Sunday, February 23, 2020

Local baseball

We've had unusually clear and sunny weather here in the borderlands. We took advantage of that and watched some local baseball on Saturday. College of the Siskiyous (Weed, CA) hosted Feather River College (Quincy, CA) for a doubleheader. JC baseball in the Golden Valley Conference!

Admission was free and we stood behind home plate between the tiny stands:


Nice view, eh? COS has a lovely campus, surrounded by big trees and with great views of both Mt Shasta and Mt Eddy. The only drawback to the quaint but serviceable ballpark is the frigid alpine breeze that comes across it in the late afternoon. Weed residents and the local sports fans are used to such things but we had to bundle up:



Our friend Eamon Velarde, a standout for the Yreka High School Miners baseball team a few years ago, is a pitcher for the FRC Golden Eagles. We got to see him toss an inning in relief. We've known him since he was a baby so it is hard to get used to 6'5" and 210 pounds!

We have not been to a Giants game or any professional baseball since Opening Day 2015. It was great fun to take in live games. We were impressed by the quality of play and the smarts and athleticism of the ballplayers.

If you are looking for a chance to see good baseball in your area try the local community college. Gabe Kapler made his mark on the amateur baseball scene at Moorpark College, after all. He's a Cal-JC Guy!

--M.C.

6 comments:

Ron said...

Great photo!

Zo said...

At last! A story about baseball!

SIR said...

I remember we went to a Rivercats vs. Giants preseason game in 2016. The first one of those I think. We sat on the grass behind the Giants dugout and saw a lot of players up close. Romo was the fave that day.

Ron said...

Many of us were at this Game on April 10, 2016 (but not Sue) - Cueto's first Home start (top of the 1st inning didn't go too well, but the rest of the Game did):

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SFN/SFN201604100.shtml

As I recall, in attendance in the Arcade that day were Mark, Jon, Bob, Robyn's Dad, Dan, Akemi, Jim Streeter, Susana, & I. Aside from the general joy of rallying from 5 behind to beat LA, the other exciting success was Jon successfully lobbying Hunter Pence to throw a ball up to a Kid sitting right near us.

M.C. O'Connor said...

That was a great game!

I forgot about that trip. Cueto was a beast that season--he had 5 CG. I hope he can be healthy this year.

He is signed through 2021 and the Giants have a buyout option for 2022. I suppose if he is really good they might be able to trade him at the deadline, but he is still owed $20+M for 2021 so we'll see.

On the other hand if he returns to form and is a valuable starter it may be prudent to keep him around as the team does not appear to have any potential "aces in the hole" ready in the short term.

It is going to be an interesting season. Spring is always very deceptive but at least Giants starters have been stingy so far.

SIR said...

I'm listening to my first baseball game of the year - Yes!
And tomorrow @6pm our local TV will have the game - Yes, Yes!
That's 3 - Yes Yes Yes for us!