Comments on: …. Compounded and confounded

By: Jay T.

Jay T. — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 16:46:26 +0000

My response would be that they don’t look like a 100-loss team, they look like a 110 loss team.

By: Jay T.

Jay T. — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 16:44:58 +0000

Well, it’s a Giants site and it’s a lot easier to write “we” than “that pathetic excuse for a team that we watch because we’re masochists”

By: +mia

+mia — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 07:23:03 +0000

What’s with the “we’re” in trouble Kemosabe? They’re stopped being we a long time ago when Magowan decided he knew more about baseball and baseball players than actual baseball people and baseball players.

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 01:28:24 +0000

Thanks, Jay T. Good to read that the “consensus” is that the Giants aren’t as bad as they look, although you sure could have fooled me…

By: Jay T.

Jay T. — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:38:54 +0000

Also on ESPN:

Giants looking for help at 1B
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Giants’ general manager Brian Sabean is looking for a left-handed hitting first baseman.

The Nationals’ Nick Johnson and the Braves’ Scott Thorman were mentioned as possible candidates to fill the void.

——–

Okay. WHAT THE FUCK? What’s the point here? My God we’re in trouble…

By: Jay T.

Jay T. — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:37:38 +0000

Here’s a bit of what he wrote, after commenting on some other columnist’s stuff…

But what has changed since Opening Day, exactly? Sure, a few nicks and scrapes here and there, same as most teams are going to suffer over the course of a typical week. Nothing that’s going to significantly impact the figures. And just one week ago, the figures didn’t suggest the Giants were anywhere near lousy enough to lose 107 games.

I sort of collect preseason projections, and this season I collected six of them: five “computer” projections and one betting line. The Giants’ record this season, as predicted by those six: 73-89, 74-88, 79-83, 74-88, 69-93, 71-91. If you average all those records, you wind up with 74-88.

But I didn’t believe the Giants would be that good. So I went way, way, way farther than usual and knocked four wins off their consensus projection. Let me be clear about this: While I often adjust the figures up or down for various reasons, four games is a real stretch. So I took this drastic (for me) measure … and I still have the Giants winning 70 games.

Why? How? I don’t know. Even if I checked projections for each Giant, I probably still wouldn’t know. What I do know is that a great way to go broke quickly is betting against the consensus projections. Last year the Nationals were supposed to lose 100 games; they went 73-89. The year before that the Marlins were supposed to lose 100 games; they went 78-84. In both cases (as I recall) the consensus projections suggested that neither team would lose anything like 100 games.

So yes, the Giants look bad right now. Also: abominable, atrocious, awful, crappy, crummy, deficient, dreadful, god-awful, gross, inferior, lousy, stinking, substandard and the pits.

But they don’t look to me like a 100-loss team. Not yet.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:37:36 +0000

Has anyone read Rob Neyer’s column on the ESPN web site today, titled “How awful are the Giants?” You have to be a premium subscriber to read this article which I am not, so I’m interested in knowing how awful Neyer thinks we are. Little help?

By: Hal

Hal — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:06:27 +0000

Miller did announce it was the biggest paid crowd in stadium history. MLB decided several years ago to announce paid attendance rather than butts in seats, so whatever “attendance” is announced has nothing to do with who’s at the ballpark. It should more properly be announced as “receipts” than “attendance.” That’s not new, but the disparity was less apparent in SF when people actually showed up – mostly to watch Mr. Bonds, I dare say.

As Toni pointed out, in Oakland it doesn’t make much difference – in fact, there may be more people in the park than bought tickets.

Anyway, it’s good to keep this in mind when listening to Bug Selig or any MLB front office when they talk about “attendance” – its about bucks, not butts.

By: Jay T.

Jay T. — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:59:10 +0000

Man, if the booing has already started on the home opener, this is going to get really ugly. Let’s hope attendance drops enough that they can’t just fake it because the empty seats will speak for themselves. It’s not like I want the franchise to do poorly, but they need to be punished for their stupidity.

By: Toni

Toni — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:39:02 +0000

…I hope you don’t believe the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008 is meant to prevent foreclosures.

hahaha!

um no.

It’s quite possible that I didn’t hear Miller correctly… but it really surprised me with what I thought I heard.

Was anybody listening to the game and can perahps confirm or deny what I heard? It was near the end of the game when Miller said it, maybe around the 7th or 8th inning.