Colorado, Game 2
Not a huge surprise that we lost the opener. That sweep of the Art Dealers was emotional, probably took a little out of them. Plus, no day off.
Looks like a lot of rain in Colorado today.
De La Rosa was absolutely lit up in his first start of the season so maybe we get to him, through the raindrops.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
I predicted Maxwell would be the starter by May….does this series count????
Peter, contact me at blade3colorado@yahoo.com . . . Thanks!
Let me guess: you’ve got one of those turnstiles in the back of your truck and we have some logistics to discuss outside the blog before I take possession of that bad boy. Good thinking on your part–we’d bore everybody with those details. I will be in contact shortly.
lqtm
The other Peter (GiantHead) . . . The other email for him does not work anymore, i.e., he is either running from the law or he deactivated the one I have.
By the by, love the turnstile story. Hilarious.
I’ve done my best to milk as much entertainment out of those turnstiles as possible! I even went so far as to consider renaming myself “TurnstileDawg” when I signed up with WordPress. I’m gonna let it go now or I fear Flav is going to set it up where I get banned for life if the word “turnstile” shows up in any more of my posts.
Neil Young has a great song called “For The Turnstiles.” The last verse has a baseball reference, and its tone fits with the demise of a ballpark:
“All the bushleague batters
Are left to die on the diamond.
In the stands, the home crowd scatters
For the turnstiles,
For the turnstiles,
For the turnstiles.”
I’m diggin’ the music talk from the last couple of days.
Cool video of the Beat Farmers performing “Powderfinger” that was posted. Thanks!
Dave Alvin was mentioned; I finally saw him in concert a few years ago at a music festival. He was terrific.
Mojo Nixon was mentioned; what a character. His “Elvis Is Everywhere” is classic.
All the venues being mentioned is very cool. I don’t think I’ve ever been to any of them, although I’ve been to a lot of music venues. It’s always cool to hear about places people have heard music. It all reminds me of a quote I heard from Keith Richards. Someone in the media asked him if the Rolling Stones were the greatest rock and roll band of all time, and he said: “Any band on a given night is the greatest rock and roll band.” So true. And such a humble quote! One of my favorite shows of all time is seeing Chuck Prophet and his band at the Starry Plough in Berkeley. What a little dive of a place, but what a great show!
A few at the Starry Plough over the years: George Thorogood in 77 or 78, Mekons, Freedy Johnston, Vulgar Boatmen, Silos, Wadada Leo Smith/Henry Kaiser
For absolutely no particular reason: Beavis and Butt-head watching and commenting on Mojo Nixon’s “Elvis Is Everywhere” video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFTWUtKCJ00
This is a quote from Grant Brisbee about last night’s game, and it’s somewhat similar to a few things some Flappers said at the end of the last thread.
I like the joke about Doubleday at the end of it.
“There are Coors Field games where it seems like everyone’s playing on the moon, where the ball floats over the fence on check swings, and it never happens for the good guys. There are Coors Field games where the outfield seems six acres deep and the third base line and first base line meet at a 120º angle. This was one of the latter games. This is not how Abner Doubleday meant it to be when he came back from Vietnam and invented baseball.”
One of my favorite Mojo Nixon songs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rcyAF4lz04
Get the added bonus of Jello Biafra playing with him.
Saw him and the DKs play at the great american smoke out on the SF city hall steps in 78.
Mojo was ahead of the curve on the rise of the Americana/alt-country scene. I could see him being a performer at Hardly Strictly someday, and maybe he already has.
I know he hosts a radio show on satellite radio. I don’t know if he’s still performing.
He was doing regular weekly gigs in Austin when I last lived there eight years ago. I am not sure if he is still living there, but I know he plays every SXSW with a Mojo Nixon and friends gig at the Continental Club….The highlight of SXSW still is a show that Alejandro Escovedo holds every Sunday after the festival ends at the Continental. The last time I attended three years ago, he played with Peter Buck, Kevin Kinney (Drivin n Cryin), John Langford and several others that I can’t think of. It was the perfect ending to a hangover of music, booze, and bbq.
Saw Alejandro E. when he was playing rhythm guitar for Rank and File – love his solo on their awesome “Coyote” — formerly the Dils, who along with the Zeros, a band with AE’s relatives, were there at the start of the San Diego punk scene. They are all related to Pete & Sheila E, too, I believe.
Wow, I envy that, WJ- I’m a big Alejandro Escovedo fan (saw him perform at Bimbo’s a few years ago) and a colossally huge Peter Buck fan. I saw REM in concert probably about 20 times. And saw some of his side project performances: The Minus 5, and when he’s toured with Robyn Hitchcock occasionally.
Peter Buck hosts his own music festival now. It’s in Baja California, of all places, and would be a cool thing to go to someday. Possible Flapalooza?! Who’s up for Baja California?!!
I got my picture with AE at the fore mentioned show. He saw my Giants hat and congratulated me on the world series victory (this was after the first one). He is a super nice guy. He had some serious health issues a few years back, but is doing well now….There is a great picture of Doug Sahm wearing a Giants hat, hanging behind the bar at The Hole in the Wall in Austin. I have offered to buy it numerous times, with no such luck.
Here is AE at the Continental Club in Austin doing one of my personal favorite guitar solos.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pcOBegmvvQw
James: I remember The Crawdaddy’s and it feels like I saw them at some point, but I did not follow them closely.
Thanks for the reminder on the drummer being the guy who died on stage and for the novelty songs. At least back then, I didn’t care much for those goofy songs they did. Then I remember one time hearing what I thought was a real good song on the radio and being surprised when the DJ said it was by The Beat Farmers. Then someone explained to me that they mixed in the novelty songs with a lot of quality tunes.
Ironically, The Spring Valley Inn literally shares a wall with “Valley Farms Market,” where I can occasionally find fresh thresher shark for about $7 a pound–a fact that I believe caught your attention one time on the blog.
The next time we get together down here, we should go to the SVI for a couple and then grab some thresher shark next door for the grill. One thing though….if you ask for one of those top shelf bourbons you favor at The Springer, you’re going to get both of our asses kicked!
It’ll only get risky when I refuse the shitty cherry in the cheapo Manhattan. I am totally down with the grilled shark idea, even though I’m convinced they must be smuggling it in!
SD, I’m not absolutely certain about this, but the dude (Keith Obermann?) who use to anchor ESPN and then was a political gadfly analyst/host on MSNBC, is a big time baseball collector. When Yankee stadium was torn down, he purchased (or tried to purchase) one of the humongous letters from Yankees that was mounted on the front of the stadium. He has all sorts of memorabilia and apparently no where to store it. Weird hobby IMO. Wife must really love this shit. lqtm.
I think Reggie bought some of those letters as well. Apparently, they’re huge. Yeah, my experience has been that wives and baseball memorabilia don’t go together real well. I’ve mentioned this before, but I went through a stretch about 10 years ago when I was constantly buying vintage baseball gloves on EBay. The wife did not appreciate coming home and seeing another one of those UPS packs sitting on the front porch!
They feel the same way about video games.
And collecting knives.
Olberman’s never been married. Last I heard, he had a 20-something GF, though…
We might have to hold a flapalooza that revolves around music, with all the great musical minds on this board.
Have you noticed I don’t say shit about music. I love music, but I would fail miserably at “Name That Tune.” Ironically, Up until my late 20s, going to concerts and clubs was something like a weekly/monthly thing . . . Then I quit drugs, drinking alcohol and got married. 🙂
Great idea, WJ!
The Astros made a great trade when they sent Dexter Fowler to the Cubs for 3b Luis Valbuena. I had never heard of the guy prior to this year, but man has he been impressive. He has power to both sides and plays a very good third base.
Wilco–I know you are probably on the verge of getting banned yourself if you mention StubHub again, but have you ever had it happen where you click on a section of the stadium map and it says that x tickets are available for $x, but then when you select that section to make the purchase, it lists less available seats and for much higher prices? Maybe I’m doing something wrong, but it happens to me a lot. I thought it had something to do with what I listed under quantity, but now I don’t think it does.
Great idea on the musical get-together.
Yeah, we could have done that last year when Paul-in-Asia was in town. It’s a bummer we didn’t meet up with him. It was during the middle of that awful two-month stretch last year when the Giants were just SUCKING so bad, and the Flap was a pretty depressed place. No energy for a Flapalooza.
I have had that happen, usually when you see a really good deal. They will get bought by quicker fingers.
He killed the Mariners this past week. Hit a couple of long home runs and was a general pain in the ass for Seattle.
For Alejandro and Cowpunk fans, one of the great live bands of my youth:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY_GtXwB4Ec
Great stuff; thanks!
And I’m still marveling at the concept of George Thorogood blasting the walls of the Starry Plough. 🙂
Shamefully, I sold my copy of his Rounder debut when he became a classic rock figure, and I realized he couldn’t sing 🙂
Ok, a token baseball comment and prediction: the run production will get better over the year (safe to say) and the pitching won’t (bold as hell, yeah!).
I caught the last part of the Astros’ extra-inning win over the A’s last night. I rather enjoyed that. Perhaps more than I should. But still.
Yeah my second crazy prediction for 2015 was that the Astros would finish with a better record than the Giants. Their pitching staff is the real deal. If they can find guys (besides Altuve) to get on base for their big bats they could be a legit threat. It will be interesting to see if ownership makes any big deals at the trade deadline if they are still contention, which I brelieve they will be.
I don’t understand this incessant NFL draft talk on the sports talk radio. To me it is just incredibly boring. All these dudes pontificating about which player will go where, which college player(s) are ready to play immediately, which ones will be prone to be busts, etc. Winston, Mariota, Cooper, blah blah blah from every TomDick&Harry with some kind of draft website. I’m tuning it out now, amazingly repetitive. Historically, none of these draft pickers comes close to being right on many of their prognostications. It’s just BS, a load of repetitive content for ESPN etc., is all it is. Once the selections are made, OK, I’ll see who the Niners and to a much lesser extent, who the Raiders picked. Does Vegas have prop bets on which players will go where? There must be some kind of gambling involved here on these picks, otherwise the blather about it is like hearing paint dry…
While watching the A’s-Astros game last night, the annoucers mentioned taking BART from the city to the coliseum. They even mentioned a couple players that were also on the train. I knew that visiting teams to Oakland stayed in the city but I was surprised to hear that that they BART’ed it to the ballpark. Of course I guess that’s easier than dealing with commute traffic at that hour.
Yeah, I believe every visiting team to Oakland stays at an SF hotel. Not exactly an Oaktown Chamber of Commerce PR item. What, the Oakland Airport Holiday Inn isn’t good enough?…
I vaguely remember that in humbler times, visiting teams did stay at the one slightly higher end looking place on Hegenberger, The Park Plaza, which is a Red Lion now. Pretty embarrassing for the As, too . . . .
Could be that some of the players might still be visiting Hegenberger hotels — for visits of an hour or so…
Zobrist of the A’s is out for a month with surgery on a meniscus tear. We’re not the only squad with injuries. Now, if the Gyros had Zobrist at third instead of McGuffin, that would have been nice…
blade — thought of you a few minutes back. Horrendous 7.8 earthquake in Katmandu, where you visited for a while and posted on your travel blog. 1500+ killed, city in shambles, temples and other historic buildings damaged or destroyed. Many climbers killed on Everest due to quake-induced avalanches…
7.8! that’s HUGE. that’s 8 TIMES as bad as the ’89 quake. I have to wonder if everest is higher now or lower.
Yeah, this is the “climbing season” for Mt. Everest. There’s a few weeks in late April and early May when the weather is OK enough for climbers. And even then, bad storms can roll in unexpectedly, like the one that brought the tragedy in ’96, depicted in Krakouer’s terrific book “Into Thin Air,” and the well-done I-Max “Everest” film. I wonder whatever happened to Beck Weathers….
According to Wikipedia:
“Weathers was later helped to walk on frozen feet to a lower camp, where he was a subject of one of the highest altitude medical evacuations ever performed by helicopter. Following his helicopter evacuation from the Western Cwm, he had his right arm amputated halfway between the elbow and wrist. All four fingers and the thumb on his left hand were removed, as well as parts of both feet. His nose was amputated and reconstructed with tissue from his ear and forehead.
Weathers authored a book about his experience, Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest, which was first published in 2000. He continues to practice medicine and deliver motivational speeches. He lives in Dallas, Texas.
You’re shitting me. Just got home and saw your message (know about this).
A little late on the Mojo talk, but now I might have to break out my Mojo Nixon-Skid Roper CD that kicks off with “Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant With My Two-Headed Love Child.” Saw Mojo somewhere on the Rutgers campus, man, 20-25 years ago? Fun show.
“It’s a bigfoot baby all covered with fur.”
That’s gold!
And this is for SanDawg: http://tinyurl.com/mdtxy94
Anybody remember Bill “Earthquake” Enyart?
BuzzSaw’s big bro?
Man, I just saw Durbur Square, where centuries old temples, stupas, palaces, and wats are located there. Severely damaged. Heart breaking . . . Especially so because the government will be slow to respond (actually financially incapable of putting the equipment, trained people in place) to conduct rescue operations and assist displaced people.
Very sad news.
The geology is so intense there. Some gigantic tectonic plates are shoving against each other right at the Himalayas. Mount Everest grows a fraction of an inch every year, even without an earthquake.
Puig pulled a hammy last night and may be out for a few games. Peralta, who had taken over closer duties after Hatcher cratered, is being quoted as saying he has the so-called “dead arm” syndrome. The Dodgers, of course, had late-inning relief issues vs. the Giants.
Puig has become our favorite Dodger here.
For real.
SanDog is going to the Dodger/Pad game today? He wanted to see Puig play. I can see that point. When you’re actually at the game, you want to see all the stars play.
Zummie’s Gifs of Puke have made me start to like him.
I remember Haystacks Calhoun . . .
I was curious how Sandoval would do today against Chen, a lefthander. Sandoval 0 for 2 so far, and 0 for 15 on the season against lefthanders so far.
He’s been totally underwhelming in Boston so far. But still, even considering the overpay for Panda, I’d take him over McDeePee all day long……
Buzzkill with a double! He now has more hits (8) than DPs (7)!
whatever. He could hit 5 doubles tonight. He’s all about the *double* right? If he doesn’t stop hitting into DP’s at a record breaking clip we have no use for him. Japan might. Not us.
Wainwright hurt himself batting today. Maybe the one downside of having no DH in the NL. But I still don’t want the DH in the NL. What MadBum did last year with the bat was extremely cool.
Weird way to reward Belt for his breakout game going 3 for three plus a walk. Yeah, i know this matchup crap, right-left dodah, dodah. Seems like he had got his timing down and was getting his stroke with his firxt xbh. Then he rides pine tonight. Yeah, i know BB15 is HOF bound, but sometimes i think he overmanages, particularly in setting his lineups.
I’m basically with you on this, Stix, although Bochy will probably sit Buster tomorrow, giving him 2 days of “rest.” And Susac does look like a legit hitter. OTOH, it sounds like they’ll all be doing a lot of resting tomorrow . . . .
Fuck rewarding Belt. He’s a vet, he just got his first freaking x-tra base hit of the year. That’s his reward to himself. He needs to stop sucking. Versus a lefty, sit his ass.
Jeeze Flav, you been eating dill pickles all day?
no I’m in a beyond awesome mood. I just get tired of all the Belt apologists (and they are everywhere) making excuses for him. He’s not some wet behind the ears rook. Fucking step up and be a pro, act like one, and sit when the manager sits you. If you don’t suck you won’t sit. And he has sucked this year, no question about it. That’s how I feel. Still in a fab mood even this comment post. 🙂
I’d love to see a replay showing whether Aoki was sprinting all the way to firstbase on that. He sometimes doesn’t go full speed on routine grounders. Pence would have made that a very close play. And somehow Aoki was out by 4 steps.
Man, it seems like the Rockies have been a thorn in the Giants’ side since their inception.
I loathe the Rockes IF FOR NO OTHER REASON THAN they did not win one game when we needed them to in 1993.
Dodgers and Pads, 3-3 in the first inning. Pretty lively.
Looks like another thrash tho, 8-3 now.
And Mattingly moving Greinke did pay off as he shut out Pads thru 7 in 2-0 W last night.
Susac!!
Greetings and felicitations from Petco! Yep, no Puig tonight, but a wacky scoring fest has broken out. Highlights have been Upton going opposite field and lots of hot latinas in the house strutting around with tall Modelos.
Going out on a limb here: I think the Dubs are gonna sweep.
MaxWow!
Stay Hot Justin Maxwell!!!
Another Bomb after a stupid replay review trying to overturn it ,which it clearly showed, it over the yellow line.
My boy Maxwell! Silver Hammer in the House. Good to the last drop. Former Syracuse Chief.
39 more for Steph, including a J with Davis trying to guard him,, and Dubs sweep Pelicans into gone fishing time.
Go, Double U’s! [cue bandwagon theme]
Don’t snicker at this (or is it snigger?), but why doesn’t baseball scoring credit Posey with a sacrifice for doing what he did: moved Pagan to 3rd with a flyout to center? Why do you get SAC credit when it’s a bunt out but not a well hit out? Explain that.
because you are *sacrificing* your at bat with the bunt.
but you are with the deep fly too; since when should intention be the arbiter? the ball just went farther; that’s the only difference
no, in the case on the bunt you are doing it on purpose, thus the label of *sacrifice*. If you are swinging away you’re trying to hit, the ball didn’t just *go farther*. You didn’t give yourself up.
if you say so; I get your point; but at least concede half of my point: there should be a stat for what I am describing; probably there is…
I concede completely. There should be a stat for that
if a runner scores on your fly out it’s a sacrifice fly. If a runner advances on your bunt out, it’s a sacrifice bunt. The rules acknowledge the scales of the plays. Makes sense.
Yeah it is kinda weird how they do it Pawlie..
My take, I guess,is because a bunt with a guy on 1st, the batter is sacrificeing his AB to get the runner in scoring position at 2nd thus creating a scoring opportunity.
The same goes for a fly ball out with a guy on 3rd with 1 out, rewarding the batter for knocking him in with a ball hit deep enough to the OF.
Now as far as Posey are anyone, advancing a runner to 3rd via 2 ways fly ball or grounder with 1 out, I believe baseball rules figure the player is already in scoring position so know need to give them a sacrifice, even though every team knows you did your job,which they call a productive out.
well put…so, Fangraphs, or someone, surely has stats on *productive outs* somewhere somehow.
productive out and quality start are wonderful neoteric stats. he leads the league in productive outs, although his OPS is .000. Etc.
Posey at 1b is going to be interesting.
last year the OPS was 1.000 for a while at 1b…wonder about this year so far?
Susac just has so much more going on than Hector he has to be in LU more often than just Lincecum start.
Zum, didn’t see it because no camera angle, but surprised Aoki couldn’t make it to 2b on the ball Duffy hit up the middle either; that one could have broken game open. This guy’s game just doesn’t pass eye test for me.
Another brutal strike 3 call by the ump. Pitch was just above Maxwell House ankle. Pagan on 3rd 1 out and gets stranded. Freakin Hirshback with his notorious short fuse staring at the bench/Maxwell, Which I say Fuck him ,and you should be accountable by the league evaluation committee for sub standard umpiring Dickhead!!
I love that San Diggity is rattling around Petco right now. Send me some pics of the babes wearing the Whitson jerseys ok? This time with them holding the jersey crumpled up in their left hand. lqtm
or right hand. who care. lltm.
lusting loudly to myself
lol. Ed Whitson in the house. Nice blast from the past, Flav.
Well, let’s just pause for a moment to be grateful that our team is not the Milwaukee Brewers.
Dubs. Sweep. Dominant Beast.
We need a report from SD. Dodgers’ lead is shrinking, like …..
Not viewing actual game; seems like good work from Sergio. I like that name. I think I wanna go to Italy and call myself Sergio. Maybe Carlo. Or Jep.
Is it me, or is ESPN putting accent marks on Spanish names for the first time this year (like the second a in Pagan)?
Pads may pull this thing out yet. A bit of weather passing through us tenderfoots arent used to, but we’re hanging in.
Nail biting time in Coors. Now that’s a rarity.
No chance for Duffy to turn two on that, IMO. The ball was too slowly hit. He still should have flipped to Craw anyway and give it a try, but very doubtful the throw to first would have gotten Stubbs.
I blame that DP on Casilla.
Now as far as Casilla Pawlie,
That is called “A Blown Save””!!!!
Not always agree with Bochy’s percentages,though their usually good. But Affeldt got the 1st out in the 9th, let him continue until someone gets on.
no kiddin
McDeePee doing what he does best.
Btw Unca, most fitting nickname.
ugh
sunny f-ing beach.
Susac the kid with 100 ABs in his career, works the count and takes a walk, and Mac swings at the first pitch for another GIDP.
That’s just not smart baseball.
Kept trying to vibe McGDP “go the other way” “dink a single to the opposite field.” Had to leave the Yahoo feed when he was up, though, and switch to my mail. BB15 will need that big skull to handle the flak he will get on this one.
There’s nothing down that thirdbase line for Buzzkill. The 3b really hug the line against him. And why is he pulling the ball so much now, like Rowand? McG’s game was supposedly hitting the ball to the middle of the field.
Belt’s ahead in the count there, no reason to swing at the pitch designed to have him hit into the shift.
Weiss does that a lot, even with Blanco, who did the same thing–hit an inside pitch right into the shift.
It’s a hardly believable stat; he has 9 hits, and 8 GIDPs.
Speaking of the shift, Tulo just hit a hard grounder right into the shift. Nice job from Machi.
Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaafe!
That was a funky-looking bunt, but it got the job done. 🙂
Nice read by Aoki, great slide to the outside of the plate!
And Panik heads up bunt play, which he will get a sacrifice and RBI on , which will make Pawlie& I very happy!!
Interesting roster decision coming down the road. The guy on the bubble would appear to be Ishi, but it sounds like his back is going to take longer anyway, so it may just all be moot. He may get more time in Sac than in SF this season.
I don’t see a spot for Ishi…
I love bunts that produce go ahead runs…
Best part of that inning, “McAutomatic2” wasn’t involved in it!!
Meanwhile, this McGuffin dude is killin’ the Giants at the plate. DL this dude, stat…
Day one and two at the Fest. Two women in Giants hats, seven guys. One with a Gold lettered hat, one with a cap and a gold lettered jersey and one guy that I didn’t get to talk with, had the hat and a World Champion backpack. Total Dodger caps, two, both guys.
So we got that going for us.
Giants Nation!
Can the Giants get a 1-2-3 inning for once, seriously? Sheezus…
Duffy starts the DP, gets it done!…
Wow, what a huge DP!
Yes! A win at Coors, nice job…
Ballgame!!
The Giants beat the Rockies! The Giants beat the Rockies!
Gints, 1 of 13 with RISP tonight. Sheezus…
I would take Duvall over McGuffin right now, hands down…
Another grinder,but what the hell.Still a W..Played hard throughout. Nice job by the pitchers tonight as well, No Walks!!thats awesome in Colorado to do..
Warriors win, Giants win. I’m good with that.