Why The Flap Dominates In Other Blogs Faces
The thing I used to loved about this blog is still the thing I love most about this blog. Yesterday, Zumiee makes a random, innocuous comment about hitting up A&W for lunch before the Giants game:
Today I had lunch at one of the original old A&W places, from back when car-hops brought things out to the car. I had root beer in a cold glass mug. Good times.
Now I’m ready for some BASEBALL!
And then, despite a game going on (and a good one at that) the rest of the Flap community bobs and weaves through the baseball related thread with personal stories about burgers and best places to eat, and such. Finally, as the blog was shutting itself down, San Dawg tied it all together with an epic POTD. That one had it all, didn’t it? Sports played, lessons learned, childhood memories, humor and even a “bad ass” reference. It probably had other things, too. And then freaking Loo goes over the top of Diggity’s epic post with some cherry finality that had me laughing out loud this morning…..
So thanks to all of you guys who make this blog the BEST San Francisco Giants blog anywhere on the internet…..
________________________
The Giants beat down big, bad Cliff Lee and tonight we get to face the dude of a thousand names. I always thought it was awesome that when Roberto Hernandez decided to fake his birth certificate to de-age himself he went with “Fausto Carmona”. You gotta have some flair and a little bit of ballsy stupidity to enter the US with a made up name like that. He probably figured that if the baseball gig didn’t work out he could get a job working as a magician at the circus. “The Great Fausto!”. Yes, I know I’ve said that before. I continue to amuse myself. Carry on.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
So Mike Krukow has inclusion-body myosotis (IBM). That truly sucks. The fortunate thing is though it truly sucks, that’s the bad news. Not life threatening but life altering. I guess we all knew from his frequent absences that something was up (down?). Well, the man says he wants no pity. It affects his gait more than anything else. He’s mostly worried about his golf game. Good guy and I wish him well
Old AWs were awesome; one was on El Camino a couple blocks away from where I grew up in Sunnyvale. Must stop after b-ball in summer. There’s still one at least in San Jose off Bascom/Camden, a Foster’s too I think. Good stuff, but…as you get older seems all the things you used to love, like burgers fries etc. turn out to be bad for your health—salt, sugar, red meat yada yada. Maybe that’s why I avoid doctors.
The Lon Simmons tribute is on CSN tonite, I’ll have to check that out. Used to catch him on Niners radio beside the ever present Giants games. He could be really funny when Niners were struggling, as they often did in those days. Just a tremendous fit in the Bay Area, much admired no matter what team he worked for. And from snippets in the Bill King bio I’m reading, total class guy with zero ego.
Willie, it was on Fairoaks and that’s the one I would go to after playing my little league game at Fairoaks Park.
Loved Lon Simmons. Classy dude all the way and a joy to listen to. I have his bobblehead, too…
Great POTD by SanDawg. It pulled it all together nicely and reminded me again why I am big believer in sports for kids. Not sports the way many parents are now angling for scholarships with year round participation. That’s not what it’s all about. Believe me. If your kid is good enough to get to the highest levels they will. It sound cheesy and lame but it is really the life lessons that are most important. It has done wonders for our little one and I just try to put her in what she wants to do once or twice a year.
Nice win last night. Sad news on Krukow.
Great posts all. Craig’s intro today made me go read yesterdays action. Awesome Giants info and memories of A&W as a kid…Thanks Flappers…
sportdude – good to see you here again…try to drop in more frequently.
Once again has shit to do after work, and had the game recording. So, I was about an hour behind live TV. That sucks, as it means I cannot jump into the fray with all you bad ass mofos.
Had to go back and read the remainder of yesterday’s thread. Some great burger posts, etc. Fond memories of A&W in my hometown of Bartlesville, OK. We would go there before heading the the drive-in movie. And it was one of the drive-up/car hop gigs. Great stuff.
A couple of places to check out burgers if you are in this area (Sacramento-Folsom). In Folsom there is an excellent tap house/bar called Samuel Horne’s on old Sutter Street. Order the Johnnhy Cash burger. You will not be sorry. Also another great tap house in Folsom – Manderes. Excellent food and about 20 beers on tap. Awesome burger. A relatively new addition to the greater Sacto area is Habit Burger. I had my first last week. Damned good burger.
In Placerville, there is a pizza/burger/taco bar on Placerville Drive called Spanky’s. Great burgers and tacos. Dude makes his hamburger buns from scratch. Two other places in P’ville – The Independent and Bricks. Both has kick-ass burgers.
Can you really trust the cook at a place called Spanky’s?
Place has been there since I first moved to El Dorado county in ’88, and the food has always been fantastic. Pizzas are ok (NY style), but the burger with the home made bun seriously kicks ass. Tacos are very good, too. My son worked there years ago before he went into the Air Force. Same guy who was cooking then still cooks there. So, yeah…you can trust that guy.
A joke Chi. A joke.
Yep…got that, Dirt. But wanted to point out that this place isn’t a flash in the pan (pun intended). It’s been around for a loooong time, and the food has stayed consistently very good.
Oh, and there was baseball last night. Awesome win. The first several innings were quite tortuous. Vogey just didn’t have much last night. Pence with his 3-5 (and robbed of two probable hits) is really heating up. Want to see more consistency from Pablo (is that just something that is never going to happen?).
Duvall with the bomb to dead center. That was a beauty. Sans MudBug’s error, he and Adrianza turned an absolutely beautiful double play.
Overall an awesome win (hey, they all are).
Petit with the nod today. A W would be bitching as it would ensure a winning road trip. I think there is a good chance the Giants take 3 of 4.
Bum vs. Burnett tomorrow and Hudson vs. Hamels in the finale. GO GIANTS!
Even with the hellacious tail spin that lasted almost a month our boys have the best record in the NL, and third best in the majors. Sabean has to see that and realize he must go get another piece. And I know I am sounding like a broken record here (along with Blade and a few others), but dammit, go get Zobrist. The dude can fill-in in either CF (Blanco takes his ass back to the bench), or he can spell whomever at 2nd. Actually, I am OK with a Panik/Adrianza for most of the games at 2nd with Panik getting most of the nods. That would put Zobrist in CF for most of the starts. Get’r Done Sabes!
Unc mentioned Ikeda’s yesterday. Long been a fav of all the local Asian club b-ball teams; end September there is always a big tournament hosted by one of the sacramento teams that they usually hold in reno. Sundays on that weekend you usually can’t find a seat.
But I’ve never been to the other one near Davis…any reviews?
Nice to see some the bench guys who get a lot of grief come through. I’m not saying the criticism isn’t warranted but it is tough to get in any type of groove if you aren’t playing regularly. And if there were better players in the system than Arias Adrianza Colvin they’d be here. Maybe Blanco settles down in the 8 spot–he’s had other decent offensive games lower in the order. Duvall might have potential to stick somewhere, but those AAA numbers are irrelevant to me. Too many AAAA guys been up last few years that lit up Coast League.
I’m sure Abreu opted out of his contract to get a mlb deal somewhere…whatev. He’s never been much of a fielder at any position. I’d rather SF be strong defensively up the middle.
The one near Davis is a fruit stand for the most part. They don’t have a grill or burgers or anything, but they have a deli of sorts, and they make awesome tamales and other things like that. Great road food.
This isn’t about baseball or root beer, but Loo’s story kinda reminded me of this football play. Sneaky fast definition. take 2..
Food at the local watering hole last evening was a soft taco which tasted fair to partly middling but included RAW onion which gave me heartburn for half the night. That’s why i rarely eat out.
This morning i fired up the wood cookstove, heated up the #10 Griswold with the self-basting lid and stirred up a batter consisting of whole wheat flour, oat flour, wheat bran and a bit of organic corn flour given me by a friend. Also in the mix was some Rumfords (no aluminum) baking powder, a tad of salt, a dollop of curry powder, a fat, brown Amish egg, some milk and a fill of water. Thinly sliced fresh zucchini and American cheese were the fillings. The dip was an amalgam of soy sauce and Sri Rocha hotsauce. Two types of ground coffee in a small strainer atop the cup for about ten minutes for the wash and i was good to go. Still am.
I just read that breakfast fare, Stick. As soon as I can crawl to the phone, I’m calling 911.
* Adrianza will likely stay up, Panik will likely go down. Everyone likes Joe but he’s hitting .185 against RHers, is not as good as Ehire defensively, and he has options. They *could* both stay if Uggla keeps on being Uggla and Scooter hits the DL again ( O/U 7/28). Hope Sabean is still on the hunt for another infielder( Zobrist!!! But no, he will not move Blanco’s ass to the bench.
* This might be a radical idea and I know that it will meet with much opposition but I think that all hitters pretty much, like, you know, *want* to hit line drives .And most of them don’t like to make outs
* As noted before, Duvall should be getting some work in in the OF over the winter.
* It’s not that the team is hitting better, Bam Bam is obviously instructing better. They all still suck.
Best of the BP Hit List by Matt Sussman with the approval and consent of BP, me, and his mother –
“Angels: The Huston Street trade is a departure from their previous relief pitcher trades, in that this time they actually wanted a good one.
Jays: Munenori Kawasaki, Steve Tolleson and Don Johnson in your infield is a sign that either (a) you’re out of the playoff race, or (b) you’re actually good and it’s just Sunday.
Rays: The Rays may be the team most in need of David Price, but do they have the prospects to pry him from the Rays, and are they willing to give them up?
Braves: Carlos Gomez hasn’t personally rattled anyone’s cage since the All-Star break so he is officially slumping.
Twins: Now that the All-Star Game is over, no more games in Target Field will count.
Cubs: Guess which team has a 6.00 ERA in the month of July, worst in the National League? Give up? It’s the… okay lucky guess.”
Great line about poor Twins.
Those bottom feeders of course can definitely affect final standings when division rivals are fighting it out. Pawlie wrote about that when Balt f-ed up the Red Sox and Rays wound up beating them out on final night.
Unfortunately the DBax or the Sherps ( battling it out for 4th) could wind up hurting SF chances by rolling over vs. Dodgers, like when SF won 103 and lost to the Braves.
Awesome job by the Bullies last night after Vogie upchucked singles all over the place. Georgeos the Greek was particularly potent in his two-inning earning of the victory. With runners on first and third and nobody out he worked his way through the Philly lineup with two special K’s and a line-out. Read somewhere that while on the Fresnobus he developed a new pitch or two ~ also looks as if his command and control are spot on. So sometimes a demotion to AAA can do wonders for a guy who has been up and down in his performance. In this case going down led to coming up.
In March of 2000, my wife (girlfriend at the time time)and I had taken a trip to the Bay Area so I could introduce her to my family. We took a couple of days to explore the wine country and we did it all up. Rented a convertible Mustang, stayed at a B&B, wine train, the whole deal…After we spent the better part of an afternoon getting hammered (well at least I did) on the lawn of V. Sattui overlooking the vast expanse of blooming mustard and endless grapes, we proceeded back to our room. Of course, having eaten only some cheese and crackers, I told my wife to pull over as soon as I saw the sign to a roadside A&W. I don’t remember much about the rest of that evening except two distinct things…Apparently the childhood memory of a Papa Burger, rings and root beer got to me, as I ended up stealing a package of sesame seed buns laying in a box on the way to the restroom. Apparently I wanted a memento of my childhood lore.
The second thing I remember was sitting in a booth reading an article by Lowell Cohn regarding the design of the Giants new park and it’s one flaw; It was missing a bullpen…I began to cry inside the restaurant like I had just read the greatest piece of literary art known to man. Apparently we left that A&W with my package of buns and that days Press Democrat sports section hidden under my jacket. No one outside of my wife knows of said embarrassment, but I felt compelled to share.
Wilco – I have heard of MANY who pinched an A&W mug, but a bag of buns? That’s fucking hilarious.
Chase Headley traded to the Yankees. Yanks building towards the future. The future of the Red Sox, Jays, Ray’s, and O’s.
Good to see you here, Michael.
Thanks, I’ll post occasionally until there are Flappers with pitchforks at my door…
This just in from the 559:
Uggla won’t join Fresno until tonight and he’s already struck out twice.
yessir, all this A&W talk has brought the estrogen out in me – I feel a little weepy. As I contemplate a visit to the home of my youth. We had one, an A&W, that was an after school favorite once some of us got cars. My dad bought me a 55 Olds when I turned 16 and that car spent many hours parked up while the car hops rolled up. The really cool thing was the frosty mugs but my favorite thing was the submarine sandwich which beat Subway by about 20 years. I think of A&W every time I order at a Subway.
Really getting misty thinking that I will be there seeing these places soon. Like Ikeda where I used to buy veggies and eat burgers quite a lot. Of course Highway 80 was called 8 back then and had traffic lights.
Recognised may of the joints you guys mentioned and yes, nice win last night.
I may have forgotten that your pitcher can give up 4 runs and it is still a great game and a win.
Craaazy coincidence, Ed. My dad too gifted me with a ’55 Olds back in the day. It was a ’98, green and white hardtop. Second best to my ’63 Chev Impala h.t. with a 283 ~ white with black interior. Feeling kinda sorry for today’s kidz stuck texting in Toyotas and Hyundais.
Fausto Carmona…he should have gone with Enrico Pallazzo….
Story of the year from wilco…fucking hilarious…
Just read the entire article on Krukow on The Chron. So sad. Wishing him, and his family and friends the best. Yeah, he can be a homer, and his homer-ism gets old at times…but fuck it, he’s our homer.
Interesting article from Verducci.
http://www.si.com/mlb/2014/07/22/shifts-rule-change-lefthanded-batters-david-ortiz
I like his writing for the most part but disagree here. Maybe it is just me but a high scoring game isn’t what baseball is about. Another thing that always bothers me is this focus on reducing game time. So a guy takes 20-30 more seconds before stepping in the box. So what? That’s one less commercial. If MLB was really concerned with the pace of games they would do something about commercial breaks or God Bless America between innings.
Good read, Micah. So, let me ask this. Why do we not see the same thing employed against dead-pull RH hitters? Are RH hitters that much better at making the adjustment to take the ball the other way? I say let the LH hitters figure it out and learn to take the ball to the other field.
On time of game, I would be a fan of limiting the amount of time a hitter can take between pitches AND seeing it enforced. While he popped-out on the 2nd pitch last night, I will use Tyler Colvin as my case in point. He is the second coming of Nomar Garciapara. Colvin steps out and does the imaginary spit into each palm, rubs them togeher, and finally gets in the box. Fuck! Get in the box and hit already!
Yeah, I wondered that same thing about RH hitters when I was reading it.
The batter stepping out is fine with me. If that’s what it takes to stand in against MLB pitching I can’t fault a guy for it. You could argue that the high strike or a more uniform strike zone could speed up the game just as well. Or limiting the activities around the mound like multiple catchers/pitcher visits. No pitching coach visits allowed. That sort of thing. I guess at the end of the day the whole time of game doesn’t really bother me but I don’t really watch anything other than Giants baseball. If I was subjecting myself to the AL beer league on a regular basis I might feel different about it.
I don’t have a problem with the batter stepping out, but limit the amount of time, and enforce it. The visit to the mound by the pitching coach or manager is limited (I love it that the always break up the meeting right as the umpire is just about to reach them).
And I agree. The strike zone drives me crazy. It is fucking ludicrous that different umpires can have such wildly differing zones. Fuck it. Make the umpires call it by the books (letters/armpit to the knees).
I’ve seen it a little, but you can’t drop the SS into short LF as the throw would be too long. But we’ve all seen the 5 IFer thing late in games as well. Will that be banned as well? Defined areas by position?
Great A&W stories. I don’t have much, just that in Little League, the Father of one of my team-mates owned the local A&W, so you can guess where we went after every game, win or lose, and it made the losses quickly forgettable. Joe, love your wine country story and your mention of the Press Democrat. A rented room in a friend’s house in Sonoma is my legal US address, and I remember one time, the morning after I’d flown back from Asia and thus not particularly “with it” yet, she said to me, “If you want the news, the Press Democrat’s out in the driveway”. I heard “depressed Democrats are out in the driveway” and couldn’t figure out for the life of me why or what or whatever….
Paul, give me a shout on Yahoo Messenger when you’re back online again.
Still have an AW mug at my place somewhere, along with a miniature size one makes a big boy shot glass, used to love a coney dog at the Big AW!!
Ah yes…the baby mugs. Those were cool as hell. I may have to find an A&W and check it out just for old times sakes (and of course, I would have to pinch the mug).
GO GIANTS!
1. Hunter Pence (R) RF
2. Joe Panik (L) 2B
3. Buster Posey (R) 1B
4. Pablo Sandoval (S) 3B
5. Michael Morse (R) LF
6. Gregor Blanco (L) CF
7. Brandon Crawford (L) SS
8. Hector Sanchez (S) C
9. RHP — Yusmeiro Petit (3-3, 3.86 ERA)
Chi: So we pee pee all over them starting with Pence, Panik, Posey, Pablo and culminating with Petit. But is Hactor ever gonna get it going again at the plate ~ and i don’t mean the A & W tray.
Well, Hector sucks, but there really are no other options right now. And Bochy obviously is catering to Timmy and Petit wanting Hector as their receiver. At least when Hector was hitting the ball you could stomach the shitty D. But with him sucking behind the dish and at the dish…well, he just sucks all around.
While there is no uptick in BA or OBP, Colvin does have a higher SLG percentage than Blanco. Sure would like to see CF mixed-up a bit more. I am so tired of seeing Blanco out there.
Just finally read the Krukow article. All I can say is, I’am glad I wasn’t reading THAT story, the infamous night at the A&W…Kidding aside, I’am very proud of Kruk for telling his story. Thank goodness it’s not life threatening and I like everyone else, wish him the best.
So, with the latest news on Cain, I have seen multiple articles saying that perhaps a starter has become the highest priority for the team. What do the rest of you think? If given a choice between a guy like Zobrist (can play IF an OF and hit at the top of the order) or a starter (and be realistic…guys like David Price are out of the Giant’s range), which do you feel is most important at this time.
And on the topic of Cain, I sure as hell hope he gets his elbow clean-out during the off-season. This has been a known problem since 2010.
Well, if Cain is ready to go next start, I think Petit as a stopgap is fine. If it goes more than that, yeah, it’s a problem they need to address.
Can’t recall seeing any shots of Petit’s wife and her monstrous rack this season…
Yeah, she has Cadillac bumper bullets to match those of the BBOTD.
Sad about Kruk. Just read the story. Wish him the best.
MLBRosterMoves @MLBRosterMoves
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.@Rockies place SS Troy Tulowitzki (left hip flexor strain) on 15-day DL (retro to July 20); recall LHP Yohan Flande from Triple-A @skysox.
3:42 PM – 22 Jul 2014
I knew that MOFO (along with his “Robin” Cargo) couldn’t last the whole season. lqtm.
Has that guy ever made it through a whole season healthy? CO should move him this off season before he completely falls apart. I hate to talk trash on a fellow LBSU alumni but there’s been more than one with steroids allegations swirling. Is he another?
I’m not certain about him dirt, but another Sherpa, Helton, is suspected of using them. In fact, a Sherpa broadcaster said he used them, but then recanted his allegations . . .
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2018289
I believe the original story. By the by, Helton got popped for DUI last year, where he not only got arrested, but made a fool of himself during the arrest.
Anyone feel like getting Tommy Milone on a possible deal with the A’s?
Dude wants out, another lefty to balance out the rotation, and he’s young and cheap? Thoughts
AK, no I wouldn’t. Just my opinion . . . He gets lit up too often for my taste.
Flemming on Twitter:
“Dave Flemming @FlemmingDave · Jul 21
Not sure I’m understanding angst over a week-long AAA tryout for Uggla. Really, that’s causing heartache?”
Well, first of all, setting aside the condescending tone of the tweet, I read somewhere that the Giants are shelling out $500,000 for Uggla, which, while not tons of money in the baseball world, still says more than “AAA tryout” to me.
And second of all, Uggla has sucked for quite a while now, and this situation has “Francouer” written all over it. When a major leaguer is done, they’re done. We also saw it lately with Huff, Rowand, Tejada, others. Guys that had nice careers, but when they were done, they were done.
I HOPE Uggla does well if and when the Giants bring him up; I truly want to be wrong about him.
And I do remain a Flemming fan despite moments like this. 🙂
I for one think Uggla is done,like the “dried out turkey carcass in Christmas Vacation”!
His bat speed is beyond slow now and he K’s way to often and sucks on D as well. Having said that, Sabes and Bochy will still call him up so he can humiliate himself before getting CUT!!
A lot of Phillies fans decided they would rather not show up to today’s game
Hanging at the beach for a bit while my daughter’s at soccer practice, listening to the game and watching a couple girls surfing in black wet suits. Man, I love summer.
After that play, Bochy might be calling up Ugly.
I enjoyed everyone’s A&W stories. The Flap is awesome.
Bullpen alert.
Petit is the long guy. He may have to take one for the team with Vsong only going 3 last night.
Yeah, good point. He’s going to need to grind it out.
El Tiburon Blanco seems to be thriving down in the order. When ON base his speed is a weapon. It took Bochy a while to get it but now things are looking up at the bottom.
Shark with Hits in 8 of last 9 games. He’s capable of a hot streak. Hit .373 last Sept.
Like when they come right back to tie.
What was with Adrianza in for Panik? Hope the kid’s not hurt. Only have Yahoo feed here.
Panik rolled his ankle as he touched 1st base . . .
Looks like the Uggla Era starts tomorrow.
Just got home. Shit. Adrianza better start getting it . . .
Hooooooooah. Got out of it.
It’s hot as phuck in Philly; hence, the Hotlanta-sized crowd.
Remember when Morse Code looked like he’d hit 40 homers and get 122 RBIs?
I think I’ll go over to the sports bar here, near Panera, and actually WATCH some of the game. I’ve got my Giants cap. I watch few games. Too few. And they have AC.
Why can’t Blanco do that more then once in a blue moon????
Steve, I’m on Yahoo for a bit.
saw it and responded
It seems to get lost when K and K keep saying Blanco needs to get hot but he *has* been hot for the last two weeks-
.321 BA .406 OBP.
Flemming keeps using the full name of the Phillies catcher–Cody Ashy (not sure about spelling) I keep getting him confused with the hot-dog-eating contest guy.
He’s their new young 3Bman, Asche. The Phils announcers do the same thing, always first and last names. My Dad laughs every time, he thinks it sounds funny. Truly, his parents should’ve named him Maxwell or something not ending in ‘y’….
Folks, that’s why Petit is a long relief guy.
We’ve yet to see the good le Petit from last yr.
More like Le Petomaine.
Shit. Went to shoot some hoops w/my son. Did Petit hang some more sliders? He was getting away with it before I left.
Come on Hector.
Oh Boy. Bottom of the order thunder? I’d take a squall right now.
Well, there’s your “squall.”
Well, the good news is that the Pirates just broke a 4-4 tie against the Bums in the 6th inning . . . 6-4 Pirates. Arrgghh!
Make that 7-4 . . . Jamey Wright is falling apart.
Way to battle, Pablo. Let’s go deep Morse!
I watched a few innings. Petit labored. Blanco shoulda had it. The few innings seemed endless. The SF-PHIL game supplanted the NYY game on many screens. No one seemed to care.
Pawlie, your 5:24 post about Morse, so true. Man, he was tearing it up. Now, I can’t even remember the last time he had a key hit. He just so extended that lineup when he was producing, a difference-maker. They’ve kind of been missing a difference-maker. Great to see Pence have a good series back against his old team….
Shit. Morse needs to get rolling. He’s got a grand total of 3 rbis since Jun 14th.
Lopez has been another squirrelly guy lately.
Yikes. Looked at Morse’s splits.
April/May 11 HRs and 38 RBIs
June/July 3 and 9
Got to get out of this unscathed.
Is it me and the heat and humidity wearing me down, or does this game seem to be played underwater, in slo-mo?
Be a hero, Robert Duvall. Aces. Great Santini. Hogs.
Pirates making me nervous…fuck the Dodgers.
I prefer a starter over a 2b at this point. With Pagan and Belt also likely back soon, another starter seems like the bigger need. But outside Price, what else is out there? Then get Cody Ross and then fuck the Dodgers…
What a hopeless case Hector was tonight. Could Susac possibly be worse?
I wouldn’t hold my breath fro Pagan, GH
Wasnt there some positive news today about pagan?
Papel-BOOM!!!!!
S-M-A-S-H
Nice!
Buster!
Bussssssssssstttttttttttttteeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Crawfish with the fucking at ’em whiff.
Yeah!
Affeldt was nails there.
Dodgers’ Perez with an epic meltdown, walking 4 batters in a row. Dodger fans will be second-guessing Donnie-2x on leaving him in that long.