Category Archives: san francisco

san francisco, SF Giants, spring training, The lighter side of sports

ADRIANZA STEPS ASIDE & THE RETURN OF THE MOOSE

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Some  San Francisco Giants recent happenings:

Signing of NICK HUNDLEY free agent CATCHER 1 year 2 million dollars.

Trevor Brown will start in Triple A but will have a chance to show his stuff during Spring Training. The franchise felt there was a need for another catcher even though Buster Posey started 122 games last season.

EHIRE ADRIANZA will step aside to make room on the 40 man roster for the 33 year old Hundley. Personally I have seen Adrianza get some huge hits when it counted so Hundley has that to live up to.

nick-hundley

Hundley, it is said, has hit “more effectively” than most Rockies on the road so let’s hope he can hit well as a Giant. Hundley has been a member of two of our rival teams, the San Diego Padres and the Colorado Rockies. I’m simply going to have a much harder time loving him because of that. But…Welcome Nick! 🙂

“Every season, the more we can keep Buster behind the plate and healthy, the stronger the team is,” General Manager Bobby Evans said.

Who won’t be playing in the WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC?

MARK MELENCON who signed with the Giants in December and most likely wants to go spend some of that $62 million he will be paid over 4 years.

I don’t know…? Did we really need another over paid over rated pitcher?  Yes we did. Do! In my teenie tiny little opinion- relievers were our weakest point last season. Fingers crossed!

nice-guy-and-all-star-mark-melanon-2013

OUTFIELD

BYE BYE TO THE WHITE SHARK 😦

GREGOR BLANCO Now with the Arizona Diamondbacks on a Minor League contract! Crazy! Oh but it came with “an invitation to big league camp”.

Gregor Blanco, besides being one of the most pleasant people on and off the field, was a huge part of the “Magic” of 2012 and 2014.  And then there was that supernatural catch June 13 2012 that saved Matt Cain‘s perfect game.

Gregor has always been one of my favorite SFG boys.  I will miss him as a Giant but if the D-Backs have half a brain I should be seeing him at Chase Field soon.

“I would say Gregor will always be remembered as a ‘Forever Giant,'” said left-hander Javier Lopez in a recent text message, citing the label that the franchise frequently attaches to its favorite sons.

“There’s no doubt that he and I will always be connected in our baseball careers because of that amazing catch,” Cain said via text.

LEFT FIELD

JARRET PARKER and MAC WILLIAMSON
Only one will get the job even though ones a left and ones a righty
Leaving themselves open in case someone magical emerges from the Non invitees

RIGHT AND CENTER FIELDS

SPOKEN FOR BY SPAN AND PENCE

Pence and Posey.jpg
HAPPY DAYS WE’VE GOT  THE MOOSE BACK -I missed MICHAEL MORSE and look forward to viewing his…talents in Scottsdale next month.

No formal invitation yet but I think he will be there.  We do have our first baseman BRANDON (peaches) BELT but Morse has been “inked” to our Minor League.
MORSE AND FREE AGENT JUSTIN RUGIANO will try to bring some hitting from a side of the plate that hasn’t seen much action lately.

michaelmorsekcoeko7sjoqm

THIRD BASE

JAE-GYUN HWANG

Giants’ have an agreement with free-agent third baseman Jae-gyun Hwang on a one-year Minor League deal with an invitation to Major League camp.

“We’re very fortunate he chose us,” Evans said of Hwang, who will earn $1.5 million if he makes the big league club. Evans didn’t address Hwang’s anticipated role, though he did say that the Korean has the potential to help the team “at some point this year.”

Courtesy of Chris Haft

sfg-hwang
Hwang

Welcome! 🙂

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AT&T Park, san francisco, SF Giants, The lighter side of sports

GET ON THOSE HITTIN’ SHOES

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OK WE TAKE ON LA AGAIN TONIGHT, FRESH GAME, FRESH START, STILL GOT SOME ISSUES BUT ONE OF THEM SHOULD NOT BE THE RIVALRY AGAINST THE DODGERS! Let’s concentrate on gettin’ our bats on! 

To sum up what our players, who stood along side Dodger players on the field one day after the horrible incident that resulted in the beating of Brian Stow, “This is a baseball rivalry, on field rivalry, it ends there.  After the game, off the field we are friends.”

We need to remember this.

Yes, BEAT LA! Beat them badly!

But on the field. Those people we call the “STINKING DODGERS” & THE STINKING DODGER FANS” well, darn it, they are people to!

Even when we haven’t been facing the Dodger’s the negativity from Giants “fans” has been overwhelming. It’s so bad on Twitter that I pray for the day these negative fair weather fans will jump or be pushed off the ban wagon and once again the SF Giants can brag about the tremendous fan base they have!  A team that doesn’t have to “freak out” because of fan negativity voice after every less than perfect performance, is going to be a more relaxed, happy, productive team. Lighten up people, this is our team!

In case you think this opinion is all mine, below from a seasoned SF Giants fan & real person, I share her thoughts;

“Hi there! I just had to talk to you via email…I hope that’s ok. Last night twitter was filled with so much negativity! And I’m no prude, but so many vulgar comments were made. I just was disgusted & I felt like it took away the enjoyment of watching the game for me. One of my best friends is a diehard Dodger fan & we’ve had a lot of good chats throughout last year & this… but all done in fun with consideration for each other. Maybe that’s what’s missing on Twitter. Since it’s such a public forum, and very few of us really know each other, that respect and consideration is missing. I don’t know…maybe I’m just too old for this kind of mindless chatter! I do enjoy talking to a lot of people, you of course, but some just seem to cross the line. So I’m thinking tonight I’ll just watch the game & chat with my Dodger friend, who calls her beloved team the “Cellar Dwellers!” Any thoughts? I value your opinion! 🙂

The SF Giants  are about to EXPLODE! Enjoy it every moment of it! After all it’s GIANTS BASEBALL! And there is nothing better! 

matt cains perfect game

san francisco, SF Giants, The lighter side of sports

Quick Hits for June 24, 2013

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SF Giants Photos

TONIGHT’S GAME…The San Francisco Giants visit the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first
game of this three-game series…LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu (6-3, 2.96) is scheduled to face
LHP Madison Bumgarner (7-4, 3.25).

Click HEREfor today’s complete game notes.

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san francisco, SF Giants, The lighter side of sports

The #SFGiants Draft Picks and their Twitter Accounts (that I could find)

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This is something a little different than most SFG Blogs and I love different!

Spring Training Feb 2012

 

Where Everyone's a Giant

A week ago today the Houston Astros kicked off the MLB Draft by taking Mark Appel with the first pick. The Giants, twenty-four picks later chose Christian Arroyo and then the continued rebuilding for the future officially was back on its way. In case you are hoping for news from the Giants draft picks and wondering where you might be able to hear them from, the prospects themselves are a great place to start. Keep in mind that eleven of the picks from 2012 did not sign, including their 7th, 10th, 11th, and 14th round picks. Nothing has been officially announced on the Giants website about picks signing, but slowly announcements of contract signings have been coming in. Picks are listed in the order they were picked by the Giants.

Christian Arroyo — @arroyo_c

Ryder Jones — @Jonesy_56

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san francisco, The lighter side of sports

Sudden impact all around

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In my most recent blog post I mentioned Mychael Urban personally due to his kind response regarding my son’s birthday. Unfortunately the professional information was out of date so correction in direct quote from Mr. Urban
“I no longer write for the Examiner. I write for http://BaySportsNet.com and for myself at http://t.co/Uzb0zX2ikI
My apologies, I sit corrected.

Urbs Unchained

Some of my posts here are going to have a singular focus. More often than not, though, multiple subjects will be addressed, and in the name of generating some sense of appeal, I try to find a theme that might connect the various and seemingly disparate musings.

Whether it works or not, hell, I don’t know. Not even sure it matters. If you dig my work, you’ll read what I post. If you don’t, you’ll bash me anonymously online. I know the drill. Perhaps my thematic efforts are an example of my tendency to make things harder that they need to be. Whatever.

That said … “that written” just feels weak … the theme today is reflected in the first two words of the post title. The topics include the response to my soul-baring, butt-nekkid post on Friday, everything Tim Lincecum says and does, Chad Gaudin’s debut as a Giants starter…

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san francisco, SF Giants, The lighter side of sports

THE PHONE-BOOTH NEVER APPEARS AS GIANTS FALL TO A’S 6-3

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Monday’s defeat of 4-1 by the Oakland A’s was surprising seeing as we had Madison Bumgarner on the mound. He managed to give us 7 innings but gave up 4 runs making our first game of this short road trip a bummer.
Today the much-anticipated ML debut of Mike Kickham wasn’t what we were hoping for and we suffered a 6-3 loss against Oakland tonight leaving that bad taste in my mouth I get whenever we lose to the A’s.

The handsome 24 yr old lefty peered out through his spectacles as he became one of 10 Giants to make his major league debut as a starting pitcher under GM Brian Sabean.

I kept waiting for him to change from Clark Kent to Superman even though it never happened it was easy to imagine.  The horned rimmed glasses made for an uncanny resemblance to Kent’s disguise that to this day fools nobody.  Kickham appeared a dead ringer for the mild-mannered Kent who would at any moment duck into the booth and reappear as Superman.  None of us doubted it as he started out with a 1-2-3 inning throwing a 94 mph fastball that got us Giants fans all excited.

Kickham

The phone-booth never appeared for young Kickham and in the second inning the wheels started to fall off as he gave up a 2-run homer to Norris.
I was fairly certain the rookie was feeling a bit gun-shy after that and feared his nerves would get the better of him.  It appears I was right.

Eric Surkamp underwent Tommy John surgery and placed on 60 day DL.

Santiago Casilla underwent knee surgery to remove a cyst return is possible for July but according to Casilla he doesn’t plan to return until after the All Star break.

The mystery surrounding who was going to fill the slot left by an injured Vogelsong was praying on the minds of most SF Giants fans, but my faith in Bochy left me feeling surprisingly relaxed about the situation. After all,  I saw some good pitchers work out in February while at Scottsdale Stadium and I just assumed we had some good choices.

spring training

Excited for Kickham and assuming he was on the mound for a reason I was expecting to see an exciting debut.  Perhaps I was living in some sort of unrealistic fantasy but I wasn’t the only one. In the third inning after Kickham had managed to load up the bases with only one out Bochy left him in and it turned out to be a disaster.

During his very short debut Kickham gave up four earned runs in 2 1/3 innings and all of a sudden I stopped waiting for that phone booth to appear.

Still I feel that it will be a shame if we don’t get to see more from this young man.  I think after the stress of a first outing such as tonight’s wears off he may very well have some good stuff to offer.
After are new starter was removed from the game Kontos and Lopez each had brief visits to the mound and then Gaudin came in followed by Mijares.

Committing no errors which is always a pleasant surprise given some of the season’s less than tight performances the Giants bats were obviously sleeping through most of this game.

With just 6 hits tonight the Giants scored a less than giants size total of 10 hits during our little visit to Oakland.

Scutaro singled and doubled as the designated hitter and Pence homered in the 9th trying once again to win the game by himself. Too little too late or perhaps we could have pulled this one out of the hat.

I don’t think the A’s will look quite as scary back home at AT&T but we will once again be on familiar territory, the uphill climb. But we can do it, we have before, and we will again.

Now from one of the best:

Bay Area Sports Guy – A’s knock out Kickham early, keep Giants’ offense at bay.

Extra Baggs: Fond memories of Barry Zito’s thrilling debut start, etc.

OAKLAND – “Mike Kickham joined Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner and Tim Lincecum in a club of sorts Tuesday night, albeit one that doesn’t dole out handsome jackets.

None of them won their first big league start.

Almost 13 years ago, the same thing nearly happened to Barry Zito – and I still remember it like it just happened last week.”

san francisco, SF Giants, The lighter side of sports

WOW

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SF Giants Photos

In baseball there is AB, K, R, H, E, LOB, RBI, WAR, BB, SB, CS, OBP, SLG, OPS… and the Giants have added another: WOW (Walk Off Win).  In the 10th inning Angel Pagan hit an inside-the-park home run (the third of his career) for the Giants’ 7th WOW of the season.

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AT&T Park, san francisco, SF Giants, The lighter side of sports

LET’S BREAK THIS TIE TONIGHT!

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Today’s home game #26 (17-8) vs the Colorado Rockies

That’s right it’s “Timmy Day”

Tim Lincecum (3-3, 4.70) will go up against Tyler Chatwood (2-0, 2.55) also a right handed pitcher.

THE GIANTS...Have lost six of their last nine games…however,they still enter tonight’s game in a three-way tie for first place in the NL West with Arizona and Colorado.

Giants have gone 10-2 at home this season vs NL West teams and have swept 3 or their 4 series.

Even though Scutaro’s 19 game hit streak came to an end Wed. his streak was the longest hitting streak in the Majors so far this
season. Good job Marco!

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One streak that hasn’t ended for Scutaro is against Colorado, he has hit in every one of his last 15 games against the Rockies since
he left that team to become a Giant.
Nice for him to do so well against his former team who I am assuming would love to have him back. Keep it up tonight Marco your bat
may be the one that is the factor in us taking game one of this three game series.

 

 

 

 

 

 

ON THE MOUND

Timmy Leroy Lincecum
Born on June 15 1984 he made his Major League debut may 6, 2007

In that same year a the age of 24 years old he became the youngest Cy Young winner in either league, since Roger Clemens was 24 in 1986.

Lincecum also became 13th pitcher to win honor with team having sub .500 record.

Only three pitchers had as many strikeout in their sophomore season as Timmy

Lincecum is Giants franchise record holder for number of games pitched with 10-or-more strikeouts (32)
Unfortunatly in 2012 he had just one double-digit strikeout game.

And the most important “SUPPORT TIMMY” stat tonight

Tim earned his 1st Major League victory May 11 in Colorado, defeating Rockies 8-3.

SFG have gone 11-4 in Timmy’s last 15 outings. The Giants 6-3 record behind Lincecum’s start this season BEST among any of our other
starters.

Tim is 65-7 with run support of 3 or more so our bats know what they have to do tonight!

Speaking our our BATS

GOOD NEWS:
SF GIANTS offense goes into the game tonight LEADING the NL with a .272 average.

BAD NEWS:
SF Giants have errors galore! 14 in their past nine games and now with 18 in the past 15 which lead to the unhappy and surprising
stat: 35 errors have tied us for the 3rd most in the league! Screwing up just slightly less than the Cubbies & the Nats.

IN SUMMARY:

LETS GO GIANTS
RUN SUPPORT FOR TIMMY
LET’S BREAK THIS TIE!

AT&T Park, san francisco, SF Giants, The lighter side of sports

Grabbin’ Some Pine 5/20

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RYAN VOGELSONG’S INJURY TONIGHT WAS TRAGIC BUT HE WENT OUT WITH A 8-0 WIN OVER THE NATIONALS THAT REFUELED HIS TEAM AND I HOPE THAT ACCOMPLISHMENT WILL HELP WITH THE PAIN.

THE SF GIANTS WILL PLAY HARDER FOR THEIR FALLEN TEAMMATE AS ALWAYS TOGETHER THEY WILL BE GIANT.

GET WELL SOON VOGEY!

vogelsong 4172013The rest of the team had an amazing night at the plate Belt with a 4 hit night pounding his 6th home run of the season! Torres long overdue had a 3 hit night driving in the Giants first run of the game.  Scutaro despite an error lengthened  his hitting streak to 18 games.  Total hits for the San Francisco Giants tonight-17! The offense also turned 2 double plays and after Vogelsong left the game with his injured hand our bull pen kept the Nationals scoreless.

Communist Comics

GSP52013

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san francisco, SF Giants, The lighter side of sports

IN SHOCKING MOVE BOCHY SENDS ENTIRE LINE UP TO FRESNO

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In an unprecedented moved Bruce Bochy manager of the World Champion San Francisco Giants optioned the entire starting line-up to triple-A Fresno today.

Giving no explanation, as there was none needed this surprising roster change was followed by  Bochy’s announcement that the cast of “THE BAD NEWS BEARS” would be starting todays game against the Colorado Rockies.

badnewsbears

san francisco, SF Giants, The lighter side of sports

Quick Hits for May 18, 2013

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Marco “Cute-aro” been deep in my SF Giants heart since the day he joined the team! Let’s go get those Rockies tonight! WIN!

SF Giants Photos

TONIGHT’S GAME… The Giants’ six-game, seven-day road trip continues tonight with the third game of this four game series against the Rockies… RHP Tyler Chatwood (3-1, 5.13) is slated to face  RHP Tim Lincecum (3-2, 4.07).

Click HERE for today’s complete game notes.

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AT&T Park, san francisco, SF Giants, The lighter side of sports

MATT CAIN SCORES A BIG ONE AND SO DOES DADDY

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THE SF GIANTS BEAT THE BRAVES tonight by a score of 8-2 behind the pitching of our “Horse” the amazing MATT CAIN!

Matty did a bang up job earning him the first effortless win of this season. He looked mahhhhvelous!

http://sfgiantsphotos.mlblogs.com/tag/matt-cain/

Matt did more than pitch well; he helped himself out with RBI’s giving us all back the faith in our “veteran” that may have wavered a bit recently. With only one previous win this season it’s been an unusual start for “THE PITCHER” of our team.

Matt did pitch games that he either “deserved” to win or won out-right had won until a “reliever” screwed it up for him. But that’s then and tonight’s tonight!!

This tweeter follower and fellow SF Giants fan puts it well:


RideTheNightTrain ‏@SFGiantsMadBum

Damn proud of Cain. Limiting an offensively potent team like the Braves to two runs is great! Way to go! #RallyHorse
#SFGiants

For complete game recap please go to www.sfgiants.com

And now for the fishing report:

METRI LAKE

A missing fisherman’s body was found yesterday off the east end of Metri Lake, Yuma AZ yesterday by divers who had been searching for days.

The California man’s submerged boat and abandon pick-up truck had been found earlier this week after friends reported him missing almost a week ago. The police and divers have been searching the lake for days for the missing man.

This was tragic and the first death of a fisherman on this quite lake that anyone can remember. Metri Lake is where I was first introduced to Largemouth Bass fishing and since it’s a short drive from my house I fish there often.

Even though dad and I had talked about going out today, I was not anxious to go out until the body was found so I was relieved last night, as I’m sure the man’s family was, when he was found.

Last spring a month or so before I attended the fateful opening series in Phoenix where I watched my beloved SF Giants get swept by the AZ D-Backs, I cracked my ankle after rescuing a man from drowning in this same lake. As we were headed back to the dock that day I noticed a man floating in the lake while holding his arm, up much as if he was skiing and was waiting for the boat to circle. He was not skiing, in fact nobody skis on Metri Lake, I don’t even think it is allowed.

This guy had a rope in his hand which was attached to his totally submerged flat bottom aluminum boat and he was struggling to stay above water. I put daddy behind the wheel of the boat and went to the back to try to help the guy in the boat. Well, this guy was big! And exhausted, and couldn’t pull himself into the boat. Well with the adrenaline I am assuming that those mom’s get when they lift the car off of their babies, I reached over the edge of our boat, grabbed this very large man by his belt and heaved him into the boat.

Long story short we towed him and his boat to shore and even though I think he was still in shock dad and I went home with quite the experience under our belts.

Any whooo…I was a bit worried that given our history we would be the unfortunate fisher persons to find the body of the poor soul. Thankfully not, but Daddy did catch a fish that could have swallowed us both whole!! Whopper!

Over 6 lbs and 23 inches long with the biggest mouth I have ever seen on a fish, this beauty was caught this morning before 9 am on a “drop shot”- tequila-sunrise worm with a chartreuse tipped tail.


san francisco, SF Giants, The lighter side of sports

ZITO LEAVES SF GIANTS TO JOIN METALLICA

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JUST KIDDING! Got your attention though didn’t I?

Barry Zito visits Metallica in the studio on Thursday, March 28, 2013.

Only re-hashing old news because my beloved son SF Giants fan and Metallica fan worked last night during “Metallica night”.

Sure you’ve seen it all in re-plays by now, but just in case…

Metallica on SFG Live

http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=26810125&topic_id=22048014&c_id=sf

Barry Zito visits Metallica in the studio on Thursday, March 28, 2013. Your mamma loves you!

 

 

 

http://sfgiantsphotos.mlblogs.com/

san francisco, SF Giants, The lighter side of sports

SF GIANTS FILL FANS RX

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celebrate good times SFG

Ok I don’t have to tell you that today our defending World Champions suffered more than just a loss at home to the St. Louis Cardinals today-we got our butts kicked!

The final score with the Cardinals beating us 14-3 was bad enough but more than the beating, was the “poor” performance of our beloved World Champions.

The loss seemed even more shocking since the first pitch followed right behind the World Champion Ring Ceremony.  The members of this organization were presented with diamond rings custom designed for each and every one by Tiffany’s. Today’s WS RING CEREMONY & PRESENTATION was the third of three days honoring our heroes at their home stadium.

And then they play a game that displays very little of the talent that allows them to wear rings truly fit for Kings. It wasn’t pretty.

In other words,

They gave us exactly what we wanted. Emotion!

Hey, we didn’t play well and I feel very strongly about it, I came a bit unglued for a while as did most other Giants fans.  But I never got bored and I was truly feeling some strong emotions.

Admit it. If you are a SF Giants fan you need that!  YOU THRIVE OFF OF IT! That is why our fan base is greater and more passionate than any other.

Some of you were angry, some stunned, disgusted, embarrassed, or frustrated.

Many fans threw their hands up and left  long before the game was over.  In my opinion those aren’t the real seasoned Giants fans.  Those who know the team have experienced many games such as today’s along with some of the most incredible comebacks in major league baseball.

It’s those  fans that  know that if we have any at bats left, we still have a chance.

I would not have left until the very last out and many didn’t  They continued to clap and cheer even though it seemed impossible to score enough runs to even make it interesting.  Even though it didn’t happen, it could have and it has before.

I love any opportunity to watch my team play and leaving a game early is depriving myself of the experience I live season to season for, to be at the ball park watching live San Francisco Giants baseball.

I can’t even comprehend that folks would be bored because of all the things I felt during that game today boredom was certainly not one of them!

I have been a fan of the Giants since they came to San Francisco and waited my whole life for that trophy we finally won in 2010. An old die-hard fan such as myself is very familiar with loosing. Winning is still fairly new to me and I like it, but I like it because it does NOT COME EASY!

Up until the very moment the 2010 World Champion Giants  held that trophy in their hands, according to others, there was “no way” they could win.  We had” no hitters, no pitchers”, they just wouldn’t admit we could do it. But we did!  And for me all those years of agony finally paid off.  We won that trophy against all odds, it didn’t come easy. I was there for the parade, for opening day when they walked into AT&T as champions, it was amazing!

I thought my life was over when I had to relocate to Arizona in June later that year for family reasons. Second only to the ocean, I missed my baseball team more than anything. And still do.

Magically I did not have to miss opening day with my team.   I was at Chase Stadium for the entire three game series and we got swept by the D-Backs as their fans booed and heckled both the team and me.  2012 was also not an easy win for the Giants.

But here we are back home in 2013 being welcomed as World Champions again! This achievement was also accomplished against overwhelming odds. the skipper with trophy parade 2012

There is and will be a lot said about this game and the Giants performance but it’s all going to be said by somebody who cares enough to feel strongly about it.  Today all SF Giants fans got what many have to live without, a baseball team that win or lose allows them to feel EMOTION! We all felt SOMETHING!

This is a team that builds its strength from its weaknesses and a performance like today’s will be just what the doctor ordered. I can’t wait to hear someone say we “can’t do it again” because I love a challenge. And so does my ball team!

After all how boring would it be to follow a team that makes winning look easy? Yawn.  

SF Giants fans love the TORTURE, WE THRIVE OFF OF IT, IT IS OUR FUEL.

and besides you know what “they” say:

NOTHING WORTH HAVING EVER COMES EASY!

matt cains perfect game

AT&T Park, san francisco, SF Giants, The lighter side of sports

Authentic Opening Day

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Missing my first opening day was rough! Missing the home opener is going to be even harder still. Perhaps I will hop a plane and sneak away so that I can be back home in the Bay Area for the Ring Ceremony. But mean while thanks to http://sfgiantsphotos.mlblogs.com/ at least I can see what I’m missing.

SF Giants Photos

While the team was in LA to open the 2013 season many fans headed to AT&T Park to watch the game from the best seats in San Francisco.

SF 0 – LA 4

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AT&T Park, san francisco, SF Giants, The lighter side of sports

MY SFGIANTS TOES GO TO SPRING TRAINING!

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February 19 2013

MY SFGIANTS TOES GO TO SPRING TRAINING 

Do they look ready? You better “believe” they are!

my toes go to spring training 21913


 

Leaving tomorrow for Scottsdale with plans to spend some quality time kicking back at Scottsdale Stadium while enjoying my favorite view, MEN.

Not just any men, my favorite men, the World Champion San Francisco Giants!

The very talented nail artist Jay from “Best Nails & Spa of Yuma, LLC” was kind enough to make certain that my toes will put their best “foot” (teehee) forward.  I asked for this toes art for the opening games against the D-Backs last season but got a flower instead. 😦

      jay nail artist 21920013 jay toes artist

Today I found Jay who didn’t even hesitate when I showed the SFGiants logo on my flip-flops happy to reproduce it on my less than lovely feet.  This gentleman is truly talented and I am sure that he is the first to do this for a fan, at least this year.  If you would like to have your toes “Giantized” all you have to do is leave California and the glorious bay area and pine away for your home in the desert of Yuma Arizona where Nobody is a Giants fan except me!

on the mound scottsdale 2 2012

One of the things that has kept my orange blood flowing since I left my home and heart in San Francisco almost two years ago is the fact that since I have been here I found that I can enjoy my team in Scottsdale which is a very relaxed setting. Even Bochy seems different during these less stressful days of spring training, he smiles more. And to make it even better the timing is perfect for my birthday get aways.

My first season here to keep me from loosing it the Lord saw that I didn’t have to miss opening day and ecstatically spent it with my Giants at Chase Field home of the D-Backs and some of the most unfriendly fans I have ever been in the company of. Arizona killed us all three games but you can’t have everything.

When I long for both my team and the ocean, San Diego is three hours in the other direction.  When we are visiting the Padres this venue offers friendlier fans a large percentage of them Giants fans. The ocean is nothing here compared to my home on the northern coast but it is the ocean and as a Pisces I must have it!

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Not to mention the trips back to the bay and AT&T Park which so far have somehow always fallen during baseball season. 

ferry-att.jpg

I don’t have any intention of curing my fever for the most wonderful baseball team in history no matter where life takes me. As I turn yet another year older this weekend I can proudly say that the San Francisco Giants and I were born and raised together! Actually one of us is one year older than the other but I’m not talking.

 

brian wilson, san francisco, SF Giants, The lighter side of sports

Brian Wilson To Start For Niners In Superbowl

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So many different stories about the fate of our beloved Brian Wilson.  Most are out dated and much like his gnome-he could be anywhere!  One thing goes without saying, there will never be a more intriguing or brilliantly strange character in professional baseball or anywhere else.  I for one will miss him. Or will I?

San Francisco Giants: Brian Wilson likely won’t return to team

By Alex Pavlovic

http://www.mercurynews.com/giants/ci_22411224/san-francisco-giants-brian-wilson-likely-wont-return

Brian Wilson continues to work out under SF Giants’ watch
http://blog.sfgate.com/giants/2013/01/09/brian-wilson-continues-to-work-out-under-sf-giants-watch/

Source: Mets work out Brian Wilson
Updated: January 14, 2013, 9:24 PM ET
By Adam Rubin | ESPNNewYork.com

The Beard may be switching coasts.

Brian Wilson worked out privately for New York Mets general manager Sandy Alderson on Saturday in
California, a baseball source told ESPNNewYork.com.

Wilson, 30, underwent Tommy John surgery last April after two early-season appearances.

http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/8840433/new-york-mets-hold-workout-brian-wilson-
source-says


Rumor Roundtable: The market for Brian Wilson
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/mlb-rumors/21558263/rumor-roundtable-whats-brian-wilsons-market

The Mets were not impressed by Brian Wilson

Craig Calcaterra Jan 16, 2013, 8:23 AM EST

As you know, Brian Wilson worked out for the Mets the other day. Color them unimpressed, reports
Mike Puma:

According to a baseball source Tuesday, the veteran closer didn’t impress the Mets during his
workout at UCLA on Saturday and wasn’t deemed worthy of a major league contract at this point in
his rehab from Tommy John surgery. Wilson, the source said, wasn’t interested in a minor league
deal.

“Physically, he’s not ready,” the source said. “He’s got a ways to go.”

Perhaps he does have a “ways to go” but where is he going?!

WISON WHERE YA RUNNIN OFF TOO

AT&T Park, san francisco, SF Giants, The lighter side of sports

World Baseball Classic at AT&T!

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SAN FRANCISCO — This year’s World Baseball Classic ends with an accent on the Giants, since the tournament’s championship rounds will be held at their home field, AT&T Park.

Many countries apparently believe that success in the Classic begins with the Giants, too.

Teams from six different nations unveiled provisional rosters Thursday that include at least one player from the Giants organization. The opportunists weren’t shy about which players they sought from last year’s World Series winners, either.

from:
http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?

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photos courtesy of

http://wp.me/p292Je-4fr

SF Giants Photos

san francisco, SF Giants, The lighter side of sports

Missing Baseball Not Timmy’s Hair

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Wow how bad do I miss baseball? A lot that’s how much and I intend to be viewing my boys in orange & black as they work out in less than one months’ time.   http://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/stadium/springtraining

More of him to love
More of him to love

But how bored must we be to make major news out of the length of one of our player’s hair?  In my very orange opinion, Timmy Lincecum is the heart of the San Francisco Giants and I don’t care how his hair looks as long as he feels comfy with himself.  That’s when Timmy is Timmy “the Freak” with the moves he learned from his dad that still leave seasoned batters turning from home plate shaking their heads wondering how he managed to sit them down.   Of course it’s not like his first couple  of seasons with the Giants when he sat down batter after batter each one bigger and better than the next and each with the “I know I can hit this kid” attitude quickly turning to the “What the heck was that?” shocked demeanor as they headed back to the dugout.  Most major leaguers have seen him by now and his awesomeness may not be as noticeable nor as newsworthy.  But obviously his hairstyle is!

Lincecum short hair pastTim Lincecum, like every other pro (at least the honest non “doping” pro’s) has had his good performances and his not so good performances.  There were times when he just didn’t have his stuff and even some “die hard” fans were not shy about slamming him.  The pressure this young man has on him is more intense than anything we can imagine and one bad pitch, game etc. causes words to be spoken or written and it gets in a player’s head and before you know it what may have been a small scratch that would heal quickly but can easily become a deeper wound with every negative thought. Something like that would be hard for a veteran to the game so for boys like Timmy it’s got to be almost unbearable.

A midst the harsh criticism Tim was receiving from fans and media he also had to deal with the fact that he was not going to be starting in the post season.  How did Timmy deal with this?  He handled it with grace, bravery and incredible sportsmanlike conduct, proving that he truly knows what” being there for your team” is all about.  He said he would be willing to work in any capacity to help his team.  And he certainly did that! http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/ps/y2012/index.jsp

No “Prima Donna” here just a really good guy who I met at his very first “Fan Fest” at AT&T Park.  Upstairs as he sat next to the other new kid, Matt Cain during their one on one I saw two shy boys interacting with a small group of fans-something that will never happen again as these days the crowds around these two are huge.   Matt who was already a person who was generous with his time had worked a baseball camp with my youngest son and signed a ball for him which he handed over to me.  This ball now also bears the signatures of Sergio Romo & Tim Lincecum.  Timmy signing as fast and furiously as he could at a later “fan fest” acknowledging that he was there to honor the fans.  Sergio was sweet enough to be the designated autograph player at a game one day and not only did he happily place his sig next to Matt’s he took the time to talk and laugh with me.  I realize that these are real people and they expect to be treated with our unconditional respect and kindness.  A real Giants fan takes the bad with the good and never ever gives up on the team or the players that put their hearts into making our team the most exciting, unexpected guys providing the ultimate in entertainment, the best baseball on earth!

san francisco, SF Giants, The lighter side of sports
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I love the fact that we die hard SFGiants fans get to be a part of putting this 2013 Giants Yearbook together. I enjoyed voting for my favorite pictures and anxiously await my copy of the completed edition!

SF Giants Photos

Tournament Time!

The Giants Win The World Series – What more is there to say?

The winners of each week’s tournament will be published in the 2013 Giants Yearbook.

Results:

Overall  68.29%
 
Got ‘ya  31.71%

Blog Tourney.xlsx

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fishing, san francisco, SF Giants, Stuff I Wrote, The lighter side of sports

EVEN FISH AREN’T SAFE FROM THE SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS!

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My darling winter neighbor from Canada spends his months here in Yuma building beautiful fishing rods.  After my enthusiasm for my World Champion San Francisco team finally got under his skin he shared the excitement of the playoff’s and the series with me.  Of course I had to ask him to go home one evening when he said to me as I was yelling/cheering at the TV-“you know they can’t hear you, right? ” I mean, “come on” of course they heard me, duh!

He more than made up for that slight in his behavior by building me a custom SFG fishing rod!! It is beautiful and I love it almost as much as I love my baseball team, if that is possible. The pictures tell the story. It is my number one Giants memorabilia now and to make things even more spectacular the first fish I caught on it was a CATFISH!  Get it? We caught the TIGERS which of course are CATS so…catfish???

Ok enough of the boring silliness here it is!!

brian wilson, san francisco, SF Giants, Stuff I Wrote, The lighter side of sports

MY FAMILY TRIES TO COMPETE

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After viewing the “Crazy Dream Team’s” video I had the idea that my family and I should make our own music video, so we did. 

It was so much fun I believe we are going on tour! Well a tour of the neighborhood anyway.

san francisco, The lighter side of sports

ARIZONA ABOUT TO GET MUCH HOTTER

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As you may already know Jose Canseco and his brother Ozzie will be playing for the Yuma Scorpions this upcoming season.  Jose, who signed as Manager, will also be playing 1B and DH making him the first full-time player manager in professional baseball since Pete Rose.

http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=4182223

Jose Canseco and twin brother Ozzie

No matter how you may feel about Jose and the controversy surrounding him, it doesn’t change the fact that he is a very physically attractive man-and so is his twin brother Ozzie.

If the presence of the Canseco brothers alone doesn’t raise the temperature in Arizona then the arrival of this young pitcher sure will.

Greg Pellici LH Pitcher

A week ago I found myself waiting for an extended period of time in the Yuma Arizona Airport.
I was departing for my return trip home after visiting my parents at their home there.

My arrival at the airport was not done in a very timely manner so I hunkered down in the small lounge area for what I knew would be a long wait.
There were just two other people there which was not surprising as the Yuma Airport is very small and the city itself isn’t exactly a place where you would expect to find a lot of tourists or people traveling on business.

It didn’t take long before the three of us were “family” each with his own interesting story. I was there for a long time and when my flight finally prepared for take off I felt as though I was leaving my friends.

One of those new friends is Greg Pellici an adorable 23-year-old Pisces who will be joining the Scorpions on May 24th.

A left-handed pitcher throwing between 87-92 MPH Greg has a mean slider and I can’t wait to sit under the mist with Daddy and Mommy as we watch him do his stuff.

This young man made a lasting impression on me and I hope he goes as far in life as his heart can take him because with his heart, that would be a very long way.
Ladies, Greg is single and I can tell you with confidence that the girl who win’s this one scores a prize for life!  Honesty and integrity abound with this guy and so does his love for his family.

Greg-Yomamma loves you!

Jose had this to say to the Yuma Sun
http://www.yumasun.com/articles/-69170–.html

“I think the younger players that come in aren’t going to get incredible instruction on just how to play the game right, how to play the game at a major league level, but also off the field. If they have a family issue, girlfriend issues, how to handle the media, we can actually help them there because I’ve done it all. I can show them where all the land mines are.”

“Let’s focus on the game,” Ozzie Canseco said. “We’re putting together a great club. We’re trying to resurrect the Yuma Scorpions and that’s positive energy.”

Both brothers said they are dedicated to showing they are committed to the league, the Scorpions and Yuma as a whole.

brian wilson, san francisco, SF Giants, Stuff I Wrote, The lighter side of sports

Will We Trim The Beard?

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LET'S RAGE

3/23/2011
As I mentioned in my previous post Brian Wilson failed to “climb the mound” today but played some catch instead.

It seem that Brian Wilson and Bruce Bochy have different opinions on that game of catch.

Brian said he played catch for seven or eight minutes “at a high rate.”
Brian being Brian obviously believes that he can make himself  fit to pitch in the March 31 regular-season opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“That’s one step forward to becoming healthy,” Wilson said of his session. Then in a statement that leads me to believe that he felt that he threw hard to bullpen catcher Taira Uematsu, Wilson said, “Ask his thumb.”

But if you asked Bochy, he described Wilson’s game of catch as “real light catch,” adding that it “gave us an idea where he’s at.”

Bochy indicated that the Giants don’t want to push Wilson to be ready for the opener. “We’re running short on time,” Bochy said. “This isn’t the time to rush Willie back.”

Brian knows that he isn’t totally physically fit and touched on the subject by saying,
“People might think I’m superhuman, but … correction. I am superhuman. But, realistically, in six days I’m not going to be 1,000 percent. I’m going to be 990. I’m just going to take it day by day.”
Thank goodness The Bearded One hasn’t lost his ability to come off as…well…as a NINJA!

Wilson says that he isn’t worried coming from a pitcher who recorded a Major League-high 48 saves last season and six more in the postseason, I have a tendency to believe him.

He also said that he would follow the instructions of team doctors and management.
This I have a harder time believing.

“I know my body,” 🙂 he said. “I know what I’m capable of doing. 🙂 I’m not worried about what other people are thinking. I’m going to do what the doctors tell me and control what I can control. Ideally, everyone would have liked to have me healed the night I was injured.”

Will Bochy have to trim the beard from the opening day line up?

We will just have to wait and see.

WARM WISHES, BRI BRI

GET WELL SOON!

http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/news/index.jsp?c_id=sf

san francisco, SF Giants, The lighter side of sports

KNBR Gives Secrets To Hiding Steroid Use

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“Bonds friend: I saw Barry and trainer with syringe”

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-bondstrial

So the big news today is Barry Bond’s trial for perjury.  Yes, can you believe it! He lied to the Grand Jury when he told them that he didn’t use steroids!

Shocking, isn’t it?  In my opinion what is shocking is that ONE man is on trial for lying about steroid use.  Just ONE man! Come on, the only difference between Bonds and all of the other professional athletes that used steroids and lied about it is he got caught!

The only way things will ever even out is if they just allow ALL athletes to use steroids openly. At least that way it will seem a bit more “fair” to me.  After all, we don’t know how many home runs Bonds would have hit if he didn’t use steroids just like we don’t know how many Mark McGuire would have hit “straight”.  How will we ever know who used “performance enhancing drugs” and who didn’t?

The use of steroids goes back along ways for all we know Babe Ruth, Willie McCovey – all the players we know and respect could have used them. I believe there was a time that this wasn’t such an issue. I feel strongly that honest men as well as dishonest men have used steroids We just don’t know. And personally, I would rather not.

This morning on KNBR the conversation was about Barry Bonds and his stupidity for not being able to cover up his steroid use.  One person (and I won’t name names) said the secret is “Human Growth Hormone”.

Then they went on to talk about Manny Ramirez (by the way, we H… this guy) and the fact that he never flunked a pee test because he was taking a female hormone that masked the steroids.

I say let them all use “performance enhancing drugs” and put an end to all of this!

I love the game of baseball, dammit, stop trying to ruin it for me!

san francisco, SF Giants, The lighter side of sports

THE STINKING DODGERS

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*Note: Out of respect for my Mommy I have removed the word “hate” from this post. But I think you get the picture. 🙂

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS!!!

I guess a subject that is still up for discussion is the fact that the Dodgers would not cooperate in rearranging the schedule to allow for us, the World Champions of Baseball, to have the opening game of the season in SF on their home field.

Instead we will experience the raw emotion of a glorious spring day and opening day of baseball in So.Cal’s idea of hell. Dodger Stadium.

Mr Dodger Potatoe Head

It is there our team and any fans whose bravery is only equaled by their insanity will receive no love. This is an understatement for I have had many first hand encounters with those that wear blue. They are not nice people.

They come to our park wearing full dodger blue gear and chanting various infantile sneers and jeers accompanied by their children who they have taught to chant along. These parents are obviously oblivious to the poor sportsmanship they are teaching to the kids. The whole family rolls into AT&T with various anti Giants jeers pouring from their foaming lips while displaying full Dodger “colors”. This is just plain RUDE!

Hey, Love your team! Even if you are a stinking Dodger fan, support them! Go to their games even their “away” games if you can. But please do so in a respectful manner.  And don’t bring your toddlers in chanting sh.t about our team who Lord willing is going to embarrass your team sometime within the next three hours.

I wouldn’t go into Dodger stadium with my family chanting about how the “stinking Dodgers suck!”- Even though it is a known fact.

Anywhooo…I see that there are those that are still questioning this issue of the opening game and where it will be played but to me it seems like it’s pretty obvious. The stinking Los Angeles Dodgers are not going to do us any favors! Not now, not ever. End of story.

New comers to the Giants team have been known to make comments hinting that they “really don’t have a beef” with the Dodgers but kind of  just got “thrown in the middle of a feud that they aren’t a part of.”  and  Of course they want to beat them “like they want to beat any other team.”

I have this to say about that “go ahead, be the “better person” be the “professional” be “adult” about it.  I choose not to.  If you play for the Giants you have to “hate” the Dodgers.  If  you are a Giants fan  you have to “h…”  the Dodgers.  You can not be non-committal and impartial, you have to “h…” them and if you don’t you better work on it.

I separate “baseball h…” completely from actual “h…“.  I hold no hate in my heart for any person-in “real life” that is.  “Baseball H…is similar to a “soap opera h… which of course is wishing “ill will” to a character on your daily soap even though you wish the actor playing the role nothing but  the best.

The fact is you “h…”  Dr. Charming on “Wind Of Our World” not Dirk Strongarm who plays Dr. Charming, him you wish no ill will at all. Also in this category is the  “business lie” which isn’t counted as a lie at all.  An example of a “business lie” would be “I’m sorry Mr. Blank is on the other line at the moment. Would you like his voice mail?” or “I’m sorry Mr. Blank is in a meeting right now can I take a message?”

I h… the Dodgers, all of their fans, and basically anyone who lives in LA or anyone who might possibly be a Dodger’s fan. But in real life I am sure they are all perfectly nice people and I wish them no harm at all.  Get it?

Anywhoo…they wouldn’t do that for us, switch the games around so that we had a home opener on 3/31. No surprise there. What surprises me is that anyone truly thought that they would!! Am I crazy or was this pretty much a given?

And I quote, “The Dodgers did not like the idea of moving the opener to San Francisco, logistically but also on principle.”  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/06/SP8I1I512J.DTL#ixzz1FuDyEj65