San Francisco Giants off day updates

Oct 7, 2014; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants right fielder

(middle) is welcomed back to the dugout after the sixth inning of game four of the 2014 NLDS baseball playoff game against the Washington Nationals at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

The San Francisco Giants stayed the night in St. Louis after the 5-4 loss on Sunday night and flew home on Monday morning before heading out for a workout at AT&T Park and the off day press conferences. I’m going to start by getting you fired up about two “villains” that make all San Francisco Giants fans want to throw something.

Bulletin Board Material

We will start with John Lackey. We all remember 2002. Don’t think we are over it Mr. Lackey. Here’s what he had to say about the current lineup for the San Francisco Giants:

Thanks for adding fuel to the fire. Also, thanks for your outstanding grammar. I hope you give up lots of runs to the “not Barry Bonds” lineup. And now on to everyone’s favorite catcher, A.J. Pierzynski. I don’t really need to say too much because every San Francisco Giants fan already has a strong dislike for him. If he’s catching Lackey today though, I hope AT&T Park doesn’t explode.    

Key Injuries 

Starting catcher Yadier Molina went down with a strained left oblique in Sunday night’s game and as far as everyone in St. Louis is concerned, he’s the Cardinals’ Angel Pagan in a lot of ways. If Molina can’t play the rest of the series, this could be detrimental to the Cardinals both offensively and mostly defensively.

Manager Mike Matheny seems very optimistic about Molina’s injury though and even though he can’t swing a bat, there’s still a possibility for him to be used for late inning defense.

This is the same injury that kept Michael Morse on the shelf for almost six weeks so it wouldn’t surprise me if everyone is being overly optimistic about the severity of the injury. I also think it’s interesting that they decided to hold 3 catchers on the roster for the championship round when they only had 2 catchers for the divisional round. Makes you wonder if something was bothering Molina before Sunday night. Worth noting, apparently Jean Machi lost his entire pinkie fingernail on Monday.

For some reason that really makes me cringe but he sounds like he will be fine. Maybe the pinkie nail was just holding him back and he will pitch the best he’s ever pitched without it.

The Hunter Strickland Home Run Problem

He throws a sexy 100 MPH but Hunter Strickland has given up 4 home runs in the playoffs so far, all to power hitting lefties. The fact that Bruce Bochy went to Jeremy Affeldt so early in the game on Sunday leads me to believe two things: he wanted to save Yusmeiro Petit in case it went to extras or in case Tim Hudson couldn’t go very long on Tuesday and he has no faith in Tim Lincecum to pitch in close games right now.

This forced Hunter Strickland to pitch in another dicey situation with a hard hitting lefty and when you throw 97-100 MPH, ball go far.

We’ve all learned to trust Bochy the bullpen ninja but in case he’s reading (I’m SURE he is), please for the sake of all of our blood pressure, please don’t let Hunter Strickland face any lefties today.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

I started by pissing you off and I will end with making you feel all warm and tingly inside. Check out this post from Tim Flannery‘s Lunatic Fringe Facebook page.

What looks like a hallway somewhere in their hotel in St. Louis, a bunch of guys gathered with Flan and Jake Peavy to produce an awesome rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” that will undoubtedly make you smile and laugh. Especially Pablo Sandoval on the harmonica.

This shows me that the team is still loose and confident and are in a good place coming back home for 3 games. Let’s get it done at home guys, we would all love to celebrate with you again!

Is it 1PM yet?