SF Giants Press Clips Saturday, August 25Th, 2018
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SF Giants Press Clips Saturday, August 25th, 2018 San Francisco Chronicle Giants’ Posey to have season-ending hip surgery Monday Henry Schulman The decision was cemented long before Buster Posey squatted for 10 innings Friday night and endured what he called "about as tough as loss as I can recall." Posey and the Giants already determined he would have season-ending arthroscopic surgery in Vail, Colo., on Monday to repair the torn labrum and remove bone spurs in his right hip, injuries that at times debilitated him in what is now a lost season for the team. Posey wanted to play as long as possible before boarding a plane for Colorado on Sunday, and he was in there in the first of three against the Rangers, walking twice and hitting an RBI single in the Giants’ 7-6, 10-inning loss — a game they led 6-0. Had the Giants not fallen into the competitive abyss, Posey might have waited until season's end to have the operation. Now, there is no point in playing another inning. Head athletic trainer Dave Groeschner told Posey the typical recovery time is six to eight months. The 2019 season will begin seven months and a day after the surgery. Dereck Rodriguez, wearing his special Players Weekend jersey, returned to the mound after a hamstring injury. "You don't want to say you're out of it until you're out of it," Posey said in the near-midnight silence of a losing clubhouse at AT&T Park. "But unfortunately, where we are, it makes sense to take care of it right now. "I think if everything goes smoothly, and there are no hiccups, I'll be ready to go next Opening Day. From everything I've researched and heard, the outcome is generally pretty good and I can get back the range in my hip that's vital for hitting and squatting." In that final word, Posey made it clear that if he does start the 2019 opener, he plans to be behind the plate. Posey has chosen Dr. Marc J. Philippon of the Steadman Clinic to perform the operation. He also had consulted an equally renowned hip specialist, Dr. Bryan Kelly, in New York earlier in the week. As late as Friday the medical staff was gathering more details from diagnostic tests. Kelly performed a similar operation on then-Reds catcher Devin Mesoraco in July, 2016. Mesoraco, who required multiple hip surgeries and also had a shoulder ailment, did not play again until late April, 2017. But he is fine now, playing for the Mets. Posey was not sure if he would give the faithful one more shot to see him play Saturday. If Friday's game was his last in 2018, man oh man. The Giants had a 4-0 lead after one inning, with Andrew McCutchen homering to start the rally against Drew Hutchison. Thanks part to Posey's RBI single in the fourth, they took a 6-0 lead. The Giants, coming off a 4-6 trip that finally persuaded management that the playoffs were not to be, at least were destined to beat a team worse than they are to please the faithful in the opener of a nine-game homestand. The Rangers chipped away at the lead, first scoring twice in the fifth against an otherwise excellent Dereck Rodriguez on a Shin-Soo Choo bloop single. Joey Gallo produced the next two runs with a homer in the seventh against Reyes Moronta and a broken-bat RBI single off Mark Melancon in the eighth, which narrowed the Giants' lead to 6- 4. The Giants still were one second from victory until Joe Panik booted Choo's groundball with two outs in the ninth. Rougned Odor tied the game 6-6 on Will Smith's next pitch, lining a homer into McCovey Cove. The Rangers won it in the 10th when Sam Dyson lost the strike zone with two outs and two on. He walked Ronald Guzman and Robinson Chirinos on eight pitches, the latter forcing home the winning run. "It was lost earlier," manager Bruce Bochy said. "There were so many things you could look at. Sometimes you've got to put the game away. We had a chance to put the game away, we didn't and it haunted us." Therein lies another insult to injury for the Giants. They had the bases loaded with one out in the eighth and a chance to seal it when Cory Gearrin came on to strike out Brandon Belt and Evan Longoria and strand the runners. Gearrin pitched a perfect ninth as well. The former Giants setup man got the win, striking out four of his five hitters, and beat Dyson, the former Rangers closer. The game ended with Posey on deck hoping for one more shot to lift his team after a season worth of painful plate appearances that yielded a .284 average and power numbers that clearly were affected by the hip. His five homers and .382 slugging percentage were both career lows, not counting 2011, when he hit four homers before Scott Cousins ended his season horrifically in late May. Posey and the Giants expect that Monday's operation will allow him to be more of who he once was at the plate. After announcing his surgery, Posey talked about what the season was like playing with the injury. "I just tried to make adjustments, some occasional alterations in my swing mechanics so I can clear (the hip) and not get stuck," he said. "Some days were better than others. Some days I was feeling the way I’m used to feeling. Some days I was feeling locked up. "Hopefully after I get this done I'll get a more consistent feeling back." San Francisco Chronicle Giants starter Jeff Samardzija has yet another shoulder setback Henry Schulman One of the boxes the Giants hoped to check off in a lame-duck September was getting Jeff Samardzija on the mound for a few starts, his right shoulder healed, to propel him into the offseason and 2019. That increasingly looks unlikely. Samardzija was meeting with team doctors Friday to plot a new course after the right-hander again felt pain during an otherwise successful four-inning rehab start for Double-A Richmond, Va., on Wednesday. “There is a little concern there, to be honest,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “There’s some soreness. He’s not real close.” This marks another setback in a ruined third season in San Francisco for Samardzija. He began the year on the disabled list with a strained pectoral muscle and is serving his second additional DL stint with shoulder soreness. He has made 10 starts this year for the Giants, most recently July 14 in Oakland, with a 6.25 ERA. The Giants have said they do not envision a surgical solution for Samardzija, which Bochy reiterated Friday. “I haven’t heard that,” he said. “The diagnostic tests haven’t shown anything needing surgery.” Holland apology: Pitcher Derek Holland met with reporters and offered a second apology upon the team’s return from New York for his actions during an appearance with Giants massage therapist Haro Ogawa on the MLB Network program “Intentional Talk” on Wednesday. As part of what was meant to be a funny dialog with Ogawa, Holland spoke in a caricatured Asian voice, which some viewers found offensive. Holland meant it as a humorous exchange with Ogawa, a friend, but said he understood why it came off differently. “No matter how you look at it, it may be funny to us, or anybody who got a laugh out of it, but it’s not funny to everybody else,” Holland said. “We’re not trying to offend anybody. But that is what happened. With that being said, we shouldn’t have done that to begin with. “We screwed up the whole situation. Our entertainment was somebody else’s (humiliation). It’s not good.” Holland faces no discipline from the league, which was satisfied with the Giants’ statement acknowledging Holland’s insensitivity and Holland’s apology Thursday in New York. The Giants on Friday still were discussing internal options for Holland to make amends. Roster moves: The Giants optioned pitcher Casey Kelly to Triple-A Sacramento to clear a 25- man spot for Dereck Rodriguez, who had been on the DL. San Jose Mercury News Buster Posey vs. Father Time: The battle that will drive Giants’ offseason decisions Kerry Crowley NEW YORK — Father Time has an undefeated record, but he’s especially harsh when it comes to major league catchers. Father isn’t particularly patient and he has a habit of exposing weaknesses. A sore knee here, a twisted ankle there. Eventually, he pinpoints a deficiency and pounces. There are those that survive a few blows. Hall of Famer Ivan Rodríguez spent 21 years behind the plate, but even Rodríguez’s run came to an end in 2011. Mike Piazza also fought back, but a 16-year stint in the majors halted after Piazza played half of a season in Oakland in 2007. Some like Joe Mauer are forced to alter their plan of attack and try to hit Father from a different angle like first base. Others like Yadier Molina won’t change their strategy. Father Time comes for everyone, and now, he’s delivered a devastating punch to the face of the Giants franchise. Giants vice president of baseball operations Brian Sabean announced Thursday that hip surgery is imminent for Posey, who will soon be shut down and miss the remainder of another season that got away from the Giants.