Game 1 Thoughts

Uuuuuuribe! God I love that thing he does with his arms after he goes deep. 

Things that came to mind while watching Game 1 of the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers. 


Fox announcers blow


I think everyone agrees with me on this one. The TV announcers for Fox, the channel that broadcasted the NLCS and broadcasts the World Series, are the worst. Just a bunch of really boring observations with absolutely no analysis. It's tough having to switch from Kruk and Kuip, arguably the best TV guys in all of baseball, to these scrubs.

Another thing. I'm sick of hearing the Fox announcers repeat the same stuff about the Giants over and over again. I understand that 95% of the nation doesn't know much about the Giants but as a Giants fan, it's just annoying to hear Joe Buck repeat himself. If I hear anything more from the Fox announcers about Aubrey Huff's positive influence on the Giants clubhouse, how Pat the Bat was out of a job after the Rays released him or B Dubs's beard, I may have to shoot myself.

Also, if you're hispanic, Tim McCarver is guaranteed to butcher your name. You don't pronounce it Freddy San-Chehz, with the accent on the second syllable. Either he thinks he's all cultured and believes he's pronouncing the name correctly or else he just speaks the English language weird because most people would pronounce it correctly.

Cliff Lee is hittable


Man, shoot. I don't wanna hear no of this booha about Lee being the best playoff pitcher of all time, how's he's got a 7-0 record in the playoffs, how he never walks anyone blah, blah, blah. Sure, he's been legit, but that doesn't mean anything to the Giants. San Francisco is smackin' his ass around. He just got taken out after only 4 2/3 innings and allowed 7 runs (6 earned). Yeah, that's right, you jog off that mound, I like the hustle bud.

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If I hear anything more from the Fox announcers about Aubrey Huff's positive influence on the Giants clubhouse, how Pat the Bat was out of a job after the Rays released him or B Dubs's beard, I may have to shoot myself. 

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Freddy Sanchez is wet


Shout out to my friend Jackson on this one. Yacks reps Freddy as his favorite player. He's 3 for 3 with 3 doubles, 2 RBI and a run right now.

And Peter Tight thinks I'm Freddy Sanchez, even though he's hispanic and i'm Asian. But whatevs.

Sorry, as of now, he has 3 doubles, a single and 3 RBI.

And, in case you're curious, here's a totally unnecessary stat that is not all that important... Freddy Sanchez is the first player ever to hit 3 doubles in his first 3 World Series at-bats.

And Uribe, too


This one's for Kev Dogg Marren. Kevin hates on Uribe's fielding, saying that he sucks in the field and his hitting doesn't make up for it. I know he likes Uribe deep down, but c'mon, how can you hate on someone who swags as much he does, and who has a sweet Uuuuuuuribe nickname. He just went deep off of Texas's relief pitcher for a 3-run jack to give Big Time Timmy Jim more than enough run support. And he made a really nice play in the field.

Sorry that part of the video is cut off. 

Fans, calm down a little


Yes, I know you're pumped up that the Giants may win their first World Series since 1954 but calm down. You guys jump out of your seats every time a Giants player hits a fly ball, mistakenly thinking it's a home run. Or you jump the gun and cheer when you think a Rangers hitter struck out, only to realize he hit a dribbler foul.

No more Directv commercials please


It's the Directv commercial where a scene with Russel Crowe from The Gladiator plays in the background when an assassin dude blow darts a guy and then takes his movies. I've seen that commercial at least 20 times. It's annoying by now. And kinda scary. The first time I saw it the guy with the blow dart was silhouetted in the doorway and was very intimidating. When he missed the guy I thought, oh, he'll be the bumbling hero who somehow avoid death. But no, he gets a blow dart in the neck the second time around and then gets his movie tapes jacked. Scary and surprising. (Pete Foster plagiarized)

Another thing about commercials. Budweiser's "Grab Some Buds" commercial could be my favorite commercial ever. It just makes me love baseball even more, makes me love the camaraderie of watching baseball with your friends and there are a few segments that keep men particularly interested (Peter Tight plagiarized). There are two of these "Grab Some Buds" commercials; the one I posted is actually the non-baseball one, but it's still really good. I couldn't find the one that focuses mostly on baseball.

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Vlady won't have to play RF when the Rangers play at home, but his shoddy defensive play could hamper Texas in the games at AT&T. 

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Vlady is struggling


Vladimir Guerrero has made two errors in the bottom of the 8th. They won't matter since the Giants were up by so much anyway, but I can see why he only played about 17 games in the field during the regular season. Vlady won't have to play RF when the Rangers play at home, but his shoddy defensive play could hamper Texas in the games at AT&T.

Even the scrubs are gettin' their reps!


You know the Giants are ahead when both Travis Ishikawa and Nate Schierholtz get in the ballgame. Ishikawa usually is a pinch hitter in big situations and Nate is a defensive replacement for Pat Burrell in left field. And you know the Giants are playing out of their mind when they both get hits. Ishikawa hit an RBI double in the 8th inning and Nate followed it up later with an RBI single. Title idea taken from Kev Dogg.

Brian Wilson conspiracy theory

Is it really necessary for all of these pitching changes made by Bochy? The Giants are winning by a mile, and Bochy decides he needs to take out Sergio after 2/3 of an inning and Ramon Ramirez and Jeremy Affeldt got taken out in the 9th after shaky starts. Even though it's the postseason and managers don't want to take any chances, it's still a stretch to call in Wilson when the Giants were up 11-4. My conspiracy theory is that B Willy just pumps up the fans too much for Bochy not to put him in.

Death by College Tour - Notes and Observations

Over the 4-day weekend I traveled to New England with my dad to look at colleges. Here are some things I learned on my first college trip. 

Tufts

Don’t be “that guy”

Don’t be the annoying know-it-all kid who is way too excited and way too try-hard. 

Don’t sit in the front row of the info session unless there are no extra seats. 

Don’t wear a really nice leather jacket that pisses me off. 

Don’t have a Mom who makes it a point to let everyone in the room know that she is an alum of the school. 

Don’t answer questions about the school that the tour guide doesn’t even know the answer to. 

Don’t inquire about a random club to show off that you have legit extracurriculars. 

And lastly, don’t be really funny-looking and have eyes that are spread so far apart that you look like a fish. 

Checkin' out a BC football practice.

Info Session and College Tour Clichés

When talking about financial aid, “We are completely need blind.” 

We are a “diverse” community. 

“We want to see you do well in the most challenging courses at your school.” 

“We send about 50% of our students abroad during their junior year.” 

“Our library has over a million volumes, if that means anything to you.”

If the college is out in the middle of nowhere, (Amherst, Williams, Middlebury) “There’s actually a lot to do in the town, I’ve never been bored here.”

Brown

Lack of Dimes at Ivy/NESCAC Schools

I’m not implying anything here but it’s just an observation I made. The small, schools I visited just did not have the abundance of attractive girls that bigger schools have. Even David Lee confirmed this about Williams, saying that there is just a smaller concentration of dimes at his school. On that topic, the girls at Boston College were off the charts. I’m sure Tim Hoag is having fun there. 

Amherst

Is Any Tour Guide Just a Regular Guy?

Hi, my name is William and I’m a psychology and economics double major, I’m part of the academic initiative here, sing in an a cappella group and write for the school newspaper

Hi, my name is Susie and I am a senior here. I’m on the varsity lacrosse team, work on organizing the trips that freshman go on in the fall and spring and am a Resident Advisor in my dorm. 

Hi, my name is John and I am a senior here. I  am currently writing my thesis on agricultural patterns in the Amazon using satellite data and have a minor in geography. I started a community service program, play club rugby and am also a DJ here on campus. 

I know that schools want to give off the best possible image by having its top students give tours, but it can be intimidating. I’m sure the parents love it, but most students are not these tour guides. I would rather just get a tour with an average student who isn’t involved in five different things on campus. 

Dartmouth

Info Sessions Suck

Every school has it set up the same way. You go to an hour long information session where an admissions officer talks up the school and then you go on a tour around campus. Each info sesh says the same thing: quality of its academics, accessibility of the professors, the opportunities to travel abroad, the “feel” of the school, financial aid program, alumni network, career center, how you can either submit the SAT w/ two SAT 2s or the ACT with writing and on and on. Not to mention the room is really warm and the seat is cozy and you’re sitting in the back so no one would see you fall asleep...

Dunkin’ Donuts Galore!

If you visit schools on the east coast, you will pass by scores of Dunkin’ Donuts. For some reason they’re way bigger on the east coast than on the west coast. Even if you normally scorn fast food places, you have make a stop for Dunkin’ Ds. Apparently it has the best coffee. Besides, where else would you find a teenage girl with a huge stain on her shirt working the counter, a guy behind you singing along to the old song on the radio, a bunch of fat people, more pick-up trucks than sedans outside and a portable french fry car next door?

Thoughts Before the NLDS

Will Buster Posey or the J-Hey Kid win the NL Rookie of the Year award?

The San Jose Mercury News wrote today about how similar the Giants and Braves are. Both teams feature great starting pitching, shut-down bullpens and average to below average hitting.


The Giants will trot out Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez and the Braves counter with their top three of Derek Lowe, Tommy Hanson and Tim Hudson. Lincecum and Lowe both bounced back from poor Augusts to post 5-1 and 5-0 records respectively.

The Giants bullpen had a 0.90 ERA from Sept. 1 through the end of the season, but Atlanta's relievers are equally formidable. They have closer Bill Wagner, (retiring after this season) Jonny Venters, deadly right-handed specialist Peter Moylan and Craig Kimbrel, who averages almost 2 Ks per inning.

The Braves offense may be even worse than the Giants', partly because injuries have hit their team hard. They lost Chipper Jones and all-star second baseman Martin Prado to season ending knee and oblique injuries. Brian McCann, their all-star catcher, led the team with only 77 RBI. The Braves did trade for the power hitting first baseman Derrek Lee though.

Both teams are almost completely identical but I think the Giants' pitching is just a little better. I'd take Lincecum, especially since he has been looking like the Cy Young Timmy of old, over Lowe any day and the Giants have gotten to Wagner a couple of times this year.

Lowe was 5-0 with a 1.17 ERA in September and October. 

I've heard all the stuff about how the ESPN analysts and the computers think the Giants will win, but anything can happen in the playoffs, especially in a short 5 game series. There's a difference between being favored to win and actually winning and I don't think the Giants play well when they're the favorites. This can be seen through their 2 losses to the Padres in the final series. 

I think the Giants are the better team but I could easily see them losing. They have virtually no post season experience (is Burrell the only Giant who's been to the playoffs?) and I can see Lincecum being erratic and Sanchez throwing walk after walk. The Giants need their starting pitching to be excellent. When their starters pitch well, they win; when they don't, they lose. It's as simple as that. 

Zito was one of the notable names left off the Giants NLDS roster. 

The Giants announced their NLDS roster today. Barry Zito and Jose Guillen were left off the roster while Aaron Rowand made it. 

Manager Bruce Bochy had said on KNBR earlier in the week that Zito wouldn't start but didn't address whether he might pitch out of the bullpen. Zito expressed his disappointment but didn't help his case last Saturday when he walked two batters with the bases loaded against the Padres. 

I was initially surprised when I saw that Guillen wasn't on the NLDS roster but apparentluy he is dealing with a neck injury. Guillen's recent hitting also must not have been good enough to offset his lack of mobility in right field. 

It was somewhat of a surprise that Rowand made the roster given that he hasn't started over Andres Torres since early in the year. His pinch hit 2-run home run in Friday's game against San Diego probably helped his case. 

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This NLDS matchup pits the two leading candidates for NL Rookie of the Year against each other: Jason Heyward and Buster Posey. 

I think Posey should win because he helped boost a July Giants team that was 2 games over .500 to 22 games over .500 by the end of the year, managed a pitching staff that allowed 3 runs or less over 18 consecutive games, and hit .305. 

It seems like Heyward will win though because he played for the entire year. Also, he joins Mel Ott, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Al Kaline and A-Rod as the only players 20 years or younger and with at least 600 plate appearances in their season to have a .390 OBP or higher. 

I know the vote for ROY doesn't take into account the post season but I hope the writers are swayed when the Posey-led Giants crush Heyward and the tomahawk-chopping Braves. 

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Some stats to consider:

The Giants have won 18 of their last 20 games when they score first. 

The Giants hit into the most double plays out of any national league team. Tim Hudson led the league (32) and Derek Lowe finished 9th in induced double plays. 

The Giants home run dependent offense goes up against a Braves staff that has allowed an NL low 126 homers. 

The Giants have allowed 3 runs or fewer in 23 of their last 26 games. The Braves went 5-39 when they scored 2 runs or less. 

Open

Andre Agassi bears all in his surprisingly introspective autobiography. 

I just finished reading Open, the autobiography of the retired tennis player Andre Agassi. It was a really good book; it wasn't just good for a sports memoir, it was a good book all around. I don't even follow tennis that closely and I found myself falling in love with the man's internal struggles.

Brief summary of the book:

Andre Agassi grows up in Las Vegas with a tennis racket shoved into his hand by his overbearing father, forced to hit thousands of balls each day. He resents his father and comes to hate tennis with a passion despite his obvious talent.

Agassi is sent against his will to the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy. He has absolutely no freedom and is forced to play tennis until his arms fall off. Andre is uncomfortable and insecure in his new home and acts out, cutting class, getting his ear pierced, drinking etc. He turns pro (and drops out of school) when he is only 16 years old.

Andre struggles with the challenges of being a professional tennis player and comes close to quitting multiple times. Gil Reyes, his athletic trainer, closest friend and surrogate father helps him through the tough times and Agassi goes on to win a total of 8 grand slams.

Agassi marries actress Brooke Shields but later divorces her and is now married to former tennis player Steffi Graf.

Andre Agassi secretly hated the game that made him millions. 

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What made this book so intriguing were Agassi's flaws and how they shaped him as a person. I have never heard of a professional athlete in any sport who achieved his level of success who secretly hated the sport. Agassi emphasized this over and over again throughout the book, it wasn't even a love-hate relationship, tennis was just the only thing he knew how to do well. 

Agassi also revealed how the wild mullet he used to rock back in his playing days was fake. He had been going bald since an early age and was too embarrassed to tell anybody. 

During a particularly low stretch in Agassi's career he even turned to crystal meth. This was probably the most shocking news in his book. 

What makes Agassi so endearing, which in turn makes the book so good, is that his flaws don't make you hate him, they make you understand and empathize. For most of his life Andre Agassi floated along without much meaning or friendship. On the outside he may have been this young tennis prodigy with an outlandish haircut and load of dough but on the inside he was empty. Most people look at pro athletes and place them on this pedestal, thinking that they must all live awesome lives because of how good they are at their sport and because they make a lot of money. But Agassi destroys this stereotype because of his well-detailed internal struggles. Agassi came to peace with himself and found true love in Brooke Shields and managed to overcome all of his flaws. He's inspiring not because he was one of the greatest tennis players of all time, rather, one could argue that serious tennis players or fans of Agassi would be discouraged after realizing their tennis star was not who they thought he was. Open was so intriguing because Agassi was the anti-hero, a guy who hated tennis and didn't seem dedicated at times, but his thoughtfulness and originality is a breath of fresh air and he found his true love and passion at the end of the story: his wife, kids and the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education. 

Playoffs!

Giants players mob closer Brian Wilson after clinching their first playoff berth in seven years. 

It definitely was torture, but the Giants got it done.

The San Francisco Giants (92-70) beat the San Diego Padres (90-72) 3-0 to clinch the N.L. West title and advance to the playoffs for the first time since 2003.

After losing the first two games of the three game series to the Padres, Jonathan Sanchez (13-9) slammed the door on San Diego's playoff hopes with five plus innings of no runs, and scored what proved to be the winning run for San Francisco.

Sanchez blasted a triple off Mat Latos to right center and Freddy Sanchez singled him in with a two out single in the third inning. Aubrey Huff followed with a run scoring double to put the Giants up 2-0.

The Giants bullpen got out of two jams in the sixth and seventh innings to protect Sanchez's lead. The bullpen stepped it up big time down the stretch and didn't allow any earned runs over the last six games.

Santiago Casilla induced a rally-killing double play groundout in the sixth inning after Jonathan Sanchez allowed Adrian Gonzalez and Ryan Ludwick to reach base. The next inning was the backbreaker for the Padres. Ramon Ramirez struck out shortstop Miguel Tejada to end the inning and strand runners at first and second base after a ferocious nine pitch battle by Tejada.

Rookie catcher Buster Posey tacked on an insurance run in the eight inning and Brian Wilson pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his major league leading 48th save.

Freddy Sanchez celebrates after scoring on Aubrey Huff's double to make it 2-0. 

Buster Posey celebrates with battery mate Matt Cain after the win. 

 Giants players thanking their fans after the victory. 

Jonathan Sanchez got the win in the last game of the season, striking out 5 and only allowing 3 hits. 

It's fitting that the game that sent the Giants to their first playoff series since the Barry Bonds era was won with pitching. Jonathan Sanchez, Santiago Casilla, Ramon Ramirez, Javier Lopez, Sergio Romo and Brian Wilson combined to shut out the Padres. 

The reason why it came down to the 162nd game of the season wasn't because their hitters didn't step it up in the first two games of the series. They averaged three runs a game over the series, which is fine for the Giants if their pitchers are up to par. The problem in the first two games was the starting pitching. Matt Cain got rocked for three jacks and Zito was, well, he was typical Zito. 

If the Giants will win in the post season it will be because of their pitching. Look for the Giants to win in the low-scoring games and the Braves to win if Atlanta scores more than 3 runs in a game.

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Speaking of the Braves, the Giants will host Atlanta Thursday Oct. 7 for game 1 of the NLDS. 

I'm glad Atlanta made the playoffs in Bobby Cox's last year as manager. They almost choked it away in September after giving up their first place lead in the NL East but held on and clinched the wild card berth with an 8-7 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.

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The Giants NL West title ended a pretty amazing comeback and an equally amazing choke by the Padres. On July 4 San Francisco was in 4th place in the division, 7.5 games behind San Diego. At the beginning of September the Giants were still 4 games out after a dismal August when their starting pitching got rocked. 

The turning point of the season was a pitchers-only meeting manager Bruce Bochy called after an 11-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Aug 28. The vaunted Giants pitching staff had been getting knocked around and two time Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum went 0-5 with a 7.82 ERA in August. I don't know what Bochy said, but from September 1 through the last game of the season the Giants only allowed 60 runs, or a shade over 2 runs/game.

Of course, the Giants also got huge help from the San Diego Padres. The Pads lost 10 games in a row from Aug 26-Sept 5, a major league record for a team in first place, and went 14-17 in September and October.

During the season I was so surprised by the Padres' success that I thought it was only a matter of time before they choked and it became a 3-team race between the Giants, Dodgers and Rockies. But San Diego proved me wrong by showing no signs of weakness throughout the entire season and I thought the Giants would have to win the wild card. Sure, the Pads did lose 10 in a row, but the Giants didn't make up that much ground then because of their own struggles. The Padres did choke, but were in the race to the very end, outlasting Colorado (too little to late) and the hapless Dodgers (see divorce scandal). The only reason the Giants didn't win the division by more than they did was because won the season series 12-6.

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This team looks completely different from the Giants team in April. To start the season Todd Wellemeyer was the #5 pitcher (eesh), Bengie Molina started at catcher (slowpoke), Aaron Roward was an everyday starter (overpaid scrub), Edgar Renteria was our shortstop (mediocre), Mark DeRosa patrolled left field (injured) and even Travis Ishikawa (need I say more?) saw some at bats. Can you imagine how bad the Giants would have been if we had kept that team? There's no chance the Giants could have made the playoffs with those guys seeing significant playing time.

Credit the front office and our farm system with coming through though.

Wellemeyer was 3-5 with a 5.68 ERA before the Giants released him. Madison Bumbarner, our prized pitching prospect, stepped up big with a 7-6 record and posted a 1.13 ERA in September and October.

Probably the move of the season though was the trade of Bengie Molina to the Texas Rangers. It allowed Buster Posey to be our everyday catcher. Posey was simply amazing. Not only did he show remarkable poise and responsibility by handling the Giants pitching staff, but he was one of the Giants best hitters. He hit .305 and had 18 homers in only 108 games and is a leading candidate for rookie of the year.

Besides Zito, probably the biggest stink bomb for the Giants this year was Aaron Rowand. The only reason why Rowand was getting any playing time was because the Giants have a lot of money invested in him. Journeyman outfielder Andres Torres (43 doubles, 16 home runs, 26 stolen bases) had a career year and made it easier for Bochy to bench Rowand. The signing of Pat Burrell was also huge for the Giants. Burrell was cut by the Tampa Bay Rays earlier in the year until the Giants signed the Bellarmine grad. Pat the Bat slugged 18 home runs in just 95 games, providing a welcome power boost.

Juan Uribe also helped fill the gap at short stop left by Edgar Renteria's nagging injuries and overall poor hitting ability. Uribe set career highs with 24 jacks and 85 RBI.

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Lastly, B Dubs tied the San Francisco franchise record shared by Rod Beck with 48 saves.