A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball

This has really been a wild ride of a World Series. I’m headed down to Del Mar for the weekend and would love to see Toronto finish them off. It’s been awesome to see them fight back after that gut-wrenching Freeman game.

It’s hard for me to hate greatness and that’s what we watched last night. Ohtani coming through. Freddie Freeman ending it the way he did. I will always hate LA but god damn what a game.

It’s also fairly deflating to see greatness come through the way it did. We love to celebrate the Dodgers when their absurd bloated payroll loses. But when it hits all we can do is sadly look at the gap between us and then. San Dawg has been talking about this for years.

It is now upon us…..

I wanted Seattle but man that felt good watching Toronto take LA out to the woodshed. How glorious would it be if our old friend Gausman called on all his powers and delivered them another beat down. Heading to LA up 2-0 would be fantastic.

I’ve got no idea how Tony Vitello is going to do as our new manager. I’ve never heard of him, I don’t watch college baseball anymore, hell they don’t even use the same equipment or have the same rules as MLB. But what I do know is this: I love that Buster didn’t hire another old man re-tread (like Melvin was and like Bochy is). The Giants need to try something different and I can get behind trying something like this. The Dodgers have just gotten too far in front of them. A manager won’t change everything that’s needed but it could be a good start. My gut feeling is that this is going to work out.

Let’s see what Tony’s got…..

Disappointed to see Seattle leaving the party. I hate the Seahawks but it’s been really easy to root for the Mariners. And as much as I can’t stand the pompous “12th Man” it’s been refreshing to see the Mariner fans explode and enjoy themselves in so much delirium. I try not to think about the fact that those people are, you know, the same people.

Anyway, I guess I’d like to see Toronto win but just because they’re facing LA. I don’t really care for the Blue Jays team too much.

Once again the Niners stepped up and showed me something. A defense missing it’s best players going against probably the best running back in the league. I was shocked to see them as 1.5 point favorites. But they got it done and while this team has too many injuries and holes to fill to get excited about in January I am damn proud of how hard they play. As a fan that’s about all you can ask for from your guys.

I get these NYT shorties every morning, thought this one was worth passing on.

Good morning, everyone. Or should I say, “Good morning to everyone except fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers.”

Every morning is a good morning for Dodger fans. The rest of us who love baseball are out here hoping to enjoy the magic of October, yearning for the suspense and surprises of playoff baseball. But these darn Dodgers keep winning. And not just winning. This team looks unstoppable and almost superhuman.

They’re like the Goldman Sachs of baseball, with a payroll almost triple the size of the team they crushed in the National League championship, the Milwaukee Brewers. Even as the city of Los Angeles falters, its entertainment industry shrinking and its civic identity shaken, the Dodgers appear more exorbitant and unbeatable than ever.

As a lifelong baseball fan, I’m pleased to see postseason viewership at its highest in 15 years. I love the game for many reasons, but one is how it reveals a certain vulnerability. Baseball players are not as gigantic or as classically athletic as the stars of other professional sports. There’s an imperfection to them: They can be short, skinny, kind of chubby or kind of slow.

And they’re not covered in armor and headgear. We can see their expressions — pride, embarrassment, anger or elation — after a miraculous play or a humiliating stumble. That makes us feel as if we know them. It makes baseball’s characters, subplots and soap operas irresistible.

It’s why I’ve been so captivated by Pat Murphy, the Brewers’ manager. He’s a former boxer who has been married three times, survived a heart attack and alcohol addiction, and has Bruce Springsteen lyrics tattooed on his body.

It’s why I root for Cal Raleigh, the Seattle Mariners catcher. He’s nicknamed “the Big Dumper” for his oversized derrière, and is so tough and so determined that he once broke a tooth biting into a sandwich, then played a full nine innings through the pain and even hit a home run.

And it’s why I got goose bumps Thursday watching the Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Max Scherzer, who is 41 years old and coming off yet another injury, loudly and profanely refusing to come out of the game when his manager approached the mound. Scherzer promptly struck out the next Mariners batter and got the win.

I’m a Red Sox fan. So I’ve had a lifetime of roller-coaster Octobers. And of course I was gutted to see the Sox eliminated by the Yankees (again) earlier this month.

But I love the game enough to appreciate other teams, too. I love the Dodgers’ history and defining personalities, especially Sandy Koufax and Jackie Robinson. I applaud their talent and I admire their fans, who are knowledgeable and loyal.

These Dodgers, though, lack vulnerability. They seem inevitable. Invincible. They have Shohei Ohtani, who may just be the best in the game since Babe Ruth. He looked the part on Friday night, when he pitched six scoreless innings, struck out 10 batters and hit three home runs. The Athletic’s Jayson Stark called it “the single greatest game any human has ever had on a baseball field.”

These Dodgers have five All Stars and an ace-filled pitching staff. And everything seems to fall into place for them. When they moved their sidelined rookie starter, Roki Sasaki, to the role of closer this postseason, suddenly he, too, was perfect.

October baseball, at its best, is about nail-biters and unpredictable outcomes. It’s about extra innings and unsung utility players stealing a base and changing the arc of a series.

The World Series starts this week, with the Dodgers facing Seattle or Toronto, depending on who wins the American League championship. For the sake of the fans and the sake of the game, let’s hope it will offer a bit more drama and much-needed diversion. And that the Dodgers will get a bit of competition instead of what seems like certain coronation.

I’m not going to go so far as to say Ohtani had the greatest game of all time. It might have been. But those 2 games back to back, with the oppo grand salami to save Seattle AND THEN Ohtani doing what he did, those have to be the 2 most exciting back to back games in post season history.

And if I was being honest, yes, that is the best game any major leaguer has ever played considering the stakes of the game and what he did.

Hey guys….just giving you a baseball thread if you’re watching these games. I’m following it loosely. Still not giving up on the Niners despite all these injuries….

Dodgers kinda reminding me of the Warriors on a couple of their championship runs—just kind of bide their time in the regular season only to turn it on when it matters most in the post season. They look pretty good right now. But a Seattle upset would be oh so sweet…..

I’m not going to go so far as to say I’m happy for Moody because he’s burned every bridge surrounding me. But this wasn’t a surprise. I said many times he needed to get out of SF and get a fresh start somewhere else. That leg is strong but his soul is weak and he wasn’t going to be able to handle it mentally in SF. That goes for the SF fans, too. Mentally we couldn’t keep doing this with that guy.

So, good for him. Redemption stories are always great.

Just disgusted and heartbroken with yet another critical Niner player who has been lost. It’s really hard to get so invested into your NFL team just to watch all the best players on the team get taken out, one by one.

Nice to see the Mariners advance. They are an easy team to like and to root for to make it past Toronto. I don’t really care who faces LA but probably am rooting a little harder for the Brewers tonight.

What a gross way for LA to advance. Philly sucks. But the flip side is that Phootball Philly lost to the Giants lol. Love it. Philly losing, no matter the sport, will always be preferred.

Also, it’s my dad’s birthday. Happy 88th my man! See you in a few hours.

Nice to see the Phillies wake up a little and watching Kershaw get shoved around is always a tasty treat. Sad to see the Yankees as I know it made Georgie Boy bummed for yet another year. But what do I know, maybe they don’t have years in heaven.

I’m cutting the Niners D some slack on Stafford carving them up. Stafford is one of the best QB’s of his generation and he had multiple weapons racing all over the field all night. What I’m worried about is that at this point in their careers Baker is probably better than Stafford right now. And I have no idea how we are going to run on the Tampa D. Of course, we’ve run on no one so far so…..

Nice to see the Yankees come back and get one. I bet that made George happy up in heaven.

Who’s worried about the Niners in Tampa? #metoo. That one seems like an L waiting to happen. I couldn’t believe how good Baker Mayfield looked in Seattle.

It’s funny, we talk about how much coaching matters or doesn’t matter in baseball. But when it comes to being an NFL QB I’m not sure if there’s anything that matters more than a coach. Think about it. Look at what Mac is doing in SF. Or Baker after he got out of Cleveland. Darnold with us a few years ago. Daniel Jones in Indy right now.

Well the Phillies almost pulled off a pretty great comeback. In the end they were bitches and that disappointed me. At least KC lost. Loo, they are my mortal enemy for life after taking 2 SB’s from us. Two SB’s we should have won. Had Montana been at the helm under Bill Walsh’s watchful eye I’m positive we’d have 7 right now……

Would like to see the Phillies man-up today. Don’t really care about the Brewers game. Still don’t know how Milwaukee wins so many games but I guess they’re good. They just don’t look like a championship team to me.

I still don’t get why MLB didn’t have a single game going on the one day this week they wouldn’t be competing with collage football or the NFL.

Four goodies today though. I’m gonna go Cubs, Toronto, LA and Sea win today.

Whenever things look the bleakest in the NFL that’s probably the time to be the most confident. We had Mac, a gaggle of castoffs, no Bosa, we’re in their yard…..yeah, we had them right where we wanted them.

I love Big Cock Brock. He’s my quarterback. But when I saw Mac Jones dry heaving on the sideline and gobbling down bananas and shit I beamed with pride. THAT is a guy you want leading your football team! For however long he leads it, they will follow…..

Missed all those games. The Skubal line looked very “lincecum-esque”. Reds are probably overmatched, aye?

I know everyone is worried about Ally Kat but I’m not really sure how to find out about him short of driving by his house and knocking on the door. And that’s not really Big Flavor’s modus operandi. I’m more stealth than that.

There’s no obit’s out there for him if that does anything for ya.