Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated once a week and celebrating its 12th season on TheSportsVirus.com!
On this week’s Inside China Basin San Francisco Giants podcast we go inside the mind of former Giants reliever George Kontos to find out what it’s like for a Major League player at the trade deadline. Kontos goes back to 2016, remembering the Matt Duffy/Matt Moore trade and tackles questions about whether or not the Giants will be active this week. He also analyzes Kevin Gausman as the San Francisco ace looks to return to All Star form.
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated once a week and celebrating its 12th season on TheSportsVirus.com!
On this week’s Inside China Basin former Giant Lance Niekro (2003-2007) joins us. He is now the head coach at Florida Southern University and one of his players, OF Vaun Brown, was recently drafted in the 10th round by San Francisco. We reminisce about his career and talk at length about the knuckleball, which made his dad Joe and uncle Phil (a Hall of Famer) famous.
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated once a week and celebrating its 12th season on TheSportsVirus.com!
On this week’s Inside China Basin San Francisco Giants podcast former SF reliever George Kontos takes us inside the Giants clubhouse to learn more about the personalities of All Stars Brandon Crawford and Buster Posey. He also analyzes why All Star Kevin Gausman has been dominating this season and gives his thoughts on Shohei Ohtani.
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated once a week and celebrating its 12th season on TheSportsVirus.com!
On this week’s Inside China Basin San Francisco Giants podcast former SF reliever George Kontos is back to talk about some key calls and decisions in Monday night’s Giants/Dodgers game. Plus we analyze Steven Duggar and Brandon Crawford, discuss MLB’s pitcher’s checks for foreign substances and get into the relationship between pitcher and catcher..
Kontos on the way MLB is checking pitchers:“It’s been silly from the first day they implemented all of this stuff because it’s been done so backwards and so amateur hour when you’re talking about Major League baseball, the best players in the world and this is how they are being treated coming off the field because of the inability of MLB to do this in the proper manner.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated once a week and celebrating its 12th season on TheSportsVirus.com!
Former KNBR talk show host Ray Woodson and sports photographer Brad Mangin join Inside China Basin this week. Woodson and Joe Castellano discuss why the current Giants have surprised the baseball world. Mangin takes us down memory lane as we remember a grand slam in 1978 by Mike Ivie against the Dodgers and other great moments that he has experienced as a photographer.
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated once a week and celebrating its 12th season on TheSportsVirus.com!
On this week’s Inside China Basin San Francisco Giants podcast former SF reliever George Kontos is back this week to talk about the Giants entering June with the best record in the National League. He explains why bullpen roles are important, discusses the Giants winning three out of four in LA and shares some Cubs stories.
Kontos on the Trevor Bauer/Maurico Dubon showboating rivalry:“If you’re going to dish it you need to be able to take it. After Dubon hit the homer and put his sword back in the sheath they asked Bauer about it and the response he gave was little hypocritical when he said you are barking up the wrong pitcher’s tree. I hope Dubon does it again and every single time after that. There’s always a two-lane street.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated once a week and celebrating its 12th season on TheSportsVirus.com!
On this week’s Inside China Basin San Francisco Chronicle columnist John Shea, who is also the co-author of the Willie Mays book 24 joins Inside China Basin to discuss what we learned from the Giants getting swept at home by the Dodgers. He gives his thoughts on Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt in the final year of their contracts with San Francisco. We also take a look at why the modern game has former Major Leaguers concerned about its future.
Shea talked about Posey staying fresh:“What they’re doing with Posey is fascinating. It’s not put him out there until he needs a rest, it’s plan rest in advance and don’t be surprised if he sits out at least one game out of every three….Kapler’s theory is I’d rather have him at 100% two out of three days or three out of five days than play him four out of five, five out of six and not have his leg strength at the plate.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated once a week and celebrating its 12th season on TheSportsVirus.com!
On this week’s Inside China Basin San Francisco Giants podcast former SF reliever George Kontos takes us inside the mind of a relief pitcher as he analyzes the Giants somewhat shaky bullpen. We also discuss the Hall of Fame resume of catcher Buster Posey while addressing the question of whether or not Buster should play more games.
Kontos assessed the Giants bullpen struggles:“It’s a very difficult situation and kinda dicey because there’s a clear separation on who Kap (Gabe Kapler) and (Andrew) Bailey trust right now…Everyone goes through (pitching struggles). Sergio Romo, Javier Lopez, Jeremy Affeldt, Santiago Casilla – I can remember all of those guys at some point went through a funk, but they always got back on the horse, because they were professionals, they worked at it and the confidence came and got right back in their corner.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated once a week and celebrating its 12th season on TheSportsVirus.com!
Steve Berman, the Bay Area Sports Guy from The Athletic joins us for a local angle on why the Giants are in first place in the NL West and he gives us insight into his sports media column. Then, national baseball columnist Bob Nightengale from USA Today expresses his surprise at the Giants early season success and tells us why he votes for Barry Bonds to be in the Hall of Fame.
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated once a week and celebrating its 12th season on TheSportsVirus.com!
On this week’s Inside China Basin San Francisco Giants podcast former SF reliever George Kontos relates to Mike Tauchman making the move from the Yankees to the Giants since he was in the same situation in 2012. Also, we talk about Madison Bumgarner’s 7-inning no-hitter, pitchers hitting, why Buster Posey and Evan Longoria have been back to their old selves and freak injuries.
Kontos compares playing in New York to playing in San Francisco: …“(In New York) you’re going to have 50 media members in the clubhouse that are going to micro-manage everything and give their opinions and judge and criticize. It takes a very mentally strong individual to have long term success playing for a New York market team…Coming out West and playing for the Giants you are already built up and you’ve been toughened by that market. When you come to the West Coast, everything is still talked about, it’s just not made such a buzz about and you’ve already hardened your emotions to it where you can just go out there and play and not care what the media says. It allows you to have a lot more success and be yourself.”