I went to Yahoo Answers yesterday and posed the same question I posted here. Got sixteen responses, some voting twice, some not at all. Here’s the result:
Hey, another first for me. I’m the featured blog this uh…day? Week? Arbitrary amount of time? Anyway, thanks to whomever picks that stuff, that’s awesome! Oh the pressure…
I’ve got baseball on the brain, but at the same time I’m trying not to spend too much time and effort over analyzing every little thing about today’s game. So instead I revisisited one of my favorite baseball sites, Flip Flop Fly Ball to see what latest and greatest graphs and charts were available to peruse. And much to my delight, there was a bobblehead chart! Check it.
Thanks to homers by Sandoval (yes, I said Sandoval!), Torres and Posey, the D-Backs are no more!
| Date | W | L | Win | Loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-05-12 | 0 | 5 | C. Richard | M. Cain |
| 2010-05-17 | 0 | 7 | C. Richard | M. Cain |
| 2010-08-13 | 1 | 8 | C. Richard | J. Sanchez |
| 2010-09-10 | 4 | 9 | S. Casilla | C. Richard |
| For 2010, SFG won 5, SDP won 10. |
Giants won yesterday, but so did the Padres and the Braves, so the gap did not get wider, and the standing did not change for either the NL West Division or the Wild Card. But the magic number changed from four to three. Three measly games and we see playoffs. Or…if the Giants sweep the D-Backs tonight and the Padres lose, I think the magic number would be one. Or the Giants AND the Padres could win tonight and the number would be two. I think.
Well, our socks anyway. Red Sox took the series, but at least we weren’t swept! By the skin of our teeth, mind you, but a victory is a victory.
The wife and kids were out on Friday, which is a rarity but perfect timing in that I got to watch the first game uninterrupted. Right off the bat, the Sox score three runs. But then the Giants catch up in the second and pass them in the third and then get yet another in the eighth. But that’s not enough for me. I know better at this point. It could be 12-1 Giants, and I’d still be wary of the ninth. And it wasn’t 12-1 Giants, it was 5-3 Giants. So I was standing a lot in the end, my palms were sweating and the Sox made Wilson work for that last out. They even had to get one more run in before we finally finished them off. Three innings with loaded bases, ten walks, three wild pitches and we eek out a win by one run. Awesome but TORTURE!
I skipped watching Saturday in favor of taking the family to see TOY STORY 3. Excellent picture, perhaps my least favorite of the three, but maybe that’s because I’ve only seen it the one time so far. I doubt they will make more after this, and you couldn’t ask for a better story for the characters to go out on. I dug it. I didn’t dig that we lost 4-2, however. In a surprise (for me anyway) last minute change, they brought up Madison Bumgarner to start the game, and I think he did okay. Sure, the Giants lost, but he only allowed four runs and pitched seven innings. Pretty good for a rookie. I’d like to see more of him.
Sunday went to my wife’s BFF’s house to watch the game on the big screen. HD is funny in that everyone seems much uglier on TV. Not sure if I want it now or not. The grass was never greener at AT&T park though, I’ll admit that. Great scenery shots on a perfect cloudless day in San Francisco. Aaand we lose again, pretty much the same way we did the day before. The Sox score right off the bat, and then we spend the rest of the game trying to hold them at bay and catch up. Lincecum floundered through three innings before being pulled. Our Golden Boy isn’t so golden these days. He’s 8-3 mind you, but that’s not good enough for a back-to-back Cy Young winner, right? We eek out one run in the first because Andres Torres steals makes it to first when no one else could and then proceeds to steal two bases, ensuring his status as the World’s Fastest Giant. Otherwise, the Giants don’t do much and the Sox take the rubber match 5-1.
So 2-1 Red Sox. Since I had a fairly bad feeling about them coming to town in the first place, I guess I’m happy we at least took one game and avoided a sweep. Can’t deny their all-star status, it was a very exciting weekend with them in town. If I was a jerk, I could say that, while we didn’t win, we at least injured one of their starters in each of the three games. If I was a jerk.
After lunch at the BFF’s house, we moved on to my sister-in-law’s house for dinner where her husband, my father-in-law and I decided to watch the Yankees/Dodgers game, in hopes that at least the Dodgers would also lose, allowing the Giants to keep their second place status. But nope! 5-0 Dodgers. Bummer. Wait..now it’s 5-2 Dodgers. Wait…now it’s 6-6 and going into extra innings. Now it’s the 10th inning and the Yankees take it 8-6! Unbelievable rally, and even more unbelievable that there was a room full of Giants fans rooting for the Yankees. A rarity and somewhat fun. I’m sure the Dodgers are pissed at losing their lead. I wonder if being pissed is a good thing for the Giants today. Will they be tired and sloppy or more determined than ever to make up for yesterday?
Jonathan Sanchez’s no-hitter celebrated its 5 year anniversary on Sunday. Sanchez was the fifth Giant in history to pitch a no-hitter, and he was joined by the other four, Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry,
Ed Halicki and John Montefusco. Congratulations Jonathan! Sorry we lost on your big day!
Crazy weekend, full of awesome stuff. I feel like I’m skipping half of it. I guess that’s what happens when you’ve got two rivalries on the west coast playing each others teams.
I haven’t posted since we got swept by the A’s back in May. Maybe I was too depressed. Maybe I’ve been too busy at work. Maybe I have a hard time coming up with new ways to say “Yeah we won!” or “Boo we lost!” on a daily basis.
In my absence, the Giants played the Nationals (2-1), the Diamondbacks (3-0), the Rockies (1-3), the Pirates (2-1), the Reds (2-2), paid back the A’s by sweeping ‘em (3-0), the Orioles (2-1), Blue Jays (1-2) and the Astros (1-2). In sum, we’ve won five series, lost two and tied once. And we’re back in second place, with the Dodgers a half game behind us. Not bad!
Oh and my family and I were there for Friday night’s A’s game, Lincecum pitching, first of the sweep. It was awesome.
The day after the game, I ran in the Giant Race, which I won’t go into too much, other than to say it’s the farthest I’ve ever run, I don’t think I ate enough, I was pretty slow and it hurt really bad and I’ll probably do it again next year. Oh and I got to touch home plate after the finish line, which was the only base I wasn’t able to touch during Fan Fest this year. Here’s me almost dead.
Boston is in town, everyone is quite excited. In the history of baseball, the Giants have only faced the Red Sox twice: in 2004 and in 2007.
| Date | Tm | Opp | RS | RA | W | L | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004-06-18 | San Francisco Giants | Boston Red Sox | L | 9 | 14 | 0 | 1 | |
| 2004-06-19 | San Francisco Giants | Boston Red Sox | W | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | |
| 2004-06-20 | San Francisco Giants | Boston Red Sox | W | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | |
| For 2004, NYG and SFG won 2, BOS won 1. | ||||||||
| Date | Tm | Opp | RS | RA | W | L | ||
| 2007-06-15 | San Francisco Giants | @ | Boston Red Sox | L | 2 | 10 | 2 | 2 |
| 2007-06-16 | San Francisco Giants | @ | Boston Red Sox | L | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2007-06-17 | San Francisco Giants | @ | Boston Red Sox | L | 5 | 9 | 2 | 4 |
| For 2007, NYG and SFG won 0, BOS won 3. | ||||||||
Our overall record with them is 2-4, which is not so hot. The Giants are second place to the Red Sox third in their respective leagues right now, but the Sox have juuuuust a bit higher win percentage, and they’re on a winning streak while the Giants have just lost two:
| Rk | Tm | W | L | W-L% | GB | Strk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SDP | 42 | 30 | .583 | — | L 1 |
| 2 | SFG | 39 | 32 | .549 | 2.5 | L 2 |
| 3 | LAD | 39 | 33 | .542 | 3.0 | W 1 |
| 4 | COL | 38 | 34 | .528 | 4.0 | L 1 |
| 5 | ARI | 28 | 45 | .384 | 14.5 | L 2 |
| Avg | 37 | 34 | .517 |
vs
| Rk | Tm | W | L | W-L% | GB | Strk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NYY | 45 | 27 | .625 | — | W 2 |
| 2 | TBR | 43 | 29 | .597 | 2.0 | W 1 |
| 3 | BOS | 44 | 30 | .595 | 2.0 | W 1 |
| 4 | TOR | 39 | 34 | .534 | 6.5 | W 1 |
| 5 | BAL | 20 | 52 | .278 | 25.0 | W 1 |
| Avg | 38 | 34 | .526 |
As far as pitching goes, we’ve got Sanchez, Martinez (who?) and Lincecum:
| W | L | W-L% | ERA | G | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tim Lincecum | 8 | 2 | .800 | 2.86 | 15 | 100.2 | 83 | 34 | 32 | 5 | 39 | 113 |
| Jonathan Sanchez | 5 | 5 | .500 | 2.90 | 14 | 83.2 | 62 | 32 | 27 | 5 | 39 | 82 |
| Joe Martinez | 0 | 1 | .000 | 4.91 | 2 | 7.1 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
The Red Sox have Wakefield, Buchholz and Lester:
| W | L | W-L% | ERA | G | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jon Lester* | 8 | 3 | .727 | 3.03 | 15 | 98.0 | 73 | 34 | 33 | 5 | 40 | 102 |
| Clay Buchholz | 10 | 4 | .714 | 2.47 | 14 | 91.0 | 76 | 31 | 25 | 3 | 37 | 62 |
| Tim Wakefield | 2 | 5 | .286 | 5.33 | 15 | 79.1 | 84 | 50 | 47 | 12 | 17 | 44 |
Saturday might be hairy, as Joe Martinez hasn’t put in enough time to really make a prediction about him, but otherwise we’re looking good in the ERA category.
Still it’s the Red Sox, and that name comes with some heavy. Aside from the Yankees, they’re probably the only team that has fans that are just everywhere. You don’t see Giants hats in Utah or Rhode Island, but you’ll see Red
Sox hats. They seem big, bad and scary, somehow.
Needless to say, everyone is excited. Nose bleed seats are $90 a ticket, which I believe is the highest price venue for this season (but don’t quote me on that). Regardless of the outcome, can’t say I’m not looking forward to it!
GO GIANTS!
Eeks, I’m behind. That’s what happens when your weekend looks like this, I guess!
SEA @ SF
Sigh. 7-2. Creamed too. Three hits in five innings. Sounds like the the hitting problems of last year may not be completely fixed, eh? Lincecum still not doing so well because he had a huge raise and contract now and that’s why the word “ironic” was invented. Actually I’m going to chalk that up to it being spring training and he’s just experimenting. Yeah, that’s it. DeRosa continues to play some decent small ball.
SF @ COL
Yay! 8-2. Creaming the opposition this time. (Wait, that sounds gross.) Way to go Todd Wellemeyer on having your best spring training game yet, four scoreless innings and no walks!
OAK @ SF
Awww, bummer! 8-3. First “rivalry” loss, and soooo close too. Better than being clobbered, I guess. Matt Cain not doing so hot this round, giving up five runs and eight hits. Buster Posey still making hits though. I like that name, Buster Posey. Totally “famous” sounding baseball name. How can a guy named Buster Posey not make it in baseball?
SF @ SEA
W00t! Fine, you clobber us? We’ll clobber you back! 9-3. Kevin Pucetas retires nine Mariners and extends his scoreless inning streak to lucky number seven.
MIL @ SF
And we end with a bummer. 9-4. Nuff said.
Three wins, two losses and one new faucet. Not a bad weekend, all-in-all. It feels kind of redundant to keep recapping all this stuff, especially when there are people out there doing a way better job of it than I. But I guess I’ll keep doing it, because what else is there to talk about? Would be great to actually SEE one of these games sometime, but apparently MLB.tv only likes the Yankees and Red Sox.
Still on fake-top!
With the real season coming up here quick, let’s take a moment to see what we look like in the grand scheme of things before we add another year of numbers. (AKA, another excuse to make charts in Excel!)
From beginning of time to last season, the Giants rank #2 in the league for win percentage. Not bad really. The Yankees are the winner, of course, and it doesn’t look like they will be dethroned anytime soon. Dodgers are catching up, but we still got a decent enough gap there. (And just as an FYI, we rank #1 in total actual wins, but since not every
team started in the 1800s, that standing isn’t exactly a fair comparison.)
And since I was at it, here’s the rest of the league, for my imaginary readers whose team didn’t make the top 15:
I’m betting Rays fans are hard core.
Now about some head-to-head? How do we compare to other teams on a face-to-face level?
Giants are still beating out everyone else in the National League. They have more wins vs losses than each and every team, though it looks like the Dodgers are a few wins away from pushing that bar to the left. But that’s what makes good rivalry, right? Who wants to have a rivalry with a team that sucks?
American League is kicking our butts a bit harder. Of course, we face them much less, which makes each loss much more powerful than the National League chart. Looks like 6 out of 14 teams are beating us more than we’re beating them, including the A’s, which…sucky! Still above average though.
All-in-all not a bad state of affairs. Again though, this is over the Giants entire history, so I’m betting a lot of their momentum was built back in the day. Best make sure we keep things going so we can stay on top, eh?
Craig Robinson’s Flip Flop Fly Ball site is my new favorite thing. As self-described:
A love of baseball plus a love of infographics equals Flip Flop Fly
Ball.
The thing is loaded with fun statistics in graphics form, and while I haven’t perused them all yet with equal scrutiny, here’s my current favorite (so far):
CLICK FOR FULL SIZE
It’s crazy that the “best team” has only won the series three times since 1995, isn’t it? (Since the Wild Card system has been in effect.) I suppose that’s what playoffs are for, but so much for the reliability of stats, eh folks? Also specifically interesting to the theme of this blog, the last time the Giants made it to the series was the only time that that two Wild Card teams went head to head. (Giants lost of course – boo!)
