Road To Success - Media Watch Dog Anti PEDs and for Honesty in Government

INJURIES DIDN'T COST GIANTS PLAYOFFS IN 2015 - SF GIANTS 2016 PROGNOSTICATIONS

 

 

 Telling It Like It Is:

ANNUAL 'NON-PC' REVIEW OF SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS  

 and AT&T ( 'PC' )PARK  

 

Once a year, we make a visit to AT&T Park to see a Giants game just as we do to see the Oakland A's at the Oakland Coliseum (officially known as O.co Park). The reason we only go once a year is because we're not big baseball fans anymore for reasons we've expounded upon in these pages, but we like to go to one game a year to make note of any changes at the ballpark - and we do follow the teams on TV and in the media to some extent. We have lost a lot of interest in baseball in recent years as we feel baseball has changed and we offer some of those reasons in our annual review, below.

      It  begins with,  

 

1) GETTING A 'FAIR'-PRICED TICKET (AT AT&T)NOT SO EASY

 

It used to be -until this year - one could simply walk up to any number of ticket windows at AT&T and buy a ticket. Now, you walk up to a 'funnel', as we just found out - a funnel, like at a bank, in which you must wait your turn to get up to one of those windows to buy a ticket. This has become a more involved process now. It used to be if one didn't like the price of a ticket -the Giants use 'dynamic' pricing which means the prices can change from minute to minute. Last year we went to three different windows within five minutes and got three differrent 'offers' starting with $80 and ending with $30 for essentially the same seat location. This year we would have to go back in the funnel if we didn't like the price at the first window; this process could take a long time if we had to go back three times;obviously, with the 'funnel' approach, most people will pay the higher price rather than have to go back and wait in line again and again until they get the price they like. There happened to be a guy quietly scalping tickets for $15 so we were able to avoid the Giants' devious new methodology. But most people, especially tourists, don't; many first timers don't even know about 'dynnamic pricing' - perhaps one of the most devious practises in itself. Why not just charge one fair, moderate price for each seat range as done in the past. Must we be so greedy. This certainly isn't helping the fan , though the Giants will say it affords people lower priced seats for less popular games/ teams. No, we say, it charges people more money for the more popular games/teams. 1st NON-PC Complaint Done    

 

 

2) 'MOST BEAUTIFUL STADIUM?' 

Yes, ATT is an improvement, for sure, over Candlestick if you don't like viewing games in a generally cold, windswept venue (not to say ATT doesn't have it's cold nights, like the first one I ever went to there where I couldn't wait to leave). If you like bright lights, then ATT is also for you; I hate to think about the electrcity bill - and that scoreboard; As Dodgers announcer Rick Monday, kept commenting, this was 'theater' baseball; he likes it and most do - funny how everyone that comes to ATT seems to take on the "PC' climate - even the opponents - though the Giants announcers will NOT always or often say good things about the other teams, home or away.  

 

 

Back to the so-called beauty of the park. So, the lights are bright so you can see the green grass better but you CAN'T SEE the water and Bay Bridge backdrop everyone talks about unless you're at a day game, which only happens 2-3 times a week; night games don't appear a whole lot different than at other parks - and some of the seats are pretty far away- and with the all the 'sellouts' one can't move down to better seats like, say, at the Oakland Coliseum. So, right off the bat, we don't buy into all the 'PC.'

 

 

3) WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SF 'MELTING POT'-NOBODY OVER 30! WHERE HAVES ALL THE FLOWERS, er, CHARACTER(S) GONE?  

 

The next thing that we readily noticed were the fans. Everyone looked the same - all in their 20s and mostly caucasian. It was, like last year, a bit of shock to see what seemed about 90% of crowd 'millenials' with no sense of history. We didn't even see any African Americans in a city with a large African American population; the Giants, until recently, also had no African Americans on the team.They have special 'ethnic nites' to be politically correct and all; I wonder how many would even show up at ,say, African American night as we sure didn't see any, except folks working at AT&T.  

 

 

Nothing wrong with millennials - especially if you like cell phones and selfies- but , like last year, we missed all the characters of various ages and colors with colorful nicknames who used to share old stories about early Giants days, both in  San Francisco and New York , while making colorful 'catcalls' from the stands. Remembering old 'Sharky' who sold 'Zamner's (San Francisco Examiner newpapers). or Gus, the friendly, regular beer vendor or Pete, the Peanut thrower.  

 

 

  No hide nor hair of such characters today. Of course, everyone knew Crazy George at the Coliseum, not to mention the split-personalitied banjo player who showed up for both A's and Giants games, or the 'Swingers'band that paraded through the park playing Dixieland music, thanks to Charlie Finely. I don't even think they still have vendors at AT&T. Another thing missing this night - that old 'sing-song'cadence ('Beah Heah!' 'Get Yer Red Hots')     4) SELLOUTS? Who's (Not) Counting?

As last year, we were surprised to see all the empty seats. Well , at least they moved them from the corners to all over the stadium. As we're told- and most everyone accepts- every game at AT&T is a sellout. We were not shocked but still surprised to see the stadium at least one-third empty - for a Dodgers game no less (September 30, 2015).

 

 

  Even the Dodgers announcers, who tend to go along with inside-baseball's 'PC' crowd  trumpeting the long streak of Giants 'sellouts', were even, albeit politely, questioning the definition of a 'sellout' after noting all the empty seats; they ended up concluding that a sellout has nothing to do with the number of butts in seats. But then, why isn't the sellout 'number'   the same every game. They noted how there were 750 fewer seats counted this night than the night before.  

 

 

The bottom line, we've finally concluded, is that a team can call any game a sellout by reporting that all the tickets were accounted for, either through sales, discounted seats or giveaways. Can't imagine giving away 10,000 plus seats that nobody filled,or, 10,000 paid seats that nobody showed up to fill - or a combination of both. Perhaps San Francisco has a wealthier population than we thought and/or the Giants are extra generous,despite their 'dynamic pricing' gimmick.  

 

 

5) HOW QUICKLY FORGET - Candlestick vs AT&T

Even the names of the Parks spoke says a lot the pastoral 'Candlestick' vs. the corporate 'AT&T' monikers.   It's trendy now to   condemn Candlestick Park, where the Giants (and Forty-Niners)  played (Giants until 2000) -  including the Dodgers announcers, who are obviously used to the warm climes of Los Angeles and hated those cold Candlestick] nights. It's PC today to knock Candlestick, just as they're carrying away the last remaining carcasses of an old friend (to some of us, anyway).  

 

 

But when you think about it, Candlestick was real baseball. Nobody ever complained about the cold when the Giants were winning in the 1960s with Mays, McCovey and company. Even when they weren't winning, they team and fans learned to turn the cold weather into a PLUS. Remember the Croix De Candlestick buttons everyone wore. The cold nights game the Giants an edge up on the other teams that hated to come to Candlestick. But, it wasn't that bad. You dressed warmly and brought a thermos of coffee (when they'd still let you bring picnics to the game).  

 

 

AMERICA'S FAVORITE PASTIME ( PAST TIME)  

 

 

There was no questioning baseball as anything but America's Favorite Pastime, which it WAS then (Football has since become more popular - we wonder why. Ha) Replays would have never been considered then. Umpires played a bigger and more colorful role back then. It was hardy weather. Yes. People smoked then. Yes. (I used to enjoy the smell of a stale old cigar being puffed on by a longshoreman in the box below; funny how nobody used to complain about the smell of smoking then - even though it was killing people.

 

 

All the things that WERE NOT PC made for a colorful experience and allowed us to overlook or even sometimes appreciate the cold nights. We knew that the coldest nights meant true fans showing up at Candlestick. And, again, fans of all ages and colors.We remember when everyone could afford tickets, which were, at one time $3,$2 and $1 for a bleacher seat - well within most people's price range.

 

 

      In this PC world that supposedly caters to people of all colors and ages - especially in liberal San Francisco- we miss the older fans, the old characters -the Real Feel and Smells of Baseball. If the fans are knowledgeable today, it's largely due to sabermetrics and technologoy in their very hands. Back in the day, fans kept score with pen and paper on a free score card when you bought an 'Examiner' and were into the games in a more natural, without the ability to pick apart every sabermetric statistic.      

 

 

Back in the day, nobody talked about pitch counts. If you were late to a game you didn't have to worry about Marichal or Perry coming out in the sixth inning due to a 'high pitch count.' And,surprise- there weren't all the injuries we see today despite the fewer innings pitched and the greater dependence on relief pitchers.    

 

 

  What goes hand in hand with a selfie-taking, beer and wine-drinking mellenial crowd is a lack of noise. September 30 was the quietest game we can remember going to in a long time. (We like the fact that this night there was less 'music' than last year. ) Quiet isn't bad, but missing was that old 'roar of the crowd'-even on a night on which the Giants had things to cheer about (and won the game).      

 

 

OAKLAND VS SAN FRANCISCO

 

    Little old Oakland usally comes in second to San Francisco - and not for a lack of trying, except for year like this where management has blown up the team. Yet, the Oakland fans -even this year- come out in force without all the trappings AND GET INVOLVED in a REAL ball game. In Oakland, there aren't the distractions of AT&T - nor the higher prices - and folks really get involved in the games - even for a last place team. Some nights 15,000 Oakland fans might sound louder than 40,000 ( or 30,000) San Francisco fans. No, the lights aren't as bright and the stadium may not look as pretty - especially since Mt. Davis, but the emphasis is on the ball game - and fans and A's have had their share of of exciting games over the years.  

 

 

  Do you know that while the Giants were winning three world series in five years, the A's actually had more total wins than the Giants? An interesting statistic. I know we're sounding like Oakland 'homers.'Then, maybe we are. And, again, it's politically incorrect to say, but unless you're into PED players the A's have had far fewer PED players than the Giants' (25) since Bonds. Of course the A's had McGwire and Conseco, which we admit was a blemish, but were among the first such players beginning when there was yet a ban on 'steroids'- it changed midway therough their careers - and McGwire and Conseco were among the first to admit to their wrongs. Call it good old blue collar, or green collar baseball, in Oakland.    

 

 

There was a time Oakland fans may have been envious of the shiny new park across the bay - and Oakland city fathers should have probably gotten a new stadium off the ground by now - yet Oakland fans continue to come out in generous numbers considering the current state of the A's and lack of new stadium. BORING GAME  

 

 

Frankly, the Giants-Dodgers game at AT&T this night was quite boring. Perhaps, it had something to do with, in part, to the Dodgers clinching the division title the night before, but there were no loud 'roar of the crowd' moments the entire game - even with a couple Giants homeruns, one a near-splash hit from yet another over-achieving rookie (Nick Noonan)!

 

   People didn't really seem into the game. WE realize this was just one game but it was quieter than any game we remember at the Coliseum.     TO EACH HIS OWN

 

 

  We suppose if you like the newer, trendy scene then AT&T park is for you, which may explain part the allure to millenials and Coliseum for the more 'old-school' baseball fans. For those who have been to both parks, think about it. And, when the Coliseum is filled it really makes a marked difference over AT&T.     Oakland is more 'REAL' baseball. There aren't all the different foods and distractions. And, the ticket prices are about half that of the Giants -people's prices. We often have wondered how do the millenials afford going to Giants games where the cheapest seat (standing room ) is $15?    

 

 

6) THE PLAYERS and PEDs - Talk About Unreal

 

 

  And, then, talking about REAL baseball in Oakland, and we're going to go Non-PC again, but looking at the San Francisco players, many of them have not appeared totally 'real' to go along with the other artificial aspects of the situation in San Francisco.  

 

 

Too many unlikely situations on the Giants that might  make the most casual baseball fan wonder how the Giants have won three World Series with the teams they've put on the field. Many say the 2015 team is better than the ones that have won the three World Series - and this one has but one bonafied starting pitcher (Bumgarner) and one bonafide  .300 career average hitter, yet year after year different 'no-name'players magically appear near season end to propel the Giants into the post season, though we believe this year's major cache of injuries is saying something about such players nobody is really addressing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      Frankly, It's called PEDs - and the Giants have had six KNOWN PED-indicted players during their three world series years without whom they wouldn't have snuck into the playoffs or resulting world series in any of those years, in our opinion. and hitter (Posey). From Andres Torres and his career year in 2010 to Melky Cabrera in 2012 before he got busted giving the Giants enough momentum to Michal Morse and his great first half in 2014, the Giants were fortunate to live in a city and time when PEDs has, seemingly, gone off the radar again and this team hasn't skated into three world series victories after not winning one for 56 years before that- even with Barry Bonds.      

 

 

PED History Not Going Away

It wasn't THAT long ago that not just Bonds but Aurelia, Williams, Bernard, Santiago, et al were quietly leading the Giants to the 2002 World Series and more winning season. Not until the Mitchell Report in 2007 was there concrete evidence that the Giants were helped out quite a bit by PEDs, then generally referred to as steroids. Since then, many more PED-indicted players have joined the Giants - 25 in all.  However, since 2007 there's been no Mitchell Report nor any strong reason to believe that PEDs have truly been eliminated from baseball. Ask the one who knows, Victor Conte of BALCO fame, and he'll tell you nothing has changed with 'as many as 50% of players' still using PEDs.  We know, for a fact, that 10% of players have been granted permission to use ADDERALL, a PED players are allowed to use for supposed 'attention deficit disorder' ala Andres Torres of the Giants in 2010. Despite Larry Baer's 2014 statement that the Giants would move away from acquiring players with PED backgrounds there's no sign that that has happened;in fact the Giants acquired three players with PED pasts since that statement, namely Michael Morse, Marlon Byrd and Everth Cabrera (assigned to minor leagues). Morse was key in propelling the Giants to a World Series in 2012 while Byrd has hit almost .300 with four homers since coming to the Giants last month.  Then there were Torres in 2010 and 2012 without whom the Giants probably wouldn't have been in the World Series those years - and we'd be going on 60-plus years for the Giants without a World Series victory.  Since Bonds, the Giants have appeared to develop a culture not only on the team but within the organization; Garrett Brohius told in 2012 of how he was encouraged to 'cheat' in the Giants minor league system as a struggling 27-year-old at the crossroads of his careers (he since got out of baseball). We have little reason to believe that at least some of the 'miraculous'numbers on the Giants upstarts aren't as a result of artificial means - and it's not just the young players on the team. How does weak-hitting shortstop Brandon Crawford suddenly hit 20 home runs - his most ever, by far, leading the team  in his abbreviated season? 

 

 

  The Giants, in the land of Victor Conte and Balco, have perfected what Bonds began almost two decades ago and continue to skate by this season with not one but at least FIVE unlikely and little-known rookie players all performing above their past records and nearly putting the Giants into yet another post-season.

(wheredidyougojoedimaagio.downloadebooks.me)        

 

 

There are PED-indicted players, today, on many teams, it's  true, despite what MLB will try to have you believe. But San Francisco , the most liberal city, where 'anything goes' has long led the PED way since Bonds- and gets away with it.    

 

 

  The way the Giants have built their teams, with a focus on getting PED players that other teams were less likely to acquire, is part of the new Giants, artificial trend. Despite Larry Baer's 'promise' to steer away from PED players, he's added three in the past year-plus (Morse, Byrd,E Cabrera) since he made that statement.Before that it was guys like Melky, Guillen, Mota, Torres all the way back to Bonds, who really started it all and who the Giants have lived off of. No wonder Bonds remains a hero to them and San Frnacisco. And, don't forget those players, who may not have been indicted but fit into the framework of the type of player the Giants go after. Huff, Burrell, Scutaro, etc. - interesting how those three suddenly deteriorated the year after they got to the World Series. The Giants began the year with one career .300 players and ended up with six at one point late into the season!    

 

 

7) GIANTS  'HOMERS'

The Giants have orchestrated everything along their philosophy of 'winning at all costs.' From the ball park to the announcers, everything favors Giants winning baseball games. The Giants may have good announcers but their all 'homers.' It gets old hearing the Krukow and others continually blame 'injuries' on the Giants problems this year. Those 'magical' , sudden rookies or replacements that have come up have mostly hit as well as the guys they replaced (Byrd for Pence, Tomlinson for Panik, Duffy for McGhee, Blanco for Aoki -until Blanco got injured, etc). After Jarrett Parker hit those unlikely three homeruns against the A's, Krukow called Parker 'the most feared player in baseball' - we did you not- despite having had only 25 plate appearances and an after minor league career to date.    

 

 

The Giants announcers are paid by the team and they happen to be the most critical and sacrastic in baseball, whether arguing strike and ball calls that go against the Giants or criticizing the Diamondbacks leaf-blowing equipment . We've listened to all the other team announcers and the Giants are the biggest 'homers' of all whereas other team announcers tend to be , if anything 'too nice ' by contrast.    

 

 

  But, not all former Giants employees have been so willing to accept the 'win at all cost'/ political ways of the Giants. There was popular announcer, Hank Greenwald, who was forced out after criticizing Larry Baer.There was trainer Stan Conte who had enough of Barry Bonds, his entourage of personal trainers and band of PED Players and there was even co-owner Bill Newcomb who was pushed out by Baer and Company after trying to rid the team of the Bonds-associated baggage while being the key guy to orchestrate the first Giants World Series victory in 56 years; there were likely others NON-PC too, like pitcher Brian Wilson, for criticizing Baer once too much.      

 

 

It even looks as though The Giants now LOOK to hire the 'type' of person, from announcer on down, who will 'drink'the koolaid and go along with the flow. The Giants have gotten by on marginal, often tainted, players for cheap that other teams didn't want. In San Frnacisco nobody says anything. Fans don't mind the fact they haven't had a legitmate power hitter in decades - and when Bonds was there they were more than happy with him -attitude, PEDS and all.      

 

 

CHANGING SAN FRANCISCO    

 

 

We've seen too much change in San Francisco over the years - from the landscape that has all but removed cars in favor of bikes on Market and beyond to the over-priced housing problem. Old San Francisco which featured the old neighborhodds like North Beach and Chinatown has taken a big hit in recent years. It's Sanctuary City status may have opened doors, pushing out the old in favor of a new, younger population that somehow is able to afford to live in San Francisco, albeit without homes and cars! The old tried and true restaurants are moving out in favor of new, trendy ones. And, AT&T Park reflects much of that change with it's focus on 'new baseball'and 'millennial fans.'  

 

 

ACCESS TO GAMES - $78 Parking Ticket    

 

 

It's no longer easy - and very expensive- to come to a game by car. And, public transportation is not always easy , especially for older folks, which may explain part of the reason we don't see many seniors at the Giants games.

 

 

    Living in the Eastbay, we did try to come by car, and eschewing the $35 parking lot - at least that's what it was last year- we found parking on the Embaracadero a mile away. Little did we know the parking meters apparently run 24 hours - or at least through Giants games; it was dark when we parked and nothing was visably posted on the meters such as valid hours and coming from the Eeastbay there are no meters that run past 6 pm we took a chance. The $78 parking ticket we got would negate the money we thought we were saving.      

 

 

With food ticket and parking ticket it was , easily, a $100 night per person at the old ball park. Contract that with Oakland, where parking is free on Tuesdays and one can spend well under $50 a person even with $15 parking there.  

 

 

So, the $78 parking ticket put a capper on the night and reminded me why I only go to one game a year. Again, no wonder you don't see more seniors on fixed incomes at the games - besides difficulty getting there it ain't cheap. As for millenials if they ever want to buy a house or car, perhaps they should think of cutting back on some ATT ball games.        

 

 

So, good bye to AT&T for another year or more. Good luck to the young Giants 'fans.' What will these 'every-nighters' do when the season is over? Find a life? Or, start saving up for next season maybe?

 

 

Again, we write these words that the local PC media will not. Hope sometimes appreciates our candor and honesty in a changing world where the above attitudes are not only reflected at the baseball stadium but in mainstream society - at least in San Francicsco (think Barry Bonds skating free on perjury appeal(thanks to only-in- san francisco Ninth Circuit Court), think Kate Steinle murder by 5x illegal for which the city/supervisiors have yet to regard, think Willie Brown million dollar defense and victory of child molestor),etc.  

 

 

We do this blog to report what the local writers won't- the untold stories that need to be told. There was a time when we were in journalism and news reported both sides of stories fairly and weren't 'bought off'or otherwise. Maybe some of the old-schoolers will appreciate and maybe a few new ones will 'see the light.' How fans could enjoy rooting for teams where they have to guess who's on steroids or not - or don't care - is beyond us - and all the other artificial trappings that go along. In defense of the millenials, they've only known one way since this stuff's been going on 15 years at AT&T and another five years before that when Bonds joined the team. But, perhaps its time to wake up.        

 

 

 MORE GIANT SHADOWS Ebook:New 'fascinating,hidden story' how SF Giants won 1st WS in 56 Yrs http://ht.ly/ucxl302gv3r 

MORE GIANT SHADOWS Ebook:New 'fascinating,hidden story' how SF Giants won 1st WS in 56 Yrs http://ht.ly/ucxl302gv3r 

 

 

2016 GIANTS PROGNOSTICATIONS

 

 

  Unless the Giants make some blockbuster deals- which is unlikely with their history- or unless they get a new crop of, yes (this is part of the white elephant nobody else talks about),PED players the Giants will be in for a tough season.    

 

 The Giants are already seeing the possible results that PEDs can do, perhaps, if Joe Panik and/or Hunter Pence don't come back to the the same level they were at before. Back injuries, especially to players at young ages, can be early career killers; it's rare to see a young  player with no previous history suddenly go out for three months with a oblique/back injury. Pence suffered a combination of three injuries including a pesky oblique, which like unlikely back injuries, could be the result or indirect result of PED use catching up to him, in our opinion (based on medical findings reported elsewhere in these pages).    

 

 

  NO PC HERE: THE GIANTS WILL NEED EVERYONE HEALTHY PLUS NEW KIDS TO PERFORM OR A BLOCKBUSTER DEAL    

 

 

It's too much of a coincidence that the Giants have had five to eight - count 'em - 'home grown'  rookies or young players come up this year to suddenly hit .300 ( or close) in the majors after limited minor league success. Panik, Duffy, Tomlinson, Heston, Parker, Williamson, Brown and even  Osage.  It's now become a regular part of the Giants plan ( or scheme)  since their first World Series year of 2010 for such unlikely players to appear out of nowhere to enhance the team's late-season drives, half the time  to the post-season and  World Series victories.    

 

 

It's true that the Giants have done a good job of finding other possible PED users to at least temporarily replace  Panik (Tomlinson) and Pence (Byrd) but that leaves the Giants without much of a bench, which was their Achilles heel, if you will, this year. How else can you explain players like Duffy and Panik with average minor league averages and few home runs to suddenly come to the big team and improve on their minor league numbers.  What with the Giants' past PED history (6 PED-indicted players in the past three world series years and another this year in Byrd) and with a continuing stream of unlikely minor leaguers (Jarrett Parker, Trevor Brown and Mac Williamson) suddenly coming up to the majors and performing well late season again this year,  the Giants might have once again  'magically'  found themselves  players that could aptly fill in the holes next year either on the bench or as regulars depending if Byrd, Aoki and others come back. Call it 'home grown'  players, with the emphasis on 'grown,' the Giants have figured out how to stay below the radar using and perfecting their unnatural techniques begun during the Barry Bonds era; without any whistle blowers in San Francisco, they will likely skate free and could go all the way again for their fourth World Series win in eight years in 2016 IF Pence and Panik are able to come back at full strength or if the Giants  do, finally, make that blockbuster deal, preferably for an elite pitcher  like David Price or even Zimmerman.    

 

 

 

  Telling It Like It Is:  INJURIES WEREN'T THE PROBLEM    

 

The Giants didn't lose out this year because of injuries, the popular excuse given out by the team and pundits time and again.  Again, the replacement players  Tomlinson and Byrd  filled in with comparable numbers after Panik and Pence ; even Blanco filled in for Aoki in left field with a better batting average than Aoki until  Blanco, too, went down the last month and then the new, unlikely 'homegrowners' have taken up the slack in this last few weeks.  But the Giants will need ALL  players to come back in 2016 to give them not only starting players but a bench OR a trade or two  AND  the Giants will need for at least two of their current pitchers besides Bumgarner to perform, i.e. Peavy,Cain and/or Heston, though this is somewhat unlikely due to age, injuries and track record; otherwise that unlikely blockbuster deal OR they will need yet another 'home grown' 'sudden success' story starting pitcher to appear, which COULD happen . Only on the Giants. Only in San Francisco.   

Giants Unlikely Transformations -Panik, Duffy, Heston AND NOW TOMLINSON Lead Giants Less Than A Year in Majors

 

 

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Giants Minor League Coach Suggested to Farmhand to 'Cheat' to Get Ahead

'

 (Salt Lake Tribune 5-26-14)

'He was 27 and still had never pitched in the big leagues. The 2009 minor league camp for the San Francisco Giants didn’t offer much hope. There seemed no way to boost his flagging strikeout totals.

That’s when he got a bit of advice....' (Read more)

 Is this an isolated case  or part of a more wide-spread team culture within the San Francisco Giants that has resulted in 25 KNOWN PED-indicted players on the Giants in the past decade-plus since Barry Bonds and many other examples of little-known players suddenly putting up unlikely numbers - three world series later? 

 

     

 

 

Giants Don't Need Trade - Names Don't Matter - Lightning In Bottle Gets Job Done #Deals #Health

 

 Giants Unlikely Transformations   - Less than 6 Months in Majors Duffy, Panik,   Tomlinson ALL Hitting over .300, Leading Giants

 

 

 Pretty strange to see 'no names' like Duffy, Panik,   Tomlinson in a major league lineup and all batting over .300 with the San Francisco Giants - well above their mediocre minor-league career averages. In fact, all of these players were low round draft choices and not even on the MLB  'radar' beginning of 2015. One would be a surprise but to see three - and even four if you add catcher Andrew Susac is startling. These guys are hitting and playing better than many of the bonafide 'stars' in the league.  And , Panik and Duffy are hitting more homeruns per at bat than in the minors (Duffy has as many as the power guy he replaced (by accident)- Pablo Sandoval). Then you have other still young Giants, namely Brandons Crawford and Belt suddenly boosting their averages and hitting homers like , well... who would believe that the formerly weak-hitting shortstop Crawford has more homeruns than the Giants star Andrew Posey - and as many or more than league superstars like Andrew McCutcheon as the unlikely Giants lead the league in hitting (.271) as of this writing.  The Giants came into the season as one of the weaker hitting teams with only one career .300 hitter in Posey, and have managed to at one point in the season put five (almost six) players with .300 averages in the starting lineup - something that hadn't been done  since 1973.  The unlikely Duffy is now on course to have the best average of any rookie player and has the stats for Rookie of the Year, showing no sign of slowing down while his competitors like Joc Pederson and Kris Bryant are being 'caught up with'by the league. WHAT'S IN THE WATER IN SAN FRANCISCO , ANYWAY?

 

 

  1)   HOW DOES A GUY WHO NEVER HIT A HOMERUN OR ABOVE .266  IN COLLEGE HIT 9 AND OVER .300 IN THE MAJORS     Joe Panik, matt Duffy, #Giants, San Francisco Giants, Chris Heston, Batting Leaders, #KelbyTomlinson

 

MATT DUFFY - HOW DOES A GUY WHO NEVER HIT A HOMERUN OR ABOVE .266 IN COLLEGE HIT 9 AND OVER .300 IN THE MAJORS?

 

 

Even in college, at Long Beach State, MATT DUFFY's  power numbers were low-- non-existent to be exact. Once in the Giants farm system, Duffy must have started lifting weights or used 'other means.' We don't think Duffy is a big weight lifter at 6 ' 1" and 170- and even weight lifting only does so much to help with power numbers.  We know from former Giants farmhand Garrett Brohius that at least one Giants minor league coach encouraged him to use  'other means'  , if you will, and that is the only explanation we can see for Duffy's sudden and greatly increasing power - well  over a 100% increase in homers this year based on career at- bats (as well as  with average)  as he climbs through the  Giants system where he now has a higher SLG (slugging percentage) any time in his career, including minors and college, while maintaining a batting average over his minor league average.    

 

  HOW IS IT THAT

A's Have More Wins But Giants Have 3 World Series

 

 

 

 2)

     

 JOE PANIK - HOW DID A .257 DOUBLE A HITTER IN 2013 BECOME A WORLD SERIES STAR IN 2014 AND ALL STAR IN 2015?

Like Duffy, 2014 was the key year JOE PANIK just as the parent San Francisco Giants would doing anything for a decent second baseman after going through six (including .166 hitting Dan Uggla).  Panik was so raw and 'unlikely' the Giants hadn't even considered him but when Uggla couldn't BUY a single hit during his short stay  the Giants, in total desperation, called up Panik, only in his first year at AAA.   As if God had called from above, 'Panik Will Hit like Duffy'  young Joe inexplicably  raised his average going from Double A (AA) to Triple A (AAA) ball - but in his case it was almost a 70 point increase (from .257 to .332) - shades of when Marco Scutaro came from Colorado to the Giants in 2012, raising his average from .262 to .350 the second half of the season.  At least with the 37-year-old Scutaro, he was going from one major league team to another. Panik was somehow able to increase his average significantly going from the low minors to the high minor leagues when, if anything, it should be the other way around;  it's normal for a player to drop somewhat in average at each successive level. But not Duffy or Panik.  

 

 

PANIK VS DUFFY - Best Ever Slugging for Skinny Third Baseman, Sandoval Way Behind   It's a fact that there's been a  challenge between Panik and Duffy  to 'out-homer' each other. You'd think these guys were goofing around in the minors. But here, they are in the majors, you have these neophytes in their first full seasons, after undistinguished minor league careers , challenging  team leader Buster Posey in batting average - AND  home runs with Duffy only a few behind the team leader  and rivaling second baseman Brandon Crawford  - who also, inexplicably, is having his best homer season of his career with 11 .   Meanwhile, while Duffy is just getting used to his relatively new third base position, he's somehow managed to have his BEST -EVER SLUGGING percentage  (total bases/at bats) of .466. By comparison, Posey's slugging percentage is only 35 poings higher!  

 

 

 

DUFFY vs. SANDOVAL Remember Pablo Sandoval, the $20 million dollar man  who Duffy replaced?  It's not even close with with Duffy slugging 100 points higher with more homerruns and hitting 50 points higher!  Three months ago if someone told you a skinny 23-year-old banjo-hitter  named Duffy would be out -hitting Sandoval in all categories you would have laughed. Not to mention the price differential. All we can do is say that there's something wrong with this picture. And we thought Sandoval was an UNREAL  hitter- at least the way hit hit the ball LEFT-handed. If you figure Duffy's power and along with batting average, he's never had a better season than he's currently having, even if you go all the way back to low minors, and of course college, where he didn't do much.   With Duffy there wasn't the dramatic one-year batting increase as with Panik.  It appears that Panik was already 'asserting his power' which will usually lead to a drop in batting average.PANIK   Then, there's one more 'miracle.' When it comes to Pitching...   TO BE CONTINUED...     

 

 

 

 - From 267th Round Draft Choice to No Hitter- THE CHRIS HESTON STORY

3)

CHRIS HESTON

 

Chris Heston was a 12th round pick by the Giants and 367th overall, never had a no hitter at any level until this year with the Giants. He had a 5.80 ERA in 2013 at Fresno and was put on waivers by Giants but no team claimed him. 

 

As with Duffy and Panik, Heston had  below-average numbers but also began a sudden and major transformation in  2014 while in minors with Fresno, which only continued to get better after he joined the major leagues Giants and  began to  pitch regularly as what came to be the No. 2 starter on the team in 2015!  Pretty good one-year make-over for a 367th round draft pick going  all the way to No 2 starter on the World Champion Giants.

 

 

 

  Yes, other teams and their players other than the Giants have and are still likely still using PEDs - despite what the top baseball brass might tell you - but the Giants with Barry Bonds were the ones who really opened the PED flood gates and have long been leading the way (24 PED indicted players since Bonds and six in the past three World Series years).  Despite that no players have been caught for PEDs this year -other than the first week when three were caught with the same older type of PED-  Major League Baseball  drug testing still does not appear to have kept up with players and their latest designer steroids, as PED guru Victor Conte has described to us on multiple occasions. We saw 20 players caught for PEDs in 2013- thanks to the Biogenesis leak - that MLB COULD NOT  find through its own testing.  Based on this and some still unlikely power numbers , batting averages and  ERAs among certain players today, it would appear that PEDs may likely have affected participating teams and performances in recent World Series - and continue to be affecting baseball adversely today, in our opinion.  

 

 

 

The Giants have won three World Series in five years with basically two name players (Bumgarner and Posey) and three virtually different teams, except for those two and a few others. They've won by , mysteriously(?) , coming on strong every post season and not striking out and, basically, over-performing not once but three years running, regardless of the changing cast of characters - players many of which the Giants picked up on waivers and couldn't have given away who, suddenly, inexplicably, come on in late career for career seasons, ie Andres TorrezMarco Scutaro, Cody Ross, Aubrey Huff, Pat Burrell - and of course known PED guys like Melky Cabrera, Jose Guillen and Michael Morse, which didn't hurt and provided many game-winning hits during their short stays with the Giants.   

 

 

 

While many have turned a blind eye to PEDs- especially in places like liberal San Francisco where 'anything goes' and certain media folks have admitted they don't care - baseball has suffered  in the ratings - especially World Series TV coverage as well as overall attendance that has dropped significantly the past five years. Maybe not coincidentally, this is the period during which the Giants have been winning their unlikely World Series.  Too bad younger fans  have had to grow up knowing nothing other than the PED era where one has to guess as to which players REALLY have talent as opposed to PED help. While a lot of players, current and past, are reticent to talk about the ongoing travesty of PEDs  (now over 20 years later) - except for Jose Conseco and Ken Camaniti, who have suffered for it- many people have  turned away from baseball.  PEDs is not a problem alone to baseball with other sports such as tennis also affected, where a lack of 'policing' also exists.  Basketball, in which is not so much dependent on musculature and power, has probably taken away some of baseball's fans with highest- ever numbers.   If MLB, its teams , the media and even the fans don't 'police' the sport of baseball better, it may continue to lose following. Many have grown tired of seeing low hit games without a competitive back and forth and overdependence on power pitching and stikeouts. 

 

How Is It the A's Have the Better Record but Giants Have Three World Series?

 

Duffy, Panik, Heston - 'No Name' Giants Exposed - Detailing Unlikely Performance Increases

 

    

    

HOW GIANTS BEAT ALL ODDS TO WIN FIRST (2) WORLD SERIES IN 56 YEARS

 

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GIANTS CONTINUE UNLIKELY RUN WITH UNLIKELY NO-HIT PITCHER, UNLIKELY HITTING SURGE

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GIANTS  CONTINUE UNLIKELY RUN WITH UNLIKELY ROOKIE NO-HIT PITCHER, UNLIKELY HITTING  SURGE

 

Rookie Chris Heston with first No Hitter ever,  6-4 record with big strikeout numbers as second best starter on team, this coming off a hohum minor league career to suddenly star in the bigs, where he's posting equivalent numbers against major league hitters. In only his fourteenth major league appearance-Heston is still technically a rookie- he 'no hit' New York Mets, the first time they were no hit since 1993 and first time in their own park since the early 1969.

 

 

Matt Duffy never hit more than nine homers in a season (in A ball), never played Triple A, yet has already hit five in the major leagues in only one-third of the season, while batting  as well in the majors as he did 'two flights down ' in the minors.  

 

 

Joe Panik  never hit more than eight homers in a season, in A ball, too, yet already has five  homers playing in a difficult 'long ball' park.This matches his total homer output last year at Fresno, where hitting numbers tend to be inflated in a weak pitching league, yet Panik is nearly matching his hitting as well in the majors barely into his fourth month of major league experience, as are Duffy and Heston.

Panik and Duffy together have more homers than Giants star and homerun hitter Buster Posey and, at this rate, either could pass him with Panik only three away and Duffy four.

 

As a whole, the Giants starting 'minor league lineup'    show eight position players with  a batting average over .280 with three .300 hitters. Just a couple weeks ago the starting lineup was flirting with .300 (see below) , this for a team coming into the year with one legitimate, consistent .300 hitter, Buster Posey and a team a bunch of young players with virtually no major league experience - but they're suddenly making everyone forget the high priced talent (McGee, Sandoval, Peavy and even Pence, who's been out of the lineup most of the year  ).  

 

 

 

Getting back to Heston,

from  David Schoenfield, SweetSpot blogger :

"If you knew who Chris Heston was before the start of the 2015 season, you were probably a member of his family, maybe an old teammate of his at East Carolina or perhaps an obsessive-compulsive fantasy league owner who studies all 900 player write-ups in the "Baseball America Prospect Handbook."

The first no-hitter of 2015 wasn't thrown by one of these pitchers racking up double-digit strikeouts every time out like Chris Sale or Corey Kluber or Chris Archer, but an obscure 27-year-old rookie pitcher for the San Francisco Giants -- a pitcher in the rotation primarily because Jake Peavy and Matt Cain are on the disabled list. Before the season, Baseball America rated Heston the 25th-best prospect in the Giants' organization, mentioning that he had a solid season in 2014 at Triple-A Fresno as a "crafty right-hander who succeeds without any pitch that grades out as even average. ... It's unlikely Heston can find big league success by letting big league hitters put pitch after pitch into play, but he will serve as reliable emergency starter option."

He has been better than an emergency option and, for at least one night, he was the best pitcher on the planet."   Sounds a bit like shades of Brady Anderson and his one-off homer year with an asterisk, perhaps, in our opinion.

 

 

 

 

What's wrong with this picture?  Either the San Francisco Giants have miracle worker pitching and hitting coaches who have helped upgrade largely minor-league calibre talent to world series level , or it's a mere coincidence that this new group of unlikely Giants are becoming stars, just like we've seen with largely different    casts of characters  the past three of five world series years - or, maybe something else.

 

Rarely is it that a player UNDER-achieves and it's crazy that these younger players are far out-performing older and much higher-paid 'stars' -think Casey McGee (who Duffy replaced at third base for a fraction of his $4 million salary) or Jake Peavy, who Heston effectively replaced and his multi-million over-paid contract (so much so that the Giants told Peavy he can remain playing in the minors - 'we don't need you, thank you,'as it were.

 

Then there are 'the Brandons, 'who might still  be minor leaguers if not for their every other month when they go on sudden, unlikely hitting streaks to belie their mediocre career averages. And now, it's homer binges, in yes, the difficult ATT Park. In fact,  the gangly second baseman Crawford has more homers than Posey or anyone and the team, and Belt is coming on strong after only playing half a season to  date.

 

 

There, you have half the starting lineup hitting as well or better while earning less  as a groupthan either their marquee players Posey or Pence .  

 

 

Last year the Giants went through six second basemen before EVEN CONSIDERING bringing up Panik from the minors, he of little experience and power - at the time.  Duffy was a distant thought, a skinny utility-type player in the low minors, yet, here he is hitting far better  and with more homers than McGee dreamed of.  Finally,  if Cain doesn't bounce back, the Giants probably won't miss him or his contract, which is geometrically greater than that of Heston and his numbers unlikely to match up, either.

 

GM Brian Sabean has been criticized for not bringing in quality free agents ; wouldn't someone want to play on a team coming off three world championships in five years?).

Yet, with the Giants now well-orchestrated methode'  it seems as though the names don't matter. Keeping a small nucleus of 'ring leaders,' player names change from  year to year  but the same beat goes on, if you will.

 

'Luck' has probably been the main answer to explain the Giants' success the past five years, but after awhile the Gods of baseball balance average things out, yet the Giants keep winning - at least WHEN THEY HAVE TO.

 

You're talking of a team with one consistent star player , in Posey.  Even Bumgarner has been knocked around - and was only the 21st best pitcher in the league last year - until the playoffs, when he  suddenly shot to number  one, as he did in 2012.

 

 

This year the Giants will be lucky to field more than two All Stars yet they win when they need to.

 

Well, WHAT IS THE EXPLANATION THEN for the San Francisco Giants Continued Success?

 

It's been too long to call LUCK anymore. The coaching is basically the same (Bochy and staff) that had a .500 record prior to the World Series years).  The young players , as noted,  are largely minor league caliber -  or journeymen veterans with nary a big name other than Posey, Bumgarner and , in the past year, Pence, when he's well and playing well.

 

 

Must we dare to say the truth, in our researched estimation... that the Giants have had 24 indicted PED players on their team in the two decades since Bonds.  We've even heard from former Giants farmhand Garret Brohius , who said that it was suggested he 'cheat' by a Giants coach when he was a struggling 27-year-old minor leaguer  only a few seasons ago.

 

It's interesting that Heston is also 27, a pitcher like Brohius, who wasn't doing much after a long career in the minors - UNTIL THIS YEAR , when he was called up. Much like Duffy and Panik, who were doing  only a little better as hitters, but in the minors where hitting is much easier.

 

If the same pattern or scenario  weren't going on so long we wouldn't bring it up, but , unlike the former commissioner (and probably the current one), we don't believe PEDs have been eradicated from the game - anything but.  And, it's not just the Giants. 

 

SUDDEN LEAGUE HOMER SURGE

Notice, after the last few PED years and, perhaps, fear  of hitting too many long balls, we have a real plethora of them. Of course there's Nelson Cruz , Chris Davis, Ryan Braun,  and of course 'ol A-Rod is back at it      and , now, none other than Pujolz (oft implicated for PEDs)  on track to hit forty homers or better. All told there are 40 players with 10 or more homers and 50 players with nine or better - or almost 20% of all starting, position players. As for batting average, you have 30 players currently  hitting over .300 and 40 over .293 including four   Giants.

 

 

Why the Giants and not other teams?

We didn't say that but the Giants have led the way with, by  far, the most PED players during the main PED era (approx. 1995-now).Other teams have followed in the Giants footsteps but in liberal San Francisco,  where marijuana was omnipresent in the AT&T stands during the post-season, the fans (and sportswriters) are very accepting. Bonds is a hero to this day in San Francisco, if nowhere else, enough so the Giants   brought him back the past two springs to 'work with' the new players.  With at least one known minor league coach suggesting Giant player(s) 'cheat'* PEDs have now long been part of the Giants culture. With pot smokers like Lincecum, Adderall users such as Andres Torres and known PED key 'affectors' like Melky Cabrera , this is the state of the game in San Francisco. Even at least one SF Chronicle sports columnist has publicly stated that  PEDs is no big deal as well as a beloved Giants radio pregame and post game host When incidents like Sandoval's alleged rape and Gaudin molestation of a women  come out they're quickly covered up by the Giants if they even make it to the local papers, so this stuff rarely gets out to the more critical national media . It took 10 for the truth to come out on Bonds even though everyone in San Francisco KNEW he was on something; and, only in San Francisco could Bonds  just this year get cleared of all wrong-doing by the most liberal courts in the nation.

 

What's also interesting is that fellow Giant players haven't really been critical of the many indicted PED players on the team. Other than Buster Posey, the team's straight arrow, nobody really said much after the suspensions of Guillermo Mota and even Melky Cabrera (except for his lame 'website' excuse) or the sudden disappearance of Jose Guillen after PEDs were found in his wife's mailbox in 2010. In fact, Gregor Blanco, still on the Giants,  went so far as  to praise  Cabrera and said his   teammates did, too.  Whereas, with other teams , as in the recent suspension of Mets' star pitcher Mejia, teammates were  more vocal against the cheating.

 

 

This year is the first one the Giants have no KNOWN PED players on the team. To say the Giants are 'clean' would be a stretch, what with their history - and the fact they're living in Balco country, where PEDs really got going.  Perhaps the Giants have got it down to such a science now with the latest designer PEDs, knowing when to use them. As we've reported elsewhere, players can go on and off them the same day and they're out of one's system in hours. If a drug test is announced - and players are actually given advanced warning - players can easily beat the best, according to Balco's Victor Conte (who should know better than the guy who says that still 'as many of as 50%' of players  are still using PEDs today). Cabrera, like Blanco and several other players, came to the Giants via Kansas City, which had it's own PED problem at the time.

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, outside of the first week when a few lesser known players were indicted  for some older PED drugs, there's been little mention of PEDs. Perhaps MLB - and no doubt, the fans, many raised on PED baseball - like the return to the 'long ball'.  So, all is well in the new world of  baseball - but very wrong for us old schoolers who continue to ask, 'Where did You Go , Joe Dimaggio.'

 

But wait, it's interesting to note that only 23,000 fans showed up in the nation's largest city, New York, to watch the Mets fall to the Giants in that no-hitter game.  We know that last year's World Series had the lowest viewership of all time and now. Maybe fans around the country are finally waking up to the problems in baseball,  what sports commentator Keith Obermann calls 'the decline of baseball.'  Perhaps everywhere except San Francisco, where the blind eye lives and the Giants continue to 'sell-out,' or so they say.

 

 

 

 

 

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