The available games, dates and number of tickets will be shown at the end of the blog before the rules. Remember when you email me back to identify the game, the date, and the number of tickets you want. Please whitelist my email so you get the blog posts and ticket offers all season long.
Oracle Park is now open for baseball (no restrictions) but bring a mask if anti-vaccine idiots sneak into the stadium.
The Power of Good Play and Beane Counts
Watching the 2021 Giants keeps us scratching our heads in wonder. Why is this team so good? Do they have team chemistry? Yes. Do they have suburb pinch hitters (like Darren Ruf)? Yes. Does Gabe Kapler always seem to make the right moves at the right time? Yes.
ESPN has a stat called Beane Count, named after the infamous Oakland A’s Billy Beane, the face of baseball’s modern analytics movement. The Beane Count is a simple stat, summing up a team’s ranks in home runs hit, walks drawn, home runs allowed, and walks allowed.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/beanecount
Need I say it? The Giants have the best Beane Count in baseball, ranking first in home runs hit, fourth in walks taken, second-fewest home runs allowed, and fewest walks issued. Their Beane Count is 8 (the Dodgers are 15). Not only are the Giants kicking ass in all the categories — they’re miles ahead of the other teams in the NL in home runs hit and lapping all of baseball with walks allowed.
The second-best Beane Count in baseball belongs to the Tampa Bay Rays, the team with the best record in the AL, and another playoff contender as September rolls around. The Rays and that team from LA played in last year’s World Series (remember 2020?). Those two teams were the AL and NL league leaders in Beane Count in the regular season in 2020.
Is the stat for real? When the Astros won the World Series in 2019, they had the best Beane Count in the American League. Given all the shifts this year the “Beane counters” have prevailed over the old guard, at least for the moment. Welcome to the modern game. The three true outcomes defining this modern game are two: walks and homers.
Strikeouts? There are so many strikeouts that the correlation between regular-season success and strikeout rate doesn’t seem to matter. Rather, it’s all about round-trippers and free baserunners these days. Because the Giants remain the best team in baseball in those categories (especially in the late innings), they are the best team in baseball overall.
The Roster goes to 26 on September 1st – What does that mean for the G-Men?
Gabe Kapler seems like a magician the way he mixes and matches players on offense and defense. He uses the entire roster the way the SF Philharmonic conductor plays the wind instruments against the horns. Gausman is being activated today, and Posey is starting. Solano is staying in NY with a breakthrough Covid case. None of this is news. What is news is that there are two players for every position, and they all play, and play well. The same with the pitchers. MacGee not available to close? Here comes Rodgers? Gausman goes on the DL? Here comes Logan Webb.
We can talk about how cool is has been to watch Kris Bryant and Brandon Crawford go for NL MVP, but there another 10 players on the Giants equally worthy.
The Schedule Doesn’t Get Any Easier from Here
The Giants are in the middle of a road trip to the East, and they play the NL East leading Braves over the weekend, and come home to the NL Central leading Brewers, followed by the Dodgers. It gets no better than that. It’s like three playoff series in a row.
Speaking of the playoffs, the G-Men and the Dodgers are really fighting for who hosts the divisional series, and who hosts the Wild Card game (want to place a bet that the other Wild Card will be the Reds – with a roster that reminds one of the Big Red Machine of the 70’s?). It’s time for stretch run baseball.
On the board ready to be picked up are:
MON: 8/30 [6:45] Brewers – 1 (I’m going)
WED: 9/1 [6:45] Brewers – 2
THU: 9/2 [12:45] Brewers – 4
FRI: 9/3 [6:45] Dodgers – 3 (I’m going)
Ciao, and GO GIANTS!
The Czar
We use mail chimp so give permission for the blog to arrive in your mailbox if you want to receive the blog and participate in the fun. Past blogs can be found at www.beveragelaw.com at the Czar’s blog archive.
THE PROTOCOL: the firm has four seats in Section 118 (Premium Lower Boxes), Rows 25 and 26. These are awesome seats directly below the press box and 25 rows behind home plate on the left side behind the screen. It is foul ball territory for left-handed batters so bring your glove – I have collected 17 foul balls myself over 19 years, am looking for more and caught my latest ball at the Cards game on July 5th [film available!]. If we don’t use all the tickets ourselves (or clients and friends of the firm don't claim them by calling me and reserving a game), then my next step is to give the tickets TO THE FIRST PERSON WHO GETS BACK TO ME PROVIDED THAT THEY ARE SERIOUS. If you ask for the tickets and don't use them, you will be taken off the list unless there is a seriously good reason. There will be a wait list.
When there are four seats available (we split up a lot of games) we will allocate the tickets two and two if the first people back just want two tickets. You can also go for four and might get them. I'm the Czar, my call.