The Second Choice
No. I’m not referring to the Bob Baffert 3yo filly that’s sitting on the tote board at 5/2 at Del Mar. If I were, only Flav and Loo would continue to read on. No. I’m talking about your second choice in favorite teams behind our beloved Giants. Do you even have a second favorite? Maybe there’s one you still follow that you rooted for from your childhood before you were transplanted to the Bay Area. Maybe you enjoy following the new team in your current area after being transplanted away. Maybe you have a relative that plays minor league ball for a certain organization that you like to keep tabs on.
I’ve always had a second favorite team. And although I know it won’t be a popular choice, my second favorite club has always been the New York Yankees. Yes, the dreaded “Evil Empire” themselves. I can hear the booing now. How did the Yanks become my second choice? Allow me to tell you…
When I was about ten or eleven-years-old, Moms and I sat down one afternoon and watched “The Pride of the Yankees.” You know the movie. It starred Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, and the great Walter Brennan. And who could forget The Babe playing himself. Lou Gehrig? Who the heck was Lou Gehrig? In the next two hours, I would learn his story. I was fascinated by his life as a baseball player, but I was even more deeply moved by his life as a man.
And so I started doing book reports on Lou Gehrig. I wanted to find out more about his baseball career and the disease that took his life at such a young age. That film had a profound effect on me. Funny how some pictures do that. So I wanted to know more. His story has been well documented, and this is not another Lou Gehrig book report, but I wanted to pass along one stat that still boggles the mind. In a three year stretch from 1930-32 Gehrig averaged 170 RBI a season. That’s unbelievable.
And so it began. At a point in life when each time I opened a Topps baseball card pack in hopes of finding a Darrell Evans, Jack Clark or a “Count” Montefusco, with Gehrig and the Yankees fresh in mind, I also started looking for a Graig Nettles, Roy White or if lucky, a Reggie. And they’ve been my second choice ever since.
So you guys know my dream scenario for the World Series. I know some of you are still waiting and wanting, perhaps even needing to avenge that loss back in ’62. Maybe this time our first baseman hits a liner in the bottom of the ninth in Game 7 that just goes over Cano’s head for the clincher. Who will be our first baseman in October? Your guess is as good as mine.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
And as commented by both Snarkk and Blade earlier, it looks like the Dodgers have acquired Hanley Ramirez.
Just doesn’t seem fair. The Bums get HanRam and we get Belt back into the lineup. Is the bar open yet?
Nice thread Dennis. Regardless of what one might think of the Yankees, they are a model franchise, that other franchises could learn from . . . The ones that cuss them out, whine about their payroll, and direct scorn their way – doesn’t it seem that they are the clubs that perennially are in the standings basement?
Regarding HanRam, I hope the Giants brain trust at 24 Willie Mays Plaza are working the phones this morning to upgrade our club. The Bums aren’t going to roll over, so forewarned and forearmed.
I didn’t even bring up the point how I admire how the Yanks conduct business. If the Giants had that kind of cash I’d expect them to spend it as well. And as Flav called ’em the other day, here starts the Dodgers becoming the left-coast Yankees. Looks like all they did was take on Hanley’s salary. There’s gonna be a flock of seagulls heading to Miami for the pile of garbage the Dodgers gave up in return.
HanRam doesn’t sound like he is going to be a rental either. The singles hitter, Gordon and the “Bum of the Month” player they have at 3rd base (Uribe, Cruz, Hairston and Kennedy) do not inspire confidence. Couple that with HanRam’s relatively young age of 28, they have essentially solved their infield problems, as well as added a needed bat in the middle of their order. If he hits and keeps his nose clean and minds his “Ps and Qs” this season, Magic, et. al., at Bum headquarters might grace him with a long term deal.
Make mine a double. That sucks.
Weatherproof games: Braves-Marlins, Yankees-Mariners, A’s-Blue Jays, Reds-Astros and Rockies-Diamondbacks
Tigers-Indians may be able to finish their evening game before heavy thunderstorms arrive in Cleveland sometime after 10 p.m. All of the other roofless stadiums should experience clear and sunny skies on Wednesday.
If the Dodgers get better than the Giants will get better. A strong rivalry is good for baseball on the West Coast. Look at the poor A’s, they have no rivals. Few care and they should. Their ownership have done their best to kill off interest in the EAST BAY.
Besides the Giants, the only other ML team I root for is the team that happens to be playing the Dodgers.
My second favorite baseball team? Would have to be the Flying Squirrels. Have Funn! Go Nuts!
But it’s really just Giants and Niners for me (although I have rooted for the Saints when they aren’t playing the 49ers).
As mentioned many times…grew up in Oklahoma and a Cards fan. So there is still a bit of love for them. I also like the A’s when they are not playing the Giants…just wish they would lose those gay-assed white shoes!
St Louis is another model franchise that I admire. They almost always field a good team and their fans are the absolute best. Good point Chi.
I had no internet link to the game last night, so hit the sack early . . . I saw all the comments about a great play that Pagan made last night – does anyone have a video replay link to this play? Thanks in advance 🙂
mlb.com has great video recaps of all the games. Don’t you go there every morning to recap the games you miss?
No, I have no time. Usually, I am researching and trading stocks; setting my FL line-ups; and fucking around here in the morning . . . Then off to the gym (where I am heading in a couple of minutes), lunch and/or coffee with friends . . . Only later this afternoon/early evening I will check video replays out and/or watch the Giants if there is an internet connection. My life is boring right now Flav . . . I need one of those “Dish” girls to bang. 🙂
the guy who’s retired “has no time?” That’s a good one. Anyway, it takes about 2 minutes to watch one of the video replays at mlb.com. Here’s the one from last night:
I am serious about that . . . In fact, when I am asked if I am going to go back to work again, I respond, “I don’t know where I would have time to work.” I’m fairly disciplined and keep busy . . . So much so, I look forward to the weekends just like you working stiffs. 🙂
Thanks! That was a great play, as well as that DP that Theriot and Crawford made. Later . . .
Dennis – great thread topic. And yes…I am one of those who hate the dreaded Yank-Mees, but I do admire them for the way they run their franchise. As others have said…they are a model franchise from which other franchises could learn. Deep pockets sure as hell do not hurt them, either.
A huge part of the Yanks success comes from nailing the YES network as their own. Comcast is hurting the Giants bottom line in that regard. And of course having a clear line of owners over very many years. And being in the biggest market, but my point was the value of YES to the team.
My 2nd favorite team is the A’s……Bahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I couldn’t even put together a joke post about that………
I don’t have a 2nd favorite team but I follow the Yankees closely. I watch almost as many Yankee games as I do Giants games. The YES Network is outstanding and I find the Yankee *brand* extremely interesting and engaging. But I don’t root for them in any way and I don’t care if they win or lose.
Regarding Hanley Ramirez: This isn’t too concerning. I think Hanley is a shell of what he once was and while I suppose it’s possible that he finds some type of re-birth with this move to LA I don’t expect it to happen. He improves their team slightly but it won’t be measurable enough, IMO.
Still can’t get over Pagan’s immediate throw back to the cut off man. To make the catch is one thing but to think you could double someone up after you tumbled and slid 15 feet is another thing all together.
Crawford’s perfect throw plus his other 2 double plays plus the game winning hit? He has really come into his own this week……..
Over the last seven days Crawford is hitting .261 and leading the team with 10 RBIs. If he was credited for the double he hit, his avg over the last 7 would be .304
I’m loving watching this kid put it together.
Funny, but except for the Yankees and Boston I never got into hating on a team. The yanks of the 60s seemed to win every year and be in the Series and a “Strat-O-Matic” HS buddy loved them and played them all the time.
I had a soft spot for cool players on certain teams, and the Reds and Pirates seemed to have more of them than others. But really, back in the 60s every team in the NL had guys with style and skill that I admired I dug the red machine, pops we are family bucs, the cards of brock and gibson..even the dodgers of wills and davis boys plus koufax and drysdale didn’t inspire intense dislike until garvey days. I thought dusty baker was a cool player when he was in LA.
The Yanks and Red Sox tho are in a different category altogether….steinbrenner I could never get into, other than those miller lite (?) commercials with billy martin. The Sawx of clemens days either…and fans of both these two among most smug and annoying of all time to be around.
While you’re looking for those rare baseball cards, can you conger up my Mom and find out why she crawled into my stash fifty years ago and stole the shoe box filed with choice cards and gave them to her dumbass brother, my uncle Mike?
I have no second choice teams unless the newly born A’s count, but having lived all around this country, the Giants are my only national league priority at this point. I am amused at the Dodger’s recent acquisition of Hanley Ramirez, who fits the bums perfectly. I loved the story about him beating up some fan, in the dugout, then forgetting to take his meds and contracting a bad infection. I especially liked the part where Ozzie said he’d, “follow the baby around and make sure he takes his antibiotics.” The Dodgers deserve this knucklehead but i will refrain from opening my mouth if I ever get a chance to visit the ravine where he will be playing.
The Pagan catch, the Belt walk, the Crawford hitting and Pablo’s ham sandwich pull were on my mind as I debated whether to get out of bed today. More than anything, I have yet to feel confident of the extra material showing because of Pab’s girth loss. I’d bet odds, the scale doth not move down from his season starting weight but my eyes are not what they used to be. I do wonder what Tim is thinking right now, but I’m guessing he is not out bed yet nor worrying as much as I am.
Screw the Yankees! Couldn’t Stand them under George S.days especially.Always freakin buying championships,and firing managers on a whim when he pouted,even if they were winning.
My neighbor growing up was from Baltimore originally,so I started liking the Orioles.They were a fun bunch to watch,with a stout LU,Brooks and Frank Robinson,Paul Blair,zBoog Powell,Mark Belanger,and the 4 20 game Winners Palmer,Cuellar,McNally,Dobson all led by the fiery antics of the best manager Alltime IMO Earl Weaver.
BTB, Hanley Ramirez is hitting .187/.251/.363
My distant second place team is any team that is playing good ball. Except the Yankees. Or the dogers. I have followed, in the past, the Braves and the Phillies and certain players like Ripen, Jr. or Mike Schmidt. My parents follow the Dbacks so I root for them. But there really isn’t a second place team for me.
Yanks lose to King Felix last night who was not at his best, hitting almost as many guys as he K’ed. Seems they are having some difficulty scoring runs on the west coast in pitcher friendly parks……hmmmmn.
The yankees make as many mistakes as other teams do, esp in regards to some of the SPs they have picked up and paid handsomely for. Difference is they can write it off and go out and spend the $$$ to get replacements such as Freddy Garcia and Hiroki Kuroda. Other than Jeter and Cano (two guys I respect and admire a lot) there isn’t any home grown talent among the position players, and in acquiring Granderson they gave up Austin Jackson good young CF.. Adjusting to life without Mo (another all time fav of mine) is proving to be a challenge as well. They seem to make less mistakes than the Red Sox and operate with less drama (except for replacing Posada), but we’ll see how far they go. Wash has their number lately, something I’m sure doesn’t sit well with the faithful.
Any team playing the Dodgers and Yanks. I kinda like the Phillies, and it’d be cool to see the Pirates become a real team again.
Growing up, though, I actually liked the Yanks. I was at the Chambliss ’76 ALCS game, and it was fun as hell watching them beat LA in back-to-back WS, especially ’78. Yanks had a bunch of gritty guys: Munson, Chambliss, Nettles, Piniella. White, Lyle. Rivers was a trip to watch and Guidry was the Lincecum of his day, a little guy who could bring it. But the Yanks lost me for good when Steinbrenner fired Yogi early in the ’85 season. There was just no way to ever root again for that odious owner.
Flav: Sorry, I didn’t see your post about the web cast until late last night. I know both guys, but the one on the right with the stains on his shirt was the one. Yeah, he knows his stuff. Didn’t hear the Max’s reference. It’s a hot dog place near the ocean, a few miles from Monmouth Park, and one of those Jersey Shore “institution” type places. But yeah, it’s just an overpriced hot dog.
tell your buddy to put a little thought into his wardrobe choice the next time he goes live. 🙂
Looks like Gemologist has joined the Haskell field, a nice add. BTW, I did one of those ‘casts last week on the US women’s soccer team (now tied 2-2 with France after trailing 2-nil). I made sure to wear a clean shirt.
Yeah, Giants fan all the way. Born in San Mateo, but most of the rest of my family was born in Chicago. My folks were both from the south side, but in typically atypical fashion, were Cubs fans. One huge treat when I was a kid was seeing the Giants play the Cubs at Wrigley. My uncle (his name really is Chuck) took my brother and I, and we watched warmups by 1st base. What was so cool was how close everyone was at Wrigley. Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Mays, McCovey, on and on. Saw Marichal pitch that day. So I do root for the Cubs. Unless they are playing the Giants, as they did in the playoffs in 89. I mean as much as one CAN root for the Cubs. Dusty got a raw deal there. I did want them to go that year. Bartman forever lives on as the goat-man curse does. They just can’t seem to get out of their own way most years.
Since the Marlins are in fire sale mode, the Gs should take a look at Greg Dobbs. Fuck Carlos Lee. Dobbs is decent enough, and would provide bench help. He can play 1st and 3rd plus OF. He wouldn’t cost much at all.
I mean it ain;t much. but it’;s a start. The bench is painfully thin as it is.
I’m not expecting a big move but I hope Sabes is aiming a little higher than The Dob..
Dobbs hits left handed and has shown diminishing power numbers. No way, IMO.
I’m curious about the NY Trifecta of “Pawlie-MAC-and-Loo”. You guys care much about either NY team?
And I see that Mac has already checked in on this..
I’ve tried to dial back my dislike of the Mets, but after all the crap about the All-Star Game, I hope the Giants beat the crap out of them next week.
To reiterate: phuck the Yanks. I differ w/ Loo and Mac on this: I have a soft spot for the Mets. Why? It’s easy. They are heirs to the Giants. Their logo says it, their orange mimics ours, on purpose, tho’ stupid Fred Wilpon acts as if it’s just the Dodgers who are their forebearers (is that a word?). The Jackie Robinson rotunda at Citi and the faux Ebbets Field look are fraudulent. The Giants are ignored. Maybe for that reason I should have some animosity toward the Mets but I don’t. The Mets have always been champions of the underdogs, loyal fans, unlike the front-runnig Skankees fans. I hate the Yankees: their logo, their colors, their smugness, their success, their whiteness, their richness, their loudness, their Yankeeness.
The Yankees are my LEAST favorite team. I hate them even more than the Dodgers. You Left Coasters don’t get that. We have a history. And for me, it’s personal, familial, Freudian. Second-fave team? The Tampa Bay Rays. BTW, I just checked out ESPN’s standings stats. The Giants have the best home record. Oh yeah.
Maybe this has already been mentioned-Ryan Roberts is already gone to the Rays for minor leaguer- furthering the thought that Tampa won’t be selling..
Regardless of the extent of Panda’s injury, they now definitely need a RHed OF First Baseman.
There is nothing better for baseball than the Yankees and Dodgers both in contention. For me at least, there’s no fun at all in hating a 4th place team.
Well, there’s the gloating factor when, say, the Yankers are in 4th place. Fuck ’em. Steinbrenner, for all his chutzpah, was to me, what is wrong in sports. That is, buying championships. Most other teams have to build carefully through the draft, acquire some FAs, and cultivate an atmosphere of success. They. on the other hand, can replace their entire team mid-stream if need be, by simply outbidding everyone else for the guys on the market. Thing is, that strategy hasn’t worked as often as they’ve liked, but still, they’ve outspent every other team over the years by 10x.
The Yankees aren’t at fault for “buying” championships- MLB is at fault . We benefit from a flawed revenue sharing propgram as well, just not as dramatically.
It’s not the buying that bothers me; that’s economics and nothing new. Steinbrenner ruined baseball by: bullying, incivility, lack of sportsmanship, crassness. Yankee fans would be surprised to hear this; they think they and their majestic record make them the classiest outfit. not true. worst of all, steinbrenner ushered in an era — no, bellowed in an era — that says, only winning it all counts; anything else is a failure. I get that. i understand pride and motivation. But it is an attitude that has corroded sports and civil discourse and society. It’s not a reasonable social norm.
Blanco RF, Theriot 2B, Cabrera LF, Pagan CF, Crawford SS, Belt 1B, Arias 3B, Whiteside C, (Lincecum P)
What is that supposed to be, some kind of sick joke??
I haven’t heard anything in years about the revenue sharing thing, where the Jankees give some of their dough to small market teams. Is that still around and does it amount to much?
Robbie Lou, in reference to your earlier post about baseball cards – My Mom threw out my Sports Illustrated and Sport magazines that I collected in the 1960s (Sport predated the launch of Sports Illustrated by eight years, and is remembered for bringing several editorial innovations to the genre, as well as creating, in 1955, the SPORT Magazine Award). I also had a large collection of Sport magazines from the late 50s that my uncle gave me. All of them were thrown out when I was in the Air Force overseas. Couple that with her truly monumental mistake of throwing out 1st edition Spiderman, Iron Man, Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer comics I collected in the 1960s . . . Well, let’s just say that I kid her today about her reduced retirement. 🙂
These stories are stranger than fiction, a conspiracy of Mom’s. My mother never looked in the tiny crawl space in which I had that little shoe box but the day I moved out, she confiscated all of it and gave it away to the one guy we all disliked. That was in ’62, and I’ve never gotten over it.
Same deal with me regarding the sports related magazines. They were all neatly stored in a box in a shelf/rafter in the garage. I get back from the military and pffffffft! Gone! The comics were a different deal (that I have told here before). Basically, we had decided to rent out our Sunnyvale home and move to Hawaii for a few years. I was collecting these comics and plastic bagging them like a lot of other collectors, ensuring they were in pristine condition. Anywho, a few years later, my Mom says we are moving back to California, so while packing my comics carefully into this one suit case – she is watching me for a few minutes – before saying, “What do you think you are doing?” I tell her and she responds, “Oh no you aren’t mister . . . Get those damn comics out of there and put your clothes in that suit case.” I gave all my comics to a friend, who also collected comics . . . Fast forward today, he probably lives next door to Tom Selleck in a Hawaiian mansion, counting his money from the occasional Spiderman comic he sells to the public. Ha.
Robbie, did he get all the porn as well?
Not just the Yankees, I think the current plan has all 30 teams contributing about 30 percent of revenues to a central fund. This is then divided evenly among the 30 teams. Since there is no requirement as to how much of that goes into payroll, many team owners have just pocketed the bucks rather than putting much into salaries.
There’s also a luxury tax, the Yankees routinely contrinbute to this fund because of their high payroll. Don’t have all the figures but NY put over 20 million into this fund in 2008- that money is distributed to teams with lower payrolls.
Wow, I guess that’s why we don’t hear too much about it anymore. thanks for that.
Headin’ to the game with the Snarkkettes.
View Reserve 324.
Can’t miss seeing El Presidente.
Critical Mission: Going to give Belt some hitting tips…
Have you heard about the Greek beauty who tweeted some dumb remark like, “With so many Africans in Greece… At least the West Nile mosquitoes will eat home made food!!”
Whatever happened to that list of bozos like golfer Fuzzy Zoeller who destroyed a mediocre career with a similar remark about Tiger Woods? Someone needs to gather those for a book. What was that guy’s name from LA who said blacks would never manage because they weren’t smart enough? That would make a good book of those folks to see what they’re doing today. The young Greek olympian Voula Papachristou sure is a fine looking woman though.
It was poor Al Campanis – and that’s not what he said or meant. It was just interpreted that way.
No, you’re right, he wasn’t trying to be ugly, he just thought that was the correct reason why blacks didn’t manage, referring to some genetic malady. I can’t recall his exact words but there have been a list of folks since who said somethings and never recovered. Zoeller said something about Tiger being on the “chitlin” circuit and it cost him whatever he had.
http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/7751398/how-al-campanis-controversial-racial-remarks-cost-career-highlighted-mlb-hiring-practices
The producer of Nightline( Richard Harris ), which aired the piece, said this:
“Kahn(Roger) asked why there were so few blacks running ballclubs, 40 years after Robinson’s historic moment in 1947.
And Ted(Koppel) turned to Campanis, saying, ‘It’s a legitimate question,’ and proceeded to ask him why ‘there are no black managers, no black general managers, no black owners?’
Campanis responded with a jaw-dropping answer: “I truly believe that they may not have some of the necessities to be, let’s say, a field manager, or perhaps a general manager.’
When Ted gave Campanis a chance to dig himself out of a hole, Campanis asked, ‘Why are black men or black people not good swimmers? Because they don’t have the buoyancy.'”
Harris had invited Campanis to the show, honoring Jackie Robinson. Campanis had been a friend of Jackie and nothing I’ve seen indicated that he was a racist. But he wasn’t ambushed- whatever he meant, there is no way those statements could be construed as anything but racist.
The entire “transcript” does cast Al in a better light- but the remarks he made were not misinterpeted. I have absolutly no doubt that Campanis was a good man and honestly did not think he was bigoted. And I’m sure he wasn’t- in any kind of malicious way.
Robbie – for the record, although Fuzzy Zoeller may have been named after Fuzzy the Clown, he is NOT part of the Bozo clan.
We need to add that to the book for sure. thanks.
Stupid thing to say? Sure. Should she be banned from competing in the Olympics? I don’t think so, but in these highly PC times, nothing gets overlooked. She’;s a frigging blond, fopr God’s sake.
I just listened to that broadcast and read the story about his son. Very sad and tragic and I’d forgotten about the bit about his son playing for him with the Dodgers and his trade to the Royals. It reminded me about the interview and how Al looked as he said that and never realized he would be seared for those words. It truly changed all of sports and announcing when I think back.
Good stuff, Dennis.
I differ greatly on opinion about the Yankees, though. (grin) People could debate whether it’s good for MLB for the Yankees to win 1/4 of all the World Series, but it certainly wasn’t good for MLB in the 1950s, when the more the Yankees won, the more attendance dropped around baseball. On the MLB TV package, rooting against the Yankees is always an option for me on any given night.
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I’ve mentioned a few times that my wife’s favorite team is the Braves, and so, although I wouldn’t consider them my second favorite team, I like to follow what they’re doing, and I pull for them to make the playoffs (as long as it doesn’t bump out the Giants.) To be honest, they became more watchable for me with the passing of Skip Carey, sad to say. He was a good broadcaster, but his nasal voice was just fingernails on a chalkboard to me. His son Chip does a fine job, and the “old Braves” that I didn’t like are all gone, and they now have players that I can pull for. Heyward, Freeman, Kimbrel, etc. A team that is almost the mirror image of the Giants in some ways, built on good pitching, and playing old-school NL baseball.
Don’t forget Jimmy the Greek’s drunken ramblings.
Or even Rush Limbaugh’s ill-fated attempt at mainstream broadcasting work. Almost as dumb as hiring Dennis Miller to work MNF . . .
At least he was honest. Most white old guys at the time probably thought just like Jimmy especially after a few too many.
Rush has made a fortune insulting people. I’ve never been able to listen to him for more than a minute and never understood how people found him funny but he’s found a huge audience. I do think there is an awful lot of folks like them around the world and it would be interesting to see how each was affected by it. Some are really sad stories, some are ugly and dumb and some defy an explanation.
Dennis should stick to horses. Yankees my ass!
There’s a 3yo named Jeter, but he doesn’t run as well as the other one hits.
I must have been out of my frickin’ mind adding Marco Estrada to my Flap team. One man wrecking crew of my WHIP and ERA. Pfffffffffft!
I have to admit in the mid-1970s, in addition to being a Giants fan, I got into pulling for the Big Red Machine. The Giants weren’t effectively blocking the Dodgers, and the Dodgers had to be blocked!! Those Reds teams were awesome. But ultimately doomed because of the advent of free agency, and the Reds ownership unwilling to pay the price tag of free agency. At the time, it was sad to see such a lineup broken up, because that opened the door for the Dodgers to win the division again.
Good job of writing, Dennis. Though i despise the Evil Empire, i can empathize with you on how you got hooked on the Yanks as a pre-adolescent. Same thing happened with me and the Giants back in ’54 when i was ten. Still can’t get em outta my system.
When I was a kid my second favorite team was the Orioles. I loved guys like Jim Palmer, Brooks Robinson, and Bobby Grich. In the mid 70’s when the Giants were lousy, I probably spent more time emulating and collecting BB cards of Oriole players. Later my devotion to the Orioles fizzled and now I pay no attention to the American League. I hate the Bosox even though Dustin Pedroia grew up around the corner from my childhood home in Woodland. My second favorite team now is the the Nats. I love underdogs and though they are a hot team now, they have a poor track record in Washington and I would enjoy seeing them do well. They have Jayson Werth, one of my favorite non-Giants, and I also am amused by Harper and they have others guys I like such as Lombo’s kid, Strasburg (a local SD guy) and Davey Johnson at the helm who I remember from my Oriole fan days.
Hanley to the Dodgers stings a bit. He sure would have been a nice fit in Orange and Black.
I still think Belt will be our first basemen throughout the majority of the season and that he will come out of this funk.
Rush Limbaugh’s ESPN gig lasted about one week. He went on the air and said the kinds of things that he gets away with on his rat-hole radio show, and a national TV audience was horrified. So….it was back to the rat-hole for Limbaugh.
His head was too big for TV.
Yeah forgot to mention Nice Topic Dennis,
Next time im cruising on 80, toward Reno,then I the way back,we’ll have to hook up in Pinole and have one of those “King Cut” Prime Rib at the Antlers,washed down with many cold.brews!
I am in!
I’m a wee bit nervous about batting Crawford 5th. Hope it doesn’t put too much pressure on him. Go Giants!
I have to say that I was a huge Yankee fan back in the Mid 70’s, sort of fell into it. I had a Dodger fan at work and so 1977 and 1978 WS I had to choose a team, well hell no it was not going to be the Dodgers. After the 1977 WS I started following them in the paper, no TV and no Internet??? what was the Internet in the late 70’s. Oh thats right Radio, TV, the big three NBC, CBS, and ABC. That is how I got my sports info, Couldn’t move the TV all willy nilly!! Anyway watching those great Yankees Teams how could you not like them for beating the Dodgers to years in a row in the WS.
As I recall with Fuzzy Zoeller,After Tigers 1st win at the Masters,Tiger being the Champ gets to select the dinner before the tournament and Zoeller went off and said: Guess were having Fried Chicken,black eye beans,and Collard greens.He defintily took alot of Shit for that crack.Tried to apolize later,but Tiger wouldnt have anything to do with him.
Oh and as far as Crawford is concerned, I was in his corner since ST. He was nervous as hell in April and May. He needed to take some Valium he was wound so tight he couldn’t make a play if the ball was tossed to him underhand. He now looks like a keeper.
I love Crawford and you could see how amped he was making all those errors. Just trying too hard and couldn’t chill out. I say the same for Belt. He’s going to be great and we may have the best infield yet. Many kudos to Theriot for quietly being the leader of the infield. What a treat he has been to watch.
fastball a bit up, still missing the glove.
Baggs says they will wait till Friday to determine if Pablo goes on the DL, if he does Huff could be activated, Hector is doing well in his rehab, should be ready on Aug 2.
Tie game
I don’t see how Huff is going to be hitter ready if he was just re-injured a few days ago? Sounds suspect to me and I’m hoping Belt has a miraculous epiphany before then.
Amen to that. I’d rather haave Dobbs than Huff . . .
Fuck. There’s that 52′ curveball.
It sets up the slider?
Chuck, they are looking for RH help, not a LHer with little pop anymore. If they’re going to trade , it’s hard to imagine it would be Hobbs. IMO.
Sttttttttttttttrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiikkkkkkkkkkkkeeeeeeeee 3.
Here’s the Greek triple jumper who was banned from the Olympics . . . Was it a stupid thing to say? Should she be banned from competing? I don’t think so, but in these highly PC times, nothing gets overlooked. She’s a frigging blond, for God’s sake.
http://tinyurl.com/blkgrzg
A mighty long-legged blonde. I’m betting she makes a comeback.
1B Brandon Belt,1BJustin Smoak to similar young players both struggling.But I will still take Belt on the upside over.Smoak.Besides Belt is still at the Show,Smoak is not playing ball with the Seattle Lugnuts.AAA team.
Smoak was to be centerpiece when Seattle traded Lee to Texas, as I recall. Texas opted to keep Chris Davis. I know I was one who coveted Davis, who is just now becoming respectable in Baltimore. Young power hitters are not often overnight successes.
Hmm, nice having Buster on the bench, but wish he was hitting 4th today. It’s going to take some young ‘uns to step up.
Forget about the Greek girl, check out this Australian girls pre warm up dance!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tMgmYutL9W0
Hey, Kev. She is hot. BTW, I sent you a trade offer. Please check it out.
done
To bad you don’t have horse that runns like her!!
Love the expressions on the kid behind her. WTF?
As much as I love the Panda,for what he does to help the team with his slugging and clutch play most of time,i truly feel we will never get a full season out of him.I say he will avg 120-130 games tops due to injuries every year.I’ll still take that,but I would love to see more.
Mike, my point is anyone would be better than Huff. Dobbs ain’t much, but it’s a start.
Here’s a better pic of the Greek girl
http://tinyurl.com/d48kfod
But they aren’t trading for a LH bat, Huff they have. If they’re going to dump Huff it would be for RH bat.
She is a blond wannabe . . . Check out the brunette eye brows. HA!
Oh, boy. Timmy Timmy Timmy.
Just when you thought it was safe to be an eighty-seven percenter…
I feel partially to blame. I had the game on the radio and ponies on the tube when I felt compelled to switch over to the game. Sis. Boom. Baaaaahhh.
I’d say it’s a good time to bring in the offense.
Denny, you act like you’re gloating over the failure of an opposition pitcher. This is not supposed to make you happy.
The thought police has detected a problem in quadrant 17.
Righto. Giants’ fans don’t gloat over their own player’s failure..well, most of us don’t.
even Bozo has gone all political on us:
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/a-congress-full-of-clowns-slideshow/
First Guatemala City and then, the World! Mwa haha,
Shit. The Tony LaRussa memorial AAA lineup isn’t doing so well . . .
I’ll give Belt credit. He hasn’t taken his struggles at the plate onto the field. But he needs to hit the goddamn ball.
One hit????
6-1 Padres!
Bochy has always seemed willing to give up when up two games in a series. Old school chumsmanship.
Old school chumpsmanship instead.
He’s just polite.
I would not be surprised if he gave that same answer, after a lot of alcohol.
Shouldn’t this be the spot that they pinch hit Whitehead for Posey?
I was waiting and waiting and biting my tongue but it never happened. Maybe any minute though.
Belt scores! Lets celebrate.
Fuck. Bad play by Arias. . .
Great play by the SS, but if he doesn’t run, they prolly don’t get Whitehead out at 1st. Either way, they lose the guy in scoring position,
Arias base running faux pas!
He hesitated and lost. Sounds so proverbial.
I was not watching this game. Did some writing work (cash-paying work) at the mall food court, distracted by the sights (sighs…) of summer, putting it euphemistically. A prettier sight than this game. I gotta say, Magnus predicted it: just because Timmy wins a few games does not mean he is back. Believe you me, I take no pleasure in typing that. I was hoping he was. Can’t say that’s the case. Not yet. Troubling. But, we’ve been a hot team. Just hate to have our former stopper stopping us in our tracks.
Break up the Phillies. And c’mon, Mariners! And how much will the Mets unload?
And here I thought the SF Giants just retired their vaunted ex mascot, The Crazy Crab. Come to find out he was sent to their Double A team. Kind of a tough way to end a career if you asked me.
http://tinyurl.com/cl9c3lj
He was traded for a mascot to be eaten later.
The Riot comes through!. Frigging Arias’ play looks bigger now.
We are exactly one big fly from being in this game. In case anyone wondered.
Bochy wasn’t conceding anything. Panda is hurt and Buster does need days off. As far as Linceum, I don’t think anyone here declared him baaaacccck. I know I made a point of saying he was one game at a time. I won’t freak over this any more than I made a BFD over his two good starts.
I disagree. Bochy’s had this act patented. He is the most plain vanilla mediocre manager I’ve ever seen.
Seriously?
So you would play Buster everyday? That the only deviation from his regular LU, taking into account Panda’s injury.
I didn’t mention Buster so not sure what you mean. I’ve been watching Bochy for too long to believe he even has a strategy. I think the Giants win in spite of him.
I’ll take the “most plain vanilla mediocre manager” 2010 version any ol’ day of the week. C’mon. That’s a silly statement.
Yeah, Timmy gave up a couple of big flies, but the big hit was the flare . . .
Come on Melky.
Bochy pre-quote: “Well we took 2 out of 3, so you can’t expect more than that.” the height of mediocrity.
When did he say that?
Pre-quote . . .
That’s what I thought-= he never said it.
He’s been saying that for decades. Mediocre is what he shoots for.
That’s absurd. Every manager will take two of three if they can’t get the sweep. To say Bochy AIMS for just 2 of 3 is total poppycock. But since Chuck seems eager to discuss it further, he has the floor.