Where Do You Rank on the Freak Out!-o-Meter?
The Giants return after a 1-5 road trip that could easily have been 0-6. It wasn’t just the 5 losses, it was the spectacular failure that accompanied them. Horrendous defense, pathetic pitching, deep holes early; rarely filled.
I use KNBR callers as a good barometer for the mental state of the fanbase–it’s almost always a guy overreacting (or pitching some half-baked theory or idea for how to fix things) but it’s a pretty good example of how your run-of-the-mill fan will react to the good and the bad during the baseball season. The over/under on how many times I mutter “idiot” to myself is usually 1.5 per caller. For some reason the line moves to 2.5 on the weekends–I haven’t figured out why….
I listened to KNBR several times this weekend and was shocked at how positive most of the callers were. It was nearly uniformed: “the team will work this out, no reason to jump ship, it’s a long season”—all that jazz.
So either KNBR callers have suddenly gotten smarter or all this b-a-s-k-i-n-g is now m-a-s-k-i-n-g the true reality that this team might not be who we thought they were. Winning 2 of the last 3 World Series can cloud your judgement, right? Or not, let’s see.
Time for a Poll:
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
I’m not ready to hit the ledge and although I’m pissed, I won’t be harming myself anytime soon (unless a few more cocktails is considered harming myself). I do have concerns as I’m sure most do.
1) The starting pitching and possible fatigue considering the amount of innings they’ve thrown since 2010.
2) The errors get to me but the fundamental lapses really have me concerned. Fixable? Yes.
I don’t feel anything drastic is needed but I wonder if having Juan Perez come up might add to the bench. He can play INF and OF and is doing pretty well down Fresno way.
Same here clown. Not worried one iota.
For those of you wanting more information about the disadvantages of playing at altitude, especially for the Rockies, this is the best article I have found:
http://www.denverpost.com/rockies/ci_21553637/rockies-research-build-strategy-playing-at-high-altitude
This link is also excellent:
http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_21553592/some-baseball-players-believe-high-altitude-causes-numerous?source=pkg
enjoyed both of these, thanks for posting the links
No worries from me as well.
Nothing like getting back home.
The Nats will be one hell of a barometer to start this homestand though.
Yeah like clown mentioned, the errors some just mental breakdowns like Timmy chucking one down the RF line when he had no play,bugs me so we have to tighten that shit up and Boch is all over them for that I’m sure.
Maybe the callers consider baseball to be entertainment and aren’t freaking out about the Giants because winning and losing isn’t life or death.
Maybe they like drama, in two of the games, the Giants came back from large deficits, a theme for them this year. If they’re calling Marty Lurie, he’s all about the drama.
Or maybe they’re WAR mongers who don’t believe win-loss records are how you measure a team’s success.
Perhaps some of them are empaths who love how the Giants are healing troubled teams.
Maybe the callers pray to a higher power to grant them the serenity to accept the things they cannot change.
It could be any of these, but most likely, the reason why fans on KNBR aren’t freaking out is because the moderators are screening Salty’s calls.
No one doubts that W-L records are a measure of team success. *Pitcher’s* W-L are not a reliable measure of the pitcher’s effectiveness. Try to get it straight, Get some protein.
ef·fec·tive :Successful in producing a desired or intended result.
A poor choice of words. If a pitcher loses, no matter how well he pitched, by definition he was not effective. Conversely, if he gets a win, he was effective. Winning is the only measure of success for the team, therefore a pitcher’s intention every time out is to allow equal or fewer runs than his team scores. Also, a pitcher needs to do more than pitch to be effective. He needs to hold runners on base, field his position, and bunt like Vogelsong did tonight.
I’m not worried. When Bozo jumps I’ll get worried.
Or when Zumiee quits reading books.
Or when Yogi becomes lucid.
“Or when Zumiee quits reading books.”
That ain’t happening.
Road record is a little disappointing, but SF also has one of best records in all of baseball at home, with 3 vs. Nats and the rematch with Kathmandu coming up this week. 4 next week in a home and home with A’s should be interesting too.
Harper less Nats lost last two vs. Pads and have dropped 6 of last 9. They are couple games back of Braves, whom we handled end of last homestand. Strasburg and Gio will throw tmw and wed.
I think because we follow them so closely mistakes become more glaring. At home SF has looked much the better vs. every other team, including those at top of divisions. Both LA and AZ pens are weaker than ours, and our offense has enough weapons to compete with anyone, imo.
Nip’s last 7:54 is POTD.
It’s post of the millennium..
Shit, I just got home from the gym and I thought all of these below were POTD. LMAO.
Nipper said, on May 20, 2013 at 7:53 am (Edit)
I’m not worried. When Bozo jumps I’ll get worried.
Reply
Nipper said, on May 20, 2013 at 7:54 am (Edit)
Or when Zumiee quits reading books.
Reply
Nipper said, on May 20, 2013 at 7:54 am (Edit)
Or when Yogi becomes lucid.
Blade, a naive question: you used your own experience as a runner to describe how you performed better at sea level (at least that’s what I think you were saying) vs. high altitude. The Rockies have had a home field advantage, despite the additional physical stress of playing at 5000 ft. Why wouldn’t playing at sea level offer them a brief respite and improved performance as it did for you? I realize baseball is not largely about physical conditioning, but logically, none of the conjecture in the articles seems all that persuasive either. Maybe these guys just aren’t that different from other franchises that have gone through long spells of poor results. I just took a very quick look at some of the recent away BA numbers for the Pirates, and they are similar to the Rockies’.
James, excellent question and it lies partially in what you said, i.e., “. . . I realize baseball is not largely about physical conditioning . . . ”
Specifically, the articles I cited, said this, “The pitchers have to cultivate two different breaking balls: one home, one away. Pitching coach Bob Apodaca said altitude so diminishes the movement on breaking balls that his pitchers have to recalculate their aim every time they switch from home to road. Breaking balls on the road have a much bigger bite than breaking balls at home, so the pitcher must have two different aiming points to have a breaking ball wind up in the same place. Similarly, hitters don’t have to face the outstanding breaking ball pitches at home, as they do on the road. Consequently, their road/home splits are significantly affected.”
One other thing with regard to my own experience. After again reviewing these articles, I forgot to mention another thing that wears you down immediately and cumulatively over a period of time – not getting enough sleep. James, I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in Colorado in ages. Every study I have seen states unequivocally that sleep is affected by the smallest change in oxygen levels. Conversely, when I go home to stay at my mom’s house in Sunnyvale on my childhood bed – which isn’t as comfortable as my own bed in Colorado – I SLEEP LIKE A BABY never waking up once during the night.
I’ve talked blog commenters off their ledges dozens of times a year. Now I just say “Happy Landings”….
On Perez, I’ve mentioned him a few times. He’s not considered starting material, but a guy who can be a good role player. A small note of caution. They’re *trying* him in the infield, whether he can play it well enough remainns to be to seen, He has 3 errors in 3 games at SS. He’s fared better at third. But as a 4th or 5th OFer and emergency infielder he might be worth a look.. Right now Pegs and Kieschnick need to continue playing everyday. Pill might be worth something in a trade package..
Vogelsong returns from the brink tonight with a quality start…Good morning, good afternoon, and good night…
Juan Perez? We need to bring back Hector, the Pitch Sequence Savant.
James, I think I read somewhere that Hector is out again with shoulder problems.
I have concerns. bad ball is contagious. who are these players? And what have they done with my Giants?
anytime I see a box score where one team has 3 errors and the other team none, I expect the Gmen to be in the none row.
Dare I say bringning the real estate agent? Or maybe the bartendress. You know. To shake things up.
Yep, if this bad play goes on for this Nats series, Anna may need to be called. If she comes in and can’t get it done, then it will be ledge time… 😉
I’ve already made my comment on this blip — they’ve had their atrocious 6-game roadie for the year. It happens. The D isn’t this bad, it will come back, with exception of Scutaro if his back problems (whatever they are) persist. As for the pitching, one start at a time. This is D-day for Voggy, IMO. Do, or do not. If not, something’s gotta happen with him. If the starter group meltdown continues into early June, then it’s ledge time, because the Pen will get eaten alive if that doesn’t change, and it will be hard to recover quickly. If the Pen flames, then we will be in deep donuts, that’s the strength of the team…
I’m curious – anyone care to fess up to # 4–I’m now on the ledge looking down? Apparently, we have two Flappers that are that concerned. Interesting. I would love to know the reasons . . .
Could be some extra batting helmets for the fans in the stands in this series.We do have #1&3 teams in errors made going at it.
James, in regard to your 8:25am post – you like quantitative versus qualitative evidence . . . I found this:
“In December 1991, The National League expansion committee releases its findings about playing baseball a mile high. Among its predictions: A batted ball will travel 9 percent farther in Denver than at sea level; thinner air will cause breaking pitches to flatten out, meaning a 14-inch curve at sea level will break 11 inches in Denver; and outfielders will be able to throw the ball 9 percent farther in Denver than at sea level.”
Ah, so that explains Pagan airmailing a throw into the seats on Friday.
Colorado has ended a season with a winning record on the road just once in franchise history, when the club went 41-40 away from Coors Field en route to a 92-70 overall finish. Last year, the Rockies went 29-52 on the road. They have one of the great homefield advantages in all of sport, with a 30% better record in their Himalayan refuge than away from it’s icy slopes. They have a snowball’s chance in the lake of fire and brimstone of making the playoffs and any opinion to the contrary is IDIOTIC AND SHORT SIGHTED…Thank you.
You said that about AZ in 2011.
Yeah, he’s strangely adamant for someone who’s been wrong a number of times.
We suffered a horrendous rash of injuries in 2011.Chuckehead also says the Rockheads finish last in the West this year,BTW. Last in the division= no chance.
Zumiie: don’t fuck with me, pal. The capitalized quote is Flavor’s.
Those two comments from Chuckles and Zummie reflect the hyprocrital bullshit that many engage in. It was MY OPINION that was deeemed “idiotic and short sighted” by Flavor.because he disgreed with it. You are spineless shills when you attack one person for the statements you approve of from others. Zummie has been the worst at this- he attacks the smallest criticism of a player if I make it and totally ignores other far more scathing ones from others.
Chuckles has made the dive so often he’s flatter than a chinese pancake. If he voted anything but 5, he’s lying through his dentures.
44 games played out of 162, yep that sky is falling. duck and cover. anyway, pitching, hitting and fielding, none of that was happening over the last 6 games, well maybe some hitting in 1 or 2 of the games. but the rest pfff…and in second place to boot. and the 2 that are on the ledge, watch it the first step is a doozy!
Funny, Blade the 2nd day after I moved to Carbondale (8,000′) my first job was planting trees on some guy’s house on Red Mtn. (close to 10,000′ up). Needless to say I wasn’t acclimated yet (and I was still smoking at the time) and it took all of 15 minutes before I passed out from the lack of oxygen. My buddies got a good laugh out of that one. Lucky I didn’t drop the pickaxe on my head.
Pissed is about right. And why would I stop hurting myself? It’s just the dumb errors that piss me off. It’s one thing to get hit, it’s another to give teams 3-4 extra outs per game.
The strange thing is, they had tighened thngs up recently. Is there anecdotal evidence for sucking in Canada? Too much oxygen? Too many oots per game?
Chuck, similar to our (my ex and I) experience. Although we had a mountain home in Old Shasta, near Redding, prior to moving here. I had no idea about the lack of oxygen at 8500 feet. Sure, like every one else here, I’ve gone to the casinos and skied at Lake Tahoe, but I can’t recall ever being short of breath. Anyway, I was impressed with two things after closing escrow on our mountain home: 1. Like you, I could barely walk a quarter mile without huffing and puffing, e.g., the ex and I thought it would be a good idea if we walked along the neighborhood near our home. Wrong. Near collapsed from lack of oxygen and had a severe headache that evening; 2. Two weeks after moving into the home, we had a “typical” blizzard . . . umm, 4 feet of snow easily that weekend and our neighbors had a housewarming for us that Saturday. First words out of my mouth when he opened the door upon our arrival to his house were, “Does it snow like this everyday? If so, I am out of here and moving back to California . . . ”
Here is a good joke about moving to a Wisconsin, then moving to Arizona. Most of you have probably seen it:
Diary Of Wisconsin & Arizona
Dear Diary:
August 2: Moved to our new home in Wisconsin. It is so beautiful here. The forests are so serene and picturesque. Can hardly wait to see them all covered with snow. God’s Country. I love it here!
October 14: Wisconsin is the most beautiful place on Earth. The leaves are turning and beginning to color. I love the bright shades of red and orange. Went for a ride through a beautiful forest and spotted some deer. They are so graceful. They are certainly the most peaceful animals on earth. This must be paradise!
November 11: Deer Season will start soon. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to kill such an elegant creature. The very symbol of peace and tranquillity. Hope it will snow soon. I really love it here!
December 2: It finally snowed last night. Woke up to find everything blanketed in white. It looks just like a postcard. We went outside and cleared the snow off the steps and shoveled the driveway. We had a snowball fight (I won) and when the snow plow came by, we had to shovel the driveway again. What a beautiful place. Mother Nature in perfect harmony. I love Wisconsin.
December 12: More snow last night. I love it. The snow-plow did his trick again (that rascal). A winter wonderland, but pretty cold!
December 19: More snow last night. Couldn’t even get out of the driveway to get to work this time. I’m exhausted from shoveling this stuff. Darn that old snow-plow!
December 22: More of that white shit fell last night. I’ve got blisters from shoveling this crap. I think the snow plow man hides around the curve and waits until I’m done shoveling the damn driveway, then he plows the fucking street, the Asshole!
December 25: “White Christmas” my busted ass! More fucking snow. If I ever get my hands on the son-of-a-bitch who drives that snowplow, I swear I will castrate the stupid bastard. Why don’t they use more salt on the roads to melt all this ice.
December 28: Guess what? More white shit fell last night. Been inside since Christmas fucking day except for shoveling out the driveway every time the “Snow Plow from Hell” comes by. Can’t go anywhere, the car’s buried in a mountain of frozen white shit. The weatherman says to expect another 10″ tonight. Do you know how many shovels- full of white shit 10″ is?
January 1: Happy Fucking New Year! The weatherman was wrong. We got 34″ of the white shit this time. At this rate, it won’t melt until the 4th of July. The snow plow got stuck up the road and the shithead driver had the balls to come to the door and ask to borrow my shovel. I told him I’d already broken 6 shovels digging out from under all the white shit he pushes back into my driveway and broke my last shovel over his God damned head.
January 4: Finally got out of the house today. Went to the store to get food. On the way back a God damned deer ran in front of the car and I hit the fucker. Did about $3000 damage to the car. Those worthless deer shit-dropping road hazards should be exterminated. Wish the fucking hunters had killed them all last November.
May 3: Took the new car to the garage in town. Would you believe the body is rusting out from all that fucking salt they dumped on the roads all winter. My car looks like a piece of shit!
July 1: Moved to Arizona! I can’t imagine why anyone on their right mind would ever move to that God Forsaken State of Wisconsin.
July 2: Saw a wonderful sunset this evening. I now understand “Purple Mountains Majesty”. Why do people live anywhere but here?
July 3: A lightning storm came last night. The sky was all lit. It was truly awesome! This morning the sky is “transparent”. I can see into Mexico. Arizona is a phenomenal state!
July 4: Now this is a state that knows how to live. Beautiful sunny days and warm balmy evenings. Mountains and desert blended together, what a place. Watched the fireworks at the park laying out on a blanket. It was glorious! I’ve finally found my home.
July 5: Really heating up, got to 100 today, not a problem, live in an air conditioned home and drive an air conditioned car. Life’s full of tradeoffs. What a pleasure to see the sun everyday like this. I’m turning into a real sun worshipper.
July 7: Had the back yard landscaped with western plants today. Lots of cactus and rocks. What a breeze to maintain. No more mowing for me. Another scorcher today but I love it here.
July 10: The temperature has not been below 100 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat. At least it’s a dry heat. Getting used to it is taking a little longer than I expected.
July 15: Fell asleep at poolside, got 3rd degree burns over 60% of my body. Missed two days work. What a dumb thing to do. I’ve learned my lesson! I really respect the old Sun in a climate like this.
July 20: I missed Tabby our cat sneaking into the car when I left this morning. By the time I got out to the hot car for lunch, Tabby had swollen to the size of a shopping bag and exploded over $2000 worth of leather upholstery. I told the kids she ran away. The car now smells like kibbles and shit. No more pets in this heat.
July 25: Dry Fucking Heat my Ass. Hot is hot! I’d be cooler living in my oven. The home air conditioner is on the fritz and the AC repairman wants $200 just to drive by and tell me he needs to order parts.
July 30: Been sleeping outside by the pool for three nights now. $1100 fucking dollar house payment and we can’t even go inside. Why did I ever come here?
August 4: 117 degrees. Finally got the air conditioner fixed today. It cost $500 and can only cool the house down to 90. Stupid ass Mexican repairman pissed in my pool. I hate this fucking state.
August 8: If another shithead cracks, “Hot enough for ya today”, I’m going to tear his fucking throat out. Arizona is hot! By the time I get to work, the radiator is boiling over, my clothes are dripping wet with sweat and I smell like roasted fucking Garfield.
August 10: The weather report might as well be a recording. Hot and sunny. It’s been too hot to fuck for 2 stinking months. And the weatherman says it might really warm up this weekend. Doesn’t it ever rain in the barren damn desert!
August 19: Welcome to Hell! Temperature got to 128 degrees today. Forgot to crack a window and blew the fucking windshield out of the Lincoln. The Mexican installer came to fix it, and said, “Hot enough for ya today.” My wife had to spend the stinking $1100 house payment to bail me out of jail.
August 30: Hottest day of the God damn summer. I’m not even leaving the house. Water rationing has been in effect all summer so the $1700 worth of my “low maintenance” cactus in the yard just dried up and blew into the fucking pool Even a cactus can’t live in this heat! I can’t cool off in the pool now! The pool is full of fucking needles and every fucking time I fucking attempt to clean the fucking cactus needles out of the fucking pool filter I shred my fucking hands. That does it, we’re moving back to Wisconsin in time for deer season!!!
Too funny!
Bochy/Baggs interview . . . good stuff 🙂
http://www.csnbayarea.com/blog/andrew-baggarly/bochy-candid-when-discussing-ruinous-rotation
“Colorado has ended a season with a winning record on the road just once in franchise history, when the club went 41-40 away from Coors Field en route to a 92-70 overall finish.” Of course they have had only 2 seasons in franchise history with an overall winning % high enough to expect a better than .500 road record:
Well, you got part of the comment. Nice cherry picking.. Anyway, .500 is the BEST they’ve done. Their home-away W/L inarguably makes their homefield advantage one of the greatest in sports.
Not disagreeing with the thrust of your comment — in fact, I think the home field advantage they have *is* the story, not the road disadvantage that Blade seems to be suggesting.
I know there’s some Doors fans here, sad to hear Ray Manzarek has died:
http://www.tmz.com/2013/05/20/ray-manzarek-dead-the-doors-cancer/
I think he’s past the “Loo Limit”:.
Mac, I didn’t know that, so it hit me a bit hard, especially after being at Jim Morrison’s grave a little over a week ago. Wow! RIP Ray 😦
“I think the last thing in the world that you are going to be concerned about when you’re gone is what people think of you here [laughter]. This LSD talking man, when you die, you go into infinity. You could care less about this quick snap shot in time, this little moment in infinity… ” – Ray Manzarek
I voted for number 2. . WTF? http://deadspin.com/troy-tulowitzki-takes-the-postgame-handshake-to-a-new-l-508878569
Holy shit. That must be faked.
I don’t think so Blade.
Now THAT’s a postgame celebration!
What does Tulo do for a guy that hits a walk off?…
it’s real. It’s not that big of a deal if the dude is wearing a cup. Not that i’ve ever done that, lol
I didn’t see any of the papers or the news mention this . . . umm, new mile high salute.
I’m concerned about the pitching. Last year we thought Tim would reverse things. Same shit was said all year; he’s too good, he’s got a track record of getting results…he’s close, just missing with location. Right. So why should we expect Cain and Vogel to suddenly return to form? And have to say I was wrong bout zeeets. Same old Barry.
But ledge? Not even close. After 2 rings, I’ll never get that worked up again.
Taking it all in stride…for now anyway. But check back with me in late Sept.
After the Colorado series, the “Master Plan” is revealed to dethrone the San Francisco Giants . . . http://www.denverpost.com/lunchspecial/ci_23283276/rockies-face-healthy-do-list-stay-nl-west?_requestid=6769220 🙂
1. Angel Pagan (S) CF
2. Marco Scutaro (R) 2B
3. Pablo Sandoval (S) 3B
4. Buster Posey (R) C
5. Hunter Pence (R) RF
6. Brandon Belt (L) 1B
7. Andres Torres (S) LF
8. Brandon Crawford (L) SS
9. Ryan Vogelsong (R) P
Think it’s a big night for Torres and Vogy to produce OR A change is gonna come
The Doors is my all time favorite rock band. Not even close as to the rest. The Who is next, probably. The Doors sound was it’s own. Blues/jazz/rock, all blended together and fired by Mr. Mojo Risin. This is a sad day for me, for all of us Doors fans. If I could go back in time, one of the things I’d do would be to go back to a Friday or Saturday night set of the Doors at the Whiskey a Go Go, circa 1966. They were the house band. That would have been off the friggin charts.
Ray Manzarek was the MAN behind that music. His keyboards defined the band. Unique. You KNOW immediately when you hear his sound that it’s the Doors. He played solo and with others later, but he knew the Doors was from whom and when he made his mark. And, he was cool with it. Ray was cool without even trying.
He kept them all together. He put up with the BS Morrison would lay on the band, sure, like Krieger and Densmore did. But, when the other guys were saying Fuck It, he got ’em to stay together, kept ’em together, got Jim to get his shit together enough to get back in the studio, and made some of the greatest rock of all time in about a 5 year orgasm of hits in arguably the most tumultuous decade of 20th century US. LA Woman, Light My Fire, Riders on the Storm, The End, Break on Through, Crystal Ship, Love Me Two Times, 20th Century Fox, Roadhouse Blues, Love Her Madly, Peace Frog, Touch Me, Soul Kitchen, People Are Strange, Moonlight Drive, Spanish Caravan. The list goes on — the band was a defining part of the era of the ’60s I lived through as a kid. I remember listening to AM radio when LMF came out, it was played constantly for weeks and weeks. #1 song of ’67, and that’s saying something. LA Woman is my favorite rock song, and when I lived in LA, I played it all the time driving around the freeways. It is the perfect LA song. http://tinyurl.com/c8gqjhf
I am definitely getting into some bourbon tonight, and I’m breaking out my old vinyls of the band.
RIP Ray, you’ve broken on through…
Nice post.
Really excellent post. I tell ya, when u guys decide to bust out gold, it’s solid
Things like this remind of your own mortality. Of things in your past done and not done. Of all the chicks the young Ray laid waste to that I can only dream about. 😉 Life crystallized is gold, we should polish it every day…
I shouldn’t go on, but I will. I went to a funeral Friday, the elderly Dad of one of my best friends all through school. He lived a good long life, but that doesn’t make it too much better. He was a “good dude”, the Dad, that is, and I knew him well in my youth. At the wake/gathering after the funeral, I got my buddy over in a corner near the restaurant bar (it was closed, beer and wine only) and hoisted a straight shot of whisky with him in memory of his dad. I brought the small bottle of Jameson’s in under cover. 😉 My buddy drank a similar toast/salute with a few other old friends a while back at my mom’s wake. Earlier at the wake as I had a mouthful of pasta salad, my buddy’s older daughter came up to me out of the blue and told me straight off that “you don’t know how much it means to my Dad that you’ve come”. She’s mid 20s, gorgeous and smart in the full flower of her youth. We didn’t talk too long, good thing, because I almost lost it when she said that. So, I could have decided to not drive 350 miles round trip in a day. But, I didn’t, and I was glad I didn’t NOT do that. Now Manzerak leaves. Memories of my youth bubbled up the last few days, and have overtaken me a little. I’m pissed and sad at the same time. In the scheme of things, a shitty six game roadie is nothin’…
Just read that The Whisky A Go Go, The Roxy, The Viper Room and The House Of Blues will be dimming their lights in his honor tonight.. Love the Doors but they were a bit before my time.. My dad will be sipping some single malt in his honor though.
Cheers to your Pops, yep it’s time tonite for some good stuff for a salute. Any son of a Doors fan is a friend of mine. 🙂
“Show me the way to the next whiskey bar
Oh, don’t ask why, oh, don’t ask why
For if we don’t find the next whiskey bar
I tell you we must die, I tell you we must die, I tell you, I tell you, I tell you we must die”…
I too was a huge Doors fan, snarkk. Did you know that Ray produced the first X album? One time in Concord, Ray and his organ came up through the stage during an X show and he played with them. The Gun Club opened and it was just a great show all around. I still have both of the Nite City LPs (I think). Anyway, I thought you might like this interview, it’s where I got the quote from on my last post.
http://thesunsetstrip.com/blog/thesunsetstripcom-exclusive-interview-ray-manzarek-doors
Yep, knew that Bozo. He’s done quite a few things in and around music and other arts, post-Doors, to keep his hand in. He was a dude with his head screwed on straight. Knew that his Doors time was the pinnacle. But, life offered more good stuff, and he partook, with no regrets. Thanks for the link…
X and Ray doing Soul Kitchen.
Love Soul Kitchen, Bozo. Good stuff.
The punk version, I dunno, it’s cool.
But, I’ll take the original slower version over it…
“So, I could have decided to not drive 350 miles round trip in a day. But, I didn’t, and I was glad I didn’t NOT do that.”
These are the decisions that will either buoy you up or haunt you later in life. Tom, excellent post and an even better decision.
There’s blood, there’s family, and there’s friends, Blade. After that, not much else really matters.
It took me some time, but I figured that out a while ago…
absolutely. Snarkk is on fire tonight. I think many of us are just gonna sit back and give you the room you need to pen another epic post. I can’t even decide how to handle this for the POTD. Maybe I’ll stick ’em in the *best-of*.
Every time you sit down and obviously spend the time to write something that means something to you, I read it like 4 times…….
And, I haven’t even started on the bourbon yet.
Go Voggy!…
We should have played the Rockies tonight. Garland is on his 2nd straight wild pitch/passed ball. Snakes about to break this fucker open.
I wish Mr. double bill would show up . . . I would love to watch the Giants game tonight and he has the wherewithal to make that happen. Sigh.
SF Is not listed yet but try this one. http://www.firstrow1.eu/sport/baseball.html
I’ll look for some others for you and Pawlie.
Thanks John. I will bookmark it.
I voted #2; for once, siding with the majority. Yes, yes, calling calling MrMrBillBill for help help with pirate feed.
Or this one, although I wouldn’t click on anything it asks for.
http://www.vipboxsports.eu/
vipbox is tricky–wait, then hover over the little x that shows up then click it. I don’t use it but I have friends who do and if you do it correctly, you’re all good.
Why is the site in French???
Dude, I don’t know, because it’s free? It’s blacked on my MLB.com link because it’s on TV locally – Fuck yeah, I forgot we are playing the Nats.
Thanks. What happened to Justin-or-whatever-his name-was? He used to be pretty reliable. Do I dare stay up late?
Blade, Corbin has been dominating everyone this year.
Yeah, I am finding that out now. MLB news traveled slow to Paris, France and so I wasn’t in the know. However, ask me about soccer. 🙂
Corbin (a rookie I think) is making the Rockies look hapless.
Corbin is the kid from Cicero-North Syracuse (CNS), whose girls’ lax whipped Syracuse last week. I almost got thrown out. Same with a fellow parent who is a nationally recognized hoops ref. I was kinda disappointed I didn’t get booted. Corbin is putting up All-Star numbers.
English is weird. Would an awful pitcher make them look hapful?? Just saying.
Sorry, I posted my response above by accident. We could have used a “Corbin” pitching for us in that Col series. He’s legit and he’s been killin everyone this year
I may go to bed early. No feed for the game and I wanted to see how Voggie would pitch. I think he is doing well per the ESPN Gamecast I am watching, i.e., the red dots are falling into the square target consistently for the most part.
MMMMMMMMMMRRRRRR. DDDDDOUUUUBBBBLLLLEEEEE BBBBBBIIIIILLLLLL!
At my first AT&T Park game, in 2009, Zach Duke (Pirates) battled Matt Cain. I think it was 0-0 through 9. I recall Bochy having Cain bat in the 8th or 9th. Randy Winn drove in Eugenio Velez for the win; Velez kindly gave an autograph to my younger daughter afterward. We traded for Franchez. Duke pitched in Syracuse last summer.
Saw Roger Bernardina play quite a bit in Syracuse. I like him as a player; he seems, shall we say, the Nationals’ Andres Torres. Something like that. Has trouble staying as a regular. He’s from Curacao. Isn’t Andruw Jones from there too?
I haven’t been following the Nats much, and I was surprised at their low batting averages. I caught some of the MLB network pundits talking about the Nats not being what they were last year. Could be the Braves year to put that division away. The Braves, of all teams, found out what a joke the one-game Wild Card playoff is. One bad umpire call can do you in.
Snarkk, thanks for being our Hunter Thompson vis a vis The Doors. My era too. In college, The Doors provided anthems for drunken parties. Guys would go around screaming, “You cannot petition the Lord with prayer!” As a lapsed seminarian, this scared me. Until booze melted all the inhibitions. My brother and i would get pissed if an AM station did not play the long version of “Light My Fire.” WKBW in Buffalo would. Finally, around 1972 one morning I was lying in bed before work. My roommate at the time had set his alarm. his radio came on. “Riders on the Storm” was playing on the radio as his alarm came on. It was the thunder part. I woke up so confused. It seemed to be thundering but it was sunny.
Is there a worse haircut in the majors than Harper? It’s awesomely bad.
It just confirms what a d-bag he is
WOW, a young stud ball player and BF is envious?
I was never a fan, never even bought one of the albums out of a sense of obligation, like say The Band. But the no bass thing was pretty cool. Iggy Pop got inspired. And Manzerek’s bridging of what seemed like such a huge gap at the time was pretty odd in a good way.
It’s great to watch the best offense in the NL do its thing.
now that’sa my team
The Giants are looking like the Giants again.
I’m thinking Vogs would prefer to pitch to Span rather than the Pitcher. Makes sense to me, Span is on my FL team.
I’ve got to say it:
MY MAN BELT!
yaha…I got your 8th spot right here.
ok, girls, how bad did Vogey’s injury look?
It looked bad because they led him off the field pretty quickly. He swung at a ball that hit him on his pitching hand.
thanks; I’m just following via Twitter, here, and ESPN. ALSO, FYI: the DVD 2012 WS set is on sale at the Giants’ website. $10 off. Just bought it. (Sold the BluRay version to Sam P. weeks ago.)
Pawlie, it was his pitching hand, did not look good at all.
STOP! I can’t take it. Sugarcoat it! Tell me it looked fine if he puts some ice on it or boobs or something — anything — soothing.
One of the K’s said it would be nice to see Belt get hot. They’re having a bad year, those two. Would It be too much to ask for the team announcers to know WTF they’re talking about? Belt was .314 .415 1.045 (BA, OBP, OPS) last two weeks…
Here’s the crew for the last 4 weeks:
Posey- .329 .442 1.008
Belt -.278 .373 .929
Scutaro .398 .446 .983
Panda .303 .336 .801
Crawford .276 .326 .775
Blanco .283 .328 .712
Torres .150 .209 .434
Pence .316 .346 .897
Pagan .230 .284 .641
Not counting tonite of course. Thx. those numbers will look even better for a few guys tmw.
Andres with a nice okey doke on Desmond too to avoid the tag plus some nice knocks.
Yes, that was before tonight…
Bad news- fractured right hand for Vogie
Pfffftttt….
Ugh. That is dreadful news about Vogey. After his best start, by far. And who joins the rotation? Gaudin? Sigh. Deep sigh.
He was throwing great. God dammit.
Fuck. . We’ve been fortunate in avoiding the injury bug. Still, that hurts.
Options, IMO? Gaudin. Loux. Kickham. ( pitching well last 4 starts).
Sucks for Vogs to fracture his pitching hand after finally getting a quality start.
Gaudin probably next in line under the Boch watch.
I might give Kickham a sniff,but doubt Boch will.
The good news is that if Gaudin pitches to his career numbers, this spot in the rotation will show dramatic improvement. In fact, treating their numbers as a composite, Gaudin will have to pitch quite well in order to do that.
BTW, I am surprised that Mrs. Gaudin has not achieved more notoriety on the Flap.
@nicolevogelsongRyan has a dislocated joint in the pinky finger of his pitching hand. It’s broken above & below finger. Surgery tomorrow, out 6 weeks.
twinfan1 said, on May 20, 2013 at 2:13 pm
No one doubts that W-L records are a measure of team success. *Pitcher’s* W-L are not a reliable measure of the pitcher’s effectiveness. Try to get it straight, Get some protein.
Reply
Yogi Barrister said, on May 20, 2013 at 9:55 pm
ef·fec·tive :Successful in producing a desired or intended result.
A poor choice of words. If a pitcher loses, no matter how well he pitched, by definition he was not effective. Conversely, if he gets a win, he was effective. Winning is the only measure of success for the team, therefore a pitcher’s intention every time out is to allow equal or fewer runs than his team scores. Also, a pitcher needs to do more than pitch to be effective. He needs to hold runners on base, field his position, and bunt like Vogelsong did tonight.
Tough break for Vogie. If Kickham or Gaudin steps up, could be a blessing in disguise.
Utter rubbish.
What’s utter rubbish? TF didn’t you used to post as John Tamargo? He was mentioned on this day in Giants history.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ATL/ATL197905200.shtml
I would be honored to be thought to have to posted as Tamargo. He was one of the finest commenters on any baseball blog. Wasn’t me, János…
“Can’t See The Forest For The Trees” :If someone can’t see the wood for the trees, they are unable to understand what is important in a situation because they are giving too much attention to details
It wasn’t John Tamargo either, as he was busy managing games while allegedly posting comments on the Splash. Do you believe any blog commenters when they claim to have expertise in the topic, an anecdote about a celebrity, or that they have a fatal disease?
János of Walnut Creek once commented that I gave away the computers so I could get y’alls Email addresses. I won’t be the one to break the news to him..who’s up to it?
More nonsense from János of Walnut Creek.: A 1-0 losing pitcher is ineffective. A pitcher who gives up 7 and wins is effective. Paging James, help this poor man.
Gee that was quick. Why don’t you conjure up Nipper for a pithy retort.
Is losing a game 1-0 the desired result? If a pitcher is given an eight run lead and he never relinquishes the lead, wasn’t he by definition more effective than the pitcher who allowed the opposition to take a lead?
Because János of Walnut Creek has had dozens of aliases, he thinks everybody does. Bob Bragman of SFGate filled me in on several of “Yogi’s” screen names.
Why ask Bob Bragman? I posted all of my alternate accounts and you know my name, address, and my parents phone number. Please don’t call them again and I won’t dox you.
That’s all a lie. Bye Bye.
I am enjoying Yogi. He makes wswinb4igo’s musings sound positively Bertrand Russell-like.
Your musings sound like the sock puppet of a chatbot
I don’t know that I’d mess with Gaudin. He’s going too well where he is. Loux isn’t exactiy inspiring but I think he can be respectable for 5 to 6 innings…
Uh-Oh, Belt is slumping again..
He almost got his second one there.
Ballgame.
For what it’s worth, there’s 5 off-days in the next 6 weeks. They can skip Vogey’s spot a few times if they need to.
Home, sweet home.
Bad deal for Voggy. But, I’m looking for a silver lining. He needed a rest. He’s going to get one. Gaudin takes his place, he’ll be OK, a #5. I doubt they’ll bring up a youngster. Then, bring up Hembree, like I said before. He gets his feet wet as a 6th inning guy, or some such. When Voggy comes back, he’s a new man. Everybody sits back one notch in the Pen. I’m looking at this as a glass half full of Makers…
Sierra Nevada for me. .
I doubt that Hembree would be up as anything less than the 8th inning guy. I wouldn’t be shocked if they gave Kickham or Heston a try but Bochy sounded as if he wanted Gaudin in the pen. So I’m still guessing Loux. a soft guess.But I’m always wrong. I said Vogie would have a quality start tonight and he goes and breaks his finger before he can finish six..
I hope it’s not Loux. I’ve seen that act before, and I don’t want an encore for a month and a half…
He pitched well until there was an article talking about how well he was pitching. We need to prosecute these leaks..I’d love to see Kickham, I just don’t think they’ll do it.
Yeah, that multiple account troll shit and the censoring of comments is what ruined the Splash, at least for us late bloomers. I used to post over there once in a while years ago, (mainly posted on post-game articles), before my previous username got blocked for no reason whatsoever. . Now it’s a cemetery unless the Splash gets displayed on the front page.. I warned VK, but he didn’t listen.
“I warned VK, but he didn’t listen.”
He did listen, not to an anonymous alter, to the advertisers who were being defrauded. Chatbots, sock puppets and lulz seekers don’t buy stuff.
Well, he did acknowledge that there was a problem and he knew what was going on, but also said in an email that his hands were tied and that the moderating firm they hired didn’t know apple juice from piss..
‘anonymous alter’ – what are you talking about? Those kind of accusations is what ruined the place, and you’re insinuating that I have other accounts? Is that what you’re saying? Just like you accused TF of doing above?
What’s your problem, bub?
Bragman identfied 15 different aliases used by ‘Yogi”. I didn’t ask him about Yogi in particular, but Yogi came up as the most egregious offender, He had the habit of creating screen names when he was getting his ass kicked, so he could pretend to have allies in his paranoid meanderings.
I never thought I’d see that same twilight zone troll shit on the Flap.. I’ve been informed about him over the years, though. Something about a condo and Walnut Creek, and posting from a looney bin or some shit. What a weird world we live in.
He’s accused me of faking cancer, which is understandable. There are a lot of people like Yogi who would do such a thing. But you know, how many guys would go so far as to do what I did- get admitted to the hospital several times, bribe the doctors to perform unneeded surgeries, and let me hang out in the ICU fielding phone calls from Flappers? Some people will do anything for a little sympathy,..next I plan to see if a homeless guy will accept 100 bucks to have his leg amputated and say he’s me…
Who is this guy?
The one on first? Or are you talking about what’s on second? Gee, I don’t know..
Mike, you have my email.. Feel free to contact me if need be.. I have two email addresses, one for work, one for blogging. I came here to avoid that shit.
Chico, I’m not sure what you mean, but I’d be happy to correspond with you. You’ve always been a favorite of mine wherever you post.
I was trying a lame riff on the Abbott and Costello bit, BTW. It wasn’t very good. Sleep well, my friend. I’m going to tend to my cat, who’s faking a deep puncture wound..
Thanks man.. I admit, it went over my head 🙂
I’ve got no dog in whatever hunt this noise is about.
G’night all…
Sleep tight. Well, as well as you can sleep knowing I have your Email, that is 😉
Later.