Cerveceros vs. Gigantes

It was Hispanic heritage night in Milwaukee tonight. The Brewers celebrated in part by translating "Brewers" on their uniforms into Spanish. "Cerveceros" was the result. The Giants joined them by wearing their "Gigantes" uni's. I've never seen the Gigantes on the road threads. I guess the usual "San Francisco" wasn't Spanish enough. Either way, it makes for an interesting marketing scheme for jersey collectors. I wonder what the Padres would wear on Hispanic heritage night.

Saltalamacchia: Longest Name Ever

Friday night's Giants game vs. the Texas Rangers I saw Rangers catcher Jerrod Saltalamacchia play. He has the distinction of having the longest last name in baseball history at 14 letters. The name on the back of his jersey starts at mid back on the left and curls all the way around his shoulders and ends at mid back on the right. It looks very strange indeed. The old record of 13 was shared by a number of players, namely Todd Hollandsworth and William Van Landingham, two players I saw play for several years.

Apparently there is a kid in the minors at AAA who originally had a 13 letter name (from his father), but upon his parents' divorce he took his mother's 16 letter name as his own. If he's called up and he plays, he'll have the new record. I just love baseball trivia.

Barry Zito Is The New Matt Cain

Okay, so Barry Zito got lit up last night. But he's had a dramatic improvement this year. Especially earlier in the season, he had some very good outings. His record doesn't show his improvement, though. As of his last start, thanks to the Giants anemic offense, he has the worst run support of any starting pitcher in baseball. Wow, that's exactly what happened to Matt Cain the last several years.

And Matt Cain? A dramatic improvement in offense while Cain is on the bump, he's one of the front runners for the Cy Young award. And like Pitt and Jolie, the new term in town for the starting two is "Lincecain."

Giants Loss Projection Through June 15

June 2 through June 15:

25-25, 81; 26-25, 79; 27-25, 78; 28-25, 76; 28-26, 78; 29-26, 77; 29-27, 78; 30-27, 77; 31-27, 75; 31-28, 77; 32-28, 76; 33-28, 74; 34-28, 73; 34-29, 75.

Wow, .500 or above for an entire half month!

Playoff Bound?

Okay, it's only mid-June, but if the season ended today, the Giants would make the playoffs! Yes, it's early and the Giants have had their share of struggling, but they've also had some great pitching that has helped greatly with some important win streaks.

Still, though, the Giants need a couple of big bats. Will Sabean work a deal before the trade deadline? Will it help them? I know that they'll probably have some more offense-inflicted losing streaks this year. Maybe it will come down to which team has winning streaks at the right time. I just hope it's the Giants.

There's still hope of a World Series victory this year. I'm not holding my breath, but if happens, I'll take it.

Cast and Crew: Dan's Family

There's a very colorful family that has season tickets in the row behind us at the Giants games. We've known them for ten years now, and they are great people to have sitting close by at a game. Dan and his wife, Monique, with their two kids Jeremiah and Madison. When we first met them, Madison and Jeremiah were just on the threshold of their teens. Now they're grown up and out of the house, living their own lives.

They are very receptive of our small children when they're with us at the game. They joke all the time and are all outgoing. Dan has a tradition of wadding up a hot dog wrapper or paper bag and tossing it across the aisle and down a few rows, trying to make it into somebody's cup hanging in the cup holder for two points. And although Dan is a few years older than me, with his glove and the aisle seat he's twice the ball hound I am. Any fly ball down the line and he's off to the third row waiting for the hop. He's a salesman and he never misses finding a strange group of people to buy their tickets if they can't go. Half the fun when they're not there is trying to figure out the story of how they got the tickets.

Monique is hilarious and will talk about anything whatsoever. She wears her opinion on her sleeve, but even if it's offensive in some way, it's guaranteed to be funny. Jeremiah is very vocal and into the game. Then when his parents aren't there, it's really a scream. He follows the Giants fiercely and posts their follies on Facebook. Recently he took the road trip to see them in Seattle. Madison has been away at school the past few years, so we haven't seen her as much, but the school stories about her friends are always entertaining.

Dan's family. Funny. Sarcastic. Giants fans.

Rain, Rain, Rain

The Giants had a total of 9 hours, 22 minutes worth of rain delays in a five game period this road trip. Washington and Miami were storm prone. It must be difficult for the announcers to come back on air every ten minutes to say it's still raining. And the crowd sizes have been puny. The total attendance in two series must have been less than either stadium holds if sold out.

But, I love small crowd games kept away by threat of rain. Not the rain itself.

Congratulations Randy Johnson

He did it. 300 wins. This is a great achievement, not likely to occur again any time soon. I got to watch part of it on TV and hear the rest of it on the radio. Nail biter when Wilson tried to get out of the 8th inning jam.

Now go out and win another World Series, Randy!

Rainout = Double Header

Tonight the Giants were rained out in Washington so Randy Johnson will try for his 300th career victory as part of a double header tomorrow. I love how baseball takes raining on the parade and turns it into something beautiful. Let's see football play two.

Those Timid Cardinals Fans

Mrs. Scott and I went to Saturday night's Giants/Cardinals game at AT&T Park. There were many Cards fans in attendance, and as usual, they dress in red. They are one of the NL teams that draw larger numbers of visiting fans (the Dodgers, Mets, Cardinals and Cubs lead the pack, with the Braves lagging behind a bit. The Red Sox, Yankees and A's lead the AL with honorable mention to the Tigers fans). With the red color, they are quite simply the most visible of the bunch.

Yet, they are the most timid in rooting for their team. They know their baseball like no other fans, yet don't really offer cheers, but applause when their team does well. The several instances where a group started with a "Let's go Cardinals" chant quickly resulted in protective Giants fans drowning out their chants with editing of their own. This not merely masked the cheers, but stopped them cold. Mets or Dodger fans wouldn't have let the Giants fans interfere.

In talking with the people behind us, we decided that if all those Cards fans were Mets fans with their typical bravado we would have known it an hour before the game even started. I'm not sure if it is the Midwestern demeanor, but they are an interesting breed. I'd like to watch the Giants play in St. Louis to see how many Giants fans would show and how they behaved themselves.

Giants Loss Projection Through May 31

May 16 through May 31:

18-18, 81; 19-18, 79; 19-19, 81; 19-20, 83; 19-21, 85; 19-22, 87; 20-22, 85; 20-23, 87; 21-23, 85; 22-23, 83; 23-23, 81; 24-23, 79; 24-24, 81; 25-24, 79.