July/August game thread

heavyde050

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The Giants have taken 7-2 and 6-3 leads into the 9th against Oakland the last two nights and are going to lose both, 9 runs allowed in the two ninth innings.
Yeah, it is crazy. Like I can’t believe it, but I can believe it. The two teams I follow (the Red Sox and the Giants) are seemingly taking turns finding new ways to lose.
 

nattysez

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On a team that is 7-13 and in 4th place. He’s going to be 30 next season with a trophy case full of MVP awards and zero postseason wins. I can’t fault him for signing the extension and getting paid (who would turn down $426 million), but he’s going to waste his career in Anaheim.
I don't know about all of that. Moreno is willing to spend and Eppler seems competent. If they can just get some luck in terms of acquiring pitching, they could turn into something. But it won't be this year, that's for sure.

The Giants blow the lead in the 9th again.
Watching Gott pitch, Kapler attempt to manage, and pick any player try to play defense is quite an experience.
The Giants are very similar to the Sox in a way -- they let their old-school GM (and his protege) hold the reins a little too long, which has resulted in them having a ton of bad contracts, a barren minor leagues, and a need to completely rebuild everything. They are probably a five-year project akin to the Cubs when Theo took over.
 

heavyde050

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The Giants are very similar to the Sox in a way -- they let their old-school GM (and his protege) hold the reins a little too long, which has resulted in them having a ton of bad contracts, a barren minor leagues, and a need to completely rebuild everything. They are probably a five-year project akin to the Cubs when Theo took over.
The Giants are definitely in a rebuild, though I think they have a lot more minor league talent than the Sox.
They are my wife’s favorite team and I live 20 minutes from the park so I watch them a lot.
I have no idea why they hired Kapler. He is not a good manger and he wasn’t good in Philadelphia either.
 

shawnrbu

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Kapler following Chip Kelly’s path from getting fired in Philly and being a surprise hire by San Francisco. The shortened season should eliminate the possibility of Kap getting canned after 1 year like Chip.

The A’s have been a fun story this season. Walk off grannys, fights and two crazy 9th Inning comebacks this weekend against their Bay rival. Depending how the playoffs line up, we could see a rematch of the 1981 ALCS.
 

sean1562

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On a team that is 7-13 and in 4th place. He’s going to be 30 next season with a trophy case full of MVP awards and zero postseason wins. I can’t fault him for signing the extension and getting paid (who would turn down $426 million), but he’s going to waste his career in Anaheim.
Is their future really that much more bleak than ours? They have Trout, are losing the Pujols albatross soon, and one of the best OF prospects in the game. The way management hamstrung that team for years with that ridiculous CJ Wilson, Josh Hamilton, and Albert Pujols spending spree will never cease to amaze. And then they gave Cozart that ridiculous deal!
 

heavyde050

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Kapler following Chip Kelly’s path from getting fired in Philly and being a surprise hire by San Francisco. The shortened season should eliminate the possibility of Kap getting canned after 1 year like Chip.

The A’s have been a fun story this season. Walk off grannys, fights and two crazy 9th Inning comebacks this weekend against their Bay rival. Depending how the playoffs line up, we could see a rematch of the 1981 ALCS.
Yeah. I am hoping the next manager is the Giants' version of Shanahan, but that remains to be seen.

And if we get a repeat of the A's vs Yankees, I am hoping it turns out much better than their recent playoff matchups.
 

nattysez

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The Giants are definitely in a rebuild, though I think they have a lot more minor league talent than the Sox.
They are my wife’s favorite team and I live 20 minutes from the park so I watch them a lot.
I have no idea why they hired Kapler. He is not a good manger and he wasn’t good in Philadelphia either.
I think they liked Kapler's willingness to play the percentages, use openers, and generally think outside the box. They know they're going to be throwing a lot of spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks over the next few years, and they wanted to bring in someone willing to do that. We'll see what happens.
 

sheamonu

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The Giants/Sox analogy isn't too far off. By the way - Mike Yaz is a good player. Solid. How the hell did the O's let him sit so long in their minor league system?
 

DanoooME

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I don't know about all of that. Moreno is willing to spend and Eppler seems competent. If they can just get some luck in terms of acquiring pitching, they could turn into something. But it won't be this year, that's for sure.
They did get lucky with Dylan Bundy and unlucky with Ohtani. This offseason will be interesting for them.
 

Brand Name

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Yesterday’s Blue Jays/Rays game went into extras. Which wouldn’t be notable but for the fact when combined with the fact Saturday’s finish was made up yesterday, in turn making the Sunday game a 7 inning affair.

So extras were the 8th. Prior to yesterday, a extra inning frame that is a single digit hadn’t happened in nearly 113 years.
 

Hendu for Kutch

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What Mookie and Trout are doing on a nightly basis is fun. Hope they both get to 25 HR in a 60 game season.
Crazy as it is, Juan Soto has been better than either of them. He's only playing in his 12th game due to the whole Covid thing, but he hit his 7th HR today already.

.409/.490/.955. Coming into today's game (pre HR #7), his ISO was .525 and he's walking as much as he strikes out.

Absolute looney tunes numbers.
 

nattysez

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Trevor Gott did it again. Brought in to protect a 1-run lead in the ninth for the Giants and three batters later Tommy LaStella hit a 2-run dinger. I get that Kapler wants to keep giving him chances, but enough is enough.
 

sean1562

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i am sorry, but that is one of the dumbest things ive ever seen. he is paid to put up the best stat line possible, if you have to groove him a fastball to get one over the plate just walk him
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Woodward is full of shit, but fuck Tingler for not supporting his player there. I have no doubt he did put the take sign on, but he didn't have to admit Tatis missed the sign as a way of agreeing with the opposing manager's crybaby whining. Since when has swinging 3-0 ever been considered bad sportsmanship, regardless of the score? It's considered bad form in the sense that if the pitcher's just thrown three straight balls, you don't want to do the guy a favor and chase a bad pitch. You're not taking in that spot just to be a good sport to the pitcher. If he's going to groove one, why not swing at it?

A lot of hitters in a 3-0 count will feign a bunt and pull back, or just step out of the box entirely as the pitch approaches, making clear they have no intention to swing (and I hate when they do that). Apparently some people think that is something all hitters are supposed to do rather than treat the pitch like any other and be in there ready to swing. Good on Tatis for being ready to jump on a hittable pitch.

It's Tatis's job to hit and get on base and the pitcher's job to prevent him from doing that. If you don't want a 3-0 pitch to get smoked for a HR, don't fucking groove it down the middle. These are professional players. They should act like it.
 

tmracht

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Absolutely in a game where every stat is anazyled in a hundred ways, you ask a guy to essentially purposely lower his expected outcome. I don't get it. You don't want him to hit a grand slam make a better pitch.
 

PC Drunken Friar

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And in the 7th inning, a 10-3 lead isn't necessarily impossible to overcome. Improbable? Yes. But I bet there are more than a handful of those comebacks every year.
 

sean1562

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View: https://twitter.com/BauerOutage/status/1295599492855730176?s=20


I know a lot of people dislike Bauer but I kind of like how outspoken he is on stuff like this. If MLB wants to appeal to younger people they need to get over a lot of this unwritten rule BS.

edit: Also didnt realize it was his first career grand slam. Guy should be thrilled about that, not be publicly shamed for "playing the game the wrong way"

Also coming from the franchise that blew the Orioles out 30-3 a decade ago, with one of their players crushing a grand slam in the 8th inning
 

johnmd20

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It's insane to complain about a guy hitting a grooved pitch for a home run.

If you don't want to give up home runs, don't fall behind 3-0 and don't give up home runs. The best to avoid being angry at a guy hitting a home run off of you is to not give up the home run.

Tatis apologized. Ridiculous. These unwritten rules need to be written down, and then burned. This stuff sucks so hard and the manager not supporting Tatis should be given a few days off to think about what he's done. How do you not support your player, your best player mind you, when he's trying hard in every at bat?
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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If Gibaut threw behind Machado intentionally because of Tatis's HR, Chris Woodward needs to go. Immediately. I know how we all feel about Machado around here, but that's fucking gutless. If you don't want Tatis swinging from his heels on 3-0, don't get to 3-0 on him. You don't have a different fucking pitcher throw behind/at his teammate in retaliation. That's just gross.
 

jon abbey

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My favorite part of this is that Chris Woodward had one grand slam in his playing career, and it came when his team was up six runs in the 9th.
 

sean1562

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My favorite part of this is that Chris Woodward had one grand slam in his playing career, and it came when his team was up six runs in the 9th.
It is literally just an excuse for their bad sportsmanship and childish behavior. Crying about losing a game as an adult, being petulant to the point you throw at one of their players, and still thinking that you were the wronged party. Absolutely ridiculous.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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My favorite part of this is that Chris Woodward had one grand slam in his playing career, and it came when his team was up six runs in the 9th.
Yeah, but he did it the right way. Swinging away on a 1-2 count. He could have been choking up, protecting the zone, and just trying to make productive contact but that's not hard-nosed old school ball by the book.
 

ehaz

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Fuck that. Woodward is chicken shit for complaining. Tingler is twice as chicken shit for refusing to defend his own player. The umps were chicken shit for not throwing out Woodward and the pitcher for throwing behind Machado in retaliation over nothing.

If you want a mercy rule, go manage little league teams.
 

Brand Name

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Unwritten rules like this suck. The goal of the batter is to succeed by hitting against the opposing pitcher. If you don’t like it, make a better pitch. It’s pathetic enough to hear this from Woodward, but for Tingler to then apologize about it? Height of absurdity. I’d genuinely consider firing Jayce if I was Preller. How do you not have your guy’s back there for simply performing his job to the best of his abilities?

You also consider how service time controlled Tatís is for the foreseeable future, and then swings/results like this matter that much more for arbitration eventually. So he should be hurting his chances to earn more as well? Fuck this noise.

It also wouldn’t be a Tatís grand slam without national media attention and notice, would it now?
 

BigSoxFan

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Yordan back to DL. The dude’s knees are absolutely busted. He better find a treatment that can work or his career will be short if he can’t even DH with them.
 

Fishercat

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The Texas manager was not happy with Tatis swinging on 3-0 in a 10-3 game. "norms being challenged" indeed... then the Padres manager also agreed!

View: https://twitter.com/SamBlum3/status/1295588398065946625
I know we're all piling on to this but it's especially rich when the Rangers were the team that intentionally dropped a pop-up last season against the Sox to get Mike Minor his 200th strikeout. I know the Rangers' manager didn't expressly say he liked it but he sure was quick to add on context to justify it...
 

patinorange

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I know we're all piling on to this but it's especially rich when the Rangers were the team that intentionally dropped a pop-up last season against the Sox to get Mike Minor his 200th strikeout. I know the Rangers' manager didn't expressly say he liked it but he sure was quick to add on context to justify it...
[/QUOT
I think dropping a pop up for an individual record is bush league. (especially a stupid, meaningless 200 strikeout stat) Swinging at a 3-0 pitch is not.
 

OurF'ingCity

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The idea of multi-millionaires getting upset about "running up the score" amuses me just as much here as it does when people accuse the Patriots of the same thing.
 

mauidano

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Greinke & Senzatela pitching absolute gems today in Houston. Greinke is a magician.
 

LogansDad

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I wish I could cheer for Machado... he's the type of dynamic player that should be a ton of fun to watch. I just wish he wasn't such a dink.

On another note, if i was the Padres, I would seriously consider discipline for their coach after his comments about Tatis, if not outright firing him. He's the kind of player we need more of in the game. The kind of player that should be an ambassador... and if getting chastised by his own coach for hitting a home run changes the way he plays at all, it's a god damned travesty for a sport that is already struggling to keep up its relevance in today's world. Tatis is playing for the league minimum, as far as I can tell, and will be in arbitration and contract talks soon, and every single performance he has will determine how much his value is. To have his own damn manager call him out for that is infuriating to me.... that's not how you lead an organization at all.
 

Bergs

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Fuck that. Woodward is chicken shit for complaining. Tingler is twice as chicken shit for refusing to defend his own player. The umps were chicken shit for not throwing out Woodward and the pitcher for throwing behind Machado in retaliation over nothing.

If you want a mercy rule, go manage little league teams.
Unwritten rules like this suck. The goal of the batter is to succeed by hitting against the opposing pitcher. If you don’t like it, make a better pitch. It’s pathetic enough to hear this from Woodward, but for Tingler to then apologize about it? Height of absurdity. I’d genuinely consider firing Jayce if I was Preller. How do you not have your guy’s back there for simply performing his job to the best of his abilities?

You also consider how service time controlled Tatís is for the foreseeable future, and then swings/results like this matter that much more for arbitration eventually. So he should be hurting his chances to earn more as well? Fuck this noise.

It also wouldn’t be a Tatís grand slam without national media attention and notice, would it now?
I wish I could cheer for Machado... he's the type of dynamic player that should be a ton of fun to watch. I just wish he wasn't such a dink.

On another note, if i was the Padres, I would seriously consider discipline for their coach after his comments about Tatis, if not outright firing him. He's the kind of player we need more of in the game. The kind of player that should be an ambassador... and if getting chastised by his own coach for hitting a home run changes the way he plays at all, it's a god damned travesty for a sport that is already struggling to keep up its relevance in today's world. Tatis is playing for the league minimum, as far as I can tell, and will be in arbitration and contract talks soon, and every single performance he has will determine how much his value is. To have his own damn manager call him out for that is infuriating to me.... that's not how you lead an organization at all.

Yes, yes, and yes.