Another year, another parade, and now … time to take a couple of weeks off. I’ll be on vacation so this blog will go silent, and if the Giants do anything else someone else will cover it on our main sports website. Thanks as always to all of you loyal readers, it was another fun year. Happy holidays, all, and enjoy the annual “Year in Quotes.” It’s always a bit more entertaining after a title run …
“I was in the shower just now and I was thinking about Dee Gordon, to be honest with you. How do we get Dee Gordon? My mind will be all L.A. through the weekend.” — Jake Peavy, a few days before a September series in Los Angeles.
“It was a blob. But it had the Belt lips and the Belt nose.” – Brandon Belt, on the ultrasound of the baby Baby Giraffe.
“Shortstop, another Brandon … Crawford.” – Jason Bateman, guest PA announcer at Dodger Stadium (the Giants had three Brandons in the lineup).
“The thing I always ask myself, and I’ll ask it about this function: If I would have hit two, would there be a bobblehead? No? Well, then this is fantastic!” – Duane Kuiper, on his bobblehead night.
“I was determined coming into the year to prove something to myself and a lot of people who maybe didn’t think I could come back at 38 years old.” – Tim Hudson.
“We were shocked he was going that fast. I don’t think that hamstring has ever seen that speed.” – Bruce Bochy, on Santiago Casilla’s sprint to first that led to a strained hamstring.
“I’m going to go to my house and drink a little bit. Can I say that?” – Tim Lincecum, on his no-hitter celebration.
“I had a dream I saw someone riding it. I tackled him.” – Hunter Pence, on his lost scooter.
“Have you seen him in those things? It’s not a good look. But hey, if it works, keep breakin’ ‘em out.” – Bochy, on Pablo Sandoval’s boots.
“He hit the piss out of it. I probably would have flipped it, too.” – Hudson, after Yasiel Puig flipped his bat on a massive homer.
“It was just one towel. The umpires looked at me like I was an idiot. So I guess I’m an idiot. But that was my alter-ego.” – Lincecum, after impersonating Bochy in Atlanta.
“I hate to tip my cap to a hitter, but I threw a 3-2 curve and he hit the dog-snot out of it. Then you hang a curveball to the eight-hitter and give up a double that scores a run. That chaps my butt a little bit.” – Ryan Vogelsong, after a bad start against the Diamondbacks.
“I was trying not to have a stroke.” – Hudson, after a super-slow jog to first on a muggy day in St. Louis.
“I wonder if he’s human sometimes. I think he is, but I don’t know. I wish I was doing that at 23.” — Belt, on Joe Panik.
“He was pretty excited with where he hit today. He asked me how much I had to drink last night.” – Bochy, when he moved a slumping Sandoval to the cleanup spot.
“How ’bout that? Obviously it means I’m a big speed guy. (Dee) Gordon. (Christian) Yelich is up there. We’re all at the same level speed-wise.” – Brandon Crawford, one of the National League leaders in triples.
“I told him, ‘You know I have like five career stolen bases, right?’” – Crawford to Paul Goldschmidt, when a Diamondbacks pitcher kept throwing over to first.
“I’m one of the few guys in BP who tries to hit homers. I try to hit it as far as I can … Because that’s how I swing all the time.” – Pence, talking about why he would be a good fit in the Home Run Derby.
“My mom gets on the speaker phone and asks, ‘What’s wrong?’ I told her this is the first good call you’re getting at 3 a.m.” – Panik, the day he was called up.
“I didn’t know what he was doing. I just didn’t want him to die.” — Pence, on giving the Phillie Phanatic CPR.
“I mean, how can you change me? I don’t know how to do it normal, you know? The way I’m doing it is normal to me.” — Pence, on the way he plays the game.
“He doesn’t know or doesn’t believe there’s another way. He’s beautiful.” — Tim Flannery on Pence.
“I started doing crafts.” — Bearded Lincecum.
“You know I’ll die for that man.” — Peavy, talking about Bochy right after the trade.
“I thought he was going to throw me a cookie. I thought wrong.” — Andrew Susac, explaining how Clayton Kershaw smiled at him as he walked up for his first big league at-bat. Susac grounded out on a 93 mph fastball.
“It’s a really special and emotional time that we had when he first came up and I first saw him. What a great day. I couldn’t be prouder of him.” — Bruce Bochy on Brett Bochy.
“You’ve got to make sure you put a bowl of kale out there for lunch and he’s good to go.” — Bochy, when Pence played in his 360th straight game.
“It was soft. The field was soft. That’s all I really have to say.” – Ron Wotus, after the field conditions ended a long night at Wrigley.
“Available video of the incident, and conversations with representatives of the Cubs, demonstrate that the Cubs’ inability to deploy the tarp appropriately was caused by the failure to properly wrap and spool the tarp after its last use. As a result, the groundskeeping crew was unable to properly deploy the tarp after the rain worsened. In accordance with Rule 4.12(a)(3), the game should be considered a suspended game that must be completed at a future date.” – MLB’s statement giving a team a successful protest for the first time in 28 years.
“Pull! Pull! Pull!” – Fans at Wrigley Field as the grounds crew struggled.
“Consistency was something I was looking so forward to finding and I did. It was heartbreaking to kind of fall out of it.” – Lincecum, after he was pulled from the rotation.
“I have a better chance than Marco.” – Bochy, when asked if the Belt baby (Greyson Ellis Belt) would be named Bruce.
“It’s not the Super 8 in Altoona.” – Jarrett Parker, on his first day in the big leagues.
“What else do you want me to do? The Tiger fist pump?” – Vogelsong, on his quick fist pump after his complete game.
“I got tired of thinking about it and took a nap.” – Matt Duffy, on the trade deadline. He was pulled off a Flying Squirrels road trip and thought he had been dealt.
“We did not receive a rose.” — Bobby Evans, on the Jon Lester sweepstakes.
“I know that I had a great career in San Francisco, but I’m going to have a new one here with new challenges.” — Sandoval, during his introductory press conference in Boston.
“He was lost for a split second, and that’s all I was going for, really. Then he knew it was me.” — Crawford, after hiding Belt’s glove when he ran to the dugout during a pitching change.
“We finish first in the most important area.” — Evans, on the Giants always “finishing second” in bidding.
“He made fun of me for three straight years. As soon as I heard about it, I ran as fast as I could to the trainer’s room. I’m just glad Cain was good enough to make me feel a lot better by joining my situation.” – Jeremy Affeldt, on Cain’s sandwich incident.
“I don’t think it’s a concussion. I remember my name … Gregor Blanco.” – Hector Sanchez, joking around after a brutal foul tip in Los Angeles (months before he actually got concussed).
“I don’t like the idea of somebody putting me to sleep.” – Belt, as he prepared for his first surgical procedure in 18 years (after getting hit by a pitch).
“We call him Chubbs, from ‘Happy Gilmore.’” Bochy, the day Belt showed up with his cast.
“Made it out alive!” – Belt, tweeting with his good fingers after surgery.
“No. But I did tweet at him.” – Bochy, when asked if he called Belt after his procedure.
“There are three things that are really tough to do when you have no dominant hand, I’m not telling you one of them. The other two are brushing your teeth and putting on your socks and shoes.” – Belt, with a cast on his broken left thumb.
“They’ve always been in there — it’s just that now they’re are mad at me and they’re letting me know about it. They’ve never been a problem before.” – Cain, a few days before he had bone chips removed from his elbow.
“Who knows? I wish I would know. When he hit me, it literally felt that day like he grabbed my leg and pulled it out of my hip like a chicken.” – Marco Scutaro, when asked if he still feels Matt Holliday’s slide is unrelated to his current issues.
“I’m pretty sure I set the record in vestibular testing.” — Belt, after Dr. Micky Collins cleared him to return from the concussion DL.
“It’s Giants baseball, you know? It’s an even year.” — Michael Morse.
“I can’t really think of a time where we were as good as we are now. We’re going to ride it out, ride the wave.” – Lincecum in June.
“We cannot get excited. It’s too early for that.” – Angel Pagan, in June.
“You play with blinders on, like you’re a horse. You keep going forward.” – Morse, after a 5-2 trip through St. Louis and Cincinnati.
“I figure it’s more awkward when they don’t talk to you than when they do.” – Lincecum, when asked why he talks to teammates so much during no-hitters.
“Timmy was prepared this time. He didn’t have his back turned.” – Buster Posey, on the Lincecum no-hitter celebration.
“Everything that I’ve been through with this team makes that moment more special – Lincecum after the no-hitter.
“The only people frustrated are you guys. We’re trying to play our best, man. We’ve got 25 guys in here coming in every day to play to win. There’s no stopping that. That’s what we do.” — Morse, when told fans were frustrated by a losing stretch late in the summer.
“We would have loved to come crashing in the front door, instead of the back door. But this works.” — Bochy on being in the wild-card game.
“It doesn’t matter how you get from A to B. Our goal at the beginning of this (bleeping) season is to win a (bleeping) World Series. And guess what boys — we’re going to the (bleeping) dance.” — Pence, giving a speech after the Giants clinched a postseason spot.
“Right now we’re not guaranteed another game here at home. We’ve got to go earn that. It’s a part of the journey. Do you guys want to see another game here at home? Yes! Yes! Yes!” — Pence, to 40,000-plus fans after Game 162.
“It’s crazy. I’m just some small-town guy from Aberdeen, Washington just doing my wrestling thing. You see it being done by 40,000 people and you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh!’ It was awesome.” — Daniel Bryan, on Pence’s speech after Game 162.
“You’ve just got to get in.” — Peavy, talking about a team meeting where the Giants discussed finding some way into the postseason.
“He told us we have champions blood.” — Pence, on the message Bochy gave them in an August meeting.
“One more.” — Casilla, pointing to Mike Krukow’s ring before the wild-card game.
“Ed-die! Ed-die! Ed-die!” — 40,000 Pirates fans, moments before Crawford hit a grand slam off Edinson Volquez.
“When I hit it, it died down a little bit. Then it went over the fence and it was just silent.” — Crawford.
“Obviously (the Nationals) have a talented group over there, there’s no question. They have some great pitching. But come playoff time, talent can take you a long ways, but what do you have between your legs? That’s going to take you real far. And I think we’ve got a group in here that really has some of that.” — Hudson, before the Nationals series.
“We understand that we might not be man for man, you know, the favorites. We are not given a lot of credit. We take pride in being chained together. Our strength is in who we are as a team.” — Peavy, after the first game of the NLDS.
“They could have brought Sandy Koufax in and we probably would have had smiles on our faces.” — Hudson, on Jordan Zimmermann getting pulled.
“I actually don’t even remember it happening.” — Belt, on his 18th inning bat drop.
“I never do anything cool. So this is weird for me.” — Pence, on his leaping catch at the wall.
“You know what, tonight I saw that he had a new pair of cleats on, he had the Mike Trout cleats. So he decided he was going to play like Mike Trout out there, I guess.” — Madison Bumgarner, after Travis Ishikawa had a huge NLCS game.
“I love this time of year of the year. I guess I just wasn’t ready to let it go.” — Vogelsong explaining why he sat in his uniform all night after being pulled from a postseason start.
“Honestly, we just know how to win. We know how to win in this type of situation. It seems like we do all the little things right and it adds up.” — Belt, during the NLCS.
“Rocks and slingshots, man. We can score runs without hits. We’ve proven that.” — Flannery after Randy Choate’s game-ending error.
“I still can’t believe Morse hit that ball out. I couldn’t pick (Pat) Neshek up. I just could not. I tried everything. That was an incredible at-bat.” — Posey, on Morse’s game-tying homer in Game 5 of the NLCS.
“Man. I swear I felt the earth shake.” — Morse, on his curtain call after the Game 5 homer.
“Move! I hit it out!” — Ishikawa to Peavy.
“It felt amazing. Then you feel like a jackass. Then you go, the heck with it.” — Peavy, the next day.
“I blacked out. I was too elated. I lost my mind. I couldn’t see. I couldn’t hear. I couldn’t think. It was chaos.” — Pence, on Ishikawa’s walk-off.
“I can’t remember anything after the ball going over the fence.” — Ishikawa.
Amy Gutierrez: “You’re going to go celebrate with the baby right?”
Belt: “Yep, pour some champagne on it.”
“We picked out a trolley car,” Wyatt Peavy (Jake’s young son).
“I’ll get into that if and when this thing happens,” Jake Peavy.
“I think we already picked out our trolley car,” Wyatt Peavy, whispering.
“No, it was really loud in my head.” — Pence, when asked if he realized how quiet Kauffman Stadium got after his Game 1 homer.
“It’s part of the game. Probably, he’s jealous that I’ve got two World Series.” — Sandoval, when asked why Yordano Ventura kept glaring at him during Game 6.
“This is the biggest stage, and to have two teams laying it all on the line, that’s the ultimate in sports. We’re in the World Series and we have two teams that are competing as fierce as you’ll ever see. That’s a lot of fun.” — Pence, before Game 7.
“It’s a will to win. A will to win. They compete better than anybody in almost any sport. They just keep playing. I can’t explain it.” — Brian Sabean, after the NLDS.
“They are cockroaches. You can’t kill them. I’m so proud.” — Sabean, after the NLCS.
“It doesn’t make any difference what anybody else thinks. We’re our own dynasty.” — Sabean, after the World Series.
“I never thought that could happen to me. I just about passed out when he asked me.” — Affeldt, after the Hall of Fame asked for his cleats.
“We’re World Series champs. Can you believe it?!” — Hudson, to his three children.
“I’m numb through all of this. This group of warriors continues to amaze me. Nobody wanted it more than them.” — Bochy, after Game 7
“There’s just something about his gut and his instincts. He finds a way to put you in the best possible situation to succeed.” — Ishikawa, on Bochy.
“How about a Bruce Bochy statue? The only thing is, I don’t know if we’ll be able to find enough marble to sculpt the head.” — Larry Baer.
“Hunter, you see those cameras up there? That means live TV. So choose your words wisely, pal.” — Posey, talking to Pence during the city hall celebration.
“Vogey out!” — Vogelsong, at the parade.
“In today’s game, if it’s not, it’s as close as you’re going to get.” — Posey, when asked if the Giants are a dynasty.
“Through all the tough times, we said, don’t forget: We’re the best team in the world. You’ve got to believe it.” — Pence.
Reporter: “What’s unique about Madison Bumgarner?”
Pence: “Everything.”
Reporter: “Could I ask you for one thing.”
Pence: “One thing is that he’s left-handed.”
Reporter: “Can you name another thing?”
Pence: “You’re changing the rules.”
Reporter: “Yes, I am changing the rules.”
Pence: “His name is Madison.”
“I was just congratulating him. It was a really good hit. It was impressive. Again, I don’t know why everybody got so mad. It escalated quickly for no reason. I think he said ‘Thank you.’ I’m not sure if he did. I don’t speak Spanish very well.” — Bumgarner, after an argument with Puig as the Dodgers outfielder approached home.
“He’s going to be hard to deal with in this locker room after hitting two grand slams this year. He’s already kind of hard to deal with anyway.” — Hudson, after Bumgarner’s second slam.
“Maybe we can take a picture together.” – Bumgarner, on winning Pitcher of Month as Yasiel Puig won Player of the Month.
“I just remember him being pretty big and I try to kind of stay away from bigger guys.” — Lincecum, on his first meeting with Bumgarner.
“I put a word in with Tulo. But I haven’t heard back from him yet.” — Bumgarner, when asked if he wanted to be in the home run derby.
“Yeah. He can get some postseason hits.” — Belt, when asked if Bumgarner could get better.
“He’ll know if it’s on purpose. I make sure of that. It wasn’t, obviously.” — Bumgarner, after he hit Puig with a pitch and the two exchanged heated words.
“His situational hitting is, ‘Let me try to hit it 20 rows deep. That’s the situation he thinks about.” — Hudson, on Bumgarner’s swing.
“I think the last pitcher who swung that hard was Babe Ruth.” — Vin Scully.
“I don’t think Abraham Lincoln lived there.” — Bumgarner, when asked about growing up in a log cabin.
“He was one of the few high school pitchers I had ever seen pitch inside. I thought at the time that he wasn’t afraid of much, and I don’t think that’s changed. He’s always been fearless. It’s how he was brought up. It’s in his DNA.” — Dick Tidrow.
“I mean, I don’t really drink much of the beer. I just pour it on me. It’s pretty difficult to drink six at a time or whatever it was.” — Bumgarner, on his signature celebration.
“(Bumgarner) was bugging me last night to pitch. He was driving me nuts. Three or four times, he said: ‘I can get LaRoche … I can get Harper.’ After the Harper homer, I (joked): ‘Alright, get your spikes on.’ Geez, every time I turned around I bumped into him.” — Bochy, after the final game of the NLCS, saying Bumgarner wanted to pitch out of the bullpen. A little foreshadowing …
“Because we don’t have to face Bumgarner no more.” — Kansas City’s Jarrod Dyson, explaining why the Royals felt good after falling behind 3-2 in the World Series. Oops!
“I think I would insult him if I checked with him.” — Bochy, when asked before the World Series if he was worried about Bumgarner’s workload.
“Maybe 200? I don’t know. As long as you get outs. I feel pitch counts are overrated.” — Bumgarner, asked how many pitches he could throw out of the bullpen.
“As soon as I saw him warming up and we had the lead, I knew it was over. I knew the big fella was going to get it done.” — Hudson, on Bumgarner coming on in relief.
“We’re gonna go with that Bumgarner guy.” — Jets coach Rex Ryan, when asked if he was starting Geno Smith or Mike Vick.
“Sometimes you wonder if he’s got a pulse.” — Cain, on Bumgarner.
“He’s got a set of brass balls on him like I’ve never seen.” — Hudson.
“That’s a Hall of Fame performance. I really don’t think you’re going to see that again.” — Affeldt.
“He might be part horse. I don’t know.” — Dave Groeschner.
“There is no bigger stage. But he’s just Madison Bumgarner.” — Pence.
“We just got on his horse and rode it.” — Bochy.
“Bum has the cheat code to life.” — Vogelsong.
“You know what, I can’t lie to you anymore. I’m a little tired now.” — Bumgarner after Game 7.
San Francisco Giants top pitching prospect, Shaun Anderson, made his major league debut Wednesday afternoon in front of friends and family. Anderson appreciated the Giants flying his entire family out on short notice.
MOLENA to BUSTER POSEY from ANDRES TORRES to ANGEL PAGAN from TIMMY LINCECUM to JEFF SAMARDZIJA if you see where I’m goin’
I am well aware of the fact that as bad as I may feel nobody feels worse then the player himself.
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