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Monday, October 07, 2019

2019 Playoffs Giants Fan Rooting Guide

I'm late but I thought I would cover the Giants fan rooting guide for the playoffs, like I have done most seasons as a blogger.  Obvi:  Dodgers are last on the list.

Here are the teams in order, two are already out, but the order stands:
  1. Brewers:  Never did much of anything to the Giants, and did give us Dubon!  They did do that bowling ball bit at home plate, though, but otherwise, Giants have been on good terms with them, unless you are still hurting from the Carlos Villanueva for Wayne Franklin trade (I still see some people who are still lamenting that trade; ultimately, didn't make a big difference so I ignore it).
  2. Nationals:  Giants are on good terms with them too.  We beat them in the playoffs, and they haven't beaten us, nor stole a good player in a trade (like they did with the Padres and Trea Turner; that and the Matt Kemp trade is why I don't believe in the Padres, because their GM is not that good at talent evaluation or making trades, Dodgers should have been giving up talent to get Kemp, it was almost like he was sabotaging that effort to get competitive with those trades).  And we got Gott in trade with them.  One could hate on them for how they treated Dusty Baker and then Matt Williams, but I don't, as they are ex-Giants who moved on to other and better things with other teams.
  3. Braves:  I had hated them since the 1993 season, but beating them in 2010 playoffs helped heal that scar, then winning 3 in 5 made me zen about them now.  And we haven't had a bad trade with them for ages now, and they gave up on Tim Hudson, who helped us to win in 2014.  I'm also friends with a Braves fan who is a fellow baseball fan, so I am rooting extra for them now, for him.
  4. Rays:  Never did much of anything to the Giants, though we did lose a first round draft pick to them when Boras enforced the rules on a common practice that all teams did at that time, making our pick a free agent, and he signed with the Rays.  But that was like almost 30 years ago now and we dodged a bullet there, he wasn't much good ultimately.  And they did pass over Lincecum (they did okay, they got Longoria) and Posey (for Tim Beckham), so they helped us out indirectly.  There was also the Matt Moore trade, losing Matt Duffy and Lucius Fox, though, so that is a negative, but not that negative, Moore was helpful.
  5. Twins:  They are investigating Dyson's injury, as due diligence, but I see it more as karma for the AJ Piercezitski (FYI, I know exactly how to spell his name; he's up there with the Dodgers in terms of bad feelings) deal, where we gave up good prospects and got someone with an injured personality.  But, it should be noted that it was a trade that created the perfect situation for the Giants Dynasty:  we not only traded away a great closer, but a good starter, and that necessitated additional moves like signing Benitez to be the closer and Zito to be a starter (though Zito probably would have happened anyway, but still), and losing all that production while gaining negative production led to the Giants drafting 10th, 10th, 5th in the 2006-2008 period, enabling them to draft Lincecum, Bumgarner, and Posey consecutively.  Most likely, Lincecum would have still fallen to them, but Bumgarner was rated high by some and might have been gone by Giants pick, and I think the team drafting after the Giants selected a catcher too, so Posey most likely would have been gone by the time the Giants picked.  Those players were key to 2010 to 2014.  Sometimes bad events led to good events, that's life sometimes.  But as process evaluation, it was a horrible trade, a black mark on Sabean's otherwise great record in trades and player evaluation (hence why I still think it was Colletti who engineered that trade). 
  6. Astros:  Don't really have anything bad to say about them other than that when they were in the NL, for some reason, they always seemed to kick the Giants ass in a big way.  There was also the trade where we gave up a good young pitcher, Bob Knepper, who went on to do very well for the Astros while the Giants languished in mediocrity, and meanwhile the vet guy we got, didn't do all that well, Enos Cabell.  Plus, then there's their dominance in the second half of the 2010 Decade, and I would rather the Giants look clearly to be the Team of the 2010 Decade.   Still, good for them, I didn't think that they had the pitching to win with from the draft, and they didn't, but they were able to trade for them in Verlander and Cole, so that works too.  They also seem to have figured out how to fix pitchers (see how Cole was so much better with them than with Pirates).  
  7. A's:  There were the ingredients here for a split Giants/A's fan here, I was into the A's early on, they were winning the World Championships, lived in the East Bay, but A's management screwed the pooch on that one with years of billboards in the 1980's on the Oakland side of the Bay Bridge extolling all their championships while also making fun the Giants for having none.  How a baseball team does that to a baseball fan, that's not sport, that's just plain mean, so I don't really care if the A's stay here or if they move away, or if they do well or not, they made their bed (and many A's fans also loved to rub it in too, before 3 in 5, so there's that too).  In any case, the Giants were here first, they should have had territorial rights to the South Bay in the first place (as well as to Oakland, if you are going to be accurate) since the A's controlled all the metropolitan areas in the East Bay (as well as into Central California, including Sacramento), which means all that talk about Haas "giving" the Giants the South Bay out of the goodness of his heart is baloney, the Giants should have had the rights all along, since 1959, and along the coast as well.  The A's carpetbagged their way into this great metropolitan area, without paying the Giants anything for stealing away half their customer base, and had the gall to try to steal AGAIN, when they wanted to move again.  In any case, they got jumped by the Rays, so they are out again, Billy's stuff just don't work in the playoffs, and it won't as long as he ignores the winning formula.
  8. Cardinals:  They are getting up there into Yankee's hatred territory by always being so good as a team.  And whereas the Yankees either luck into it (with trades and IFA signings), the Cards are scarier because they are doing it with good drafts, good IFA signings, good trades, and good free agent signings.  Plus, they have been in the playoffs most seasons in the 2010 decade, and if they win the World Series, then they would have two championships in the decade, along with 6 playoffs, compared to the Giants with three championships and 4 playoffs.  Rooting hard for them to lose, especially since they are playing the Braves.
  9. Yankees:  The Highlanders are usually at the bottom of any Giants rooting list, 1962 the main reason for that but also, beyond that, they're the Yankees.  
  10. Dodgers:  The Bridegrooms are permanently at the bottom of any Giants rooting list.  But it will be tough if it's Cards vs. Dodgers (but still, Beat LA!)

8 comments:

  1. Well, it was a bit late seeing four of those teams were eliminated when you posted. But, more important;

    Dodgers lost! Dodgers lost! Dodgers lost! Dodgers lost!

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    1. Literally the first two words in my blog post: I'm Late.

      Thanks for not reading!

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    2. I did read it. I found it amusing that you posted the whole thing despite four teams were already eliminated.
      Obviously you didn't understand what I was saying and took it as a criticism. I'll eat part of it, but the rest is on you in that you went immediately for the least charitable interpretation of what I said.

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    3. Least charitable interpretation? I literally said "I'm late" and then you say "Well, it was a bit late". If you had said something along the line of, "I agree it's late, but really, four were already eliminated," or what you eventually said, then I would have gotten what you intended.

      I'm sorry I misunderstood you. I honestly don't see how there is any other better interpretation, though, other than less charitable interpretations which I didn't go with (this is nowhere near the least charitable). But I'm learning all the time, please tell me, what is a more charitable interpretation? I'll tuck it into my list of scenarios I carry in my head all the time.

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  2. With the Cardinals, Nationals,(Harperless) Yankees, and Astros, I am going for the Nationals vs. the Yankees. That is even with the idea that the Yankees do not have Pablo Sandoval to hit against Verlander. I root this way because Texas is politically out of line with California and N.Y. is not. I just have not liked ST.Louis since the 1987 playoffs when will Clark was called out on strikes with the bases loaded, on a pitch that was definitely a ball. We ended up losing 1-0, on a play at the plate where the Cardinal runner may have run 6 feet out of the baseline to avoid a tag. Hackman and the Giants should have won that series. Even though replay may have helped, we did not have it so I still blame the Cards more than the umps.

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    1. I'm rooting for the Nats too. Of course, up 3-0, pretty hard for them to blow it now.

      Per my guide, I should be rooting for the Yankees over the Astros, but I think I got it wrong, I would now rather have the Yankees win, and then the Nats win it all (sweeping the Yankees would be cool!). If the Astros win another championship, because of their dominance, some would feel that with 2 ships, they would be the team of the 2010 Decade over the Giants who were not as dominant.

      Yeah, I haven't liked the Cards since 1987 too. Thanks for reminding me of that, I should have included that above. My animosity has gone down after we beat them in 2002 and 2012, but yeah, that 1987 was pretty bad for Giants hopes and dreams.

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  3. I think I'm rooting for the Nationals in the playoffs. Not because I like them, but because Bruce Harper left to pursue a championship with Philly and didn't make the playoffs...

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    1. Ha, I was thinking something along that line too! And now they have done it!

      Who you hoping will be the AL champ to face the Nats?

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