Another Notch on My “No Hitter Buddy” Belt Buckle
Like many Giants fans, I was at work during Timmy’s masterpiece. In the 6th inning I started rummaging around for that old radio I used to listen to the NLDC game vs Cincinnati in 2012. I couldn’t find it. Had a co-worker bring a radio in. It didn’t work.
So I called on the only other reasonable option I could think of: I left work.
I bee lined it to the closest bar about 2 miles away: The Dutch Goose in Menlo Park. They’re known for their deviled eggs which are devilishly delicious. I got to the Goose in record time but was devastated to discover that every single tv had the stupid World Cup game on. I tried to explain to a worker about the pending Timmy no no but there was a bit of a language barrier and I don’t think he cared much about baseball anyway.
I left the Goose but not before powering down this:
Not wanting to risk going to another establishment where my pull was limited, I headed across town to my buddy’s bar in Los Altos. Thankfully, it was the bottom of the 7th (a long inning) so I made it in time for the top of the 8th. As I enter I realized all was right with the world as every single tv had the Giants game on. No pull necessary except the bar stool I *pulled* out.
There weren’t a ton of people there so I had to make small talk with the patrons. Normally I hate that shit but all 6 of us had the commonality of the game so it wasn’t totally irritating. We made a few $1 side wagers. We promised to each slam a beer, in unison, if Timmy finished the Pads off. We never followed through on that promise….
After Timmy got the final out and we’d finished high fiving each other, one of the guys declared us “No hitter buddies!” I was in a reflective moment, and, quietly to myself, declared that kind of a gay thing to say. 🙂 But it got me to thinking, I can remember everything about the other 6 Giants no hitters that I watched (or in the Count’s case, listened to). I remember who I was with, what we were eating, the color of the walls.
Around 4pm we all wandered away from the bar, and each other, likely forever. Six brand new no hitter buddies, off to live the rest of their lives separately, but bonded forever…….
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Great story Flavor. My friend Kos “steals” the signal, sans all ads (except the commercials CSN puts on) and the video is in HD, where I connect my HDMI into my new big screen television. The world is right at that point. Anywho, I was transfixed yesterday, having just got home from my workout and able to relax for the entire game.
That being said, I am extremely worried about our pitching staff still. This was the San Diego Padres and Timmy has always owned them. The same thing could be said about Cainer prior to his start against the Padres too . . . What a conundrum he is and I am not certain about how to right the ship with him. Velocity isn’t the issue with Cain – he’s been chucking at essentially the same velocity for five straight years (and he’s up a tick this season). But he’s getting fewer swinging strikes over the last two years, and his long-running magic pixie dust with homers finally wore off. He had a career-worst 10.8 HR/FB rate last year, and it’s sky rocketed to 15.1 this season.
Tim Hudson was rocked for six runs – four earned – on nine hits over 5 2/3 innings in a loss versus the Padres on Tuesday. He was coming off his worst start as a Giant, allowing seven earned runs in four-plus innings Wednesday in a loss to the White Sox. In short, he isn’t exactly “wowing” anyone right now either.
Anywho, I could give a rat’s ass about 2nd base and other issues on the Giants. What’s the saying? “It’s the pitching stupid.”
Steve – good post my friend. But in regards to your comment “Anywho, I could give a rat’s ass about 2nd base and other issues on the Giants.” you were right there with me a couple of weeks ago saying that 2nd was the priority. I own that. At the time, I truly thought that was the case. Again, shows you how things can change quickly. Now I definitely think that the starters getting on track is the most important area that needs to improve.
Great concept, Craig, “no hitter buddies”. Even among strangers. Every Flapper felt it, every fan in the stands, every fan worldwide watching the videos again and again (certainly speaking for myself), and, perhaps most importantly, every Giant. Only time will tell, but this is definitely potentially key as a team effort, which has been sorely lacking. The infield D was flawless, with some close plays at 1st. Speaking of 1st, Buster made some Belt-like plays out there. The outfield was also flawless with apparently tricky breezy conditions. Hector and Timmy communicated well (love watching Hector on that last at-bat, showing Timmy exactly where he should put that last pitch). That 2nd inning walk, Tim looked a bit pissed about it, almost as if he was thinking “fuck, I want to be perfect today”…. and he almost was. And his final “Fuck yeah” mouthed at the end, priceless. If Tim has, based on this performance, put it together about the kind of pitcher he can be the rest of the way, that’s key. If the whole team can get its “FUCK YEAH” attitude back…. then on we go. We’ve all been frustrated and dismayed by the last couple of weeks, because we know those dismal performances are not who this team, this year, is. If there was ever the potential for a turning point, this was it. Thank you, Timmy. The rest is up to the whole team.
Good take, Paul. Face of the franchise once again ~ albeit with stiff competition from Buster and his four for four and pair of ribbies. May be that Timmy is also the bellwether of the rotation, the staff and the team. At times he (and they) can be frustrating as hell and get us pulling out hair or downing one too many libations. Then there are occasions like yesterday’s where once again he rocked the baseball world.
“Fuck Yeah!” Why not?
The other team doesn’t score – we win.
FUCK YEAH!
Yeah, you right.
Hey Loo, thanks for the FUCK YEAH…… And for my Face Book friends, I posted a bit of a slide show summarizing my academic year in China, which thankfully has reached its conclusion. Next stop: Sonomaaaaahhhhhh…… fuck yeah.
Paul – what are the dates again for when you are in NorCal? We had kicked-around the idea of a little Flapalooza get-together at a local watering hole. I still think that is an excellent idea. Thoughts?
Thx to Mac for the mlb 27 outs feed. Lot of stuff down in the zone, only a couple balls really hit hard.
Kruk’s take I heard on Woodson show was that TL had command of all 4 pitches. relentlessly upbeat Kruk thought he could take a lot out of this, along with team, yada yada.
Well, command for lincecum, esp the fastball, has been ongoing issue for a couple years now. He might have figured something out (as opposed to figuring out this is the Padres I’m going against), but we’ll see.
Posey was pretty busy at 1b. He’s been in LU a lot lately and had good day at the plate, couple very positive signs. Since I didn’t see any of this while it was going on, anything to make of Hector?
Reds in for 4, STL at Chavez, Wainwright tonite vs. Beckett.
Yeah, Willie, all around… good command from Timmy without the fastball, that’s a good sign, and Hector and Tim seemed masterfully on the same page. And Posey looked comfortable and confident. Who cares if it was SD, they whipped our ass the 2 previous games. Big weekend coming up, as you say, with the Cards in LA and the Reds in SF; with only 3 games separating LA and the G’s, this could be pivotal. Wind it up, baby…
Turning point? Sure, it could happen. What I loved seeing was Timmy wasn’t missing up in the zone. This is where he (and Cain as well) get into big trouble. A lazy slider = a home run. In Cain’s case this was usually preceded by a walk.
Seeing as they fell off the cliff without any warning, they can climb right back up it now.
Awesome story Craig. Thanks for sharing. As mentioned at the end of the last thread, I was fortunate to not have any meetings yesterday at work, so I was able to listen to the entire game. It was probably around the 6th inning where I started thinking “what if.”
And a big shout-out to Mac for sharing the 27 outs video. That was awesome, and then the picture posted late last night was very cool, too.
I too remember all of the NoNos I have seen. Was reflecting last night on Cain’s perfecto. My son and I were at my place and we watched the entire game.
Anyway, a couple of thoughts. It could be the kick in the pants this team needs to turn things around, and then again, maybe not. And we are nearing the half-point of the season. Sure, every series is important (Reds in town for four and Cards and bums squaring-off), but there is still a lot of ball left. Too early to do any serious hand-wringing, as we saw how over the period of less than two weeks the fortunes can change.
Lots of things that need to improve, but most importantly, the starters have to get on track. Strange how things change…with four against the Reds, I will honestly be quite happy with a split at this point. Anything else is gravy (when you consider how our boys have scuffled of late).
LET’S ROLL!
After some social media postings I have come to find out that a couple of old friends were also at the game. One section over no less. Wish I could have got a pic with them. I’m still in disbelief.
No doubt about it that the pitching has been problematic in the slide. And while the bullpen struggled a bit of late, the brundt of it is on the starters. With that said, I went back and looked at our starters splits (I looked at 2010, 2012 and 2013). There were some rough months there.
Bum in 2012, Sept./Oct – 5 starts. 2-2 with a 5.47/1.633 line is one example.
Cain had two months in 2013 where his WHIP was sub 1, but in July he went 1-2 in 4 starts and had a 8.40/2.00 line.
And while I get it that Tim has struggled more than not for a couple of years now, the point is that if you look back over the past several years, all of our guys have had entire months in which they struggled. Does it mean that they will all be able to right the ship and get back to form? No. But it does illustrate that pitchers (not unlike hitters or fielders) go through rough patches, and some times those are extended. Think how Pence started this year for a month or so.
So, I am not going to totally trip out on this last three weeks. Let’s see how things unfold between now and the AS break, and post AS break.
With all that said, I think it IMPERATIVE that Sabes go out and get a top-flight starter (if not two). And to get the quality that most of us want (Samardja, Price, etc.) it will be costly, but I don’t see how you can not do it and hope to compete in the next couple of years.
Amazing, those flips in this game. Yesterday afternoon i was in the south garden pulling out weeds and hilling the potatoes with fresh compost ~ battling all the way with the ladies of the night who were out in full force as it was a coolish, cloudy day up here in the Northwoods. Down on the knees a lot of the time and i mean to tell you Minnesota mosquitos, though not known as carrying any pathogens, are some of the nastiest ankle-biters around~ especially when one is wearing sandals. Finally got through the potatoes and it was time for a break. Knew the game was on but with those two previous mismatches between the Giants and Padres, i was in no great hurry.
Tuned into the Yahoo feed and wow! Giants up four zip. Then glanced at the lines and gasped. Seven innings and San Diego had TWO zeros posted. After another bases loaded, one out and no runs scored there came the usual reversion. Opposing team AB and switch over to the in-box to deal with what’s going on in the world and all those good causes who absolutely need my signing in on some petition or another. Dealt with some of that and then very cautiously nosed into the game feed again. Giants batting in the bottom of the 8th and same line for San Diego. Whew! Good through 8.
Curious as hell but no way was i gonna upset Jobu and break our little compact. Giants went down in the bottom of the 8th and it was now crunch time. Back to the e-mail inbox. Went through some more business but mind was not really on it. Finally got up the gumption to return to the Yahoo feed. Final score SF 4-SD 0. YaHOO indeed. Timmy!
Stick – I have heard many who live in the NorthWoods refer to the mosquito as the state bird. Ladies of the night (deer)? I have had a hell of a time with deer this year. Next step is an 8 foot fence around the damned garden. We have done some “hillbilly” modifications that, along with liquid fence, and me and the dogs pissing all over the place, seems to have kept them at bay for now. The specific species of deer we have here in NorCal is the “Fucking Deer!”
Chi ~ in this case Ladies of the Night is indeed the Minnesota state bird. Some hold that the bird is the Loon and that our state parasite is the woodtick, making us the Loon-a-Tick state. As for those white-tailed (again here in Mn.) oversized rodents, my place is surrounded by trees and in fact on two sides fronts a state wildlife management area centering on the essentially humanly impassible Nyleen Swamp. Deer heaven.
My solution? The Oofftwaffe. My awefull Ooff is a sandy-brown son of a bitch who came here at 8 months old already sporting the name Cujo, after a critter outta a Stephen King novel ~ and movie, to judge by the fact that his prior owners were redneck trailertrash types probably totally innocent of having a book within their domicile. So getting the actually quite friendly dog to join old Mac, a lab-rottweiler cross, the newbie got a slight name change to Macoojo. The old boy brought him up pretty well, convincing him that the role of the strictly outdoor Ooftwaffe was to police the place ~ particularly to ward off those white-tailed rodents.
Lost old Mac at the age of 11 last summer ~ partially to Lyme’s disease, i suspect. But Macoojo still prowls his beat and keeps the bam-bam-bambis at a respectable distance. A chunk of well-gnawed deerhide in the yard showed up about a month ago. Perhaps it’s odor also deters the pests from sharing the fate of the one who got too close to those gardens.
Loon-a-Tick State. Love it. We have three terrorists (terriers). I have a Parson Russell, and my girlfriend has two Norwich Terriers. They’re all bred to hunt vermin, and regardless of the deer being quite a bit bigger, they definetly do their job. But I want to add that added barrier and will be installing an 8 foot poly deer fence. Glad to see you around again on a regular basis. Do you still do custom wood working with sticks, etc.?
Re-reply Charles. Another excellent deer-fence (albeit it takes maybe five years to grow up) are the shoots of my half-wild, half-domestic plums. Plant about a 15 foot, staggered row of those clutching, clawing critters and in a few years the biggest thing getting through them would be jackrabbits and fieldmice. Of course, if planted too adjacent to the garden they will invade that as well. Deep roots.
Question number second: Yes, i’m still carving. Been retardant about using the camera in about the past four years or so. Thus the perhaps 50 new pieces, including one helluva complex creature-feature which many see as a dragon, still haven’t been photographed. Maybe if we have a nice, long Autumn i’ll be able to take the time from homestead stuff to get clicking again.
Compared with most of the poobahs, prognosticators and constipated commentators out there in the world of Major League media types, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports is a breath of fresh air. His piece on Timmy’s latest triumph reveals that he is definitely charmed by #55 and into the magic. Check it out. Enjoy.
well he spent nearly a decade hating the Giants and skewering Barry over and over until it truly was like, “Dude, enough already. Go find something else to do…….”
Maybe he’s atoning for prior sins, intoning “mea culpa, mea maxima culpa” silently while extolling Timmy and the current version of the Giants.
I know fans are excited about the call ups, but I doubt they make much impact. First, Duvall isn’t gonna get much run from Bochy before Belt gets back, and likely none after. He’s not taking ABs away from Morse, Posey was at 1b yesterday, and Colvin will still get some starts too I’d imagine.
Pagan’s DL move can be back dated 10 days I think, so he might be back in a week or so too. At that point Colvin blanco both move back to bench, so no reason to keep Duvall at all. When Adrianza comes back off DL Hicks would seem to be odd guy out.
Salt said something other day about 2-5 hitters being guys that will make the most difference, and healthy Pagan plus Craw make it the solid 7. Blanco we know is a replacement player, and Panik is a kid up for the first time and destined for 8 spot in the LU, where he is currently 0 for ATT with a couple errors.
He’s learning what it takes to be a ml player, on and off the field, and the learning curve at this level can be quite steep. He’s not putting up an .860 something OPS here like he did in the Coast League; even getting within 150 points of that is doubtful, imo. And that’s fine, just let him get settled in and do what he can.
Good points williedav. You know BB15 and his veteran preference proclivities. With you too on Hicks probably getting the boot. What have ya done for us lately, dude? “Solid Seven”. Nice take. Descriptive.
Yup. Learning curve for Panik ~ especially at home. What makes him more valuable than Hicks is that in, say, a bases jammed situation with only one out, he is far less likely to strike out. An infield dribbler or a fly out is likely to bring in a run. Intangibles. He’s up to do or die, so to speak. He has about five weeks to prove himself ML ready ~ or not ~ leading up to the trade deadline. Personal opinion is that he’s gonna find his legs in a week or two ~ most likely on the road, though.
As Craig mentions, Passan has been a jackass over the years in relation to the Giants (Bonds, etc.), but this piece is nicely written. I really enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing, Stick.
http://tinyurl.com/ltxvnnj
And so, we evolve. “We score, we win.'” Thank you, Pawlie. “We score 1st, we win”… so say the stats. “Fuck yeah”….. I’m stickin’ with that. And I’m 3 days away from landing at SFO and breathing some fine fresh air coming in off the Pacific…… As Walter White said at the start of the last episode of BB… ” Just get me home I’ll do the rest”….. 🙂
I demand a picture of the No Hitter Buddies! Great post, Flav, Love the pic of your after school snack at the Goose.
I had a very odd experience on this one. I was at work and in a long master schedule meeting for the entire duration of the game. As I walked out to my car, I noticed I had a text from a Padre fan friend of mine that simply read “Sweep these fools!!” Then it hit me that, oh yeah, the game is probably over by now—-and I thought by the tone of his text (and not noticing when he sent it), that the Pads had probably kicked our asses again—or were in the process of doing so. I wanted to text the guy back, but I figure I better check the score first just to know how ugly it exactly was. I log onto MLB and notice that we won, and oh yeah, it looks like it says 0 hits for the Pads in the box score. But my eyes are lousy and I’m driving, and I would have surely heard something somehow if Timmy threw a no-no—-right? I still think I must have seen it wrong, when I pull up espn mobile and see that the son of a bitch DID throw another no-hitter. My favorite player on my favorite team threw a no-hitter completely unbeknownst to me. Very strange, but very cool.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Tim deserves a statue when he hangs em up. No question about it in my mind.
I thought about video taping the final out but didn’t do it. Should have.
Cool story, San. And I agree on the statue. It will be a very sad day in the Land of Giants if Timmy does not finish his career rocking the Orange and Black. I am going to have to dig through my bins of t-shirts (I have a TON of Giant t-shirts), and bust out my “Fuck Yeah” that has the outline of Timmy finishing his delivery. Love that shirt.
SD, your story reminds me of my experience with the J. Sanchez no-hitter. I was at a Modesto Nuts minor league game that night with my wife, and all throughout the game there were no Giants score updates announced, like they usually do at a Nuts game. (For obvious superstition reasons.) Because of that, I got totally caught up in the Nuts game, and never checked my cell phone. When we got to the parking lot after the game, I flipped on the radio, and almost immediately I heard Jon Miller say it’s the 8th inning, and Sanchez has a perfect game going. Later that inning, the perfect game was lost on the tough error by Uribe, but we heard the completion of the no-hitter on the drive home. I stayed up late that night when Comcast replayed the entire game at midnight. My no-hitter buddy that night was my wife, who isn’t a Giants fan, but was very excited for Sanchez.
Yesterday, I happened to be visiting my mom during the Giants game, and my mom was my no-hitter buddy yesterday.
I was at the Halicki no-hitter, and my no-hitter buddies that day were a good friend from my neighborhood, and his dad, who took us to the game. I haven’t seen the guy in a few years, but I did send him a long email when I heard his dad passed away several years ago, and we had a nice correspondence about it through email. He’s remained a huge Giants fan throughout the years, and of course, basked in the joy of the 2 championships along with all of us in Giants Nation.
Great post. Ironically, I was at a Fresno Grizzlies game the night of the Sanchez no-hitter and they DID announce what happened after the Giants game ended. I wasn’t monitoring on my phone either. I’ve posted this before, but I had been up to visit my parents and was driving back down here with the kids when we laid over in Fresno and caught that game. I had considered going to SF instead and taking them to what have been the Sanchez no-hitter game! Though, when you leave Redding and spend night one in SF, you’re leaving quite a bit of meat on the bone for the next day’s drive!
Willie – you are probalby right re: Duvall. Bochy said he’ll get a few starts, but he won’t be plugged-into the line-up on a regular basis. And with all the DL flux in the roster right now, I am cool with that. Not worried about Panik. If the kid can field, just let him be and make him your regular 2nd baseman until he proves he doesn’t belong.
Yes, it does seem when everyone is healthy that Hicks will be the odd man out, but while Arias is making about twice as much as Hicks, his line is .180, .213, .180, .393 with NO extra base hits (NADA) in 89 ABs.
Hicks line: .170, .243, .355, .621 with 8 HRs, 6 doubles, and 1 triple. Underwhelming numbers, but I take them all day over Arias.
I would designate Arias and keep Hicks on the bench for occasional duty and PHing (at least he has shown he has some pop).
They’ll look at Arias as being able to play all the infield positions, though. Even though his firstbase is kind of sketchy, and he’s not particularly awesome at the other ones. He did make a great play in the Cain perfecto, at thirdbase. He’ll always be a hero for that.
But I totally agree, Arias’ bat is made out of nerf material these days, and I’d rather see Hicks bat than Arias.
Hicks is originally a SS, I believe. He can play other positions besides 1st. Morse and Buster play 1st. Adrianza can play 2nd and SS. They have the IF covered, even with Hicks, and WITHOUT Arias. Probably will not happen, but I still would designate Arias over Hicks without a second of consideration.
Chi…. you have a “Fuck yeah” TimmyT-shirt? I want one of those, big time. I will be in the Bay Area briefly for a week in early July, but then back east for 3 weeks for most of July with family before coming back west for the first 3 weeks of August, so the better time for me to meet up for a mini Flap gathering at a pub somewhere would be during the first 3 weeks of August. Anytime, anywhere…
Paul, I have one, and you can have it. I’ve literally never worn it. Someone gave it to me a few years ago, and I’m admittedly too prudish to wear it. 🙂
Paul, are you going to be in San Fran on July 3rd? I’ll be in the city for the Giants/Cards game. I could probably even easily round up a ticket for you if you wanted to go; although the group I’m sitting with that day is in the Upper Level. But it is behind homeplate, in the Upper Level. Anyway, maybe we could find each other that day one way or another, and I’d be happy to give you the shirt. Or maybe some kind of Flapalooza can come together for that day somewhere.
I could possibly make it to an August Flapalooza, or mail it to you, as another option. I’d love for the shirt to end up going to a Flapper. That would be cool.
I can be reached at zumarust@earthlink.net
2nd week of Aug is best for me and let’s make it happen.
I second the second week in August for a Flapalooza with Paul. Getter Done!
Paul – yep. Bought if a couple of years ago for $10 from a street vendor right across from the Mays statue. If you do not end up hooking-up with Zumiee to get his, these can be had along the Embarcadaro on almost any day the Giants are playing at home. Let’s try to nail-down a date for a Flapalooza ASAP. Craig mentioned the 2nd week in August. I believe that works for me.
Germany wins 1-0, but US through into knockout round of WCup due to Portugal beating Ghana. Couldn’t have been better were it scripted. It probably was…
So somebody just happened to have a knight’s helmet lying around, and then gave it to Timmy to wear after the game? It must be an ongoing schtick; Murph’s probably had the helmet around for years, I’m guessing, for great moments like that.
I love that pic. I was thinking it was an olde-school Jules Verne type diving helmet. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea maybe even.
That helmet pic will live forever in SF giants lore.
I read somewhere that Morse got the guys into collecting those helmets. At least, I think I read that.
I did read it
http://www.csnbayarea.com/giants/morse-helps-giants-clubhouse-get-downright-medieval
Whew, thought I might have to lay off the sauce for awhile if I imagined that one.
Use to go over to the Goose after my softball games in Menlo Park ( think the field was called little house?) anyway the burgers and a belt 🍻sometimes oysters on the shell were good, not sure about the gnarly egg dish Flavor 😃
They’ve been known for their devilled eggs for years and years . . . not that I’ve ever tried them . . .
bums give away tonite…wonder how many of their fans care…
They could give away their team for all I care.
Don’t know of this has been mentioned ,but Timmy joins a short list of active pitchers with multiable No Hitters.
The others being Homer Bailey, Justin Verlander and Mark Buherle..
And the only besides Koufax with 2 NoNos, 2 Cys, and two World Series championships. Not bad company, even if he was a Bumbino.
Some ESPN stat guy (Milnar?) responded to my Tweet query as to whether 3 rings would put Timmy in a category of his own. He replied Koufax had 3 rings. #gofor3
Magnus, you can write. You tell a great story. Your thread or post or whatever it is called, up above, is in The Flap Hall of Fame. Great stuff. Great being a Giants fan today. The emotional hangover ain’t painful at all.
Thanks Pawlie, means a lot coming from you
So, this afternoon, moments ago, I walk into the Liverpool library. Liverpool, New York, that is. I wanted to say hi to Jennifer Husenitza, one of the librarians. I used to work with her mom; she has been a terrific advocate of my books. I go to the desk and a colleague calls her. Who is asking for her? Tell her Paul Kocak, international author, I say with a friendly smirk. I wait around a few minutes, browsing the shelves. No Jennifer. Then I see a young man, tall, mixed, bearded, wearing a Liverpool soccer jersey, the Liverpool in England, maybe, not, sure, orange, AND a San Francisco Giants cap. I accost him. Hey, I see you have a Giants hat on. That was great, hunh? About Timmy yesterday? He doesn’t know what I am talking about. I I explain about the no-hitter blah blah. He’s not offended or anything. We’re both talking, too loud and too rude, in the library. So why are you wearing the Giants hat? It’s more complicated than you think, he says. I was going to wear my own hat today but decided against it. I used to live there. I worked at the stadium. What? Yeah, at the concession stands. Then I went into overdrive. I told him about world Serious and my trip out there, etc. and about my trip for the Flapalooza last September, all that. It gets more complicated, or nuanced, or layered. You write a book about going to San Francisco for a few days? he asked. Why did you go again? he persisted. Jesse, his name is Jesse Hall, I believe, took the train out there, I’m still not sure why. Stayed about a year and a half. Worked for Center Plate, at AT&T. Oh, but he doesn’t much like baseball or the Giants. But we continued the conversation. I learned about the unions and the strike and the low pay (“well, it’s complicated,” he’d say), and the SROs and the tourist hostels and bonus after working 50 games and 60 games and the temp agency and waiting in the union hall and not getting paid for that time. So I went to the electronic card catalog, typed in WORLD SERIOUS, and sure enough, in the non-fiction, 796, it said 1 of 2 copies were there, only because my friend Jennifer took the initiative to order the books. I had Jesse accompany me to the shelf, first I found Baseball’s Starry Night, two copies, the original version, published by Digitature, the so-called publisher against whom I won a $900 judgment for unpaid royalties, still waiting for that! and WORLD SERIOUS. Handed them to Jesse. Of course, he wants to write a book of his own experiences, his year and a half, and perhaps he should. (He allowed that either SF Weekly or SF Guardian did a pretty good story on labor conditions at AT&T.) We went out to the hallway; no alarms sounded for books not checked out. I got his email address. We departed. The other patrons were likely relieved. What no-hitter?
Somewhere in there, I got lost…
Good feedback. It was off the cuff. NEEDS WORK. Jennifer wasn’t there. I don’t know. Maybe it is a TOTAL non-story, dull.
Want a map Loo?
So the guy took a train from Liverpool to San Francisco to sell garlic fries, went on strike, came back home and stole Pawlie’s books from the library?
lol. Loo, you slay me nearly every time…
What about Jennifer?
wasn’t there
Yeah, Baer and the Giants aren’t exactly on real good terms with the worker bees in the concession areas…
As soon as I noticed this today you ALL were my no-hitter buddies ’cause I knew y’all was loving this. What a way to pull outta the June swoon. keep on keeping on SF Giants!
Had to paste what Chris Haft had to say: he transcends statistics by remaining capable of wondrous feats.
Indeed our special Giant that Timmeh. wow
Passan’s article was OK but someone else wrote something great that I read yesterday but I can’t find it.
Shit, Pawlie. I love stream-of-consciousness . . . if people can’t follow along then they won;t get it anyway . . .
Ahhh, Jeeze. Morse scratched due to ‘illness’
10:1 it’s a hangover.
Maybe it was Haft….
Watching the Nats and Cubs game . . . Junior Lake ran/slid into the wall chasing a fly ball. Hurt bad.
He walked off under his own power, Blade.
Hope his mother didn’t see your post…
Fairly certain they don’t have cable in Prison . . . https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Vbn-pJ6UOx0/T3nme3sTI2I/AAAAAAAABMs/gEi0T4Q7cKc/s640/Shaquan+Duley+sentenced+to+35+years+in+prison100.JPG
I’m a little bummed no one noticed the rad head on my IPA. It didn’t last long, had to get back on the road and make it to Rob’s, but it looked fucking fantastic before I drank it…..
I seem to remember Timmeh told some scribe after asked what he was going to do after yesterday’s game, said he was going to go home and have some drinks, or some such. Does anybody think that’s all he was gonna do? He deserved a nice celebudsion…
Will Bochy come down with a case of the piles or something? TWO fresh from Fresno rookies in tonight’s lineup. Will they take a Leake deep? So Duvall gets the call cussin onaccounta Morse has the crud ~ so they say. Be nice if both of them get a hit tonight AND no defensive lapses. Nicer yet if they each produce a run like Panik did in his first start.
It’s on Vogie’s shoulders tonight. Will Timmy’s feat inspire a gallant effort? We need it. Looking over the pitching matchups a 2-2 split would not be the worst of all possible outcomes. Wonder if Vegas is giving odds on a SF sweep. Betcha they’re pretty crazy as its still June Swoon month. But it is baseball so you never know. Baseball is kinda like some marriages ~ full of fights and frustration but you just can’t turn off the lovin.
“Baseball is kinda like some marriages ~ full of fights and frustration but you just can’t turn off the lovin.”
Very good….
If you watch the helmet video, which is somewhere on mlb.com, they give Timmy the helmet and he goes something like, “Do I have to wear this?” A few guys chant out “yes!” and he goes right into the character the masses are calling for. Timmy seems like a super cool dude….
I had someone stoned as hell tell me that they see both Patrick and Squidward from SpongBob in the glass of beer that I posted. He swore by it. Anyone else see that? I’m not seeing it, lol
were they wearing helmets too?
Colvin is 2 for 19 in the last 6 games he’s played in. This is the flip side of Colvin I saw when he played for the Sherpas.
I remember you saying we would see his true colors sooner or later. His train has hit the station…
Chi, he is very streaky . . . Wish the dude could “get it” and fulfill the promise he showed as a highly rated Cub prospect years ago. Fairly certain it isn’t going to happen.
The Giants are right back in Funk-ville tonight, so far.
Nailed that MOFO. Speed kills. lqtm.
That play on Hamilton was huuuge. They had Vogie in a squeeze. Game is still well in reach. Go get em guys!
Well at 1-0, I would hope so…
Pfffttt! Did anyone tell Pablo he “owned” Leake? Guess he didn’t get the memo.
I saw the new Godzilla movie today. I didn’t know much about the film going into it. The Bay Area features very prominently in the film. And Bryan Cranston gives a great performance in a supporting role. However, the film, overall, would get a grade of a B, in my opinion.
Brandon Phillips just torments the Giants.
He does. I’d prefer him on our team, just to cancel out his annoyance.
All right. So Machi is a human being.
Well, Voggy did well this evening. I will take my small moral victories where I can find them. 🙂
Giants don’t do anything in the 8th, the game is over . . . Chapman is virtually un-hittable.
I agree. Chapman is like Gossage in his prime. And Gossage is in Cooperstown.
*sigh*
Panik’s 3rd error. Yikes. That’s a choke-job.
I feel sympathy for the guy. Suddenly playing in front of 40,000 in the ballpark, and all the people watching TV. That’s a big thing to adjust to.
As my tombstone may read, “It coulda been worse.”
That inning could have been much, much worse.
K and K, Jon Miller, etc., don’t even respond to Amy G. anymore (other then, “Thank you Amy).
Woo Hoo! Way to go rook!
Adam “Don’t Confuse Me With Robert” Duvall wins an Oscar. Sort of.
Holy shit!
Pretty cool moment for Duvall.
Well, THAT’S cool!
Was Bowker the last Giant to homer in his big league debut?
somehow, I think not. Crawford grand slammed in his. Kieschnik may’ve homered too.
I don’t think Kieschnik hit one in his debut…but I could be wrong. Bowker and MudBug I know did for sure.
Crawford did it. Wasn’t that after Bowker?
Whitey Lockman did it in his first AB, in 1945.
And Will Clark in ’86. 🙂
And Hoyt Wilhelm, who never homered again, I think.
Something for Duval to shoot for…
That rancid, foul, smoggy hot breath on our necks is the Dodgers’ taking the lead vs. STL.
And it ticks me off that they picked Justin Turner off some kind of scrap heap, and he gets another big hit for them, and is hitting about .300.
The Dodgers are really weird. They seem like the luckiest dang team ever; but they haven’t been to the World Series in 25 years. So why do I think they’re so lucky? It doesn’t really make sense. It just seems that way.
Luck? Lots of talent on that team. They have UNDERachieved, but, as Reggie Jax said, the cream rises to the top. That’s my fear.
Pablo with the web gem. Dude should be playing for the Warriors.
I think he missed the tag…
I can totally see Patrick on the left and yes, the figure on the right does look a bit like Squidword! Even before the amazing Patrick/Squidward sighting, there is something magical about that picture. The soccer game in the background, the napkin showing the name of the bar, the angle of the fork. If you blow that thing up, I swear to you I will frame it and put it up on my bonus room wall! And when I kick your ass in ping pong you can at least take solace in seeing your picture on the same wall as The Stick, Bobby Bonds, Juan Marichal and my mom’s T2000 tennis racket circa 1974.
My favorite episode was the one where Squidward doesn’t have a job and somehow I think Spongebob feels responsible for his plight and waits on him hand and foot. Squidward milks it big time and Spongebob finally loses it and does shit like serving him a bowl of Alphabet Soup that spells out “GET A JOB” in it. The line the kids and I still throw out from time to time is: “Because when I want a JOB done, I find someone with a JOB TO DO THE JOB!”
My fave was when he failed his driving test after he said I’M READY a thousand times. Come to think of it, I got pretty annoyed pretty early with all of SpongeBob.
Actually, that WAS a good one too. With the uptight driving instructor lady.
Mrs.Puff
Phillips caught not hustling around the bases.
The scoreboard says 3-1, but why does it FEEL like 13-1 to me?
Aroldis
. . . FINIS.
It’s always interesting to see how fast Chapman will hit on the radar gun.
Reds announcers have the Giants in 2nd place by Sunday night…
And they probably had the Reds in the NLCS in 2012.
Well, two good outings by the starters and the bats? Two weeks ago they lead the majors in RBIs with 2 out…
Wow! Sure didn’t see that happening. Way to go Buster! He must have heard those Red announcers.
Fuck the Red’s announcers.
Nice start. RALLY!
Kuiper says Michael Morriss, for Michael Morse. Drives me nutz….
Me too. Sometimes it takes me a minute to realize who he’s talking about.
Pablo with the opportunities tonight…just not getting it done.
Alright…Morriss PHing…
THAT is some nasty shit…100 on the inside…
FUCK…Welcome to the Bigs, kid…
Giants are pissing away this entire favorited homestand…
Yup. There’s making hay and there’s spinning gold to shit. 2 games . . . fuck
Yep…have to win the remaining three against the Reds to have a winning homestand…
One positive…Big Country on the hill for the Giants tomorrow…
And Duvall’s first ML hit is a bomb…
Cal has fired AD Sandy Barbour. Thank Keereist. Better now than later, after another disastrous football season, whereafter I predict Sonny Dykes will be fired after this next one is over. Onward and upward for Cal…
Not sure why it took so damned long. And I agree re: Dykes (unless he takes them to the Rose Bowl next year)…
Duvall gets a bomb, great. And, we lose #10 out of the last 14. Blanco 1 for 4, and a total crapshoot as leadoff, now hitting .240. WTF is going on with this team?…
Pagan is a big pussy?
Assuming this is an attempt at some tongue-in-cheek humor.
Pagan has said he cannot put a full swing on without feeling pain. Is that being a pussy?
Yes, he’s a ginormous vagina. Lighten up, Chi.