Ah, Sports…
Summer day, Giants baseball in DC, NBA championship to win in Cleveland….Stop and appreciate a day like this, the moments that make it up. There are a lot of shitty days in the year. Win or lose, today isn’t one of them….
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A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
I don’t get why everyone says the Warriors *ruined* the NBA. All they did was build a team of guys who want to win. Their drafts were expert (Steph–7th pick 2 point guards taken before him), Klay–11th pick, Draymond 2nd round, Jordan Bell purchased as a second rd) and their FA signings took less to come here (KD took 10 mil less to come, that allowed them to retain Iggy and Livingston)….Javale Freaking McGee. Come on, he was out there for anyone to take and reclaim….
The point is that the front office made amazingly skillful moves and they assembled players who want to play and win as a team—not a random free agent super star or two who just wants to get paid and make all star teams (see: Westbrook). And people give KD shit for wanting to get away from that? Ludicrous.
Seriously, why wouldn’t a fan base want their team to operate this way? The Warriors crime is that they did everything they could to get as good as they could get within the rules dictated. What am I missing here????? They were supposed to stop trying to get better after they lost the 2016 championship? Yeah, let’s not sign KD so we can make it harder to win next year.
That’s just beyond idiotic…..
well, when I was a kid I hated Celts and Yankees, who won every year and just wanted to see someone take them down. warriors have their share of players who could annoy anyone. Hey they bug me when they turn the ball over and Green is one of those mouthy hothead types that if he wasn’t on your team you’d hate the guy.
Think about it–no one seems to like Patriots much (Brady GOAT?), Cowboys neither. Doubt Loo has much love for the Montreal “Frogs” that used to dominate NHL in their heyday.
All of these teams seemed to be able to add journeyman vets that would contribute and suddenly have their best years. Amazing coincidence? Coaching? System? Or just collection of smart players that worked extremely hard to get where they were?
Dunno but seeing guys like Sichting and Wedman or Bailey Howell Larry Siegfried towel waving Cornhead Maxwell dominate off bench used to bug me no end.
Speaking of Boston, Ray Allen (great bio good read) in his stop there came to love the city and talked about passionate and knowledgeable fanbase. Even when he and family were out at restaurants or shopping he’d hear from them whether things were going good or bad.
It’s a different vibe out here. How would Zito’s “I’ve just got to trust my stuff” act have played there, with his salary? Probably about as well as Pablo’s.
Hating their success is one thing. Saying they are ruining the game is entirely different.
BINGO.
Any Warrior hate out there is mostly jealousy.
For 40 years, nobody outside the Bay gave a good S about the Dubs.
They were less than an afterthought in the NBA circles.
So, enjoy this ride in the moment.
Like the ’70s Raiders, ’80s Niners, the 3 in 5 Giants, this is something very special that won’t last, except in memory…
Yup. The Warriors franchise and fan base has more than paid their dues over the decades. For those of us who endured the 40 years of suckitude between 1975 and 2015, this current run of success is especially satisfying. At the end of the day, I think it’s good for the league. A franchise that was once irrelevant is now very relevant. I fail to see how that hurts the “The Association.” These things are cyclical anyway.
Jealousy is why they’re saying it. Fuck ’em.
Damn. One of my heroes.
“Traveling is about self-discovery, as much as it’s about discovering the outside world. You go away, you learn, you get scarred, marked, and changed in the process. And hopefully you’re better because of it.”
“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts – it even breaks your heart.”
“But that’s ok. The journey changes you. It should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, in your heart, and on your body. You take something with you, and hopefully you leave something good behind….”
Anthony Bourdain
Yeah, one of my heroes too. I saw this a couple of hours ago, but didn’t want to note it immediately in lieu of Flav’s comment about this not being one of the “shitty days” (and they never are . . . at least I try to make them that way).
However, I digress. Paul, as you well know and noted eloquently above about “self-discovery,” Bourdain’s life was not exactly a bed of roses. He fought some personal battles, made worse by drug abuse (heroin, cocaine . . . you name it, he probably did it). However, for the most part, I thought he was winning against his self demons. Obviously, there’s not much information out there, i.e., I have no idea what the catalyst was for him taking his life. It’s a shame though. I related to him, e.g., his love and curiosity about different types of food, his travel to exotic places, battle with drugs and alcohol, and his spiritual journey.
Bummed about this. Another guy around my age (like Dwight) that left far too soon.
We both remember this well . . . Barack and Anthony enjoying a couple of Hanoi beers and eating bun cha . . .
Yeah, I reposted that on FB……. classic. Damn.
For young people, it’s more about individual players than teams. Curry is such an exciting player that it is great for the lesgue.
Ironically, a somewhat boring team like the Spurs having a dynasty was worse for the NBA than Curry or Michael Jordan being in a dynasty.
Sports obsess over winning over the next generation of fans, and the NBA generally does well with that.
Yeah, that Anthony Bourdain suicide is crazy. Talk about a guy living the dream.
A fashion icon, Kate Spade, also committed suicide this week. I’d never heard of her, but she was famous to a lot of people.
People are just left with a lot of questions.
Kurt Cobain’s death is still a painful thing for some people, and that was almost 25 years ago..
There’s a big biography of Robin Williams coming out soon. There will be a lot of interest in the book.
I have some social gaps in my life and I have no idea who Bourdain is but it sounds like this tore up a lot of people.
His CNN show seemed to be growing in popularity each year. In our ever-more polarized nation, people can come together on things that are basic to our humanity, like food.
Some of the things he ate grossed me out, but food is very cultural, and he dove into other cultures.
We don’t eat horses in the U.S. Why not? Cultural reasons.
1/6 of the world eats insects as part of their regular diet to get protein.
They don’t eat a lot of beef in India.
All cultural.
Educating people about humanity’s common humanity is generally a great thing.
Yeah, Craig, I can’t speak for anyone else, but he inspired me for many years, and I even used his stuff (video, written commentary) in some classes I taught over the past dozen years to tourism majors at university over here. Those quotes I used in the earlier post actually bring tears to my eyes. I always joked about how he had my dream job, getting paid very well to travel the world and eat good food… coupled with his *east coast sensibilities*, just a real character of life. I’m actually pretty bummed about this. Check out on Youtube some of his stuff, especially his earlier shows. I have visited at least 3 different places in the world that I first saw in his travels and they were some of the best visits I’ve ever done. Damn.
Bourdain was a renowned chef who wrotre books and did a cooking/travel show. Or a few of them. No Reservations. The Layover, and Parts Unknown were all interesting and funny as hell.
There’s a pic of him eating at Red’s Java House . . . He did a favorite late night burger joint show and it ended up being somewhere off Broadway. One of his favorite SF bars was the Comstock on Columbus.
Count me in as being extremely saddened over Bourdain’s death. I caught on to him over the last couple of years through his Parts Unknown show on CNN and quickly became a fan. Such a force for good, traveling both here — he did a show on West Virginia this season — and abroad to highlight the one thing, despite all of our cultural and political differences, we all have in common: food. What a tragic loss.
The MLB Network showed footage today of Drysdale hitting Dietz with a pitch and the ump ruling Dietz didn’t try to get out of the way, thus preserving Drysdale’s scoreless inning and shutout streak..
WHAT A JOKE!!!!
Dietz did try to get out of the way, He leaned back from the pitch. The footage is shocking in how it shows how terrible the ump’s call was, and how much the ump wanted Drysdale to keep the streak going. The Giants argued the call for 20 (!!!) minutes, and for good reason.
This week is the 50th anniversary of Drysdale setting those “records.”
I had never seen the footage before. It’s ridiculous what the ump ruled.
Nowadays umps never make that call, even when batters lean in to get hit.
Horrible call.
The bases were loaded and none out at the time, in the 9th inning. Dietz ended up popping out, and the next two batters couldn’t get a run in.
Just a bit more… He had some great No Reservations shows about 10 or so years ago out here in Asia. He loved Vietnam (hence the famous pic of him and Obama eating bun cha noodles at a small shop in Hanoi) but even way back. I remember one little series of shows, maybe a couple of episodes, when he had spent days in the jungles somewhere in Malaysia, experiencing a tribe’s life and cooking/eating, etc., and then finally made his way to the landing zone where the helicopter was waiting to pick up him and the crew, and he narrated that bit about travel being able to break your heart, and he couldn’t get on the copter and it left him there, with a look on his face that just said “not yet”….
Robert Kennedy started his California Primary victory speech by giving congratulations to Drysdale.
A few minutes later Kennedy was assassinated, and baseball seemed a lot less important.
The Layover was funny as well, Paul. It was based on him being stuck in a city for x amount of hours between flights, and it was his challenge to eat, drink, and meet as many people as possible in the layover city.
All of his shows were immersed in self-deprecation, appreciation for the moment in time he was where he was, and a lot of eating and drinking. We based a few decisions on where to eat in Italy based on his shows. As in the best pizza in Rome was way out of the way in the seedier part of northern Rome where tourists didn’t usually go. It was really good, and the people were very friendly If not puzzled by us. We talked to the owner and he had to ask what brought us there. We said Anthony Bourdain, and he lit up. He had done the show there about 5 years before we came there, and he said they had a big influx of people visiting but that it had settled down to a trickle. He had nothing but great things to say about Bourdain.
Bourdain wrote this for the New Yorker 20 years ago, good stuff:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1999/04/19/dont-eat-before-reading-this
Thanks! That’s awesome. I didn’t know he was such a great writer.
We all have an interesting relationship with those that prepare and serve food at restaurants. We are pretty vulnerable to what they could be doing to the food, but we try not to think about it too much. 🙂
It would have also been interesting to see what TF could have added to what is said in the article. TF also had a lot of experience in the restaurant business.
Ohtani to the DL with elbow trouble.
saw that one coming from a mile away. He’s only started like 2 games in the last few weeks, right? As I said when he signed with the Angels, it’s dumb to do this. Pick one thing and go with it. Obviously now I bet Angels fans wish he had picked hitting.
Surprise on 3rd base:
1. Joe Panik (L) 2B
2. Buster Posey (R) C
3. Andrew McCutchen (R) RF
4. Brandon Crawford (L) SS
5. Pablo Sandoval (S) 1B
6. Alen Hanson (S) 3B
7. Hunter Pence (R) LF
8. Gorkys Hernandez (R) CF
9. Andrew Suarez (L) P
Hanson has 4 innings of ML experience at 3rd.
2 assists and no errors…
Pence over Williamson again this soon.
Hmmm…..
Pence 6 for 21 with a HR vs. Strasburg, looks like Mac has never faced him.
Time he did.I put my faith in Williamson’s chances of hitting the ball hard over Pence’s dribbling a few to 3rd ..
Nice article about Bourdain, from a baseball angle, on FanGraphs:
https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/instagraphs/rip-anthony-bourdain-passionate-baseball-fan/
In order to carry 5 outfielders, and 13 pitchers, the Giants have only 5 infielders right now.
Is Hanson the back-up shortstop, too? Or Longoria could play shortstop in a pinch?
Longoria played one complete 9 inning game at SS 10 years ago handling only one chance.
Hanson has 8 career ML innings at SS handling 5 chances.
How did the world exist before baseballreference.com?
Great stuff; thanks!
hilarious.
Also, Loo, Justify is losing tomorrow. I can explain how and why and who to bet on. But I gotta bounce, will try to post that later tonight
Nice photo of Nats’ ballpark. Cool ballpark, but the view beyond the stadium wall isn’t great.
Ok, my Belmont thoughts have coalesced, here they are: No secret that I am not a big Justify fan. I think he was substantially moved up by the mud in both the Derby and the Preakness and the last 1/16th in the Preakness was a mirage, he was gassed and the other two horses weren’t coming as fast as it seemed. And it takes a special horse to win the triple crown and I don’t think Justify is going to close the deal tomorrow.
Ok, what do we know about Todd Pletcher and Bob Baffert? Year in and year out they are in competition for the best 2 year olds the US has to offer. Todd Pletcher wants to see Bob Baffert win two triple crowns in 4 years about as much as Twin wanted to be best friends with the odious Snarkk (sorry my man, I’ve been chuckling to myself about that nickname all day and had to work it into a comment).
Now, that brings us to Noble Indy (Pletcher horse). There is no reason for that horse to be in the race, he can’t win. But he has good speed. With Justify on the rail, Mike Smith is going to send Justify and there’s no way Pletcher says “have a nice, easy trip” he’s going to give instructions to send Noble Indy out there with him. They will battle for much of the race with Noble Indy falling apart probably well before the top of the stretch. With no breather at any point in this long, grueling race, Justify will be ripe for the taking. Obviously, Pletcher hopes the horse to overtake him will be his own, Vino Rosso.
I’ll have both Hofburg and Vino Rosso in my pick 3’s and pick 4’s…..
My only pause for concern is that Bruno Dejulio thinks this race is already over and that Justify will win easy. Bruno is the only handicapper I ever pay for picks. I do it a few times a year. He’s made me a lot of money over the last few years. But this is where Bruno and I will part ways. I think my theory on how this race will unfold is watertight and I’ll be rooting hard for Justify to fall apart late tomorrow….
I recognize I may look extremely foolish betting against this 1-5 favorite but there is value in this race if what I think happens, happens…..
i might have talked myself into adding Tenfold, too. So I’ll have those 3 in my p3s/4s
Hey chi, is this the place you were telling me I needed to check into? Seems like a pretty cool blog (WTG Flav.). The good news, I’m not going to DC for any games. I think I’ve been to 3 SF series there and the Nationals won them all. Actually every game I’ve seen in that park the Nationals ended up with the W.
For you fellas looking for a cool Fred McDowell vid, check out this doc on Reel South (a PBS show here in the south that has some really great southern life type docs on it). https://www.pbs.org/video/reel-south-shake-em-down/ – Blade, you might want to add a little Pinetop Perkins for some Mississippi blues piano to your rotation.
Go Giants, swat dem Nats…..
Bozo!!
Good to see ya!
Hey Zumiee, how ya doing?
Doing well. Ready for the summer!
I don’t know if you saw this on the blog; TF has passed away. Very sad news. It was back in December.
Thanks Zum, I did hear the sad news about twin. I think it was the last time I posted.
Watching the game w/o sound and listening to some Pinetop (Down In Mississippi, Sweet Home Chicago, Almost Lost My Mind, etc.). Thanks!!!
Are you at home or are you back in the States? Hope you’re just listening to the blues and not singing dem.
Ha! Hey John…so good to see ya here! Hope life is good, brother!
At home until June 26th, than off to Saigon to see my daughter and wife. Me sing? No, no, no . . . Perkins has a silky voice. Listening to High Heel Sneakers live at Antone’s
Cutch!!
Turned on the high fastball.
Good attempt by Hanson on that difficult play.
It doesn’t long for the ball to find you! I remember that from my Friday night softball years.
That was some major league pitching by Suarez. Pitched through adversity.
Pablo took the first pitch. No player in MLB takes the first pitch at a higher rate than Pablo, per that FanGraphs article yesterday.
Hanson, again. Yawn….
Hanson!
Find a way to keep him in the lineup!
Pence!
I might start believing in the new batting stance. 🙂
Gorkys with the terrible baserunning.
WTF Gorkys. Blew that inning up. And Suarez’ ineptitude with the bat is exactly why you take the chance and send Pence, WOTUS.
Suarez’s breaking stuff has good movement tonight, and it teases the strikezone. The batters are swinging.
That seems like a really short porch in right center at this ballpark.
Ah, another Matt Harvey meltdown safely in the books. This bet is in the bag…..
Chi is it your bday? Happy bday my man!
Rumor has it that it is some dude named Chi’s BD. Thanks, Flav.
Happy Birthday, Chi.
Happy birthday Chi! Cheers!
Scherzer pinch-hitting.
OK.
Made no sense.
Nice quick 3rd for Suarez. He needed it.
I know it has already been said 247 times tonight, but Suarez is looking pretty damned good. Gotta love a quick inning…
Heading out to a house concert/potluck in a bit. Will have to sneak a look on the phone here and there for both Giants and Warriors. Hoping it is a “Bay Area of Greatness” day with wins!
Happy birthday!
Fucking Hanson! Wow…
Hanson, goddamn man.
Hanson!!
Wild Man!
GORKYS! Jeebus!
Ha!!
LJ called the short porch!!
My name is Gorkys and I am going to pump you up!
Can I have whatever juice Gorkys is taking???
It does make you wonder….
Man, good ol’ Twinner would be shouting about the Gorks/Torres comparison, right? Twin would be LOVING Gorks this year.
He’s been a great piece and after most of us were ready to run him out of town on a rail.
Good call. I miss that old cantankerous fart.
This place has to seem like a hitter’s paradise after a week at AT&T.
The G’s are playing good ball right now.
Pence looked like a bumbling fool on that play. This park is a bandbox.
Pence was never one to make you think of a gazelle, even in his prime. I think he was there and just mistimed his jump. Went right over his glove…
Humid night
Buster wanted the pitch low and away, and Suarez threw it belt high.
#1) Justify will not win tomorrow…
#2) I thought of Anthony Bourdain as America’s modern lyricist…the way he interwove who we are as Americans through his travel and food was magnificent. I am going to greatly miss his presence. There was no disdainfulness of people he did not know well and he was one of the only media figures who tried to understood what makes those he in the red states, like his recent episode of West Virginians, who they are. It is a tale of who we are as Americans.
#3) It is already pretty humid here in DC area. We have tickets for Sunday but there is a good chance for a lot of heavy rain this weekend. Will be surprised they get both weekend games in.
#4) Picture Zum posted of all the cranes past the outfield reflects the boom DC is experiencing. This entire SW portion of DC has been transformed. 25 years ago when I got here, this neighborhood was considered the center of where you would go to buy pot if you were from the burbs.
True of a few cities. San Francisco, Denver…I was at the ground breaking for PAC Bell, and that was not a neighborhood to be in after dark.
But not as bad as hunter’s point right???
Down the street from the stadium is the newest musical venue and in my humble opinion may be the best place I have ever seen a show. Fits 6000 with room for about 3000 on the floor and was built to replicate a theatre in the round. I have never heard more better audio for a live show…certainly not a place this size…
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.billboard.com/amp/articles/business/7998846/the-anthem-washington-dc-venue-tour-foo-fighters-details
Looks very cool!
Looks like a great place for a concert.
Crawfish!
Crawdad strikes again!
There’s a Thomas Mallon novel called Bandbox. I haven’t read it.
It’s probably not about baseball. 🙂
As usual, Bochy waits too fucking long.
It’s the old-school thing; trying to get the starting pitcher the win. A lot of SABR folks absolutely hate that stat: giving pitchers a win or loss.
I’m cool with that usually, but he’d thrown a lot of pitches and clearly lost his command. With Harper up I’m getting him out of there, win or not.
The Pence infield dribbler.
Strikeout for Jackson. People are shocked.
I must be the only one who can barely stand listening to Dave Fleming call a game. The drop-off from Miller to him is epic. Javi, OTOH, does a pretty good job. I can see him really turning into a good color man.
All righty then, time for the Dubs to wrap this thing up.
Again, waiting too long Bochy. Melonhead has nothing.
His 12 to 6 curve wasn’t sharp tonight.
Clutch knock Hunter!
Good conga line!
I’m not sure about Longo pinch-hitting for Hanson. I wasn’t really digging that.
Bozo thx for link hadn’t heard any Fred McDowell for ages. Hope you are well. Hit the NO jazzfest again this year?
I had the LP of My Name is Fred McDowell where he talks and intros himself and then songs start. Just fabulous. “Jesus is on the Main Line”
WillieD, how ya doin? There is some cool stuff on that PBS series, Reel South. If you get a chance you might want to check out some of the other docs (the one on the last remaining honky tonks was pretty cool.
I did go to Jazzfest this year (also went down for Mardi Gras), but I only went for the first weekend of fest this year. Many highlights, but two sets that really killed it were Dirty Dozen’s (I’ve heard them a million times but they were so on that day), and Jake Shimabukuro who was lights out (they had him backed by a band but he didn’t need it). Speaking of a uke player and a blues player, have you ever checked out the old recordings of Papa Lemon Nash? Great stuff and great stories. Cheers man.
thx for the tips. I’ll check them out definitely. good to hear from you man.
If Jackson was DFAed, then Tomlinson could be on the roster, and that makes more sense. Specs can play back-up shortstop, and, at this point, I’d rather see him pinch-hitting instead of Jackson.
Good start to the roadie.
The Giants beat the DC Walgreens and get the Clint nod. Good game.
I’ve never seen a uke player with a pedal board before.