GIANTS/DODGERS Game Thread

The stadium looked nice as hell btw. Those screens are unreal.

 

2/3 games sellouts. Averaging over 50K fans on Monday-Wednesday games.

I mean...with the countless promotions, good match ups, and stadium changes...all the team really has to do is play well and they can see a huge stadium filled nightly. But if they get off to a slow start it will turn people away. Guarantee it. Crowds like tonight are good for the city's relationship with this team. But you can't bore us to death. And their traffic/pedestrian control is a JOKE.

 

Kemp is in a unique position to be what all of us are so dependent upon, and was last night, but he also disappoints to frustration.
No statement was made in this series, and the "you can't buy a pennant" crew has some fodder, at least at the outset, for their caveats and predictions to that end. We are reminded of the NY Yankess, and I cringed at the comparisons at the outset.
If we are going anywhere, we will definitly have to go through the Sf Giants, to be sure. And I don't care if we are supposed to be better on paper, have all superstars and them so much less, they can handle our lame game, as usual. The new blue looks sadly, like it always does to me.
We have opened up the can of worms for the nay sayers about us, and they look like Nostradamus so far.
Is it our destiny to be chasing the Giants, no matter who we sign? Maybe....
BTW, their pitching just blows ours away. Kershaw can't pitch every day.
Great PR program opening day, great performance by our superstar pitcher, and then more of the limp dicked banjo hitting lineup for the rest of the series.
Being glad they are out of town now (the Giants) is just a wakling's emotion because they owned us 2/3. We should want to kick their asses, and take hold of them by the scruff of the neck...we still aren't up to it. Not yet anyway.
We should be the bullies...instead...

 

Keep in mind our second best pitcher and maybe the second best pitcher between the two teams didn't start in the series. We started our 1-5-4 they started their 1-2-3.

 

The problem is definitely not pitching. Ryu gave up 2 ER in 6.1 IP, we scored no runs. Beckett pitched a quality start, we couldn't cash in on multiple opportunities. Tired of seeing this Kemp-Gonzalez-Ethier shit show. Those guys are the best on the team and they need to start playing like it.

 

Yea, if Greinke goes in game two we could have easily had another pitchers dual that is decided by some fluke shit. Also likesdacum was begging to be destroyed, our offense just didn't capitalized at all.

 

And I'll respond with this. In the history of baseball no team has hit 7% with RISP (2-27). It's just not possible to continue that. I was the first one to say Kemp was going to have a down year after the surgery, but I'll also say judging a player of his caliber after 3 games is unfair.

Some things that I think might be legitimate concerns are 1) Cruz, who doesn't look to have a clue. I'm not sure if he's pressing or just not good enough, we'll have to wait and see and 2) Ryu, who didn't look to have an out pitch capable of fooling major league hitters. However, he's the 5 starter, and if he doesn't walk anyone, he'll be fine.

 

I don't think this type of play will continue and I'm not judging Kemp.

The obvious though, is that we're not going to win very many series with performances like that from the middle of the order and Cruz going 0-for as well. I'm not worried about the middle of the order, but they definitely have to step it up. Gonzo is having some good ABs and is getting some bad luck with some balls dying in the outfield, but the rest need to step up.

With Cruz, it seems like a timing issue. They may need to modify that leg kick. He's not getting it down in time and that's resulting in these weak pop ups.

 

And it absolutely won't continue. I'm not saying you or anyone here said that it will, but I'm just saying, if our main issue early on is hitting with RISP, then it's a non-issue, and we'll be fine. We have enough legitimate concerns that we don't have to fabricate any (again, not saying you did that, just saying)

We've had a lot of promise from guys that were the question marks, and a lot of failure from the guys that are proven stars, which is probably a good thing. A-Gon might not be SD MVP A-Gon but he's not going to stink. He will hit eventually. But if Crawford is hitting, Howell is shut down and AJ Ellis is able to repeat 2012, it'll be a great year.

 

Disappointing first series. I'd suggest we buy some team chemistry, but sadly we cannot.

 

Offense is always fickle in this sport. Our offense is bound to click on all cylinders at some point this season, and combined with our pitching - we are going to have some monster stretches this year.

 

I know I overreact when the game is playing but it's just so damn disappointing when they pick up exactly where they left off last year. A Whole New Blue start would have been nice and helped me forget last year but the same old blue they played like against the Giants just brings back last years pain.

 

Completely understandable, considering how disappointing last year was, it's hard not to get down on them. Just remember how talented this team is though. They won't suck all year, guarantee it.

 

It's hard to tell myself it's a small sample size when it's against the giants. I want this team to play every game against SF like it's game 7 of the WS.

 

I know a huge bright spot for me this series was Carl Crawford. It is only two games but he looked good and that makes me happy.

 

Talent may or may not prevail. I know for damn certain I'm not counting on it until I see it on a consistent basis. No reason for me to assume it will change. I'm in hope mode. Just because they've got the shiny names doesn't mean it'll work. Just because the won't hit .000 w/ RISP doesn't mean they'll end up being good at it. Sure, it naturally will improve, but the mental makeup of the team remains to be seen. It matters. Until they conquer some demons, they'll be in second place for a long time. And calling them demons/hurdles is being generous. Because if they still haven't gotten past these hurdles after several weeks...they aren't hurdles anymore. They are just what the team is--a team that struggles to execute, doesn't play big, and can't find it in them to beat the Giants.