[Mick]

I imagine the umpires union would make it difficult to have that terrible umpire tossed or suspended.  But man those were some miserable balls/strikes calls.  I don't blame Slater at all.  You can't swing at a pitch that's five inches inside that the catcher has to lunge to actually catch.

I agree that Kapler and the Giants should route the video to league headquarters.  The umpire shouldn't be umpiring in the majors.  He's clearly not up to it, whether it was the strain, poor stamina, bad eyesight, purposeful lean towards the other team.

Still, the Giants made their own beds.  Kapler cost the team at least three games this season because of bad decisions, and probably more.  I'm not a fan.

Two other things:  The Giants' top ten hitters all had career OPS years or near-career OPS years except Longoria and Dubon.  Crawford and Belt had very good years.  The Giants ended up sixth in the majors in OPS, fifth in batting average and eighth in runs scored.  Oddly, they were below average in walks.

Joey Bart?  I hope he gets a whole lot better his second year, otherwise he's the Joe Smith of the 2018 draft.

SF pitchers finished 18th in ERA and 16th in WHIP.  23rd in strikeouts.

For the longest time, the Giants had the worst fielding average and had the most errors in the league.  They settled down, finishing with the sixth most errors (41), 26th in fielding percentage and 25th in double plays.  Not a great fielding team.

Strong hitting, average pitching, below average fielding.  There's your 29-31 season in a nutshell.

[Mick]

I imagine the umpires union would make it difficult to have that terrible umpire tossed or suspended.  But man those were some miserable balls/strikes calls.  I don't blame Slater at all.  You can't swing at a pitch that's five inches inside that the catcher has to lunge to actually catch.

I agree that Kapler and the Giants should route the video to league headquarters.  The umpire shouldn't be umpiring in the majors.  He's clearly not up to it, whether it was the strain, poor stamina, bad eyesight, purposeful lean towards the other team.

Still, the Giants made their own beds.  Kapler cost the team at least three games this season because of bad decisions, and probably more.  I'm not a fan.

Two other things:  The Giants' top ten hitters all had career OPS years or near-career OPS years except Longoria and Dubon.  Crawford and Belt had very good years.  The Giants ended up sixth in the majors in OPS, fifth in batting average and eighth in runs scored.  Oddly, they were below average in walks.

Joey Bart?  I hope he gets a whole lot better his second year, otherwise he's the Joe Smith of the 2018 draft.

SF pitchers finished 18th in ERA and 16th in WHIP.  23rd in strikeouts.

For the longest time, the Giants had the worst fielding average and had the most errors in the league.  They settled down, finishing with the sixth most errors (41), 26th in fielding percentage and 25th in double plays.  Not a great fielding team.

Strong hitting, average pitching, below average fielding.  There's your 29-31 season in a nutshell.