Results tagged ‘ Bob Howry ’
Just Another Night At The Zoo
Take
one part Los Angeles Dodgers, throw in a good measure of pennant race fever,
add a warm Friday night, and mix it all together within an AT&T Park filled
with Giants fans and you’ve got yourself a potent potable (if not an outright
explosive substance). Enjoy! And I certainly intended to as I arrived to the
park at 4:30 to watch both teams take batting practice.
Matt
Cain did not start the game sharp. Although he got lead off hitter shortstop
Rafael Furcal out on a spectacular diving catch by Nate Schierholtz in
rightfield, rightfielder Andre Ethier hit a single to leftfielder Eugenio Velez
on a full count. And although the doubly hated and feared leftfielder Manny
Ramierez struck out looking at an 87 mph slider on a full count, centerfielder
Matt Kemp hit another single to left field. And then, when two out in the
inning, James Loney nailed a double over Nate Schierholtz‘s head and into
Triple’s Alley for a stand-up double and a two run Dodgers lead.
Tonight,
the Giants could not answer the Dodgers until the second inning when catcher
Bengie Molina led off with a single to leftfield followed on the next pitch
with a double into the right field corner by third baseman Juan Uribe sending
Bengie to third with no outs. Nate Schierholtz moved the runners over and the
first run on the board with a ground out Rafael Belliard at second base. But
Juan Uribe died at third when centerfielder Aaron Rowand impatiently swung at
two inside pitches from Hiroki Kuroda finally grounding out to Hiroki Kuroda at
third base and shortstop Edgar Renteria grounding out to his counterpart for
the last out. 2-1 would be as close the Giants would get to the Dodgers
tonight.
After
Matt Cain threw 31 pitches in the first inning, he threw 54 more from the
second through fifth innings giving up just two walks and a single to catcher
Casey Martin. During that span (from the third through the fifth innings) the
Giants went three-up, three down on just 29 pitches from crafty Hiroki Kuroda.
And
then the sixth inning happened. After getting the first two Dodgers out, James
Loney hit a home run for his third RBI of the game. That was as bad as Casey
Blake‘s home run just three pitches later for a 4-1 Dodgers lead. It’s
interesting to note that Matt Cain‘s second pitch to Casey Blake seemed to
catch much of the outer plate, thigh high; especially considering the strike
calls Hiroki had been enjoying.
I’m
not one to carp gratuitously on umpire’s calls but when a pattern of bias
appears to be established, I’m not shy about calling that fact out to the
responsible party. I asked home plate ump Brian Gorman where he was from.
Pacoima? Toluca Lake? When he did finally call a strike, I agreed that Matt’s
pitch was “right down El Segundo!” I know it’s obscure but if Brian was from
the Southland, he knew of which I spoke.
So
once Matt Cain was able to struggle through the rest of the Dodgers lines and
finally get the final out with a strike out against Hiroki Kuroda, he was
lifted in the bottom of the inning for Fred Lewis who could only manage to
ground out five feet to the catcher for the first out. The next two batters
were also dispatched on five pitches and the Dodgers lead stayed 4-1.
And
then the seventh inning happened. The first three Dodgers in the line up all
singled against reliever Merkin Valdez for a 5-1 lead. When Merkin walked Matt
Kemp to load the bases, he was lifted for Bob Howry. No “Neuvo Roberto” this
night. After a sacrifice fly by James Loney for a 6-1 lead, Casey Blake hit a
single and Russell Martin hit a double for a 9-1 lead by the time Hiroki Kuroda
struck out again to end the inning again.
At
this point, the only thing to do is to have fun… or fight. And, although there
were plenty of rumbles in the bleachers in the late inning causing security
personnel and uniformed policepersons scurrying all around the premises, my
section stayed relatively calm. There were a couple of elder “vato-ish” sitting
to my left but the just laughed off some of the comments directed at them. And
when the slaughter was in full flower, I shushed at them while they laughed and
celebrated at us warning then, “Those are the last runs you’re going to score
this weekend! You’d better enjoy them!” And there was another big, large
Dodgers fan with a 99 Ramirez jersey on who would stand up and taunt us at not
so crucial moments to which the funny, drunk young man would retort, “When are
you due, Manny?” Sit down before your baby drops!” “You shouldn’t be drinking
beer while you’re pregnant, Manny!”
In
the top of the eighth, Bruce Bochy finally treated us to a glimpse of the
future. He started the inning with this substituted lineup: Eugenio Velez LF;
Rich Aurilia 3B; Travis Ishikawa 1B; Kevin Frandsen 2B; Joe Martinez P; Nate
Schierholtz RF; John Bowker 1B; Ryan Rohlinger SS; and… Buster Posey catching!
This is what I had been waiting all season long to see. And although Joe
Martinez gave up the 10th Dodgers run with a walk to Manny Ramirez
and a double to Matt Kemp (all with two out), the young Giants answered with
their second run of the night when John Bowker triples into Triples Alley and
scored on Ryan Rohlinger‘s ground out.
But
Buster Posey struck out looking at a 94 mph fastball from Hiroki Kuroda to end
the inning and end his maiden at bat in the big leagues. And the Dodgers scored
their tenth run in the top of the ninth inning to lead 10-2 which is only
notable to mention because, in the bottom of the ninth with the crowd clearly
things, a gaggle of pre-teen girls gathered behind me to jump, yell, scream,
dance, and chant to their hearts’ delight. They call out to now centerfielder
Eugenio Velez if they could meet Aaron Rowand. And in the bottom of the ninth,
they invented the chant, “NINE IN THE NINTH!!! … NINE IN THE NINTH!!! … NINE IN THE
NINTH!!!” It was not only humorous, it even worked to the extent the Giants got yet another run on a two out rally no less via a single by Travis ishikawa followed by a double by Kevin Frandsen off of reliever Ramon Troncoso to make the final score of the night 10-3.
Those young ladies also represent the future of the Giants franchise insofar as if their enthusiasm in this dynamic product can be sustained for another two or more years with exciting playoff-caliber baseball, they and their fellow youthful “demographic” will imprint a fertile, growing fan base that will sustain the ball club throughout the next generation to come.
The Rockies won last night. The Giants’ prospects are slipping. But through it all, the Giants fans are remaining true and loyal. We fans like this team. It has character we can identify with and believe in. And if it is not meant to happen in 2009, it will get better in 2010. Go Giants!
Redbirds Fly Into Town
And
the local cream-colored birds are ready for them. The Giants opened the gates
this Friday afternoon an hour early at 4:15. It was interesting watching them
take infield practice and warming up for the first half of their batting
practice session. I understand that the Giants are one of the very few teams to
take regular pre-game infield practice. The picture below shows Tim Lincecum,
Jeremy Affeldt, Randy Johnson, and Justin Miller (or maybe Brandon Medders?)
warming up in left filed. The little guy in the home Cardinals uniform in the
lower right picture had numeral “5″ and “Pujols” on the back of his jersey so
that had to be Albert Pujols‘ young son.
The
wind was blowing pretty hard and the night was quite chilly but that didn’t
stop the hardy Giants fans from filling up the bleachers. Like Randy Johnson
last Wednesday, Matt Cain faced just one batter over the minimum for the first
three innings. However, the Giants jumped on pitcher Joel Piniero in the first inning
led off by Aaron Rowand‘s double followed by a walk to Randy Winn and a
fastball off the thigh of Bengie Molina. Pablo Sandoval came up for the first
time this week and drove the second pitch he saw into right field and Aaron Rowand and
Randy Winn home for the first two runs of the game.
The
Cardinals got their first two batters of the fourth inning on base with singles
by left fielder Chris Duncan and first baseman Albert Pujols. Although Matt
Cain struck out right fielder Brian Ludwick on a 94 mph heater and induced
centerfielder rookie Colby Rasmus to fly out to Randy Winn in right field, he
threw a wild pitch in the course of walking catcher Yadier Molina to load the
bases. But third baseman Joe Thurston grounded out to second base for the final
out. So the Giants responded in the bottom of the fourth inning by punching out
four hits of their own, the main one being Fred Lewis‘ triple driving in Pablo
Sandoval and Emmanuel Burriss singling home Fred Lewis from third base with two
outs and the pitcher Matt Cain due up next. I would have expected Cardinals
manager Tony LaRussa to walk Emmanuel Burriss there but Matt Cain also got a
hit next so maybe the question is moot.
The
Cardinals got to Matt Cain in the next inning with singles by Albert Pujols and
Colby Rasmus sandwiched around a walk to Brian Ludwick producing their first
run of the game. And second baseman Emmanuel Burriss threw the relay on a
potential inning-ending double play into the Cardinals dugout that allowed
Brian Ludwick to score their second (unearned) run. But Matt Cain then struck
out Joe Thurston on a 93 mph fastball to end the inning. Ironically, Emmanuel
Burriss may have had the defensive play of the evening in the next inning when,
with one on and two outs, he speared Chris Duncan‘s screaming liner through the
infield that prevented Albert Pujols from coming up with runners on base in a
4-2 game. And third baseman Juan Uribe may have had the next best defensive
play of the night in the next inning when he smothered Albert Pujols‘ hot shot
down the left field line and got up in time to throw and get the first out of
the eighth inning. And Edgar Renteria followed that on the next play by ranging
behind second base to barely glove Brian Ludwick‘s grounder up the middle and
spinning in time to just nip him at first base for the second out of the
inning. When Colby Rasmus next popped up to Edgar Renteria, Bob Howry had done
his job admirably.
Enter
Brian Wilson. Like relievers Jeremy Affeldt and Bob Howry before him, it took
Brian Wilson just ten pitches to get the job done. The three consecutive fly
outs were (1) to Aaron Rowand in centerfield; (2) a wind-twisted pop up down
the left field line that Juan Uribe caught in foul ground; and (3) a long fly
ball towards the right field stands that Randy Winn caught up to just before
having to run up onto the bullpen mound and caught it around his shin. It was a
nifty, well-pitched game that took under three hours to complete. I don’t
remember it being this consistently cold at night in San Francisco during the
month of May but maybe I’m just getting old. And maybe it works to the
disadvantage of the visiting ballplayers. Whatever. Go Giants!
Betwixt a Bobblehead and a Bubblehead
Sunday was no ordinary day at the ballpark. By 2:00 p.m., throngs of thousands were already stretched out in lines meandering around the perimeter of AT&T Park like spaghetti-like strands of DNA with each human genome therein seeking their own personal Tim Lincecum bobblehead. I linked up to the centerfield entrance centipede but by 3:10, ten minutes after the gates opened, those bobblehead supplies ran out. So I ran over to join the leftfield entrance centipede but by the time I got to within sight of that entrance at 3:20, I could see that those supplies had also been exhausted.
Giving up, I walked back up King Street only to spot those little boxed prizes still being given away at the main entrance. So I joined that formless mass and by the time I squeezed through the turnstile, I happily received my unexpected reward; a bobblehead of the 2008 Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum. By the time I got to my seat, Mets starting pitcher, Mike Pelfrey (above), was already warming up by throwing long toss with his catcher, Omir Santos. As the evening evolved, Mike Pelfrey would emulate a bobblehead himself by issuing three balks to Giants runners that had a direct bearing on the final outcome of the game.
Even before the ESPN televised game of the week began at 5:05, the sold out ballpark was already nearly filled to capacity (above). The Mill Valley Middle School Choir (below) sang our National Anthem. And then, amid nearly perfect summer weather, the game began with Alex Cora blooping a double in front of the diving centerfielder Aaron Rowand. Although Luis Castillo sacrificed Alex Cora to third base, Carlos Beltran bounced out to first baseman Travis Ishikawa and Gary Sheffield likewise to second baseman Eugenio Velez leaving Alex Cora stranded at third. On the other hand, the Giants batters started out their first inning with two outs before Pablo Sandoval singled and, after a bobble or a bumble (actually a stumble off the mound) by Mike Pelfrey thereby sending Pablo Sandoval down to second base, catcher Bengie Molina drove in the Giants’ first run with a single. Then things got very interesting.
Pitcher Matt Cain walked the first three Mets he faced in the second inning. But on a 2-1 count, first baseman Jeremy Reed smacked a one hop shot to Travis Ishikawa who threw a strike home to force out David Wright and then received Bengie Molina‘s return throw to complete the double play. After that, it took Matt Cain only eight pitches to finally get Mike Pelfrey out and keep the Mets scoreless. I’ve seen Travis Ishikawa make several throws this season and they all seem to be right on the (big) money. If the Giants ever need a position player to take the mound in an emergency, I nominate that lefty Travis “Ish” to toss the pill to the “dish”. Another Travis Ishikawa bon mot for the night was when he was batting against 40-year old rookie Ken Takahashi leading off the seventh inning. With two strikes and protecting the plate, Travis took a one handed swing at Ken’s pitch that was very low and away only to single smartly through the infield. For just that one moment, I felt like I knew what it was like to watch baseball in Japan.
Matt Cain continued to struggle beyond the second inning. He threw two more walks and two more hits over the next three innings until he had his first three up/three down inning in the sixth which was his last. But before that, Matt Cain helped his own cause in the fifth inning when Mike Pelfrey balked Aaron Rowand to second base from whence he eventually scored the Giants’ second run on Matt Cain‘s surprising two strike single to centerfield. All in all, Mike Pelfrey committed three balks during the game. What a bubblehead!
Bob Howry pitched through Jeremy Reed‘s single in the seventh inning but when he gave up a walk to Luis Castillo leading off the eighth inning, Jeremy Affeldt came in and immediately gave up a line drive double off the leftfield wall to Carlos Beltran. With no out and two runs behind, Luis Castillo played it safe and held up at third base. But when Jeremy Affeldt struck out Gary Sheffield looking at a nasty 95 mph slider on the outside corner of the plate, it was a no brainer to walk the radioactive David Wright on four pitches to load the bases. Then pinch hitter Angel Pagan grounded his second pitch to newly recalled rookie Kevin Frandsen at shortstop who shoveled the ball immediately to newly installed second baseman rookie Emmanuel Burriss who pivoted and slung the ball quickly to rookie Travis Ishikawa at first base completing the double play and the eighth inning.
Amazingly, the Giants still led 2-0 after twelve Mets had reached base in the first eight innings. Enter Brian Wilson. No teeth gnashing, nail biting, and/or hair pulling tonight. Brian dispatched the bottom of the Mets line up in short order punctuated by a 99 mph strike out of Jeremy Reed (above). After pinch hitter Ramon Castro grounded out to third baseman Pablo Sandoval, the Giants walked off the field victoriously for the first time since the Tuesday night game against the Nationals. This was an unorthodox victory but one that we will gladly take in a heartbeat… or a bobblehead. Go Giants!
Giants Photo Day
It was raining when I woke up Saturday morning. I didn’t want to get up but I had to. It was Giants Photo Day and only the first 2,000 with tickets and cameras get into the park to take pictures of Giants players up close and personal. I don’t go in for this type of thing as a rule. I have no desire to get buddy-buddy with ballplayers. I am satisfied with watching their efforts from afar. But I’ve got my blog to feed now and I didn’t go to the Friday night game for personal reasons: I weenied out after going to all three Dodgers night games. I didn’t want to suffer through another cold and wet night game if I could avoid it. I’m getting too old for that now.
So I got to the ballpark at 10:00 a.m. and stood at the end of the line on King Street. Beginning 10:30, we marched around the perimeter of the park behind the left, center and then rightfields and entered through the Number One Archway beside the right field fair pole and onto the outfield grass. It was cold and wet but only drizzly. At 11:00, the Giants players emerged from the dugout en masse. I was positioned across from the Giants bullpen mound where most of the payers first went. You could tell the players thought this was weird; posing for pictures in front of a bunch of strangers. Or maybe I was projecting my feelings on the players because I thought it was weird. It was probably a combination of the two.
Randy Johnson led the group followed by Brian Wilson and others. Although several fans registered their recognition and approval to individual players by shouting out their names, only Randy and Brian responded in kind; Randy in a rather mocking tone but Brian in a like-spirited manner. Randy Johnson struck me as someone you didn’t want to mess with in a bar. Brian Wilson struck me as a guy you’d love to sit next to on a bar stool for a few hours. Brian really got into interacting with the fans. Tim Lincecum, who came out a little later, slowly worked the crowd patiently getting his picture taken and talking to the fans. He struck me as a guy who would never get let into a bar without proper identification.
Most players hung out in pairs or larger groups and slowly strolled around the crowd smiling and stopping when requested to have their pictures taken. Some players, like Brandon Medders, Justin Miller, and Steve Holm (above), rarely got asked to stop and get their pictures taken. Some players, like Bob Howry (below), didn’t mind getting up close and personal with the fans but others seemed very uncomfortable. Fred Lewis seemed painfully shy. He had a permanent smile as he strolled around alone with his hands in his pockets and stopping when requested but remaining silent throughout. I don’t blame him. He’s a millionaire because he is a baseball player, not because he is a politician. This was a weird and artificial situation.
But the best “poser”, if you will, was definitely Brian Wilson (below right). He could run for high office. He got a kick messing around with the fans. But the whole concept of making players interact with fans when they should be preparing for a ballgame seemed bizarre to me. It tore down the wall that usually separates the players from the fans. It changed everyone’s paradigms for the day and it showed during the game.
At 1:04, Matt Cain stood on the mound ready to throw the first pitch but the umpire instructed Ryan Spilborghs to step out of the batter’s box for a minute until the clock ticked down to exactly 1:05. Matt Cain just stood there statue still and not moving for a minute. It struck me as odd that he didn’t relax. And then, after throwing ball one, Cain threw a strike that Spilborghs killed by sending it halfway up into the leftfield bleachers. The crowd could only lightly moan its disapproval. And then Spilborghs led off the third inning with a walk and eventually came around to score on Todd Helton‘s single. And then Colorado Rockies pitcher Jason Marquis led off the fifth inning with a walk and came around to score two pitches later when Ryan Spilborghs hit another home run into the left field bleachers. And for good measure, Brad Hawpe led off the sixth inning with a home run.
The Giants were never in the game. They got two runners on in the same inning only once in the game. If Pablo Sandoval had not led off the ninth inning with a home run, the Giants would have been shut out. As it was, they went down meekly 5-1. And I wonder if spending the morning being all nice and easy around their fans somehow wore down their edge. I hope today they regain their focus. Barry Zito needs to drop in his curve balls in the strike zone and the Giants hitters need to drop in line drives into the outfield. Casey Moser is due to be the home plate umpire today. I hope he has a generous strike zone. If he has a small strike zone, it could prove to be a very long day.
Unito Grande vs. Snakes on a Field
I entered the ballpark Sunday at 11:15 a.m. amid hordes and hordes of uniformed Little Leaguers and their doting coaches, parents, siblings and such. It was Youth Baseball Day and twenty thousand red plastic bats and white whiffle balls were handed out to them like Halloween candy. The teams did not take batting practice as I had expected because these thousands of kids and their posses took almost an hour parading around the entire circumference of the playing field before the game. But I did watch Barry Zito conduct his in-between games throwing session under the tutelage of pitching and bullpen coaches Dave Righetti and Mark Gardner while Jeremy Affeldt and Bob Howry played catch off to the side.
It was a cloudless, windless day that made it hot between the green field below and the blue sky above. It also reduced everyone’s clothing to a minimum which I didn’t mind at all, if you know what I mean. I was in shorts, t-shirt, and my new Barry Bonds 756 HRs baseball cap for most of the game. Randy Johnson pitched against his former team like a man on a mission: Ten pitches and two strikeouts in the first inning. Eight pitches and a strikeout in the second. Ten pitches and a “K” each in both the third and fourth innings.
Meanwhile, the Giants struck out five times before they finally broke through on the Diamondbacks’ hard throwing (97 mph fastball) young righty Max Scherzer when Giants rookie Travis Ishikawa managed a bases loaded sacrifice fly ball to medium right-centerfield allowing Randy Winn (who led off the inning with an eight-pitch walk) to score. But Randy Johnson started the next inning with a six-pitch walk to cleanup hitting first baseman Tony Clark before getting centerfielder Chris Young to bounce a slow roller to Travis who threw a running side-armed strike to second base for a force out. It was a pretty play made even prettier when Chris Young broke prematurely for second base allowing Randy to get him out at second base via Ishikawa’s catch and throw. And when Aaron Rowand hauled in Justin Upton‘s fly ball, R.J.’s minimum batter streak through the first half of the game remained intact.
Randy soon extended that streak through two-thirds of the game with a sixth inning almost a duplicate of the fifth inning because he walked third baseman Ryan Roberts on eight pitches. But then, quick as lightning, Randy struck out his former battery mate Chris Snyder (who ungraciously tried to bunt for a base hit in the third inning) while looking at his fourth pitch and two pitches later, induced power hitting pinch hitter Mark Reynolds to ground into an easy inning ending double play. After six innings, Randy Johnson’s no hitter was still alive.
Oops, there I said it: “no hitter”. Jinx! No wonder why Augie Ojeda led off the seventh inning with a double down the left field line. The next hitter, (Barry Zito‘s buddy) Byrnsie, bunted Ojeda to third base but the next hitter, Felipe Lopez, grounded sharply to Edgar Renteria at short who smartly faked a strong throw to third before throwing on to first base for the second out in the seventh inning. And then, for good measure, Randy Johnson struck out Tony Clark swinging at the fifth pitch of his at bat (a 89 mph slider) and his seventy-second pitch of the game. That was it for the Unit. He handed his masterful shutout over to Bobby Howry‘s eleven-pitch (with one strikeout) contribution in the eighth inning and Brian Wilson‘s sixteen-pitch (with one strikeout) coup de grace in the ninth for a 2-0 hard fought victory.
It was hard fought because the Giants hardly ever get a hit when runners are in scoring position. The Giants got eight pitches today but could only score runs on a bases loaded fly ball and double play grounder. But I know how to get the Giants to score runs again. The secret? Bring back the kangaroo court!!! For every runner on base when a player makes an out, that batter has to contribute $100 to the pot. The money can eventually be donated to the Giants Community Funds but the intra-squad competition would refocus the players’ attention to the matter at hand much like betting on holes during a golf game makes it more exciting. It’s just a way to bring fun back to the game when players can compete with each other in RBI situations. Maybe I’ll shout my idea to Aaron tomorrow during the Giants Earth Day game… or maybe not. Maybe someone could tweet it to Barry instead?
Tattered, Torn, Bloodied but Unbowed
What a long strange trip to the Southland it must have been for the Giants last week. They kind of played like they were somewhat dead and none too grateful for the experience, too. But I would hardly know since I left early in the morning after opening day on an allegorical death march of my own (or, more accurately, a death “drive” if you will) to the bottom of Death Valley National Monument itself no less. After checking into the Ridgecrest Motel 6 Wednesday night, I was able to catch a snippet of Randy Johnson giving up that horrendous three-run homer to the Brewers pitcher and absorbing a 4-2 loss. And the next day, at the Stagecoach Casino and Hotel in Beatty, Nevada, I monitored ESPN for several hours after dinner waiting for visual highlights of the Giants 7-1 victory but when they finally got to it (after all the massive coverage of the tragic passing of Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart), all I was shown was Joe Martinez taking one off the noggin from Mike Cameron‘s line drive. Everyone on the field, including Cameron himself, looked visibly shaken as the Giants trainers tended to Joe. That was unfortunate, not the least because I thought Joe looked like young Joe Nathan with great stuff. Now I wonder if he’ll ever be as effective again, especially this year. I believe a hit like that to my head would change my personality forever and some would say for the better. I hope Joe gains strength from his pain.
When I got home on Friday night and was finally able to relax to watch my second Giants game of the season, only to finally settle in and watch Barry Zito go wild in the first inning and put the Giants behind the 3-ball right off the bat. But at least he settled down and found his rhythm so I could watch the Giants claw themselves back into the game 4-2 behind the pitching of Justin Miller and Alex Hinshaw. But then they brought in the young Latin flamethrower Merkin Valdez (whom we got from the Braves in the 2002 Russell Ortiz trade?) and he proceeded to throw gasoline on the fire by letting our longtime nemesis Scott Hairston, who has hit like three quarters of his home runs with the Padres against the Giants, add to his totals upon blasting a three-run homer in the eighth inning to effectively end it. But hey, no big deal. The Giants might have been due for a little let down after the traumatic injury to Joe the day before. And Barry Zito got over his opening day, first inning jitters to show he had good stuff this year. And tomorrow was my birthday. The Giants were sure to win on my birthday.
So I had a nice cocktail, decadent (i.e. high fat) hors d’oeuvres and stuffed clams with asparagus for dinner. And then, when I settled in before the almighty tube, I discovered that my Comcast feed only offered me a meaningless Warriors game against the Utah Jazz. I’m a prisoner of a deficient cable package because of the televions feed my sub-landlord has arranged with his Uber Landlord (the circumstances for which are too complicated to explain here). So I listened to the Giants game on my radio headset. By the time the television feed was switched from end of the Warriors game in Salt Lake City to San Diego, Jonathan Sanchez‘s four inning, one run, multiple strike out gem against the Padres and their ace Jake Peavy had turned into ripe manure when he stopped pitching strike outs (seven) and started pitching base on balls (five) and couldn’t get out of the fifth inning. So my first birthday visage of the Giants was Jonathan’s long face looking out from the dugout as the Padres were proceeding to an easy 6-3 victory. And Sunday’s game remains a complete mystery to me as I spent Easter afternoon with my family out on the backyard deck of my brother’s house. I never even sought to seek the ESPN highlights of that lopsided 6-1 loss that day. But at least I know I didn’t jinx them.
On Monday, I brought my radio headset to work so I could listen to the Giants play the daytime opener in Los Angeles against the hated Dodgers. But soon after the game started, my single AAA battery began to fail. And the spare battery I thought I was keeping in my fanny pack for such an occasion turned out actually to be a used one that was totally dead. So I would listen to the game at very low volume until it faded out and then I would turn the radio off for awhile so the battery could recharge again before I turned it on to repeat the pattern again. But every time I turned it back on, the Dodgers were running around the bases and by the time they finally scored six runs in the fourth inning off of Randy Johnson, I gave up the ghost and got back to work. At least there was no game on Tuesday so I was able to regain a slight piece of my sanity and equanimity until Wednesday.
Wednesday’s game went great. Well, it didn’t start out great because young lefty Clayton Kershaw threw thirteen strikeouts and gave up just one hit (albeit a Bengie Molina‘s home run) and one walk (to Rich Aurlia who was doubled up at first because second base umpire Angel Campos was out of position and failed to make an out call on Matt Kemp‘s catch in centerfield) in just seven innings. But then the Giants went to town on the Dodgers relievers in the eighth inning culminating in a Aaron Rowand first pitch swinging (again) three run home run (again) giving us a 4-2 lead. So bring in our newly acquired set up relief men to put this baby to bed. So in came Jeremy Affeldt and Bob Howry and they spanked, and they taunted, and they shook, and they tortured that poor baby until closer Brian Wilson finally had to come in and bury the poor, battered, and bruised young thing with a bases loaded walk in the ninth inning. All personal sanity and equanimity, however slight, went back out the window that night. So it’s going to be that kind of year, huh, Giants? Okay. No problem. I can deal with it. I’ve been through this before. I’ll just have to stock up on my laughing gas supply, that’s all
Last night… gee, what happened last night? Oh yeah, my Giants game was pre-empted by the Sharks opening playoff game against the Anaheim Mighty Mighty Ducks (or so they played last night). Anyway, I listened to the Giants lose to the Dodgers on my radio headset (again) although Barry pitched well after a shaky start (again) only to take the loss (again) in part due to the fact that the Giants had a weak offense (again) and miscues in the field (again). Sound familiar? It’s déjà vu all over again, to quote the Hall of Famer Yogi Berra. And it didn’t help that the Sharks fell flat on their snouts getting shut out in the Shark Tank. (They tanked in the Tank, I guess.) Hand me down my laughing gas, mama. Oh well. This weeklong post mortem was not intended to be a bitch and moan session. I merely wanted to catch up and get current with the 2009 season in my blog before I get going to my second Giants game tonight.
Maybe tonight, I’ll wear my orange Giants fright… er, I mean rally wig and stand up in the middle of the game to sing in my unwavering falsetto voice that well known Dido Florian Cloud de Bounevaialle O’Malley Armstrong (my Lord, how many times did that woman get married?) lyrical hit “White Flag“. You know, the one that repeats the refrain “I will go down with this ship and I won’t put my hands up and surrender. There will be no white flag above my door. I’m in love and always will be.” Wouldn’t that be lovely? I’m sure it would catch Aaron Rowand‘s attention; deep knee squats and all. But it is too early to panic. I remember the year 2000 season when the Giants lost their first seven games in their new ballpark and went on to make the playoffs that year. Of course we had Barry Bonds back then but stranger things have happened. And what could be stranger than what has gone on so far? We will see trades, demotions, promotions and releases. And by the time this season ends, we will see the foundation of a Giants team that will be built upon for many years to come. So keep the faith, Giants fans! Don’t get your collective daubers down! Hummmm baby!
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