Going to breweries is fun. Going to the best beer bars is funner.
The best breweries can nail multiple styles and give you different looks, it’s true. But, unless the brewery has guest taps, they won’t really give you the type of choice that lies in front of you when you saddle up to the bar at a place like Toronado in San Francisco.
— toronado (@toronado) August 24, 2018
I mean, just look at that splendor. You’ve got great light beers (Radeberger Pils! Allagash White!), great pale ales (Fieldwork! Alvarado Street! Bare Bottle!), great sours (Rare Barrel! Sante Adairius!), and great dark beers (Firestone Walker! Epic!). What a recipe for financial ruin.
Even better, you could, as I did, take an Ethiopian food break and hit up TWO beer bars on one night and really sample the world. Hey, if you get that hall pass, you take full advantage.
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We should take a moment to appreciate the work that goes into these great structures. After talking to the proprietor of Beer Basement in San Francisco, you might better understand the inner workings. To get some Bottle Logic IPAs from Southern California, for example, the owner would drive kegs up himself at great expense.
“But that’s a rare tap handle to see up here,” he pointed out, “so it’s worth it.”
No sampler platters at Beer Basement, though.
“There are something like 40 to 42 full beers in each of those kegs, and everyone here wants new beer, fresh beer, something they haven’t seen before,” the owner said. “If I pour you a bunch of four-ounce tasters, I have to sell three times as many beers for that keg and it’s harder to turn it over into something new.”
With handles from Moonraker and Bottle Logic, the Beer Basement has its unique take on things in San Francisco, and it absolutely belongs on the list of best beer bars I’ve been to. Here’s the rest of that list, as far as I can remember:
- The Good Hop, Oakland
- Beer Basement, San Francisco
- Toronado, San Francisco
- Toronado, San Diego
- Small Bar, San Diego
- The Ginger Man, New York
- Blind Tiger, New York
- The Owl Farm, Brooklyn
- The Pine Box, Seattle
- Chuck’s Hop Shop, Seattle
- Brick Store Pub, Atlanta
- Max’s Taphouse, Baltimore
- Of Love & Regret, Baltimore
- Churchkey, Washington D.C.
- Meadhall, Boston
- Bangers, Austin
- Craft Pride, Austin
- Sunset Beer Company, Los Angeles
- Father’s Office, Los Angeles
- Map Room, Chicago
- The Beer Temple, Chicago
- Local Option, Chicago
- The Wandering Tortoise, Phoenix
- King’s Convenience, Phoenix
- Falling Rock Tap House, Denver
- Queen City Exchange, Cincinnati
- Bar Hop, Toronto
- Butcher and the Boar, Minneapolis
- Original Gravity, San Jose
It might not be obvious right away, but Yoán Moncada has improved this year. The results haven’t gotten better — they’ve actually gotten worse — but in a key way, he’s made strides. If he’d qualified for this leaderboard of improvers in one key plate discipline stat, he’d have made the 10th-biggest leap between this year and last:
| Name | 18 Z-O Swing | 17 Z-O Swing | Diff Z-0 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Xander Bogaerts | 32.3% | 20.2% | 12.1% |
| Aledmys Díaz | 40.4% | 30.2% | 10.2% |
| Guillermo Heredia | 48.0% | 39.3% | 8.7% |
| Gerardo Parra | 41.0% | 32.6% | 8.4% |
| Max Kepler | 40.3% | 32.2% | 8.1% |
| Mookie Betts | 39.2% | 31.7% | 7.5% |
| Aaron Hicks | 45.7% | 38.6% | 7.1% |
| Denard Span | 43.5% | 36.6% | 6.9% |
| J.T. Realmuto | 39.4% | 32.9% | 6.5% |
| Yoán Moncada | 38.5% | 32.0% | 6.5% |
He’s swinging at more strikes and swinging at fewer balls, which has treated many of these players well this year. But not Moncada, who is somehow striking out more and walking less despite making this fundamental change under the hood.
All strikes are not equal, I guess. He’s being thrown more sliders this year, and he’s swinging at them more often in the zone. Here’s last year’s swing heat map against sliders:
And now that he’s being thrown more sliders? More swings.
When we talked to Eric Thames earlier in the season, he pointed out that just because a player has a good sense of the strike zone doesn’t mean there aren’t places within the strike zone that are weaknesses. Then, Joey Votto told us about how important it is to not have a hole within the zone, because pitchers will constantly go to it.
In other words, it’s good that Yoán Moncada is not swinging at breaking balls that are off the plate down. But if you can throw him a breaking ball that’s in the zone and down, you’ll probably get this result.
Hell, even one high in the zone might give him problems.
And it’s not something you can just take your way out of.
It’s good that Moncada doesn’t reach at balls and has improved his ability to swing at strikes. He’s in the top third of the league in that regard now, and that skill alone will lead to walks and power. As is, his defense, power, patience, and baserunning should make him a league average player.
But we’re nearly 800 plate appearances into his career, and he hasn’t shown the ability to cover this hole in the zone, and he’s only going to see more breaking balls as his career goes on. He needs to be able to handle these pitches if he’s going to be a star.
Where should I go in Boston next weekend? I’ll have very limited time.
— Greg Sasso (@gregsasso) August 23, 2018
Night Shift and Trillium are the traditional answers to this query, but the former is not that easy to get to. And the latter, well, I haven’t been to it and can’t speak to either its proximity to where you’re staying or how crowded it will be.
I can recommend two two-part beer afternoons, though.
You could go to Row 34 in the seaport and get some kickass oysters from their raw bar, and enjoy a killer beer list while you eat. Trillium’s brewery is around the corner, but you can’t drink there. Still, an enjoyable meal plus some takehomes is a score.
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Or, if you’re in Cambridge, there’s the Lord Hobo / Lamplighter connection that you can make. Both are excellent breweries with slightly different strengths, and they are within walking distance of each other and central to most things in Boston. I enjoyed that combo maybe too heavily before a game at Fenway and only left the conference around three to do so.
You think the Dodgers can turn it around and make the playoffs?
— Jeff Akune (@akunematata) August 23, 2018
Yes. Have had the best run differential in their division and should continue to do so. Have had clutch problems but have been missing one of their best bats and their closer. Their returns will fix what ails them, and as they get healthier across the board, those extra starters will beef up the bullpen. This is a very good team and by most accounts — other than actual wins and losses — better than the ones they are chasing. And we’re talking about three games here, something a good weekend can change.
Are the Rockies good enough to win it all?
— Las Vegas 51s Fan (@elijahack12) August 23, 2018
Their offense is 10th in runs scored, but for a team that calls Coors home, that seems like a misleading stat. They’re 20th in walk rate, 23rd in strikeout rate, and 12th in scoring away from home. Doesn’t seem like a great strength, though maybe David Dahl’s addition will give them a strong one-through-five. Just wish they’d used the trade periods to improve the back end of their lineup.
Away from home, their pitching allows the 10th-lowest offensive numbers, or sixth-best in the National League. Amazingly, after spending all that cash on the bullpen, it’s the starting rotation powering those numbers, and I do believe in Jon Gray and German Márquez as front-of-the-rotation guys. Shortening their rotation and pushing some of those guys to the pen could help their staff.
If they were in the American League, I would easily say no. There’s no unit on this team that’s as good as the best units in the AL playoff hunt. And though they might have a higher floor than a unit like the A’s starting rotation or the Red Sox bullpen, I just don’t see them hanging with those teams in your typical series.
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But in the National League, they might have enough to catch fire at the right time and power through the playoffs. Imagine them hosting a wild-card game in Coors; that would be fun. And if they get all the way there … anything can happen. Imagine Gray as Madison Bumgarner — all of the think pieces.
Is Tyler White the answer at 1B for the Astros?
— Jake Kucheck (@TheSFGiantsGuy) August 23, 2018
He’s a little over his head right now, but given his launch angles and exit velocities, his expected slugging percentage (.561 on xStats.org) looks a lot like his minor-league number (.569). His batting average might dip, but he will get on base and hit for power, and that’s something the Astros could use at first. Even in their championship run last year, the Astros’ first basemen ranked 19th in the big leagues. White’s projected work — which is less exuberant than I would be — would rank 13th in the big leagues. He’s here to stay.
Would you rather deploy an outfield full of Matt Chapman’s or an infield full of JBJ’s for 162?
— Alex Duvall (@duvy_013) August 23, 2018
It’s really hard to translate great work in the infield to the outfield, and vice versa. They seem like fundamentally different things. Then again, we’ve seen guys like Dee Gordon transition decently to the outfield — and we haven’t seen the reverse all that often. So, I’ll try Chapman all over my outfield, please.
Why am I so fat
— Matt (@mattdennewitz) August 23, 2018
You eat better than me, too! Can’t answer for you, but I’m guessing for me it’s the beer. YOU’RE NOT TAKING BEER FROM ME, MATT. DON’T DO IT.
(Top photo of Moncada: Kim Klement / USA TODAY Sports)
