that aspect of the game charming at all. We have the tools and technology to accurately call balls and strikes and should be using it. I think it is BS that all the hard work that an athlete and a team puts in can be negated by some pudgy umpire who has their own "interpretation" of what should be a ball and a strike.

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    1. I have no problem with Kruk explaining how different ump call balls and strikes. It's obviously a reality in the game. Might as well understand it. Again, I think there are aspects of umpiring that are on the verge of obsolescence due to advances in technology. Happens in every other aspect of life. Why not baseball?

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    2. I can't wait for someone to hack the balls and strikes calling software.

      Then, we'd still have something to complain about.

      'I don't care if the computer said it was a strike! It almost took his head off!'

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    3. fact is, with lazer tech, all they need is one guy sitting in a booth with a monitor and a japanese robot to yell...BALLLLL.....STRIKE!!!!!!!!!!

      just shocked that the japanese havent come up with the system yet...but they dont argue has much with umps, or have as much issue with the k-zone...due to the fact that its a bit larger

      bacci

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  5. Do you honestly think the camo uniforms teams were wearing yesterday had anything to do with actually honoring the troops. They might say that, but I'm sure deep down it's all about having another line of jerseys they can market.

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    1. I don't doubt it, which makes it all the more annoying, IMO.

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  6. Yep, the Camos and having "God Bless America" shoved down our throats in the 7th is pandering crap. Honors no one. Complete empty gestures that are devoid of any true meaning. It's pathetic.

    But, like the advertising billboards that are now plastered behind every home plate, this is price we pay to enjoy MLB. (The TV screens keep getting bigger, but the pitcher-catcher-batter keeps getting smaller, to allow a greater and greater portion of the screen to advertise to us.)

    Other than that, you gotta love baseball...

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