Nobody needs another idiot fan ranting or raving, giving their personal opinion on their favorite teams activities without any real insight. I can't make any promises that I won't be an idiot fan but I will attempt to offer something less typical. The vast majority of my posts will be running, real-time blogs of Bay Area sports games.

Tell your friends. Tell your neighbors. Tell your idiot fan roommates. I'll be posting every inning for baseball games and twice a quarter for basketball and football. I will respond to your comments as readily as I can.

See you soon.

Continue reading "What's the Point"

Charlotte-- excuse me, New Orleans-- Hornets at Oakland-- excuse me-- Golden State Warriors.

Pre-game thoughts:

-Warriors are without Stephen Jackson and Monta Ellis tonight. We're going to get destroyed.

12:00 Tip-off goes to the Warriors. A sign of things to come? Let's hope so.

11:00 0-0 after 1 minute. We're still in it!

6:22 Unlike the past two games, the refs are actually blowing ticky tack fouls on our opponents as well this day. Maybe they're being nice because they know we're going to get dominated.

6:05 Jamal Crawford drives and scores with the foul. He would be an asset to the Warriors if he did that more often. That's the type of player we need. Not another jump shooter who can't hit jump shots and hates to pass.

Continue reading "New Orleans Hornets at Golden State Warriors"

First quarter continued.

5:15 Just realized that Rob Kurz is in for Ronny Turiaf because he made a jump shot. I like Rob Kurz.

4:43 The Hornets' Marks just got called for a moving screen. First moving screen call I've ever seen.

4:00 West of the Hornets just missed an uncontested dunk. I love it when our opponents do that. They got no points from that possession.

3:27 Anthony Randolph, our center, was the only man waiting for the in bounds pass after the Hornets last score. He took the ball up the court against no defense. No one else seems to think this is odd. Is Randolph playing center/point?

2:45 Anthony Morrow flew threw the air and SLAPPED the ball for a successful put back. Pretty. Didn't know he had it in him.

2:15 Randolph is a rookie. He flew by an obvious pump fake against a bad shooter. The shot that followed bricked and the Warriors had an easy rebound but Randolph tried to make up for his mistake and knocked the rebound out of bounds.

Continue reading "Warriors at Hornets, First Quarter"

Second Quarter begins.

9:50 Jamal Crawford drained his third three already. This is both good and bad. Good because draining threes is good. Bad because it means Jamal has reason to believe he shoot should a lot of threes, which we don't need. Jamal Crawford is not a great 3-point shooter.

8:55 I just saw Peja Stojacovic drive and finish for the first time in my life. I don't think I've ever seen him drive before, period. Well, there's a first time for everything. It just so happens that 43% of every NBA player's first anything is against the Warriors.

7:00 Anthony Morrow is on fire. Or should I say, Anthony Morrow is have a typical shooting night.

5:16 Warriors are up 47-34. Nothing makes sense to me anymore.

Continue reading "Hornets at Warriors, Second Quarter"

Second Quarter continued.

5:04 Ronny Turiaf just blocked a HUUUUGE dunk attempt. He came from under the rim. It was a reverse block. Incredible.

4:34 I dislike it any time opponents are allowed to score on their second put back of the same shot. That's just poor boxing out. Under any circumstance.

4:04 Anthony Randolph is looking better every game at this point in his career.

2:33 Chris Paul is sickeningly good. He just dribbled end-to-end, went straight to the basket, brought 3 defenders to him, and on his way down from his jump, centimeters from landing, threw the ball on a string to the corner for an easy 3.

2:23 Azubuike just got called for a travel while standing completely still. He didn't complain a bit. I think the picture on my TV  is worse than I thought.

Continue reading "Hornets at Warriors, Second Quarter continued."

Third Quarter begins.

10:14 Ronny Turiaf was slow getting up the court. He caught the ball then passed it from just a yard beyond the mid-court line, then made his way back towards our basket. I was trying to figure out what was wrong with him when I realized that his pass went to an open Anthony Morrow. I like Ronny Turiaf.

9:00 The TV announcers just informed me that all 3 Hornets dunk misses last half were by Julian Wright. That made me smile.

8:25 Warriors and Hornets are both missing a lot of shots to open the half. The difference is that the Hornets are getting just as many offensive rebounds. The lead is diminishing.

6:43 Again. Randolph. Every play. He hasn't grown physically, but he's grown so much mentally. And that makes it seem like he grew physically too.

Continue reading "Hornets at Warriors, Third Quarter"

Third Quarter continued.

4:35 Crawford just walked in for a lay-up on a half-court set. I'll take it.

3:50 David West goes to the spot he likes to shoot from. Stands there and wait. Chris Paul drives, draws the defense, dishes on a string. 2 easy points for the Hornets. That's talent.

0:58 Ronny returns. He's been out since about 5:00. Warriors lead is down to 5 from 10 during that time. Ronny matters.

0:00 Hornets finish up with a 9-2 run. Typical Warriors. Please let me eat my words.

WARRIORS 74 HORNETS 71

Continue reading "Third Quarter continued"

Fourth Quarter begins.

11:43 Crawford has been driving tonight. Crawford has done well done. 26 after that three-point play.

10:45 Warriors are playing excellent defense this quarter but it's not enough. The lead is down to two.

10:20 Randolph is back in. I like this.

9:55 Only Crawford is making things happening offensively so far. Drew another foul there. They put it on the floor though. I don't agree.

9:28 Not a lot of fouls the first three quarters. A lot of fouls (against the Warriors) so far this quarter. Guess the refs didn't mean to keep it so close.

9:15 We're up one, just missed another bad shot. Here come the Hornets... foul on CP. There goes the lead.

9:00 "First Hornets lead since 4-3" just ran across the screen.

Continue reading "Fourth Quarter begins"

Fourth Quarter continued.

6:20 Commit to the rebound! COMMIT!!! Crawford and Turiaf both could have taken an offensive rebound. Both got out of the way of the other. Hornets grabbed it. Pathetic.

6:08 Hornets take advantage. They're now down one.

5:12 Morrow has missed 4 three's in a row. He hasn't scored this quarter. But that's okay. CJ Watson has hit 2 of 3 this quarter. Warriors up three.

4:19 Morrow just broke both of Chris Paul's ankles. CP picked up his fifth trying to make up for it.

3:50 Ronny with a strong defensive rebound, which leads to Morrow's first made bucket this half. It was a three. Warriors up 7.

3:20 Crawford crossed over his defender, drove, and laid it in off the glass with his back to the basket. Amazing.

Continue reading "Fourth Quarter continued"

Opening game. Brewers at Giants. Bring it.

Starters: Tim Lincecum vs. Jeff Suppan

Line ups:

BREWERS

1. Rickie Weeks 2B

2. Corey Hart RF

3. Ryan Braun LF

4. Prince Fielder 1B

5. J.J. Hardy SS

6. Mike Cameron CF

7. Bill Hall 3B

8. Jason Kendall C

9. Jeff Suppan P

GIANTS

1. Randy Winn RF

2. Edgar Rentaria SS

3. Fred Lewis LF

4. Bengie Molina C

5. Pedro Sandoval 3B

6. Travis Ishikawa 1B

7. Aarond Rowand CF

8. Emmanuel Burriss 2B

9. Tim Lincecum P

First inning coming up. I can't wait.

Continue reading "Milwaukee Brewers at San Francisco Giants"

Brewers up, facing Tim Lincecum

Rickie Weeks - And Timmy walked the first batter of the year. A more rash man would throw in the towel for this season already.

Corey Hart - First pitch grounded slowly up the middle. Renteria tagged second for the force but was tripped by Weeks and lost the ball. An ugly play that should have been two.

Ryan Braun - Nailed in the back. Take that you drunk!

Prince Fielder - Runners on first and second. WHIFF on a 96 mph fast ball that floated high and outside for strike three.

JJ Hardy - Wild pitch puts the runners on second and third with two out. Full count, slider at the ankles. Got 'im.

Top of the order coming up.

Continue reading "Brewers at Giants, Top of the First"

Giants up, facing Jeff Suppan

Randy Winn - Starts the season off with a fizzle. Pop fly out.

Edgar Renteria - That's more like it. Base hit grounder down the third base line. Earn the paycheck, Edgar.

Fred Lewis - He works it to a full count and hits a slow grounder to short. Renteria was going so there was no play at second and Fred easily out ran the throw to first. This is how baseball is supposed to be played.

Bengie Molina - Reaches low and outside for a sad pop up to no man's land in between first and right. Hart slides in for the catch.

Pablo Sandoval - First pitch brushes his baggy jersey. Pablo jumped back, sticking his butt high into the air but leaving him in a bent over position. The loose jersey hung down and the ball barely grazed it. Take your base.

Continue reading "Brewers at Giants, Bottom of the First"

Mike Cameron - Four pitch walk. I think Timmy's feeling the opening day jitters.

Bill Hall - Strikes out on a high 3-2 fastball. Cameron steals second, beating a decent throw from Molina.

Jason Kendall - Excellent change up brings the count to 2-2. Grounder to 2B. 2 outs, runner on third. Pitcher's up.

Jeff Suppan -  A constipated looking half swing at a slider is roped down third baseline and gets passed Sondaval. RBI double for their pitcher.

Weeks - Weeks with a base hit to right center. Rowand takes his sweet time throwing it back in a Weeks earns a run scoring double. Wake up Rowand! Get the lead out!

Hart - Swing and miss. Strikes out on three pitches, ending this torture.

Burriss, Lincecum and Winn coming up.

Continue reading ""

Giants up, facing Jeff Suppan

Emmanuel Burriss - Hit on the first pitch. Suppan must be trying to make up for that unearned double and following run.

Tim Lincecum - Bunts foul. Takes a ball. Notices that 3B Hall is cheating too far in, pulls back that bunt and smacks the ball to left on a high chopping grounder over Hall's head. Burriss was going and makes to third standing up. Excellent play all around. I like the way these Giants are swinging!

Winn - Punches it to deep center for a sac fly. More smart batting. This is not something we were used to seeing in San Francisco with Barry Bonds and the playoff teams he lead.

Renteria - Saves Suppan by hacking a pitch almost a foot over the strike zone and gives the Brewers a perfect double play ball. Earn that paycheck, Edgar.

Continue reading "Brewers at Giants, Bottom of the Second"

Brewers up, facing Tim Lincecum

Braun - Bloop single to left.  I'd like to see Lincecum shut the Brewers down right about now.

Fielder - Crowding the plate, he jumps back on a fast ball that catches the black of the plate. Next pitch, Fielder's standing several inches farther back. Swing and a WHIFF for strike three on a change up low and outside. Second big strike three whiff for Fielder.

Hardy - Braun steals second easily beating the throw. Molina's throw got there on one bounce. 3-2 with 1 out. Seen a lot of full counts this game. Double play ball to short, except Braun was already at second and now advances to third. Two down.

Cameron - Very slow ground that got just past Tim. Sandoval rushed it and loses the ball before he can throw it. Cameron would've been safe either way. 4-3 Giants.

Continue reading "Brewers at Giants, Top of the Third"

Giants up, facing Suppan

Lewis - Ropes it straight to 2B Weeks. 1 out.

Molina - Pops up again. 2 away on 3 pitches. This is looking more like the Giants I know.

Sandoval - Went digging for a curve ball. Short fly out to center.

Suppan, Weeks, and Hart coming up.

End of three, GIANTS 4 BREWERS 3

Continue reading "Brewers at Giants, Bottom of the Third"

Brewers up, facing rookie Joe Martinez

Lincecum is out after throwing about 90 pitches in three innings

Suppan - Ground ball down the third baseline again, this time for an out.

Weeks - Martinez drills him in the arm/armpit.

Hart - Weeks gets the Brewers their third steal. Molina didn't even get a throw off because he bobbled the ball. Stealing bases shouldn't be this easy.

Braun - Singles to left and Weeks hold up at third, but Lewis' throw is way off line and Weeks strolls home for the tying run.

I got a phone call and stopped writing but watched single after single after single, all ground balls, get through the holes on each side of second base. The inning ended on a double play with runners on second and third. Luckily only two runs score in the inning. 

Continue reading "Brewers at Giants, Top of the Fourth"

Giants up, facing Suppan

Ishikawa - Hard groundball bounces off the glove of third baseman Hall.

Rowand - He hits it high, he hits it deep... 2-run homer to left. He knew it was game the moment it cracked his bat, and we're back on top!

Burriss - Takes strike three called. I never like seeing that.

Joe Martinez - Watches the first three pitches go by him. He gets good wood on the 2-1 pitch but it goes straight to Weeks. 2 away.

Winn - Shows bunt and walks on 4 pitches.

Renteria - Runner on first, 2 out and Renteria pops up to the infield.

End of four, GIANTS 6 BREWERS 5

Continue reading "Brewers at Giants, Bottom of the Fourth"

Brewers up, facing Martinez

Cameron - Base hit. Steals second on the second pitch.

Hall - Strikes out and is none too happy about it. He gave the ump a piece of his mind.

Kendall - Martinez makes an always risky pick off throw to second and just missed getting Cameron out. Grounder to third and Sandoval tags Cameron instead of throwing to first. Great heads up play by Sandoval, but a bad mistake by Cameron.

Pinch Hitter up for Suppan. Didn't catch his name. Big-- no-- massive guy. Grounds out to first. Inning over.

Continue reading "Brewers at Giants, Top of the Fifth"

Giants up, facing Seth McClung who replaced Suppan

Fred Lewis - Walks.

Molina - Off the wall in left! That puts runners at the corners. That was one long single.

Sandoval - Chases a high, high, high fast ball, strike three.

Ishikawa - Pops out on one pitch. So much for that sac fly opp.

Rowand - Fast ball cleaned the dirt off his nose. Walks to load 'em up.

Burriss - A good time to make something happen, Emmanuel. 3-0 count. Good things are supposed to happen right about now. Walks him!

Nate Schierholtz pinch hits for Martinez - And hits an easy grounder to first.

End of five, GIANTS 7 BREWERS 5

Continue reading "Brewers at Giants, Bottom of the Fifth"

Brewers up, facing Brandon Medders

Weeks and Hart both fly out to center. And Braun strikes out. Good inning to start a season on for Medders.

Continue reading "Brewers at Giants, Top of the Sixth"

Giants up, facing McClung

Winn - takes ball one in the dirt almost 10 feet from the plate.  McClung still gets the out on a comebacker.

Renteria and Lewis both make easy outs.

End of six, GIANTS 7 BREWERS 5

Continue reading ""

Brewers up, facing Jeremy Affeldt

Fielder knocks it into the opposite field gap. Stand up, lead off double.

Hardy's grounder moves Fielder to third.

But Cameron draws a walk, which leads to a double play by Hall.

Continue reading "Brewers at Giants, Top of the Seventh"

Giants up, facing Dave Bush.

Molina crushes it to left again. This time it's over the wall. And Molina likes 'em low because that pitch was fished out of his heels.

Sandoval does his best Bengie Molina impression for a double in the gap.

Ishikawa hits it well to the same spot as Sandoval but hangs too long for out #1.

Rowand hits it so close to the line that nobody ran. But on the fair call, Sandoval makes it home and Rowand gets a stand up double. The replay shows that it was foul, but it doesn't matter. The umps call the game, not the replay booth. This isn't football.

Buriss strikes out and pinch hitter Eugenio Velez is out by a hair on a slow grounder towards third.

End of seven, GIANTS 9 BREWERS 5

Continue reading "Brewers at Giants, Bottom of the Seventh"

Brewers up, facing Bob Howry

Kendall is out before I even knew what happened.

Craig Counsell pinch hits and earns a walk.

Sandoval is showing that he's not that great throwing on the run; Weeks beat his two-hop throw by a mile.

Hart struck out looking very ugly. "Corey Hart looks like he's swinging a sword," Duane Kuaper commented.

Braun could've brought the Brewers back in this game but hooked that ball foul. He ends the inning instead swinging and missing.

Continue reading "Brewers at Giants, Top of the Eighth"

Giants up, facing Jorge Julio.

Winn homered and I missed it.

Renteria walks and Lewis ropes one to right for a line out.

Molina pops out for the third time.

Sondoval hits it hard, straight up the middle, on the ground, for a hit. It's about time the Giants had a good young grown hitter.

Ishikawa strikes out to end it.

End of eight, GIANTS 10 BREWERS 5

Continue reading "Brewers at Giants, Bottom of the Eighth"

Brewers up, facing Alex Hinshaw who kind of looks like Lincecum.

This should be the last half inning though Hinshaw has thrown only balls so far, getting the bullpen going.

Hardy whiffs big time through a curve ball for strike two (Fielder on first). Guess he thought he could make a 5-run home run if he hit it far enough. Gives up a double play instead.

Fans have been on their feet since Cameron first got two strikes on him. 3-2 pitch is inside. Cameron has walked 4 times. He's batting a thousand this season with a perfect OBP. 

Hall is being patient, forcing Hinshaw to throw strikes. Line drive to left. RBI double for Hall. Excellent at bat, which does not make me happy.

That brings in our closer, Brian Wilson. He topped at 100 mph to strike out Kendall.

Continue reading "Brewers at Giants, Top of the Ninth"

Top of the first.

 Barry Zito is starting for the Giants. Dodgers already swept us in their stadium. I'd really like to be able to rub it into my friends' faces when the Giants sweep 'em right back.

Orlando Hudson is batting over .600 against the Giants this year (in three games).  He got out this time though. Zito faces three batters, including Manny Ramirez. All three go down on 9 total pitches. Great start.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants"

Giants up, facing

Renteria just popped way up to shallow right center. He ran it out the whole way because he's a veteran and it's windy. Ethier and Kemp bumped each other just as the ball landed in Kemp's glove... AND HE DROPS IT. Renteria got to second.

Next batter, Randy Winn. Winn lines it to dead center but the wind blows it towards right. Kemp took his first step toward the ball... that was his mistake. It flew just over and to the left of his glove. Winn gets an RBI triple. Very exciting game so far.

Renteria popped one up towards first. About 5 Dodgers were there just in case. They did a good job of actually talking to each other this time. No one bumps into anyone. 2 away.

Rowand hits a fly to right. Ethier didn't have a chance. Wind blew it to the ground abuot 20 feet from the foul line at the warning track. Rowand has an RBI double.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Bottom of the First"

Dodgers up, facing Barry Zito.

 The only guy who's had good contact with the ball against Zito so far was Kemp. He had a line drive foul but then walked. Everyone else has been too easy. Zito looks good.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Top of the Second"

Giants up, facing Randy Wolff.

Not much to say about this inning. three up three down. Though Barry Zito hit a foul balldown the left field line that Manny retrieved and threw into the stands. A 30-year-old wearing a large Giants jacket caught the ball and immediately reared back to throw the ball back. Thankfully he realized that he'd probably get kicked out for interrupting play and didn't. He then looked around and I could read his lips. He yelled, "I don't want it!" and shrugged. There's a true Giants fan.

 CSN just informed its viewers that Fred Lewis has a blog. I didn't catch the address though. 

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Bottom of the Second"

Dodgers up, facing Zito.

Mark Loretta hit a grounder up the middle on the first base side. Burriss was playing so far towards first that I didn't think he had a chance. But the ball was slow enough that he got there. I still didn't think he had a chance to throw him out, but Loretta was practically jogging and was out by aa good 5-7 feet. Great play by Burriss. Zito pumped his fist he liked it so much.

Blake gets the first Dodger hit on a bloop single.

SIDE NOTE: Barry Bonds and Peter Macgowan are in the stands. Macgowan went down to Barry's seat to say hello.

Zito is losing it. He got lucky that Hudson hit the ball within Winn's range at right. That looked like a double or triple when it was first hit. That was out three after a walk and a passed ball put runners on second and third. 

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Top of the Third"

Giants up, facing Wolff.

Two grounders straight to Furcal and we've got two outs against us.

Aurillia gets a hit. Brownie points for Rich: he's a Giant through and through. Long time been a favorite of mine. Krukow just let the viewers know that Aurillia was "psyked up" about starting today because he wants to beat the Dodgers so much.

Rowand hits it hard to left center but Kemp didn't jump the wrong way on this one. Three outs.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Bottom of the Third"

Dodgers up, facing Zito.

For any Sharks fans, Sharks are up 1-0 in the middle of the first period.

Manny hits a lazy fly to right and he's out again.

TV camera found a Mom, Dad and Daughter in the audience. Dad was wearing a dodger shirt and cap. Mom and Daughter had Giants shirts and hats. Krukow says, "Who wears the pants in that family? Mom." Kuiper follows up with, "That baby doesn't even want to lean towards Dad." Hilarious.

Dodgers got two on but Loretta hit the ball where Rowand had an easy time getting to it. Inning over.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Top of the Fourth"

Giants up, facing Wolff.

Sandoval popped foul three swings in a row. A fourth pop landed in no man's land between first and right field, but took enough time getting there that three Ddogers were waiting for it. Again, the Dodgers actually communicate and Hudson catches the out.

Furcal had plenty of time to throw Uribe out but throws it in the dirt far enough away from the base that Loretta's foot came off the bag. Uribe is safe. Loretta gets an error. Both our sports casters are dumbfounded by the call and agree that their scorecard will read "error on 6", that's the shortstop.

Another bad throw by Furcal but a jumping Loretta spins around in the air and tags out Zito. Inning over.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Bottom of the Fourth"

Rowand and especially Winn are getting some work out there in the outfield and are showing off their defensive talent. The wind is crazy, whipping and whirling the ball all over, and it shows in their foot work. But neither has missed a fly ball yet. Winn got two more this inning.

Three up, three down. Dodgers have two hits through five.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Top of the Fifth"

Giants up, facing Wolf.

Barry Bonds and is, at times, Michael Jackson like voice just walked into the announcer's booth. He had a lot of praise for Fred Lewis. That's nice to hear. He also has a lot of support for the Giants in general. He clearly misses the game and loves the Giants, his father's and his god-father's team (two great Giants).

Bonds is extremely comfortable in the booth and surprisingly well spoken when talking about any given Giant or Dodger player.

Bonds talked about his great at bat between him and Gagne when they were both at their peaks. Bonds rocked it into center field for home run 662. Bonds told us that he and Gagne had some good banter going on with each other and Bonds was challenging Gagne to go after him, and Bonds won.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Bottom of the Fifth"

Dodgers up, facing Zito.

By the way, the Giants went three up, three down last inning. I got distracted.

I never knew Bonds could be so articulate. I am used to hearing him speak only when he's upset about something, usually the media's line of questioning, and he has been flustered, inarticulate and just plain sounded dumb. Right now he is deflecting attention from himself, wanting to talk about current players rather than himself or his past. And he obviously knows what he's talking about. He sounds like an intelligent, articulate baseball expert. And he is.

Zito is on fire, only looking shaky in the third. After a single by Manny, Zito strikes out Kemp. Then, after getting behind 3-0 to Ethier, he gets him out on a hard grounder to first.

Giants are looking good today.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Top of the Sixth"

Giants up, facing Wolf.

Aurilia hits it high and hard to left, but not hard enough. I thought it was out off the bat, but it fell at the tip of the warning track.

Sandoval just hit himself in the helmet with his bat while preparing to step into the box. It was not intentional.

Three up, three down. Again.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Bottom of the Sixth"

Dodgers up, facing Zito.

For anyone interested, the Ducks have tied it 1-1 mid-way through the 2nd period against the Sharks.

Bochy has a man in the bullpen warming up.

Zito just did something I have never in my life seen or even heard of. Kiper said the same thing. The ball slipped completely out of his hand during the pitch and it flew awkwardly in the direction of first. The ump decided to call it a throw to first and therefore and balk. Loretta advanced to second. 

The next pitch is a ball. Casey Blake, thought it was ball four, thinking the slipped pitch was a ball. Instead the count is 3-1. The next pitch is a fast ball that lands in the 20th row in the left field bleachers. Dodgers are back in the game.

Juan Pierre lines a single to left as the next batter and that's it for Zito. Merkin Valdez is coming in. Andres Torres came in for Rowand at CF at the same time. Torres is much, much faster than Rowand so he's coming in for defense to hold onto this one run lead.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Top of the Seventh"

Giants up, facing Wolf.

Uribe decides he's not going to make up for the lack of effort on defense by weakly slapping at a first pitch fastball and getting thrown out easily at first.

Torres, with two outs, kills it to right. And the wind killed it right back. The ball practically made a 90 degree turn at the warning track and fell straight into Ethier's glove. Disappointing inning.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Bottom of the Seventh"

Dodgers up, facing Valdez.

Ethier broke his bat, and thankfully because that could've been a basehit up the middle otherwise.

Apparently Torres hurt something, a hamstring pull perhaps, rounding first and that's why Nate Schierholz came in for him. Winn is now in center and Nate's in right.

Renteria stupidly tries to back hand an otherwise easy grounder and drops the ball. Krukow and Kiper insist that Renteria wouldn't have had time to make the throw any other way. Obviously, they would know better than me but I disagree. Doesn't matter because the next pitch is a double play grounder to second. Inning over.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Top of the Eighth"

Giants up, facing Ronald Belisario.

For anyone that cares, Sharks are down 3-1 at the start of the third. I think you can kiss this season good-bye.

Renteria shows bunt on the first pitch. During the wind up, he showed just a hint of a bunt on pitch two, pulled back and smacked a grounder past the out of position third baseman. Fred Lewis gets all the way to third on a close play. Excellently played all around.

Runners at the corners for Randy Winn. No outs. 2-2 pitch and Winn check swinged a foul ball on the meatiest fast ball you've ever seen. The next pitch Winn whiffed inredibly hard on a pitch way, way, way inside. Terrible at bat for the batter; great for the pitcher.

Aurillia's up and he is itching to make something happen. I love having Richie up in a clutch situation. He knows how to make contact. 2-1 hit and run attempt and the ball flies foul. I love the hit and run right here. Rich's hands are freezing in 50 degrees and windy. He is warming up his hands between each pitch aaaaand.... WOW!!!!

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Bottom of the Eighth"

Dodgers up, facing Brian Wilson.

Wilson blew a save and the game yesterday. Let's see what he's got for us today. Bengie Molina is behind the plate now instead of Sandoval.

Blake is first up. 0-2 becomes 3-2. Wilson is trying too hard and losing the strike zone because of it. Blake bails him out swinging at a pitch well low. One away.

Two sliders on the outside of the plate to Blake DeWitt. First is a called strike, the other a ball. The looked pretty identical to me. DeWitt swung well late for strike three. Two away!

Furcal steps up. Leftie against rightie. The fans are chanting BEAT LA as they did all last inning too. 3-0. Took strike one all the way. Same for strike two. CALLED STRIKE THREE OFF THEOUTSIDE CORNER!

I have no doubt that the last pitch was a ball, but they gave it to us. What a great game.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Top of the Ninth"

I was eating dinner for the first two innings but I'm ready to write now.

For those that were wondering, the Dodgers only run came when Fred Lewis, in left field, set his feet and readied to catch a fly ball but forgot to actually catch the ball. The ball hit his glove and simply bounced out. Oddly poor defense.

I'll start up with the top of the third inning now.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Game 2 of a 3 game series"

Furcal, like many speedy hitters, tries to bunt it to third because Sandoval's reputation of being a slow third baseman spread through the NL as quickly as his waist line at Thanksgiving dinner. But his bunt was terrible. It went up and floated to Pablo on one bounce. Furcal still came close to a bunt single though, that's how slow Sandoval is.

Sanchez just missed two pitches to Russell Martin by about 6 feet. Next one was in the strike zone and Martin is out on a groundball to third.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Top of the Third"

Fred Lewis just got beaned in the foot on a super sliding slider. The pitch did not look like it was going to be within 6 inches of him. It broke hard. As long as he misses that much, I don't mind.

Randy Winn got a hit through the hole on the right side because James Loney was busy holding Lewis on the bag at first. Now Lewis takes third on a ball in the dirt that Martin stopped. But Lewis was so ready for it that he got there.

SAFE!! Sandy (Pablo) hit a squirly grounder up the middle. I don't know what part of the bat he made contact with, perhaps he just got a small piece with the end of the bat. But it took some unnatural turns once it hit the grass. And Sandoval took his whole bowl full of jelly and beat out the throw. RBI for Pablo. 

With the bases loaded after walking Rowand, Ishikawa gets the Giants another infield hit. Every base hit in this inning has come on a ground ball. This one was up the middle and 2B Hudson made an impressive dive to get to the ball but couldn't get it out of his glove. Everybody's safe.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Bottom of the Third"

Sanchez just let one of his 6 feet off the plate pitches get too far out of Molina's reach. Ethier is at second now.

Randy Winn is great in right field. He caught a fly he's supposed to catch but he positioned himself and timed his run so well that Ethier didn't dare go for third. That's an important 90 feet because that was the first out of the inning.

Ishikawa can't pick up a throw at first in the dirt and Ethier scores. Uribe, supposedly a veteran, had plenty of time to make the throw and didn't throw hard, but still can't make it without abounce. Please get this failed athlete off our team. Somebody. Please.

Casey Blake hit one hiiiiiiiiiigh to left and I bet you Lewis was thinking, "Don'tdropit.Don'tdropit.Don'tdropit.Don'tdropit." I know I was. He didn't.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Top of the Fourth"

Giants up, facing Chad Billingsley.

That was such an uneventful inning; it just ended and I already forgot everything that happened.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Bottom of the Fourth"

Dodgers up, facing Jonathon Sanchez.

Two change ups in the same spot, back-to-back, strikes out Furcal. Good pitching. 

Sanchez is still missing the occasional pitch anywhere from 4-6 geet off the plate, usually high and away. Hey, if it works for him...  Manny took him to town, though. Good thing it's impossible to hit home runs in this stadium because that off the wall, opposite field double is gone almost anywhere else.

Martin walks and Righetti is talking to Sanchez. Kuiper says, "Dave is going to challenge Sanchez to finish this inning." Sanchez answers. Slow groundball to second. Great sliding play by Burriss who stops the ball with his ches, throws from his knees and makes the play.

Three gone. Still 2 to 2.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Top of the Fifth"

Giants up, facing Billingsley.

I hate the Dodgers. Sandoval wanted a hit and Loney makes a great doving stop of a hard, low grounder that's hugging the line. It looked like a hit the whole way, but Loney got there and made the play. Impressive.

Bengie just struck out swinging on a ball in the dirt. His last cut connected for a foul ball that broke his bat so he went and got a new one. He put some "stick 'em" as Krukow explained on the handle before getting in the batter's box. I'd never heard of it, but apparently it's needed and Bengie didn't use enough because on the strike out swing, he lost hold of the bat completely and it ended up at third. Maybe losing the bat distracted him because the ball squirted well away from Martin. He could have made it to first but instead he walked straight to the dugout. Oh well.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Bottom of the Fifth"

Dodgers up, facing Justin Miller.

Matt Kemp wisely tries to steal. Bengie Molina throws well, well off the bag towards first base. But Kemp is so absurdly slow that he still got tagged out. He got tagged so far from the bag that he hadn't even begun his slide yet, and never bothered. That is the first runner I've seen Molina throw out this year out of maybe 15 attempts. I don't know what his actual stats are. Those are just the ones I've seen.

Line drive just gets passed Uribe. Had he jumped more than 0.5 inches off the ground, maybe he would've caught it. Did I mention I wish Uribe weren't a Giant? 2 on, one out.

Perfect bunt by Billingsley, towards first, dies after 15-30 feet, puts them at second and third with two outs.

With the count at 2-0 to Furcal, Bochy (and I) is fed up. Miller's out. Brandon Medders (who I like) is coming in.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Top of the Sixth"

Giants up, facing Billingsley.

Ishikawa's been struggling, but he just took a pitch that was initally behind him, right in the ankle. Hey, any way you can get on base is okay by me.

Uribe's up. Why don't they save us some time and change the sides right now? Eat my words? Don't mind if I do!! Uribe nails it to center field, well over Kemp's head. Ishikawa is held at third. Wise decision. He hesitated off the bat and so didn't have a chance.

One out, runners on second and third, Burriss at the plate, and the fans are chanting BEAT LA! BEAT LA! BEAT LA!

Burriss smokes one towards right. Loney nabs it and doubles up Ishikawa at third all the way across the diamond. Rookie mistake. Let's hope it doesn't cost us the game.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Bottom of the Sixth"

Dodgers up, facing Medders.

Manny leads off and works it to a full count from 0-2. Aaaaand opposite field double... again. He's good. Tell me why the Giants didn't pursue him again?

With one out, the Giants are walking Eithier to get to Kemp. I do not understand this. Kemp lines it to center. Bases juiced. Tell me again, why did we walk Ethier to get to Kemp? 

Medders is pitching so well. He is working the corners but the Ump isn't giving him much at all. He can get us out of this. Medders loses control of a 3-2 pitch. Way outside. Dodgers walk in a run.

Blake chops it back to the pitcher. 1-2-3 double play.

DODGERS 3 GIANTS 2

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Top of the Seventh"

Giants up, facing Billingsley.

Nate Shierholtz is pinch hitting for Medders. Groundball to third. He looks safe to me and it is called SAFE! Replay shows that it was as close as a play can be. He may have been out. But it is way too close to tell. Great hustle play by Schierholtz.

Lewis is fighting but really he should have had a hit by now. Many of these pitches are missing up and over the plate. Billingsley is finally showing signs off weakness. Double play. Strike out, throw him out. Lewis whiffed and the play on the steal attempt wasn't even close. Disappointing at bat.

Winn is going to strike out on the same inside slider that he's swung through five times already today... Yup. I was right.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Bottom of the Seventh"

Dodgers up, facing Osiris Matos.

This freaking ump has removed the outside corner off the plate for Dodgers hitters, not to mention, the bottom of the zone. I am pissed. But Matos gets Furcal to swing at and miss two excellent pitches and he's gone.

Three up, three down for Matos.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Top of the Eighth"

Giants up, facing Billingsley.

Pablo hits a grounder up the middle that somehow curves far towards right field. So far that he thought about going two, and a faster runner would've made a double out of it. Sandoval, however, chose to stay at first.

Bengie, the Giants personal wrecking ball, is up with no outs. And he's got no hits so far today... still has none.

Rowand has a great at bat and walks on 4 pitches. But Ishikawa and Uribe bat behind him... Maybe if I bad mouth Ishikawa too, he'll rip one off as well.

Closer Jonathon Broxton is pitching now.

Ishikawa stole Rowand's eyes for this at bat: 3-0. Walked him!

Bases loaded. One out. Uribe's up. Like I said before, might as well call it an inning. 

Fans are chanting. Count's at 0-2. Uribe juuuuuuuuust checked his swing to make it 2-2. Braxton is throwing 97 mph. Full count! Uribe is fighting off strikes left and right. Groundball to third! Throw to home is wide of the plate. Martin lays out to nab it and

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Bottom of the Eighth"

Dodgers up, facing Bob Howry.

Manny's got his third (second lead off) double of the game. Definetely not the type of player we need, right Sabean?

There goes the game. Double for Ethier after maybe 8 balls fouled back in counts 1-2 and 2-2. Dodgers re-take the lead.

Sky high to triples alley. Nobody can get there. Bounces at the base of the wall for an easy triple and this game is as good as over. I'm disgusted. I hate the Dodgers.

I didn't bother watching the rest of the inning but apparently we got out without giving up any more. But even with the top of our order coming up, will it really matter?

DODGERS 5 GIANTS 3

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Top of the Ninth"

Fred Ohman is pitching for Broxton.

Fred Lewis struck out for the third time. Same thing he did yesterday. Impressive. Randy Winn is out on one pitch with an easy fly to center.

Unless Pablo Sandoval can figure out a way to hit a three run homer with the bases empty, I think we can throw in the towel. Nope. That caught fly to right counted as an out instead of three runs. 

DODGERS 5 GIANTS 3

My final thoughts: Dodgers suck.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Bottom of the Ninth"

Again I was unable to write during much of the first inning. I'll be picking it up at Bengie's improbable triple.

Who would've thought Bengie Molina would ever hit a triple, let alone to left center. It looked like a home run but, like so many hard hit drives in Giants Stadium, fell short due to wind. Juan Pierre, CF  for the Dodgers, had enough time to get to the ball, but seemed to be convinced that it was well over the wall. He put little effort into running it down made an awkward jump at the ball. In fact, on the replay it looks like he may have jumped at the ball after it hit the wall. 

The ball careemed into dead center field and Pierre jogged after it. Eventually Ethier, coming all the over from right got to the ball but by that time the slowest runner in baseball was just 50 feet from third. There wasn't even a throw.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Game 3 of a three-game series"

Dodgers up, facing Tim Lincecum.

Three outs on ten pitches. Only 4 pitches thrown for the last two outs.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Top of the Second"

Giants up, facing Eric Stults.

The second pitch of the inning made it all the way to the backstop, but not in any ordinary way. Russell Martin would have needed to leap about three feet in the air to have caught that one.

Stults is missing the plate pretty badly, when he's missing. And his throw to first on Lincecum's sacrifice bunt almost made it to right field. Loney jumped off the bag though, and still had plenty of time to tag for the force out.

Renteria has a solid at bat. Laid off the balls, fouled off the strikes until he got a pitch to hit. And he put a soft line drive into opposite field for an RBI. Excellent batting.

DODGERS 0 GIANTS 3

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Bottom of the Second"

Dodgers up, facing Lincecum.

Eric Stults is batting EIGHTH! He's the second batter of the inning. The last time a Dodger pitcher did not hit ninth was 1965... 44 years ago. It was Don Drysdale and he bat seventh! But that's because Don Drysdale was a .300 hitter. Look it up. 29 career home runs. Seventh most all-time by a pitcher. Juan Pierre is ninth. No wonder he's not running hard in the outfield. He's been emasculated. 

Pierre hits it straight to Aurillia at first and he's out in a flash. Three up, three down.

Whatever helps the Dodgers lose is a fine strategy in my book. 

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Top of the Third"

Giants up, facing Stults.

We are getting a good long shot of Carney Lansford, Giants hitting coach, and Timmy is sitting behind him. Tim has got a cold. He is sucking up snot and coughing up a storm. It doesn't help that it is a cold, cold day in San Francisco. It hasn't effected his pitching yet. At least not negatively.

Aaron Rowand just stole second. Who knew he had the legs to make a steal. Beat the throw by a handful of milliseconds.

Nate Schierholtz, who's starting at right for Randy Winn who bruised his ankle yesterday, slices the ball to left field and it just stays fair. Two out, RBI double and the Dodgers' bullpen comes alive. The fans are chanting already. I like it!

How did Burriss hit that one? That pitch was inches off the ground at the middle of the plate. Burriss already went scuba diving for one curveball, making himself look foolish while doing it, this one he dug out just enough to barely get over Furcal's head and drop in. Lowest, slowest and weakest bloop single I may have ever seen. Oh, with two outs, Nate was running all the way and easily made it home for the score.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Bottom of the Third"

Dodgers up, facing Tim.

Unfortunately Juan Uribe has placed Pablo Sandoval at third. We don't yet know why. They showed a replay of Pablo's last at bat and he did look like he was in a little pain during his futile jog towards first on a fly out.

Orlando Hudson has the first hit of the game for the Dodgers. Manny follows him. 

Timmy is clearly nervous facing Manny because his first pitch missed the strike zone by a yard. Manny flies harmlessly out to right. Tim settled down.

They just gave word that Pablo left due to "tightness in the left groin." Let's hope it loosens up over night. 

Another strike out ends the inning. Tim is on it.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Top of the Fourth"

Giants up, facing Troncoso.

Look at that! Manny Ramirez made a decent play in left field. Fred Lewis hit it hard to Manny and it knuckled toward the line, but Manny was on top of it. Nice catch.

Uribe is on a mission to prove me an idiot. He just knocked a great looking drive into the left center gap. And he's got himself a 2 out, stand  up double. A Bengie Molina soft liner didn't get past Hudson, but for a moment the entire stadium and I thought the Giants had a six run lead. I guess I can be happy with five... for now.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Bottom of the Fourth"

Dodgers up, facing Timmy.

Tim walks his first batter of the game. The first pitch to the next batter, Martin, was a no-doubt strike tht left a smoke trail. He ends up striking out swinging on a filthy change up that left Martin looking foolish.

That change up has been the strike out pitch for many batters so far this game, inlcuding the very next batter after Martin, Casey Blake.

Blake DeWitt, pinch hitting for Troncoso, reaches on a very slow grounder to short. Renteria barehands it but throws so Aurillia has to come flying off the bag to save an error. Wouldn't have mattered as DeWitt was well safe. But Pierre hits it straight up up to center. Inning over.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Top of the Fifth"

Giants up, facing Hong-Chih Kuo.

Kuo has an ERA over eight so far this season, but don't let that fool you, he can be unhittable. Just ask Rowand, Rich or Nate. Three up, three down.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Bottom of the Fifth"

Dodgers up, facing Timmy.

CORRECTION: I said earlier that Winn was out with a bruised ankle, but it was his knee. He fouled a ball off his knee yesterday and decided to sit a game or two.

Second inning in a row that Lincecum has started off with three straight balls. Last inning turned into a walk... and this one too.

Another change up means strike three. That pitch is murder. Manny coming up. Let's see how he handles it. He doesn't even have the chance to see it because he laced the second pitch to right. How many opposite field hits is that for Ramirez this series? I can count 5 for today and yesterday alone. 

A double play ball only gets one. The ball wasn't hit hard enough and Burriss didn't get to it or get rid of it quick enough. Runners at the corners with two outs. 

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Top of the Sixth"

Aaaaaaaaaand we're back. Just in time to see the first pitch of the inning!

Burriss' check swing makes contact for what effectively is a bunt. But, not ready to run, Burriss is easily thrown out. Lewis shows a good eye by working a walk from a 1-2 count and Renteria rewards him with a solid cut. You could tell by the sound of the crack that that was going to be a hit. Stand up RBI double. I like the way these Giants are hitting!

Uribe strikes out, of course, on two ugly swings, leaving Edgar stranded.

DODGERS 0 GIANTS 6

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Bottom of the Sixth"

Dodgers up, facing Skinny Timmy.

1-2-3. What else is there to say?

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Top of the Seventh"

Giants up, facing Scott Elbert.

Molina uppercuts the first pitch he sees sky high and that baby is GONE! Triple and a homer for Bengie. I'd say that's a good day for him, eh? That's his 17th RBI this season. Not too shabby.

Two straight two outs hits on the ground up the middle. Those are good looking hits. Let's get one more. Well... Timmy struck out, but, I think I can forgive him for it.

DODGERS 0 GIANTS 7

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Bottom of the Seventh"

Dodgers up, facing Timmy!

Two pitches and two hits. It may be time to yank 'im. Bullpen only just wakes up after three more pitches.

That change up hadn't been touched all game. He was fooling Furcal with it too until that last one. The bat broke into 4 different pieces but the ball fell soflty inside of the left field line for a double as it spun into the giants bullpen area. One run scores. 

Manny faces off against Tim. The majors' best hitter and pitcher. Runners on second and third with no out. Walks him.

Lincecum still gets to walk off to a standing ovation. Let's hope he doesn't end up with 4 runs on his record for this game. He deserves better.

Jeremy Affeldt steps in and immediately induces a 5-3 double play. Uribe, at third, caught the ball on top of thirdbase and guns it two first. One run scores but two are gone. A worthwhile trade. Lincecum is on his feet, loving it.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Top of the Eighth"

Giants up, facing Scott Elbert who gets one strike out and is pulled for Guillermo Mota.

Edgar Renteria smacks the first pitch toward the hole at short, but it was too slow and Furcal picked it up too deep. Not even close. Uribe hits one to dead center that I was sure would be no problem for Pierre. But he couldn't get there. I wonder if the wind didn't knock that one down. Two on, one out.

Bengie is ready to make this one a joke but I think he's too tired to get a hit here, to be honest. He looked tired after his homer and that was about an hour ago now. No he is not! Base hit line drive to dead center. Renteria makes it home without a play. Uribe makes it all the way to third. Still only one out.

Rowand just got knocked in the head! No, nevemind. I thought it nailed him, but no. It missed by a hair but bounced off the glove of Ausmus rather. Bengie moves over to second. NOW they hit him. Square on the back. Boo's galore. Mota is a batter late. Bengie's the one with four RBI's today, genius. Rowand is only 1 for 4 with a run.

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Bottom of the Eighth"

Dodgers up, ready to lose, facing Wilson.

Fred Lewis makes a half-hearted attempt to make a great play. Either go all out or don't. He only gave about 75% and decided last second that he could actually make the catch on that line drive to left. He dives, misses and it gets by him. Pinch hitter Mark Loretta gets a double from a single.

Now Lewis is playing too far in and the next ball is a foot over his glove. Another double and a run scores. Rowand came over and gave Fred an earful. Fred didn't seem to take it well. Get 7 seasons under your belt, THEN you can question your centerfielder, not before.

Broken bat groundball gets out number one. A hard grounder straight to Uribe gets out number two. Fans are on their feet. Manny hits a chopper to short and it's over. A faster runner might have made it. Rowand runs off the field with a huge smile slapping five all the way to the dugout. Fred Lewis has a different look on his face. That rookie may need a pick me up before next game. 

Continue reading "Dodgers at Giants, Top of the Ninth"