Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
Giants hitting coach Hensley “Bam Bam” Meulens has worked hard to help hitters improve this season. On Tuesday at AT&T Park in San Francisco he gave us an update on their progress.
Meulens talked to The Sports Virus about the MLB overall HR record that was broken this week and how that relates to the Giants: “…We don’t have 30-40 home run power and when you see home runs being hit at the record pace in other places and you’re not hitting them, you’re at the same level, you’re like, uh, I don’t know if it’s the ball, the ballpark or the players. In a lot of places the balls are carrying. When we go on the road we hit more home runs than we do at home …We’ve talked about it with some of our guys going into the off-season. I even put some ropes in the cage, where the angles are conducive to more balls in the air in this ballpark. We’re working on it. Hopefully it won’t take long so at least we’ll produce more extra base hits.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
Tim Flannery, the former Giants 3B coach and current analyst for NBC Sports Bay Area and MLB Network joined us on Tuesday night to talk about the Giants season. We also hear SF manager Bruce Bochy’s thoughts on a record-breaking season for homers overall in MLB and chat with Rockies All-Star 3B Nolan Arenado.
Flannery told The Sports Virus about the importance of having energetic players on the roster: …“You gotta have it. Now if you have a superstar like a Nolan Arenado and he has that type of energy you’ve got a super, superstar who plays with an edge. Nolan is the nicest guy in the world off the field, but on the field he is just obsessed to do well and to play hard and to compete and to win…You look at the clubs we had winning here in San Francisco we had those types of misfits, whatever you want to call them. They might get kicked out of a restaurant once in awhile, but you know what, you’re gonna want them in your lineup every night.”
Arenado chatted with The Sports Virus about his September attitude last season compared to this season: …“It’s fun to come to the ballpark every day. I wake up in the morning and I can’t wait to go to the ballpark in the last 12 games. Last year I was like, I can’t wait to go to the beach and get this off season going. When you lose it’s just not fun baseball. Now we have a chance to do something special.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
With the Giants season winding down, Joe and Ray Woodson take inventory on the wreckage of a team near the bottom of the Major League baseball totem pole.
Woodson talked to The Sports Virus about LHP Matt Moore: “…The Giants have to be asking themselves, even with what seems to be a reasonable $9 million option for next year, do we want to go forward with this guy? …There are reasons to say yeah you can because the stuff is there and the contract isn’t terrible and the fact of the matter is the politics say you traded a popular player away (Matt Duffy) for him so you might want to give him a little more time. The guy is still in his 20’s, you would think that this is a guy that you could redeem. But, I don’t know, I don’t know if the Giants know, I don’t know if Matt Moore knows at this point.”
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.”
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