Bling Bling at 4th and King
Opening Day day! The 18th time AT&T has hosted this great event. I’ve been to a couple at AT&T but nothing beat an opening day at Candlestick. The majesty and sun bathed brilliance of a stacked ‘Stick on opening day was almost overwhelming to a young Giants fan just beginning his journey in the orange and black. They would try to *gussy up* the yard with banners draped all over the place. At the time it looked cheaply manufactured but now that time has passed, and maybe because so much time has passed, I can honestly say I miss going to baseball games at Candlestick. I swear to God, everything I like or frequent as a patron either closes down or gets torn down. It’s my curse. If you see me coming into your store to buy something you should be so bummed. You’re about to go out of business. lol.
Anyway, it’s gonna be cool and dry and let’s just hope there are no *Kevin Elsters* (Chris Owings?) laying in the weeds of today’s D-back line up…..
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Anyone else watch the 60 Minutes story of the Japanese Babe Ruth Ohtani??? 102 mph hard throwing starter and lead off power hitter…crazy. Wouldn’t that be a masterful 1-2 punch with Bum and not just starting but with the bat. Who thinks he can translate to MLB? If he has that potential, don’t you go all in to keep him away from Dodgers and maybe natural inclination to want to DH in the AL??? Obviously he would be by far the best left-fielder anywhere near the Giants organization…
And only 22 years old…
The ‘Stick would have 60,000 at the home-opener, and about 15,000 at game #2.
yes, not quite as majestic and sun bathed on day 2. More like frigid and freezing.
Like most other ballparks.
The thing that always got me was the grayness of everything till you opened the doors to your seats, and seeing that impossibly green green grass. That is, if you didn’t lose your hat, your beer and your glasses from the wind blowing 60 mph through those tunnels. Lower reserve RF will always be a special place in my mind. Ripping all those opposing right fielders AND Jack the Ripper. Reggie Smith was always fun to ride all game.
Were you surprised that the grass was green?
No, just the contrast from the dirty ass bus I would ride to the Stick on the. grey and grim 101 to the dingy parking lot followed by the walk around d the grey facade usually on a grey and foggy day. Seeing the field after the trek was always very cool that first game of the season.
first glimpse of the green grass is always great, but when I started going to the Stick, 78 and 79, rusty astroturf was on the field. Still, my first time there was a thunderous sellout weekend game vs. the bums when both teams were fighting for the division lead. that pretty much sealed the deal. I also liked the seats down by the pen, but I had some very good times stretching out in the nearly empty upper deck, at the rail above home plate.
Yeah, my first game at the Stick was pre-astroturf. 1969. . .
The ONLY good thing OJ did for the Niners (asnd the Giants) was to get them to go back to natural grass.
Walking through those doors to the LR on OD, hearing/feeling the buzz of the crowd always jacked me way up.
Now this. I didn’t like Selig, but Manfred is an absolute tool.
http://www.yardbarker.com/mobile/content/article/s1_12680_23675533
Only a dipshit would propose the changes he has, the IBB, this one here, etc. What an arrogant prick. Where do they come up with these guys.
Unc is right, climbing Cardiac Hill and then around the long ramps, find your section and then open those doors, wow. Lower boxes underneath overhang were awesome but upper deck front row or two near the plate were great too.
Great day for Chi and Sarge.
Anyone notice Posey bomb to straightaway RF yesterday? Which btw was vs. the guy who dominated the Dodgers, another SP knocked out early by Giants. No way that ever happens up and over the wall at ATT. You cannot discount park factors for Giants offensive stats, HRs from LH especially.
Even 40 HRs hit yesterday across baseball and almost 150 runs total. I count them up in box scores, and 40 bombs happened a lot last year, way more than usual. We’ll see if HR explosion from last year carries over 2017. Lotta talk about launch angle from hitters looking to drive ball into the air off low pitches, yada yada.
First 7 games Giants have 9 (!) and are 4th in league with 34 runs, 6th in slugging and OPS. Due to 4 sbs from Nunez they are near top for steals.
Unfortunately, giving up 39 runs puts them 14th in ERA and no better than 12th for hits walks and HRs allowed.
Diggin’ the Stick love, BF. I never made if for an opening day, but I did for games when it was packed and gorgeous outside. It was quite the sight and as raucous as a baseball stadium could be. The place took a lot of crap, especially from outsiders, but I always enjoyed my time there and saw some great games.
A lot of people living in the Central Valley get burned by the Bay Area the first time they visit. And by “burned,” I mean that metaphorically, because it’s actually the opposite of being burned, which is frozen. But, I guess, “frost-bite” is a type of burn, sort of.
It’ll be 100 degrees in the Valley in July, and somebody will wear their shorts into the Bay Area and get frozen. Happens all the time. And if they wore those shorts to the Stick….well, they turn into that guy in the Jack London story “To Build A Fire,” who has to build a fire or he’s going to die.
Spoiler alert: the fire doesn’t get built.
Shit oftentimes the temp difference between San Mateo and the stick was 30 degrees and they were 10 miles apart.
better than the one in 2008? Don’t forget, that one had Bigcock in it. I’ll never tire of the Brian Bigcock jokes.
1.Denard Span OF L
2 Brandon Belt 1B L
3 Hunter Pence OF R
4 Buster Posey C R
5 Brandon Crawford SS L
6 Eduardo Nunez 3B R
7 Joe Panik 2B L
8 Jarrett Parker OF L
Inquiring minds want to know….will leftfield get another hit today?! And improve on that 1-24 they have so far?
If Pagan and Peavy were in this lineup that would make 6 P’s. Were they ever able to accomplish this last year? What’s the record for most names in a starting lineup that start with the same letter?
I gotta believe it happened at some point last season.
This one had five, haven’t found one with six:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SFN/SFN201607250.shtml
I appreciate the effort, Mac. Didn’t mean to give you homework…
I could careless about the LFer, as long as he can field his position. The eighth hitter is not going to be a .300 hitter. As long as he gets better with each game I am good to go. What I am hoping for is since Meloncon got his first save, he can now settle down and pitch the way he did last year, be boring and just win!!
For those of you going to the game, I salute you. Those of you watching the game wherever you are, I’m with ya.
I have a Dark and Stormy in my hand, Sierra Nevadas on ice and I’m about to grill up some Slotkowski Polska Kielbasas with grilled onions and sauerkraut.
As Boozoo Chavis would say,
“I’m Ready Me.”
Bozo posted a pic of his ticket to Opening Day 2000 on facebook today. I can’t believe it’s been 18 years.
I’d be so embarrassed if I was a Diamondback and had to wear these uni’s. They are absolutely devoid of anything cool or classic. And the snake with the baseball in his mouth? Come freaking on.
mlb gameday says Buster got HBP and now there’s an “injury delay”–he ok?
What happened on HBP to Posey?
Posey got pegged in the head?? Great.
https://www.clippituser.tv/c/awkbr
god fucking dammit
I’m not super old school about this, but fuck them, someone needs to get drilled TODAY for that. Preferably their pitcher but I’d be fine with Goldy taking one in the ribs. And get this out of the way before the warnings come out. You can’t pitch up in the head area of our franchise player. Bochy has to give the order but I’d rather Moore just do it on his own. To do nothing tells me we are run by pussies.
I just told a co-worker Goldy better get something under the chin next time up.
seriously. This HAS to happen. If we do nothing it’s telling the world that they can throw at the head of our franchise player and our response will be a shrug of the shoulders. Fuck that.
Right. It was a FASTBALL to the head.
They didn’t respond to Goldshit last inning. I’m sure they’ll wait a couple innings, but Goldy needs to get one in the ribs. You don’t retaliate to the head without guys getting suspended. But they have to plunk Goldy.
To bad it’s not Bum’s start he would drill Goldy and say come and get me!!
Fuck Walker, he’s chucking a lot shit inside, he needs to get beaned!!
I don’t really want to get to the pen now so hitting Walker may not be a good idea. Now.
The decent news is that it didn’t hit Posey square. It glanced off the top/side of his helmet. We all remember how long it took Panik to recover from getting pegged – by Matt Moore last year . . .
maybe he’d get tossed, maybe warned, I’m actually not sure of the protocol these days. I would still risk it. The message has to be “do not fuck with the head of our franchise player. Ever.”
Anyway, it appears we are going to be huge pussies about this. Disappointing.
All I’m saying is bring in Strickland late to drill Goldy. Don’t risk a starter getting tossed in the 3rd inning.
this is amazing.
What I can’t believe is how he stayed upright.
he almost went down at the end. This is an epic video.
I think I woulda given him a little shove . . .
I have a fraternity story to share…
i thought you were gonna say this was one of your frat bros. 🙂
Wow. A 40′ double scores 3.
Would like to see 4 more runs late.
Nice for Dinty Moore. . . .
Even nicer for Dinty Moore. . . 93 MPH to the Peralta’s upper shoulder.
I guess I’ll take that beanball but the batter didn’t really try too hard to get out of the way.
Win #3.
I haven’t seen the game yet. Sounds like Moore had a great outing. If the starting rotation gets fully rolling, that will be huge.
Smardj, we’re looking at you for tomorrow. 🙂
Win #3 by a proven #3! Great start for the opener, except for Posey’s headshot, hopefully he will be fine with no after effects!!
Moore I’m calling 16-17 wins easily, dude works corners, keeps hitters guessing,just in control..
When he’s on he’s tough.
Moore has to avoid the brainfart inning that has plagued his career.
Say that for Shark as well.
Guarantee Shark will give up more bombs then Moore this year are any Year for that matter..
To the dude urinating, just wow. Panik never was the same last year after getting beaned. I hope to hell the same doesn’t happen to Posey, because the Giants can ill afford to lose him.
Crack medical staff let Panik continue to play after that beaning in that game and for a few more weeks, before he went on concussion protocol.(and he wasn’t the same player after that)The light bulb 💡may have finally turned on after Posey’s headshot as they pulled him immediately..
To be fair he didn’t show any symptoms for a couple days.
not showing symptoms right away can be part of the concussion process. I learned that just getting my red cross cert. I would hope the Giants doctors know this.
Panik had a HR or some such in the same game he got beaned iirc. I’m sure Posey goes through whatever protocol. Hundley and Smardz I always thought was a good match.
Bozo re; Boozoo 12:56 “I’m ready me” POTD.
Sounds like Buster will be OK but that shit can’t be tolerated. 50 years since Conigliaro. Moore’s shoulder shot was OK but Smdz should break someone’s kneecap in the first inning. Bad enough that I’ll have to watch my Rangers get bullied by Le Frogs this week…
Smdz because we could afford to lose him for a while? lol
totally agree. That shit CANNOT be tolerated. You throw near the head of our franchise player you are going to pay a price. Suspensions may come, whatever.
It’s not macho bullshit. I know it’s old school and more of a hockey mentality, but this shit can pull a team together – or have the opposite effect…
classic original 6 matchup tho Loo. It’s always a treat when those teams come into San Jose which is once a year. I watched part of Rangers game which they had comeback W over Sharks.
Classic unis too.
Far as Posey, the Walker kid is wild as hell and throws really hard. I’d imagine there will be conference with umps et al before the game. But if you are the Giants, do what you have to do. Lord knows LaRussa Gibson and DBax were notorious for it.
Bochy said if he wasn’t a catcher he might have been OK to stay in the game, but they wanted to be cautious..
Yeah WTF Take 94mph off your helmet and they still could have second thoughts??
That’s just dumb to even make that statement Bruce…
Per the broadcast today, Panik played 8 games before symptoms started to kick in. Joe and Posey were hit in a similar fashion, hard pitches glancing off the back side part of the helmet, so it may be a while before Posey is totally in the clear. He looked pretty dazed today. Fingers crossed.
A Puig error leads to a Cubs run.
Those Cubs fans are very cold. 40 degrees, with a strong wind.
A lot of them have left for home. There was a rain delay earlier.
Did they have their flag raising today? No Bartman?
They raised the flag. No Bartman.
The Cubs bullpen is trying to give away the game.
So is their infield.
Romo did pretty well. He only hung one frisbee, and Russell didn’t barrel it up.
Romo to start another inning? I’m surprised.
Happy ending at Wrigley!
Romo gets the loss.
Marrero has 0 HRS and 4 BB in 143 career PA. GMs around the league must be amused.
I’m not…