Giants Talk: Why series split in Los Angeles was ‘weirdly disappointing'
"Giants Talk" hosts Cole Kuiper and Alex Pavlovic react to San Francisco's series against the Los Angeles Dodgers and preview the next stop of the road trip.
Giants Talk: Why series split in Los Angeles was 'weirdly disappointing' originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Video Transcript
Hey, what's up Giants fans?
Welcome to another episode of Giants Talk.
I'm Cole Kuiper here with Giants insider, Alex Pavlovic.
The Giants split the series in LA.
We'll talk about the game, the viral celebrations, the inside the park home run, and much more on today's episode.
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Alex, I know this is just the first leg of a fairly lengthy road trip, but it does feel like the guys must be missing their mattress by now.
It feels like this four game road trip has been going on for weeks.
I miss my mattress.
and not only that, but I miss my Mancini's pillow.
I had a horrible pillow at the hotel here.
You can travel with a pillow, dude.
Come on.
I You know, I thought I was like people actually do that and I'm like, I'd feel like such an old man doing that.
But- Yeah You're like two years away from not having that pride.
Yeah.
Just a little be that guy walking through the airport with it.
Yeah.
I'm at least headed home.
these guys are headed to Sacramento and then Arizona and, everything close to home.
A lot of guys are actually gonna be sleeping in their own beds the next week or so.
That's fair.
Yeah.
I guess the Sac trip and the Arizona trip- Yeah with some guys have houses in AZ.
But technically still, you know, the start of a pretty long road trip.
It did feel like four really long days here with- It did with, uh- Those were not your short 215 games.
Um- No Giants took two of them, dropped the last two to the Dodgers.
good news is they're gonna hang on to the rivalry series lead until they reunite next, which is September.
So we have a long stretch until our next Giants Dodgers face off.
They hold the playoff tiebreaker.
That's right, they do.
For the time being.
There you go.
Let's start out with not the sexiest topic, but one that I think leading into the series was certainly one on everyone's mind, and that's Bryce Eldridge.
kind of overall the, the him playing versus him performing.
Wh- what, where do we wanna start with this, I guess?
Yeah.
I mean, we have a bunch of storylines from this series, and I think this is where we start 'cause it's where they started on Monday.
Yeah.
And even to win the game, a lot of questions about Bryce.
And I was thinking on Monday about the mailbag question we got.
I don't remember who sent it to us.
It was a week or two ago where someone asked about, you know, Buster Posey and, and the grace he has been shown by Giants fans.
And, this felt like the first topic that was universal.
Like- Yeah I don't know that I saw a single person who was arguing that the way they're handling Bryce Eldridge is the correct way.
Oh, I can't fathom who would have that take.
I don't even know if Giants people would tell you they're I think they're- Yeah they're in a weird spot.
So it, you know, it ends up being two and two in the series.
It ends up being two starts for Bryce.
Ends up not getting into the other two games.
I have a very clear view of the dugout here and watched him stand with the bat in his hand for like four innings on, on Monday and quite a bit on Thursday.
And, I It's a weird one 'cause there's like no easy answer and, and people would say bench Chatmon, bench Adames.
Like do this, do that, trade somebody.
Those aren't realistic answers.
they've, they've sat Chatmon twice in the last week and a half.
I don't think they can do that too often.
Uh- Yeah and I think he's been good about it, but he could also at some point go to Tony and say, "Hey, you let Devers and Adames play through really long slumps," and Devers came out of it.
Adames has had some better days.
what's going on here?
So I It, it's hard to do.
It's just like realistically like this is one where you just kind of have to go like, I completely understand where everybody's coming from when they complain.
I also am just trying to be realistic and like they're not gonna bench Chatmon.
They're not gonna bench Adames.
you know, Casey Schmitt I think struck out four times tonight, so it makes it a little bit easier if he- Mm-hmm slows down to like give some of those at bats to Eldridge, but that's still not a perfect solution here.
And so he ends up, you know, going two and two and, Tony caused some waves on Monday.
I think some You know, he's obviously very open and talks through things and, and made it sound like Bryce was gonna pinch hit a lot.
And he's 21 years old and he's their top prospect.
So I, I think it's Actually, I'm glad this is where you started because I think it's an important place to start and I think it's something we're gonna talk about every podcast for the rest of the year, is what's going on with Bryce Eldridge.
Gosh, it, it makes me so nervous just how many prospects they have had not flourish on the big league roster, that they're kind of doing what, what at least to an external audience feels like it's such a unfocused, unspecific route.
I mean, it, it's kind of making me recontextualize them calling him up in general.
You know?
We, we talked about how he was here to save the team.
He's not even getting an, a chance to do that if he's just here to pinch hit a lot.
Feel like he might be better off in Sacramento, and I don't mean where they're heading next for the road trip.
I think it would be quieter for me in Sacramento.
They're like- power washing all the seats here as we go.
Uh- Viciously one of the most artificially loud stadiums in baseball.
Oh, my.
You know, Tony took a little shot at them.
I thought- I heard that.
he was like, "Uh," "it really It's, it's getting louder here."
I might just, just go full like old man.
Just bring a pillow on the road and complain about how loud it is at Dodger Stadium.
Yeah.
But might as well.
I, you know, I, I don't think he's better off in Sacramento.
I- Okay I think from a defensive standpoint, like yeah, he, he got one start in the series.I also just watch him do work with Ron Washington every day, and I see the miracle that has happened at second base.
And- Oh, yeah so from a purely defensive standpoint, I would rather have him here with Ron Washington, seven days a week.
And even if it's just pre-game work, even if it's just drills, even if it's just two starts a week at first or whatever it is, I think there's a lot of value in And I talked to Bryce about this today, like he was hyped to face Ohtani and Yamamoto, and I actually, like it, it wasn't necessarily fair to him the way they did it, but I think if you gave him his choice of facing Sasaki or Sheehan or facing Yamamoto and Ohtani, he would take the two stars.
Yeah.
He wanted a shot at them.
I think there's a lot to be gained from those match-ups.
I talked to him today about facing Ohtani, and he's like, "You know, I started to kind of feel better later in the game against him."
so I think there's a lot of value there.
There just has to be a little bit more, too.
Like I, you know, they can walk that line, but probably needs to start three out of every four.
Like you can have him face the tough ones, you can have him DH a lot, but there just needs to be a little bit more playing time in general.
I don't think you can come away from a series like this and have him sit for 18 innings.
Like it's, it's, it's tough.
So I, I, I do think he can develop the right way up here.
but there just needs to be more at bats.
And- Yeah I'm curious.
We will revisit this on Monday.
I'm curious what it looks like in Sacramento.
Like he should be in the lineup on Friday night.
There's no doubt about that.
And you know, I, I re- he should get at least two starts this weekend.
So it, it is a, it's a tricky one, but I also think at some point, like, you know, they're 18 and 26.
Like they're, they're gonna have to figure something else out, whether it's throwing Casey in the outfield a little bit or, or hurting some feelings.
you know, there, it's I think Tony's gonna have to like add a, it's like a pie chart.
Like- Yeah you know, there's, there's a little bit of pie for Casey Schmidt playing outfield so Bryce can DH.
There's a little bit of pie for like hurting Willie's feelings, and Chapman and, you know, maybe there's a Devers day in here.
Like I, I just don't think they're like t- they're finding enough creative ways to get him in the lineup.
Yeah.
Well, look what right now, obviously still a small sample size, but he's batting under 100. at what point is it like we're getting his bat in the lineup just to, to do something?
Or, sorry, we're getting his bat in the lineup just for his benefit, not for- Yeah the team's benefit.
You know?
We, we're so down on Patrick Bailey's offense to the point that- Yeah he got traded.
We're so down on some of these superstars on the team who aren't performing offensively, and then here we are talking about dedicating a whole segment on this podcast to a guy whose bat is clearly not there.
Well, I, you know, I just don't think it's been fair to him.
Like- Yes.
No, totally I, I know he enjoyed those match-ups, but also he had to face Yamamoto and Ohtani and- Yeah he has made three starts in the last, what, week, and he homered in one of them and the other two he had to face two cy young front runners.
So, I, I think, you know, to your point about the average and all that, like I think they need to give him I'd love to see him, him get a whole weekend in Sacramento and- Yeah.
If Parkey knows he knows.
Yeah, Parkey knows.
Let him start three straight games.
If he goes 0 for 12 and we're sitting here Monday going like, "Hey, he just hasn't hit," and there's not a lot of h- not a lot of at bats for him, like maybe you have a really difficult conversation about what's the best move here.
But I, I don't think it's fair to judge the numbers.
I'm not saying you specifically, just anybody.
I don't think it's fair- No, it's fair to judge the numbers when he's had really weird playing time.
But also they have to give him like playing time so we can actually look at the numbers.
So like, you know, whether it's Sacramento or whether they go to Arizona and they go, "Great place to hit," like go and, go and, start for three days in a row in Arizona next week.
Like at some point he has to have a chance to, you know, get in a little bit of a rhythm here.
Otherwise, they have to have a difficult conversation and it's gonna be a really, really bad look if they have to- Yeah set him down.
But what they're doing right now is also a bad look.
Yeah.
He, he, he did get tough match-ups.
Not everyone can be Eric Haase, I guess.
Not everybody can be Eric Haase, so.
Yes.
co- you mentioned all the storylines coming out of the Dodgers series.
The next one I wanna bring up here on the podcast is Willie Adames just I, I think he called it the most embarrassing moment of his career watching it on- I think- TV.
I think he might've got misquoted there, so.
Okay.
That's fair.
He said he was very ashamed, but yeah.
Yeah.
It, it's just watching it on TV was just one of those like how did that happen?
What is happening moments.
of course talking about Willie allegedly losing track of the number of outs, while standing at second base and just going full send on a pop-up that he should've tagged on.
what, what do you make of it?
Don't worry about You don't have to worry about getting sued.
He admitted he lost track of outs, so.
Well, the, I mean, my question is, is- Okay.
All right.
Yeah.
Fair.
Yeah.
You can take the alleged out, so.
just like total brain fart moment.
Yeah.
Was this Mookie Betts related?
I mean, what, what do you make of this?
You know, he was asked about the Mookie thing afterwards, and that was I, I'm a, it's like a three-mile walk to the clubhouse here, and I'm scrolling Twitter as we walk down there and go down the escalators, and all I see is people complaining about, Willie talking to Mookie Betts before he, he got doubled off.
And then Willie, I thought, gave a great answer, which was, "I do that every game.
If it was because of that, then I would make mistakes every two days."
And I was like, I can't really argue with that logic.
Like you do actually- Yeah do this every single game, and if, if you were getting distracted, it would be happening more often.
So, I know he's made other mental mistakes he, and other mistakes on the field.
He hasn't done that before, so.
That, that's fair.
You mentioned how you feel like you're gonna shift into old man mode soon with your pillow and your, your complaining about the noise.
Yeah.
I'm about to get there with like-With his, yeah the, the amount of, like, intra-squad fraternization.
Yeah.
Like, I get that these guys are gregarious, really cool dudes who have friends across the league, whether they know them from previous teams, whether they're just know them from being athletes who, who run in the same circles, but, like, how hard is it to not do that during a big rivalry game where your team's down, what was it, four runs at the time?
Yeah.
Just, like, pretend to put a game face on and- Yeah and take this stuff seriously in the moment.
This is, this is like Boomer Pod.
This is great.
No, seriously.
People- Yeah you know, literally we've been doing this since 2021, so at some point we literally are gonna get old certain things.
I'm Dude, I turn 40 in, like, a year.
It might be now.
I You know, the thing about that, I totally get it.
I mean, I, I am in studio a lot for road games and I have the big, you know, four different angles in front of me, and I see all, all of Willie's fraternization.
I think in his case, like, he is, I'm not kidding, like, one of the most charismatic people I've ever met.
Mm-hmm.
Like, he This is who he is.
He is the friendliest, he's one of the friendliest baseball players I've ever seen.
Like, there was a play in today's game where he was, I don't know if they showed it on TV, he was standing in the dugout and a foul ball almost hit him, and he jumps down the stairs, and for the next two minutes he was just chopping it up with Dodger fans behind him who were- Yeah who were giving him crap.
Like, it, it's He's constantly talking to people all day long, and not just opponents.
teammates, media, people around the park.
This is who he is, and I think when he You can go back, I mean, when it To the podcast when he signed, I, I heard from so many people around the game who were just like, "He's, like, one of my favorite people ever in baseball."
Yeah.
"He's gonna be tremendous in that clubhouse and he's gonna be great for everybody."
And, I don't think you can take that away from him because I just think that's who he is, that's his personality.
And I also think Willie at his best is having fun, like we saw him last year- with, who was it?
Julio Rodriguez.
And, you know, he, at his best, he's having fun.
The problem is the team's losing and it, it does become an awkward look.
I- Yeah.
Where are you having fun?
Yeah.
'Cause I as a fan am not really having a ton of fun.
Yeah.
I, I think my fear would be that you woke up in a year and you've stripped him of all that makes him him.
Yeah.
Is still struggling, and you're like, "Well, now this is just depressing."
And- That's fair so.
'Cause I certainly know dudes who just cannot turn it off.
Yeah.
You know?
Like, just if you're in a room with them, they're taking over the room.
And I guess trying to get those guys to shut up would not be good for their performance social- or, you know, in any sphere of their life.
I don't think it would help him at all if anyone told him to tone it down.
Yeah.
And, you know, there's a I think to be f- I, I always try to, like, stay even keel with these things, and I don't blame you for being angry.
But, and I don't blame anybody.
It is a, it is an awkward look, but to be fair, I think there's times where we've also talked about, like, "Hey, he's gonna be a great recruiter for other ballplayers."
Mm-hmm.
"He's gonna be someone other guys wanna play with."
you know, you see the relationship that him and Arraez have, which is Arraez has been one of the few bright spots.
So I, that's where I, I think with Willie- Well- it's just, like, he has to hit more than, than he has, and, and then all of this will be fine.
And- No, that's a good point.
I'm gonna look up when Mookie Betts' contract is up- I don't- so we can see when this pays off.
It might be, might be, like, seven years from now.
Or, you know, who's due to Maybe Junior Caminero ends up here in, in a couple- Yeah years or, I don't know.
And, and the last thing I'll say is I was, I was talking to Jon Shea about this, the, you know, long, longtime writer, and he wrote the, basically the book on Willie Mays.
And he said Willie Mays used to do this.
Like, he was Willie McCovey would It's in Jon's book.
Like, Willie McCovey was like, "I don't understand how Willie Mays can talk to guys during games."
And that, that was his personality.
And we- Mm-hmm we know Willie Mays post, you know, playing career, like, he was similar.
Like, he was, he was the guy who he enters a room and he takes over.
So I'm not comparing them.
Obviously, when you are the best player of all time it's a lot easier to get away with that.
I just don't think there's any, any, value that is gonna come from, from telling Willie to, to calm it down.
I think what he needs to do is hit and I You know, mistakes like that obviously can't happen, but, it was a bad mistake.
I also just didn't think there was any value in punishing Landon Roark by not having their shortstop out there on Thursday, so.
Yeah.
I, that's one of those that I just think is, like, he made a mistake, he owned up to it, and, you know, move on and hope his bat picks, picks it up a little bit.
'Cause then it's a lot easier to, to, you know, get on board with everything.
Yeah.
Makes sense.
all right.
Speaking of guys whose bats have picked up, Eric Haase had himself a game to remember.
First Giants catcher with two home runs at J- Dodger Stadium, which kind of baffles me.
That seems like something Buster Posey would have done at some point in his career.
Or Patrick Bailey.
Or Patrick Bai- Well, yeah, for, for all his Dodgers accolades, absolutely.
Yeah.
Or, yeah, anybody.
yeah, no, it's the Eric Haase game.
I mean, he did that.
First Giants catcher with two homers against the Dodgers since Mr. Bob Melvin in 1987.
So- Wow it is You know what?
This series, and we'll, we'll get to some of the positives here with Jung-hoo and, this series reminded me of another mail back question we recently had where somebody was asking about, like, the full season and why we Y- and I, I think my answer was, like, you just never know what you're gonna see.
And I come to the park on a Tuesday night and Eric Haase becomes the first Giants catcher ever to hit- Yeah two homers at Dodger Stadium.
So, it's wild.
I, I think the bigger question with Haase, he's not gonna do that again.
He does have 50 home runs in the big league, so he does have some power.
The bigger question is I expect Daniel Suzuk to be activated on Friday in Sacramento.Which would be not just a homecoming for him, but a revenge series against the A's.
Mm-hmm.
Who let him go last year, and chose Austin Wins over him.
But the question is, wh- what is You know, we, we had some three catcher talk when Bailey was here.
I think they still have to go with three catchers now, 'cause Eric Hosmer is out of options, and- Yeah.
And you can't cut him after the Eric Hosmer game, obviously.
No, not that soon after.
Yeah.
And, and also even just all kidding aside, like, there's Like, they don't have a lot of pinch hit options.
Yeah.
And we've seen he can at least run into one or two.
Mm-hmm.
and I- The- I also think like, you know, there are some questions about Jess Rodrguez defensively right now.
So having that veteran back there, it's valuable.
I think they're gonna have to go with three catchers and it's, it's There's no There's not a single second of spring training where I ever thought they would have three catchers and it would be these three guys.
Yeah, and none of them would be Patrick Bailey.
I think that's where we're at, and I think it actually makes sense.
Well, all right.
So I wanna, I wanna skip to continue the three catcher conversation to Jess Rodrguez.
what are our thoughts on him, specifically him on defense?
Because it's been nice to have him on the team.
I've talked about how much I love a flex catcher, especially for a, a roster built like this, but he has not been getting runners at second.
No, 0 for 7.
Freddie Freeman steals on him the other night.
Like, I, I, I'm curious if there's a game coming up, whether it's the A's or more likely like the Diamondbacks, some team that just goes, "We're taking off every time."
Mm-hmm.
Until you prove that, that it's a bad idea.
one thing I thought, I actually had it in my notes for not the emergency pod, but the pod after that where we kind of talked about Bailey again.
One thing I thought we skipped over a little bit was just, you know, there was a lot of faith put in these two young catchers and their ability to be W- we know they can hit.
their ability to be solid defenders.
And- Yeah I think Susak's gonna be fine.
he's not gonna be You know, nobody's Patrick Bailey, but I, I think he'll be fine.
I think he'll be probably around average defensively.
Rodrguez, there have been questions about him behind the plate, and it's, it's been a work in progress.
And, you know, the day he got called up, I asked some Giants people about it, and they kind of were like, "Eh, you know, probably not a full-time catcher.
The value's more as a utility guy."
which is why we love the three catcher concept, 'cause he can move around.
Mm-hmm.
So it is gonna be something to watch closely because they have kind of backed themselves into this spot where it's, it's Susak and Rodrguez going forward, you know, possibly for a couple years here.
But we- I'm gonna be honest, with so much talk over the past year or two about Patrick Bailey's pitch framing, I kind of forgot when he was Pat- Patty Pop time, you know?
Yeah.
And his whole thing was just gunning dudes down at second.
I think a lot of people didn't You know, and, and he, he was not very good at it earlier this year, but I Being at those games, I'm like the, these pitchers are giving him no chance.
Mm-hmm.
So, it is You know, I just think the, the Bailey conversation, it continues to happen, and I People, I think, have dug in on both sides.
Like, you He's possibly the worst hitter in baseball and possibly the best defensive player in baseball.
Yeah.
So that's why he's not here anymore, because he, he never got to even be like a 10th percentile hitter.
Yeah.
But there's You know, I see people questioning his defense.
If he's not the best defensive player in baseball, he is top three or top five.
Like, there's just no doubt about it.
And so that is something that I, I think we're gonna have to watch along with.
They've, they've gotten a lot of offense out of that position, including since the trade.
Mm-hmm.
So I don't think they feel bad about that at all.
and Patrick hasn't hit in Cleveland in a small sample there, but you know, it, it's gonna be interesting when Susak comes back.
Somebody, one of those two young guys needs to be trusted defensively, like, going, going forward.
And I think it's gonna be Susak, but Rodrguez does have some work to do there, and it's, it's something to continue to watch.
Well, in addition to Eric Hosmer carrying the Patrick Bailey torch of big moments in LA, Jung-hoo Lee.
Gotta talk Jung-hoo Lee, who just ropes one into left field, gets a crazy bounce into the outfield.
Next thing you know, he's rounding third.
Such an awesome moment.
He looked so excited popping up after that head first slide.
What was it, what was it like at Dodger Stadium?
It was a weird I've seen a few inside the park homers.
This was the first ever by a Giant at Dodger Stadium.
Mm-hmm.
first by a Giant since Patrick Bailey, of all people.
Of course.
Of course.
it was, it was a very weird one because there's usually, like, a build up to it.
Yeah.
You know?
And it's, it's either Like with Bailey's, I mean, that bounces away and it's late in the game, and like the entire place all of a sudden just realizes.
Like- Mm-hmm this, I think most people, including me, thought it was a You know, from, from what we saw, like, it looked like it was gonna bounce into the seats.
Yeah.
And you kind of look up and you see Teoscar chasing after it, and all of a sudden you just go, "Oh, there's Jung-hoo Lee coming around third."
So it was, it was just a weird one.
Like, it wasn't like the build up you usually have.
But- I- but also since it being here in Dodger Stadium, I think people were more mad about Teoscar than, than, excited, but I don't think I've seen a clip of, like, Teoscar in the outfield synced up with Jung-hoo Lee or, like, any full big picture view of the play.
Was he moving slow in the outfield or was Jung-hoo Lee just low flying around the bases?
I think Jung-hoo was just flying.
You know, he To his credit, he never-He never broke stride.
He never thought, like, bloop down the line, that's, that's a d- whether it's a ground rule double or whether Teoscar throws it in, like, to a cutoff man and I, I jog into second base.
I think he never thought that.
He was going the entire way.
Yeah.
good send by Hector Borg, like he was, he was on it the whole way, has not had a great year, but a good moment for him.
it was Yeah, it was a weird one 'cause it also didn't W- the way that corner's set up, like, it's not like the Bailey one where it bounced away, it seemed like 100 feet.
Like, this, like, was not that far from him.
Yeah.
It's all of a sudden a really long throw from left field and then a long throw for the cutoff guy, and, Jung-hoo never broke stride.
I mean, 15 seconds all the way around and The other thing is since it was a bloop, like it's kind of in the air for a long time- Mm-hmm in the first place, so.
It floats.
yeah, just a, it, it was maybe the strangest You know, Bailey's is an all-timer, but- it was just a strange one 'cause it didn't, didn't feel like that.
Yeah.
And all of a sudden you look up and Elliot Ramos and Willy Adames are going nuts and Jung-hoo Lee has a inside-the-park homer.
He even said afterwards, he's like, "I thought I was gonna get a double and an error," but- just bounced away.
Continuing with the Jung-hoo Lee train, I think our last real fun story of the, the series in LA was the celebrations after the game with our outfielders.
This was one of those things that just absolutely broke containment from- Yeah giants or even from baseball fandom, which you love to see, and also just humorous how quickly the kibosh was put on it.
I woke up on Monday morning and, you know, I, I roll over and I start scrolling through Twitter and it was on every single, like, every single account I follow that was like a national sports account had woken up.
Yeah.
You know, I guess they all wake up on the East Coast or wherever, Midwest somewhere, and they're like, "Oh, we gotta send this out."
So, fascinating.
I- Love it.
Love it.
Very interesting.
Uh- Yes I think very q- very short-lived.
I s- I saw a very good graphic that was like, RIP, like, was it May 11th to May 12th?
So.
Yeah, 100% winning percentage.
Felt like they were headed in that direction.
If you notice on the last home stand, some of the, the post-game stuff.
The, the kissing on the cheek.
Yeah.
The- Felt like they were But as you mentioned, you know, just as quickly, shut down.
And from what I heard, the, the bow on Tuesday night was, was one I don't know how, how true this is.
One person described it as an apology to the commissioner.
So.
I, I kinda read it as an apology to the president of baseball operations, maybe the commissioner.
Yeah.
but yes, definitely a look, we can be civilized to style celebration to, to cap that off.
I also wanna take an unpopular view here, and I actually think they probably had to stop doing that.
So.
Yeah, you don't wanna be making headlines for non-baseball things regularly.
Yeah.
That being said, it just reminded me of every clubhouse I've ever been in.
Yeah, yes, 100%.
much worse happens.
Yeah.
Much worse.
But it did strike me, and I, I saw a lot of people, you know, the next day going like, you know, "Fun police got to them," and this is- Yeah let 'em, let 'em do what they w- in more colorful ways, let 'em do what they wanna do.
It struck me as we're forgetting, even though I think kids are exposed to like the worst thing possible, like the second they get to kindergarten now, just also forgetting that in theory like families are supposed to be watching these games.
Yeah.
yeah, I, I think that was probably like everyone had their fun and probably the right move to change it after one day.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Let's, let's make the celebration slightly less erotic.
Having said that, Drew, Drew Gilbert's gonna be here for a while and Harrison Bader has a two-year deal.
So, will they come up with something else at some point?
Probably.
W- we will, Another celebration will go viral and break containment.
Absolutely.
Bold pr- not even bold prediction, just regular mild prediction.
Lock it in.
I kind- I like the bow.
I thought the bow was- Classy the bow was classy.
it was different, but- yeah, not too hard to like, you know You don't have to be a reporter and be in the clubhouse to kinda figure out where that one came from.
Absolutely.
So.
well, any- anything else from LA before we move on to mailbag questions from listeners and, talk, preview the A's series?
No, you know, it's a weird one.
I know we started talking Bryce and we start talking, you know, th- there's a lot of negatives to talk about.
They do ultimately get out two and two.
Yeah.
It's It, these four-game series are sometimes weird, especially here in Los Angeles, because you, you, you know, you, you feel good about the results ultimately, b- but also the way it was structured, like felt like a real opportunity after Tuesday.
And they get on a flight on Thursday night, and they're still eight games under 500.
So.
Yeah.
kind of, just kind of a weird one where I think all, you know, a good I think we said even on the last podcast, like two and two's a good result in Los Angeles.
And, but it does feel weirdly disappointing on the way out.
I mean, they were, they are riding high on Tuesday.
They are a national story.
And, you know, Tony went and ran across the field before the game to meet Ice Cube, and like they win that night's game and Eric Haase does what he does.
Like that was a, the high point of the season I think on Tuesday.
Mm-hmm.
And, you know, and then you go down pretty quietly.
And, and Thursday, I mean, they have two hits and neither one is over 75 miles per hour.
So.Uh, felt a lot like April You, you start the series out with two wins.
It's easy to, to have a split series against the, the Dodgers feel disappointing.
But- Yeah big picture, totally acceptable.
They're gonna make up games elsewhere.
Would've been nice to get greedy.
Then again, the two games they lost were against Ohtani, practically a zero ERA, and Giants killer Sheehan.
He truly is a Like, he's 28 career innings against them, four runs.
Yes And two of them came on a bloop inside-the-park homer.
Like, he, he has I think he has better numbers against them than even Kershaw did, if you look.
Yeah.
Like, remember his first career start was against them and he went six no-hit innings, so he is truly a Giants killer.
Yes.
We'll be keeping an eye on this guy, not with joy.
Um- By the way, extremely nice guy.
I was in the Dodgers clubhouse before his first career start, and he came and introduced himself to me and Susan Slusser.
Wow.
We were like, "What are you doing?"
And he, "You're not supposed to talk to us."
But, well, we're not supposed to talk to you.
Yeah.
But extremely nice guy.
Yeah.
All right.
With that, the Giants are heading to Sacramento to visit their former rivals, the A's, from one rivalry series to another.
We'll talk about that, plus more mailbag questions from listeners.
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All right, Alex.
Our first question of today's batch is from Sonny.
Sonny asks, "With the report coming out that Bailey was the one calling all those sinkers in a row during that one Walker Blount save, and that there was frustration from management about the game calling, is it possible that relations with Bailey soured to the point that he was willing to sabotage the team?
Did he have better framing numbers on sinkers?
Any possible explanation I can come up with sounds preposterous, so I'm wondering if there's something there that I'm missing."
No, he, he wasn't sabotaging or, or, uh- I- you know, trying to frame, frame certain pitches.
it- the weird thing about the way it ended for him is I, I, I actually think he put in more work on his hitting in the final week he was here than any week in the last two years.
Mm-hmm.
he was just constantly working, in early BP.
He was, he was obviously knowing he was, wasn't gonna start, like he's out there on the bucket during batting practice helping guys defensively.
So, no, I don't think there was any of that.
Now, having said that, I do think th- those two sequences might have helped accelerate this a little bit just because there was frustration with, with those.
The Walker one and then, who was it, Keaton Winn?
Mm-hmm.
there was frustration behind the scenes, not with Not that anything was nefarious, but just that that had happened, 'cause that was just, that was just poor game calling, and that's supposed to be something he's really good at.
Um- Yeah it is something he's really good at.
So I, I think there was some frustration and there was a little You know, there's always a line with him where it's like the bat needs to be a It, it can be bad, but it needs to be above a certain line, and he had dipped below that line.
And I also think the defense needs to be pretty close to, to flawless to make up for, for the bat, and there were a couple wobbles.
So, I don't think it was anything knowingly.
I don't know.
I never actually asked him what happened there with that pitch calling.
I just get in the game and, and have some weird sequences, but can't imagine that people loved watching it.
Yeah.
So.
Continuing on the Bailey train, M says, "Post Bailey trade, how much refilming of promos needs to be done when a player leaves the team like that?
Is the media team scrambling or do they have enough cov- coverage with other players?"
This is something I'm always fascinated about, behind the scenes operations of the, the non- Yeah gameplay sides.
I was kind of texting with our, our mutual friend, Anthony Garcia, about this a little bit 'cause he's part of the in-game, experience over there.
But on like the NBC Sports Bay Area side, like do you know?
Yeah, we're fine.
'Cause I mean, we shoot everybody.
Like we- Yeah I, you know, I, I, I'm, I'm there on photo day and I was like, "Hey, get Bo Davidson, 'cause he's gonna be in double A.
You never know."
Mm-hmm.
So, we shoot everybody, including me.
Like they have- they have video of me holding a bat.
So it's like, yeah, i- it's, it's fine.
I mean, from our perspective you just change out stuff.
I think the interesting one here, and, you know, the Giants as well, like they'll shoot a couple players for every promo.
Mm-hmm.
make sure they have some backups.
So I don't know if he had one coming up or something that he was, you know, the model for anything.
Yeah.
What we did have was I believe he is on the banner outside the ballpark at 2nd and King.
And- I believe so from what I've heard, they're trying to figure out how to redo that.
So who And more of like does somebody take his place?
Um- Yeah.
And if I was- And if I was g- Eric Haase maybe.
if I had to guess, I would say Landon Roop.
Yeah.
But that's just a guess.
but yeah, that is where it gets complicated, where you're, you know, something physical.
It's so easy now with everything else to be like, "You know, okay, grab a different photo."
but- That's true.
Anything that has to be manufactured, I guess is gonna be much more difficult.
Window clings, banners- Yeah something like that, posters, signs.
but I'm even imagining like the dugout store, that team, the morning of Mother's Day like, "All right.
Come in early.
We're, we're moving inventory."
Yeah.
I, I don't know if they I mean, to be honest, I-We moved out of the city, and I don't know, but there used to be those, like, street signs everywhere, especially during the Kapler era.
Mm-hmm.
Like, I On my corner there was a, like, a Lysander Akin sign on it- Sure street corner.
I don't know how many of those there are still in the city.
I don't really look around as I drive in, but, maybe that would be something.
And, and I remember at times during the Farhan era, like, I'd go past a sign and be like, "Oh, that guy got DFA'd."
So- he's not here any longer.
But, no, I, I think the main thing in this respect is just that banner on 2nd Street.
What about the inverse of this?
When they trade for a guy at the mid-season point, they get Hunter Pence in- Yeah whatever month that was, July, June.
do they go and then shoot promos with him mid-season?
Yeah.
Or is he just gonna be empty?
No, the, the Giants do.
We don't.
Um- Yeah.
So you guys aren't able to.
Yeah.
Who's you?
Me.
Yeah.
they Not even, like, Hunter Pence.
Like, I, I think, I don't know what a current example would be, but, you know, if they claim somebody on waivers and- Mm-hmm which happened a lot for a few years.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
No, the Giants photographers would, would set up a whole thing and they'd go and do a shoot with them.
Yeah.
So I actually once got a scoop because I saw a jersey of somebody who had been called up, uh- Ah, for their photo shoot?
B- For the photo shoot, but not, not the player.
I saw the jersey.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
So, yeah.
So yeah, it's They, they do the whole thing for them.
All right.
Next question is from Tom.
Tom says, "I hate when the Dodgers spray paint the lines in batters boxes instead of chalk.
Why do they do that?"
They're the Dodgers.
I No, I don't know.
I, I, I don't know if people have ever watched.
The chalk thing takes a long time.
Yeah.
They still do, like, the whole The whatever it's called, stencil, and like a, you know, a, a hammer.
Like, it, it takes a long time.
We, we can cook up s- If, if we were Dodgers media, I would cook up, like, "It is an homage to the illustrious street art scene here in LA that we use spray cans to do our lines."
Hear the helicopter?
I don't know what goes on here.
So, by the way- This is Sacramento I will say Giants may have split the series, but at least their field is not named after a clothing company, so.
I was shocked when I saw that.
When did that happen?
Because I only noticed that this series.
I don't know if it's been like that for years.
I don't know if it's- No been like that for days, but I was like, "Uniqlo?"
It's been this way and it's, it's, it's everywhere here.
Like, it is- It And, like, a, a fast casual, like- Yeah like, wear it twice and throw it out kind of clothing company.
Yeah.
It literally Like, I think I bought it before on the road when I ran out of clothes and was like- Yeah no offense to them.
I, uh- This is gonna make it through the washing machine three times.
Yeah.
Thunder swag.
But no, it's kinda crazy.
Like, it's Like, I'm looking at it right now at dead center.
There's a It does not say Dodger Stadium in the center of the field.
That's shocking.
That's shocking.
All right.
Next one from Douglas.
Douglas says, "I could never find a story on Drew Gilbert trying to fake out the runner on third in the Philadelphia series.
Does Alex know where he learned that?"
Oh, I wanted to write a story about this, so I'm glad this is here.
I talked to some people about it and then obviously a lot has happened in the Giants universe in the last couple weeks.
Mm-hmm.
So I'll just I'll write the story here on the podcast.
Uh- Yeah, drop the scoop on us.
I asked about it, and from what I heard, they were standing around spring training and Drew was in the outfield with, Jace Tingler and Shane Robinson, who coach the outfielders, and Tony Vitello, and he asked them about that specific situation.
Like, fly ball, end of game, what do you do?
And one of them told him about that play.
I think you and I had talked about we'd seen Yas try it once.
Yeah.
But- Yas back in the day.
Yeah.
I think I don't remember who Jace said he had seen do it, but one of them told him about that play.
And what was cool about it was this was, like, February or early March, and it was just a quick conversation in the outfield, and it happened to him.
it was Philly, right?
It happened to him.
Yeah.
He, he remembered it and he did it.
And, you know, it kinda tells you about the baseball IQ that guy has to, to remember to do it, something he learned a few months ago and had never gotten to practice in a game and, and got to do it.
It didn't work, but I can tell you the coaches were like, "That's like..." It's not often you tell a guy something like that once and he, he uses it in a game, so.
Can you imagine if that had hit, how much we would talk about that as, like, just an all-time moment?
Yeah.
You can do as many hip thrusts as you want if you have that on your highlight reel.
You could hip thrust all the way- all the way in.
I would We've s- I've seen that, I think, maybe three times the last couple years from around the league.
Like, I gotta think at some point, someone's gonna leave It's gonna work and it's- Yeah gonna be incredible.
So- It has to maybe it'll be Drew.
But- Yeah.
Keep trying it we see ano- Like, kudos to the third base, whoever was on third.
I think it was our outfielder, right fielder who was on third who, he didn't get fooled.
But we've seen enough players around the league who would get fooled, so.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
All right.
Final mailbag question of today's episode is from Scott.
Scott ha- says, "A lot has been made about Giants fans recently beginning to boo the team for bad performances.
I think it's relatively well known that Giants fans are pretty forgiving of players who may be slumping.
Which fan bases and regional media in your experience have been the least and most forgiving of poor f- poor performance?
I'm assuming the usual suspects for least forgiving are Y- Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, and most forgiving are historically Cubs, maybe A's?"
I think, Alex, is this pretty much come down to at least big picture East Coast, West Coast?
I think so, 'cause I'd throw Philly right at the top of that.
Yeah.
And-Um, so they'll- Oh, Philly.
In Philly it's like that's the, what they're known for.
Yeah.
I think most forgiving From a media perspective, there are some cities that I believe, I believe there's one A's writer, one full-time A's writer.
I think there's, like, one or two Tampa Bay writers.
So from that perspective, there are some teams that are covered by, you know- Skeleton crews skeleton crews on a daily basis.
That probably makes life a little bit easier.
Mm-hmm.
I Colorado comes to mind, because you and I have talked about this.
Like, sometimes they get awesome crowds out of nowhere.
Yeah.
They're like the worst team in history.
And I, I think that's like a sleeping giant, and they're like I, I don't think they You know, the, it's a horrible team, and it has been for several years, and I don't- I haven't seen a lot of, like, clips of Rockies fans wearing paper bags over their heads.
I'm trying to think if there's anyone on the East Coast that defies the, the stereotype.
Toronto is, is an East Coast, but it's east.
Yeah, Canada.
Canada, the Yeah, it's, it's a different, different energy over there.
But it really does feel like it comes down to this is East Coast, West Coast.
I think it's I mean, Mets fans are special.
Like, it's a, it's a whole different case, so.
Yeah.
yeah, I think it's mostly, mostly that.
I will say most forgiving down the line will probably be the Las Vegas A's, because- it's gonna be mostly, you know And they, they're not even hiding this.
Like, it's gonna be mostly tourists at the ballpark.
Yeah.
So, uh- Yeah who's gonna be booing that?
So it's- You know, when I'm in Vegas hungover on 112 degree Sunday, there's nothing I'm gonna wanna do more than sit and watch the A's.
We're close to having to take the L on that, 'cause both of us were pretty adamant that we were never gonna see that ballpark get built.
And there's at least- Talk to me when someone throws a pitch.
There's at least something in the dirt there, so.
We'll- Something.
Yeah we'll, we'll get to that.
Yeah.
Well, I guess, Alex, there's no better topic to get to then than, the Giants heading to play the actual current iteration of the A's in Sacramento at their, triple-A ballpark for the River Cats.
Alex, w- who do we have pitching for the Giants and the A's?
We have Tyler Maile versus Aaron Zavala.
Trevor McDonald versus Luis Severino.
That one's fun because probably a decent chance Trevor has started more games on that mound than anybody, um- ever in anybody else in this series.
and then Adrian Houser versus Jeffrey Springs.
We should mention Houser pitched very well here- He did in Los Angeles, and he has righted the ship a little bit after a rough April.
Yeah.
Yeah.
A's are in a weird situation where they are first in their division, one game above .500. but still not a team to sleep on.
I will say the thing I'm looking forward to most is this is just a hitter-friendly park.
We ha- we've said this a few times- Yeah before road trips and before road series on this podcast.
But great opportunity for bats to wake up.
We've gotten burned before.
Um- But yeah, no, I mean, it's a, it's a, like, kind of a league average to a little below pitching staff.
Their bullpen's not very good.
they have hit.
They, Shea Langeliers has been unbelievable.
So we'll, we'll make the Susac jokes, but like their starting catcher has been- Mm-hmm like he's, he has 12 homers to sit in 340. but yeah, very hitter friendly.
and you know, with, even though they're in first place in the American League West, like, the rest of this trip is not really hard.
Um- Yeah and if the Giants play the way they did the first two nights, they'll be in pretty good shape when they get back home.
But then the last two nights, who knows?
So.
Yeah, I mean, if they, if they average one Erich Hoss home run a, a game, that'd be doable.
Erich Hoss, also familiar with that ballpark, so.
Exactly.
you know what?
Friday night's lineup should just be who has played in this ballpark before.
You wanted to see- Yeah Scott Man, Adames, Devers sit, this is the day.
This is who's familiar with this batter's eye?
So.
I love that.
I love that.
And we are getting Susac back, correct?
he should be back on Friday, I think.
you know, he really should be the starting catcher for this team.
I, I think he kind of went under the radar a little bit of Because Jess Rodriguez, the one who was the one who was up when Patrick got traded.
Mm-hmm.
But Susac is the one who took that job or was starting to take that job from Patrick.
Yeah, he's the one who made the trade viable.
Yeah.
He's the one who r- you know, remember it was starting to become a 50/50 split- Mm-hmm in April.
So he was red hot on his rehab assignment and, yeah, the Giants could use him to they really could use him to be back and, and, back to who he was.
Eric Miller will be back on Saturday.
And Logan Webb, the rose the other, you know, NorCal guy, Sacramento area guy, he will miss the series.
But he should be back on the 21st, which is a week from today.
So he's due.
Two follow-ups on that.
one, we already mentioned it, but just a total prove yourself series for Susac, being he was cut from this team.
Maybe.
I, yeah, I think, I'm sure it's gonna be awkward for the A's if he does something- something good.
you know, they, it's pretty rare that you give up on a guy like that ahead of the Rule 5.
Yeah.
So.
Yeah.
And, and I You know, to be there, and obviously they're in the market, and to see the Giants trade Patrick Bailey in large part because of this move they made in December, that I feel validated for all the Rule 5 stories I've written over the years and all the Rule 5 discussion we've had here, because it ended up being pretty impactful.
Exactly.
In this case.
So.
And, and then one more.
Obviously, we can't put any quotes in his mouth, but what do you think it means to Logan Webb to not be there for the game against not only the team he grew up rooting for, but essentially in his hometown against the team he grew up rooting for?
I think Logan's very happy that he feels good physically.
All right.
So.
That, that's a good- journalist answer.
Well done.
no, I just, I, I'll just say, like, I, you know, it's I talked to him here, and I, I don't know that there's been a lot made of his injury.
He feels good and- Yeah y- yeah, he, he feels This is something he's pitched through before.
And the fact that he physically feels good now and, and is, is pretty confident about when he comes back.
So, so, yeah, I think that he's, he's headed in the right direction.
At the end of the day, that's all we want from him.
all right.
That's what we have today for Giants Talk.
Thank you for listening, coming out of this split series in LA.
Don't forget to send your mailbag questions to Alex or myself, wherever you can find us on social media.
We'll go ahead and add them to our list and address them in an upcoming episode.
don't forget to subscribe wherever you listen to your podcast.
Go ahead and give us, give us a glowing review if you're a fan.
Don't bother reviewing if you're not.
And with that, we'll talk to you after the A's series.
