Giants WORLD SERIES TSHIRTS
BOTTOM LINE: TEAMS WITH FEWEST
STRIKEOUTS
WIN IN POST SEASON TODAY* (Tom Verducci,
others)
#KCRoyals, #SFGiants, Melky Cabrera PEDs, Jose Guillen PEDs, Giants PEDS, San Francisco Giants PEDs,#peds ,#GiantsPeds, baseball, #peds, #sfgiants, #playoffs, adderall, amphetamines, drug policy, peds in baseball, peds in baseball history, peds in baseball articles, peds in baseball statistics, steroids in baseball essay, steroids in baseball history, steroids in baseball articles, drugs in baseball
We know the Kansas City Royals had the fewest strikeouts as a team during the 2014 season. Likewise, Baltimore and St. Louis also had among the fewest team strikeouts. Surprisingly, the San Francisco Giants fared somewhere in the middle of the pack when it comes to strikeouts during the regular season, yet just before they squeaked into the playoffs THEY STOPPED STRIKING OUT.
“The Giants have been an even more difficult team to put away with two strikes” than Kansas City, write Tom Verducci of SI. “Cardinals pitchers have fanned only 20 San Francisco batters in the (first) four National League Championship Series games, a strikeout rate of 5.0 per game. The Giants have struck out four or fewer times in five games this postseason; the other nine playoff teams combined have yet to do it once.”
“San Francisco is winning postseason games by taking advantage of balls in play of any kind. They have scored more runs in their past six games on plays without a hit (12) than with one (10) – and without hitting a home run. In Game 4, they set an NL playoff record with a sixth straight game without a homer in one postseason. Only the 1973 Athletics, who went eight straight games without a homer, had a longer streak, ” Verducci continues.
Since the first seven 2014 playoff games, the Giants have continued striking out near 5x per game – the major league average is 7.7x game (regular season)- and only slightly higher in the World Series. Opponents have been striking out at a rate nearly double the Giants, except for Kansas City, known for their MLB-leading lowest strikeout rate (however, still striking out more than the Giants in this post season)
Surprising , because they struck out a lot more during the regular season- the Giants have led, by far,
in fewest strikeouts, averaging around only five strikeouts per game to date in the World SERIES. Again, the major league average is 7.7 strikeouts per game- and that’s in the less-difficult regular season* . Through the playoffs the Giants averaged just 4 strikeouts per nine innings, HALF that of their opponents, despite a much higher strikeout rate in the regular season for the Giants. Frankly, we noticed long before Verducci’s article that the Giants stopped striking out in the post season because they used to strike out a lot – especially Sandoval – and it was a shock to see them cut their strikeouts in half, much like Bonds learned to do in later years.
Again, as noted, the Royals struck out fewest of any team during the regular season. But in the playoffs,head to head, the Giants have had slightly fewer strikeouts than the Royals, roughly 7 to 6, and, yes, the Giants are (currently) ahead in the World Series as of this writing, three games to two, and seem to have dominated in key situations with walks, putting the ball in play while preasuring opposing pitchers- and with a patchwork of players , most of whom didn’t even start the season, or mid-season for that matter, some who didn’t even have big league experience until two months ago!
WALKS DOWN, STRIKEOUTS UP – Except on the Giants
– Walks have declined for four straight seasons, in part because pitchers have improved their command even as their average velocities have climbed. A strikeout/walk ratio that hovered at 2/1 from 2005-09 has widened considerably to 2.53 in 2013. Yet, on the Giants, walks have increased in post seasons – and against the better pitching.
– Eighteen teams struck out at least 1,200 times in 2013, when the average was 1,224. Through 2005, the maximum number of teams with that many strikeouts in any given season had been two. Though the Giants were in the middle of the pack regular seasons, they continue to have fewest strikeouts in post season.
-Of the last 10 World Series participants, just one has finished higher than ninth in regular-season
strikeouts in their respective league.
(SPORTING NEWS Brian and the Boz February 9, 2014)
Giants’ PABLO SANDOVAL is one of the many- or all- Giants who rarely stike out in the post season. A noted ‘free swinger,’ Sandoval has had numerous key plate appearances and sporting a gaudy .326 batting average through 60 post season games (reg. season average .294). YUSEMIRO PETIT has literally come from nowhere to lead the Giants pitchers, and the world for that matter, with a 0.00 ERA in relief in 12 innings of the playoffs. Like the other Giants pitchers, he doesn’t have the blazing fastball but apparently has other tricks up his sleeve.
HOMERUNS DROP OFF, STRIKEOUTS INCREASE – Except for Giants
In recent years we’ve seen fewer homeruns in the major leagues and more strikeouts. We’ve seen teams load
up on power pitchers, such as the KC ‘three headed monster.’ Yet, again with #SFGiants we see an anomally.
The Giants may be the only team WITHOUT power pitching.They’ve tried desperately to make a success out of
their one guy, Hunter Strickland, but that’s backfired time and again in this post season, with Strickland
giving up five homeruns. Strickland is one of many young players the Giants have brought in with little
experience. But, other ‘no name’pitchers like Petit and Machi and ‘over-the-hill’ starters like Peavy,
Vogelsong and Hudson are pitching well ‘above their heads’ as is Bumgarner (witness his 1,000% improvement
from 2.98 ERA during the regular season to 0.29 ERA during the post season!
Meanwhile, as Giant hitters stop striking out, pitching improves for Giant pitchers in the playoffs. 2010 and 2012 showed similar results with even the most unlikely, troubled pitchers such as Tim Lincecum and Barry Zito playing starring roles on the mound.
GIANT ANOMALY*
Peter Abraham (BOSTON GLOBE) notes that the Boston Red Sox set a franchise record last year with 1,308 strikeouts but they also led the majors in scoring by wearing down opposing pitchers with long, patient at bats. Strikeouts, says hitting coach Craig Colbrunn, are a ‘cost of doing business.’ The Oakland A’s were scoring the most runs this year in a similar vein of working counts and long at bats;however, they, too showed. significant strikeout numbers.
The difference with the Giants, is that , somehow, they are NOT striking out. Period -or, at a much lower rate.) When it comes to the post season, that’s why you see them wearing down normally ‘unhittable’ pitchers like Kansas City’s Chris Herrera. Further , Giant rookies like Duffy and Panik and career .240 hitters like Blanco and Ishikawa were fighting off 98 mph pitches and doing damage – walking, getting hits or at least putting the ball in play.
When, it comes to hitting, the Giants anomaly is even more striking (pardon the pun). Giants hitters suddenly
stopped striking out in the post season. With Kansas City, we’ve seen strikeouts rise a bit as you might
expect against the playoff caliber pitching, but the Giants have somehow managed to reduce their
strikeouts to an average of 5 per game, again, this against better pitching. Normal bench players like Blanco,
Ishikawa and Arias, and, especially rookies like Duffy, Susac and Panik are putting the ball in play against
the leagues best pitching – including two of three-headed monster!
Giants usually begin raising their averages late August/early September and keep it going through the post season.- How, exactly they do it is another story.
Things were similar in 2010 and 2012 when the slightly-above-average Giants blew away normally stronger teams St. Louis and Detroit. Until the playoffs, the Giants weren’t a particularly low-stikeout team. But,
once the playoffs begin, watch out. Even during the final month of each respective playoff season, 2010,212,2014
the Giants have suddenly come alive – and this usually with a patched together team of unlikely top performers;
in 2012 it was 36-yar-old light hitting MARCO SCUTARO who suddenly came to the Giants and raised his Colorado average by 100 points WHILE CUTTING HIS STRIKEOUTS IN HALF ( averaging close to one strikeout per 50 at bats – unheard of compared to the average of about one strikeout per five or six at bats ).
In 2010 it was CODY ROSS who would hit catch fire in a another late season unexpected result. Of course,
we know regulars like PABLO SANDOVAL, who would hit three home runs in one game against Detroit and is currently hitting .326 in the post season vs. .294 regular reason. And, this year, of course, it’s been a cast of
largely ‘no name’ characters, again, for the Giants. Basicially, they just change the names and everybody seems to put the ball in playput the ball in play save for maybe the pitcher. Even with the loss of key lead off man, Jose Pagan and starter Matt Cain, the Giants start coming on, as usual, late season.
Homeruns may be down across the board, but when it comes to the playoffs
hitting is UP for ONLY the Giants. Most every other team shows a lower collective batting average
against the better post-season pitching,as would be expected, BUT NOT THE GIANTS!
What’s especially shocking, is that this unlikely, late season surge, with normally second-level players
has repeated itself now for three post seasons of 2010,2012,2014 – too big a sample size to call the
repeated improvements ‘luck’ or ‘talent’ for that matter. Too much of a coincidence to see
EVERYONE on the team start hitting late season and through the post season three years running!
SO HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN GIANTS’ ANOMALY / UNLIKELY REPEAT PATTERN OF LATE-SEASON IMPROVEMENT ?
So, we’ve established that teams with fewer strikeouts than the other team win about three out of four times
In a seven game series that would give the lower strikeout team almost a two game advantage.
But, then, there’s another question, How Does A team that doesn’t fit the pattern, ie the Giants, do it?
The Giants present a real anomally, a contradiction to the other teams and behavior patterns – and three years out! With Kansas City, it all makes sense. You have a group of fast, slap hitters with low strikeouts throughout the season, only to see that number rise in the post season against better pitching – as would be expected.
Then, you have the Giants, who led the majors in homeruns during May and June (even playing in large AT&T Park) only to see that number drop dramatically mid-season when the team went on a shocking two month
historic drop off -from ten games up in the NL West division to 6 games down to the Los Angeles Dodgers – only
to suddenly come back as a Punch and Judy team that stops striking out, ala 2010 and 2012 but even moreso!
If that was so easy, every team would do it. And as we said, the Giants don’t have the power pitchers
to counter other teams’ hitting. Yet, the other teams are striking out against the Giants’ mostly middlin’,
older pitchers and the little Giants are hitting – or at least putting the ball in play – against
the fastest and best pitchers in the league!
How a team can suddenly cut down on its strikeouts against the best in the league while seeing its own
pitchers suddenly improve is a GIANT QUESTION. Again, three years running is too big a sample to call LUCK
and you can’t call a team TALENTED with one full season .300 hitter coming into the post season and only one starter with a winning record – and lots of, frankly, bench players that wouldn’t normally even make other teams
(eg Ishikawa, who was cut from Pittsburg, batting .230, only to come to the Giants and magically raise
his average forty points).
LIKELY ANSWER
We know NOBODY TALKS ABOUT IT ANYMORE. Some may feel the steroid /PED era is over, but we think just
the opposite. (Just look at the 20 Biogenesis players busted last year – not by MLB testing
but due to an ‘inside leak’ by a disgruntled employee.) As we see it…
Just because there are fewer home runs in the league doesn’t mean anything. Drugs change
and so do approaches. Perhaps more pitchers are using the newer still undectable (if taken correctly)
drugs or the now legal ADDERALL, which we know for which 10% of baseball players have received an MLB
exemption to use. It’s not just about power anymore – you don’t see see the Barry Bonds growth patterns
as before. It’s also about concentration, calming and better hand-eye coordination -whether it be
hitters or pitchers.
GIANTS TRACK RECORD / ‘COCKROACHES’
Though we haven’t no tangible proof the Giants are doing anything wrong – there hasn’t been a Mitchell
Report in seven years but we do know the Giants track record of 23 PED indicted players since Barry Bonds –
far more than any other team. We also see the many inconsistencies in the stats, unlikely players
continuing to come in and over-perform for the Giants – now three World Series in five years, the sudden
drop in strikeouts, etc. We also know that players can still (correctly) ingest certain ‘designer’
PEDs after a game and have them out of their blood before the next game yet seeing the performance
enhancing effects linger for some time.
If there had been another Mitchell Report in recent years the Giants would probably show a significant
increase to that 23 number. Also, playing in San Francisco, the most liberal and tolerant city in
America doesn’t hurt the Giants, either, in achieving IT’s APPARENT WAY, whether orchestrated or
unplanned. We do know that Sabean has recently spoken of his ‘cockroaches’ that ‘can’t be killed.’
One can also look at them as ‘when there’s one around doing it there’s likely more nearby.’
MANAGER BOCHY THE KEY? SLEEP PATTERNS THE ANSWER?
Many are crediting Giants manager Bruce Bochy and even GM Brian Sabean for turning around the Giants, who hadn’t won a World Series for 56 yars until the current streak beginning in2010.
The facts are that Bochy, while a seemingly great guy
who gets along well with his players, is a sub-.500 manager over his 20 years if you exclude his
three World Series years, which are likely this anomally, anyway. Sabean had a record of poor trades
while over-paying washed-up veterans rather than bringing in big name free agents other than Hunter
Pence, Carlos Beltran, who didn’t work out and Melky Cabrera-and we know that (PED)story. Meanwhile,
the Giants haven’t been hesitant – though they claim to be -continuing to sign indicted PED players
including Michael Morse just this year and five in the past three including Cabrera, Mota, Guillen,
Tejada along with Morse.
The Giants credit at least part of their post season success on their ‘innovative’ sleep schedule of staying overnight in a city rather than flying out the same night.(Contra Costa Times-Daniel Brown,Carl Steward 10-28-14). The only problem here is that the Giants big winning surges usually begin late August when they’re still on
the normal travel schedule.
Many today want to turn a blind eye to PEDs.They may be tired of it now after 20-plus years, or maybe
the younger fans who have been brought up on PED baseball know no other way. However, especially older
fans should care and prefer real, HONEST baseball, when ‘no-name’ pitchers and hitters with dubious
track records could suddenly appear and start winning games for a team three successive times.
What happened to the Mays’ and Marichals’. Sure, they took ‘greenies’ during a long season, no doubt, \
but in them and others you didn’t see extreme surges in hitting.
Until sports writers and fans, team owners and major league baseball, will truly face the issue head on
will anything be done. Baseball could be a whole lot better. Young ‘metros’ and hipster fans may be lured
to the event centers (no longer really ballparks) today
in Panda and Giraffe outfits, taking selfies of each other while quaffing $14 beers.
But, what happened to BASEBALL? No longer are there GREAT TEAMS. There hasn’t been a 100-game winning
team since 2002. Despite the lack of a salary cap, teams are figuring out other, nefarious ways of leveling
the playing field.
Yes, we may be older fans but we’ve been around long enough to see the ‘old school’ and the new one.
Maybe we should leave it at ‘Where Did You Go Joe Dimaggio?’ Willie? The Duke? Most of today’s players
don’t even know these, revered names. The embodiment of REAL, quality baseball is gone
#KCRoyals, #SFGiants, Melky Cabrera PEDs, Jose Guillen PEDs, Giants PEDS, San Francisco Giants PEDs,#peds ,#GiantsPeds, baseball, #peds, #sfgiants, #playoffs, adderall, amphetamines, drug policy, peds in baseball, peds in baseball history, peds in baseball articles, peds in baseball statistics, steroids in baseball essay, steroids in baseball history, steroids in baseball articles, drugs in baseball
SECRET TO POST-SEASON SUCCESS- DON’T STRIKE OUT, SAY VERDUCCI, OTHERS
