There is A LOT Going on Today
The Giants open up a series in Atlanta in a couple of hours and thankfully their game will long be over when the “bigger” games get started in the Bay Area later this evening. At 5pm the Sharks kick off Game 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs. While I won’t be watching it, I recognize how cool that is for hockey fans around here. One hour later and 37 miles to the north, Our Beloved Dubs fire up Game 7 of the WCF. Uh, yeah I’ll be watching that one.
Honestly gonna have some trouble gearing up for the Giants game at 10am. I can’t watch sports all day lol. I’m watching the morning local news and they just announced that the Sharks were “huge favorites” to win the Stanley Cup. I’m not going to look that up but that’s incorrect right? Would it be that hard for KTVU to look up the odds before fake-reporting it?
Anyway, whatever you do to honor and enjoy Memorial Day I hope you do it well. Two Flaps up to all those who died serving and protecting our country and our way of life……..
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Great post, BF; people can also fit in the Dodgers/Cubs game at 2:00 Pacific Time, if they want to. It’s on the cable TV network WGN.
thinking that Hammel handles them today. Finished last night in extras then a quick turnaround today in Chicago. Typically I only watch Dodgers games if I have nothing else to do so I’m unlikely today.
also just read the Giants didn’t arrive till 1am so with this quick turn around plus the climate change I’m betting our bats are pretty silent today even against this below average pitcher.
on a side note, this might be the wildest last-name battle in the history of baseball. I can’t spell either of these dudes last names without cutting and pasting.
SamardzijaFoltynewicz
That just looks like nonsense right?
Together, the names sound like a Russian women’s tennis player.
Would make perfect sense in Warsaw. When i first encountered the name Zbigniew Brzezinski, though, i thought a monkey had gotten loose on a typewriter.
Loo might be able to explain it, but apparently Rule No. 1 when watching the Penguins: You’ll quickly learn to hate Sidney Crosby.
Giants are MLB.tv free game today.
Having a team fly halfway across the country, lose two hours of time, get in town in the middle of the night, and then play an early game is flat ridiculous…
yeah, this wasn’t too hard to see coming, even against a shitty team like the Braves.
Bible Belt!
Mallex Smith, seriously?
Bumble Belt.
I expected the bats to be silent. A little disappointed in Smarge that he chose to stay with the team and go charter flight rather than take a commercial flight to get in earlier. To me, that’s a little irresponsible on his part.
Smarge was given the option of flying in early and he declined. Bad decision.
BF was ahead of me on that.
Why was he even given that option? Friggin fly ahead and be rested and ready to go. Stupid management move. Tell him to get his ass early to Atlanta, and that’s that…
Yeah, I don’t get that either.
because he can skip TSA if he flies charter. He doesn’t have to deal with his bags. All the food and booze he can drink. I agree, he shouldn’t be given the option but the Giants treat these guys like grown men and if he doesn’t want to fly with the Plebeians I suppose that’s his right…..
I would treat them as grown men and tell them to get their ass onto a plane in first class (of course) and get to Atlanta. He can deal with a line in the Denver airport. Or fly his ass on a Lear for $15K or whatever; why else should we pay $12 for a beer if not put him on a private plane? He’s making $500K per start, so WTF would you not spend a little more on that cost per start and send him early?…
I would do the same thing too. It’s just not how the Giants handle this shit. They don’t make their pitchers go ahead in situations like this. I actually don’t know if any team does. Did Alex Wood fly ahead for his start in Chicago today? For his sake, I hope he did….
I’ve heard in past situations where Giants pitchers fly ahead, so I dunno why this would be any different. Especially given the short time turnaround, which is insane scheduling by MLB. The Giants management should take some shit for this, but I’d be surprised if the beat writers give them any…
If Samardj flew out there ahead as is usual, he’s got no excuse for getting raked over by the fucking awful Braves.
Ha, just saw Flav/Zum posts about Smardj. That’s not too smart.
These dudes are 4-21 at home.
The strike zone has not been “tight.” Both pitchers have gotten a few bogus outside strikes, on left handed batters as usual. Most of those outside pitches Smarge wants are not even close.
The hits that started the 3 run inning were both off of well located inside pitches, FWIW. The Beckham single was on a pitch at the knees. The Braves have been so shitty for so long this season, it’s inevitable that they will start winning a few at home.
and the bottom line is, if you could avoid having to come in late for a game basically the next morning you do it. Every time. Especially if you’re the starting fucking pitcher. Quite irritated at Smarge right now. That’s putting comfort and shit-talking with you teammates over the priority of being ready for your start. He only gets 30 or so, he can party the other 335 days a year….
A Stratton sighting.
Giants might’ve had a better chance if they had brought in the Augusta GreenJackets,
93 on a fastball.
2 Ks, nice debut.
Wouldn’t this be sweet.
Understandable the Giants are having activity at the plate. They’re just waking up…
Why not PRun for Posey? A double gets the guy on first home. Screw the lack of a third catcher…
Never mind. These kind of losses under the circumstances seem almost pre-ordained for the Giants…
Kruk on the post game giving all the credit to Folty. No surprise there.
At least I can enjoy Memorial day lip-smacking on the Wrap from Kuip…
Ah well
OK, Giants gave a gift win, so time to take 3 in a row from this BS team. Stratton looked like he actually had a shot at going through their LU a couple of times. Anybody betting that Peavy will shut these dudes down tomorrow?…
I agree about Stratton. His stuff looked good today.
Sorry, but I have no faith in Peavy. I hope does well, but he’s such a crapshoot.
So 2 out of 4? .500 on the road works for me
Unfortunately, that may be the best we can hope for. Pretty likely to win game 4 and it’s a crapshoot on either #2 or 3.
Hey Zum, I have another name to add to your “Joyless Player” list that includes Utley and Gillaspie……Joey Votto would fit in very nicely. I watch the Reds a fair amount (I like their announcers)and his act bugs me. Great player, intense dude, but c’mon, have some fun out there from time to time.
Yeah, it bugs me when players can’t share a smile with teammates. It seems dooosh-baggy to me.
Utley hit a grand slam, no smile for his teammates, and 15 seconds after arriving in the dugout he’s sitting by himself, with a blank stare on his face. Weird.
Duvall just hit his 10th bomb this month, which is the most in the majors.
Just sayin’…
I wish Duffy had 10 bombs…
Fleming is doing the A’s game on ESPN. An odd situation.
they can keep him.
How much coin does Fleming make doing these ESPN gigs? $10k a game; $20K? I have no friggin clue. So, now he flies X-country to do the last 3 games in Atlanta? It must be worth it…
Stratton would have one of the lowest pressure first start situations you can imagine. A dogmeat oppo with not many of the oppo’s fans in the stands. Yet, they’ll let Suarez take it, when he’s supposed to the long guy…
listening to KNBR today, a caller reminded me of Ashkon and I watched all 3 of his videos when I got home. All 3, so epic.
The 2010 is my favorite. And my favorite WS win season.
The other two were fantastic, but the “misfits” that season, something really special with that crew that won for the first time in SF history. Ashkon’s replica of Will the Thrill’s swing is right on the money…
Duvall now with # 11 this month. Amazing!
Yeah, watching the same game SD . . . Sherpas are deflated after giving up the 5-1 lead; and especially, having a chance to come back – with no outs, runners at 2nd and 3rd, then face planting for 3 consecutive outs. This game is very similar to the “Posey” game on Saturday for the Rocks. Pfffttt.
By the by, you’re right about Votto . . . he struck out in the 1st and he had been slumping, so I thought he had good reason to have the sad sack face. However, since that inning, a bomb and a double, but still the hang dog look.
Post Script . . .
Sherps mounted another comeback in the 9th, but to no avail. Final score? Typical Coors Field special, 11-8 loss.
Did u see when he homered and was barking at Cargo while rounding the bases for acting like he had a play on the ball? Such a tool, though he did yuck it up A LIITLE in the post game handshake line. (It’s like the camera guy KNEW I had been ripping him as they stayed focused on him the whole time)
Rocks are fun to watch. I like Story and DJ up the middle.
No, I didn’t catch that exchange . . . But yeah, he seemed to be happier when doing the handshake line.
Yeah, Story has the inside track on ROY and in my opinion, DJ is the best defensive 2nd baseman in MLB. Also, he is one of the only Colorado players that does not have obscene home/away offensive splits (he’s fairly consistent offensively on the road too).
I mean, it’s not like he put in the 3rd deck ( like Barry did the one game I attended at Coors). It was about 5 rows up and he was all butthurt that Cargo was ready to play a carom off the wall.
Wow! Rockies announcers didn’t mention that (or at least I don’t recall them doing that). Like I said, I missed it, but I see a lot of players doing what Cargo did (and sometimes it works). Not once do I recall a player getting bent out of shape about it. The Denver Post is fairly observant about minutia like this (they made a big thing of the Parra and Cueto thing yesterday), so I want to see what they say about it. lulz
I thought Chi, Eric or Chuck had been to Coors. I didn’t know you had been there? What did you think? Beautiful park IMO, but falling short of the phone park. I posted about it yesterday. Question – did you find the experience similar to the San Diego games, where there are quite a large contingent of Giants fans? I’ve lived here since 1997 and it’s always been that way. I think mostly because Denver is a melting pot of people from Texas, California, Chicago, and East Coast (Yankee and Boston). Just a guess, but it seems like Chicago Cubs fans lord over the place the most when the Cubs are in town, then West Coast next (Giants and Dodgers).
I was there in ’98 vs. Giants, first game after Rockies had hosted the All-Star Game. Rockies won something like 7-0, I think Estes started.
What did you think of the stadium Mac? Area?
Cubs one-hit the Dodgers, win 2-0.
The Dodgers get to face Arrieta tomorrow.
And the Cubs dodge Ker-fax…
I still laugh when I think about the exchange a couple of flappers had on here one time about Koufax and Kershaw. One guy was saying that you can’t compare Kershaw to Koufax, and the other guy said yes you are right, Kershaw’s numbers are much better.
I remember, as a kid watching Koufax pitch on the Game of the Week from the Latrine. That curve ball, well, Kershaw’s is damn good. And. I could be blithely pumping up the old days. But, if there’s been a better curve ball than Koufax’ drop, then I must have missed seeing it…
So they can spend millions on their awful camo-crap hats and unis pretending that they care about vets but they can’t spend $100 bucks on a lousy patch for the great Jim Ray Hart. They should be ashamed…
if you find me Larry Baer’s email addy I will send him this comment.
Oh boy…here we go again!
Did we ever figure out if JRH has a plaque? He should, and I bet he does, seeing as the qualifications to get a plaque seem to be that you had a pulse and wore a Giants uni for about 3 years or so.
He does have a plaque, FYI. I just looked it up.
Yes, he has a plaque and now that he’s dead he should get the patch that he deserves at least as much as Davenport who never had a year remotely close to Hart when he was healthy. And Monte Irvin was never even a San Francisco Giant…
http://tinyurl.com/j86mmj3
So, we have some dumbass block party starting tonight at 5:30. Guess who’s NOT gonna be at that? Block parties are the worst anyway. To kill some time before 6pm I’m going to try to watch hockey for an hour. My goal is to make it through 10 minutes and then see where it goes from there.
We’ve got a block party going’ right now outside on the street. I’ve been shuttling in and out of the house. Pot luck with tri tip, burgers/dogs, sausages, chicken, ribs, tons of salads, margaritas, nachos, sno cones, a super wet slide jumpy house for the kids. Neighbor down the block brought a keg of Racer 5. He upgraded from Kona Longboard last year. The neighborhood’s been doing this for about a decade. It’s not bad…
that sounds like fun. I just don’t interact with my neighbors enough to make it fun. It would be totally forced small talk and I’d rather blow my brains out than do that with the Warrior game starting at 6.
Well, I’m grabbing at least one more Racer 5 cup, then it’s Dubs time. I may hit the brew pub for that…
I bet that party is crawling with hot LA Hills LaCrosse Mom’s. Is it not???
East Bay soccer moms pretty much; there may be a few LA visitors…
LA = Los Altos. WORK with me, Snarkk.
Fun Fact: I have a helluva time spelling Snarkk. I always want go with 2 r’s.
My neighbor’s wife has a soccer mom type GF that comes up from the LA area all the time. As in SoCal. I doubt if Los Altos hottie moms would be caught dead here in the Tri Valley, unless Blackhawk or Ruby Hill…
i have that same problem with Zummie. I mean Zumiee.
I’m gonna go take the dog for a run, which means I’ll hop on my dirt bike and and ride through the countryside next to my place while he chases me. No block parties where I live out in the sticks, but some nice open spaces, which ain’t bad.
I really want the Dubs to win this damn game. Whoever wins this one will go on to beat the Cavs in 6. It would be so cool to have the Dubs beat the Cavs again, this time with “all” the Cavs healthy, including their appointed goon Delavadova from Saint Mary’s…
Back home: Syr-NY-NJ-Phil-Syr.
Why does it feel manly driving a 10-foot U-Haul although it involves no muscle or masculine traits whatsoever? Thank God! I did not crash with that car in the blind spot in Binghamton.
G’night, girls.
May OKC play like that national anthem performance.
My encounters with HS soccer or lax moms were fairly dismal; did better flirting with the coaches.
I like it Pawlie. At least you went down swinging.
Jake Peavy just tweeted up the Dubs.
Blade: my game at Coors was around 15 years ago, but I remember it well. Loved the park. I remember it was hot as hell that day. Very few Giants fans in attendance. When Barry put that one in the third deck, I thought there would be a fair amount of applause just because he was a superstar and it was an awesome homerun but it was amazingly quiet. I remember at the time being impressed by the home fan loyalty and thinking it was so different than going to a game in San Diego. Maybe things have changed since, but that is how it was back then. Giants got theirs asses kicked that day. Mike Myers came in and they played the Halloween theme. Good stuff. My son Trevor’s first big league game, and now he’s 18.
…of course this was before the Giants won three ring and became Red Sox west when it comes to bandwagon fans.
Yeah, much different now. I think fan fatigue has set in. What I mean is that Colorado doesn’t like losers. Broncos, Avalanche and (to a lesser extent) Nuggets have all experienced sustained winning seasons. Moreover, the fans aren’t stupid – they know ownership is cheap and won’t spend money the way the Broncos, Avalanche and Nuggets do to win. Go to the Denver Post any day of the week and at most, you will see 20-25 comments about the Rockies. SF Gate and SJ Mercury usually have a couple of hundred (if I recall correctly).
Oh, one other thing – I learned quick that once you move here (late 1997 for me), you change your license plates quick. Long time residents hate transplants, especially from Texas, then comes California (God forbid you have a Raiders emblem on your vehicle. Ha).
Why? A lot of reasons, but mostly because the cost of living has gone up. They call us “Equity Refugees,” i.e., bringing in all the money we made off of selling our houses/property in California and buying here. lulz.
Come to Brooklyn. Every piece of shit that walks the Earth is welcome.
In July, I am. We’ll see how welcoming the Bronx is.
You know I didn’t mean you, Blade…
Loo, I took it the way it was meant (humorous) . . . Your stuff always has me rolling on the floor. 🙂
Westbrook and Durant seem to never go out of the game. Maybe 4th quarter fatigue again.
Yeah, I mentioned this at the end of the last thread. I don’t think they choked as much in the last game, as much as they were just exhausted. They’ve both averaged over 42 minutes (maybe more) a game.
Steve, I also was at Coors back in ’95 (my last year in Boston, I was sort of “dating” a girl who worked in my company’s Denver office). Liked the park a lot, and of course was somewhat amazed at how the city had transformed that Lower Downtown part, as the only development around there when I had lived in Denver in the late ’70s/early ’80s was Larimer Square…
Good point. Yeah, that was the bad part of town back then. Now, it has been gentrified and even if you don’t like baseball, LODO is the place to be for having a good time. Similar to SD’s Gas Lamp district.
A friend of mine bought a 1 bedroom penthouse condo, with an elevator that opened up to his unit (not the hallway) for $100k in 2000. It had views of Coors, including right field, mountains, and city skyline (three balconies). Place sold for over $1.3 million 4 years ago. Not much compared to the bay area, but for here, that’s a lot.
Klay keepin’ the Dubs in this one…
Dubs down by 6 at half; they should feel lucky. Played like crap…
Strong finish to the half.
What a stupid, convoluted analysis from the guy next to Barkley…
Nobody gives better incredulous looks on their face than Iguodala.
Well, he got hammered and no call; these refs are terrible…
Dubs basically have to get mugged to get a foul call…
Put a fork in the Thunder. I’ll be shocked if the Warriors lose this game.
Westbrook blows that lay up and Speights manages something even more preposterous.
That wasn’t in response to your comment, Blade 🙂
lol. I know. 🙂
Mo is either hot or cold as crap and a turnover machine…
jesus f**** christ, Green!!!!
Curry!!!
Oracle must be going nutZ…
Draymond Fing up…
Curry!!!! Insane!!!
Green will age you before your time. Hands of stone.
I have no idea how the Warriors won this series. Unbelievable. Bring on the Cavs.
This will kill fucking Barkley. Just kill him, after his big proclamation the other day that the Thunder would not only win the series but were better than the W’s
I’m waiting for the defiant Cavs over W’s prediction.
Dubs back to the finals! Gotta love this squad. What guts, what balls. Awesome…
They should make Barkley present the trophy.
LOL!
It’s cool how Barry is in the background listening intently while Steph is being interviewed. He follows the team closely and will always be the star of that great ’75 team that pulled a rabbit out of its hat and stunned the NBA by winning the title over the heavily favored Bullets.
For a basketball-crazy kid, it was the ultimate high watching my favorite team have that magical season. The first title any of my favorite teams ever won.
Maybe it’s being talked about elsewhere and it’s already a commonplace, but the obvious never seems to be acknowledged by the talking heads: OKC is not a “more talented” team, simply because they can’t shoot as well as the W’s. It is totally fucking awesome to see the W’s excellent long range gunning continue to redefine winning basketball.
100% true. Look at shooting pcts of their Big 2, at home in games 5 and 6.
Durant in game 1 was 10-30 too.
3 pt difference just laughable.
I did not understand the OKC lack of continued fouling when they got back close after Ibaka fouled Steph on that 3. It looked like they just gave up, or waited for the ball to go to somebody other than Steph. Weird. BTW, that was a monumentally stoopid foul by Ibaka, and it WAS a foul…
I almost felt sorry for Ibaka on that.
Congrats to the Warriors; awesome comeback in the series.
Romo could be back later in the week. He was missed.
A player whose accomplishments may be appreciated more once he retires. A good chance he hangs them up after a very nice 10-year career solely with SF.
I think you said he is the greatest reliever in Giant history and you were right…
I somehow forgot about the As stint, but I was happy to see that in the B-Ref “similarity scores,” Romo compares most closely to Bob Locker, another uncommonly consistent reliever.
Locker relieved Tommy John in the first game I ever attended.
We were both rookies…
Not sure why Donovan took Adams out and tried to match small LUs with Golden State. Roberson and Waiters?
In the famous words of Rocket J Squirrel, “But that trick never works.”
It won’t work for LeCoach either if his team tries to match 3s with Warriors.’
Yeah Green in one stretch dropped a sure layup off nice pass from Curry, blew uncontested layup off behind back pass from Livingston, then dropped ball and fell on the floor and almost lost another one.
Then he nails a 3 and grabs tough boards. Drives you crazy but seems to come out on top, which I’m sure only adds heat to the haters.
Warriors right now are just a better/deeper team, with different guys that step up at different times. Even Varejao had great couple minute stretch, takes a charge great pass for corner 3 from Barnes and then finishes a drive himself. Kerr trusts him, gives him a shot and he comes through.
That dribble around the court and dagger 3 play from Curry tho was flat awesome.
OK Braves got one, now back to reality. I don’t buy the fatigue factor either; Giants were coming off team high after rolling the Rocks a couple times and blasting 33 hits in 2 games and had one of the aces going. Should have beaten Braves on adrenaline (or drug of choice) alone.
I was thinking after Curry did the fun around/dagger play that he must’ve driven the other kids nuts at every level he played with moves like that. The energizer bunny who can shoot 37 foot jimmy’s. Amazing.
Zum, I’m stoked Romo is coming back too. That 7th & 8th inning reliever slot is in desperate need of an upgrade and I think Romo will provide that. He’s a crafty vet who knows how to get guys out under pressure. Looking forward to his return.
Charles Barkley looked flat out disappointed during the post game show. I just know it’s eating him up inside. Kenny Smith had to jab him in the fucking ribs to get him to admit HE’S PICKING THE CAVS TO WIN IT ALL. What a goddamn shocker!
Fuck you Barkley. GO WARRIORS!