One Moment in Time
A couple of Winter’s ago, I did the Retro Giant of the Day thing. That was cool, especially as it morphed into me digging up the most random Giant I could find. It culminated with me crank calling Phil Nastu’s house one afternoon and his brother trying to score free beers from me at a common game we were both going to. Seems like a natural progression of a daily widget, right? LQTM……
The Culberson call up got me thinking again about just how close some of these ball players come to success. And I’m not just talking about making it *to* the big leagues, I’m talking about *makin’ it* in the big leagues. Yesterday, Charlie made it *to* The Show. His resourceful and well organized parents made it to the ball park in time to watch him play in what had to be his dad’s proudest moment as a parent. As Twin posted yesterday, his dad (a former Giants draft pick) never made it to the big leagues:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=culber001cha
Mr. “Baseball’s Starry Night”, Pawlie Kokonuts, posted a link about a guy named Rich Thompson who has had a single at bat in the major leagues in 13 seasons of minor league ball. He hit into a double play in his one at bat and has been trying to get back to the show ever since to avenge that failure. If you have the time, it’s an excellent read:
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/phillies/151273535.html
And then there’s guys like Coner Gillespe and Travis Blackley. Two guys who have had varying successes in the minor leagues were suddenly given the opportunity to play for San Francisco. Imagine how ecstatic they were to get *the call*. Probably as happy as Culberson was to get *the call*. Probably not quite as happy as Thompson will be if he ever gets *the call* again……
After some fairly miserable performances, both Gillespe and Blackley were sent back down (with Blackley being designated for assignment). Talk about your roller coaster of emotions. Neither has probably been able to sleep much this week, lamenting their few but failed opportunities.
I’m reminded of the beginning lyrics to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” song:
“Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?”
And whatever you may think about Eminem, that line applies EXACTLY to a pro baseball player like Gillespe, Blackley and Culberson. These players put so much time into not just becoming a major league player but STAYING one, too. Burriss had to watch Culberson stroll into the clubhouse and probably just shook his head sideways and quietly. He’s in a different boat, he’s tasted success far more than the other guys—but his *success* has been on baseball’s periphery, barely hanging on somewhere in the shadows of the clubhouse. Still, those 3 are probably envious…….
Sometimes you only get one chance. The failure and frustration rate is so great for some………
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
THAT is what I love about Blanco…make shit happen on the basepaths…
EXACTLY….
Nice seeing-eye bunt.
Send Arias.
Arias couldn’t do that again with 500 bunts. Posey has got to get the ball in the air here
Double steal.
Buster time!
Fuck yeah Buster!
Hooooooooooooo . . . nice.
That’s a huge confidence builder for Posey!
Or he could do that..
Had a bad feeling after Melky popped up-nice game for Buster..
Pill needs to atone for that last AB…
THAT’S what I’m talkin’ about!!!
Insurance Pill!
Wow. Pill can look real bad sometimes.
Uh, nevermind.
One way a mgr instills confidence in a player.
The thing about Pill,he can look foolish at times like alot of Giants but he produces more times then not.
Well, he won’t play tomorrow, it will be Belt against the RHer. Tough night for Charlie but I doubt he sits. Belt for Pill, otrher than that, same LU I think.
No one becomes an accomplished hitter with 100 ml ab’s. Give the kid a freaking break.
He’s got his shots…and he’ll get more. But you have to spread the playing time…I agree with Twin…Belt for Pill…otherwise, probably same LU…
Was the blond Culberson’s wife? Fuck, he better make it up here, she’s gonna be quite expensive to satisfy as the years go on based on the hair, scarf, lips, general “Fuckability” she seems to possess…
lqtm. And they say the players wives worry about their men on the road. In her case . . . uhh, no.
Yep…that was her…expecting their first in October…she is bombing…
DP…
How old is Giambi? Isn’t he like 106?
Oh shit . . .
WTF??????????????
SHUT THE GODDAMN DOOR! FUCKING ERROR!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, fuck.
That was the fucking ballgame he makes that play…
Whew…nasty shit…
Bill Buckner could have done better.
GOT to get the K here
Casilla . . . no walks now…..
Santiago channeling B-Weezie…
Wilson save. Casilla balks every single time
or HBPs
Weeeeee Doggies!
Poetic justice for Arias. Good play.
hooooooooooooooooooo boy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Fuck…can you make it ANY MORE INTERESTING!!??
Fucking AAAAAAA, good win. See you all tomorrow.
Exhale….seriously, casilla never comes to a complete stop. His hand and glove move constantly…
Orange and Black FOREVER…catch ya on the flip-side Flappers!
Way tougher play to end it… and hey, I missed Wilson. That’s more like it.
Nice win!
Sing it Tony!
I ripped Pill for that bad AB, so I’ll give him credit for that later AB in the 8th for that insurance run, tho’ it was pretty much a seeing eye job. At least he put wood on the ball, that’s cool. As for the 9th, these guys sure make it interesting — I went through an extra damn bourbon. Arias with a gag job, then closes it with a great play. Weird. POTG has to be Blanco. This dude has to keep playing leadoff. He just creates too much havoc for the other team….
Contrary to popular opinion, Bochy knows what his guys are doing. The job is Blanco’s…
Bochy has totally fucked up Belt since the get go…
Casilla does look like he might be balking but he’s never been called for one in 269 games. Maybe it’s new or else he’s making a brief stop. I dunno, but he’s doing the job.
I hadn’t really noticed it till tonight. He stepped off the mound a couple of times too. Buster kept giving him the “slow down” hand signal….I dunno, tonight he just looked much tighter wound…
And I agree, the play to end it was awesome– that’s the kind of shit that brings a clubhouse together
Another gutty start by Vogey, Blanco with hits big and small, Buster and Pill-ster come through in the clutch, and a whole lotta drama from Casilla and Arias to save it. Hey, that’s 3 in a row! Don’t think they’ve won 4 straight yet this season, so let’s hope Timmy brings it tomorrow to finish the mini-sweep.
Nice K on fowler…what happened to that guy? he’s hitting .220, and should have struck out twice tonight; he used to kill us. Casilla is hard to hit, throws very hard and has good breaking ball. fun to watch.
Rox and Dbs, our division rivals, each have 21 losses on the season. Only teams with more in all of baseball are pads and twins. Like my mentor told me when he was coaching us, when you got em by the balls, you gotta squeeze.
“Squeeze”……tightly…
Vogey going 7 so I guess the injection worked?