Can Madison Bumgarner be a better hitter than Livan Hernandez?

But wait! It’s not as close as you think!

We just debuted “McDeep Dive”, our new series that will spotlight one Giants player every day for a week. We’ll move backwards and forwards through time, look at on the field stuff, off the field stuff, and see if we can learn something new about them. Here’s part 7, this week’s last look at Madison Bumgarner.

The top 100 hitting pitchers of all time (as told by bWAR) includes names like Babe Ruth (1st), Schoolboy Rowe (24th and not to be...

Barry Bonds created the 500/500 club 15 years ago

Here’s the video.

I’m posting the following because I could not find any video of Kurt Ainsworth pitching for the Giants in 2003, which is one of my strongest memories from that season for some reason.

#OTD in 2003, @SFGiants slugger @BarryBonds stole his 500th career base, becoming the only player in MLB history to join the 500/500 club. Not to be forgotten, Bonds also notched 251 of his 514 stolen bases as a member of the @Pirates. https://t.co/stAQGmNcSO

Giants look to boost participation in softball

The Giants elected to integrate MLB's Play Ball initiative with its celebration of Girls Day at AT&T Park on Sunday. The Giants Community Fund's Jr. Giants Program is a free, non-competitive and coed summer league in underserved communities primarily in Northern California. Leagues have also expanded to Nevada and Oregon. This season, the Jr. Giants began a softball league to complement its baseball league.

The Giants’ extra-innings walk-off 0-2 double came from .191-hitting Hunter Pence, because of course it did

It’s been a rough season for San Francisco Giants’ outfielder Hunter Pence, but he came through in a big way Sunday, and provided one of the more unexpected endings in a while in the process. The Giants trailed 2-1 in the bottom of the 11th against the San Diego Padres, and Pence came up to bat with the bases loaded (thanks to a double from Andrew McCutchen, an intentional walk to Buster Posey, and a hit-by-pitch for Brandon Crawford) and one out. He quickly fell behind 0-2 against Brad...

Joe Panik will be fine

He’s had a rough June, but it’s not a conspiracy.

Joe Panik is down to a .675 OPS after a 1-for-4 day and has only 17 hits in total this month. His double to lead off the bottom of the 10th inning was the result of a mild misplay on the part of first baseman Eric Hosmer, so, it you’re looking for a thicker dark cloud in the silver lining, there it is.

He’s also far off the mark of his preseason projections. ZiPS had him at a 3-win player over the course of 162 games. Due to his...

Hunter Pence beats the Padres in extra innings

The Giants trailed 2-1 heading into the bottom of the 11th, but pull out a 3-2 walk off win thanks to our alien overlord.

The bases were loaded in the bottom of the 11th inning and the Padres’ closer, Brad Hand, was pumping 95 mph fastballs across the plate. It was everything Hunter Pence could do to foul off the one he saw and it put him in an 0-2 hole. One or two more and the at bat would’ve been over.

Instead, Brad Hand went back to the slider, which he had used to get strike one,...

Pence's walk-off double lifts Giants in 11th

Hunter Pence, who has lost his role as an everyday outfielder, savored some redemption Sunday by stroking a bases-loaded, two-run double in the 11th inning that gave the Giants a 3-2 triumph over the Padres at AT&T Park.

Cueto makes first rehab start for Triple-A

For the first time since April 28, Johnny Cueto was where he belonged on Saturday. The right-hander, who is on the disabled list with a sprained right elbow, was back on the mound for Triple-A Sacramento. Cueto threw 3 2/3 innings for the River Cats, allowing one hit and striking out four.

Padres take tour bus to get to AT&T Park

The brisk morning air surely slapped the hangover fuzz out of their brains.

A baseball season is a story of series as well as a series of stories. It’s not always about what happens on the field. Some of the most memorable moments happen off of it. For the 2018 Padres, some of them mighty vaguely and/or fondly recall at season’s end having to take an open roof tour bus from the hotel to get to AT&T Park.

No team bus?

Time to improvise. pic.twitter.com/8X0y7TXbSE

Padres had legendary team bus mishap on way to face Giants

The San Diego Padres arrived to AT&T Park for their game against the San Francisco Giants on Sunday in a form of transportation that is very familiar to people in the Bay Area, but let’s just say the memorable entrance was not planned.For whatever reason, the bus that was supposed to pick the Padres up at their hotel on Sunday morning never showed. That forced the team into a situation where they had to make other arrangements, and they ended up riding in a double decker tour bus with a...

Ayer de Cueto

Johnny Cueto made his first rehab start last night since a torn right elbow sent him to the disabled list on May 1st.

Johnny Cueto’s barking elbow has been a noise nuisance for years now and the medical opinion has to this point simply been a matter of rest. That doesn’t make it any less scary for a team paying out millions of dollars to the elbow-haver or to the fans who root for the elbow, but it doesn’t snuff out all hope, either.

Last night, Cueto fanned that faint flame of hope...

SF Giants Minor Lines 6/23/18: Diego Rincones mashes; John Gavin quashes

This kid turned 19 ten days ago but he gives zero respect to the college heavy pitching staffs of the Northwest League:

HIGHLIGHTS: Johnny Cueto returned; John Gavin threw 7 no-hit innings; Diego Rincones knocked out 4 more hits, 9 TB.

Sacramento lost to El Paso Chihuahuas (Padres), 3-1

Giants’ Baseball is about to get more fun again!

JOHNNY CUETO HAS A HAT OF HIMSELF https://t.co/921TdebaXn

Yes! It’s the return of Johnny Cueto!...

Sunday BP, 6/24/18

Yesterday’s 2002 World Series team reunion isn’t the most unlikely team reunion ceremony.

I was a cold-ass cynic when they announced another reunion of the 2002 World Series team because it all feels silly at this point. When they did it in 2012 as a 10-year reunion, I rolled my eyes but thought, “Hey, the Giants won a World Series since then; this is a good way to heal old wounds.” They reunited them again as part of the 60 years in SF anniversary and, well... I mean... hey, it was...

A full strength San Francisco Giants should scare the National League

The Giants are sitting at .500, 39-39 after taking Game 3 of the 4 game series with the San Diego Padres 5-3. This is not good, nor bad. It is not the putrid pace the Giants were on last year in which they lost 98 games (if you did not already know). However, it is to be noted that this Giants team is .500 while also being very injured. Madison Bumgarner has only recently become himself and made four total appearances. Johnny Cueto, off to one of the best starts in recent memory, has been...

That time the Giants almost signed Dianne Feinstein to a 1-day contract

The latest in our “Orange & Past” series takes a look at a rare political move the Giants nearly made back in 1984. With so many stories to recall in its storied franchise, our new “Orange & Past” feature series will spotlight some of those that had been lost to time... If you’re as surprised as I was to learn that a Confederate Flag hung outside San Francisco City Hall back in the 1980s when Dianne Feinstein was mayor, then you’ll probably be just as surprised to learn that the...

Prop betting on the Giants

Now that the Supreme Court has ruled sports gambling to be super duper legal, let’s start generating some shoo-in prop bets that the dumber casinos aren’t yet wise to.

First, and most importantly, I don’t know anything about gambling. I suggest an event that could happen that’s outside of the normal “who wins / who loses” setup and wager on it. The house sets the odds that determines the amount, and I either make back that money or I have to come out of retirement to do one last...

One more look at Gorkys’ defense

He’s made the pitchers’ lives much easier this season.

Gorkys Hernandez made one standout play this afternoon and another play I just consider to be cool, but neither should come as a surprise since he’s been the Giants’ best outfielder all season.

None of the stats back this up, of course, so the conventional wisdom is that the Giants have done themselves a huge disservice by having him on the roster. FanGraphs’ defensive stats

Statcast credits him with only 2 Outs Above Average...

Crawford drives Giants past Padres, 5-3

He’d been hitless in his last 18 at bats. Meanwhile, the Padres are still annoying.

Brandon Crawford hit two doubles and a triple this afternoon, bringing his season totals to 20 and 2, respectively, and giving him 81 total hits for the season. He’s the starting shortstop for the National League in this year’s All-Star Game if we all do our part, and if he manages to hold up his rate of performance, he will break the single season doubles record for a shortstop in the entire history of...

Of course the Giants aren’t going to trade Madison Bumgarner

None of the trade rumors over the next year will make any sense because they’ll fundamentally misunderstand the relationship.

We just debuted “McDeep Dive”, our new series that will spotlight one Giants player every day for a week. We’ll move backwards and forwards through time, look at on the field stuff, off the field stuff, and see if we can learn something new about them. Here’s part 6 of our look at Madison Bumgarner.

It doesn’t matter if you think the Giants should trade...

Giants make room for Austin Slater by sending Mac Williamson back to Triple-A

You might’ve figured this move was coming, but that doesn’t make it feel any better.

Mac Williamson has been dreadful since returning from his concussion. The Giants probably figured that was a possibility, and to their credit, they gave him a long leash to see if he could work his way through it.

I posted this last night:

Player A: Hunter Pence
Player B: Mac Williamson
Player C: Austin Jackson https://t.co/xSm23nmFam

So, this makes...