From the Bleachers

Game 6 Collapses Lead to Temporary Game 7 Hope

2011-11-20T15:03:00.000-08:00

The Texas Rangers' historic 2011 Game 6 collapse - two of them in one game, actually - is one of the all time greats. It will be remembered forever. The Rangers were one strike away from winning the World Series two innings in a row with two run leads to start each inning. Yet the ultimate in horrifying took place. Not only did they crumble to lose Game 6 in devastating fashion, the Rangers seemed to do the inevitable: lose Game 7 as well.

After such a Game 6 collapse, a Game 7 win seems as doomed as the Game 6 choke was shocking. But upon further review, something interesting happens. With the four most famous Game 6 collapses (that I can remember), the losing team went on to take an early lead in Game 7.

In the 2011 World Series, the Rangers shook off the loss to take a 2 run lead in the top of the first inning in game 7. But fate overcame their lead and the Cardinals won.

Now for the other three Game 6 collapses I remember. In 1986, the Boston Red Sox, up 3 games to 2 over the New York Mets, took a two run 10th inning lead. In the bottom of the frame, they got the first two outs before disaster struck. Three straight Mets singles scored a run and put the tying run at third. With two strikes, the Sox were one strike from winning the World Series. A game-tying wild pitch uncorked by Bob Stanley was the replacement. The third out then went through Bill Buckner's legs, completing the Game 6 catastrophe. But the Sox shed the pain and took an early 3-0 lead in Game 7 that lasted until the 6th inning before the Mets completed their comeback.

In the 2003 NLCS, the ever cursed Chicago Cubs held a 3 games to 2 lead over the wild-card expansion Florida Marlins. With their ace on the mound, the Cubbies took a 3 hit shutout into the 8th inning with a 3 run lead. Five outs from their first World Series in a million years, Cubs fan Steve Bartman interfered with Cubs outfielder Moises Alou's attempt to catch a foul ball at the wall. The Marlins answered with 8 runs, dashing the hopes for the evening, and no doubt for another several decades. But although the Cubs were the only one of these four teams to not score first in Game 7, they did score five unanswered runs to take an early 5-3 lead before the Marlins completed their comeback.

Now for the largest, latest collapse in baseball history. The 2002 San Francisco Giants were thrashing the Anaheim Angels (or whatever they were named back then) in Game 6, 5-0. Their ace was on the mound with a two-hit shutout in the 7th inning, just 8 outs away from their first World Championship in almost 50 years. A couple of singles brought a pitching change. A brain-freeze low-inside target given to a low-inside hitter resulted in a 3-run homer, cutting the lead to 5-3 before getting out of the inning. The 8th inning saw the best bullpen - and most overworked - melt down for another 3 runs to the surging Disneylanders after cutting the countdown to five outs away. Robb Nen's career ending arm blowout was the red carpet to the G-Men's crash and burn. In Game 7, the Giants scored first, early, but that didn't last as Livan Hernandez responded with a Psychology 101 mental breakdown case study, giving up four runs to eventually complete the flushdown.

[Note to whiny Cubs fans: Quit complaining that Dusty should have taken the pitcher out during Game 6. He DID take the pitcher out in Game 6...one year earlier, and look at the results!!! You were doomed either way.]

These Game 6 meltdowns seem to reveal that the teams could rebound, take the field the next day, and perform well enough to take the lead in Game 7. But the ultimate result is a less extreme come-from-ahead loss in Game 7.

[Update: I neglected to include the umpire induced Game 6 meltdown of the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1985 World Series. Essentially two outs away from a Cards ring, Don Denkinger botched a call at first base that triggered a 2-run Royals game winning rally. The Redbirds were shutout the next day 11-0. I guess this shows my theory is only good from 1986 on.]

ONE. STRIKE. AWAY...twice

2011-10-28T02:05:00.000-07:00

Well, I never. I was at work on swing shift and didn't get to see game 6 tonight, but I heard about what happened. I knew the Rangers were one strike away from winning the World Series in two different innings before coughing it up twice. I knew they lost it on a lead-off walk-off homer in the 11th. On the way home I was listening to the radio and there was some serious criticism of Ron Washington for not putting his best gloves in the outfield for the ninth inning. He replaced Nelson Cruz later in the game anyway, so why not in the 9th?

Okay, I was able to piece together that Cruz had a hand (or maybe just the opposite) in the Rangers' crushing defeat, but I didn't know what that was. After I got home I was able to watch some highlights. Disbelief.

Nelson Cruz should have caught that ball on the warning track to win the World Series. But he didn't. He reminded me of Jose Canseco out there, the worst outfielder I've ever seen.

Big Dogs Home for LCS

2011-10-10T15:38:00.000-07:00

The ALCS and NLCS are being played without the presence of the Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies, Giants, Braves and Rays. All of the teams that are supposed to be there aren't. It's also the first LCS since 2005 without an Eastern division team in either series. Although this is generally welcome to me, the absence of my Giants is specifically troubling.

In any case, I'm reverting to rooting for the lesser of the remaining evils. That means the Milwaukee Brewers are my choice to win it all. If I had to pick a pecking order of the teams still in it, I would pick the Brewers first, then the Tigers, then Rangers and lastly the Cardinals.

The Phillies Ratcheting Decline

2011-10-09T12:36:00.000-07:00

The Philadelphia Phillies have been experiencing a strange ratcheting decline the last four years. They have fallen precisely one notch per year. In 2008 they won the World Series. In 2009 they lost the World Series. In 2010 they lost the NLCS and in 2011 they lost the NLDS.

If this trend continues, in 2012 they will lose the division title. Whether this means they will still make the playoffs as a wildcard or they will lose the division title in game 162 when Ryan Howard makes the final out again remains to be seen. It stands to reason that if they make it as the wildcard, they will lose the NLDS again. But the result would be the same as this year, so I'm thinking they would lose the division title on game 162. If the trend continues, of course.

Philly fans are more than frustrated with this turn of events. Seconds after the final out the other night, the fans booed their Phils for a disappointing season end. Of course they're the fans who once booed Santa Claus.

Shutting Philly Up

2011-10-02T23:49:00.000-07:00

This has nothing to do with the outcome this evening, but it is simply amazing just how quickly 46,000 raving lunatic fanatics wearing red can become mute. The deafening roar changes to recording studio hush at the crack of an opponents bat like no other venue in sports. I wonder why that is?

The raucous rooters in Philly were silenced tonight by the Cardinals' rally. It reminded me of the Giants effect on the crowd last year in the 2010 NLCS. The contrast is simply stunning.

Realignment #2 - My favorite

2011-09-10T16:41:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I wrote about realignment and listed just one idea. I've been thinking about it for a while and I think I've come up with a great idea for realignment. I think it's far better than all others I've encountered. This is because it solves many of the problems with the current alignment and baseball schedule, and also it creates some new and much needed rivalries and is sure to increase attendance and revenue. It's a win-win-win situation I believe.

First I'd like to list problems with the current alignment and schedule:

Each league has a different number of teams. But this is because to have an odd number of teams in each league would require an interleague series every day of the season.
Divisions have different numbers of teams, either 4 (AL West), 6 (NL Central) or 5 (all other divisions). An AL West team has a 50% greater statistical chance of winning the World Series than an NL Central team simply by being in a 4 team division.
Unbalanced numbers of teams in each division make it so that teams play each other different numbers of times than other teams. Because of this, weird adjustments need to be made to make a total of 162 games. Examples are: often when the Giants and Cardinals play their 6 games against each other, they are split so that 4 games are played in one park and 2 in the other.
Intra-divisional play results in some teams playing 18 games against each other, some others 19 and even others 20. Inter-division play results in 6, 7 or 9 games against other teams. There is no uniformity, balance or symmetry. The schedule playing field isn't really level.
Because of an unbalanced number of teams in each division, when two divisions play each other in interleague play, every team in one division doesn't play all teams in the other. Sometimes a team plays only 3 or 4 of the 5 teams, etc. This also creates odd matchups. The A's this year (AL West) played the NL East. They played only 3 teams - Mets, Phillies and Marlins - but not the Braves or Nationals, but to make up space to total 162 they also played the D-Backs (NL West). Go figure.
Interleague play was designed so that teams in the other league will get to see the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs etc. Yet after 15 years of interleague, the Cubs finally visited Fenway for the first time. The last time the NL West played the AL East, the Giants completely missed the Yankees, playing them neither at home nor on the road.
Interleague metro and intra-state "rivalry" games create an unlevel playing field among teams competing for the same division title. As an example, the Mets and Marlins are both in the NL East. For over a decade, the Marlins got to play six games against the hapless expansion Rays while the Mets had to play six games against a historic dynasty Yankee team. That's a good two to three game swing in the standings just because of your schedule. Hardly fair.
Also, far too many games are played in different time zones. West coast fans are still at work when East coast night games start, and East coast fans are in bed when West coast night games start. Airline travel is greater with the current schedule as there are fewer groupings of teams that make sense to economize.
There are more problems that I won't go into, but the totality of them warrants a re-thinking of alignment. Which brings me to my proposed solution:

Here's my solution for all this nonsense. It works out beautifully and symmetrically, using traditional baseball numbers, creates new rivalries and enhances existing geographic rivalries.

First, I'm going to start with the idea proposed earlier this year with the Houston Astros going to the American League West to even every division at five teams. I'll put them in with Seattle, Oakland, Anaheim and Texas. Other than that I'm going to keep the existing divisions in tact. BUT...

What is going to be different is in how I organize the divisions into leagues. Instead of two leagues with three divisions in each league, I'm going to invert this to result in three leagues of ten teams each with two divisions of five teams in each league. I'm going to invert the names also. The three leagues would be called Western League, Central League and Eastern League. In each league there would be an American Division and a National division. The beauty of this is that it concentrates games within regions rather than being spread out over the country. And it is all perfectly symmetrical.

Here's a breakdown of the leagues and divisions:

WESTERN LEAGUE CENTRAL LEAGUE EASTERN LEAGUE

American Div.   American Div.   American Div.

LA Angels       Cleveland       Baltimore
Oakland         Detroit         Boston
Seattle         Chi. White Sox  NY Yankees
Houston         Kansas City     Tampa Bay
Texas           Minnesota       Toronto

National Div.   National Div.   National Div.

Arizona         Chicago Cubs    Atlanta
Colorado        Milwaukee       Philadelphia
San Diego       St. Louis       Washington
Los Angeles     Pittsburgh      New York Mets
San Francisco   Cincinnati      Florida

Now for the math. In each division, each team would play the other four teams in that division a total of 18 times. This is a traditional number dating back to 10- and 12-team leagues after expansion in 1961-62 and 1969. So, 18 games x four other teams = 72 intra-division games. Now, each team in a division will play each team in the other division in that league a total of 12 times. Another traditional number of games played against teams in the other division that came along with the 12-team leagues. So, 12 games x five other teams = 60 intra-division games. This totals 132 games, and when subtracted from 162 leaves 30 games. There would still be "interleague" play. Each division would play one of the other four divisions not in their league per year, rotating each year for four years. With 30 games to play against 5 teams in the other league's division, each team will play the other team six times, three home and three road! So every team will play every other team home and away every four years, guaranteed!

In short, 18 games against teams in your own division, 12 games against teams in the other division in your league, and 6 games against the teams in an interleague division on a four year rotation. Total: 162.

Now to spell out some great advantages. Since each league is constructed regionally instead of spread out across the country, divisions in that league contain natural rivalries. All five metro area rivalries (NY, LA, Chicago, San Fran and DC/Baltimore) and all four intra-state rivalries (TX, FL, OH and MO) will have those teams playing at least 12 games against each other per year, with Texas and Houston playing 18 since they're now in the same division. Imagine the Cubs and Sox playing 12 games against each other every year, or the Yankees and Mets, or the Giants and A's, or the Reds and Indians. Not only is this a great advantage, but other regional rivalries will be created as well. Just imagine the Phillies and Red Sox playing 12 games every year. Or the Yankees and Braves. Or the Mets and Red Sox. Or the Cards and White Sox. Not only will the Brewers play 18 games against the Cubs every year, they'll also play 12 games against the White Sox. The A's and Dodgers, Giants and Angels.

Also, since leagues are arranged regionally, long flights to the opposite coast will only happen once every two years during the "interleague" play against those divisions.

Now a question is raised about the All-Star game. With three leagues, how will that be arranged? Well, the traditional league format could be kept in tact by choosing players from the three American divisions combined to play against players from the three National divisions combined. The game will retain an "American vs. National" flavor. And post-season play could be similar. Each division would advance its winner to the playoffs with a wild-card with the best second place record of the three American divisions and another from the three National divisions. National division teams could play off against each other and so could American division teams. The World Series then could be a matchup of an American division team and a National division team, with each year rotating for home field advantage.

Overall I think this realignment idea would improve baseball to a good degree. I think I'll push for it to become more popular. Maybe write the commish? I'd love to get any feedback on this idea, so if you have any, please comment.

Realignment #1

2011-08-17T22:37:00.000-07:00

Realignment was a big baseball topic a month or so ago. I'm just now getting to it. I believe realignment needs to happen and there are a number of ways to accomplish it that are better than the current alignment. As I've written before I'm for balanced divisions and an unbalanced but symmetrical schedule. I'm for an unbalanced schedule because with a balanced schedule, divisions make no sense whatever. I AM for a symmetrical schedule because it gives all teams the same level playing field as it were. Baseball has always had an unbalanced schedule. From 1901 to 1996, there were two leagues of teams that never played each other at all. Many games against your own league, zero against the other. Unbalanced.

Here are some ways to realign, and I will give the first one here.

Realignment #1:

Move an NL team to the AL and have 15 teams in each league, with 5 teams in each of the six divisions. This would almost guarantee an interleague series always happening throughout the year, but this could be done in a simple way. Series at the beginning or end of the year could be played between teams that finished last or near last from the year before. In this format, each team could play the other 4 teams in their division 18 times each (which is a traditional number easily divisible by 3)(for a total of 72 games), each other team in its own league six times (3 home and 3 road, for a total of 60 games), and each team in one division in the other league six times each (3 home and 3 road) for a total of 30 interleague games. This totals 162.

More in a coming post...

The Best Team

2011-08-04T05:20:00.000-07:00

The best team doesn't always win the World Series, but I would say that the best team did win it the last four years running. The Giants were arguably the best team in baseball last year in 2010 - and certainly in the second half - while the Yankees were the year before. The 2008 Phillies lived up to expectations and the 2007 Red Sox ran away with it.

In 2006, the Cardinals barely had a winning record, the 2005 White Sox were very good, the 2004 Red Sox were a wildcard storybook team, the 2003 Marlins and 2002 Angels were WC teams, too. The 2001 D-Backs had a great 1-2 rotation built for October and I'm not positive they were the best, but the 1998-2000 Yankees were. So, it had been a while since the best team won, now four in a row. Will the best team win again?

Victory Outfit

2011-07-27T23:58:00.000-07:00

And that's why the Giants are World Champs. What a form-fitting game. Cain tosses seven innings of one-run ball (unearned) and the bullpen mops up. Wilson heard every four letter heckle there was in the 'pen. Yet another low scoring one-run game, 2-1. Yet another Philly frustration. Their fans probably think it's because their lineup wasn't hitting well. But we know better.

Expanded Playoffs With More Teams?

2011-07-02T21:44:00.000-07:00

There's a proposal for expanding the playoffs for 2012. Each league would have an additional wild card team. Normally I would be opposed to such a thing, as I think there are more than enough teams in the post season as it is. I don't like the wild card either. Eight out of 30 teams make it (more than 25%), and that's too many. But depending on how the format works, I might just be for it.

What would work for me is to add an additional wild card team for each league, but the two wild card teams in each league could have a one game play-in the day after the regular season is over to determine who plays in the regular format. That way, no wild card team could feel safe with a late season surge to gain the wild card that carries over into post season and ends up winning the World Series just because they're the hottest the latest. But an additional series between those two teams that allow all other teams an extended time off? No way.

Busted Posey

2011-06-14T22:06:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a while - blog time speaking - since Buster Posey was injured at the plate by Scott Cousins. One thing I did was listen to every side possible and come to a conclusion after that. I didn't see the play live, but heard the radio account, then listened to the post-game show, interviews with various baseball people, and lots of talk radio. I didn't see a replay immediately and wasn't able to view one for about three days. So I heard others' opinions of the play before I saw it.

Many were saying that Giants players resigned to the idea that it was a legit taking out of the catcher who was blocking the plate. So I was expecting to see a Rose/Fosse type of play, or a Snow/Pudge type of play or a Schierholtz/Chinese catcher type of play. But when I saw it, I was shocked to see Posey not even close to blocking the plate, and Cousins veering completely out of his way (not even trying to score), crossing the foul line and throwing his entire body across the inside of the plate in order to take Posey out. The video matched essentially nothing that I heard about it on the radio.

The "old school" types flexed their egos and said this is the way baseball has always been played. Really? Going out of your way to take somebody out? I understand old school toughness of taking out the catcher...IF he's blocking the plate. But all the other "comparative" plays that were mentioned had one thing in common with each other that wasn't present in the Cousins/Posey play. In all the other plays, the catcher was blocking the plate.

Now I'm not advocating what GM Sabean said, either, that it would be fine with the Giants organization if Cousins never played again at the major league level, being the 25th man on the Fish roster. Yes, it was an act of backing up his guy, but is just as much a part of baseball as the collision. I'm wondering what will happen in Florida later in the season if Cousins is still on the roster. Chin music is part of baseball, too. But one thing is clear. You don't run on Schierholtz.

Giants Record Projection Through May 31

2011-06-11T12:46:00.000-07:00

May 16 through May 31: (note: projected record in orange)

L 22-18 .550, 89-73; L 22-19 .537, 87-75; W 23-19 .548, 89-73; W 24-19 .558, 90-72; W 25-19 .568, 92-70; W 26-19 .578, 94-68; W 27-19 .587, 95-67; L 27-20 .574, 93-69; L 27-21 .563, 91-71; L 27-22 .551, 89-73; W 28-22 .560, 90-72; L 28-13 .549, 89-73; L 28-24 .538, 87-75; W 29-24 .547, 89-73; L 29-25 .537, 87-75.

Giants Record Projection Through May 15

2011-06-09T19:44:00.000-07:00

May 1 through May 15: (note: projected record in orange)

L 13-14 .481, 78-84; L 13-15 .464, 75-87; W 14-15 .483, 78-84; W 15-15 .500, 81-81; L 15-16 .484, 78-84; W 16-16 .500, 81-81; W 17-16 .515, 83-79; W 18-16 .529, 86-76; W 19-16 .543, 88-74; W 20-16 .556, 90-72; W 21-16 .568, 92-70; L 21-17 .553, 90-72; W 22-17 .564, 91-71; ppd 22-17 .564, 91-71.

A Month?

2011-06-08T20:55:00.000-07:00

It's been about a month since I've blogged here. I could never have imagined such a thing. I need to get on it and post. It shouldn't be too much longer. Lots to talk about, except those things are now distant history, social networkingly speaking.

Giants Record Projection Through April 30

2011-05-10T23:53:00.000-07:00

April 16 through April 30, 2011 (Note: projected record in orange)

W 8-6 .571, 93-69; L 8-7 .533, 86-76; W 9-7 .563, 91-71; W 10-7 .588, 95-67; L 10-8 .556, 90-72; L 10-9 .526, 85-77; L 10-10 .500, 81-81; L 10-11 .476, 77-85; W 11-11 .500, 81-81; L 11-12 .478, 77-85; W 12-12 .500, 81-81; L 12-13 .480, 78-84; W 13-13 .500, 81-81.

Trouble In Tinseltown

2011-05-09T13:20:00.000-07:00

So the owners of the Dodgers are in deep financial trouble. Bud Selig is having MLB take over the team in an attempt to rescue them from disaster. This reminds one of the Montreal Expos woes prior to their moving to Washington. But that was the Montreal Expos. This is the...the...the...Dodgers. And it's so bad that last I heard the ownership might not be able to make it's payroll for employees for the month of May.

Guess my resume won't be going there. First, winning the World Series, now the Dodgers in almost ruin? Interesting time to be a Giants fan.

Over .500

2011-04-22T00:17:00.000-07:00

As of yesterday, judging by the major league standings, only 10 of the 30 teams have records above .500. I figure this to change a bit over the season, but one never knows. I wonder what percentage of teams have winning records each year throughout history. I could figure that one out, but I'm not so without a life as to try.

Giants Record Projection Through April 15

2011-04-15T21:55:00.000-07:00

March 31 through April 15, 2011: (Note: projected record in orange)

L 0-1 .000, 0-162; L 0-2 .000, 0-162; W 1-2 .333, 54-108; L 1-3 .250, 41-121; L 1-4 .200, 32-130; W 2-4 .333, 54-108; W 3-4 .429, 69-93; W 4-4 .500, 81-81; L 4-5 .444, 72-90; L 4-6 .400, 65-97; W 5-6 .455, 74-88; W 6-6 .500, 81-81; W 7-6 .538, 87-75.

2011 Giants Record Projection

2011-04-09T16:40:00.000-07:00

For the last three seasons I've done a game-by-game projection for either how many wins or losses the Giants are projected to have at the end of the season keeping the same win-loss percentage. I started this in 2008 mainly because I knew the Giants really stank, and I wanted to see how bad the year would go. So I projected the number of losses. I continued it in 2009, but to my surprise they had a winning season, so the loss projection didn't help as much. So I switched to a win projection in 2010, and decided I would do the following seasons win or loss projection based on whether they had a winning season or losing season the year before.

This year I've decided to change all this to a record projection, showing both wins and losses. Like in years past, I think I'll update this running projection on the 15th and last days of each month. There should be 12 such projections. So, starting with next Friday's game, I should have the first couple of weeks projected out.

Opening Day For The World Champs

2011-04-08T08:42:00.000-07:00

Today is the home opener for the San Francisco Giants. They get to raise the championship banner. Tomorrow night, they'll be handing out the World Series rings. Things are in a frenzy here baseball wise. And today, with the raising of the banner, the Barry Bonds trial - just several blocks away - goes to the jury for deliberation. Any Giants fans on the jury?

This will be the second Opening Day I've missed in as many years. I'm sure it will be on TV somewhere, and it will always be on the radio. They got off to a less than desirable 2-4 start on the road in LA and SD. Maybe once the hoopla is over they can get back to winning Torture style.

Opening Day on the Schedule

2011-04-02T23:55:00.000-07:00

For some reason baseball started one series earlier this year. Normally, the season would have started this coming Monday. But due to the early start this last Thursday, it is realized that the NCAA basketball final won't be interfering with Opening Day this year. Usually the NCAA final is the night of Opening Day, and media feel some kind of obligation to cover it, cutting into the Opening Day coverage. So, maybe this is a good thing this year. I'll have to see how it goes having the season ending on a Wednesday. Sounds totally strange. But maybe baseball is trying to capitalize on putting any last-series pennant races on weekdays that usually have lower attendance. Who knows.

Opening Day

2011-04-01T23:58:00.001-07:00

Okay, Opening Day was yesterday. As of this writing, two games have been played by most teams. I missed writing about it a few days ago as I had some pressing projects. But baseball is back again. Spring training is one thing, but Opening Day is something completely different. Each team has an opening day, and so does baseball overall.

It means that every game now means something. Even if it doesn't mean anything, it still means something. And it will continue for about 180 games including the post season. So, here's to enjoying another season of memories.

Texas Cainsaw Massacre

2011-03-25T22:31:00.000-07:00

If you take the "h" out of "chain" in the famous event "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" then you end up with "Texas Cainsaw Massacre." Apparently, that's the nickname given to Matt Cain's 9-0 mowing down of the Texas Rangers in Game 2 of the 2010 World Series. I heard this on the radio today from a caller, and it seemed somebody also has a Facebook page by that name commemorating the event. Not only is this true - I checked it out myself - but there's a t-shirt and a poster to go along. And the original sign was made up the day before the event and brought to game 2. Now that's cool.

Six Year Old Knows His Stuff

2011-03-20T15:58:00.000-07:00

Our six year old son is a nuclear powered baseball nut. Mrs. Scott and I are fans, but we decided before having kids that we wouldn't force sports (i.e. baseball...i.e. the Giants) on our kids. But, one day when he was 18 months old, a Giants game was on TV, and he became instantly engulfed. He learns all the players, collects cards, pastes newspaper clippings all over his room. On and on it goes. He's been playing pee-wee ball since he was four and even tried out while he was still three.

Two pee-wee teams he has played for have been the Red Sox and Cardinals. So, on top of being a Giants fan, he's taken some interest in whatever pee-wee team he's on. He just got drafted this winter on to the A's. Anyway, when with the Cardinals, he was handed uniform #5, which is Albert Pujols.

Today, there was a spring training game on TV between the visiting Cards and the home Sox. He knows all the channel numbers, too, so I walked into the room with the telecast already on. As they gave the starting lineups, he noted all the players he knew from just having an interest in those teams. As the last infield warmup throw went to first base, the camera zoomed in on the Red Sox first baseman as he tossed the warmup ball to the dugout. He asked, "Dad, didn't that guy play for the Padres last year?" Simply amazing.

Division Alignment Problems

2011-03-20T02:33:00.000-07:00

I'm no fan of the current division alignment in major league baseball. Each league has a different number of teams, and there are three sizes of divisions. When MLB went to the current three-division alignment in 1994, each league had 14 teams arranged in divisions, one with four teams and two with five. With the 1998 expansion, each league added a team and the Brewers moved from the AL to the NL. The AL now has 14 teams and the NL 16. The AL has division sizes of 4, 5 and 5, while the NL has sizes of 5, 6 and 5.

This poses a bit of a problem for the post season picture. It is easier to win a division with fewer teams in that division, in terms of straight odds. And it is also easier to finish second in that division and have a shot at the wildcard. Now for some geeky math. The odds of a team winning its division are 1/x, where x is the number of teams in that division. That's obvious. But the odds of finishing in second place is also 1/x. Since there are three divisions, the odds of making the playoffs by finishing second (wildcard) are 1/3 of 1/x, or 1/3x. The odds of a team making the playoffs are the odds of winning the division plus the odds of winning the wildcard. So, that would equal 1/x + 1/3x, or 3/3x + 1/3x = 4/3x, with x being the number of teams in that division. For teams in a four-team division, the odds are 4/3(4) = 1/3, or 0.333. For teams in a five-team division they are 4/3(5) = 4/15, or 0.267. For teams in a six-team division they are 4/3(6) = 4/18, or 2/9, or 0.222.

Making the playoffs gives each team (roughly) the same odds of winning the World Series. So, for teams in a four-team division, the simple random odds of winning the WS are 50% greater than those teams in a six-team division. Is this what baseball wants? I think it better to balance the number of teams in each division, even if it means screwing up interleague play, than to create artificial favorites.

No Beer In The Bleachers

2011-03-11T23:58:00.000-08:00

I was just reminded of something by a slip of the tongue. Somebody on TV made reference to the bleachers at Dodger Stadium. Then, I recalled that my entire life has been lived without beer being sold in the bleachers in Dodger Stadium. Bleachers? Well, Excuuuuse me! La-ti-da! There are no bleachers in Dodger Stadium. That section behind the outfield fence is called the Pavilion. No beer in the Pavilion. I took a picture of such a sign once. I should try to find it.

It goes without saying that of all the times I've been to Dodger Stadium, I've never sat in the "Pavilion."

Baseball Detectives

2011-03-09T23:19:00.000-08:00

Douglas Dinsmoor at his Open Stance blog writes a piece about being a baseball detective. It seems a movie was filmed in Boston with a Red Sox game figuring into the equation. Using all sorts of clues from the movie, a Baseball-Reference.com reader was able to pinpoint which Red Sox game was being filmed, the inning, who was on base, etc. Douglas applied that to his foul ball and home run baseball collection. He pieces info together from the ball, his memory, ticket stubs and so forth to figure out which game he snagged a particular ball.

I've done the same thing, and it's really fun. I just remembered as I started typing this that I used to tag each ball - including batting practice balls - with a piece of masking tape that had all the info on it. Date, inning, who hit it, all of that. I kept them all in a big box. Over the years, the masking tape lost its stickiness, and many of the tape pieces fell off. So I've had to do some pretty detailed detective work to get the proper labels back to their rightful owners. Some of the clues are whether it's an AL ball, NL ball or the newer MLB balls. Who's signature appears on the ball and when was he the league president? Was umpire's mud rubbed into the ball? This may help distinguish the ball as a game ball or batting practice ball.

Dinsmoor's is the first baseball blog I ever read and his was an inspiration, both in layout and content. We have quite a lot in common, baseball wise, and some things not.

New Hat

2011-03-06T00:13:00.000-08:00

It was my birthday this week, and my oldest son got me a new Giants hat. The Sunday hat with the orange bill. I haven't had one of those since 1982 when they had a similar hat. That one was a cheap hat for a promotional hat day, and it wasn't constructed very well. But this one is the official hat. Thanks, son!

Baseball Is On The Radio!

2011-02-25T12:46:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again! The first radio broadcast of a spring training game. The familiar voice of the long time announcers are music to the ears. I'm glad that this will last all the way through October. Sonic therapy.

Cliff Lee #31

2011-02-25T00:43:00.000-08:00

Cliff Lee is #31. No, not his uniform number. He is ranked as the 31st best baseball player right now according to the MLB Network's show about the 100 best players right now. It's interesting that with all the Cliff Lee hype during the post-season and off-season that he wouldn't have been ranked in the top 10 or top 5. The rankings were done by several panels of experts, so the list went through many hands. I guess the consensus of people in the know is a bit different than the consensus of what the media portrays.

During all the free agent hype, I wanted to ask some of the media types if there were any rumors around that had the Giants jumping into the Lee circus to sign him as their #5 starter.

New Yellow A's Uniforms

2011-02-22T23:21:00.000-08:00

The Oakland A's will be adding a twist of lemon, so to speak, to their look in 2011. One of their alternate jerseys is yellow with green piping. Click here to view it. This is a slightly different take on their Sunday uniforms of the early 80's with the green piping on a white jersey (the jersey I'm talking about is the second from the left on the 1981 and '82 plates and the lead uni on the '83). I heard about the new yellow threads, but hadn't checked them out until now. I'm actually a bit more excited about them once I saw them. I was anticipating more of a lemony type of yellow, one that looked closer to their tops from that earlier era. Marketing plays into this decision, I'm sure. So, shine Athletics. Color seems to be back a bit more in baseball lately.

Pitchers and Catchers Report

2011-02-20T02:56:00.000-08:00

Okay, it's old news by now, but that's what I blog about when I get busy. For the other 29 teams, pitchers and catchers reported this last week. Not for my team. No. World Series Champion pitchers and catchers reported. A huge banner reminding them of this was hung in Scottsdale, AZ. Of course, this means beards, shoe polish, peach fuzz 'staches and pony tails. Go Giants!

Grabbing Some Pine

2011-02-11T02:14:00.000-08:00

Back in the late 80's, the left field bleachers at the Oakland Coliseum were old school. Wooden benches with something resembling seat numbers stamped into them. Bench edges and corners were worn. Those benches were installed in the late 60's after all. The lower half of the bleacher sections not next to the foul poles were portable and rectangular. The bleachers formed the curve of the outfield fence, meaning that the sections could come together in a straight line across the outfield parallel to a football sideline.

The benches were for the most part made of hard wood. No duh, but at that time, there were no alternatives like aluminum, or form-fitted plastic molded seat bottoms arranged in benches. None of that. Just wood. Wood that split, wood that cracked, wood that, well, did whatever wood did. One piece of wood out there, wood that formed our front row bleacher bench, had a knot in it. And the wood around that knot deteriorated over time, causing a large split in the bench. Soon, fans with pens and other objects started digging and gouging around that knot, making a small dent each homestand. One day, the digging broke daylight through to the bottom of the bench. And it continued over time so that not much was left holding that bench together. Maybe the knot was the glue that kept the bench intact.

One fateful day, the Royals were in town, and we were there during batting practice. Bo Jackson hit a big fly that eluded the faithful shaggers, and lo and behold, the ball hit that knot in the bench square...or as square as a falling fly can be square. In the same action as the ball hitting the knot, the knot popped through and the piece of wood that was hanging by a single strand of wood fell to the bleacher floor. It was about six inches wide by about 24 inches long. Nevermind the Bo Jackson souvenir, I pounced upon the fragment of booty support I came to love all those years. Yes, a hunk of wood was as good a souvenir as any ball. The underside was kind of gross, and some kid I'm guessing was the one who stashed his wad of gum underneath it as if he were avoiding the wrath of ruler bearing school teachers. I really need to post a photo of this hunk of history.

Foul Weather Fan

2011-02-07T00:34:00.000-08:00

I am a self-described foul weather fan. Not a fair weather fan, mind you, but a foul weather one. I'm as much a fan of winning a World Series as anybody else, and I wouldn't trade this one for anything else in baseball. But there's a big cost of being a fan of a winning team. Take the recent trophy tour. The Giants WS trophy was taken on a city to city tour. Thousands of fans waited in line for hours just to get a glimpse of the trophy. FanFest yesterday saw tens of thousands in attendance, and the line from the ballpark extended down The Embarcadero all the way to the Bay Bridge - just to get in. I'll have to wait for the dust to settle and view the hardware sometime during next season when it's (hopefully) on display somewhere within the stadium.

When your team stinks, and attendance is almost lacking altogether, there's an ease to baseball. Show up anytime and get a box seat close to the field. The concession lines are very short, as are the restroom lines, if there are any at all. You almost get your own personal vendor in the stands. Arriving and leaving is easy, and foul balls (and fair!) rattle around in empty sections of the ballpark, ripe for picking. Since the crowds are so small, you can yell loudly and heckle players and everybody can hear you. I remember once sitting in the left field bleachers and yelling at a beer vendor behind the first base dugout. He heard me and came all the way out to the bleachers to sell to me. Autographs are easier to get, and souvenir stands never run out of anything. The fans that are there are more likely to be knowledgeable about baseball and less likely to ask, "Who's number 48?"

Yes, winning it all in 2010 will result in paying for it in 2011 and beyond. But it's a trade off that needs to be done.

It's Almost February

2011-01-26T03:19:00.000-08:00

February means pitchers and catchers reporting. It's a short winter when you win the World Series. So I'm not itching to get the 2011 season going. I'm fine to remember over and over what the Giants did last year. The title of "reigning world champs" can be allowed to hold still for a longer period of time for all I'm concerned. Still, time will march on. Before we know it, it will be 20 years from now and I will look back on now as something grand.

Twenty years ago I used to wonder what it would be like 20 years from then. Now I know, but, what will it be like 20 years from now knowing the Giants won 20 years ago? I hope there are many more trophies between now and then. A dynasty would be most welcome. It's about time for one.

Welcome To The New From the Bleachers Site

2011-01-18T00:38:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the new From the Bleachers blog. I have created a new site with a new address. Actually, it's the same old blog, with the same old posts and comments and categories, but at a new address. The old address is http://bleacherbumming.blogspot.com/ A blogspot address I always wanted - fromthebleachers - which mirrored the title of this blog, had been taken for years, but has recently become available. So I snatched it and updated the format of the blog to bring it up to current technology. The new address is http://fromthebleachers.blogspot.com/

I can now do more things and have more power over how I organize and how I link to things. I hope you enjoy the new format with the photo background. The background is a photo I had personally taken at a Giants game at AT&T Park. The blog design editor allows me to "tile" the photo. I cropped it in such a way as to minimize the obviousness of the tile seams, so it looks kind of like one huge, infinitely extending crowd shot. I'm not done with the design of the blog page, and hope to add a small number of visual upgrades as time goes on.

I look forward to posting at this new address and hope you enjoy reading it. Feel free to comment any time.

All 30 Major League Teams Totally Stink

2011-01-16T14:30:00.000-08:00

All thirty teams in baseball are completely lame. Why do I say that? Well, when I take the opinions of the fans of those teams into account, that is simply an easy conclusion. Starting with the obvious cases, the Pirates were going to the World Series, and one pitch to a nobody named Francisco Cabrera took the Series away from them, Barry Bonds became a free agent, and the team plunged immediately into a record 18 consecutive losing season streak. The Nationals suck, too.

Now, there are some other teams that are obvious, but then there are the teams that actually had some promise. The Mariners come to mind. Division contenders flailed, losing over 100 games. The Tigers had the greatest team to do nothing at all. The Mets have the worst payroll-to-performance ratio in baseball. The Brew Crew were supposed to make the playoffs. Supposed to. The Angels vaporized. The mighty Red Sox limped to a third place finish. The Padres, arguably the best team in baseball for 137 games, lost ten in a row and collapsed under the feet of the team they owned all year long. They even took two of three in the last series and still lost to the Giants.

Even the playoff teams were lousy. The Twinks folded under pressure of a Bronx curse. The Reds' bats never left Louisville. The Yankees had the greatest lineup in history, but their pitching was a lead balloon. CC and Mariano were awesome bookends to a lousy pitching library, and they got spanked by Ranger bats. During the NLCS I surfed many a Phillie Phan blog. It was amazing to learn just how awful the Phillies were. Jimmy Rollins was AWOL, Utley was a mere shadow of his former MVP self. Howard had a hole in his bat, and the offense was anemic. How such a pathetic group of clowns managed to compile the best record in baseball on their way to what was hoped to be their third consecutive World Series is hard to imagine. And dammit, why did they not sign Cliff Lee again earlier?

Then there's the Giants, stuck in their wet paper bag. No offense whatsoever, and what little there was was led by the slowest catcher in history. The richest pitcher in history was not even on the playoff roster, and the five slot in the rotation was a question all year. They couldn't hit against anybody, and their 56 year drought was going to be 57 real quick. The GM's of each of these teams are morons and idiots. So are their field managers. It was amazing to see any of these teams win anything at all. They were all lame according to their own fans. But what a year they gave us.

Top Fan Moments in History

2011-01-09T00:46:00.000-08:00

I enjoy the MLB Network. One of their "top" lists is a show about the top fan moments in history. I love baseball fans and how they fit into the fabric of a game and into the mosaic of history. When I'm at a game, I pay special attention to fans. I'm a people watcher.

As a participatory fan, I love to see how other fans and fans in general contribute to baseball. One of the things I think is most lacking about how baseball is viewed throughout history is the lack of attention paid to fans. We always hear about great players and the Hall of Fame. We hear about great managers, great ballparks, great seasons and pennant races, great personal achievements. And yes, we hear about fans, but only sometimes. We hear about how nasty Yankees fans can be and about how early Dodger fans can leave a game. How knowledgeable Cardinals or Red Sox fans are, or how few Expos fans there are. Or were. But overall, there is relatively little said about fans as compared with other aspects of baseball.

And this is why I really enjoyed a MLB Network countdown on the top fan moments in baseball history. There were some really great ones. Tiger fans pelting Ducky Medwick with fruit, vegetables and bottles in game 7 of the 1934 World Series after Medwick slid hard into 3rd base. Steve Bartman and Jeffrey Maier were also featured. Chris Chambliss' pennant winning home run through the mob on the field. Nickel beer night in Cleveland where the drunken fans went wild, storming the field and causing a near riot, forfeiting the game for the Tribe. A female fan goes nuts after Ichiro reached into the stands for a ball and touched her. Reading her lips, it was easy to tell that she called her mom from her cell phone to tell her all about it. Or the fan in Houston that ducked out of the way of a foul ball at the last second, only to have the ball clock his girlfriend. And of course, the two guys that ran out on the field to congratulate Hank Aaron on his 715th home run during his home run trot. There was a great video clip of a ten year old kid who made a spectacular catch of a foul ball, only to catch a second one a few pitches later in the same at bat.

But the fan moment that took the cake as the most memorable of all time was the Bill Veeck stunt gone bad: Disco Demolition night in Chicago's Comiskey Park. Fans got in for a discount if they brought a disco record to be blown up between the games of a double header. Chicago rock radio DJ Steve Dahl was there to officiate the destruction. A box of the records was exploded, and rock music fans went wild, storming the field and completely destroying it. You could see fans from the upper deck slide down the foul poles to the field. The White Sox had to forfeit the second game of the double header. Yeah, gotta love the fans.

2010 Season In Review

2011-01-03T02:24:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a year. For me, it started out not being able to buy season tickets for the first time in 26 years due to the economy. So, I picked the Giants to win the World Series since I wouldn't be there to see it. And it happened.

Spring training started with the realization that the Giants had little prospect for improving upon their 2009 total of 88 wins. Although 88 wins could be figured as overachieving, they finished in 3rd place behind a surging Rockies team, and were the only team of the 8 holding a playoff position at the All-Star break not to hold on. One thing was clear, though. The Giants had one of the best pitching staffs in all of baseball, and the 88 wins without any semblance of an offense proved it.

They started off very strong in the first couple of weeks, as did the A's. But they faded as time went on, and it was clear that the Padres were a team to be reckoned with, especially with the way they were pitching. Slowly, the Giants added bats. First, Buster Posey was brought up from the minors. Bengie Molina was their cleanup hitter, and Posey took that spot after Molina's trade to their eventual World Series opponent Rangers. Pat Burrell and Cody Ross were instrumental additions in the team's stretch run. The pitching staff caught fire in August - racking up numbers not seen in baseball since the 1965 Dodgers. I was convinced they easily had the pitching staff to win it all, but I was not convinced at all that the Giants would win anything. The Giants never won anything, and it was not in their nature to ever do so.

The pennant race with the Padres was simply an amazing thing to watch. "Torture" as we would come to know it was already coursing through our veins, we just didn't have a word for it. Of course, that last 3-game series had the Giants dropping the first two - and losing a great number of games during the year to San Diego - and winning the West in game 162 was Torture at it's highest...to that point.

Of the 32 post-season games played in 2010 between all 8 playoff teams, seven were one-run games. The Giants played every single one of those seven games, and were 6-1. Now that's Torture. All four Braves games, three of the six Phillies games, and not one of the Ranger games. The Giants simply dominated the post-season, going 11-4. Brian Wilson was on the mound for all four clincher games - game 162 vs. the Padres, game 4 vs. the Braves, game 6 vs. the Phillies and game 5 vs. the Rangers. Three of those series ended in strikeouts. Ryan Howard standing motionless trying to argue with the umpire whilst the Giants dogpiled in the center of the diamond is an image of contrasts I'll never forget. Swing, Ryan, swing! Tim Lincecum won game 1's of the NLDS, NLCS, WS and the WS clincher. Matt Cain had a 0.00 ERA in 3 starts, and Brian Wilson was lights out. The Texas Rangers, who had the best offense in baseball, were shutout once at home all year. The Giants shut them out twice, and came one pitch from doing it a third time. The Rangers totalled one run and six hits in the last two games, and only one Texas player even as much as touched third base. AL MVP Josh Hamilton was a deer in the headlights and Vladimir Guererro swung not like a madman, but like a little leaguer. Nelson Cruz whiffed and Cliff Lee was spanked.

Madison Bumgarner, Johnathan Sanchez, Juan Uribe, Buster Posey, Edgar Renteria, Javier Lopez, Aubrey Huff. Kruk, Kuip, Miller and Flem. Dave Flemming's cracked voice. Enough names to remember forever. I hope I didn't forget anybody. Bruce Bochy, and the million man march down Market Street. "Swing and a miss. And that's it!" What a season. The replays are great and will be forever.

Test

2011-01-02T13:25:00.000-08:00

This is a test.

MLB Network

2010-12-29T02:24:00.000-08:00

This year we moved to a new city, which meant a different selection of channels on the cable TV. The city in which we currently live has the MLB Network as a cable channel. This, I'm guessing, would be an equivalent of the NFL Network so talked about? I don't know. But, it does have some really interesting shows. First, it's all baseball, unlike ESPN. Second, although it does seem to have some of the east-coast bias, it's not as bad as the Red Sox Network, uhm, I mean ESPN. Or is that the Yankees Network? Well, ESPN is often the Yankees vs. Red Sox Network.

MLB Network has panels of a sports journalist and former players that discuss the day's games, the winter meetings, the hot stove league. They also have something I really love: lists. The top 50 this, the top 25 that, the top ten other. The greatest finishes, the greatest home runs, the best pitching performances, the best fan moments, the best ballparks. It's fun to count these things down and try to guess what is number one.

One thing it has against it is the repetition of programs. Like the Sports Center/Baseball Tonite/ Sports Center/Baseball Tonite merry go round of ESPN. Sometimes a show will repeat for a week or so, with player moves in between that aren't reflected in the repeating show. Overall, though, it is a good channel to have and it covers so many aspects of baseball and its history. If you love baseball and have a chance to get this channel, do so.

Most Memorable Game of 2010

2010-12-26T02:20:00.000-08:00

I saw MLB Network's list of most memorable games in 2010. There were quite a few games at Coors Field that were see-saw battles that ended 12-11 or some such thing. Halladay's no-hitter in the NLDS was also on the list. But the game they listed as number one was game 6 of the NLCS between the Giants and Phillies. It truly was a great game - not only because of the outcome, hehehe - but the way it all came down. Starter Johnathan Sanchez was chased in the 3rd after a shaky outing. His exit - hitting Chase Utley with a pitch - ended in a bench clearing incident. Great ball was played by both teams, each turning a memorable double play. The Giants pen pitched 7 innings of scoreless relief, while Juan Uribe hit the go ahead homer in the 8th inning. Wilson's ninth came nearly unglued until he caught Ryan Howard looking for the last pitch of the NL season.

Anatomy of a Major League Schedule

2010-12-21T12:11:00.000-08:00

I admit it. I'm a logistics geek. I like to know how systems work; I like to figure out how systems work; I like to make systems work. Systems like the Major League schedule. Back in the early 80's living in the Bay Area, I got an A's and a Giants pocket schedule every year so I could plan the games I wanted to attend. I also wanted to familiarize myself with who they played during the year. Each year, I noticed patterns in the schedules. Then toward the mid-80's, before the internet, I wrote to every team during the off season asking for their pocket schedules. This way I could plan trips to other ballparks, etc. I noticed patterns in all the schedules.

This brings me to the overall schedule. Until just a few years ago, a literal mom and pop team in somewhere like Connecticut, drafted up the schedule on their kitchen table. It's now done by a corporate firm with computers. I became most familiar with the 12 team NL scheduling format (1969-1992), so I'll write mostly about that. The schedule maker grouped teams together geographically for travel efficiency. The Giants would travel to, or host, groups of teams at a time, generally. The groups were broken into 1) SF, LA & SD; 2) CIN, HOU & ATL; 3) PIT, STL & CHI and 4) NY, PHI & MON. It made sense for teams flying out to the west coast to hit all the cities to save on travel, etc. The same was generally true of the AL schedule with 14 teams, although it was more complicated, as there were an odd number of teams in each division.

Each NL team played 18 games against division teams (roughly three 3-game series at home, and three on the road) and 12 against each team in the other division (roughly two 3-game series at home, and two on the road). The even number of teams made it easy to play against only your own division the last several weeks of the season, so the pennant races could be the focus. The above number of games against each team came to a total of 162. When the early 60's expansion took place, each team played each of the other 9 teams 18 times, 162 total. They kept a similar feel when expansion took place again in '69.

The season is 26 weeks long (half of 52 weeks in a year), and each week is generally divided into a weekday series (M, Tu, W or Tu, W, Th) and a weekend series (F, Sa & Su). Sometimes there are four game series, M-Th in the week or Th-Su or F-M over a weekend. There are generally 52 series slots over a 26 week season, with one taken for the All-Star break, leaving 51 series slots for regular season play. Now, the 10 team/162 game and the 12 team/two division/162 game schedules had (six series times nine other teams = 54) and (six series times five division teams = 30 plus four series times six teams = 24 for a total of 54) series to be played. The logistical problem was to cram 54 series into 51 slots. This was accomplished by use of the two-game series. In playing six games against a team, split a three-and-three game series set into a two-and-four game series set. Put two game series back-to-back in the weekday slot on Mon-Tues and Wed-Thurs, then the accompanying four game series elsewhere in the season. Do this three times, and 54 series can fit into 51 slots. Pretty clever.

The beauty of these older schedule formats is that every team plays other teams the same number of games. An even number of games at that, so that there are equal numbers of games at home and on the road. They played each other the same number of series. The schedules were both balanced and symmetrical. With the adaptation of 14 team leagues, odd numbers of teams in a division, the three division format with differing number of teams in each division, interleague play with certain "rivalry" matchups, and a 14 team AL and 16 team NL, today's MLB schedule is a complete nightmare. It makes little sense from a position of fairness and having a level playing field for all.

The schedule makers have also had to take other factors into consideration. Maximizing attendance with strategic matchups. Teams make requests of the schedule. Holidays. Etc. Opening Days are usually sellouts, so try not to schedule good drawing road teams like the Yankees for other teams' home openers. That would be a waste of a sellout. Bad drawing teams usually play more road openers. The Reds are baseball's oldest team, so they traditionally open at home. Schedule bad weather teams to open on the road. Canadian teams are on the road for US holidays and at home for Canadian holidays to maximize attendance. Interleague games are not as popular as baseball claims, so they are generally scheduled mostly on weekends during good weather when school is out to maximize attendance and make it look like a good idea. Local holidays, too, like scheduling the Red Sox at home for Patriot's Day. An example of team requests might be wanting a home game on an anniversary date of a great moment in that team's history. The Giants requested to be at home on Oct. 3, 2001 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Bobby Thompson's Shot Heard 'Round the World - against the Dodgers no less. New ballparks, too. When the Giants built a new yard, they wanted to both close Candlestick and open PacBell/SBC/AT&T against their arch-rival Dodgers. Back when double-headers were a popular tool to increase attendance, the well-drawing Dodgers didn't need them, so they requested no double headers on their schedule.

So, overall the schedule is a major undertaking that has only increased in complexity over the decades. The logistic geek that I am, I'd love to be part of that operation. Personally, I'd like to see baseball address this monster and get back to some kind of symmetrical format. Now that I've bored you to tears, you deserve something special if you've read this whole post. Unless you like schedules like I do.

Giants World Series Trophy Tour

2010-12-15T15:03:00.000-08:00

The San Francisco Giants have announced the Official World Series Trophy Tour. It's coming to a town near you, if, that is, you live in Northern California, western Nevada, southern Oregon, Scottsdale, AZ, New York City or Cooperstown, NY. Well, in late January or early February, it's coming to a town very near to me. So, I'm liking the possibility of going to see it in person. Fans can have their picture taken with the trophy, but that will cost a yet to be determined amount of money.

Now, that should be some fun.

Steve Scott Comes Clean

2010-12-14T15:01:00.000-08:00

Okay, I've been hiding something baseball related. It's time to come clean. It's disheartening, embarrassing and really doesn't make me feel good about it. But the results are what they are.

After having season tickets for the Giants the last 25 years, my job loss last year prohibited me, my family and my buyers from renewing (some of our buyers had economic issues as well). We tried every way we could think, but it just wasn't in the card$. Fifteen years with tickets 7 rows behind home plate at Candlestick, ten years with tickets 9 rows behind the visitor's bullpen mound at AT&T. All vanished this February. It was very difficult to swallow, especially in light of our economic situation at the time.

Then it fell out of the sky and hit me on the head. I've lived my entire life without the Giants winning a championship. Now that my first year in over half my life is realized without season tickets, I realized that 2010 would be the year the Giants would win it all. It simply couldn't happen any other way. I wouldn't have tickets. Of course they would win. So, in February I predicted a Giants World Series victory. I didn't write about it because I was too ashamed, too embarrassed. But I did tell others, and I stuck to it all year long, even when they were sucking wind. We did go to a few games this year, but mostly in the bleachers or other cheaper seats.

Maybe when I get a decent job again, we'll buy tickets once more. The ticket department has already told me that my 25 years will count for seniority, so that might help out a bit. The good news is that I will remember this 2010 season for ever. I predicted it, and they not only won, but they completely dominated the post-season with one of the most amazing pitching performances I can ever remember. It will always be an incredible story. So, there you have it.

Is Cliff Lee Really That Good?

2010-12-12T23:10:00.000-08:00

The bidding war/stalemate over Cliff Lee raises a good question. Is he really that good? Is he another Barry Zito waiting to happen? Last year he was only 12-9, with a 3.18 ERA, and 4-6 with a 3.98 ERA during the second half in a Rangers uniform. He got spanked in the World Series. Overall, I'm glad other teams are going after him.

New Uniforms for The World Champion Giants?

2010-12-05T18:35:00.000-08:00

The Giants have won the World Series, their sixth trophy since the first Series played in 1903. Will the Giants come out with new uniforms as a result in 2011? Well, after they won their first WS in 1905, the Giants made a change in their 1906 uniforms. John McGraw thought it necessary to show everybody who they were playing. So, they promptly removed the traditional "NY" from their jerseys and replaced it with the identifier of "WORLD'S CHAMPIONS." To see the transition, click here. For a closeup of the '06 threads, click here. These come from a great section of the Hall of Fame website, called "Dressed to the Nines," detailing the uniforms for every team in history.

I'm not expecting a big change to their already classic uni's. But just think how such a thing would go over today.

2011 MLB Schedule Change

2010-12-01T00:07:00.000-08:00

I noticed that the 2011 regular season schedule has a huge change in it, breaking from a tradition that has been kept for longer than I've been alive. Traditionally, the schedule is 26 weeks long, and starts at the beginning of the week and ending on a weekend Sunday. Next year, it seems to be moved up a series, and starts with three game series on a Friday and ends with three game series on a Wednesday.

I'm not sure what's up, but I heard some rumors that baseball wants to change the post-season a bit and make the league division series seven games. I wonder if moving the season up three or four days is the remedy to accommodate this instead of pushing the World Series back yet again further into chilly November. There's also a nasty rumor that in the next couple of years MLB wants to add an extra set of wild card teams. Oh, please, NO! I'll write about the anatomy of a regular season schedule during this offseason.

Black (and orange) Friday Radio Replay

2010-11-29T23:21:00.000-08:00

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving when all things business start early. Well, the Giants' flagship station, KNBR, decided to have their own Black (and orange) Friday. Starting at 6am, they played all four Giants clinching games in their entirety - including celebrations, interviews and post game shows - in consecutive order. The game 162 clincher against the San Diego Padres, the game 4 clincher against the Atlanta Braves, the game 6 clincher against the Philadelphia Phillies and the game 5 clincher against the Texas Rangers. It all ended at about 11:30pm.

What a day of baseball on the radio. All the best games for all the best reasons. I managed to tape half of the NLCS clincher and all of the WS clincher. These should be great for rainy days.

Tim Lincecum and the List of Giant Victims

2010-11-27T23:53:00.000-08:00

This post-season, Tim Lincecum emerged as the dominant pitcher in baseball. Or did he? He was 4-1 with a 2.43 ERA, walked 9 and struck out 43. He went head-to-head with and beat three pitchers who were supposed to beat him a total of four times. Derek Lowe in the NLDS, Roy Halladay (the "best" pitcher in baseball the last three years) and Cliff Lee twice (the unbeatable post-season pitcher). If you could have any pitcher on the mound to clinch the World Series, who would it be? Well, I certainly wouldn't pick Lowe, Halladay or Lee. Lincecum won game 1 of each post-season series, plus the clincher in the World Series. What more could you ask for?

But before I brush this off, I want to look at the rest of the Giants staff. Matt Cain started three games, went 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 21.1 innings, putting him in the category with all-time elites. Madison Bumgarner went 2-0 in three starts and a relief appearance with a 2.18 ERA. He pitched the NLDS clincher and a key shutout of the Rangers in the WS. And although Johnathan Sanchez went 0-2 in the post-season, he had a 4.05 ERA. He tossed a shutout in the Giants' game 162 clincher over the Padres, and started the game 6 NLCS clincher against the Phils. Javier Lopez was an unsung hero out of the pen, and Brian Wilson was on the mound in all four Giants clinchers, game 162 vs. the Padres, game 4 clincher vs. the Braves, game 6 clincher vs. the Phillies and the game 5 World Series clincher against the Rangers.

Overall, the list of Giants victims is amazingly impressive. Mat Latos (the ace of the best pitching staff for most of the year), Derek Lowe, Derek Lowe again, Roy Halladay, Cole Hammels, Roy Oswalt, Cliff Lee, CJ Wilson, Tommy Hunter and Cliff Lee again. Now that's domination.

Did The Giants Have A Curse?

2010-11-21T09:15:00.000-08:00

Of the teams that had the longest World Series droughts, a group I've called "the long suffering five" (Cubs, White Sox, Red Sox, Indians, Giants), each of them seems to have a curse noted by fans over the years. The most famous was the Red Sox's "Curse of the Bambino" for selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees after the Sox won their last World Series. The Yankees went on to win 26 before the Red Sox ended their curse in 2004.

The Cubs have the "Curse of the Billy Goat," which legend has it that a fan brought a goat to a World Series game in 1945, and was told to leave because the smell was bothering other fans. He placed a curse on the Cubs after leaving. The White Sox had the "Curse of the Black Sox," which was directly due to the gambling scandal where eight White Sox players allegedly took part in throwing the 1919 World Series. The Indians have a much less known curse, the "Curse of Rocky Colavito," preventing the Tribe from winning due to the team trading Colavito for Harvey Kuenn.

The Giants had maybe the lesser known "curse" of them all - the "Curse of Coogan's Bluff." Coogan's Bluff was the place in Harlem where the Polo Grounds were located, and NY fans supposedly cursed the Giants for moving to San Francisco.

So did they have a curse? I'm not sure, and I'm not a big fan of curses, but they do make for good conversation. If they did have a curse, it's over.

Post-Season Records and Trends

2010-11-18T15:24:00.000-08:00

Here are the post season records of the eight 2010 playoff teams:

0-3 Minnesota Twins
0-3 Cincinnati Reds
1-3 Atlanta Braves
2-3 Tampa Bay Rays
5-4 New York Yankees
5-4 Philadelphia Phillies
8-8 Texas Rangers
11-4 San Francisco Giants

A playoff trend being set by the Philadelphia Phillies:

2008 - Won the World Series
2009 - Lost the World Series
2010 - Lost the NLCS

A post-season trend set by the San Francisco Giants:

27 years - between the 1962 and 1989 pennants
13 years - between the 1989 and 2002 pennants
8 years - between the 2002 and 2010 pennants
9 days - between the 2010 pennant and 2010 World Championship

Cliff Lee as Giants no. 5 Starter?

2010-11-15T22:44:00.000-08:00

Hey, Giants: We all know we have a number five spot problem in the rotation. How about going after Cliff Lee to fill the number 5 spot? Too much money for a number five guy? Hmmm.

Congratulations Buster Posey

2010-11-15T12:28:00.000-08:00

Giants Buster Posey is the 2010 NL Rookie of the Year. It sounds like the voting wasn't as close as I thought, as I even expected Heyward to win. Oh, well. What a great season. Buster batted cleanup in the World Champs' lineup, and put down the fingers for the best pitching staff in baseball. Mrs. Scott and I checked right after hearing the announcement to see if we (or our five year old son) had Buster's rookie baseball card. Yes, we do. It's in mint condition. We'll hold on to it. Congrats, Buster!

I Still Can't Believe It

2010-11-13T22:54:00.000-08:00

It's been 12 days since the Giants clinched the World Series with a Brian Wilson fastball whiffing Nelson Cruz. I still can't believe it. The Giants won it all. That's never happened in my lifetime, and not in San Francisco either. The Giants simply don't win championships. I've been taught so by history. So why did they decide to win one this year?

It's not like it's really difficult for a team to win. It happens every year. All the other teams never seemed to have a problem. Every year the Series has been won by Somebody Else. It's not like the Lottery where it can fail to have a winner, and it rolls over into the next week, and it can have many weeks in a row without a winner. No. Baseball has a World Series champion every year. Somebody has to win it. Why not the Giants? That's a good question. Why not? Experience has taught me that the Giants snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Some last minute catastrophe, sometimes the largest and latest ever, always seem to materialize at the wrong moment. They lead baseball history in heartbreak.

To be fair, the Giants have had some of the most miraculous comebacks, last minute victories and great stories of all time. But all of those have ended the same way. With Somebody Else winning the World Series. Until now. Is this the same team of my youth? Is this the same team of my 20's? And 30's? And most of my 40's? Were the 49ers the only team allowed to roll down Market Street?

This wasn't the same team I knew. It was somebody else. Somebody Else in Giants uniforms. But, I'll take it.

Post-Season Droughts

2010-11-13T13:06:00.000-08:00

Here's a post-season drought list. Like the other lists I've done recently, if a franchise moved cities in the middle of a current drought, I'll include both the franchise drought and the city drought in this list. Every MLB franchise has made the post-season, but one team hasn't. The Washington Nationals moved to DC from Montreal in 2005 and haven't made it. Also, the Florida Marlins and Colorado Rockies, although they have won pennants or World Series, have never won a division title.

**Team that hasn't been since a franchise move. Year indicates year of move.

1981....29 years - Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals
1985....25 years - Kansas City Royals
1992....18 years - Pittsburgh Pirates
1993....17 years - Toronto Blue Jays
1997....13 years - Baltimore Orioles
2001.....9 years - Seattle Mariners
2003.....7 years - Florida Marlins
2005**...6 years - Washington Nationals
2005.....5 years - Houston Astros
2006.....4 years - San Diego Padres
2006.....4 years - Oakland A's
2006.....4 years - New York Mets
2006.....4 years - Detroit Tigers
2007.....3 years - Arizona Diamondbacks
2007.....3 years - Cleveland Indians
2008.....2 years - Chicago Cubs
2008.....2 years - Chicago White Sox
2008.....2 years - Milwaukee Brewers
2009.....1 year - St. Louis Cardinals
2009.....1 year - Boston Red Sox
2009.....1 year - Colorado Rockies
2009.....1 year - Los Angeles Dodgers
2009.....1 year - Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
2010.....0 years - Minnesota Twins
2010.....0 years - Cincinnati Reds
2010.....0 years - Tampa Bay Rays
2010.....0 years - Atlanta Braves
2010.....0 years - New York Yankees
2010.....0 years - Philadelphia Phillies
2010.....0 years - Texas Rangers
2010.....0 years - San Francisco Giants

The Reason The Giants Out-Hit Their Post Season Opponents

2010-11-12T23:10:00.000-08:00

The Giants came into the post-season with arguably the weakest lineup. Yet, they out-hit their opponents on the way to a World Championship. This surprised many experts, as well as many Giants fans. But there's a very simple reason they out hit their opponents. It's one of those things in life that is so blatantly obvious that everybody completely misses it. I missed it. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks.

They out-hit their opponents because they're the one lineup that never had to face the Giants pitching staff.

LCS Drought List

2010-11-11T14:15:00.000-08:00

I've done a World Series and Pennant drought list, now here's an LCS appearance drought list. Like the WS list, if a franchise moved cities in the middle of a current drought, I'll include both the franchise drought and the city drought in this list. This year, the Texas Rangers appeared in their first LCS, becoming the last of the 30 teams to do so. They also became the last ML team to win a post-season series.

**Team that hasn't been since a franchise move. Year indicates year of move.

1981....29 years - Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals
1982....28 years - Milwaukee Brewers
1985....25 years - Kansas City Royals
1992....18 years - Pittsburgh Pirates
1993....17 years - Toronto Blue Jays
1995....15 years - Cincinnati Reds
1997....13 years - Baltimore Orioles
1998....12 years - San Diego Padres
2001.....9 years - Seattle Mariners
2001.....9 years - Atlanta Braves
2002.....8 years - Minnesota Twins
2003.....7 years - Chicago Cubs
2003.....7 years - Florida Marlins
2005**...6 years - Washington Nationals
2005.....5 years - Houston Astros
2005.....5 years - Chicago White Sox
2006.....4 years - Oakland A's
2006.....4 years - New York Mets
2006.....4 years - Detroit Tigers
2006.....4 years - St. Louis Cardinals
2007.....3 years - Arizona Diamondbacks
2007.....3 years - Cleveland Indians
2007.....3 years - Colorado Rockies
2008.....2 years - Boston Red Sox
2008.....2 years - Tampa Bay Rays
2009.....1 year - Los Angeles Dodgers
2009.....1 year - Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
2010.....0 years - New York Yankees
2010.....0 years - Philadelphia Phillies
2010.....0 years - Texas Rangers
2010.....0 years - San Francisco Giants

Pennant Drought List

2010-11-10T10:58:00.000-08:00

I've done a list of World Series droughts. Now, here's a similar list of droughts for winning a pennant and merely playing in a World Series. Like the WS list, if a franchise moved cities in the middle of a current drought, I'll include both the franchise drought and the city drought in this list. I'll also call out teams that have never won due to being an expansion team, and note that as well. Maybe I'll do a Post-season drought list next.

* Expansion team that has never won. Year indicates year of expansion.
**Team that hasn't won since a franchise move. Year indicates year of move.

1945....65 years - Chicago Cubs
1969*...42 years - Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals
1977*...34 years - Seattle Mariners
1979....31 years - Pittsburgh Pirates
1982....28 years - Milwaukee Brewers
1983....27 years - Baltimore Orioles
1985....25 years - Kansas City Royals
1988....22 years - Los Angeles Dodgers
1990....20 years - Oakland A's
1990....20 years - Cincinnati Reds
1991....19 years - Minnesota Twins
1993....17 years - Toronto Blue Jays
1997....13 years - Cleveland Indians
1998....12 years - San Diego Padres
1999....11 years - Atlanta Braves
2000....10 years - New York Mets
2001.....9 years - Arizona Diamondbacks
2002.....8 years - Anaheim Angels
2003.....7 years - Florida Marlins
2005**...6 years - Washington Nationals
2005.....5 years - Houston Astros
2005.....5 years - Chicago White Sox
2006.....4 years - Detroit Tigers
2006.....4 years - St. Louis Cardinals
2007.....3 years - Colorado Rockies
2007.....3 years - Boston Red Sox
2008.....2 years - Tampa Bay Rays
2009.....1 year - Philadelphia Phillies
2009.....1 year - New York Yankees
2010.....0 years - Texas Rangers
2010.....0 years - San Francisco Giants

Updated World Series Drought List

2010-11-08T13:49:00.000-08:00

Since last time I posted a list like this, a dramatic change took place. The Giants are no longer near the top, either the New York variety or the San Fran brand. So, here's a new list of teams in order of longest drought in number of seasons not winning a World Series. If a franchise moved cities in the middle of a current drought, I'll include both the franchise drought and the city drought in this list. I'll also call out teams that have never won due to being an expansion team, and note that as well.

* Expansion team that has never won. Year indicates year of expansion.
**Team that hasn't won since a franchise move. Year indicates year of move.

1908..102 years - Chicago Cubs
1948....62 years - Cleveland Indians
1961*...50 years - Washington Senators/Texas Rangers
1962*...49 years - Houston Astros
1969*...42 years - San Diego Padres
1969*...42 years - Seattle Pilots/Milwaukee Brewers
1969*...42 years - Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals
1970**..41 years - Milwaukee Brewers
1972**..39 years - Texas Rangers
1977*...34 years - Seattle Mariners
1979....31 years - Pittsburgh Pirates
1983....27 years - Baltimore Orioles
1984....26 years - Detroit Tigers
1985....25 years - Kansas City Royals
1986....24 years - New York Mets
1988....22 years - Los Angeles Dodgers
1989....21 years - Oakland A's
1990....20 years - Cincinnati Reds
1991....19 years - Minnesota Twins
1993*...18 years - Colorado Rockies
1993....17 years - Toronto Blue Jays
1995....15 years - Atlanta Braves
1998*...13 years - Tampa Bay Rays
2001.....9 years - Arizona Diamondbacks
2002.....8 years - Anaheim Angels
2003.....7 years - Florida Marlins
2005**...6 years - Washington Nationals
2005.....5 years - Chicago White Sox
2006.....4 years - St. Louis Cardinals
2007.....3 years - Boston Red Sox
2008.....2 years - Philadelphia Phillies
2009.....1 year - New York Yankees
2010.....0 years - San Francisco Giants

Giants Victory Parade

2010-11-07T20:32:00.000-08:00

Before this last Wednesday, the largest crowd I had ever been in was a Giants road game I saw in Denver in 1993, the Rockies' expansion year, in Mile High Stadium. This was before Coors Field was built. The attendance that day was 72,431. I can't remember any other big events I attended with a crowd that large.

But Wednesday was a special day. At the last minute, early in the morning, we decided to go to the San Francisco Giants World Series victory parade. About 1 million fans showed up. Driving into The City was out of the question, so we had to take public transportation, on the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) train. We picked the furthest station in our town because the parking situation is always much better. We drove by the closest station on our way there, and there were hundreds of people walking down the sidewalks of every street we could see, all dressed in orange and black. Wow. On to our destination station. It was packed, and a line for train tickets was about a hundred yards long. Ouch. On to the last station on the line, in Pittsburg. Same story. The line was through the station, over the freeway, and about 50 yards out into the parking lot. I used to live a block away, so I knew where to park. As we entered the station lot, some fans turned us around and told us to go to the Safeway grocery store on the corner, as they sold BART tickets at a discount. That line was five minutes long. Thank you, whoever you are!

We proceeded into the station and to the furthest extent of the station to catch the last car. We saw a friend, Sean, who works in the City, and had to go back home because none of the vanpool vehicles he took to work every day were picking anybody up. The train completely filled up two stations later, and everybody else along the line was out of luck. It was a wall of orange inside the train. The train stations were so filled with people eager to get on the trains, the operator couldn't close the doors. It took a while to even get to San Francisco.

We exited at the Civic Center station, the closest station to the parade end destination. Once out, we entered a sea of people semi-jockying for position. We didn't arrive until after the parade had started at the other end, and it would be a while before it got to us. I had a radio, so I was able to tell when they were going to turn the corner onto the final street on the way to city hall. The kids couldn't see, as they were too small, and even I couldn't see because we were too far away. We could hear the crowd gain in volume around the corner as the parade approached, and when it hit our area, a huge roar erupted. The caravan angled away from us, and I think I saw announcers Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow, and Lincecum's hair. That was it. The kids were tired, and I was satisfied. A much needed ice cream cart passed by as we were leaving, so that bought us maybe a half hour more in a celebratory atmosphere.

We missed the speeches and all, but saw them later on TV. As the kids were eating ice cream on a low planter wall, a few people down was a lady that sits behind me in my Wednesday night class. How cool. She wore her colors all semester, and I would see her later that evening. She recorded a bunch of stuff on her Flip. Anyway, the kids finished their ice cream and we headed back toward BART. But one problem: there were thousands of people heading out to the plaza. As many people as were leaving, many times more were just arriving. The station was a zoo, and one exit was completely shut down due to heavy foot traffic. We got a seat on the train home, trying to beat what commute there would be, and made it home without a problem. It was exciting just to say we went, and I'm sure I'll look back on the parade with a sense of completion. What a season.

Overall World Series Observations

2010-11-07T02:22:00.000-08:00

There's something completely different about having your own team play in the World Series. When you're just a fan of a team who has already been eliminated, or a TV exec, or an advertiser, you want a great, seven game series, with lots of pivotal moments and lifelong highlights. When your team is in it, you want a four-game, double digit, four-shutout sweep. For me, it is difficult to cast myself into the position of neutral observer for a few more reasons.

When I'm used to my team collapsing time afte time for half a century, each pitch of the Series was grinding. There was simply no time to relax. None. The last pitch of the World Series - Wilson striking out Cruz - could easily have gone differently. It could have been ball four, with the next batter hitting a home run to tie. The Rangers win in extras, and their bats come alive in SF for games 6 and 7. So to me, the Giants were one pitch away from losing the Series at the same time they were one pitch away from winning it, despite the 3 games to 1 lead and 3 to 1 score. Pivotal moments come at times just like that one, Mr. Stanley. Just when you think it, Mr. Moore. Cruising, Mr. Bartman. Easy out, Mr. Buckner. Game ball, Mr. Baker.

But when one looks at it simply, the Giants were really one pitch (a lone Johnathan Sanchez mistake) away from a sweep. Twenty runs in the first two games was a no-brainer. The pitching staff completely dominated. Who could have guessed two shutouts against such an offensive giant? Well, me. That's what great pitching staffs do. Not that I thought they were going win easily, but after they knocked off the Phils, it was easy to see them winning in five, because the Phillies were a better team than the Rangers. The last two games, the Rangers got a combined six hits, with only one player even reaching third base. Game on, game over.

Game 5 Observations

2010-11-05T14:01:00.000-07:00

The Rangers' Cliff Lee and the Giants' Tim Lincecum dueled in an amazing game of pitching, and lived up to everything both games 1 and 5 were supposed to be. Both had a commanding performance over the other team's lineup, and took a scoreless game into the late innings. Wonderful!

But as the innings unfolded it became clear that the Giants were taking better swings when they made outs than the Rangers were. And as each scoreless inning moved into the late innings, I became more sure that the Giants were going to win. A scoreless game late was unfamiliar territory to the Rangers, while it was home sweet home to the Giants. It was only a matter of time before the Giants bats broke through. Lincecum was simply lights out all game.

When they got two hits in the seventh, and Huff bunted the runners over (the first sacrifice of his career), I could taste it. Although Pat "the Bat" Burrell whiffed, when Renteria came up, Giants radio announcer Dave Flemming called it. "Can Edgar Renteria be the Giants hero yet again?" I have never been so ecstatic over a baseball play in my life as I was for his three run homer. And Flemming's voice cracked like a thirteen year old when he came to the word "gone!" in his call.

After that, Cruz made it interesting with a homer off Timmy Jim, but order was restored the next at bat. I was a bit surprised when Lincecum took the mound for the 8th, but Wilson's appearance in the 9th, no matter how well Timmy was pitching, was the right choice. This time, Wilson made it easy. One, two, three. As has happened so many times before, Wilson faced the 3, 4, 5 batters to close it out. I wouldn't have it any other way. Neither would Wilson.

Final - San Francisco 3, Texas 1
San Francisco wins the World Series 4 games to 1

THE GIANTS WIN THE WORLD SERIES!

2010-11-01T19:37:00.000-07:00

IT'S OVER! THE SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS HAVE WON THE WORLD SERIES! WE WIN! NOW IT'S TIME TO PARTY!

Game 4 Observations

2010-10-31T23:23:00.000-07:00

While all his friends went Trick or Treating tonight, 21 year old Madison Bumgarner pitched a three-hit shutout in the World Series against the great Texas Rangers bats. That's two shutouts now against this team.

The Giants had a phenomenal defensive performance behind Bumgarner to bolster the win. But the great glove work started out with Hamilton's diving catch to save the Giants from scoring first. The G-Men turned several double plays, and Cody Ross came close to matching Hamilton's feat later in the game with a sliding catch of his own. Rook Buster Posey gunned down Hamilton in a seemingly sure steal attempt. But the play that sticks out is Freddie Sanchez's robbery of a line drive. Hit over his head, he went high up, landed into a backward somersault, and came up with a sno-cone snag.

The Giants provided all the offense in the game in a blowout. Blowout? Yes, four runs scored by this team is a blowout. Huff's two run bomb, Torres' bouncer off the top of the fence that bounced back into the yard (yes, Ian, he did it too), and Posey's blast added up to an insurmountable lead. Bumgarner was iffy in the 7th, but Bochy left him in for the 8th to face the bottom of the order. The Beard slammed the door shut in the 9th with a 1-2-3 inning.

Final - San Francisco 4, Texas 0
Los Gigantes surge to a 3-1 series lead

Game 3 Observations

2010-10-31T23:00:00.000-07:00

As much as Johnathan Sanchez struggled, the difference in this game was one bad pitch by Sanchez. One pitch. Cruz led off the second with a double, but Sanchez pulled it together the next two batters. Molina was hot, so walking him wasn't a bad outcome if Sanchez were pitching around him. Moreland had a very good at bat, and Sanchez battled back. Moreland slammed the pitch he needed to, deep into the bleachers. This is what a good hitter does. He hits the one pitch he needs to all game long, and that's all it takes at the major league level to win a game.

On the other hand, the Giants have been doing all year long just what Moreland did in game 3, and it has been written off as luck. Could I get away with labeling this Texas Rangers World Series home run as luck? Not a chance. Anyway, the Giants showed signs of getting to the Rangers pitching late in the game, but it was too little, too late. Feliz came in and blew the Giants away in the ninth. The key to the rest of the Series is for the Giants to keep this kid on the bench. The Giants didn't play all that bad, and the Ranger bats showed us what they were capable of doing. Josh Hamilton finally showed up in this series with a solo shot to give the Rangers an insurance run.

Final - Texas 4, San Francisco 2.
Texas cuts San Fran Series lead to 2-1.

Game 2 Observations

2010-10-30T00:26:00.000-07:00

Okay, another torture game, but only 7 1/2 innings worth. Matt Cain was simply Matt Cain. Zero runs in the post-season. CJ Wilson tossed a really good game, too. Edgar Renteria! This was the pitching matchup everybody expected in game 1. But it got really out of hand in the bottom of the 8th inning. Both the Giants' bats and the Rangers' bullpen did some things out of character for them. And, how does Ron Washington let a guy walk more than one batter in that situation in a close World Series game? That just set up their 9-0 collapse.

I saw a post-game interview with Washington, and he was visibly annoyed at some of the questions. Are the Rangers unraveling? Let's hope so. The Giants need all the opposing team's blunders they can get. But...and this is a large but...the Rangers still have to play their first World Series game at home. Those fans should be absolutely crazy. GO GIANTS!

Final - San Francisco 9, Texas 0
Giants take a 2-0 Series lead

Game 1 Observations

2010-10-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

Torture. Anti-torture. Game 1 was anti-torture. Torture is when everything comes down to the ninth inning in a one-run game and Wilson lets several runners on before striking the last batter out on a full count. NLCS torture.

Anti-torture is when all of that happens at the beginning of the game. Like when Tim Lincecum has a brain fart and doesn't throw the ball in a run-down. Like when Freddy Sanchez gets doubled off second on a blooper that Bad Vlad simply can't catch. Like when Benjie Molina tries to score on a sac fly, and he's out by ten feet, except that the throw is half way up the first base line. And like when the Giants beat the best playoff pitcher ever to be born by racking up seven runs on him before the fifth inning is over, making sure that there won't be a one-run game. Scary.

What can you say about 18 runs, 25 hits, 6 errors, a double by an AL pitcher setting up Molina scoring on a sac fly, the Giants bullpen giving up 3 runs in the ninth inning in a game started by Lee and Lincecum? This was as bizarre a game as I can remember. Check out this summary by McCovey Chronicles. Giants up 1-0 over the Rangers. Holding my breath, turning purple.

Final - San Francisco 11, Texas 7
San Francisco takes a 1-0 Series lead

Game 1 Shocker - Giants Defy Odds In World Series

2010-10-27T23:27:00.000-07:00

"Nobody had been able to hit Cliff Lee in his playoff career. Game 1 of the World Series was different."

The title of this post, along with the quote above, were the headline and summary on Comcast's homepage story when I logged on tonight. Shocker? Well, if that's what the rest of the world thinks, we've got you where we want you.

Mat Latos, Derek Lowe, Derek Lowe (yes, twice!), Roy Halladay, Cole Hammels, Roy Oswalt, Cliff Lee. These were the dominating pitchers, in order, guaranteed to beat the Giants. They all lost. Is there a pattern here?

Road Warriors

2010-10-24T17:23:00.000-07:00

Guess which teams had the two best home records in baseball this year, and in which order? Well, if you don't know, you could figure it out easily by looking at the title of this post. Yup, you guessed it. The Atlanta Braves were #1, followed by the Philadelphia Phillies at #2. And the Giants beat each team on the road in that same order to win the pennant. Games 3 and 4 in Atlanta in the NLDS and games 1 and 6 in Philly in the NLCS. A 4-1 road record vs. awesome home teams.

THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!

2010-10-23T22:12:00.000-07:00

The Philadelphia Phillies' dream of being the first team to win three consecutive NL pennants since the 1942-44 Cardinals has been slaughtered by the extreme underdog San Francisco Giants!!!! Juan Uribe hits an 8th inning opposite field home run to put the Giants ahead 3-2. Brian Wilson makes the perfect pitch - a low, backdoor slider - the pitch that awesome slugger Ryan Howard simply cannot hit. Howard was fooled badly, and THE GIANTS WON THE PENNANT! Another extreme form of torture!

The parties are spilling out into the streets! We're going to the World Series! Wahoooo!

No Respect

2010-10-22T22:30:00.000-07:00

Well, the Giants aren't getting much respect nationally. Just tonight, MLB Network was doing highlights of the Rangers beating the Yankees to win the AL pennant, and the talking heads started yakking about how the Rangers matched up against the Phillies. Harold Reynolds interrupted the party and inserted, even if a bit hesitantly, "The Giants...may...MAY...win this thing." I know you need to earn your respect, but really.

SHOCKING!

2010-10-21T09:31:00.000-07:00

"Schocking!" That's how MLB network described the Giants' 3-1 NLCS lead over the Phillies. Shocking? To whom is it shocking? Oh, everybody who thought the Phils would roll, that's who.

"Phils in five."
"Uh, I don't know about that. We should give the Giants more credit than that. Phils in six."

Yes, that's the way most of the people "in the know" talked about the series before it began. Neither scenario is possible now. And of course, game 1, where Tim Lincecum outpitched Roy Halladay, was the Giants lone half-expected win.

I simply haven't had time to blog about these games so far, I've been so busy late at night watching highlights from the games I haven't been able to see on TV. Anything can happen on any day in baseball. Anything can happen in October, including the Phils rebounding to win. But the Giants winning the pennant can also happen. And that can happen tonight. GO GIANTS!

And The Giants Win...Three Days and Two Nights in Philly

2010-10-14T09:54:00.000-07:00

Well, the Giants did it. They beat the Braves in four. It was an intense series, with each game being the only one-run games in all the division series. Now to move on to the NLCS. But what exactly did they win? Baseball has a formal division championship, a formal pennant and a formal world champion. The winner of the division series has no flag, ring, etc. They just get to move on. So with that, the Giants win a three-day, two night trip for 25 to Philadelphia. GO GIANTS!

The Torture Continues

2010-10-11T01:49:00.000-07:00

Last month, the Giants announcers described the way the Giants play - and win - as torture. And it has become the team slogan. Torture.

Well, the torture continues. Game 3 gave the fans a severe case of torture yesterday. What amount of torture can you receive when your pitcher tosses a two-hit shutout? Well, if you're leading 4-0 or 6-0 or 10-0, not much. But when almost the entire game has a 1-0 score, it's torture. That means that every single batter the pitcher faces during the whole game is either the potential tying run or the potential go-ahead run. That's torture.

When two pitchers toss two-hit shutouts with 1-0 leads, that's double torture. Lincecum did it in game 1. Sanchez did it for most of game 3. With 2 out and 2 strikes in the bottom of the 8th, and a runner on, the pinch hitter was the potential go-ahead run. And he hit a home run. Torture. If the score had been 5-0 it would have not been a bit deal. Then with 2 strikes and 2 outs in the 9th inning, the Giants one strike away from losing - torture - Freddie Sanchez gets a hit up the middle. Huff drives him in. The Braves make an error. Giants take the lead...for a few minutes anyway. Torture. Then in the bottom of the 9th with a one run lead, Wilson gives up an infield hit to bring the winning run up to the plate. Torture. When Matt Cain pitches a gem, and the bullpen torches it in the 8th inning, that's torture. When Buster Posey hits into a double play in extra innings with the bases loaded instead of driving in the winning run, that's torture.

You know what else is torture? The only one-run games in the whole post-season so far have been every single Giants game.

Friday Night Quote

2010-10-08T23:33:00.000-07:00

You 'n' me ain't - Dizzy Dean

Wild Card Spells Death of the Great Pennant Races

2010-10-07T16:40:00.000-07:00

The Giants and Padres (and Rockies!) just had a great pennant race. The NL West wasn't decided until the last day of the season, and the two teams in the race were playing each other in the final of a three game series. As great as the race was, it was diminished a bit by some bad ball played by both teams. The two teams weren't the greatest. There is, however, another kind of pennant race that is much better.

That kind of race is between two super-teams. Teams that win a lot of games. Upper 90's or 100+ win teams. I was part of one of the greatest pennant races in history. The 1993 race between the Giants and Braves, where each team was tied at 103 wins going into the last game of the season. The Braves completed a season sweep of the Rockies, while the Giants lost to their arch rival Dodgers 12-1, who relished the spoiler role as one of the two greatest rivalries in baseball. They knocked the Giants out of the race. My 400 mile drive home from LA that evening was the longest of my life. I-5 was a trail of thousands of Giants fans that made the trek.

This year had one such hypothetical pennant race. The Yankees and Rays came out of the chute on fire, playing .700-.750 ball in the early part of the season. They were clearly the best two teams in baseball the first half of the season. They were neck and neck all the way down the stretch drive. Going into the last day of the season, they had the same record, just like the Giants and Braves did in '93. The Yankees even played their arch rivals, the Red Sox, on the last weekend of the season, in the other of the two greatest rivalries in baseball, just like the Giants/Braves race. It went down to the last game of the season, just like the Giants/Braves, and the Red Sox beat them to knock the Yankees out of first place, just like the Giants/Braves. It had all the marks of one of the great pennant races in recent memory. Except it wasn't a pennant race. Not even close. Nobody even cared about it. All season long.

The reason is that the race was so great that both teams were going to make the playoffs in the end. There was no race. There's not much difference at all in winning the division and winning the wild card. Maybe a couple of home games in the playoffs. Maybe. It wasn't the exciting Olympic 100 meter finals. It was a meaningless qualifying heat where everybody who is anybody makes it to the finals. In fact, if you look at it from a probability standpoint, the better the record of the two teams, the more likely it is that the second place team will be the wild card. So, the wild card has given an inversely proportional relationship between the greatness of the race and the excitement it creates. It shouldn't have to be this way.

THE GIANTS WIN!

2010-10-03T16:54:00.000-07:00

Avoiding catastrophe, the Giants put it together and won the NL West today! Despite losing 12 games (I think) to the Padres this year, they won the last game of the season to be the last team to clinch their division. The Atlanta Braves are coming to town for a rematch of the 2002 NLDS, where the Giants won in surprising fasihion.

GO GIANTS!

A Giant Collapse?

2010-10-02T14:22:00.000-07:00

Well it appears the Giants are in the middle of yet another enormous October collapse. Needing to win only one of the three games (or a fourth tie-breaker, if necessary), Matt Cain was shelled last night. The Padres don't even know how to score six runs in a game, and the pitching staff that led the majors in September ERA since 1965 (1.76) is coughing it up. Today, Barry Zito walked in two runs in the first inning, and was touched for two more by the fourth. Sanchez goes tomorrow.

The ultimate collapse could be to have the Braves lose 2 of 3 to the Phils and tie the Giants/Padres for the wild card. The Giants could lose the division to the Padres in a tie-breaker on Monday and lose the wild card to the Braves in a tie-breaker on Tuesday. Wednesday morning the Giants magic number would still be one, but with no games left to play. It would re-set to 163 for the 2011 season. I just hope one of the most unbelievable collapses in history doesn't happen. If the Braves are swept this weekend, then the Giants will back-door a playoff position no matter how many games they lose. So, Go Phillies!

Magic Number Is One

2010-10-01T12:54:00.000-07:00

Well, don't look now, but the Padres have nearly collapsed and the Giants are on a win streak. They play a three game series this weekend, and a fourth tie-breaker in case the Padres sweep. The Giants would need to lose all four for the Padres to win it. I have some excitement, but mostly reserved anticipation. I hope they're not passing out those rally towels at the game tonight in anticipation of the clincher. I was at one of those games in 2000, and the air was full of lint and everybody's eyes were scratchy.

But, here's to a first playoff spot since 2003. It's about time.

Giants Win Projection Through September 30

2010-10-01T09:16:00.000-07:00

September 16 through September 30, 2010:

W 83-64, 91; L 83-65, 91; L 83-66, 90; W 84-66, 91; W 85-66, 91; L 85-67, 91; W 86-67, 91; W 87-67, 92; L 87-68, 91; W 88-68, 91; W 89-68, 92; W 90-68, 92; W 91-68, 93.

Charlie Manuel and the Integrity of the Game

2010-09-28T15:34:00.000-07:00

Eyes are on Phillies manager Charlie Manuel this upcoming weekend as they play the Braves to close out the season. The Phils have already clinched the division, but the Braves are fighting for a wild card berth with whoever doesn't win the NL West, the Padres or Giants. There is concern on behalf of the west team that Manuel will juggle his rotation and rest his stars to get ready for the playoffs. This would give the Braves an unfair advantage in the wild card race. The same situation arose several years ago with the Braves' Bobby Cox.

A long standing ethical baseball tradition holds that if you're playing against a team at the end of the season, and that team is in the pennant race, you push your experimentation with your September call-ups aside, and go at the game with your best. This guarantees the other team in the pennant race that things will be fair. This upholds the integrity of the game. And I completely agree with this tradition.

Except in the Phillies' case. Why? Well, traditionally, baseball didn't have divisions. Each league consisted of all teams racing for the same pennant. This meant that only the teams that were no longer in any pennant race at all were facing teams that were. The season no longer mattered to them because they had no shot at the pennant, or a yet to be created division title. When division play came along, however, each division had an even number of teams, and the schedule guaranteed that the last several weeks were played amongst teams in their own divisions. So the tradition of not rolling over against a playoff contender stood.

But then several new developments came on the scene. With AL expansion in '77, and NL expansion in '93, there were no longer an even number of teams in a division. This meant that during the pennant race, there was always at least one series playing between teams of opposite divisions. Then with realignment in '94, a wild card was introduced along with three divisions. Most divisions didn't (and still don't) have an even number of teams. Now, it's guaranteed that teams playing out of their divisions, and against wild card contenders, happens more often. So, we're bound to see this situation occur where a team that has already clinched a playoff spot will play against teams that haven't yet.

But it's also another baseball tradition, albeit one of strategy, to do whatever necessary to get your team ready for the playoffs. Rest stars, juggle rotations, use your call-ups. And traditionally, since that team had already clinched, it meant that no other team they faced was still in a pennant race. They could afford to lose games after clinching, since those games had no importance, whereas the post-season games did.

So, what the addition of a wild card and interdivision play caused by odd numbers of teams within divisions has done is to pit two baseball traditions against each other in a head-to-head fashion. And if you're the team that has already won a spot in the playoffs, your self-interest trumps all others. Period. In essence, what people are calling on Charlie Manuel to do is to jeopardize his team's ability to win the World Series just to satisfy the desires of a team that obviously hasn't played well enough to have already clinched. And that is a ridiculous thing to ask.

The real question about the integrity of the game that should be asked is whether interdivision play at the end of the season and a wild card format are the ideas that compromise the integrity of the game. Even though my Giants could be affected by Manuel's managing decisions this weekend, I realize that it's in his best interest to try to win the World Series in any way possible. I would expect nothing less than for Manuel to tell his critics to shove it, even if those critics were Giants fans and management.

Back In First Place - Again

2010-09-27T12:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, the Giants won and the Padres lost, allowing the Giants to take first place. Yet again. It seems this has happened a hundred times over the last week. The Giants took two out of three from the Rockies and two out of three from the Cubs before that. But they've lost first place several times, too. The Giants need to figure out that this is a time of season when winning two out of three simply isn't enough. There are four teams striving for two playoff spots. The Giants, Padres and Rockies are all in the division race, and also in the wild card race along with the Braves. Somebody is going to win, and somebody is going to go home. Going home isn't an option.

Over the last three weeks, the Giants pitching staff has been on just about the hottest streak in baseball history. They set a modern record by going 18 consecutive games allowing three runs or less. Yet in the first 16 of those games, they went a meager 10-6. The hitting has been a season-long problem. All these 1-0 games are killing some fingernails out there. It seems that the showdown will be the last weekend of the season between the Giants and Padres. Can this be the year?

Friday Night Quote

2010-09-24T19:35:00.000-07:00

If the World Series goes seven games, it will be NBC's longest running show this fall. - Johnny Carson, The Tonight Show, NBC, 1978

Blog Bat-round: If I Were Commissioner

2010-09-19T21:13:00.000-07:00

[Update: since this blog bat-around was started among the baseball card blogger circles, I'm cross-posting it to my 1974 Topps baseball card blog.]

David at Indians Baseball Cards & Random Wax poses the following question for a blog bat-around:

The topic: With Bud Selig supposedly retiring in 2012 (and assuming the end of the world doesn't follow soon afterward), if YOU were asked to become the next Baseball Commissioner, what would you do? What changes would you like to make, what things would you leave as-is, what would you like to see as your legacy when your retirement time came?

Baseball has been screwed up under Bud Selig far beyond the average fan's knowledge. I'll expose a number of those dark secrets below and as commissioner, I would make the following changes, unilaterally, on my first day in office:

On the field changes:

Expansion to 32 teams w/ realignment. Either 8 divisions of 4 teams with no wild card, or 4 divisions of 8 teams w/ top two in each. There needs to be the same number of teams in each division. Right now, statistically, the AL West teams have a 50% greater chance of winning the World Series than NL Central teams, just by being in the AL West.
Use an unbalanced, but symmetrical schedule. Baseball needs each team playing each other team the exact same number of times in division, and same number of games with all teams out of the division, both home and road, from division to division, league to league, and those numbers have to be even numbers. Teams in the same division need to have the same common scheduled teams. Having divisions logically means an unbalanced schedule. Each division needs an even number of teams so that only division play occurs the last weeks of the season.
Eliminate interleague play. The players hate it. Attendance figures from largely weekend games when school's out and the weather is nice is not evidence that the fans support it either. And the argument that fans never get to see players from the other league is bogus. A majority of baseball fans live either in a metro area that already has one team in each league (the five largest markets - ten teams worth!, NY, LA, Chi, SF, and DC/Balt), or in a metro area that is a short drive from another team in the other league. (Philly, San Diego, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, etc.) Interleague play also skews the division race, as schedules are not identical. For too long, the Marlins have skated with playing six games against the hapless Rays while their division rival Mets have played six games against the World Champs. Enough.
The All-Star game will no longer decide Home Field Advantage in the World Series, and will revert back to alternating HFA between leagues each year. All-Star managers aren't able to focus on winning the game anyway, because two other expectations are more important: a) keeping other managers' pitchers from being injured, and b) making sure every player on an ever enlarging roster makes it into the game. A pinch runner for the batter who pinch hit for the defensive replacement from last inning? Hey, I just put three players into the game in four pitches! That's what the last three innings of the ASG have become.
Reduce the All-Star rosters to 24 max. and eliminate the "each team has one player" rule. Only one thing is less logical that requiring one player from each team, and that's the argument for it: "It's a fan's game." Uhm, the fans of the other 29 teams don't want to see your least worst player in the ASG when he's batting .279/11/36 at the break. He gets to play just because every other player on your team sucks even worse? And you want him to play in the ASG? Heck, you don't even want to see him play in your own ballpark. If you did, your attendance wouldn't suck so bad. I've lived through plenty of bad A's and Giants seasons where I was actually embarrassed for our representative to be seen in the introductions, not to mention the game.
Eliminate all the NFL rules that have been adopted into baseball, like the one that made George Steinbrenner an air traffic controller. Get rid of all the NFL tie-breaking, home field advantage and playoff matchup rules. All they do is complicate things and screw playoff ticket holders out of being able to use their tickets effectively. Football has these stupid rules precisely because they have no way to decide things on the field. Using head-to-head as a tie-breaker necessarily means that the winner has a worse record against inferior teams. Hasn't anybody at MLB corporate ever taken logic 101 at their local community college? Home field advantage and matchup rules mean that ticket holders don't even know when the game is and who it's against for the ticket they're holding in their hand. Last year's fiasco that allowed the Yanks (HFA) to choose which ALDS series to play in was a great example. They didn't have to choose until a few hours after the regular season was over. But there was a rain-out makeup on Monday that forced another one-game playoff on Tuesday, still part of the regular season. They got to decide whether to screw the Red Sox in choosing which day they played - hours before their game - or to make the other team play on a couple of hours sleep on the plane while in the air at 35,000 feet.
Eliminate TV ratings based playoff start times. The Yankees are guaranteed the prime time slot for every game ever, while the rest of the teams play bizarre day games in weird time zones. Every time a series is decided, the remaining series have their time slots revised according to a pecking order of prime time ratings. Several times since this has started, fans of one team with tickets in hand for tomorrow's game have gone to bed not knowing whether the next day's game would be at 1pm or 7pm because an extra inning game in the other league on the opposite coast that was playing past midnight may end that series and effect start times of all other games the next day because the ratings pecking order had to be rearranged. When you're a ticket holder for these games, you may be screwed out of hundreds or thousands of dollars because you can't sell or give away a day game ticket at the last minute. It's happened several times to me personally. Enough.
Allow each home team to set the time for its own division series playoff games. Not being able to go to or even watch your own team because you're at work and you fell into a day game slot at the last minute just because some dude on the east coast wants to watch it on TV is freaking lame. Let them stay up until 2am. That way, everybody will be able to see it.
All post season game dates with pre-figured division vs. division arrangement will be made prior to the season.
Even though I personally don't like the DH, I would keep it for one league. It's good for baseball because it is good at starting and keeping arguments going. But the current DH rule gives the AL team an advantage in the World Series. It gets to keep using its full-time, season long hitting specialist, while the NL team must scrape a utility player off the bench for its DH. If you don't agree, please tell me you'd rather see Lee Lacy hit than Reggie Jackson. After the last game of the regular season, I would give all the NL teams the option to draft one free agent AL DH player to use as their DH in the World Series, just to even things up.

Off the field changes:

Lifetime bans would extend only to the lifetime of the player. For example, once he died, Shoeless Joe would be in the HOF.
Change the territorial rights boundary from a distance based boundary (75 miles) to a population based one. The existing rule guarantees the Yankees an untouchable fan base of 25 million. Even though San Jose is 40 miles further from San Francisco than Oakland is, the Giants territorial rights can stop an A's move to SJ. Why? If small market teams have problems making ends meet, they can move to Brooklyn and/or East Rutherford, Chicago, San Bernardino, San Fernando, or San Jose.
Holding the dubious distinction as the only person to have the steroids scandal occur right under his nose both as an owner and as a commissioner; and holding the dubious distinction as a commissioner who wouldn't even stand up in recognition that the greatest record in sports was just tied, and also in reference to the other 12 reasons listed above, my last act on the first day in office will be to impose a lifetime ban from baseball upon Bud Selig.

Leave as-is:

Most everything else.

Legacy will take care of itself.

Giants Win Projection Through September 15

2010-09-19T16:29:00.000-07:00

September 1 through September 15:

W 74-60, 89; L 74-61, 89; W 75-61, 89; W 76-61, 90; W 77-61, 90; W 78-61, 91; L 78-62, 90; W 79-62, 91; W 80-62, 91; L 80-63, 91; W 81-63, 91; L 81-64, 90; W 82-64, 91.

Friday Night Quote

2010-09-17T19:35:00.000-07:00

It ain't braggin' if you can back it up. - Dizzy Dean

FIRST PLACE!

2010-09-17T11:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, we did it! The Giants beat the Dodgers while the Padres lost to the Cardinals. This is the first day the Giants have been in first place in September since 2003. Terribly sad fact. But, first place is only good if you're there after the regular season is over. So, let's Go Giants!

Since 2003, the Giants have obviously been the least effective team in the NL West. Every single other team in the division has at least one post-season appearance since the Giants last did. In those last six years, NL West teams have won three wild card positions. The Dodgers won the division in 2004, '08 & '09, the Padres in 2005, '06, the Diamondbacks in 2007. The Dodgers took the wild card in 2006, the Rockies and Padres tied for it in 2007 and the Rox won the playoff game, and the Rockies again in 2009. So, in total, the four other teams have combined for nine playoff positions in the last six years, including one tie, and an all-NL West NLCS in 2007. No Giants.

The Giants, on the other hand, had a total collapse in 2004 in the last weekend of the season, and in 2009 were the only team of 8 teams in baseball in a playoff position at the All-Star break that didn't hold on in the second half. Their 2005-08 seasons were abysmal.

I hope this leap into first place is the beginning of three consecutive World Championships and seven in the next fifteen years, to bring the winningest team in baseball history up to the law of averages.

Giants Fans Invade San Diego

2010-09-12T22:08:00.000-07:00

One of the things I've always hated is to have numerous fans of the visiting team show up and act like they own the place. You know, Yankee fans, Dodger fans, Red Sox fans, Cubs fans. They're big market teams with huge followings, transplants, and travelling fans. Often over the years, the Oakland Coliseum has had many a game where A's fans were outnumbered by Yankee or Red Sox fans, and Giants fans since interleague play started.

Well, the Giants have a national following, too, just not quite as big as the Yankees or Red Sox. But one place we always show up in massive numbers is San Diego. Transplants, college students, and cheap Southwest Airlines tickets. This four game series vs. the Pads was no exception. Thousands showed up and hijacked the crowd noise this weekend. And Padres fans hate it.

You simply can't listen to the game and tell who just made the big play. Today I was fooled by Tim Lincecum's two run single. The crowd erupted in a roar, and I thought, "Oops, the Padres are coming back." No, it was the Giants fans.

I've seen the Giants on the road in LA, San Diego, Oakland, Colorado and Arizona. It's amazing how many show up, and how many cheer all the louder because they know they're on the road. The first interleague game in Oakland between the Giants and A's back in '97 was about two-thirds Giants fans, and it was louder and more rowdy than most every game I've ever seen in San Fran.

Thanks to the fans who showed up this weekend and cheered the Orange and Black to three out of four to tie for first place.

Friday Night Quote

2010-09-10T19:35:00.000-07:00

For fourteen years I had the best seat in baseball. - Willie McCovey, speaking about his spot in the on-deck circle while Willie Mays was at bat.

Fan Ejected By Ump For Heckling

2010-09-09T02:01:00.000-07:00

I'm sure this ain't the first time, but a fan was ejected from a game by umpire Bob Davidson for heckling a player. Sean Ottow, a Brewer fan, was heckling Cardinals' catcher Yadier Molina. Davidson had a mean streak already going in ejecting a number of players and managers that game, so a fan was what was needed to complete the day. Maybe that counts for "hitting for the cycle" in umpire dialect. Maybe ejecting a fan is like that final triple needed.

I found two brief accounts of the incident here and here. One thing the fan claimed is that he never swore at Molina. But, he was cited for disorderly conduct by the police.

I'm wondering what he said and for how long. I've also had extended time periods of heckling players - like nine innings a day over a four game series - and I've never been ejected. But maybe it's like my friend Mike says, we'd be tossed in jail today for some of the things we said back in the 80's. I'm also wondering if his citation was a direct result of being tossed by the ump. Would he have been cited if the ump never tossed him? And since he got a standing ovation from the crowd, one wonders how disorderly he actually was. They all seemed to enjoy him. Now for a serious question. Will he be banned from future Brewers games by management? Loss of season tickets? Could any of this happen to a fan simply because an ump had a bad day? What role can a player have in getting a fan tossed? One time, I was heckling a rookie and he called time out and jogged in to the third base ump and pointed out at me. The ump shrugged his shoulders, and then he really caught it from the whole bleacher section for the rest of the game.

It will be interesting to see if this is the last thing to be heard on this incident.

Giants Win Projection Through August 31

2010-09-08T14:59:00.000-07:00

August 16 through August 31, 2010:

L 67-53, 90; L 67-54, 90; W 68-54, 90; W 69-54, 91; L 69-55, 90; L 69-56, 89; W 70-56, 90; W 71-56, 91; L 71-57, 90; L 71-58, 89; L 71-59, 88; W 72-59, 89; L 72-60, 88; W 73-60, 89.

The Death of Mannywood

2010-09-05T19:58:00.000-07:00

Baseball got some news this week as Manny Ramirez joined the Chicago White Sox. Then it got some more news as the White Sox strolled into Boston to mark a Manny return to Fenway. But a special extra bit to tack on to the end of that story was found in Chavez Ravine.

You see, the Giants and Dodgers re-engaged their historic rivalry on Friday. But, contrary to last year and the end of '08, Manny wasn't a factor. A couple of months ago it was reported that the Mannywood ads were taken off of LA freeway billboards, a sad prelude to the start of this series. A great Dodger to hate, as we haven't had many of those in recent years, Manny served as a target to silence, but even if he hit some homers, beating the Dodgers could silence those. But the eerie silence this weekend almost spoke of a sad end to an era, even though there was the big news of the week. Manny didn't matter enough to the Dodgers to matter in the rivalry with us. Mannywood is dead.

Beat LA!

2010-09-05T14:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, what a game last night. Yet another classic Giants/Dodgers rivalry game. Before the game I heard that Dodger pitcher Ted Lilly had one of the lowest run support totals in baseball lately. And Giant Matt Cain has one of the lowest totals in his career. So, I assumed that either it would be a scoreless game until the bullpens took over, or the Giants would stay true to their course of a complete lack of run support for Cain while giving it up for Lilly. It turns out I was 3/4 right (right about no run support for Cain {=1/2 point} and half right about one bullpen giving it up {=1/4 point}).

Down 4-0, the Giants hit four homers, one solo in the 7th, back-to-back solos in the 8th and a 2-run Jack in the 9th by Juan UUUUUU-ribe in the 9th to win. Of course, Brian Wilson did his usual bungee jump save, where the the cord pulls you back up just before you crash into the rocks below.

As noted by Mrs. Scott: It's difficult to listen to Giants/Dodgers games due to the number of opposing team's fans cheering for the visiting team. A huge cheer doesn't guarantee it's for the home team.

Rubber game tonight is a must win for the Gyro's, as the Padres keep losing.

Friday Night Quote

2010-09-03T19:35:00.000-07:00

I don't know how our folks come off callin' this the "Game of the Week." There's a much better game - Dodgers and Giants - over on NBC. - Dizzy Dean, broadcasting on CBS Television

Stephen Strasburg's Arm, RIP

2010-08-28T18:48:00.000-07:00

The hottest prospect in recent memory just blew his elbow out and will require Tommy John surgery. This carries a 12-18 month rehab time. Strasburg has been just about the biggest story of the year. I'm really sorry to hear this happen to such a young, bright star.

What interests me most about this story is that some people predicted this would happen. Curt Schilling apparently did, and I heard an audio clip of a radio interview from earlier in the year of Chris Lincecum (father of Tim, and master mechanics planner of his delivery, who has his own show on in San Fran) saying he witnessed some problems with Strasburg's mechanics and wasn't very confident of his future health. Now, I'm no expert on pitching mechanics. But I'm wondering what was going on in the minds of the Nationals' people, especially given that others were concerned. Were there issues? Were they in the process of being addressed? Is the topic of mechanics widely understood within baseball? Is it merely a matter of opinion with several radically different schools of thought? Are most baseball people clueless with only a few experts on the topic?

I don't know. But it's sad for Strasburg, his family and the Nationals, not to mention the game of baseball. I hope he recovers fully and has a hall of fame career.

Friday Night Quote

2010-08-27T19:35:00.000-07:00

A lot of people my age are dead at the present time. - Casey Stengel, at age 75

Coming Soon: Friday Night Quote

2010-08-21T21:50:00.000-07:00

I love baseball quotes, so I thought I would include a quote each Friday night, at 7:35pm. Pacific time, that is. Baseball quotes have a way of telling stories all their own, and also serve to show the game's characters for their strange views of the pastime. Next Friday will be the first installment.

Giants Win Projection Through August 15

2010-08-20T17:07:00.000-07:00

August 1 through August 15, 2010:

W 61-45, 93; W 62-45, 94; L 62-46, 93; L 62-47, 92; W 63-47, 93; L 63-48, 92; L 63-49, 91; W 64-49, 92; L 64-50, 91; W 65-50, 92; W 66-50, 92; L 66-51, 91; W 67-51, 92; L 67-52, 91.

Bobby Thomson, RIP

2010-08-17T23:59:00.000-07:00

Bobby Thomson, the former Giants player who hit the most famous home run in baseball history, died yesterday at the age of 86. His "Shot Heard 'Round The World" off of Dodger pitcher Ralph Branca ended the greatest pennant race in history between the two fiercest rivals in history in the media capitol of the world. That's probably why it's so famous. It's also the most famous radio broadcast in sports history, called by Giants announcer Russ Hodges.

On August 11, 1951, the New York Giants were 13 1/2 games behind their cross-town rivals the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Giants won 37 of their last 44 games to tie the Dodgers for first place on the last day of the regular season, forcing a three game playoff for the pennant. The teams split the first two games, and the Dodgers had a 4-1 lead in the ninth inning of game 3. The Giants started a rally, and after closing the score to 4-2, Thomson came to bat with two runners on base. Two pitches later, history was made.

Here's a video of the home run as shown on Best Damn Sports Show Period. It was edited down, very unfortunately, to fit their show, and due to copyright reasons, I'm guessing, the unedited version just doesn't show up on the internet. Also, there is a story and a video clip on mlb.com that shows a bit more of what happened after the traditional recording of Russ Hodges' call ends. Then for further listening pleasure, a video of Hall of Fame broadcasters Ernie Harwell and Red Barber on their TV coverage of that game.

A strange twist to this home run changed the way sports broadcasts were handled from then on. Recordings of radio broadcasts of great events simply weren't done in those days. But a Dodger fan got out his tape recorder in the last inning of a would-be Dodger victory and made a recording of what he thought would be Hodges' lament over a Giants defeat, just to rub it in the face of Giants fans. Here's a blog article dealing with that history. All in all, a great homer by a true gentleman.

Trivia question: What rookie was on deck when Thomson hit his famous homer?