KTE Giants - May 8-10

[Frayed Knot]

Man what a mess this team is:
- the worst record in all of baseball record at 11-21 and are coming off a three-game pasting in Cincy over the weekend by a combined score of 31-5 [13-3, 14-2, 4-0]
- Dead last in RS/G in NL; 3rd worst in RA/G (we’re 2nd worst, btw)

Posey’s hitting and 2B Joe Panik is hitting but that's about it.
SS Crawford is out on a rehab assignment although could return for this series.
CF Denard Span is out which has caused a lot of shifting and mixing including them using Seven different starting LF’ers so far. Even nominal 1B Brandon Belt has been putting in time out
there plus they’ve had a cameo by former Met Justin Ruggiano.

Drew Stubbs is on this team but his fall off the cliff continues: after hitting 80 HRs between 2009 and 2014, he’s been on six different teams since the beginning of 2015 and is hitting .196 with 8 total HRs
Other one-time power threat Mike Morse is too but, between his .176 BA and they fact that his glove is so bad, he’s the guy they won’t even try in LF.
And of course we won’t be seeing Mr. Bumgarner for a while as he appears to be even too stupid to be on our staff [see: bike, dirt = crash].

Pence, now 34 y/o, has been mediocre at best: .254 w/2 HRs

Their big off-season signing was closer Mark Melacon who promptly blew the save on opening day, though has saved 5 of 6 since. But only 7 save opps in 31 games wasn't exactly the game plan for
big spending on a closer.



Mon - 7:10
Matt Moore [1-4; 6.75; 1.56] vs deGrom
The lefty Moore was a one-time hot prospect for Tampa, but his breakout 2013 season was followed by TJ Surgery and he's been only so-so since and a bit less than that even since the Giants traded
for him in mid-season 2016 for their stretch drive

Tues - 7:10
Jeff Samardzija [0-4; 5.03; 1.14] vs Wheeler
Samaradzija got off to a lousy start this season as he continues to confound teams with the gap between his promise and his results, but is coming off two good starts in a row [15 IP, 2 ER, 7 Hits]

Wed - 1:10 **DAY GAME ALERT**
Matt Cain vs Montero? …. Harvey ??? ... Stay Tuned!!
Cain, who hasn’t had a good season since 2012, started well this year but just got smoked in the opener of the Cincy series [9 runs on 10 hits in 3.1 innings]

[bmfc1]

ESPN advertised it as "Buster Posey and the Giants visit Jay Bruce and the Mets".

[Edgy MD]

Hunter Pence writes a Fuller House blog.

[Frayed Knot]

bmfc1 wrote: ESPN advertised it as "Buster Posey and the Giants visit Jay Bruce and the Mets".

Advertising the stars is pretty much S.O.P. for networks, especially in this case as they know most Met & Giant fans are going to be catching the game via their local station so ESPN pimps out the best
known names in an attempt to lure in the general purpose baseball fan.
It's BRADY VS PEYTON and, by the way, the Patriots are playing the Colts


And, hey, it could be worse, they're already advertising next week's Sunday Night game as the Jeter number retirement party.
That there might also be a game played that night and that the Astros, the AL's best team this season, are going to be part of it might go unmentioned the entire night.
In fact, I'm predicting that the only mention of Houston or of any of its players over the next week will be during height comparisons between Aaron Judge and Jose Altuve.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Moore's inconsistent, but capable of looking Bumgarner-brand dominant if he's locating the fastball; if that's happening, his change can look Johanian. I suspect he does that to our whiffy asses tonight.

[Frayed Knot]

Yeah, looking at Moore's last 7 starts:
-- three times he's gone 7 or 8 innings while holding the oppo side to just 1 run each time and on 3 or fewer hits (vs ARZ once and LAD twice)
-- but then in the other four he gave up 9, 6, 5, and 6 runs while twice getting pulled in the 6th and twice lasting 4 innings or less

So my definitive conclusion is: he might be good tonight and then again he might not.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Sometimes, the weather is good. Sometimes, it is not. Sometimes, it is windy, due to flailing bats.

[bmfc1]

Frayed Knot wrote: bmfc1 wrote: ESPN advertised it as "Buster Posey and the Giants visit Jay Bruce and the Mets". Advertising the stars is pretty much S.O.P. for networks, especially in this case as they know most Met & Giant fans are going to be catching the game via their local station so ESPN pimps out the best known names in an attempt to lure in the general purpose baseball fan. It's BRADY VS PEYTON and, by the way, the Patriots are playing the Colts

It was simply the fact that Bruce is the highlighted player of the moment. Not Yo (DL), not Harvey (???), not Noah (DL) but the guy that everyone had somewhere else as soon as last season ended.

[Frayed Knot]

Yeah, one can almost see the ESPN copywriter trying to put together the headline

Posey and the Giants travel to CitiField to face [crossout:xecjahn8]Cespedes[/crossout:xecjahn8], er [crossout:xecjahn8]Harvey[/crossout:xecjahn8], no, how 'bout [crossout:xecjahn8]Syndergaard[/crossout:xecjahn8], ummm [crossout:xecjahn8]Wright[/crossout:xecjahn8], Bruce. Yeah, that's it, Jay Bruce and the New York Mets.
Last year's NL Wild Card teams looking to return to the post-season. Nah, scratch that last part too.

[seawolf17]

It is entirely possible that this series will be the first time in MLB history where both teams will lose all three games.

[Edgy MD]

Ex-Mets Now Fighting for the Baseball Giants

• Manager Bruce Bochy
  
• Special Assistant Shawon Dunston
  
• Outfielder Justin Ruggiano
  
• Special Assistant to the President Willie Mays
  
• Senior Vice President, Player Personnel and Senior Advisor to the General Manager Dick Tidrow

Interesting variety. None played for the Mets at the same time.

[Edgy MD]

This team seems to have a pile of lefties.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Yay