Open It
Even the most dulled down pessimist can get excited about today. The games count. The stats count. Maybe I’ll start trippin’ as the losses pile up, but for today I’m all in. Am I excited about the Giants specifically? Yes! I haven’t seen a second of them play in Arizona so it’ll be good to see them playing again. Baseball is back and that’s what does it for me. This sport flips the switch from Winter to Spring. And I’m in California where you can barely notice the change. I can’t imagine the dark cold nonsense you guys have to put up with in other parts of the country.
Someone once told me the future doesn’t exist so tomorrow never happens. I always thought that was some fucked up shit but maybe they were right. Celebrate today. There is only one of them.
If you need something external to get ya going, watch this:
Win or lose, this is our team. We roll deep till the end….
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
They need to bring back the “Hang in There” slogan.
The baseball ⚾️ gods may be requiring a few more challenge seasons like this one as payback for 3 in 5. Let the season begin.
Rocks
Doghairs
Pads
Gigantes
Dbacks
Go Giants!…
Opening his last go around in San Diego where he spent so much time and the two org’s going in opposite directions – must be a bit of a surreal day for Bochy.
cbs site fwiw reports Giants opening day payroll at $138 mil, 12th overall, lux tax $155 mil (threshold being $200 ish).
Pads are curious lot, see what happens with them. Ton of prospects, including the Tatis kid who hasn’t faced ML pitching before and lot of young pitchers. Plus guys like Kinsler Hosmer and Myers. Machado will certainly help, but he didn’t move W needle much in his time with Orioles.
Giants won season series 11-7 against them with last year group iirc.
There’s a famous pic of jazz musicians assembled in NYC entitled Great Day in Harlem. Today is like that, get ball rolling for real finally.
Humm Baby!!!
Northern Minnesota only not represented because our guy is locked up…but we own Kenewesec Michigan or whatever name that is…
They can’t wait for the San Francisco Giants’ opening day… in North Dakota?
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sfgate.com/giants/amp/MLB-San-Francisco-Giants-fans-in-North-Dakota-13720764.php
I would expect this is the first opening day ever also during a March Madness day…and sad to say Inam actually looking forward more to those games than Giants-Pads…
Mac DFA’d.
Opening Day lineup, Let’s Go Giants!
Duggar CF
Belt 1B
Longoria 3B
Posey C
Crawford SS
Joe LF
Reed RF
Panik 2B
Bumgarner LHP
😭😭😭😤😤😤
Hanson gone too. Not surprising as I posted previously. Oaf and Hanson combined for 23 hits, 3 home runs, 6 walks, and 38 strikeouts in 118 spring training plate appearances
I liked Hanson too off last year. Just didn’t bring enough to the plate RH to be option for middle IF platoon job I guess. Speed guys that struggle with the OB seem to be dying breed in today’s game unless you are super defensively, which Hanson wasn’t. Wonder if he would go to Sac.
Willie, my understanding is he’ll have to first go unclaimed off waivers before reporting to the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate.
That 93rd catcher Tom Murphy did he even get an an AB or catch a inning before getting axed?
Durant last night passed Glen Rice for 25th all time made 3s. Somewhere in email archives I have a shooting vid of Rice that was just fabulous to watch. He’s teaching footwork and set up, launching beautiful one handed free throws without a miss repeating same motion over and over.
Too bad his alma mater Michigan and Tex Tech meet up today. One of them could potentially have knocked off evil empire duo from ACC. U Va (top rated of final 16 by cbs site) plays tonite and they have west coast connection due to Bennett lineage from when Dad coached at Wash St..
Candy’s flying death punch on Ozzie Smith remains one of my favorite Giant moments in time. Great video, Flav. Or whoever Darren Chan is.
Giants in honor for both Peter McGowan and Willie McCovey will wear patches all season on their jersey sleeves.
In a square shape the name Peter inside
McCovey’s is cool it’s round with Stretch 44 inside just below McGowan’s
AK, I am happy that they are honoring Peter and Willie, but I still think they could have honored Hank Greenwald (whom I grew up listening to, along with Russ Hodges and Lon Simmons). Same deal when they decided to essentially ignore Jim Ray Hart in 2016 after he passed away. That dude was nails in ’67. Also, Bill James said, “He was a better hitter than 59 of the 73 men listed ahead of him at third base.”
Jim Ray Hart snub still stingin’ some of us
Hunter pence in the rangers starting line up today. That’s pretty incredible. He’s their DH, lol
Really happy for Hunter. I’m looking forward to seeing what he does this season. Not certain, if he only played in Texas before or actually is from there??? Anyway, Good bounce back for him.
born and raised there, began his career with Astros
Is it really a bounce-back (and if so, why not last year?) or does Texas suck harder than us? 🙂
Hopefully they start bringing up guys before age 26 or older to find out if they are ready or not. Williamson too bad he got hurt last year, we will never know if he would have been a good player. It appears his concussion ruined his career.
Yeah I was a big Jimmy Ray Hart fan Blade& others, I know Loo’s still ticked off they didn’t honor him as most of us were..
Bochy says Will Smith will be the closer.
I assume Melonoma will continue his role as useless and in blowout games only..
Yeah, not sure why the snub for Jimmy Ray. Who makes that call? I missed his best days with the team, but his numbers in the mid-60s were great in an era of pitching dominance. He’s a 10-year guy. Does he even have a plaque for that?
Good question. Yes, he is (or I would have been really pissed). Here is the list:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Giants#San_Francisco_Giants_Wall_of_Famers
I just tried to search for that. Thx Blade.
Just my take, but I would say based on this criteria:
“The Giants Wall of Fame recognizes retired players whose records stand highest among their teammates on the basis of longevity and achievements.
Those honored have played a minimum of nine seasons for the San Francisco Giants, or five seasons with at least one All-Star selection as a Giant.”
Kirt Manwaring is probably the “shakiest” plaque (although I do remember him as a gold glove winner one year and throwing out a shitload of runners).
Whoops! I take that back . . . Lemaster is probably more deserving. lqtm
Marvin Benard is another shaky one..
Fairly random criteria there as well. Any list with Johnny Disaster on it is a list I wouldn’t want to be on!
Fun fact, my ex-roommate in Snowmass CO made it to AAA with the Giants in the late 70s-early 80s. Jimmy James is all I remember of his name. He was a pitcher and he played with Thompson, Williams and Clark in the system. He had some cool stories which I’ve completely forgotten. When I left he was driving as bus for Pitkin County. Good times.
I’m sure he’s in a list somewhere that I can find.
Just got back from a very quick trip to SF, I guess I was in town for about a week. The reason I was in town wasn’t a pleasant one and maybe that tainted my view a bit but a new generation of folks have taken over the place and it just doesn’t fell right any more. I still have friends hanging on there, I still have sights, tastes and sounds that I enjoy but…
I had this friend years ago, Frankie the Mechanic, Frankie mostly wore his overalls, he was missing some fingers and always drank Early Times in a shorty glass. Frankie also owned a couple of blocks on Third street (the huge building across from the Ramp was one of Frank’s). One of the things Frankie liked to tell me was, “San Francisco is our town, Johnny, it’s our town”, sorry Frank, it just ain’t our town no more.
I’m still rooting heavy for the Giants though and I’m looking forward to the baseball season getting under way.
I work in the financial district, which is OK, and the touristy parts are OK, the Mission is still pretty cool, but the bad parts (the Loin) are horrific now. Like the city just said ‘fuck it’ and left them to their own devices.
And thank God they re-opened Mr. Bing’s on Columbus.
My daughter said the same thing, John. She started living there in 2010 and left in 2018.
Something about entitled 20-something scum ruining Dolores Park, and Google busses to hell.
Yeah, Charlie, I agree with your daughter. I lived in and worked for 30 years in SF before moving in 08. I think the city was going through the changes back then. All I know, if you happen to see some fuckwad with a scooter shoved, handlebars first, up his ass I can prove I was somewhere else. Having Original Joes move from the Loin to North Beach was cool, I had to take the ferry to Vallejo and that was pretty cool. I know I sound like the old dude that tells kids to get off his lawn but I think I’m really the old guy who is telling the kids to take the lawn, I don’t want it anymore.
In the way-back days on the Splash Twin and I would be at each others throat by now. Opening day and who in the hell are these guys? He would be bringing up minor league stats Reed and Joe and predicting great things. Kind of miss that.
I would have countered with today’s Bleacher Report of today’s top 100 players in Baseball. Guess how many of our heroes are on that list and where? Imagine in all of baseball the Giants occupy 98th place with Crawford and 89th with Bum (who everybody knows we can’t wait to trade)- -and that’s it!
Back when we got Barry we weren’t winning WS but he and guys like Kent were worth our time to watch. That’s my gripe about this dismal version of my favorite (since ’58) team.
Congratulations to those of you who hang in there all year. You’re better fans than me.
They will be lucky not to lose 100 games this year. I’m too old to go into hibernation for 2-3 years. Might not wake up. Sigh.
CF Steven Duggar
1B Brandon Belt
3B Evan Longoria
C Buster Posey
SS Brandon Crawford
LF Connor Joe
RF Michael Reed
2B Joe Panik
SP Madison Bumgarner
Working from home, so I get to watch this as the background to a couple meetings.
Bummie looking good early. 4 k’s in 2 innings of work.
Looks like a classic on opening day with one hit for each team so far…scintillating!!
It’s the 3rd inning FFS. Myers bombs a hanging breaking ball.
And on a full count after MadBum was ahead 0-2.
Fryars on the board with a bomb. The Giants outfield goes 0-3 with a walk the first time through.
San Diego is still the lowly Midgets’ Daddy. Truly sad. Dodgers have already won the division and opening day isn’t even over yet. Hahahahaha!
Padres have never won jack in their entire existence.
Dodgers haven’t won jack since Reagan was president.
Geez what was Bum doing besides daydreaming on 1st.
Bum’s been solid throwing strikes ,low pitch count etc, just tragic how pathetic this offense is as he’s looking to get Cained 1-0..
Jeeze let’s get a fricking baserunner.
Quite a throw from Conner Joe.
Right after the rocket from Myers.
No shit. a 30-hopper.
Pfffffffffffffffffffffffft.
Come on, make SOMETHING happen.
Myers destroying the Giants as usual.
We slow.
The good news is it gets the slowest guy in baseball off the basepaths. You have to play that close to 2nd though.
Get use to these all year..
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
A 15 inning game?
Hey, they got a runner to 2nd!
Zzzzzzzzzzzzz………..
I just like to say FUCK the FODGERS!!
Not sure why Posey took a 2-0 fastball down the middle.
Bring back Mac!
The Dodgers hit 8 HRs today.
New season, same shit. SMH (not that I was expecting much).
Thought you were kidding . . . Nope.
Anybody surprised?
Sadly, no.
To follow up on Bozo’s SF comment, I have been in the City twice last few months. Market St seemed run down but it was never a prime spot. But friend lives on California Pacific Heights and we had a night out on Clement Street and had a kick ass night and walked around the Presidio the next day and SF is still the grandness that it had always been.
Went to Uber research facility near new basketball arena and that whole neighborhood there near the baseball stadium is transformative….
Yup. Dogpatch is now the place to be.
Bochy really needs to go. Maybe for his own good.
He’s not entirely blameless for what this team has become…
he needs to go because he shouldn’t have to sit at the helm of this shit show. But it’s not like a different manager wouldn’t have been shutout today, too
Yeah, I feel bad for boch because the front office basically said, turn this shit into shit for your sendoff.
We are easily a 90+ loss team. If I was Boch, I’d split by the break.
61-101 make it so!
I think Bam Bam will make his managerial debut for the 8-17 Giants vs. Yanks on 4/26…
Nice. I gave Boch until 6/30 before he walked.
Bochy needs 74 wins to hit 2000. Out of reach: .500. But 2000? We all need something, just to get us through.
That is a good point Zoot. He is going to do everything he can to get to 2000…
I don’t think he cares in the least about stupid round numbers…
I gave him 77 Wins.
I may be out over my skis on that one, but hey, this team can’t be worse than last year, right?
Right ?…
Bum had a pretty good performance, based on the box and what I’m reading.
Trade him sooner than later, avoid an injury where he can’t be traded.
We’ll know in a few weeks whether this team has any shot at anything this year besides a participation trophy…
I guess we all knew what kind of Offense the Giants were going to have, but it sure sucks to see that it is true, not much Offense at all
Matt Joyce hit a HR today for the Braves.
Well, that was a perfect ending for the day.
U M could use some Glen rice right now. what a lob throw down to Tarik Owens, T Tech up 16.
It was one game. We win 78 games and Boch gets his 2000. Longo and Belt both hit 20+ homers. Even with as bad as last year got they were.500 entering September..
I just think this team IS worse than last year’s.
Fighting Ducks up 2 on VA 8 minutes to go. Louis King knocks down couple 3s. Walton was calling Pac 12 tourney, kept calling him “Louie the King” reference to second verse of Dylan’s song HiWay 61.
“Mack the finger said to Louie the King…”
third verse actually. Just listened to it on youtube where it’s back up. Great cut, tremendous LP (last Dylan I ever bought) the great Al Kooper, and the awesome whistle.
Walton can be wacky fun. I like the geography riffs he goes on sometimes.
mike bloomfield too forgot about him. good stuff
I’m getting whiplash watching FLav’s NCAA tourney.