© Neville E. Guard | 2021 Apr 14
My new Giants spirit animal is backup catcher Curt Casali, who sized up the team’s 8-4 start, praised the team’s versatility, belief and chemistry, then issued what essentially qualifies as the Sermon on the Mount in the Farhan/Gabe Era:
“We’re vibin’, as the kids say . . . that doesn’t make me sound too old, does it?”
Haha! Shout out to Dads everywhere who try to keep up with the kids. You may or may not be reading one right now. Not a day goes by on the Murph & Mac Show without my attempt to quote Drake or Da Baby without some sort of comical mishap.
And if Casali is my spirit animal, I have to say he shares top billing with this dude, whose viral video from a few years back *literally* had many friends of mine wondering if this, truly, was actually your boy Murph getting down at a festival:
No joke. If you’ve never met me, or seen me a a concert, this guy is about an 8.5 for my act.
But . . . back to the Giants! Enough Jock Blog blabbing.
The Giants! 8-4, and looking . . . legit?
All of us dubious about Farhan Zaidi’s collection of one-year deals and Gabe Kapler’s army of coaches may have to start piling aboard the Winning Express, leaving home plate daily.
If you remember last year’s 21-15 finish to the shortened season, the Giants are a combined 29-19 dating back to last year, with the essentially the same cast of characters. Of course, figures like Jake McGee (who may be worthy of his own Jock Blog) and Tommy La Stella and Anthony DeSclafani and Aaron Sanchez are new, but a lot of these guys are the same.
Oh, and there’s also that new guy named Buster. Savvy pickup by the front office. Gee, the Giants’ team ERA is 4th in baseball with Buster Posey back on the team. Eerie intergalactic coincidence, or potential Hall of Fame catcher in the crouch? You make the call.
There seems to be nothing fluky about the 8-4 start. Maybe you can point out the schedule has been soft, but taking two of three in San Diego was not soft at all. And when you get the Colorado Rockies in China Basin, good teams sweep them, don’t give a game away. The Giants swept them. And when David Bell’s feisty Cincy Reds were looking to take the series from Gabe’s Babes, they ran into Johnny Cueto (pre-lat tightness), Caleb Baragar, Logan Webb, Tyler Rogers and McGee. Boom. Giants won the series.
Funny that it’s been pitching leading the way. For us old school National League dudes, it’s heartwarming. Home runs are fun, and the Giants are fifth in MLB with 17. But reminders of the days of Lincecum and Cain and Bumgarner (oof) and Vogelsong and Wilson and Romo and Lopez and Casilla are warm, rich memories. It’s also how ballgames have been won for, oh, 150 years.
And what about that non-analytic intangible that Casali mentioned — the whole “vibin’” thing?
It counts. The age-old chicken/egg question — does “vibin’” create wins; or do wins create “vibin’” — is a fun one to chew on. But Brandon Crawford told us on the show both from Scottsdale and Seattle that the Giants believe they are much better than the 75-win prognosticators.
No, they haven’t played the Dodgers, or Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt and the Cardinals (I just shivered) or de Grom and the Mets or Acuna and the Braves. But they’re 8-4 and 2nd best in the NL, and they’re vibin’.
Curt Casali, you keep being you.