The Netherlands?
The WBC train gained some momentum this morning as the Netherlands just ousted Cuba. I raced to the box score to see if Rikkert Faneyte had anything to do with the winning hit. Alas, his time has passed, he’s not even a coach on the team.
But Bam Bam Meulens in the manager and a big congrats to him for this upset win.
How’d ya like to have to call a WBC with the Netherlands. Bas Nooij? Tom Stuifbergen? Kevin Heijstek? I think I’d nail most of the first names and just leave it at that.
In spring training news, the Giants beat Milwaukee 6-1.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
In baseball news of import, a guy who’s been largely overlooked when discussing pitching prospects is Mike Kickham, a lefty who stands a good chance to supplant Zits in the rotation after we cut ties with Barry after this season…
The last relief spot looks like it will be a dogfight with the decision probably coming down to whether they go with a 2 inning guy or a long guy/spot starter type. Gaudin might might be front runner now..
Pequero continues to have the inside track on the 5 OFer spot but Gillespie and Pill are in the mix as well. Depending Vungo’s status, it could be 2 of those three…
Valdez and Tanaka lead for the utility infielder spot but I have to think they’re eying Theriot more and more..
Baggs thinks Abreu has a shot as the backup backup IF, behind Arias, if Abreu can get enough playing time to impress. Tanaka apparently can’t play SS or 3B or hit the ball much further than either of those spots. I hope Theirot’s staying in shape.
The Simmons kid from the Braves that blasted the 2 run HR for Netherlands was having a good season til he got hurt last year as I recall. Anything to make of fact that they and Italy are still in and Venezuela Mexico Taiwan and either PR or DR are out, not to mention cuba, which unfortunately does not have use of its former countrymen? wonder how many fans will show up when it comes to ATT.
Have yet to watch any of this or ST, and I refuse to waste any energy following the ups and downs valdez pill tanaka or chad gaudin and his career 4.60 ERA. ST is just a collective yawn for me. Whomever makes it and actually plays mlb, we’ll see what they can do when they get there.
Maybe I like ST more than the yawners because I have more interest in what happens to those young men who might be getting either their first or perhaps last chance to fullfill a lifetime dream. BTW, if one listens to the games lying down on the couch, there is very little energy wasted.
Giants – Padres televised tomorrow night, with Timmy on the bump for the Giants. I’ll be watching just to see how he looks. He threw a simulated game on Saturday. I heard Bobby Evans (and others) afterwards discussing Tim’s outing and they all praised how he looked. Timmy has never had great consistency in ST, so I don’t put a lot on this…just more concerned that he get his work in to increase his pitch count, etc. (if the rotation shakes out as initially scripted by Bochy, he’ll start the 3rd game against the Bums in La La Land).
While I don’t follow ST closely (every game, consistently watching box scores, etc.), have been trying to keep a pulse on those fighting for the last few spots on the roster.
Cannot wait for Thursday when my daughter and I will be Scottsdale bound!
Have fun Chi! New post on my blog – specifically for snarkk who asked about Nepalese food (Me? I would ask about the women. š ). Same post has a video on traffic. Take care all . . . GO NETHERLANDS!
Thanks for the heads up on the tv. I’m anxious to get a look at some of the farmhands.
Thank you for the kind words Salty regarding my blog.
WBC heating up. Bruce Jenkins must be wetting his knickers. I would be watching some games if I got the station.
Filling that Mota role is important for a couple of reasons. I thought Proctor might emerge, but it’s looking like Gaudin. Think he’ll be an improvement over last yr’s auditioning of Edlefsen Otero Loux et al.
Yeah Salt, I think Gaudin has the inside track right now (I think the Giants prefer a guy who can provide long relief, and also provide a spot-start if required, and he fits that bill). But, there is still a lot of ST baseball left to shake it all out.
Here is an article from today’s Chron that mentions the young LHer Michael mentioned, and also one of our young RH starters, Chris Heston, who had a really good year at Richmond last year.
http://www.sfgate.com/giants/article/Giants-future-starters-impress-in-camp-4343890.php
Greinke’s out of camp and back to LA to see a specialist about pain his elbow. ST or WBC — injuries happen. Last night I enjoyed highlights of a WBC game showing Pagan in CF, playing for what network called “PUR.” But I enjoyed listening to Cain’s routine good innings and the rest of the ST game more yesterday, of a lazy Sunday afternoon.
I know they’re down playing it, but elbow or shoulder problems in the spring, that can’t be explained as normal spring soreness, are always an ominous sign for a pitcher.
Chi– I’ve never been to ST before but I bet it’s a blast. Have fun and take lots of photos!
A lot of how we think of baseball is determined early on. All of us kids left school in Minnesota in February from ’61-’65 and the family drove to Florida for Spring Training. We went to school there until the team headed north. It was different back then, more informal, sparse attemdance often, but we got to know the players, the coaches, the whole team family. I was old enough and enough of a player to actually form friendships- most often with guys who never made it, guys I wouldn’t see again the next year. So I came to know ballplayers as people more than most do and think of ST as anything but boring. I’ve been to ST in Arizona a few times, but I’ve lost any kinship that a young man had way back. What I didn’t lose was my passion for the game, and I’ll NEVER think that a young man aspiring to fullfil a dream is a ho-hum matter.
Flav – ST has become so popular the past few years (in general – not only for our Giants), and with our boys winning 2 in 3, the prices and demand have gone up even more so (you can expect to pay near AT&T prices for a game at Scottsdale Stadium). I got tickets for a Giant-Tribe game in Goodyear (Tribe’s yard)…nice tickets behind the Giant’s dugout for about half of what I paid for bleacher seats at Scottsdale. The other two games we’re in the first row (outfield box – down the line).
But I really don’t give a shit. This has become a yearly thing for me and my daughter (I raised her right…she loves the Orange and Black and baseball in general). I like it for its signaling the beginning of a new year of baseball, and an opportunity to spend some quality time talking mostly baseball with my daughter (which is all a huge blessing).
Will take plenty of photos and will try to provide updates during the games. Bum on the hill today facing Darvish. We’re getting to the point now where everyone has knocked-off a little rust, and the pitchers are getting dialed-in.
I’m thinking of making the trip to SF to catch a game this weekend. It doesn’t appear that tickets will be a problem.
Pretty cool match-up yesterday in the WBC. Pagan hit a triple off of Casilla, and then Casilla got out of the inning without a run scoring, I think. Both players did well.
I’m not sure if that was illuminating, or if you hadn’t heard it anywhere else.
I caught that part of the game, quite entertaining.
He got out of the inning after a monster drive was hauled in at the fence.
Hi gang, sorry I’ve not been posting, but I had to share this with you all. My friend, Deb (of NLCS Game 7 fame), just texted me – she has tickets for the WBC for Sunday & Monday! Woot!! I’m so excited – I don’t even know who’s playing or much of anything, but it just seems so cool to be there. š
That’s awesome, Jean. Looking forward to some pictures and updates.
Ditto here Jean. Today, I am watching the Nepal Yaks going against the Tibet Monkeys. It should be an exciting match up. š
Veddy cool
Since I’ve been banned from posting on the BB page, I’m making my own punchlines without viewing the page. Today’s is a classic..
“Tonight’s your night in the barrell.”
@ Chi, thanks for the heads up about the game being televised.. I had no idea.. Looking forward to it. Hell, I’ve even been watching the WBC.. It’s baseball! Have a great time with your daughter in Zona.. Yeah, Dodger fans have to be a little nervous with the Zack Greinke news.. They have a lot of SP depth, but nobody as good as Greinke.. Apparently they saved up all that SP depth to use in trades.. Depending on what happens with Greinke, their plans might have to change.. We’ll see.
NP, Chico. I thought a lot of the Flappers might be interested…esp. with Tim starting. Thanks for the wishes…we always have a blast at ST.
I saw the headline and thought maybe this was one of Blade’s RTW stops, but I see he’s still in Nepal.
Anquan Boldin traded to Niners for a 6th round pick! WHOOT! 6 mil salary…7.5 against the cap. Great news in Niner land!
Baalke did good on this move..
Wow..Boldin for a 6th round pick.A freakin Steal.Seahawks grab Harvin we counter.Tonnage be fun next year.The draft will be extra exciting now.We also are in the running for CB Sean Smith 6’3 215.Bring it on Niners!!
I saw that about Smith. We need a big corner like him. I don’t know that much about him, other than he was a 2nd round pick and started every game for the Fins past two years.
You don’t wonder why Boldin could be had for essentially nothing?
Maybe cause the Ravens were to cheap to honor his existing contract.
That’s what I got from what I read. They (the Ravens) asked him to restructure his deal, he said no (it was a thing of principal), so they decided to sever ties with him. Dude killed it against us in the Super Bowl. If he performs anything close to that…I’d say landing him for a 6th round pick is a steal.
Yep, Chi’s got it — BSun reports he’s a salary cap casualty. Ravens have too many FAs, not enough cap space. Boldin’s earning $6M, his cap hit is $7+, and Ravens wanted him to take his contract down to $4M, he said shove it. So they were going to cut and lose him anyway. Hence, they get something (6th rounder) instead of zilch, and Niner’s get a stop-gap big, tough dude WR they needed, and they have the cap space to swallow his contract and cap hit…
Well, we were lucky that Baltimore has a Goober doing their salary cap instead of Marathe. First they pay Flacco the biggest deal in NFL history,then lose one of his best targets for a song.
Maybe there’s a little bit of big brother to little brother “throw you a Boldin” for losing the SBowl to me, too?…
Or maybe Jim demanded it or he’d go postal on Mom and Dad.
Well, the Dutch whipped Cuba. Honkbal Hoofdklasse — I never would’ve guessed. Did Bert Blyleven spend part of his childhood in the Netherlands? Anyway, apparently the Dutch former colonies have been playing decent baseball for quite a while in the international tournaments that sort of go on under the radar. Bam Bam returns in glory to China Basin.
Giants probably have their wishes fulfilled a bit.
Scootz and Panda back in the Scottsdale fold early with no injuries; same for Romo. The team probably won’t miss Bam Bam that much, but good for him, getting to the WBC semifinals as manager has to a nice resume builder. I wonder if Belt’s hitting spree so far has anything to do with Bam Bam being gone gone — instead he’s been coached up by Will and JT, among others…
Belt has always hit well in ST.
Yep. Some of the Belt haters are expecting him to come back down to earth towards the end of ST when he starts getting better quality pitches thrown at him, and he probably will. But, I think he will break out this season. He’s matured, he’s been through a WS winning season and pressure, he’s got the position locked up. He can focus on making the adjustments and getting the balance between aggressiveness and not hitting the pitcher’s pitch. He may even have that hole on the inside figured out — open up early or just let ’em go for a ball. If they just pretty much leave him alone, he should be fine…
Last year he hit over .370 in ST and at least one person said he didn’t earn the first base job.
Boldin? Eh, mildly interesting. He’s basically an older version of Crabtree– still no one to stretch the field but I guess they tried that when they got Moss, he never really did that and they still made it to the SB.
But, Boldin is an upgrade on what Moss gave us this year. Another dagger in the dream of AJ Jenkins ever doing anything for us? Manningham is coming back next year, too, right?
But, Boldin’s a big tough dude at WR. Even if he’s covered, he can catch the ball away from the DB, as we saw in the SBowll. Jenkins is a ghost (a first rounder WR who doesn’t even catch ONE ball as a rookie smells like a bust, but hey, LMJ was laying in the weeds, and then showed well late). Who knows what he can contribute? MM’s knee injury was apparently severe, he might not show up until mid-season, and no guarantee how well he can play then. Kyle Williams is to me, not much of a threat, he’s too small. I think they’ll draft another WR in round 3 to 5, a big burner type. They need depth, depth, depth at WR…
yeah, I agree there are things Boldin can do that Crabs might not be as good at, but neither one of them stretch the field. That’s less important now that we have Kap at QB who probably gives D-coordinator’s nightmares the week they play the Niners.
With 15 picks, they’ve got a lot of room to maneuver, that’s for sure. To me, it’s amazing they’ve done what they’ve done the last two years with a mediocre to crap WR corps. Crabby and Moss basically the starting WRs with DWalker essentially the 3rd WR/TE, with Ginn along for the ride — and winning the NFC? That is nearly mind-boggling. It hurt them in the SBowl…
BTW, one of these day’s I’ll do a thread on the lost art of bunting. It is an art. Maybe it’s debatable about whether it’s been lost, or ill-advisedly abandoned. And, the stats about average runs per inning going down with bunts have opposing and more intelligently-derived stats that challenge that line of thinking. There is still plenty of room in the game for bunting. Zito’s RBI bunt hit in Cards game #5 will be one of the most remembered plays of the 2012 post-season…
Make sure you send your data to Bonehead. Actually, I’ve alrerady shown one of the main reasons bunting is down- it’s more pitchers having 90 MPH and more fastballs.
How did you show that?
Go back and read the post in question. If you can’t figure it out, I’ll help you.
And save your Snarkisms.And your sauce. I’ll just keep the Mays DVD, you didn’t want it after I went to a lot of trouble because I thought you did.
OK.
There are studies taking up both sides of the issue. As usual, there’s some nuance inolved and the inning makes a difference and pitcher makes a diff. Normally, a smart manager wouldn’t dream of bunting to move a guy over in the early going. Maybe against Kershaw he might.
Zito’s bunt was a cool, hell, I got so jazzed I called it the hit of the year. But pitchers are different- they should know how to bunt at will. Yet most of them play HR Derby in BP.
And most important of all- it’s not as easy as claimed.
Crawford’s sac bunt in the top of the 10th in Game 4 was pretty damn big, too.
I don’t recall saying all bunts were bad. That definitely called for it.
Not sure what the point was in having Bowa miked in the U.S. dugout. Just so we can hear him yell “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!” when the U.S. got a big hit?
We need guys to defend against the Boldins more than we need Boldin. But he should help.
“Mattingly said it’s harder to compare Ryu to the other Dodgers starters because Ryu won’t throw bullpen sessions between starts, so the staff sees less of Ryu on the mound.”
Should be an interesting season down there in DodgerLand.
he “won’t throw them?* That’s hilarious.
you gotta wonder what Matts learned about managing a pen from torre, who blew up arms regularly.
Different pitchers often get treated differently, Ryu never pitched bullpen sessions in Korea. I don’t see any reason to upset a successful routine.
I worry about our players not honing their skills and coordination with the entire team in AZ. Hope it does not throw us off our game.
They’re all fine, there’s still 3 weeks of ST left
Leader of the Jamaican Olympic Bobsledding team, being told they had only 3 months to get ready, toked a reef and stated:
āMore than enough timeā
Loo, I’d be more concerned about the vets getting stale and bored shitless, or hurt. ST is way too long now, but the big ST revenue can’t be ignored. Even the starters probably need a week to 10 days less to be ready and stretched out since they get there a week early…
Wrestling midgets
Wounded by a starting pistol
Canada and Mexico diplomatically tense. Cut off import/export of mooses (meese?) and Salma Hayek appearences. Respectively.
In my best Homer Simpson impersonation . . . “Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm . . . Salma Hayek (and donuts).”
Salma Hayek is a holy woman
She said once on Letterman that as a pre-teen, she prayed and put holy water on her chest because she was not developing like her little girlfriends.
God works in mysterious ways…
LMAO. Good one Tom.
Blade, what time is it over there, dude?
Are you breathing through one of those masks yet?…
Snarkk, I saw that Letterman appearence. Letterman replied with something to the tune of “Sometimes prayers work out better than one could ever expect”
They should bring Salma Hayek into the Sistine Chapel during deliberations this week. The Cardinals supposedly cannot leave there or the nearby accommodation until a new pope is elected. She could offer her favors free to any Cardinal(s) who wishes divine guidance from the Holy Spirit. Any Cardinal(s) that follows her out immediately makes the short list, then she gets to choose the “winner”. They burn her bra in the stove for the white smoke…
Problem is I bought a Salma Hayek bra.
On ebay.
After a few hours of adoration and asking every girl I know to model it.
Burnt it.
The smoke was red.
And it had a specific aroma. That can best be described as…
perfection
Red smoke means she picked the anti-Christ, so they’ll have a do-over…
http://tinyurl.com/ahaxfsn
For the earlier posts, Manningham won’t likely be ready for the opener next season. He tore both his ACL and PCL. Theh definitely need WRs. Ginn is gone, Moss is gone, AJ’s a mystery at this point, and they’ll probably draft at least 2 guys with their remaining 14 picks.
My understanding is he also tore his XCL, CCL, LLC, CLCL, LCLC and most importantly his DLCFCGCJCTCYCPC.
I’m telling you–this does not bode well. Not only do they need WR’s, they need CR’s, FR’s and pure buccaneer “‘Rrrrrrrrs”
This does not bode well
Tom, it is 11:50am, Tuesday here. I think we have a 12:45 time advantage over Denver people (subtract an hour from CA.). I would be playing the tourist right now, except I am sick as a dog and am relaxing today. The dust is unbelievable and yes, I am buying one (mask). The last 3 countries I have visited – Thailand, Malaysia and here – has been like smoking a gazillion cigs. Is it any wonder that I am sick?
Denver people.
Are you talking to me? Or, one of the voices that occupy your head? š
Both. Sadly–both
Travis Bickle — you there?…
Dude, get out into the country and into some fresh air…
Yeah, I just sent you a message via my blog – going on a one day trek tomorrow and returning to my comfortable bed in the evening. š
Just no one end up in a cold taxi late tonight.
Even though this pop song is basically PERFECT. Could it be any better? The answer is no.
S.F. Giants 2013
Roll up to the Magical Mystery Tour
Goodnight, gentlemen (question mark)
Spring is forward. Gots to change my clocks!
going on 3 days later…that’s fantastic.
Nip, I just assumed you did away with clocks and time and such years ago.