What has Happened To The Champs?

[Indrid Cold]

Well put, their offense has been somewhat underrated over the last few years. This could also be said for some recent Padres teams. They've had some huge home/road splits.

Park effects...they aren't just for Coors and the Astrodome!!
;^)

 

[Pattersonca65]

People constantly overrate the Giants' pitchers and underrate their hitters because of it.

That is probably true. There are fly outs at the park that are home runs in other parks which helps pitchers and lowers the home run totals of hitters.

 

[Indrid Cold]

That is probably true. There are fly outs at the park that are home runs in other parks which helps pitchers and lowers the home run totals of hitters.

The opposite happened with the '84 Cubs....their offense looked mighty (led the NL in runs!!)and their pitching looked OK at best by the raw season totals (10th in the league in ERA!!!). But, the team OPS+ was 98 and the ERA+ was 104, which suggests that the pitching was stronger.

 

[Pattersonca65]

The opposite happened with the '84 Cubs....their offense looked mighty (led the NL in runs!!)and their pitching looked OK at best by the raw season totals (10th in the league in ERA!!!). But, the team OPS+ was 98 and the ERA+ was 104, which suggests that the pitching was stronger.

Can you imagine as a pitcher being traded to the Rockies? There can't be anywhere worse to be a pitcher.

 

[Indrid Cold]

Can you imagine as a pitcher being traded to the Rockies? There can't be anywhere worse to be a pitcher.

I think I'd just count my money and maybe work on a sinker!
I guess going to the Rockies made Mike Hampton a very rich man, but something tells me he wishes he would have taken a little less to pitch elsewhere.

 

[navamind]

The Rockies pitching leaderboards are pretty amusing. Two relievers in the top 10 in WAR, though if you look at the top 50, a good portion of them are relievers. Kevin Ritz and Shawn Chacon are tied for 10th among Rockies pitchers (min. 500 IP) in ERA at 5.20.

Colorado Rockies Top 10 Pitching Leaders | Baseball-Reference.com

The Rockies have only 13 pitchers with 500+ IP. Lol.

 

[calsnowskier]

I remember looking at splits when somebody mentioned something about the Giants' "anemic" offense exploding in road games during the postseason. Looks like this must have been from 2012...

"Ignoring the postseason, the Giants' home park has caused the strengths of the team to be greatly misjudged by most...they scored 308 runs at home (31HRs), 410 on the road (72 HRs). They gave up 277 runs at home (3.09 ERA), 377 on the road (4.29 ERA).
I'd argue that the Giants have a powerful offense that could easily have led the league in scoring in a neutral park, but a fairly average pitching staff given the NL's overall 3.94 ERA."

That '12 team was likely the best of the 3 championship teams. That team was quite well balanced. The '10 team had amazing pitching, but the offense was questionable. The '14 team is still a bit of an enigma.

This year, the offense looks like it may be a force. Granted, it is still early, and save for 6 weeks of Pence lost, has been rather injury-free. The pitching, while putting up some amazing numbers, feels like it is about to blow up at any moment.

 

[calsnowskier]

I agree. Impossible to keep this up with that lineup.

I can name 9 series in which the "experts" said just about the exact same thing.

The same "experts" said the Padres would compete this year.

 

[calsnowskier]

The Rockies have only 13 pitchers with 500+ IP. Lol.

To be fair, they have only been in existence for approx. 20 years.

Miami only has 12.
Arizona only has 10.
Tampa Bay only has 7.

 

[dredinis21]

I can name 9 series in which the "experts" said just about the exact same thing.

The same "experts" said the Padres would compete this year.

This guy is a openly-admitted homer sports talk show host of a tandem show down here in LA for the ESPN affiliate radio station and he is normally very comical and somewhat even keeled. His explanation of WHY he felt that the Dodgers were superior made me want to punch him in the trachea but his blue colored sunglasses (and him sparking debate) could not allow him to respect what the Giants have been doing. This convo was on the radio like 2 hrs ago. I was on my 1.5 hr commute and listened to the entire bullshit segment.

Bochy is the best manager in baseball, bar none. He has ALWAYS been a G when it came to managing a pitching staff, specifically bullpens, whether it was SD or SF. He is pretty much the other extreme to Mattingly. When it was brought up by his partner, John Ireland, that the Giants may have the best manager in the game. Mason was trying to make a case for Showalter, finally conceding that Bochy is a top 3(?!?!?!?) manager in TODAY's game. Name two better.
He also tried to rationalize improvement in managing by, in essence, describing the Dodgers' current FO as the smartest guys in the room, praising the analytics. Meanwhile, the Giants and "The Giant Way" shows to have worked just fine, blending both analytics and trust in coaches and players. But yanno, why let results get in the way.

The Giants are all smoke and mirrors and will fade, well, because Mason said so. He started to name the starting pitching on the Giants and how even Bumgarner will fade because of his workload. He equated Cain not coming back 100% as something that hinders them in the future, somehow not realizing or acknowledging the fact that the Giants current streak hasn't had anything to do with Cain....including last season's post season success...and it seemed to work out pretty well.

3B is a huge question mark. Maybe, but currently we have a player playing 3B, batting just under .300 in what is his rookie season. He has already proven to be a smart baserunner, plays good defense, and is a tough, patient hitter that has more power then he looks to possibly have. We have Arias as a backup at the moment, but we also have McGahee in AAA trying to rediscover his swing again. This was the ONLY legitimate take that he had, but Mason had exactly ZERO knowledge of Duffy.

Lastly, he pointed to superior depth on the bench for the Dodgers as the difference maker, completely ignoring the Giants' superior bullpen, batting lineup that has all 8 players hitting .290 or better, and proper base running, proper throws to cut-offs, and a consistently patient approach at the plate that has culminated in 3 World Series. He DID however say that the playoffs are really just a crap shoot, trying to minimize 3 World Series Championships in 5 years.

 

[calsnowskier]

This guy is a openly-admitted homer sports talk show host of a tandem show down here in LA for the ESPN affiliate radio station and he is normally very comical and somewhat even keeled. His explanation of WHY he felt that the Dodgers were superior made me want to punch him in the trachea but his blue colored sunglasses (and him sparking debate) could not allow him to respect what the Giants have been doing. This convo was on the radio like 2 hrs ago. I was on my 1.5 hr commute and listened to the entire bullshit segment.

Bochy is the best manager in baseball, bar none. He has ALWAYS been a G when it came to managing a pitching staff, specifically bullpens, whether it was SD or SF. He is pretty much the other extreme to Mattingly. When it was brought up by his partner, John Ireland, that the Giants may have the best manager in the game. Mason was trying to make a case for Showalter, finally conceding that Bochy is a top 3(?!?!?!?) manager in TODAY's game. Name two better.
He also tried to rationalize improvement in managing by, in essence, describing the Dodgers' current FO as the smartest guys in the room, praising the analytics. Meanwhile, the Giants and "The Giant Way" shows to have worked just fine, blending both analytics and trust in coaches and players. But yanno, why let results get in the way.

The Giants are all smoke and mirrors and will fade, well, because Mason said so. He started to name the starting pitching on the Giants and how even Bumgarner will fade because of his workload. He equated Cain not coming back 100% as something that hinders them in the future, somehow not realizing or acknowledging the fact that the Giants current streak hasn't had anything to do with Cain....including last season's post season success...and it seemed to work out pretty well.

3B is a huge question mark. Maybe, but currently we have a player playing 3B, batting just under .300 in what is his rookie season. He has already proven to be a smart baserunner, plays good defense, and is a tough, patient hitter that has more power then he looks to possibly have. We have Arias as a backup at the moment, but we also have McGahee in AAA trying to rediscover his swing again. This was the ONLY legitimate take that he had, but Mason had exactly ZERO knowledge of Duffy.

Lastly, he pointed to superior depth on the bench for the Dodgers as the difference maker, completely ignoring the Giants' superior bullpen, batting lineup that has all 8 players hitting .290 or better, and proper base running, proper throws to cut-offs, and a consistently patient approach at the plate that has culminated in 3 World Series. He DID however say that the playoffs are really just a crap shoot, trying to minimize 3 World Series Championships in 5 years.

 

[jeep99tj]

I think I'd just count my money and maybe work on a sinker!
I guess going to the Rockies made Mike Hampton a very rich man, but something tells me he wishes he would have taken a little less to pitch elsewhere.

Didn't he set the season record for homers by a pitcher when he was there?

 

[Liberal Icon]

Go Giants!. The season may be long but our endurance is also long.

 

[dredinis21]

I calls em like I sees em.

 

[msgkings322]

I think this thread is worth a bump. Please check out the first 2 pages, it's what makes sports message boards fun.

 

[Villain]

San Diego finally has a good chance to win the division. Giants management cheapskated themselves out of an opportunity to repeat. The lineup they put on the field now is an embarrassment.