Son:
You were thrust into a remarkable situation.
These guys you faced are our nemesis for 138 years. The current version outspends us by hundreds of millions. You’re barely a full season in. What’d you play in a dozen games last season, as a rook?Command is what it is all about. And guess what, command is mental. So take tonight to learn the mentality. Have confidence. Stalk, and make the mound your own. Take your time. Then HIT your spots. Cause the show is no joke.
There’s a guy the TV folks hired to cover the games recently who utterly failed and screwed us in L.A. because of lack of command. He screwed Matt Cain out of a season opening win in Chavez shit-ass Ravine. He and others will now sit around talking about you. Don’t listen to them.
You had no business being thrust in that position this late in the season. Our current system demanded it. But you went out there, as Kap and co. asked you to do, and you knuckled down. You helped us save the rest of the guys in the ‘pen for the road trip. You dealt.
However, the curve/fastball combination is simply not enough in the show. You have got to develop command with other pitches. Play with your fingers on the ball. Improve that change-up, look for a slider, cutter, slurve. Your heater is great. Get control of it. That 95 mph strike was sick. Soon you will be joined by Trevor Rosenthal, a vet, a guy who knows. Learn from him.
We needed you to do it. That’s the system. You had to stay out there, despite it all. You did it, and got jacked by the most expensive team in all of baseball. They have hella hundreds of millions of dollars paid-for talent … that you faced – the highest paid side in all of MLB. They are the new Sith Lord. They are what the Yankees were in the 20th century – expensive talent.
You fought hard, TAKE LESSONS FROM IT.
head up.
MTK, Giants Baseball Corner
Dodgers, Bottom 8th
- Pederson in right field
- Wade Jr. at first base
- Villar as designated hitter
- Yastrzemski in center field
- LONG PITCHING FOR SF
- Freeman singled to left center
- Smith flied out to left
- Freeman to second on wild pitch by Long
- Muncy safe at first on fielding error by first baseman Wade Jr., Freeman safe at third on error
- Lux struck out swinging
- Lamb hit by pitch, Muncy to second
- Bellinger homered to right (383 feet), Freeman scored, Muncy scored and Lamb scored
- Thompson walked
- Betts popped out to shortstop
- 4 RUNS, 2 HITS, 1 ERROR
Giants Baseball Corner 
2 responses to “An Open Letter to Sam Long”
commented on
[…] Sam Long got caught in it in game two and I saw it clearly. The deal is you go out there and you endure and you pitch your inning. You get your three outs. This applies to starters, too. You get your five, or six or seven if we need it. They aren’t going to be pulled for giving up two or three or even five runs. Knowing they don’t have an ‘out’ forces them to try harder. Kapler’s just staring at them, going, “What? It’s you.” […]
commented on
[…] Sam Long got caught in it in game two and I saw it clearly. The deal is you go out there and you endure and you pitch your inning. You get your three outs. This applies to starters, too. You get your five, or six or seven innings if we need it. You aren’t going to be pulled for giving up two or three or even five runs. I guess the logic is that knowing they don’t have an ‘out’ forces them to step up, to try harder? Kapler’s just staring at them, going, “What? It’s you.” He has left a lot of kids hung out to dry. […]