Should Giants change Oracle Park dimensions? Triples Alley hosts debate

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Editor's Note: Immediately after Giants Postgame Live on Friday night, tune into Triples Alley on NBC Sports Bay Area and streaming on the MyTeams app. Therese, Carmen and Cole will break down the Giants-Dodgers game.

Not only is Triples Alley the name of our beloved show, but it’s also the area of the ballpark that is filled with memories… good, bad, and ugly. 

The talk about bringing in the fences has always existed but now more than ever, it’s become a reality. The ball is juiced but it doesn’t seem to matter when the Giants are at home - this season the Giants are hitting .229 avg at Oracle Park and are ranked 29th in home runs at home this season. So much for home-field advantage. 

The Triples Alley crew weighs in on this...and discuss what might happen to the name of their show if Triples Alley goes belly up. 

THERESE: I don’t know how this topic is even a debate other than people being hung up on the nostalgia of “Triples Alley” at Oracle Park, but if we must then we must. CUT INTO TRIPLES ALLEY AND MOVE THE BULLPENS THERE. It’s the most logical place to put the bullpens in Oracle Park. I know Larry Baer says there are other potential changes, but I don’t see it happening without major spending costs for the organization. 

The bullpens need to be moved as soon as possible. Must one more player suffer a devastating injury at Oracle Park for the sake of aesthetics? Have you forgotten what happened to Mac Williamson? **Gasp** Or what about Steven Duggar? Enough is enough. In fact, WIlliamson summed it up best: “The point isn't to move them so we can win or move them so it's easier to hit home runs. Sure, that's a byproduct of it, but in my opinion it's move them for safety.” Safety kids… safety. 

COLE: Come on. There are so many places within the confines of 3rd and King to stash a couple of bullpens. Slide them into the right field wall, they can double as an event space! Relievers would even have a nice view of the Cove. I mean, if the Giants can fit a bowling alley at the ballpark, I’m sure they can find room for the bullpens without altering field dimensions.

Because let’s be honest. We can talk about safety all day, but that’s not what this is really about. People are desperate to get rid of the deep right-center to jack up home run numbers.

But I’m all about that deep Triples Alley. Give me that Ichiro All-Star Game inside-the-parker. Give me the Jonathan Sanchez triple off not-friend-of-the-show Mat Latos. Give me the broadcaster pump fakes when the ball gets blasted but ends up off the wall. And more than anything, give me the beautiful epic catches.  

CARMEN: I’m all for the beautiful defensive plays - beautiful defensive plays are a big part of my favorite moments in Giants history. Gregor Blanco in Matt Cain’s perfect game? Pence on the Fence? All the Angel Pagan things? We all love watching a good diving play, especially in Triples Alley, but enough is enough. Defensive plays mean nothing in terms of scoring runs to win games. 

This season, the Giants had a better road record than the Dodgers - you know, the winners of the NL West? But because they couldn’t produce at home, they are eight games below .500 instead of above. This season at home the Giants are only hitting .229 and only have 61 home runs. 61 home runs. That means they are battling it out with the Kansas City Royals for the cellar position in terms of power. Just for comparison purposes, San Diego, another ‘pitcher-friendly’ ballpark has 101 home runs and Seattle has 106.

Not only are home runs suffering at home, the Giants don’t even have the most triples in baseball even though they have a designated area to hit them! San Francisco has 16 whereas other teams like the Cubs, Diamondbacks, Royals, and Pirates have more. C’mon! Let’s just cheat a little bit by just scooting the fences in a smidge. 

COLE: Trying to appease the masses by inserting more home runs into the game? That’s starting to sound a lot like pro-DH talk. And around here, that’s considered high treason. HIGH. TREASON.

THERESE: This very much sounds like a “get-off-my-lawn” rant. In the words of Phoebe Buffay: “Get out of the bitter barn and play in the hay.” The hay being more RBI and more home runs. It’s fun in the hay… OK enough with this analogy LOL. But seriously if something isn’t working, why not fix it to make it better?! The Giants offense and the bullpens are trouble at home. Times are changing in baseball and Oracle Park needs to adapt. 

However, I will miss sections 101-104 doing the high-pitch and low-pitch “whoooop….whoooop” when the visiting team has a pitcher warming up in the bullpen. 

CARMEN: As much as it pains me to admit this, Cole is starting to convince me with all his “logic” aka threats of treason. The only thing that is really making me hold back is… um, the name of our show?! What are we supposed to call our show if they kill Triples Alley? I don’t want it to be a bad omen for the fate of our show… Do you guys have any suggestions for name changes? 

COLE: Maybe it would give us a chance to stop blaming the lack of home runs on “Triples Alley” by just straight-up calling the show “Warning Track Power.”

But, obviously I like the “Triples” aspect because there’s three of us. So “E-3?” “Bases Loaded?” “Golden Sombrero?” Wait, that one would be for four people.

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THERESE: I could roll with the “E-3” but only if E-40 would be willing to do the intro to our show. But I’m thinking we play to our audience and name our show “Last Call” since we give the last thoughts on the game that night and are probably the last show when all the bars close down. **Bonus** Maybe then we’ll get a beer company to sponsor our show :) Cole - I know I had to win you over with that logic. 

COLE: I’ll cheers to that. DM me, breweries.

CARMEN: Well, if none of those get picked up, we could always just stay “Triples Alley” and be vintage ¯_(ツ)_/¯

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