Anticipation

I look outside and it is dreary and cold.  Baseball should be the farthest thing from my mind given Opening Day is months away. 

But this morning, I sit at my computer in anticipation of Baseball news to be announced in just under an hour (11am PST).  The news is the announcement of the National League 2008’s Cy Young award winner.

Hopefully the right choice will be made and my boy, Tim Lincecum, will be selected as the winner.

Thinking positively for my boy tonight

As you all know, I’m a manic Giants fan.  I really can’t help myself.  I think I have a problem (are there support groups out there, I wonder?)

It’s Pete’s fault, really.  : ) He grew up a baseball fan, while I could have cared less about baseball up until I turned about 30 years old… he slowly but surely created a monster!

This year, being a Giants fan has been quite painful… they stink.

Although the Giants, as a team, have been atrocious out on the field, there is one bright spot: a pitcher named Tim Lincecum.  This kid [he looks about 12 years old] is amazing.  He is one of those rare breeds that Major League Baseball experiences once every few decades.  When he is out on the mound, people pay attention.

He is sooo good that he is actually in contention for the Cy Young award for the National League.  They typically give the award to amazing pitchers who are playing for teams that make the playoff series.  Sadly, the Giants aren’t even close.  However, Lincecum is THAT good that he is in contention even so. 

There are a couple of pitchers who are also candidates to win the Cy Young award (Brandon Webb of the Arizona Diamondbacks and C.C. Sabathia of the Milwaukee Brewers) and they play for teams that are in contention for the playoffs. 

So, the bottom line, is every game matters at this stage, as Timmy proves to the world he is deserving of this award.  He has two pitching starts left (tonight and next Wednesday). 

Bruce Bochey (the Giants manager) has already revealed that if Lincecum gets a win tonight, he will push him up in the rotation and have him pitch next Tuesday.  That way, it would be his turn to pitch again at the very last game of the season, next Sunday.

Oh, and guess what?  That game is against the detested Dodgers.  Pete and I will be there, and how wonderful would it be if Lincecum knocks the Dodgers out of the playoffs by giving them a loss?  A girl can dream right?  That situation would truly save this season for me. 

Like I said, I think I have a problem!

How about an attempt to make up for my absence?

In case you didn’t notice, I took the day off on Friday.  Although I was working in the early am, I could not bring myself to write my usual Friday bullets!  Please forgive me, I’ll try to make up for it by entertaining you with fun pictures from the weekend.

What did I do on my day off you ask?  It was a perfect way to spend a free day.  After I finally logged off my computer, Lucy and I went for a walk around the Lafayette reservoir.  It wasn’t too hot at 10am (70 degrees or so) but poor little Lucy had a rough time.  This dog could run 10 miles non-stop in cool weather, and it wouldn’t faze her, but the second the sun & heat become a factor, she wilts very quickly.  I ended up carrying her the last 1/2 mile.  Then we picked up Ayelet and drove into the city for a fabulous lunch at Cafe Claude  with Jackie & Anna.  Cafe Claude?  “Oui Oui” is all I can say (I will write a Yelp review soon).  It was very nice in the city but Ayelet and I decided to head back to beautiful Danville.  After a quick stop to pick up a costume for Lucy to wear to Dog Days of Summer, we settled into our favorite hangout spot, Sideboard.   A couple of glasses of BR Cohn Chardonnay  and life is very very good. 

Poor Pete had a root canal on Friday so he wasn’t the most pleasant to be around this weekend.  Guess I gotta cut him some slack given he’s the big bday boy next weekend. 

Saturday was a LONG but fun day.  I had planned to go to Dog Days of Summer for months.   Had a few last-minute cancellations, but luckily my parents are troopers and I conned them into coming along.  We met up at the park and (gotta love ’em) they had gotten there early enough to score a great spot in line.  I dressed Lucy up in her costume and we were ready for the parade.  My only complaint – although I do understand why they do this – is that they shuffled us along so quickly that I couldn’t get many good photos of Lucy strutting her stuff at the ballpark.  The second I stopped to take a photo, one of the attendants would scream at me, “keep moving!”, irritating.  Nevertheless, it was a really fun day.  Memorable moments: #1. Bud e. Luv sang the National anthem, #2.  Barbara stating very matter-of-factly, “Barry Zito has a nice ass”, #3.  Giants win!

This post has gotten long.  Otherwise I’d tell you about long, fun day #2 (Sunday). 

Watch this space.

Someone has to live my life

A fabulous friend of mine decided to celebrate turning 40 with a bang! by renting out a Luxury Suite at AT&T Park.  I was lucky enough to score an invite and I got to spend the afternoon watching the Giants – Dodgers game in style yesterday. 

I must say, it is gonna be hard to sit in our regular seats from now on…  What an experience!  I am sure my photos will not do it justice, but hopefully you will get an idea of the kind of day I enjoyed yesterday.

A picture perfect day in the city… 

Views from the suite…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BARBARA…

Icing on the cake?  The Giants won 5 -4 with a run in the bottom of the 9th!

P.S.  This morning on KNBR, Brian Murphy (my favorite sports radio host, and yes I do have a mild crush on the man) gleefully joked, “hey, Dodgers, sorry you pissed away two of your games.  Thanks for coming!  Don’t let the door hit you on the ass as you leave.”  Loved that!

No longer mad

My mom used to say, “I get mad because I care. One day, I will no longer get mad and you will regret it.” Of course she didn’t really mean it. She was simply reacting to me or my sister being Pills when we were kids.

I am watching a really ugly Giants game. In years past, I’d be ranting and raving, steaming mad. Throwing things at the tv, saying mean things to Pete. Interestingly enough, I find myself numb. I’m almost laughing. It’s ridiculous how bad this team is.

Does that mean I’ve stopped caring?

I’m sure the love will come back one day, but more than likely NOT this year.

A tribute to the Freak

I just finished reading the S.I. article on the Giants’ phenom pitcher, Tim Lincecum. Fascinating stuff even though I know nothing about the biomechanics of pitching.

http://tinyurl.com/6yp6l7

$126 Million

… that is the amount of money the Giants are paying one pitcher (Barry Zito) over 7 years. Can someone please pay ME $126 Million for 7 years? jeez, I’d settle for 1 Million.

Here’s the deal, the guy stinks. He hasn’t won a single game yet all season and he is the first pitcher in Giants history since the 1920’s to start with a 0-5 record. I would feel like a criminal if I were him for pulling off such a scam. Or maybe I should look at this from the other side and ask, “how could the Giants be so stupid to give him so much money?”

The reason he got the contract in the first place was due to his proven excellence pitching for the A’s.

Listening to my boys on KNBR, I hear so many theories as to why he’s in such a slump… if you can call it that (jeez, it’s been over a year now since he’s been with the Giants):

– Some folks are saying he’s not comfortable as an “Ace” (yeah, the Giants still call him their Ace pitcher, hello!?!? anybody home?) — he feels more comfortable under the radar (hello?!?! you’re in the Major League, buddy!).

– Some say he’s trying too hard. Oh my gosh, if that’s the case, I’d hate to see him when he stops trying.

– There is speculation that he has lost his core strength due the fact that he no longer surfs (The Giants made him agree not to surf during the term of his contract as prevention against injury). Brian Murphy on KNBR joked that perhaps Zito needs to go out and surf and… ahem… get himself on the DL.. (of course he was joking!)

Etc, etc… People love to have an “explanation”. I don’t really care about explanations. In this world, it’s about productivity and performance. Those who are productive and perform well succeed… right?

I know that they can’t take the money back, but why the heck don’t they let the younger pitchers have a chance to win his title?

The Giants are giving kids the messsage that hard work and performance means nothing. Get that big contract then rest on your laurels, young lads.

Lowering Expectations

I was pleasantly surprised this morning when I learned that Chris Russo, AKA Mad Dog, would be coming on my KNBR show today. I rubbed my hands with glee… how fun will this be in light of my current state of disgust with the Giants?

Chris Russo is a sportscaster at a radio station in NY who touts himself as the only SF Giants baseball fan on the East Coast. (These days, I wouldn’t be surprised if he is right!)

Chris is known for his animated banter and has been known to rant and rave on air, especially when the topic is the Giants. As a fan, I have certainly always appreciated his zealousness. I thought this morning, if he gets crazed when the Giants are performing moderately well, he might just combust with anger given the Giants’ current situation.

Turns out, he was surprisingly mellow on the show. Oh, don’t worry, there was lots of ranting and I heard him say, “we suck” about 10 times…. but for Chris Russo standards, trust me, he was mellow. He actually had some good, constructive advice for management. Also, his message to fans was this: “find the good in the Giants this year.” As a rose colored lens kinda gal, I am attracted to statements like this. He made some good points. His suggestion to management is to let the young kids play every day so they can mature into decent players, rather than continuing to let the aging, injury prone veterans play. After all, we’ve seen all those old guys have to offer.

He also gave the advice to fans, “lower your expectations”. Of course!!! Lower expectations. I should have thought of that. I am thinking this is a good approach…. expect them to LOSE every game so that when they win, it is an exciting surprise. Genious! Chris Russo also announced on air that he intends to only watch the games when either Cain or Lincecum is pitching. I think I may adhere to that rule as well.

Thank you Chris Russo for setting me straight! I kinda feel like I just paid to see a therapist.

Angry

It is Friday. I should be in a great mood but I am mad. Why? I feel silly even writing this but I am angry at the Giants management. Pete and I have given them so much money over the past 5 years and what have we gotten back? I know… it was our stupid decision to buy the season tickets, but their actions (or lack of action?) especially in the last year is despicable. At least when they were in playoff contention, we could overlook the expense. Lately, it seems as if they are trying to squeeze as much money as possible out of their fans… fans who are at the moment being quite patient with them during their “rebuilding” (floundering?) phase.

Here’s an example: We previously owned 4 season tickets – note: not only did we have to purchase all of the tickets up front (payment due in December for a season that begins the following April), but we had to fork out $6k per seat initially in “charter license” fees (basically the right to continue to buy the tickets). Major rip off, I tell you. I digress.

We decided prior to this season to unload a pair of season tickets. The Giants offer an online marketplace for folks to buy/sell their season tickets and charter licenses. Pete posted the tickets on sale for $10k/pair. For months we didn’t hear a peep. We started to lower the price… lower, lower. Finally we had a taker at $2k/pair. Uggggggh. We were happy simply that we found a sucker to buy our seats and would not have to pay out the fees for this season’s tickets, but oh were we bitter.

Oh, by the way, in the event you don’t buy the tickets for the season, you automatically lose your charter license rights…

The Giants online marketplace offers an e-commerce system so buyers can submit payment to the sellers and makes the whole transaction easy and quick. BUT, get this. They actually deducted a 10% service charge, not only to the seller but to the buyer too. Thus, the Giants made $400 out of our transaction just like that. %#$@!

Okay okay…. we made a bad business decision. Let’s move on. The boys on the field should be our focus, right?

Well…. I’m listening to the radio this morning and learn that virtually everyone on the team is injured: Richie Aurilia, Durham (of course), Benjie Molina, Kevin Frandsen…. oh yes and Omar, (although he is a stud I’m not worried about him). Furthermore, they have not a clue who will be playing at third base. It is a joke. They have a few of the best pitchers in baseball but they can’t figure out how to get players (who aren’t ancient) to support them.

My heart goes out to the young stud pitchers like Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum. They bring a fresh faced, optimistic, yet competitive edge to the team, a sharp contrast from the aging, injury prone, tired Giants we’ve seen too much of over the past few years. These kids should be pitching for the Red Sox or the Yankees, earning their chance to win the Cy Young doing their thing with the assurance that the hitters will bring in the runs to gain the win. Instead, I fear that this year will be even worse than last year… I can’t tell you how sick to my stomach I felt watching these two pitch their hearts out only for the Giants to lose the game 2 to nothing (of course the two opposing team runs would come in the 9th when one of the Giants’ “pseudo-closers” would come into the game).

I’m not saying I know the answers but I do know that my interest in this team is waning quickly. I think the kicker for me is that Giants management is doing nothing at all to retain the sentiment of the typical fan. It wouldn’t take much…. could you possibly send us coupons for $1 off a $9 beer? perhaps they could relax the season ticket rules so that season ticket holders don’t feel so gouged year after year?

I get that they are rebuilding. There is no doubt in my mind that the Giants as a team will come back strong and someday be back in contention, but in the meantime, work with us!!

it’s gonna be a long season

boy oh boy. 2 wins – 7 losses. It’s gonna be a LONG season for me and my G-men.