A Baseball Lifer, RIP
To call Don Zimmer a “baseball lifer” isn’t doing much justice to the life of a lifer…….
Everyone knows who he was, everyone loved him. I stole this from wikipedia: he married his one and only wife (Soot. Come on, “Soot?” lol) at home plate before a minor league game in 1951. He started dating her in 10th grade, I’m not sure she knew what she was getting herself into. But if you’re a chick and your nickname is “Soot” you’re probably cool with getting down and dirty with the ballgame back in the 50’s. That reminds me of Jerry Garcia’s wife “Mountain Girl”. I’m gonna go out on a limb and assume both of these chicks didn’t earmark too many dollars towards razor blades……
He coached on the Giants staff in 1987. Maybe it was because that was such a magical year, but he seemed to be around SF a lot longer than one year.
Probably because he was always “around”. After his playing career ended (um, Zimmer stole 45 bases?) he managed 4 teams. He coached on 11. Most recently, he coached on the Rays staff for the last 10 years. Think about that, you just break off a clean decade like it was a piece of cheddar at the end of your 66 year career in a random gig like The Rays. I guess that’s how you get to 66…..
None of us will ever forget the bizarre mismatch between Zimmer and Pedro Martinez during a 2003 playoff game. I’m not going to give the link, it’s painful to watch. Pedro did nothing wrong there, in my opinion. You have some dude zeroing in on you, you have like half a second to recognize the threat, and then you just quickly decide to send him past you. Adrenaline is up. I don’t fault Pedro there. And Zimmer’s apology after the game was one of the most heartfelt apologies I’ve ever seen a baseball professional man make publicly.
Every baseball dugout should have a *Don Zimmer* sitting on it’s bench. And you’d think that there’s a million *lifers* who could do just that. And yet, I can’t think of another one who did it quite like Zimmer. One lifer. Gone today. Easy to honor.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Majestic victory. Superlative roadie vs two tough teams. How do you spell S U C C E S S? Prognosticating Poobahs, projecting the LaBumbos would spell it with something like $ucce$$. Not the Giants way. Top of the line management all the way plus a team made up of characters and no prima donnas. And to re-reiterate all over again ~ they come at you from every possible angle.
This is not a team likely to simply lay back and rest on their laurels either. If somebody gets tempted, Bochy replaces the guy for a game or two with somebody from the bench who needs to prove himself as worthy of being a part of this monster machine majestating its way towards that legendary Orange and Black October.
We may be looking at the best overall Giants team since 1954. The ’62 edition was also a great and well-balanced team ~ were it not for that godsquad second baseman of the Evil Empire being perfectly positioned to snag McCovey’s liner.
Sixty games in the books at 39-21 ~ one victory short of a .667 record. 102 to go. Five-hundred ball at 51-51 nets a 90 win season. 61-41 for 100 wins. Split the difference at 56-46 and its 95-67. At the current pace that finish looks pretty doable. That would mean playing to ten over .500 the rest of the way. Giants are currently zipping along at an 18 game bulge over fifty-fifty.
To re-re-re-reiterate: I like our chances and i love this team.
All well and good, Stick. But, we’ve played less than 40% of the games. Long way to go. Seasons tend to have their ups and downs, unless you have an incredible one like the ’84 Tigers that went wire to wire, or the ’93 Giants that won 103. This might be one of those. But, I’m looking just game to game right now. It’ll be interesting to see how they handle the returns of Casilla and Belt when the time comes…
Biggest threat from the Dodgers?
They fire Mattingly by July 1…
I thought the same thing last year.
Yep…we have tossed those numbers around quite a bit. Using Stix’s middle-of-the-road numbers (56-46 for the remainder of the season), and 95 wins, the bumbinos would have to go 65-36 (29 over .500) to come in with 96 wins.
Even taking playing ball at .500 and 91 wins. bums would have to go 60-41.
What was that line by Mike Myers in Wayne’s World about Monkeys and his ass??? Just saying…
Numbers look sweet, but I agree with snarkk. One game at a time. Win series. Play at least .500 on the road, and all should be fine.
Agreed. Too early to start buying playoff tix, but we can think about it. Look at the ’51 Giants, came from 13 back in August. Look at the 2010 Giants — they came on late as the Pads cratered a 7 game lead in late August with a 10-game losing streak into September. The RSox blew a 9-game lead entering September 2011, going 7-20 in that month — getting Francona fired. Weird stuff happens down the stretch, there’s no “gimmee” in baseball…
At the start of this road trip I wasn’t expecting the club to rampage through the NL Central but I’ll take it.
I’ll be the first to admit it: I don’t know how to handle success like this, except to enjoy it, take it as it comes. (Weren’t we 10 up at the break in ’93?) Then my doomer side even frets over winning the NL West handily (all imagined, mind you): will we get flat, as Detroit did in 2012? High-class problems. Off to $1 night at the Chiefs.
“We Kicked Reds Posterior in Cincinnati.”
WKRP in Cincinnati. Nicely done, Macdog. 🙂
I liked that show a lot. The clothes and the hair wouldn’t hold up too well these days on re-watching, but still a really good show.
The Astros picked a high school pitcher with the first pick, Brady Aiken. It’s the first time a high school pitcher has gone first since 1991.
One of the MLB network pundits the other day was arguing for some kind of NBA-type lottery for the highest picks. He made the point that this is the 3rd year in a row that the Astros have gotten a top 5 pick, and at some point it just isn’t right to keep rewarding a really bad team like that with super high picks. I get his point, but it doesn’t bother me. I feel a little sorry for a player going to a hopeless baseball team; but then again, all the money in signing bonuses these guys get, I don’t feel much sorry for any of them.
“The Dodgers are something like 3rd in the league in ERA, 3rd in the league in scoring, and yet only 1 game over .500. With the Dodgers, you get the sum of all the parts, and that’s all. And some of the parts aren’t as good as they used to be.”
They are actually 6th in ERA, and 11th in runs allowed. Their fielding % is also 11th.
If the Dodgers bullpen had given up 30 fewer earned runs, their combined ERA would be nearly the same as the Giants’ BP. The runs allowed total — even with crappy D — would be 214, instead of 244. They’d probably be a couple games behind the Giants now based on the much improved run differential, which would be similar to SF’s, and separated only by the additional 13 unearned runs the Dogs have coughed up. No team chemistry required.
So the fact that the Dodgers only scored 2 or 3 earned runs in the White Sox series….not something the Dodgers should be overly concerned with?
Of course, the Dodgers are going to Coors Field, so that should take care of any run-scoring issues for a few days, for their offense.
“1. Houston Astros: LHP Brady Aiken, Cathedral Catholic HS
2. Miami Marlins: RHP Tyler Kolek, Shepherd HS
3. Chicago White Sox: LHP Carlos Rodon, North Carolina State
4. Chicago Cubs: C Kyle Schwarber, Indiana
5. Minnesota Twins: SS Nick Gordon, Olympia HS
6. Seattle Mariners: OF Alex Jackson, Rancho Bernardo HS”
Touki Toussant is still available. I dig that name!
If Boof Bonser, Tony Torcato, and Nick Noonan are any indication, I’d stay away from the alliterative first round picks. Brandon Belt was not a first rounder…
Tyler Beede, RHP, Vandy.
And here he is:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2068832-tyler-beede-prospect-profile-for-san-francisco-giants-1st-round-pick
Beede pitches tomorrow vs. Stanford in super regionals, 10 a.m. PST on ESPN2.
Good stuff. Thanks for the heads-up. I’ll record it and give him a look.
No surprise Sabes took a pitcher. Was it Dirt that proposed SF might take a position player in the first round? This kid has had continuing control issues, let’s see if they can fix him. Big kid…
Well, I like his name, I can just hear Kruk saying just before game time, “And on the mound tonight for the Giants, Tyler Beede, who goes for his 20th win of the season tonight….”
Kid has been picked twice in the 1st round (once before in high school). Not absolutely certain, but I think the kid (Freeland) Colorado took was also selected in HS as well. Amazed that Philadelphia passed on him at number 6, since they were the ones who originally drafted him in HS.
Like the pick of Tyler Beede,
Big kid 6’4 215
Smart and showed that my being the only 1st rd pick to go back to college after stiffing the Blue Jays offer at 2.5 mil with the 21st pick. Now he moves up 5 spots will make more bank and play with the ” Best team in Baseball, .The San Francisco Flapper Giants!!!
And my god…Would rather have Root Canal, Watch paint dry, or just pick up dog shit off lawns then watch Bud Selig on the podium, I wish he was on the clock to be replaced!!!’
Selig is on the clock….
Wow! Eli Whiteside sighting in Chicago. I thought he was out of baseball. Nevertheless, 0 for 3 tonight against the Mets.
The Cubs’ 9th batter tonight was better than Eli.
that pitcher Wood can hit!
with a sac fly; noted his callup yesterday, predicting he’ll, um, um, turn the Cubs around
Perhaps, Zumie, but they are still scoring as many runs as the Giants. And they have played many games outside of Coors this year.
I guarantee you, if the Giants had given up 244 runs, a few of those low scoring games they’ve won this year would have raised laments about a variety of offensive “failures” because of an L instead of a W.
Fuck the ifs… and the only stats that matter are the w’s and l’s
Right on, man.
May he one day be referred to as Tyler “Venerable” Beede.
love it
Catholic Post of the Day (CPOTD)
you gotta go Tweet that
My first tweet since 2009, Pawlie — seriously! You are an inspiration!
On the surface I am okay with the pick. From all I have read, he has certainly had control issues. As snarkk said, let’s see if the Giant’s brain trust can fix the kid and get some consistency in his arm slot and motion.
The Astros are trying to cough up a 4-run lead in the 9th.
We feed our cat a “treat” that is supposed to promote dental health. They’re called “Feline Greenies.” I think of the NCAA softball championships.
2nd round, 52nd overall: Aramis Garcia, C, Florida International. Yanks have yet to make a pick.
Switching back and forth from Sherpa game and NBA finals. Looks like Lebron is hurt. Bad (where he is sitting in last few minutes). Anyone know what happened to him?
Here’s a report on Garcia. Has some pop…needs work defensively…
http://www.baseballamerica.com/college/streakin-aramis-garcia/
So, who takes the hit tomorrow to clear room for Cain? Do they shorten the bench again, or do they send a pitcher down?
Hopefully Huff is sent down, and Perez stays, after hitting a game-winning HR. That would be pretty rough to send Perez down. Plus, the Giants need a full bench. After Cain returns, Petit becomes the long-man again, and Huff becomes a luxury the Giants can’t really keep.
The history of first round picks for the Giants since the mid-1960s is a pretty surreal trip through memory lane. Some hits, lots of misses, and some blasts from the past. And picks that led to World Series rings!
And some picks whose time in the bigs is yet to come.
Johnnie LeMaster was a first round pick? Who knew?
2014 Tyler Beede RHP
2013 Christian Arroyo SS
2012 Chris Stratton RHP
2011 Joe Panik SS
2010 Gary Brown CF
2009 Zack Wheeler RHP
2008 Buster Posey C
2007 Madison Bumgarner LHP
2007 Tim Alderson RHP
2007 Wendell Fairley OF
2006 Tim Lincecum RHP
2003 David Aardsma RHP
2002 Matt Cain RHP
2001 Noah Lowry LHP
2001 Brad Hennessey
2000 John Bonser RHP
1999 Kurt Ainsworth RHP
1998 Nathan Bump RHP
1998 Anthony Torcato 3B
1998 Arturo McDowell OF
1997 Jason Grilli RHP
1996 Matt White RHP
1995 Joe Fontenot RHP
1994 Dante Powell OF
1993 Steve Soderstrom RHP
1992 Calvin Murray OF-3B
1990 Adam Hyzdu OF
1990 Eric Christopherson C
1989 Steve Hosey OF
1988 Royce Clayton SS
1987 Mike Remlinger LHP
1986 Matt Williams SS
1985 Will Clark 1B
1984 Alan Cockrell OF
1984 Terry Mulholland LHP
1982 Steve Stanicek 1B
1981 Mark Grant RHP
1980 Jay Reid 1B
1979 Scott Garrelts RHP
1979 Rick Luecken RHP
1978 Bob Cummings C
1977 Craig Landis SS
1976 Mark Kuecker SS
1975 Ted Barnicle LHP
1974 Terry Lee 2B
1973 Johnnie LeMaster SS
1972 Rob Dressler RHP
1971 Frank Riccelli LHP
1970 John D’Acquisto RHP
1969 Mike Phillips SS
1968 Gary Matthews OF
1967 Dave Rader C
1966 Bob Reynolds RHP
1965 Al Gallagher 3B
They’re actually starting to come around. Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports rates the Giants #1 in his power rankings with Oaktown getting the nod for #2. Toronto at third place gives the Eastcoasters some cachet. Oh how the mighty have fallen, with teams like Bahhstin and the Evil Empire hunkered down somewhere in the tidal swamps. Those Bay Bridge games coming up soon will loom pretty huge. May the guys with the nicest playpen be the winners.