Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
Pablo Sandoval’s return to the Giants hasn’t gone as well as the Panda would like, but he is keeping a positive attitude. Sandoval’s love of the game is clearly evident in our conversation Tuesday in the Giants clubhouse at AT&T Park in San Francisco.
Sandoval talked to The Sports Virus about what keeps him going during his struggles in his return to San Francisco: “…After almost a year and a half being out, nothing can beat me. I’ve been through a lot things. 0 for 39 (the longest hitless streak in Giants history) is not going to bother me…I love the game, I love to have fun in this game, respect the game. I’ve been through times life wants you to quit, but you love this game, you don’t want (something) to take that away from you…I hope next year I’m gonna be here with my teammates.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
Giants OF Jarrett Parker talks to us about the impression he is trying to make in September, while Dodgers rookie Cody Bellinger and LA manager Dave Roberts answer questions about their 11-game losing streak which finally ended on Tuesday night with a win in San Francisco.
Parker talked to The Sports Virus being healthy again: …“I’m just excited to be back on the field, just being able to be play baseball again. I’ve never had an injury where I’ve been off the field for an extended amount of time so I just really want to be out here and play.”
When Bellinger spoke to The Sports Virus before Tuesday’s game he seemed to know that LA was on the verge of snapping its losing streak: …“It’s just a matter of a few balls that haven’t gone our way. Whenever we get runners on I feel like we’re lining out right at someone, so that’s just how crazy the game is.”
Roberts told The Sports Virus that the recent losing streak has put pressure on his players to try to do more than they should: …“It’s just important for us to simplify. We gotta play better baseball…It’s kind of back to the basics where a lot of things get overlooked at times when things are going really well and right now they’re not. There is a tendency to try to do more, but there are a lot of guys in that clubhouse that have played a lot of years in the big leagues that understand that doing more is not always the right path. We gotta find a way to get it done in all aspects of the game.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
Giants INF Ryder Jones joins us to talk about the progress he has made during his rookie season and growing up in a baseball family with his father Billy coaching college baseball.
Jones talked to The Sports Virus about making progress at the Major League level: “…At the beginning I think I was trying to drive the ball a little bit too much, come out of the kind hitter I am. I knew I had power, but when I try to swing for power, I’m not successful. For me it’s just gap to gap and almost, I wouldn’t say accidental home runs, but never plan on trying to hit a home run.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
Law and Order is still a popular TV show but how about Law and Gackle? That’s OUR show today as Giants reliever Derek Law and San Jose Mercury News reporter Paul Gackle join us from AT&T Park in San Francisco in conversations that we had on Sunday.
Law talked to The Sports Virus about this losing season for the Giants: “…Definitely very aggravating. Nobody wants to lose as many games as we lost so far. I could tell that the vibe definitely changed since I left (for the minors). When I left everyone was really down, everybody was kind of pressing…Now everybody’s just kind of having fun, trying to get the job done. If we can do a good job and put some wins together and take that into next year it will carry over for sure.”
The Sports Virus talked to Paul Gackle about September baseball evaluations: “…If somebody comes up and they have a nice September that’s a good start to next year, but I wouldn’t give a guy a job based on what he does on a September call-up. I think that has to continue into spring training and that’s where you really make your evaluation…You can’t really win a job in September.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
San Francisco Chronicle columnist Scott Ostler has the solution to all of the woes for the Giants and Major League baseball! Just kidding. Actually, Scott does give us his takes on what the Giants might be thinking heading into the off-season and he tackles the MLB replay, pace of game issues.
Ostler talked to The Sports Virus about what happened to the Giants this season: …“There’s kind of a magic that either happens or doesn’t happen. One year you’ve got Aubrey Huff as one of your team leaders. How bizarre is that? Nobody would ever figure that into any kind of equation. And yet it worked and it made the team better…It was a magical way that things fell together in each of those three (championship) years in a different way. This year that magic just disappeared. You can’t always put your finger on it. Sometimes it’s just like a big cloud that just got blown away.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
SF Chronicle Columnist John Shea joins us to discuss which Giants are making a statement heading into the final month of the season.
Shea talked to The Sports Virus about the future of the young guns in the Giants bullpen: “…You wonder how much faith they’re going to give these guys again next year because they gave them every opportunity this year and it hasn’t worked out…(As far as veterans) They could say we’ll have Will Smith, we’ll have (Sam) Dyson, we’ll have (Mark) Melancon and they didn’t have those three guys all season.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
SF Chronicle Columnist John Shea joins us to talk about which Giants players should stay and which should go as tough decisions are on the horizon after a losing season. We also chat about how Buster Posey is dealing with not being on a contending team for the first time in his career.
The Sports Virus criticized Buster Posey for his comments after the hit-by-pitch by Phillies pitcher Hector Neris. Shea talked about Posey dealing with a losing year: “…(Bruce) Bochy really didn’t put out the flames the next day when he called Neris an idiot…That’s the epitome of frustration. Two guys who go out of character to accuse a guy of something that most people might think is an innocent act…It’s been a frustrating year for Posey. He is used to winning. This is Derek Jeter West. A guy who just showed up and started winning titles right away and a big reason the titles were won was because of him, just like Jeter. Jeter never went through a year like this…You’re seeing the frustration develop and show on the field and Posey’s always been reserved and constrained when it comes to showing emotion…This year is totally different.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
Ray Woodson joins us for a special announcement about a new podcast and to chat about the Giants future.
Woodson talked to The Sports Virus about how injuries to prospects have hit the Giants hard this season: …“They’ve not been able to evaluate these young players like they wanted to and that slows their development and it slows the clock getting them up here and seeing what they can do at the Major League level.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
USA Today baseball writer Jorge Ortiz joins us in part 2 of our conversation to chat about Buster Posey’s comments after being hit by a pitch and the future of Johnny Cueto.
Ortiz talked to The Sports Virus about Buster Posey being upset after a recent hit by pitch: “…I like seeing that spunk out of Buster because Buster is a guy who keeps all his emotion inside and all the passion inside and you know he has it…It’s not going to be what Buster is going to do all the time, but I like it because this is kind of a lost season, it would be easy to kind of stop caring but you know guys like that still do care and I like seeing it with my own eyes instead of just assume he has that passion because of the terrific player he is.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
USA Today baseball writer Jorge Ortiz joined us from San Francisco. In part 1 of our conversation he chats with us about Jarrett Parker and the outfield situation as well as Pablo Sandoval.
Ortiz talked to The Sports Virus about Pablo Sandoval: “…(Bruce) Bochy said that he thinks his swing is really close. If they can get a semblance of the old Pablo they’re in a no lose situation with him because for one they wouldn’t mind giving Christian Arroyo more time to develop in the minors particularly since so much of this has been a wasted season. You have a guy who’s lively, who maybe can still swing the bat well and who can buy you that time at third base so you don’t have to rush Christian Arroyo.”
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