Off Day and I Still Miss The Thrill
Off day. Pfffttttt….
At the racetrack they’re called *dark days*.
Dark indeed.
Voggy went down. Then Crabtree REALLY went down. It’s always interesting to see how different people handle a player from their favorite team getting injured, getting traded or retiring suddenly.
Will Clark was probably the last player to leave one of my teams where I was truly bummed–I don’t think I ever got over it. I’ve always thought that my love of horse racing allows me to tolerate players suddenly leaving or getting injured easier than most fans. Your favorite horse can be gone in a single bad step on the racetrack. Happens all the time. Can’t dwell on it. And the sport is bigger than any individual so….you just move on.
Still, even as I type this I’ve got 3 Will Clark baseball cards taped to my monitor– nobody else, just Will.
Voggy and Crabs will be back so the only thing I’m feeling is a slight bit of frustration about who and how they will be replaced……
What player leaving (either through injury, retirement or trade) hit you the hardest?
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
I have to say that I felt that way about Matt Williams. The Giants got some great players for him, but I really liked the dude.
Unrelated to the topic, but Yogi the Bear (I think that’s his name) said something about wins being the most important statistic, which I adamantly disagree with. Here is a column that relates it to Fantasy League, but nonetheless, is accurate in all aspects, including its conclusions (IMO).
http://espn.go.com/fantasy/baseball/story/_/page/60F6I130521/can-patrick-corbin-jeremy-guthrie-others-keep-win-totals-do-wins-even-matter
When Bobby Bonds got traded, it was the first time I really understood the experience of losing “daily connection” with a favorite player. It upset me for a while, but that feeling faded. I don’t have those emotional longterm feelings about athletes as much. I have that feeling more for musicians. No death of an athlete or coach has affected me as much as the deaths of, say, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Kurt Cobain.
Reading Maraniss’ biography of Roberto Clemente was very moving. I felt the loss a lot more emotionally after reading the book. I was only 12 when Clemente passed away, and it was only a distant story to me at the time.
Z beat me to it, but yes, the Bonds trade was a tough one to stomach, little more than a year after winning the All-Star Game MVP in ’73 when that kind of thing still mattered.
Rob Nen. Almost every star who leaves, for whatever reason, either sees it coming, or has some sort of choice in the matter, or, in the case of injury, some chance of a comeback. Pitchers who throw their arms out, however, are a bit different. We’ll see about Wilson. But Wilson’s departure, even if it’s permanent, didn’t hit me the way Nen’s did and won’t get much worse if in fact he’s done. The circumstances under which Nen shredded his shoulder were just brutal, after such a great season. I went to quite few games in 2002 and often enjoyed that smoke-on-the-water-nenth-inning schtick, not to mention the unbelievable slider. He saved two games in the WS, I believe. But the hometown radar gun went deliberately dark when he took the mound the second time. And he couldn’t save game 6 in Orange County with what he had left of his rotator cuff. Just imagine how much pain every pitch sent tearing through Nen’s shoulder during that doomed inning.
I was checking out Nen’s plaque on the walkway between the ballpark and McCovey Cove yesterday, (and Wilson has a plaque, too.) As you all may know, Nen’s plaque is for reaching 300 saves, and Wilson’s is for tying Beck for franchise record for saves in a season. Beck is featured on Wilson’s plaque. All of those plaques are really cool and pretty big, too. They’re not little plaques at all. The ones featuring the accomplishments of Barry Bonds can’t help but bring a little poignant feeling. He’s in such a nebulous state these days in regards to the Giants. To have a statue of Orlando Cepeda and not have one of Barry seems a little…..I don’t know, somehow not quite right. But…..the steroid taint is what it is. Maybe if Barry came forward in some kind of tell-all admission, and began a new path to his image, things would change….
Sans the Bonds situation (and I am ambivalent about that entire mess), your post reminds me of how the Giants do just about everything first class, e.g., the plaques that you mentioned along McCovey Cove. I also like the ones that are around the perimeter of the stadium, both on the sidewalk and brick walls. As much of a toilet Candlestick Park was (and it was our toilet, so I loved it), the Giants ownership really outdid themselves with the Phone Park. I still remember the winter day trip my Mom and I took to San Francisco. I insisted that we started out at the new ball park and she said no problem, because we were taking the train to SF. Huh? She answered, “Yes Steven, the ball park is only a block from the train station and from there, Fisherman’s Wharf is only minutes away as well.” When we got to the ball park, I was floored. I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life . . . Granted, I didn’t get to go in, but it was sufficient to take a photo with the Willie Mays statue (my boyhood hero) and look through the spy hole out in right field. Wow! It took me another year, but I finally attended a game at the Phone Park and I was even more amazed at what the Giants brass had built. In my opinion, the best baseball park – especially considering our rich history that the Park emphasizes – in MLB.
oh wow, you made me rember Scott Garrelts. all of a sudden he was just gone.
I was ticked when they traded Stretch to Diego in the mid ’70s, but I got it because he was on the downside of his career, had bad knees, the team was dogmeat, etc. I was probably most bent when Eddie D traded Joe to make room for Steve. There, I knew Joe had some good stuff left, and he showed that by taking the Chiefs to the conference champ game, and I think outdueled Marino again in a memorable Mon night game or some such. I’m not convinced Joe could not have won another SB with the Niners in those next two years he was with KC. They just couldn’t go on with that QB controversy constantly hovering over the team. Steve was a fine QB and yeah a HOF caliber player, but like most Niner fans, to me Joe was the guy…
“Joe was the guy.” Ditto. I was crushed when that happened. Ironically, I would have to go back to Mays being dealt to the Mets as being equal to what I felt emotionally (although I intellectually understood why Willie was dealt). I should have learned my lesson after Mays, and to a lesser extent, Speier, Bonds and Mac were dealt, but Montana being traded hurt.
For what it’s worth (sorry if this is a repeat of something I’ve said) I saw a comparison video of how QBs faces looked while in the pocket as they searched for the open receiver, and the mayhem of defensive vs. offensive lineman took place all around them. Could have been an NFL films thing, probably was. Telephoto close up shots from the endzone right into the facemasks of the QBs. Steve Young’s face winced off and on and his eyes blinked like windshield wipers on high in a cloudburst. Joe’s cold blue eyes didn’t blink. Maybe once. His face was calm, serene — as he read progressions it was like he was looking at the waves roll in at Waikiki, even though bodies were flying all around him. That said it all for me…
“Joe’s cold blue eyes didn’t blink.”
Very well said.
As much as an athlete can seem sacrosanct, he and Ronnie Lott are that to me. I would be awestruck to get to meet them and shake their hands.
It’s kind of cool they’re in a TV commercial together. I can’t even remember the product the commercial is promoting, but it’s just real nice seeing them.
Yes, wonderful post snarkk.
Yeah, I liked Ronnie and even more so JR for their performances. Although in his latter years JR seemed to run into a diva need every once in a while. Ronnie’s a good dude for the community, he’s on KNBR in the mornings during football season once a week, Friday, I think. But, I can’t listen to it very long. He gets too rah rah and rambles so much into cliche driven “toughness” and inner strength territory, it’s hard for me to stomach for the full 7-8 minutes…
Yeah, Rice was an awesome player, but the attitude wasn’t always the greatest. And it kind of bothers me a litte that when I saw him interviewed last year, while he was talking about his great teammates on the Niners, he didn’t seem to give much props to Taylor, who was very good, also, and made it impossible for teams to only gameplan for Rice, in regards to wide receivers.
Awesome post….and so true. There is a reason he was called “Joe Cool.”
That would be Dick Stuart, who turned me into stone at my 10th birthday party. I never really spoke to him until he had passed away. We sat on the rocks by my pond and I asked him about my brother and my Dad and Clemente and Haddix…they were all doing well..
Mays definitely. Even if he was fading. Bobby Bonds as well. Shit, I was bummed when Chris Speier left. By the time McCovey left, I was OK with it because the team was a joke and he deserved better. The fact it was SD meant I had chances to see him still.
Newer guys include Matty, Will, and Robby. I really wanted Clark to play one more year for StL so he could come to the new park here. He is was and will be a National League guy who floundered through his AL days. Kind of a latter-day Mantle in that he didn’t really give a shit about conditioning and just kinda pissed it away by the end.
As far as Joe goes, call me the minority but I was ready for him to go. Young was younger, stronger, and had a much longer career in front of him than Joe. Shit, Joe missed 2 years due to injury. If Joe had stayed, he would have been killed behind our line and Bono would have been the starter. Plus, Joe played his part in sabotaging the team around his interests. If the Niners had named Joe the starter, Steve leaves. With Steve traded to keep Joe happy, no ring #5. That’s how I see it anyway.
But these things are totally affected by one’s age at the time. Like Mays getting traded, or the whole Preston Riley thing. That STILL haunts me to this day. KW’s fuckups? No. For the 1972 playoff debacle, I was 11. For KW, well let’s just say older that dirt.
I like that perspective on the Niners, Chuck. Most Niner fans, we knew that the Joe vs. Steve thing couldn’t go on, somebody had to go, and the logical guy to go was Joe. He got it, Eddie D got it. At least they put him to a team that was more than respectable at that point. That didn’t make it easier to swallow, though, for me. Joe was the messiah that brought championships to a franchise that was dead in the water when Eddie D bought it (Daddy D, did). It’s hard to let go of an icon…
Ronnie was very unimposing in his street garb when I met him at the Keystone in PA years ago. His eyes were intense though. He was there with Cedrick Hardman (great guy. I talked to him a bit about lining up next to Charlie Krueger in his rookie year. Cedrick was in awe of him) right after Ronnie left the Niners for the Raiders. He let me give him shit about going across the Bay and let me buy him a coupe beers. Nice guy who put up with some shit from me and my friends.
I felt the same way when I met Randy Cross at the Cupertino Wine Festival. This guy plays on the offensive line? He seemed very small at the time, but what do I know. 🙂
Blade, on your Bonds comment, someday in the future they’ll put up something for him. The question is how long? It’ll be a long while, IMO, at least another 5 years. They’ve first got to see how this HOF thing turns out, which looks like it’ll take a while for him to get in, maybe not at all. If the votes trend downward over the next few years, they may not want to put up something too high profile. Baer and Co. will be careful to handle the PR angle and how they’ll actually handle feting him. Bonds himself is a wild card. We all know he’d have to agree with what they propose, because he wouldn’t show up for a ceremony unless he blessed the whole deal and the size/type of party and monument. Plus, I think Willie’s opinion has a part of this, whether he’d want to be around for a Bonds salute and monument ceremony. The Giants must know whether Willie is embarrassed or doesn’t care about the alleged ‘roid shenanigans of his “godson”. Also, I’d guess Baer will wait ’til a period where the Giants aren’t so hot. Can’t take away the good vibes of a winner with a Bonds retrospective and all the ‘roids talk vibe that it will bring back…
All good points. Me? I guess I really don’t care. On one hand, Bonds wasn’t the only one doing this shit, so why the animus toward him? He seems to be the poster boy for PEDs and I sense racism there. However, that’s only my opinion.
On the other hand, I really disliked his “look at me” act. It wore thin. Frankly, I disliked him when he was with the Pirates where he attempted to show up Leyland in that infamous video (Bonds lost by the way IMO . . . Leyland read him the riot act and came out on top). In short, the Lazy Boy Lounger all the way to his POS defense in left field in the latter years really grew tired and I was glad to see him go.
Ah, you always remember your first kiss and your first 49er QB… well, QBs… when I got here even Brodie was gone. There was Owen, Spurrier, Snead, Joe Reed, Dennis Morrison..no cold blue eyes, just eyes looking for the door out.That was ’74. The dark years?? Hah! The BEST QB until Joe came around was DeBerg.
“no cold blue eyes, just eyes looking for the door out”
That cracked me up. It captured that era well. (grin)
And a belated shout out to Ray Manzarek. The true backbone of the Doors. Though I was born a little lae for the glory days that Jimi, Janis, and Jim walked the Earth, they played a big part in the fabric of my life growing up. One of my older sisters would tell me stories of seeing Janis walking down Stanyan Street heading toward the Haight and happily sharing a joint with her, hanging out for a couple hours and catching a buzz sharing a bottle of whiskey. Seeing the Doors at the Fillmore for $2.00. Dropping acid at one of the be-ins . . . It floors me that she was at a) the Monterey Pop Festival and b) Altamont.
Forget Woodstock, if there was one show I could go back in time to see it would be the Monterey Pop Festival. The Who, the Dead, Janis, Jimi, Otis Redding, countless others.
It blew my mind when I found out Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young were at Altamont. And I still find it hard to believe.
They spent a bunch of money after the festival getting themselves removed completely from the movie and trying to erase themselves completely from that day.
Wow. They did a good job. I had no idea they were there as well. There’s a cool video floating around of the Grateful Dead and the Rolling stones standing on pier 23 waiting for the helicopter to take them to that show. Sort of the passing of the innocence, in a sense.
Here it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZizWlGjACY
At about 22 seconds into Chucks video, I think I see Angela Davis, the revolutionary firebrand of those days…
Chuck mentioned Robby Thompson. He was a good player and all, but I never really considered him one of my favorites, for some reason. Not sure why. Anyway, he’s now bench coach for the Mariners. Anybody have a clue why he never stuck with the Giants organization as a coach? Was there bad blood or something? A bit of a head scratcher for me, since he was always a real fan favorite, and I think he did coach for the Gyros somehow in the early 2000s…
I don’t think there was ever bad blood. Giants treated him well. They gave him that 3 year, 12 million dollar contract (2nd only to Ryne Sandberg) for his great play the previous year. Ironically, we’re talking about players that were traded away from the Giants and 49ers – Thompson played his entire career here.
I thought he went to Colo or some shit.
Nope . . . San Francisco Giants (1986–1996)
Terrific player, but it bothered me that when all the talk of the Giants moving to St. Pete was going around, and it looked like it might happen, Thompson was photographed in the Chronicle wearing a St. Petersburg Giants hat that someone was passing around. That hurt.
Yeah, I agree Z . . . However, a bit more understandable when you realize Thompson was born in West Palm Beach, Florida. He attended Forest Hill Community High School in West Palm Beach, where he played high school baseball for the Forest Hill Falcons. Thompson received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in 1983 where he played for coach Jack Rhine’s Florida Gators baseball team.
In short, he was pretty locked into the Florida West Palm Beach area.
Well, OK, it doesn’t hurt as much, then. And the fact that they didn’t move anyway. (grin)
Back in that timeframe, Thompson lived, I believe, in Tampa. He had kids who were still home and he wanted to be as close as possible to them. I think during that time he was coaching for Cincy. Anyway, it was a geographic/logistic thing (this is from an interview I saw with him years ago).
I still think Brodie belongs in the HOF. His numbers are better than Namath’s, and he had the misfortune to play on a lot of shitty teams. If he had gotten to the Super Bowl just once, he likely gets in. His numbers are comparable to Sonny Jurgensen, and are better than Joe Namath’s. Fuck Super Bowl III. NY’s defense and run game won that for the Jets, not Broadway Hoe.
Chuck, why isn’t Stabler in? He won a friggin’ SBowl, they dominated the purple. He was a human highlight machine in the mid ’70s for the Raiders in the 4th quarter. I’ll take him over Namath any day, and he probably has better stats than Namath (I’m guessing). Is it the Raider/Al Davis thing? Hell, Namath had booze and drug issues. So, what’s the deal?…
IMO he was even a better druggie and boozer than Namath. 🙂
I read a Stabler biography or autobiography many years ago. Let’s just say that Stabler’s premature gray hair and wrinkles had their reasons. But for several years, he was a lot of fun to watch play football. I wasn’t a Raider fan, but those Raider teams of the ’70s and early ’80s were fun to watch.
Namath: 140 games, attempts 3762, Comp 50.1%, 27,633 yds, 173 TDs, 220 INT, INT % = 5.8%, QB rating 65.5
Stabler: 184 games, attempts 3793, Compl 59.8%, 27,938 yds, 194 TDs, 222 INT, INT % = 5.9%, QB rating 75.3
Statistically, I see no reason Namath is in, and Stabler is not. Both won 1 SB, and Stabler was in multiple conf champ games that they lost before finally getting to the 1977 SB…
I was in the booth with my Pop and Summerall for the ” Life of Riley” game. What a revoltin’ development that was. I think I heard Chuck screaming 😉 It was lhat weekend in SF that made my bride and me decide to move out here for good. Took until ’74 to make it happen…
Cool video on the pier, Chuck. It’s interesting, humorous, and nostalgic; but also the goofy obliviousness that led to Altamont’s disaster is there, too.
Yeah, the concert was supposed to be in Golden Gate Park, but that got pulled at the last minute. The set-up at the Altamont Speedway was a joke and a nightmare. The stage was like 2 feet off the ground, and people were walking on stage all through the shows..
It wasn’t a great day of music, but it made for a rivetting movie, At one point, a stray dog runs across the stage. There’s a moment in the Stones concert when Jagger is singing as some strung-out Hell’s Angel is doing weird facial contortions near him, and somebody just runs over and shoves the guy into the audience. And lots of other moments as strange or stranger than that, and ultimately the tragedy of somebody getting stabbed to death in the audience.
By the way, barring illness, have you ever seen anyone that aged as much as Stabler in a few years? After his football prime, he went from looking like a rock star to looking like Jed Clampett in a shockingly short time.
Maybe he stopped using “Just for Men”?…
Billy Martin looked 180 years old when he died. An old 180.
Billy’s booze unfortunately did that to him.
The Snake had his demons, too. But, he belongs in Canton for on the field exploits. No NFL fan of the ’70s can imagine that period without thinking a lot about Stabler’s work…
I knew of Billy’s demons. I was replying to a question…
Of course Stabler belongs in the HOF.
The one player who impacted me more than any was The Thrill. I am glad he is back with the organization now, but damn, that hurt like hell. I remember my son (who was young at the time) being so bummed, and not being able to understand why Will was no longer a Giant.
I hear ya–we might be the only two here who feel that way, tho. lol
In many ways I’m bummed he came back to serve as this “special advisory assistant” or whatever the fuck he is. When I see Will now I just see a fat, bald ex-player who should NEVER be forced to squeeze into a uniform. Side note: it’s totally lame that baseball managers and coaches have to wear the same uniforms that players do. Can you imagine Belichick trotting out on to the field in the same jersey as Brady? Would he have to wear shoulder pads, too?
But back to The Thrill— he had the best nickname of all time, the best swing I’ve ever seen, the best *competitive look* I’ve ever seen and he just always seemed to do something at the perfect time to send me jumping out of my seat (or trying my best to keep my car in the lane I was driving in) 🙂
That’s the Thrill I remember, not the dude I see today. And the SI article that Twin posted years ago tarnished my feelings about him a little bit–I’m still pissed at you for posting that! 🙂 ……
I wish I hadn’t…
No concrete reason, but I get the feeling that Will has changed over the years in that regard, For the better.
It’s cool, it didn’t kill my love for him or anything. It wouls be a little like finding out that Santa Claus was actually a dick– he’s still bringing me presents and shit
My favorite Giant ever..
Being from the same generation that doesn’t surprise me. He was my idol. I still trip out on the fact that he never had 200 hits in a season– felt like he banged out that during a bad year
Hey BF, ya gotta roll with it. Stretch is my favorite Giant, like many other fans of my generation. He’s basically wheelchair bound. We don’t like to see that, we remember how that windmill practice swing scared the crap out of pitchers, just prior to a scalding two iron over the right field fence. Having a bit of a beer paunch and balding isn’t that bad…
It’s an off day for our Giants, but the Sharks play tonight. GO SHARKS!
Over the years there have been a few players on the Giants that I was bummed to see go. Willie, I still can’t believe the man got old. Bobby B, at the time I didn’t really get it, that such a talented ballplayer would be traded for being an outspoken Black ballplayer. Rent, I thought the Giants and SF owed him one more year, just because you reward a hero (I’m not getting into the debate on what a hero is, in my eyes he was one). Kevin Mitchell, that guy just blew my mind and yes, I followed his career after he left SF. The one guy that you all will probably laugh at me about was Royce Clayton. I thought he’d turn into a HOF SS at some point, and every year he’d do just enough to keep me believing it.
Currently, I guess Panda and Craw would bug me if they left or didn’t play up to their potential, but I guess I’ve also come to terms with the whole business side of baseball, so I’d probably get over it pretty quick.
Jeez, Sabean (Knbr right now) sure seemed excited to break down all of Belt’s problems with his swing– and that’s right after all he did was heap praise on all of Crawford’s 2013 “adjustments”
From Baseball Prospectus before the final Nat’s game:
“Bold Prediction of the Week: The suddenly hot-hitting Brandon Belt (.302/.393/.604 line in 61 plate appearances in May entering play last night) will not only best last year’s homer total of seven this week, he’ll tie his single-season high of nine from 2011 by clubbing three homers before next week’s article. The Giants face Nationals southpaw Gio Gonzalez today, and Belt is a candidate for a day off as a result, but they then face right-handed starters in their next five games.”
The .604 is slugging pct. BP, BTW, is notoriously anti just about everything SF related. If they rated bridges the Golden Gate would be behind the Tallahatchie..
Now that made me pine for the city and seafood, even if half of it as fresh what you’ll get in Sioux City. But the Sand Dabs at Tadich Grill- were good enough to tolerate the waiters…my favorite supermarket special sign, from a Santa Rosa Safeway “Imitation Krab- Weather Permitting”. Yeah, I probably told you this a few times, sorry I’m running out of stories. Merna’s theory is that everything stopped happening to me in 1973. I don’t intend to ask what that means but I know it’s not good.. Anyway- that same store had “Chicken Back Legs” on sale. So I asked the check out girl if they had front legs, I’d be willing to pay more… she started to page the meat department before I broke the news that only the Colonel’s chickens had 4 legs.. we had a good laugh after she hit me with the sourdough loaf. Really good Sourdough can hurt plenty when whacked with it.
Twin, how’s the gang all doing health wise? I may have missed the Mickey update.
Salty: I just finished talking to the vet. Zeke was ill, too. They had removed a foxtail from his ear ( had to put him under) and he had a reaction to the antibiotics. He’s OK now. Mickey is better one day, worse the next. he’s eating, so that’s good. If he’s not clearly on the way back by Saturday the vet will probably cut in (!!!).
The gophers are fine, enjoying my lettuces, and with Mickey still under the weather, his friends Bob and Marge, the mice in the pantry, are savoring his share of the kibble…
Ha ha. Good to hear. Hope mickey comes around.
Totally Pissed off at the Giants when they traded “The Ripper” Jack Clark.Dude brought the swagger along with Chili Davis.Giants had many lean years with those 2 but they both fired me up as a fan with their all-out aggressive styles.
Still ticks me off freakin Jack Clark for David 1 year of pond scum,cesspool,barnacle’s clinging to his ass Green.
I know it’s Bleacher report, but found it interesting. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1648558-don-mattingly-blasts-dodgers-players-and-questions-management?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=daily-radar
I gotta agree with Mattingly.
It’ll be interesting to see how that works out. He threw a lot of people under the bus. But he’s decided he’s going to play the guys that he thinks he can win with, regardless of anything else. So, Ethier sits, and Van Slyke plays rightfield; and Punto plays shortstop. Punto’s from the Nefti Perez school of middle infielders built like fireplugs.
I forget where I read it, but it seems that some folks think Donnie is trying to get canned.
Imagine Tommy L’s immediate response, shouted through a mouthful of pasta carbonara and chianti.
Loux was rocked for 7 hits and 7 runs in 5 IP last night. Kickham is pitching tonight. He’s pitched two innings so far, 2 hits 0 runs 0 BB 1 K. He’d be on normal rest if he pitched up here on Tuesday.
You know every time I see that guy’s name it reminds me of S-Dog’s post, about turning on the game and being bummed to find out “DJ Loux is on the mound.”
I just think that guy is glorified Gaudin…not fit to start mlb games, for anyone.
I thought they might go with Loux , but hoped for Kickham. He’s now completed 6 shut out innings tonight. So it’s 5 straight solid outings. 31 IP 24 H 5 ER 8 BB 29 K. He’s got to be the guy now. I hope.
Hope to see Kickham get the call . Always something special about a guy making his big league debut. Might as well find out now what he’s got.
Brown just homered. But what has happened to him?
A lot of the prospect rating sites thought Peguero was the better prospect even as some thought Brown was our #1. After he finished well in Richmond and had a good AFL season I thought he would crack the LU by next year. Wrongo.
Some dunderhead named Sam Rolens is the Splash author of today’s thread, a poll to voite for your favorite Giant of all time- no Bonds, McCovey, or Will Clark on the list…
Sam is probably about 21 years old…
He’s a student at the Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. He writes almost exclusively of Oakland and and Oakland sports. In other words, he’s trolling on the Splash…
The final line on Kickham last night: 6.1 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K.
YTD: 3-4, 10 games, 10 started, 54 IP, 58 H, 32 R, 26 ER, 4 HR, 22 BB, 54 Ks, 4.33 ERA, 1.48 WHIP.
I hope (like most here) that they bring the kid up and see what he’s got. (I prefer to see Gaudin in the pen.)
I saw that article on Donnie TT that Chico shared. I think he is totally justified. And if he isn’t trying to get canned (Michael said he had heard something to that effect), this sure could help that cause. The Bums are fricking pathetic…all that talent and they SUCK. Love seeing them in the cellar.