Cal_Fan2;841904359 said:

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Texas Rangers in 2008

Oakland A' in 1996 (The A's have had 9 streaks of 2 and 3 game shutouts...the last 2 gamer was 2010, against the Giants)

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It's a good time to be playing the Dodgers right now. Futile offense, Kemp and now Ethier (looks like a strained oblique and that may be for a while) are hurt, Kershaw has plantar fasciitis, the starting corners on the team have 3 HRs between them. This is gonna get real ugly by the AS break.

KoreAmBear;841904361 said:

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It's a good time to be playing the Dodgers right now. Futile offense, Kemp and now Ethier (looks like a strained oblique and that may be for a while) are hurt, Kershaw has plantar fasciitis, the starting corners on the team have 3 HRs between them. This is gonna get real ugly by the AS break.

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Couldn't happen to a nicer team.

Maybe we can recycle some of those jokes my SoCal friends liked to tell about the Giants' offense over the last few years and redirect them back down to LA.

JollyBear;841904369 said:

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Couldn't happen to a nicer team.

Maybe we can recycle some of those jokes my SoCal friends liked to tell about the Giants' offense over the last few years and redirect them back down to LA.

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Hehe this is some unprecedented futility. Hopefully Kemp will bring some life back but it's not just one guy. Ethier was second in RBI in the NL. Doesn't help that Ethier will be likely on the DL for a while now. Long season though - every few weeks the vibe of a particular team's path changes. I pennant chase between these hated rivals would be fun. Go Dodgers!

Scully mentioned that the Giants had never shut out the Dodgers over a full three-game series. Ever. And that the Dodgers had not been shut out over a three-game series since the Boston Braves existed. He said the year but I missed it. Anyone catch that?

Awesome series BTW!

Sweep LA

pingpong2;841904384 said:

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Sweep LA

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Booooo.

I really like this version of the Dodgers that doesn't score any runs. Makes it much easier to beat them.

It was complete dominance by the Giants. Dodgers just didnt have it. Hey, not going to say Timmy is back, but where are all those hatters that said "Timmy lost it, Kershaw is better"? Timmy completely dominated your team today.

LETS GO GIANTS! BEAT LA!!! (oh wait, they did)

BowDowntoWashington;841904356 said:

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Jon Miller is God awful. A lot of people in Baltimore hated him too. I wonder what took ESPN so long to get rid of Miller and Morgan. Dan Shulman is a million times better than Miller.

Krukow and Kuiper aren't terrible, but they certainly aren't top tier announcers. Vin Scully, Marty Brennaman, Bob Uecker, and Shulman are great announcers.

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Actually we can quantify this kind of thing, and guess what, Giants fans aren't just homers for thinking their announcers are great. Fangraphs did a poll on the best baseball broadcasters. Kruk and Kuip came in 3rd among TV crews (behind only Vin Scully and the Mets guys):

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/broadcaster-rankings-tv-10-1/

And Jon Miller was first among radio guys:

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/broadcaster-rankings-radio-10-1/

Averaging out the TV and radio crews you'd probably have to say the Giants broadcast team as a whole would be #1. (Vin Scully is awesome, but the other Dodger announcers aren't so good.)

One thing I will say about Miller is that his time on ESPN with Joe Morgan doesn't really do him justice. He's a different experience on the radio (which he's best suited for, IMO) and when partnered with Flemming or Krukow rather than Morgan.

sycasey;841904393 said:

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Actually we can quantify this kind of thing, and guess what, Giants fans aren't just homers for thinking their announcers are great. Fangraphs did a poll on the best baseball broadcasters. Kruk and Kuip came in 3rd among TV crews (behind only Vin Scully and the Mets guys):

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/broadcaster-rankings-tv-10-1/

And Jon Miller was first among radio guys:

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/broadcaster-rankings-radio-10-1/

Averaging out the TV and radio crews you'd probably have to say the Giants broadcast team as a whole would be #1. (Vin Scully is awesome, but the other Dodger announcers aren't so good.)

One thing I will say about Miller is that his time on ESPN with Joe Morgan doesn't really do him justice. He's a different experience on the radio (which he's best suited for, IMO) and when partnered with Flemming or Krukow rather than Morgan.

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That's the thing with the Giants broadcast team. They just flow with each other and it's awesome watching them broadcast together. Scully by himself might be amazing in your eyes - but a guy talking by himself is pretty boring in my opinion. Sure there are others but you guys just dont have that flow.

Ultimately however I think this is completely a bias thing. You listen to so many baseball games with the same broadcast team each game to the point where you just become accustomed to your own team's broadcaster.

Adrian The Cal Bear;841904397 said:

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That's the thing with the Giants broadcast team. They just flow with each other and it's awesome watching them broadcast together. Scully by himself might be amazing in your eyes - but a guy talking by himself is pretty boring in my opinion. Sure there are others but you guys just dont have that flow.

Ultimately however I think this is completely a bias thing. You listen to so many baseball games with the same broadcast team each game to the point where you just become accustomed to your own team's broadcaster.

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One of the nice things about the Giants broadcast team vs others is that they are actually pretty tame on the homer gauge. If the umps made a poor or questionable call that benefited the Giants (e.g. the ball that was called foul in yesterday's game), those guys will point it out and acknowledge that it was a bad call. It peeves me when announcers are blatant homers, even for teams I like (Drew Remenda, I'm looking at you).

Of course, the entire Celtics broadcast team takes the cake by combining the most blatant case of homerism with the most comprehensive misunderstanding of basketball rules.

Adrian The Cal Bear;841904392 said:

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It was complete dominance by the Giants. Dodgers just didnt have it. Hey, not going to say Timmy is back, but where are all those hatters that said "Timmy lost it, Kershaw is better"? Timmy completely dominated your team today.

LETS GO GIANTS! BEAT LA!!! (oh wait, they did)

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I'd back away from "dominance" and consider it Dodger futility. Man, you don't talk this way about Cal. Cannon had it right - Dodgers and Giants are both lucky they are in this sorry division. Nothing to really crow wildly about unless you are into pillow fights.

Why is a baseball thread kept in 'Football Growls?
Grossly OT
This thread is posted solely to irritate Bear fans in SoCal

KoreAmBear;841904408 said:

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I'd back away from "dominance" and consider it Dodger futility. Man, you don't talk this way about Cal. Cannon had it right - Dodgers and Giants are both lucky they are in this sorry division. Nothing to really crow wildly about unless you are into pillow fights.

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What's with the "sorry division" thing? Seems to me the NL West has been about in the middle when it comes to MLB divisions in recent years. It's certainly not worse than either Central division.

KoreAmBear;841904408 said:

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I'd back away from "dominance" and consider it Dodger futility. Man, you don't talk this way about Cal. Cannon had it right - Dodgers and Giants are both lucky they are in this sorry division. Nothing to really crow wildly about unless you are into pillow fights.

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Wow, typical LA fan mentality: when your team starts sucking, you jump off the wagon and start bashing on your own team (which i guess in this case - the division in general)... How is holding your opponents to no scores for 27 innings - not dominance?

The NL West is always competitive, especially going down the stretch in the second half. You always have 3/5 teams competing for it towards the end. It's like the Pac-12 in football. People always bash on us because we are no SEC (AL East in this case) but we are always competitive.

sycasey;841904417 said:

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What's with the "sorry division" thing? Seems to me the NL West has been about in the middle when it comes to MLB divisions in recent years. It's certainly not worse than either Central division.

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The pitching is too good to be classified as pedestrian.

edg64;841904413 said:

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Why is a baseball thread kept in 'Football Growls?
Grossly OT
This thread is posted solely to irritate Bear fans in SoCal

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If it is really that irritating, you can always choose to ignore it. But no, there is no intention here to irritate Bear fans in SoCal, just Bear fans who happen to be Dodger fans.

It's offseason, lighten up. :beer:

Adrian The Cal Bear;841904418 said:

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Wow, typical LA fan mentality: when your team starts sucking, you jump off the wagon and start bashing on your own team.

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Lakers? Who are the Lakers? Go Kings!

pingpong2;841904405 said:

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One of the nice things about the Giants broadcast team vs others is that they are actually pretty tame on the homer gauge. If the umps made a poor or questionable call that benefited the Giants (e.g. the ball that was called foul in yesterday's game), those guys will point it out and acknowledge that it was a bad call. It peeves me when announcers are blatant homers, even for teams I like (Drew Remenda, I'm looking at you).

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I'd agree with this. I'm not a Giants fan but Kruip and Kruk usually call a fair game and don't get too much into the homerism stuff, at least not to ad nauseum....their homer stuff is usually after the game. After awhile though they kind of grate on you. You're damned right about Drew Remenda being too homerish along with Ray Fosse for the A's. They always have excuses when their players screw up....

For Adrian...I understand your view and before the A's came to town, I was an avid Giants fan and even I'll concede that Vin Scully, while going solo, has such a mastery of words, that when he conveys his thoughts and anologies, it is like baseball poetry....he really is that good.

FingeroftheBear;841904419 said:

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Put it this way, if the Giants lost their top two bats they'd be near the bottom, not the top.

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Kinda like last year, right? When they lost Sandoval for 1/3 of the season and Posey for 2/3, but still finished in 2nd?

sycasey;841904393 said:

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Actually we can quantify this kind of thing, and guess what, Giants fans aren't just homers for thinking their announcers are great. Fangraphs did a poll on the best baseball broadcasters. Kruk and Kuip came in 3rd among TV crews (behind only Vin Scully and the Mets guys):

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/broadcaster-rankings-tv-10-1/

And Jon Miller was first among radio guys:

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/broadcaster-rankings-radio-10-1/

Averaging out the TV and radio crews you'd probably have to say the Giants broadcast team as a whole would be #1. (Vin Scully is awesome, but the other Dodger announcers aren't so good.)

One thing I will say about Miller is that his time on ESPN with Joe Morgan doesn't really do him justice. He's a different experience on the radio (which he's best suited for, IMO) and when partnered with Flemming or Krukow rather than Morgan.

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I lived in the Bay Area and I've never been impressed with Miller. He just isn't very good.

Agree that the Dodgers other announcers are terrible. Charley Steiner is one of the one worst around. Steve Lyons is an idiot. Rick Monday is like Jon Miller but with a worse voice.

The Dodgers used to have an announcer named Ross Porter. He was obsessed with statistics, but was a very intelligent guy and did a great job of describing the game on the radio. Of course, he was fired by that ass hat McCourt, who decided to replace him with Steiner.

rocketsBLUEglare;841904442 said:

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Kinda like last year, right? When they lost Sandoval for 1/3 of the season and Posey for 2/3, but still finished in 2nd?

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Sandoval isn't close to being on Kemp's level. Posey is solid, but Ethier is still a slightly better hitter.

BowDowntoWashington;841904448 said:

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I lived in the Bay Area and I've never been impressed with Miller. He just isn't very good.

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Okay, to each his own I guess. It's clear that most people think Miller is great.

Adrian The Cal Bear;841904418 said:

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Wow, typical LA fan mentality: when your team starts sucking, you jump off the wagon and start bashing on your own team (which i guess in this case - the division in general)... How is holding your opponents to no scores for 27 innings - not dominance?

The NL West is always competitive, especially going down the stretch in the second half. You always have 3/5 teams competing for it towards the end. It's like the Pac-12 in football. People always bash on us because we are no SEC (AL East in this case) but we are always competitive.

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Wow Adrian, you are usually not this delusional when it comes to Cal stuff. Who is jumping off the bandwagon? I just checked, the Dodgers are still in first place along with the Giants. It's called trying to use some self-deprecation, which then is met with condescension. OK then. The division is pretty bad though -- you could rack up wins v. Rockies, Pads and D-Backs pretty good this season. Did you see the Dodgers how they played against the A's and Angels? There's more evidence that this is an anamoly for Zito and Lincecum in their last few starts than the Dodgers coming up against a buzz saw. This is an unprecedented hitting slump and the Giants are definitely lucky to be catching the Dodgers during this time. Not sure why you can't just say that. Sure the Giants are pretty good but the Dodgers just made them look a lot better this series. They are certainly not a dominant team. Two good pitchers right now. Sorry. But neither are the Dodgers a dominant team and even when they had that big lead (lots of NL West teams have struggled) they were certainly not going to blow people away with journeymen starters overachieving.

KoreAmBear;841904451 said:

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The division is pretty bad though -- you could rack up wins v. Rockies, Pads and D-Backs pretty good this season.

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Dude, the D-Backs are over .500 now and were division champs last year. They're not chopped liver. The Rockies and Padres suck, but they're not really any worse than the Cubs and Astros (who sit at the bottom of the NL Central). Also, have you looked at the AL Central lately? There are pretty much no good teams in that division.

All this silliness over a great rivalry.....face it, over the years, since 1901 or something like that, only 24 games separate the 2 teams....

Giants have won 1184 and the Dodgers have won 1160 with 17 ties so the Giants win that one.

If you only count modern era when both teams were in California since 1957, the Dodgers win that one with 489 wins vs the Giants 462.

There are a bunch of cool stats on this page and you'll see that in most cases, they are virtually tied or close to it in many categories.....

http://www.dodgers-giants.com/

sycasey;841904454 said:

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Dude, the D-Backs are over .500 now and were division champs last year. They're not chopped liver. The Rockies and Padres suck, but they're not really any worse than the Cubs and Astros (who sit at the bottom of the NL Central). Also, have you looked at the AL Central lately? There are pretty much no good teams in that division.

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Fine then. 2 of the NL West teams (Giants/D-Backs) are playing much better. But it wasn't so through May and early June. That's when the Dodgers created a nice lead (which I thought behooved them to grow but couldn't do).

Adrian The Cal Bear;841904251 said:

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Forgot to mention - he beat Kershaw earlier in the season too. 2-0

But yeah let;s see...

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Your Giant colored glasses are shown when you can't get yourself to say Kershaw is a good pitcher (or at least imply that he's overrated). Sure Vogelsong is pitching great but lots of pitchers can have a good stretch, season, etc. That just shows you're talking smack as a fan, and not in any objective way.

BowDowntoWashington;841904449 said:

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Sandoval isn't close to being on Kemp's level. Posey is solid, but Ethier is still a slightly better hitter.

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You're doing it wrong

Instead: Serious question; does today's Lincecum performance reveal that he is back, a response to the Giants' momentum over the last 2 days, or a reflection of a struggling Dodger team (offense), or a combination of the three?

I'll add this for BowwowWashingon: I haven't heard you compliment Lincecum once during this thread. What kind of dog fan are you?

heartofthebear;841904470 said:

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Instead: Serious question; does today's Lincecum performance reveal that he is back, a response to the Giants' momentum over the last 2 days, or a reflection of a struggling Dodger team (offense), or a combination of the three?

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I think it's a combination of Lincecum pitching better and a Dodger offense that has no threats, at the moment. Lincecum did look like he located his pitches better today.

This coming from an Angel fan who roots for the Dodgers second.

FingeroftheBear;841904312 said:

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Live webstream here: http://www.vipbox.tv/watch/57836/1/mlb-:san-francisco-giants-vs-los-angeles-dodgers-live-stream-online.html (get the headphones out)

With HOFer and all-time great Vin Scully at the mic. Say all you want Giants fans but you don't have Vin Scully. Only guy that's in the same sentence of Jack Buck, father of idiot Joe.

Go Dodgers!

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Without a doubt, Vin Scully is one of the greatest baseball announcers ever. Other than Kruk and Kuip, he's the one I enjoy most. I've had the opportunity to interact with him and he's a complete gentleman. He's the fairest and most knowledgable baseball person there is. He originally started his career with the NY Giants, I believe. All that being said, I don't just hate the Dodgers, I "LOVE" hating the Dodgers. Go Giants! Incredible series.

Went to the game today. It was great to hear the love and encouragement for Timmy from the crowd. He looked near the top of his game today. Timmy was smiling after he tagged out the runner at home plate. He looked like he was having fun. Giants are ready for the end of the season!

:gobears:

KoreAmBear;841904408 said:

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I'd back away from "dominance" and consider it Dodger futility. Man, you don't talk this way about Cal. Cannon had it right - Dodgers and Giants are both lucky they are in this sorry division. Nothing to really crow wildly about unless you are into pillow fights.

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Sorry KAB. 3-0 series sweep with 3 shutouts is complete dominance. No way to spin that since it hasn't happened in however many zillion years to your Doyers