Coincidence?
Maybe.
Maybe not.
P.S. Thompson had just 2 points at half time in the home opener. Klay, please, you’re a classy guy, there’s still time to apologize to we Giants fans that support the Warriors, too.
UPDATE: The Warriors won the next game. I still stand behind the spirit of my post.
It’s hard to be a fan. It’s a tremendous amount of time and emotional energy.
It’s particularly hard to be a fan — after spending a tremendous amount of time and emotional energy — having to watch a manager make the same mistakes over and over and over.
That happened tonight… my San Francisco Giants were eliminated from the baseball playoffs… because of INSANE bullpen management by Bruce Bochy…
… the same INSANE bullpen management style that made the Giants nearly the worst team in baseball after the all star break.
I’m tired of hearing how it’s the players fault… that we don’t have any closers. We had lots ways to close a game… how about just keeping your starting pitcher in when he has a hot hand? Bochy pulled Matt Moore after the 8th even though he was throwing a 2 hitter!
Or how about using one of your other starting pitchers? It was, after all, an ELIMINATION GAME. Any of your starters would have gladly taken the ball… how about Samardzija? Or Blach? Heck, even Madison Bumgarner, who only threw 5 innings last night, would have picked up the ball in an instant.
Or how about letting a fresh Will Smith throw to more than one batter? It’s so painfully clear that Bochy’s platooning style simply wasn’t working.
How about doing ANYTHING other than doing the same ineffective stuff over and over and over?!
This is the second most crushing loss in my five decades or so of being a Giants fan.
And — even harder to swallower — this one was eminently avoidable.
My post below (“The Definition Of Insanity: Bruce Bochy Bullpen Management“) includes the following paragraphs:
Why he pulled Madison Bumgarner in the 7th — with 10 strike-outs, no walks, and a ONE HITTER going — is beyond all baseball reasoning.
The fact that he won’t share his reasons why he did this — he offered all of: “I said we talked. I’ll leave it at that.” — is simply an irresponsible cop-out.
Sorry, after the September he’s managed, we fans deserve more than that.
I finally heard a reason that, while hard to swallow, does makes everything make sense… and if you’re a parent with a teenager, it makes doubly sense: Bochy might have had some parenting to do.
I think Bochy told Bum something like, “you have a history with Puig but we need you on the mound tonight so don’t lose your head… because if you do, I won’t hesitate to pull you.”
Any good parent knows you have to set clear boundaries for your children… articulate clear consequences… and take immediate action if necessary.
I think that’s what happened.
That’s the only explanation that explains everything, including Bochy’s reluctance to discuss after the game… including former Giant and current Giant Broadcaster Duane Kuiper’s “frosty” demeanor on his usually even-keeled radio spot the next morning. Sometimes family matters need to be kept within the family.
I still think the way Bochy is managing the bullpen is insane.
And, like all parents, Bochy is probably wishing he articulated some other consequence, especially in such a pivotal game.
But, I respect the hell out of him for sticking to his parenting guns if, indeed, that was the case.
They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome.
I’d say FIVE blown leads in the 9th inning — using the same, completely ineffective bullpen management — qualifies.
I obviously — and painfully — misspoke in my “One Other Thing I Know” post below. I want to say last night’s loss to the Dodgers — with the Giants winning by one run going into the bottom of the 9th — was a terrible, horrible gut punch…
… but, the truth is, it’s no worse than our other terrible, horrible, gut-punching 9th inning losses in September.
Giants Manager Bruce Bochy, sadly, is insane.
Why he pulled Madison Bumgarner in the 7th — with 10 strike-outs, no walks, and a ONE HITTER going — is beyond all baseball reasoning.
The fact that he won’t share his reasons why he did this — he offered all of: “I said we talked. I’ll leave it at that.” — is simply an irresponsible cop-out.
Sorry, after the September he’s managed, we fans deserve more than that.
I’m only a fan. But it seems pretty obvious to me that (1) the Giants don’t have a reliable bullpen, so (2) the Giants should have been playing September like we’re in sudden death — because WE ARE — so (3) they needed to use STARTERS to close games, and (4) Bochy needs to abandoned his ineffective bullpen platooning and if a reliever is getting the job done (like Smith was in the 8th inning), just let him keep throwing. Duh!
Call a spade a spade: Bochy may be a Hall of Fame manager, but he’s completely mismanaged the Giants down the stretch.
Boch, please get your stuff together before it’s too late!
I hit a low point in my San Francisco Giants fan career.
The Giants were the best team in baseball before the All Star break.
And the worst after the break.
It’s been an oh-so-painful ride straight downhill.
I was watching the Giants-Mets game last night… tied in the 4th… the Giants Ace Madison Bumgarner on the mound… and with a 1-hitter going into the inning… somehow loaded the bases… and I thought to myself:
This is it. This is the entire Giants season right now. We have our best pitcher on the mound. What team are we really… the before-the-All-Star-break team that will find a way to get out of this jam… or the after-the-All-Star-break team that will continue to get abused… ? This next pitch will tell…
And just when you think it couldn’t get any worse… the very worst thing happens: The batter hits a GRAND SLAM!
I’ve been a lifelong Giants fan… which means I’ve suffered my share of heartbreak…
… but that one was one for the ages.
I distinctly remembering at that very moment giving up hope for the season. That’s NEVER happened to me before while there’s been a mathematical chance to win and a pulse left in my body.
I was dejected. Heartbroken. I turned off the game.
I climbed in my car 30 minutes later to hear the Giants announcer say something I will NEVER forget:
“After allowing 4 runs in the fourth, the Giants rally right back in the bottom of the inning to drop a 5-spot on the Mets and take the lead, capped off by none other than Madison Bumgarner’s two-run homerun.”
People thought I was crazy in my car… it’s hard enough scoring 1 run in baseball, let alone 5 in the same inning… I was cheering and clapping unabashedly… just as if I were at the game!
Thank you, San Francisco Giants, for reminding me that until you are dead — no matter how improbable — there is ALWAYS HOPE!
I am not an NBA fan.
That’s not to say I’m not a big basketball fan… there is nothing more exciting than high school and college basketball.
But I don’t like the way it’s played on the professional level. You don’t see teamwork. You don’t see hustle. All you see is self-promotion… and a complete flaunting of the basic rules of the game. (When was the last time you saw a pro player called for traveling? Never. Exactly.)
But I was a big fan of the Golden State Warriors this year.
Because they played like no other NBA team. They played with teamwork and hustle. The played unselfishly. In doing so they brought up the level of play from their opponents, making games fun to watch again. In doing so they also won an NBA record 73 regular season wins.
Sadly the Warriors didn’t complete their magical season… losing Game 7 of the championship.
It’s only sports… but it matters to the Bay Area… we’re in shock… and mourning.
We’re swimming in a sea of “what if’s?”. What if the Warriors didn’t lose their big man Andrew Bogut? What if the Warriors were actually able to adjust to the obvious, that the Cavs were simply standing on the 3-point line taking away those shots, and that all the W’s had to do was simply take some easier/higher-percentage 2-point shots? What if the officiating wasn’t completely and utterly against Step Curry? What if the league didn’t job the Warriors and ridiculously suspend Draymond Green for Game 5 in an effort to balance out the series? What if Klay Thompson had just apologized for wearing a f***ing Dodger cap to a Giants game?
I suspect we’ll be talking about this for a long time into the future.
But — while this may be premature — let me be the first to pick myself up off the canvas and start the chant:
“74… 74… 74… !”
Here’s to an incredibly deserving Warriors team AND 74 regular season wins next year AND a 2017 NBA Championship!
Ugh.
I am a big fan of Klay Thompson. He’s intelligent, well-spoken, and, clearly, a heck of a basketball player… responsible for seemingly single-handedly saving Golden State’s season on many occasions.
Unfortunately, I am now less of a Klay Thompson fan.
Last night the SF Giants played the f***ing LA Dodgers at AT&T Park. Klay’s brother Trayce plays for the f***ing Dodgers. Klay went to the Giants game last night to support his brother — which is obviously a very cool thing to do.
What isn’t cool is wearing — FLAUNTING — a f***ing LA Dodger’s baseball cap at a home Giants game.
Do you know how many times the f***ing Dodgers have broken our heart?
Now you’ve broken our heart, too… the heart of the very San Francisco fans that have so sincerely supported you these past few years.
You could have simply worn a cap with the word “Trayce” on it… fans would have appreciated your loyalty to your brother… and you not shoving a despised symbol in our faces.
Instead, you choose to be disrespectful. You’re a professional athlete who presumably should know your own fan base. Shame on you.
Sadly, I will be rooting just a little less loudly for you come Monday night.
Go Steph! Go Draymond! Go Iggy! Go Bogey! Go Harrison! Go Shaun! Go Mo!
Boo on you, Klay Thompson.
Please apologize so I know you are the classy athlete I thought you were and not someone absolutely clueless and hurtful.
I like a lot of sports teams. But I LOVE the San Francisco Giants. Have I earned my Giant stripes? You tell me… I would pour through box scores as a little boy in the Green Sheet (SF Chronicle)… I have a drawer full of Croix de Candlestick pins… and I was part of two of the top 10 record low crowds at Candlestick.
So, yes, I look good in orange & black.
It’s only fitting — on the night the San Francisco Giants win the Worlds Series — that congratulations go out to the players, the managers, the owners, the radio broadcast team (of which I listen to all the time), and, most of all, the fans, both young and old… this is all of our night to savor…
… we are…
… World Champions… !
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