0
That’s the numbers of days left till real baseball begins again.
Tonight we get to watch a game that counts. Personally, I’ll be looking to see how Matheny is doing. Last time we saw him he was doing that stone faced thousand yard stare we’ve come to know so well…..
I have never spent less of a Spring on baseball. I’m not playing in a season long fantasy baseball league for the first time since high school so there’s been nothing for me to research, no drafts to partake in, and I’ve been consumed with NBA, CBB and golf—-100% into daily leagues.
But that’s all about to change. This morning I woke up at 2am wondering what A-Rod’s ST batting average was. Discovered it was .267 but that’s not the point.
The point is that I’ve gone from literally not thinking about baseball at all to obsessing on everything about it. Every player. Every statistic. Every at bat. Every moment.
The switch has been flipped within me. Baseball.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Flavor is BACK! Bravo! I expect nothing less.
Happy Easter from Michael,, Merna, Zeke, Mickey, Vlad, and The Thundering Herd
* You know that really annoying squeaky clean guy who has the outline of his tools on the garage wall- and the tools are they belong? That’s Buster- except Buster can hit
*You must remember this: if it’s not available in stores it’s because no sane person would buy it if they saw that crap in a store.
* Look, it’s not like Zito saved the Earth from Mothra , the guy who did that did it for free.
*Easter! Ham! The definition of eternity- two people, one ham.
*There’s a big misunderstanding about baseball projections. Why would anyone expect them to be right? If someone could do that, they sure as hell wouldn’t be screwing around with projections of how Nick Punto might hit.
*Vlad is ill, he impaled himself by mistake, but he wanted me to tell you that everything will be fine.
* If we start out 0 and 1, the world will end for some of you. Can I have your George Foreman grill ?
* The Beast is gone, the Panda has fled. Who will be next? The Baby Giraffe, the White Shark, Crazy Horse? This isn’t the Titantic, it’s Noah’s Ark.
*I made a special trip to the store yesterday because they advertised “Let’s have Easter Brunch!!” Eggs and Bacon have been outrageous lately- 5 bucks for 12 eggs , 7 bucks for a pound of bacon. They had the eggs for 99 cents and the bacon for 3 bucks. Geez, it must have been like the stampede at Walmart on December 26th. I get to the store and not a crummy piece of bacon or a single cracked egg. So Happy Easter. I’m sure my oatmeal will be just yummy.
Michael: It was a cloudy morning so i had yummy oatmeal today. Began by plumping raisins, date pieces, dried pineapple, dried apricots along with some peanut butter in the oatmeal water. After everything softened up and blended in went the oatflakes. Plopped into a chinese noodle bowl, the oatmeal was topped with minty chocolate-chips, murple syrple and half and half. A bit rich, but delicious. Happy Easter.
You are a Master Oatmeal Chef, Stix, You need your own show,
Pavs said pence gets cast off and is 10-14 days away from swinging a bat.
So 10 days plus a week maybe of whatever minor league ball.
Ishi to the DL, maybe 13 pitchers.
On paper, no one seems to like Giants (or Royals for that matter) much, but hey it’s on. And everyone has to listen to “Defending World Series Champion” addition to any mention of SF Giants.
If LA has any further issues with Ryu , Jansen or back end of rotation it will be interesting to see what new GM does. In the past they’ve added guys Wilson, Brandon League and Chris Perez, collection of stiffs.
I like that everyone is selecting us to face plant. You too 10Boo . . . Still cracking up about your imbecilic post yesterday, “The mid-season deadline could be a good time to sell high on the NC guy. He could bring some genuine prospects to a depleted farm system.”
Meanwhile, all the pressure is on the Bums, Nats and other baseball team media darlings to live up to these stupid prognostications. I imagine each player in the Giants clubhouse is lqtm.
The Giants never have and never will get respect from the national media. Even when they won the pennant in 2010 and 2012, baseball “pundits” overwhelmingly picked them to lose the WS. I remember something like 25 out of 27 writers picking the Rangers back when ESPN still had that prediction poll. Same in 2012. The Giants seem to operate better when others doubt them. Lay in the weeds, so to speak.
Cubs and Cards tonight. I’m ready for baseball.
The days between Mardi Gras and Opening Day sure are a low down, dirty rotten, depressing time of year for me. Glad that shits over. Happy New Year to y’all, let the calls for signing Cody Ross begin.
Suddenly feeling positive about this team. Actually like the slow start in spring and the way they finished. Might mean Nada. Just a gut feeling.
Steward at Merc, in an excellent column, makes the point that they lost a free swinger in Pablo for more disciplined McG. Keep the line moving. Another speed guy at the top won’t hurt either. And better defense in LF.
Keys will be health, of course. And Timmy Matt rebounds.
This will be a more subdued, quieter team without Beast and Pablo. Not sure if that is a factor.
I like them battling down the stretch for a WC. 87 wins might be enough.
While the Giants may have a glut of middle infielders, the Merc has the same problem when it comes to Giants beat writers. I don’t think anyone will confuse Baggs and Steward with Woodward and Bernstein (though Baggs may come the closest in terms of investigative reporting, if there is such a thing in the baseball beat world) but I really do enjoy reading both these guys. If only both could get regular playing time.
My mind has been totally geared toward making money in basketball daily fantasy sports for the last couple of months (since returning from Asia). Chuckling and relating to an email I just received from Flavor, where he said in part, “Man, I am really needing to get up to speed on baseball—Feels like a foreign sport to me right now.” That’s me too . . . and similar to him – it requires me getting up to speed on all MLB players, not just the Giants. Hard to articulate, but I love daily fantasy league, especially baseball. I trade the stock market each day and I could give a rat’s ass if I lose $2k, 3k, 4k, or more in one trading day session . . . Daily fantasy sports though is another thing entirely . . . Usually, I am only betting a fraction of what I am doing in the stock market; yet, I am yelling my ass off – agony and ecstasy outbursts – each night when the fantasy games begin. Same thing with the Giants games.
Giants baseball and daily fantasy sports – almost better then sex.
I’m glad you said “almost” or I’d probably set an intervention into motion 🙂
Just so there’s no equivocation – I put that in bold.
blade is the ultimate snowbird.
Baseball season, he’s back.
When it’s done, he’s off to SE Asia for the s s s scenery…
🙂
Looking forward to the start of the season. Not sure how many wins for the G’s but the key, as it is every year for me, is to stay around .500 until the all-star break. Don’t get too far behind the division leader. If you do that, you’ve got a chance every year to get into the dance. if you get too far behind early, you use your hot streak just catching up. The key is to stay relatively close until the break, get hot and get to the post-season. so i don’t get too high or low until the all-star break. enjoy!
Another key is to have more than one reliable starter.
Knbr replaying gm 4 of 2012 WS right now. Its the bottom of the 10, we’re up 4-3. I can’t wait to find out what happens!
Somebody else is disrespecting our heroes: http://tinyurl.com/k5u63dy
Shocking.
The LA Times picks the Doghairs to win the division. And, SF to come in last.
Stunning opinion from La La Land, Land of the Losers…
Man, that was an unexpected treat. Something I forgot: he struck out the side. Something I hadn’t noticed until Flemm noted it on radio: Romo shook off Posey to throw that epic freeze-job pitch to Cabrera that ended it. And there’s not much better than listening to Kruk’s unbridled celebration of another WS….
Gm 7 of 2014 just started on Knbr for those in the area
Morse with 2 RBIs in game 7, and the winner.
I’ll miss that dude and his good attitude.
Remains to be seen if the Giants will miss his sporadic power bat…
I miss his awkward, rad, HR celebrations where he would take his helmet of and let the hair fly and throw his hands in the air and do that weird celebration. Loved that dude.
Adrianza DFA’d.
Opening day roster:
Pitchers (13): Affeldt, Bumgarner, Cain, Casilla, Hudson, Kontos, Lincecum, Lopez, Machi, Peavy, Petit, Romo, Vogelsong
Catchers (2): Posey, Sanchez
Infielders (6): Arias, Belt, Crawford, Duffy, McGehee, Panik
Outfielders (4): Aoki, Blanco, Maxwell, Pagan
Giants 25 man Opening day roster set:
Carrying 13 pitchers
SP..Bum,Cain,Lincecum,Hudson,Peavy
Pen.. Vogs,Petit, Lopez,Affeldt,Romo,Machi,Kontos,Casilla
Catchers..Posey,Sanchez
Infield.. Belt,Panik,Crawford,McGiggles,Arias& Duffy… See ya OOO Andrianza
Outfield.. Aoki, Pagan,Blanco,Maxwell
Suggests a major lack of confidence in the starters.
I hope Wisconsin destroys Duke on Monday night…
Tough to do since it’ll be 5 vs. 8.
Not going to happen!
The Cubs had a lot of hype in the off-season, some of it rightly so. They have some intriguing young players. But it’s in the category of position players, and not so much the pitching. They don’t have their equivalent of the young Cain/Lincecum combo, and MadBum. I’m not confident the Cubs’ pitching is up to the task this season.
But it would be hilarious to see the Cubs win their division over the Cards and Pirates. That would be entertaining.
The Groper and Huff didn’t make the final Dodger roster.
Here’s their final roster. I could be wrong, but I think (especially with Jansen out for a while), their bullpen is flawed.
They have enough off-days in April to start the season with 4 starting pitchers, while they wait to see what happens with Ryu, giving them an extra back-up position player for a while.
Catchers (2): Yasmani Grandal, A.J. Ellis
Infielders (7): Adrian Gonzalez, Howie Kendrick, Jimmy Rollins, Juan Uribe, Justin Turner, Alex Guerrero, Darwin Barney
Outfielders (5): Yasiel Puig, Joc Pederson, Carl Crawford, Scott Van Slyke, Andre Ethier
Starting pitchers (4): Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Brandon McCarthy, Brett Anderson
Relief pitchers (7): Chris Hatcher, Joel Peralta, J.P. Howell, Paco Rodriguez, Yimi Garcia, Pedro Baez, Juan Nicasio.
I just saw the news: Lon Simmons passed away. Very sad news.
He meant a lot to Giants fans, 49er fans, and A’s fans of a certain age. What a great broadcaster.
That is sad news. RIP Lon.
that was such a great call.
Probably my favorite call in the history of sports.
I was at that game. The BOOs rained down from the stands that day. The papers played up that game with banner headlines. Fans were fired up.
“Like many fans, my earliest Giants memories were listening to Lon and Russ on my transistor radio,” said Giants President and CEO Larry Baer. “Hearing his broadcasts ignited my and thousands of others’ passion for Giants baseball. He will be deeply missed by all of us.”
I missed Russ Hodges by about a year or so. When I first tuned into the Giants it was Lon and a fellow named Bill Thompson (I think.)
From Baggs:
As GM Bobby Evans mentioned on MLB Network Radio, the Giants are looking at pushing back Jake Peavy and instead hand the ball to Ryan Vogelsong in Game 2 Tuesday at Arizona. Peavy, who has battled a dead arm in his last three spring outings, would be inserted back into the rotation sometime during the second series of this opening trip against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.
I spoke to Evans a few minutes ago and he told me the Giants aren’t looking at using a six-man rotation all season. This adjustment would be to give Peavy a little more time, as well as a more forgiving environment as he makes his first start.
Peavy is not going for additional tests, Evans said.
“The contemplation is to get him an extra couple days,” Evans said. “The ballpark in Arizona is not necessarily pitcher-friendly and San Diego is a place where he has had tremendous success over the years.
I wasn’t down with the Peavy deal at all but I figured it would be Cain or Hudson with a health issue heading into the season. Hopefully pushing him back helps.
Peavy brings back memories of Matt Morris signing.
I wish we could trade him for Rajai Davis, too…
No playoffs without Peavy last year. Bad example.
Woh Nelly, the Braves have traded Kimbrel to the Padres. It was part of a salary dump by the Braves; the Padres had to take B.J. (AKA Melvin) Upton, too. The Braves figured, for them, having a great closer right now is not really relevant. The Padres gave them Quentin, Maybin, and some prospects.
holy shit!
The Braves and Padres have come to terms on a deal that will send closer Craig Kimbrel and Melvin Upton Jr. to San Diego in exchange for right-hander Matt Wisler, outfielders Cameron Maybin, Carlos Quentin and Jordan Paroubeck, and the 41st pick in this year’s draft.
Usually in MLB a team can’t trade a draft pick, except:
“You can trade Competitive Balance Lottery picks but only during the regular season (which began at 12 noon today).”
Not sure that makes anything more clear.
It’s the “2015 competitive balance pick No. 41.”
Shit the Padres aren’t screwing around this season,they are legit contenders now.
Yup, Pads are all in or is it all out? In any event they traded off their #1 prospect and another highly rated one in the transaction. So it is evident they are looking at totally going for it this year and damn the future. As well as picking up a legit #1 closer they managed to rid themselves of two surplus outfielders.
Johnny Podres ended his career with the Padres.
Loo, you are in midseason form.
I met Lon once. A very nice person. However, I knew Lon’s daughter and (especially) his son in law – whom I worked with as a fire fighter. RIP Lon . . . 😦
I was at this game and so I never heard Lon call it. What a call
I probably played that Steve Young run about twenty times. His orginal stint as a Giants broadcaster was before my time but I loved listening to him do Niner games on the radio as a kid. “Montana back to pass, he’s got Jerry Rice…Touchdown 49’ers! ” I would actually tune into A’s games on kfrc just to hear his voice. He had such a simple, minimalistic manner of calling games and that deep voice. It was like listening to that Grandfather who you never got to meet. That’s how you thought he sounded.
As a kid I thought I did a pretty good impersonation of him. Around the time he came back to the Giants in the late 90’s, I was off to college in Texas. I did catch him during summer breaks and loved his dry sense of humor though I never felt he really jelled with Kruk and Kuip. Though I still chuckle when I think of one of his lines during the opening of a broadcast. As Krukow finished the starting lineups, he introduced Lon to the microphone. “Go ahead Lon”, Kruk announced. “Thank you Mike, but don’t call me a goat head.”
The Atlanta Braves have traded closer Craig Kimbrel and outfielder Melvin Upton Jr. to the San Diego Padres.
Two guesses who Melvin is???? Anyone? Anyone?
not sure why, but the audio on this on seems a little better timed than the one Zummie posted but thank you ZOOM for getting this started. I could listen to this call a million times.
Irritating that the Dubs are down by 20 to the Spurs. These aren’t the 1-seed Spurs we’ve seen in years past, they’re the freaking 6 seed and I’ve watched them look slow and old in several games this year.
We were washing Dad’s car when he called the Jim Marshall play. He was great at football and very funny too when the Niners were, um, less than competitive.
At our house if the Giants game was on radio we listened to it, including the Mets DH that went on forever. I learned to do a scorebook by listening to Hodges and Simmons do games early 60s..
As to the Pads, yes they are serious, but…picking up the other Upton is not going to help them as he is terrible.
They also still do not have a CF, SS, or much of an IF. So there are major holes in the everyday LU, and Kimbrel doesn’t help them there. I still can’t see them even as WC team.
I also doubt guys like J Upton and Kemp are gonna like trying to hit the ball out of Petco when it’s not BP. J Up, remember, can be an FA next season, and my guess is he finds a friendlier yard to hit in/better team.
totally agree. I think the Padres are the wise-guy team that everyone is picking just because they revamped the roster. But what no one seems to be factoring in is the possibility that all these new hitters are going to HATE hitting in SD. Let’s see how they all do once HR shot after HR shot dies on the warning track. That’s the type of thing that could easily frustrate them and none of them are known as *winners* who can lead a team out of a funk like that….
Kinda like the “wise-guy” horse that never wins the Kentucky Derby…
exactly. Perfect reference.
I usually mute the Anthem even on radio, but this guy is pretty good, with a big finish. Real baseball!
The ones that extend every note and make it an 8 minute song to show off their voice are truly annoying.
Meanwhile, apologies to Mrs. Zum, but how bad are the Braves gonna be?
It always bugged me to see a stiff like Cameron Maybin wearing #24, just something that shouldn’t be allowed.
Jim Beauchamp learned that lesson…
Mrs. Zum isn’t diggin’ the changes in the Braves.
What is the point of those stupid striped patterns they make in the grass on baseball fields?
They look like shit.
I don’t like the super-imposed strikezone graphic right on the strikezone. I guess it was bound to happen for some of these networks. Criminey, just let us watch the game. That graphic is an eyesore, IMO.
It annoys me too, zum.
Everything does…
I’m guessing they think it’s the kind of hi-tech groovy thing that would attract new fans to baseball or something.
Pretty funny considering some of us are talking about Lon Simmons, who attracted us to baseball, on the radio, with just his voice and words.
Kind of made me chuckle: Schilling said something like “Lester is an ace. The kind of guy you need to win a one-game playoff game.”
I’m pretty sure I remember Lester LOSING a one-game playoff last year.
A bunch of the hitters are taking several steps out of the batter’s box between pitches. Great new rule, Commish.
Just me, but does that Cubs LU scare anyone? Is this all they’ve got, Rizzo Castro and Coghlan?
Last year they didn’t score many runs. This year they seem to be the *prospect* team full of young guys (including Bryant and Russell who are still in minors). Going up against vet teams like Pirates and Cards, who won a lot more games than they did last year, why all the hype?
Speaking of guys who shouldn’t be wearing #24, Dexter Fowler pops out to CF.
I am all in as said since free agency began that I would love to have Cody Ross back…
I’m curious GH – who’s spot do you suggest be given to Ross?
Aoki, Blanco, or Maxwell. Take your pick!
Just kidding, but man the 4 OF’s we area breaking camp with are something else.
RIP Lon Simmons. You were one of the greats.
According to the Twitter-verse, a lot of fans don’t like “the box”:
This strike zone box needs to go. Get the clutter off my baseball screen. #BaseballIsBack pic.twitter.com/7d3sUa5IDI
— Dan (@BlaineSlater) April 6, 2015
Ok I’m already over the live strike zone. It’s distracting. Please get rid of it, @espn.
— Jeff Moore (@jeffmooreBP) April 6, 2015
Dear ESPN- Please take the freaking K zone off my tv screen. Anybody that has seen baseball knows the general strike zone.
— Nathan Pigg (@NathanPigg5) April 6, 2015
The strike zone image is going to be sponsored soon. In like five minutes. You’ve all been warned. This is a dark day.
— Michael Salfino (@MichaelSalfino) April 6, 2015
Instead of putting a video game strike zone overlay on there, ESPN should pipe in Doink the Clown’s music for the Cubs
— ihateprospects (@ihateprospects) April 6, 2015
This ESPN strike zone box is terrible. Do something off to the side. It’s not a video game.
— Common Man (@CommonManRadio) April 6, 2015
For the love of God please take down the virtual strike zone espn.
— Mike Homnick (@mikehomnick) April 6, 2015
Dear @Espn, take the stupid box out of the strikezone. Regards: The World #EspnSucks
— Brad Stiefvater (@bstiffy) April 6, 2015
@michael_schlact @espn I’ve been a baseball fan for almost 50 years. I know the darn strike zone. That things gotta go. #getridofKZone
— john b. sharp (@freehan11) April 6, 2015
Hey @espn, no one likes the strike zone on the screen. No one.
— Adam Ruehmer (@heydudeimadam) April 6, 2015
.@ESPN Is this strike zone box your version of the glowing puck? pic.twitter.com/w3W2d1CgcQ
— alex_is_bored (@catswithbats) April 6, 2015
I forgot how the bleachers at Wrigley wouldn’t be ready for opening day. Did they forget to turn on some of the lights too? Or is that just the feed?
Zum, that’s awesome. The World #espn sucks.
And another Doink reference on the Flap. I can still hear Vince McMahon yelling out his intro, “The evil clown, Doink.”
Guy I worked with for a long time loved wrestling and used to call anyone he didn’t like Doink.
Also “red” as in short for red headed step child.
Schilling is awful, but could evolve into less annoying than Hershiser was.
In most cases I call the new neighbors moving on the block “Dinks”which means:
Double Income
No Kids
Baseball bug has not hit me yet, but I did tune in the game briefly just to see “the box.” I actually down with it. I like seeing where the pitch ends up in relation to the strike zone. Who knows, maybe it will help the umps call a better game. I do think there is room for improvement in that aspect of the game.
Maybe they should just pitch against a wall with a box painted on it and eliminate catchers and umpires…
that Ivie grand slam was straight up late 70’s power. Even their high fives at home plate looked dominant……
I don’t know if any of you look at a real newspaper or just the Internet version. My neighbor gets the paper Chron and gives it to me. Over the last couple months they have a section called “Our San Francisco”. Today was Baseball in SF. Willie Mays on the cover holding the SF Chron Sporting Green from 1958. Headline was “Play Ball SF Giants vs. LA Dodgers”. It also has a pic of Candlestick in 1983. The depressing thing was the cost of a beer was $1.75! Inflation is such a bitch! Like the headlines said in 1958 PLAY BALL!!
Jon Lester got paid about $750,000 for his losing effort against the Cards tonight. How’s that for inflation?! 🙂
Tonight the Cards and Cubs honored the memory of Oscar Taveras. The PA announcer also offered condolences to the Taveras family. Once again the girl he murdered never existed. Edilia Arvelo deserves more than to be an anonymous victim of a grossly intoxicated young man. This is an ongoing outrage that should be addressed by the Cards and the commissioner. It has made the league commitment to not tolerate drinking and driving a total farce.
At least you mentioned her Mike – that counts for something. Appreciate it.
The patch is just wrong and it’s wrong for even the team- it only serves as a constant reminder of what happened and lets more and more people to see the truth of it. But a brief moment of silence to remember Oscar and Edilia and their families would have been appropriate.His teammates could honor his memory privately.
Thanks for your comment. Her name should be remembered and not just by the family who loved and lost her.
After a great Easter dinner with relatives, I came here to check the latest news and I hear about Lon.
I am distressed about this more than I can say.
To me, growing up, Lon WAS the Giants. He, more than the team, was the reason to listen to the broadcasts.
I will talk about this some other time, I am too shocked about it to think clearly.
It will take some time getting my thoughts together.
I am glad he was alive to see this recent Golden Age of the Giants.
RIP Lon Simmons…
I am hoisting a glass of good Sonoma pinot noir to the memory of Lon.
In between tears, here’s to you, Lon.
Thanks for ALL the memories.
Go Giants!…
Tom, your post is a wonderful tribute to him.
I see the Cards ended their 3-game losing streak tonight.