Results tagged ‘ San Francisco Giants ’
Cubs Manager On Starlin Castro’s Boneheaded Play: “This Is The Last Straw”
Starlin Castro, starting shortstop for the Chicago Scrubs Cubs, has a metric ton of talent.
But he also has a penchant for playing games with his head shoved up his a**.
Yesterday was no different.
Castro’s latest faux pas occurred in the fifth inning when he forgot how many outs they were after taking a throw at second base from Darwin Barney. It was the start of a potential double play.
Inexplicably, Castro jogged off the field, and never threw to first to double-up Brandon Crawford. The Giants tied the game, and the Cubs were done.
After the game, Cubs manager Dale Sveum had this to say:
“It’s the last straw,” Cubs manager Dale Sveum said after Monday’s 3-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants. “If he wants to play, he better start getting his head in the game. Period.”
Agreed Mr. Sveum.
Dude isn’t a rook anymore and we are talking about the most important defensive position in the infield, arguably the entire game (though I feel catcher is just as important & more grueling, obviously).
Sure, he is young.
He is talented.
But this kind of s*** keeps happening.
As Bob Nightengale of USA Today was quick to point out:
This is the same guy who stopped running on a steal attempt Friday, believing play was stopped. He had his back turned to the infield during a pitch last August (see video below) against the Mets. And, please, don’t bring up his lack of patience at the plate, drawing six walks in 228 plate appearances.
This affliction I like to call HUAS, Head Up Ass Syndrome, has got to end & end right now, otherwise the Cubs won’t have to worry about making the tough cal to trade their young star because nobody will be wiling to part with anything worth a damn for him.
“Slimmed-down” Barry Bonds wants a job with the Giants
By Matthew Pouliot @ Hardball Talk
CSNBayArea.com’s Paul Gutierrez reports that Barry Bonds showed up at AT&T Park on Monday and said he’s talked with Giants CEO Larry Baer about a job with the club, likely as a roving instructor.
Bonds, five years removed from the end of his playing days, spoke with reporters for a half hour outside of the Giants clubhouse and talked about his future as well as his newest hobby, cycling.
He said he currently weighs about 212-215 pounds after recent surgeries on his lower back and hip.
Bonds is currently appealing last year’s conviction on obstruction of justice charges. He hasn’t had a job in baseball since he was forced out of the game.
Cliff Lee Pitches 10 Innings Against Giants, Gets No-Decision
by By Al Yellon @ Baseball Nation
The Phillies‘ Cliff Lee went to San Francisco and threw 10 innings against the Giants, and all he got for it was a lousy T-shirt.
Actually, Lee probably didn’t get a T-shirt at all, but if he had brought one back for a family member, he could have had that phrase printed on it.
Throwing 10 or more innings in a game used to be fairly common before the advent of seven- and eight-man bullpens. From 1980-1989, it was done 248 times — about 25 times a season. As bullpens got more specialized and pitch counts began to hit the consciousness of managers, it happened just 37 times from 1990-1999 — a little less than four times a year.
And then it became rare. Between 2000 and 2009, it was done by just three pitchers (Roy Halladay, Mark Mulder and Aaron Harang) in four games (Halladay did it twice), and until Wednesday night, no one had done it since July 23, 2007 (Harang).
Wednesday night, Lee became the first pitcher since Todd Stottlemyre on June 16, 1995 to throw 10 innings in a game his team lost.
The game absolutely flew through the first eight innings. The teams played six innings in an hour and 10 minutes and eight in 1:30. There were nine combined baserunners through nine innings — Lee gave up five hits through nine, his opponent, the Giants‘ Matt Cain, issued one walk and two hits, and one Giant reached on a Laynce Nix error. Of the seven hits Lee gave up overall, six were singles.
In the 11th inning with the game still scoreless, the Phillies got the potential lead run to third base with one out; Carlos Ruiz doubled and was sacrificed to third by Freddy Galvis. Lee was due up; even though he had thrown just 102 pitches (averaging just over 10 per inning), Charlie Manuel figured one run would win the game and sent Jim Thome up to pinch-hit.
Thome struck out and the Phillies failed to score; Antonio Bastardo relieved Lee and in the span of four batters, lost the game 1-0, though to be fair, an error by Ty Wigginton helped lead to the loss.
It was the seventh 1-0 game played in a season that’s just two weeks old. That would put baseball on pace for about 90 such games in 2012. There were just 52 of them in 2011. Something tells me this isn’t the last time in 2012 that a pitcher will throw more than nine innings in a game; we could be having another 1968 blooming.
