Defending Our Crown Starts Today
Pitchers and catchers report today. Does that do anything 4 ya? The day feels the same to me. Maybe once we start seeing some pics come out of camp, stories that rise (and fall).
You know what’s awesome? This guy is awesome. Zummie striking the pose.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Not only did Zumiee get the “knowing dude head nod” down, but also the correct order of “3 in 5” finger signage. Awesome!
Haha. I thought the same thing. he obviously practiced for this moment. 🙂
Impressive, Zum.
On the story about Jansen that Snarkk linked to over on CSNBA, I flipped over to another one by Pavlovic, and sunny beach, there in the comments was one of typical nonsense from one Sophrosyne18.
Man, the Splash, like in Zappa’s Varese quote about the “present day composer”, refuses to die.
Now if the guy who used to talk about the chicken ranch comes back, look out.
What exactly does of B of A have to do with the trophy tour anyway that they get their name all over the signage?
Not sure if this is why they get their name on the trophy tour, but BofA was the lender for the Stadium. The Giants first went to Wells Fargo but Wells turned them down, apparently thinking the stadium deal would go bust (oops) and that investing heavily into some Dot Coms would be more lucrative (oops again).
Yeah, Dirt, when I got real close in the line, I did practice making sure I had the 3 on my right hand. Good call on that, actually. 🙂
That was in Modesto yesterday, at the downtown convention center called the Centre Plaza.
Scheduled as a 3-5 PM event, officially, I think, I couldn’t get there until 4:30, and the photo was taken around 6:15, so kudos to the Giants for making sure everyone got in. There were still lots of folks getting their pictures taken when I left. The time in line was a bask-athon, chatting with Giants fans, reliving the big moments of the ’14 playoffs, and the last 5 seasons. At one point, a guy standing in front of me gestured towards some young kids and said something like: “Those kids are too young to fully appreciate all that we fans had to endure before the Giants won these championships. I’m thirty years old, so I know it well.”
Thirty?? I just had to LQTM when he said that.
haha, too funny man. I went to the 2010 trophy tour stop in Reno. It was really fun being around so many Giants fans and all the different conversations.
Lookin good Zum!
4 in 6 a little harder to pull off on the hands this year though.😄
wait, that’s not a finger!
Ha ha ha ha!!!
Yeah, win so many we have to use toes, too! 🙂
“What exactly does of B of A have to do with the trophy tour anyway that they get their name all over the signage?”
Willie, more sponsorship means more money to sign free agents like McGehee and Aoki! 🙂 🙂
Looking good Zum!
This apparently hasn’t hit mlbtr yet today:
http://la.suntimes.com/la-sports/los-angeles-dodgers/7/88/146210/dodgers-hector-olivera/
On the other hand, this did appear on mlbtr a couple of days back, and after reading it I was fairly certain the Giants would let Olivera pass:
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/02/latest-on-cuban-market.html
Eli Whiteside has just been hired to be the bullpen catcher. I love Eli because he makes me think that one day I could do his job….
Wasn’t that what he was before?…
Snarkk, I’m busted a gut like Panda,that was awesome describing “El Presidente”
Awesome pic, zumiee.
Well, Craig, I’ve spent all morning here in the frozen east online chatting with many students and friends in China and Vietnam as they were celebrating the start of the lunar new year, so…. I’m sort of in a ‘happy new year’ mode, easily applied to the start of the baseball today……
‘start of the baseball’? Sheesh. This is why I come back to the US once or twice a year, need to get my English back…. start of baseball….
No shocker, Boch as pretty much said Timmeh is the 5th starter, with Vogs and Petit the relievers.
Of course subject to change if Tim craters, are they want to give a guy a blow or whatever.
Plus Tim is getting paid starters money, at 17 plus this year.
Weird. I actually had a dream last night about a game, and Petit was the starter…
Another thing about Timmeh, he has mended fences with his old man(Chris) and they were back working this winter on his mechanics.
Funny how a contract year can change your attitude.
But “IF” and that’s a BIG IF he bounces back to his glory days,he might not be done as a Giant after this year..
If all he had to do was check in with his old man and presto his mechanics are back, I’m going to be pissed off. You’re getting paid 20 mil a yr and you don’t want to talk to someone to fix the problem? Fuck that.
Perhaps like many of you, I’ve always had a lot of disdain for Alex Rodriguez. In my mind, thinking of him as “A-Fraud” seemed spot on. Especially this season, with him passing my all time favorite player, Willie Mays, in home runs. Ugh. Then I read this ESPN article (it’s long) and the cartoon character that is Rodriguez seemed to be softened and humanized. It doesn’t excuse him for what he has done in his career and life, but for me at least – I no longer look at him as some sort of pariah or non-person. Pitied, yes definitely.
Anywho, you might find this article interesting . . . http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/12321274/alex-rodriguez-return-new-york-yankees
devastated to hear about the passing of Jerome Kersey. During my senior year in college at Lewis and Clark the Blazers trained in our gym for some reason. I think they were having theirs remodeled or built or something that year. Can’t remember. Anyway, because my school gym workouts ending coincided with their workouts ending, I showered with Kersey and Clyde the Glyde and all those guys several times that year. Very cool dudes. Hung like horses. Like HORSES. This can’t be understated.
Anyway, I always thought it was cool that those dudes would chat it up with a bunch of college punks after practice in the shower.
Let all the gay jokes commence, but really, those Blazers were alright dudes.
Nice tribute, Big Flavor. I always liked Kersey. RIP
zum, your 9:18 is funny.
A 30-year old Giants fan sure has been through some hard times. When he was 28, the squad won their 2nd WS title in 3 years. When I was 28, they lost 100 games, bottoming out in the 23 year period since their last WSeries. When he was 18, they were in the WS against the Angels. When I was 18, they went 80-81 under the vibrant Wes Westrum, the GM was the great baseball seer Spec Richardson, Art Eckman was doing radio calls, they traded Garry Maddox for Willie Montanez, and they were just 12 years into a 26 year World Series drought…
The more you widened your smartphone,the better her ass gets!
Oops, that was suppose to be on BBOTD, my bad!
It’s funnier right where you put it…
Thanks Kat. You stopped me from looking through the posts for a link I thought I must have missed…
😉
Baggerly back to BANG, essentially swapping places with Pav’s. I wonder what went wrong at CSN. Now if we can just get the melkmaids back.
http://goldengatesports.com/2015/02/16/barry-bonds-belongs-cooperstown/
Yahoo sports story on TL besides the one in Chron today. Any modest revival such as lowering the ERA by a run or so would be welcome addition to rotation. Vogs, ugh.
But I don’t think it will be sorted out during ST vs. kids or vets going through the motions. All the talk about regaining confidence etc. just reminds me of the psychobabble nonsense we used to hear from Zito all the time, “I’ve just got to trust my stuff” yada yada. Saying all the right things is fine—making them happen consistently is another.
Either TL knows what he wants to do with what he has in terms of pitches/game plan and can locate where he wants to, or not. It’s been 3 solid years of suckitude occasionally relieved by gems where he is not hit hard and striking out batters with regularity. We’ve all seen the flashes of brilliance and even in games where he is all over the place there will be an inning or two where he looks good.
I’ve always thought Bochy had a soft spot for him and really wants to see him do well. But I could easily see him being more effective as set up guy starting off a late inning.
That is too bad about Kersey, too. Late career he played pretty well for GS. No details? Dead at 52.
I coach with a retired buddy of mine who coached for 10 yrs or so at HS with guy I played for back in 60s. I told him Sunday after our game that I had a dream I was at Memorial service and had to say a few words about the guy we both know and was trying to figure out what to say in front of all the people that knew him. They are both in their 70s, and my asst. said, “At this age you know you could go at any time.”
Steve Hermanos updated his Madison Bumgarner haiku:
Your expanding pants
Just exploded exposing
Twin Siamese BLIMPS
Lincecum getting back with his pops is a great story line. If he gets back to or close to his previous form that would be pretty awesome.
Over on the Merc blog the prospect of Posey replacing McGehee at 3b on occasion instead of Belt was put out there. I think that is an interesting point to raise. Belt can force that decision with his performance.
I don’t know what the club is thinking by allowing Sanchez to get back behind the plate. They’re really doing him a disservice. If they want the flexibility of his bat, which I don’t really understand, then save his brain and roll him out at 3b this spring to see if he can handle it..
Agreed. He’s bound to take some shots off the mask at some point…
On a cold frozen day here in the east, I turned on the MLB channel to see if they were showing anything that resembled *springtime* …. like, players limbering up on the nice green infields, etc. Who the hell is this Christopher Russo guy, with his own show no less, called High Heat or something like that. He’s sitting there just shouting at the camera non-stop. I’m not sure I’ve seen a more annoying sports guy on TV, and as we all know, there have been plenty. Had to turn it off. Why sports channels make this kind of “staffing mistake” is beyond me…. Apologies to anyone who knows more about this guy than I do and thinks he’s ok.
I haven’t heard Russo in years. He had a long run as the co-host of the afternoon show on WFAN, the biggest sports radio station in NYC. Yes, Russo has an incredibly annoying voice, but what made his radio show entertaining was the very real tension he had with his co-host, Mike Francesa. Russo finally left for Sirius some years ago, leaving Francesa solo to berate the callers. He’s also a big SF Giants fan.
Thanks for the background info, Mac, hope you’re staying warm these days….
Yeah, this weather flat-out stinks. And I fully understand your reaction to Russo. Hearing him for the first (and last?) time probably was like getting hit with that first blast of cold when you came back east.
So besides all of the other question marks that have been brought up, what about the coaching staff? Roberto Kelly goes from First to Third, Bill Hayes goes from being the Bullpen catcher to First and El Presidente takes over the bullpen catching gig. I’m thinking ST will be pretty important for our Field coaching staff.
Speaking of Wild Bill Hayes, the dude has been our bullpen catcher for 12 years and turns 58 this year, man, I wonder how many scuds that dude took?
I’m assuming with Vogs and Petit in the BP, we’ll be carrying 13 Pitchers, so that means a 4 man bench. I’m guessing Blanco and Ishi are pretty much locks, gotta have another Catcher (please don’t kill Hector), so only one spot left. It’s gotta be an infielder right? So will it be Arias, or the Duffman? Oh yeah, don’t forget about Ehire “I’m Still Outta Options” Adrianza, it should be a real battle this spring.
I thought I saw Bochy say 12, man. So Tim’s in as #5 for SPs, Vogs Petit Affeldt Romo Lopez Casilla and either Machi or Strickland. Hudson is supposed to be ready for Opening Day, so maybe that’s one more opening if he’s not.
That would leave 7 starters 6 bench: Blanco Ishi Susac, then maybe Perez (or Brown/ a kid that impresses) and a couple IFs you mention. Duvall still around?
Hector says he’s ready to roll and wants to C but I’d imagine that means in Sac.
Wake me when ST’s over.
8 on the field obviously–Posey Belt Panik Craw Mac Pence Pagan Aoki–leaves 5.
Compared to what else is there, Adrianza wasn’t that bad. Sure did some stupid stuff tho.
Arias did get hot late, and who else would give Crawford a day off?
Seems like Duffy has most upside and supposedly has bulked up.
What I saw of him last year that wouldn’t be awfully hard…reminds me of the line in “White Men Can’t Jump”,
“…anorexic Dick Gregory looking…”
Yeah, Bozo, funny stuff about “still outta options” (which was pointedly mentioned in the story I read today when they mentioned his name). I think some Flappers tend to think Adrianza might actually still have some value, but I haven’t seen much of it, and I laughingly remember Loo’s immortal comment about him last season when the team was flying back to SFO from somewhere south, that Adrianza shoulda just parachuted out of the plane when they passed over Fresno….
Bozo,
I’m guessing their only going 12 pitchers, that’s all any team really needs. I’m going with Machi as the odd guy out, unless Huddy can’t start the season,
Then it’s either The Duffster or Arias for the 5 th bench dude, which I would prefer Duffy.
Very well-written ariticle about A-Rod that Blade posted a link to. A-Rod’s heading into a joyless season, whether he realizes that or not. That last season that Bonds had with the Giants, when he was breaking the career homerun record, was as joyless as it gets. Once the record was broken, the Giants didn’t offer him a contract the next season, and no other team did either. He could have really helped an AL teams as DH, you’d think. But it was not to be.
Joyless but well paid. I could live with that. Being joyless and broke that’s a reality for many.
A staff of 12 makes sense, although having two long men seems kinda weird to me. So I’m guessing the seven in the pen are Affeldt Casilla, Lopez, Romo, Petit, Vogs and either Machi, Strikland, or Kontos and our bench is Blanco, Ishi, Suzac or Sanchez with Arias, Perez, Duffy, Adrianza or someone like Hicks fighting it out for the last two spots (if they do go with 12 pitchers). willie mentioned Duvall, but with Ishi and Buster getting playing time at first, I imagine he won’t be in the mix, but ya never know.
Hudson or Cain (probably Hudson) isn’t going to be ready to start the season.
Jeez, I can’t get this whole roster thing down, so I guess I better start paying attention to ST. I’ll say this though, one of those Field Coaches better not go down or my 11:35 post is completely fucked.
romo with a sore shoulder. and so it begins . . .
What do these guys get hurt counting their money out in ST?
Every time I see Zummie striking that pose I feel like he’s been kidnapped by ISIS and is trying to send us some type of code-signal for help.—like, “in 3 days, you pay 5 million, or else…”
lqtm
Let’s not lose our head Flavor.
bahahhahahaha!
So, I am absolutely shocked at all the NBA trades today. Still processing their impact, but I think the Heat definitely improved their playoff odds by getting a legitimate PG in Dragic. However, the Suns did well too – surprising when you consider how stupid they were prior to these trades going down, i.e., they were way too PG top heavy with Thomas, Bledsoe and Dragic. However, they did really well by acquiring the 2 first round draft picks and Knight.
Similarly, I thought the Pistons did an outstanding job in getting Reggie Jackson (no, not that one). Jackson was lights out when Westbrook was injured. He’s so good, that the Thunder offered him a $40 million plus extension, which he turned down flat. I also think the Celtics got better with Thomas at PG. Also, like what the 76ers did in getting rid of MCW for draft picks – He has the second-worst 3-point percentage among those who have taken at least 100 3s (25.6 percent) and the third-lowest effective field goal percentage of anyone taking at least 10 shots per game. Basically, his high point average, assists, and rebounds are due to the fast paced 76er game.
By the by, great article about the Giants here . . . http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/55246/calmness-in-the-air-as-giants-open-camp
uh oh
Alex Pavlovic @AlexPavlovic · 4m4 minutes ago
Giants say Bruce Bochy was admitted to local hospital to insert two stents. “He is resting comfortably and will be released tomorrow.”
Boch finally realized in the flesh that he’s got Timmeh, Peavy and Hudson rounding out the rotation — and his heart skipped a coupla beats…
Oh shit. With Flan gone, this may be Bochy’s last hurrah. Stents these days are a pretty ho hum procedure though.
l, I’m, just glad the Dubs stood pat. And the non-trade for Lovesoft was the deal of the year. Curry’s 3 point show was pretty awesome as well. Glad my son taped it.
[…] The rest of the article can be found here: THE San Francisco Giants Blog […]