Ooo-ree-bye

Juan "Jazz Hands" Uribe will be suiting up in Dodger Blue for the next three seasons. Barring injury, we will see a lot of this fellow. The Giants weren't willing to match the $21 million that Colletti & Co. lured no. 5 to Chavez LAtrine with. I can't argue with them. Uribe was a productive and versatile  player for the Giants, and had a knack for big hits in big games. But the team is already looking at an $86 M payroll for 2011 and facing potential arbitration cases with the likes of Jonathan Sanchez, Andres Torres, and Cody Ross. The Dodgers will be Uribe's fourth team in his ten years. The Giants will be shopping for a shortstop--who do you like?

" You guys have seen the free-agent list. It's not very sexy at that position,"   Sabean said.

Brandon Crawford will not be ready to play in 2011, same with Ehire Adrianza. That leaves Manny Burriss as the only in-house solution.

--M.C.

Aubrey Huff is Coming Back!

A good move by the Giants to sign Aubrey Huff back for a 2-year stint. I presume this means Huff at 1B in 2011, with Huff fighting it out with Brandon Belt for 1B in 2012, while also getting some time in the OF. Belt is also regarded as a possible part-time OF for awhile (a la Todd Helton), so Huff may just be our guy at 1B for 2 years. We paid a lot, but I think that this was the right thing to do. Huff brought a lot to the team - on the field performance being foremost, but the other stuff counts, too. And, he really wanted to be a Giant - that's huge!

We've a lot to be thankful for

My holiday starts today. I'll be away from my keyboard for the rest of the week.

The 2010 Giants are the World Champs.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

--M.C.

More champions in the family

The Scottsdale Scorpions won the Arizona Fall League title by beating the Peoria Javelinas 3-2 on Saturday. Brandon Belt played first base for the Scorpions, walking once and striking out once, but also made an error. Charlie Culberson started at second but struck out three times and made two errors. Conor Gillaspie played third and and struck out twice but also got a hit. Joe Paterson pitched a scoreless 6th (three strikeouts) and opened the 7th with a walk, but it was still good for a hold. Dan Runzler pitched a scoreless 8th despite two hits, also earning a hold. Like I said--champions all. Scottsdale got five innings of shutout relief. Nationals prospects Bryce Harper (2010 #1 pick) and Steve Lombardozzi got 2 of the 3 RBI for the Scorpions. Pitching farmhands Ryan Verdugo, and Dan Stoffel were also on the Scorpions roster.

--M.C.

Just in case you never go to FanGraphs

Buster Posey, 2010 Rookie of the Year

We are not surprised here at RMC, we saw Buster play every day and we know that he is a special player. Like battery-mate Tim Lincecum, he has that rare "watch me" quality. Tim is freakish and electric, you watch because you can't wait to see what happens next. Buster is the opposite. Everything he does is relaxed and easy, you watch because he is so damn reassuring. "Buster's back there," I'd think, "it's going to be OK." Or "he's up next, we'll get it done now." Imagine, a Giants fan feeling secure and confident. But that's what Buster brought to this ballclub. Can you believe how poised and articulate he was after every post-season game?

We are so, so lucky to have Buster Posey. After a World Series ring, and a Rookie of the Year award, what's next? MVP? Another ring? Bring it on, Buster!

--M.C.


Jason Heyward and Jamie Garcia were both outstanding and would have been deserving winners. They just had to compete against Buster Posey, and even with a month's head start it wasn't enough. Buster is that good.

Just the name alone makes him worth a look

Brandon Belt is a much better name for a first baseman than Homer Bailey is for a pitcher. Imagine if his name was Homer Belt--that's serious All-Name Team material. Anyway, there's a buzzing down the intertubes regarding the Giants young first baseman because John Sickels at Minor League Ball rated him an "A-" prospect and said he was "totally legitimate." Not just "legitimate" but "totally" legitimate! Dudes! He's a former Texas Longhorn and was a 5th-round pick in 2009 (147th overall). Here's another piece on Belt from a scouting site.

Minor-league slash line: .352/.455/.620 (no typos--that's a 1.075 OPS).

He's also raking in the AFL to the tune of .373/.429/.613!

--M.C.

Just because

If You're Needing an Alternative to Ashkon & Steve Perry ...

Here's another cool SF Giants' song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1QiYu8CO48&feature=share

A Moment to Remember a Fine Broadcaster

Baseball-wise, it's been non-stop revelry - like Mark, I can't stop repeating '2010 World Series Champion San Francisco Giants', every time that I can.

This morning, a pause in the joy here in the Pacific Northwest, as news filtered out that Dave Niehaus, beloved voice of the Mariners since their inception, had had a fatal heart attack. It's hard to imagine a Mariners' broadcast without Dave Niehaus. Cut from the Lon Simmons cloth of story-telling & joyfully losing his voice in the middle of describing sensational & important plays, he was a classic play-by-play man & a civic & regional institution, a part of everything Mariner for 33 years. His call of Edgar Martinez's Division Series winning double in 1995 is the quintessential Mariners call, the one that they break out at every big occasion. People remember Edgar's hit & Dave Niehaus's joyous call with equal fondness. Like Jon Miller, he was recently deservedly inducted into the Hall-of-Fame.

Please read the story & watch the clip (you'll see a few beloved ex-Giants, too):

http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20101110&content_id=16061742&vkey=news_sea&c_id=sea

We'll all miss you, Dave!

Flags a-flyin'

When the Giants eked out a 1-0 win (Huff's mad dash to 3rd on a grounder to short!) on September 10th against Clayton Richard and the San Diego Padres, they moved into a virtual tie for 1st place in the West. After the game I put up my Giants flag (see sidebar photo below) and declared "I'm not taking this down until the Giants are eliminated!" Usually I put up the flag for Opening Day or special occasions like my pals coming over to watch a game. The 2010 Giants, of course, did not get eliminated. They never even faced an elimination game! They are the World Champions. I like saying that, so I'm going to say it again. The San Francisco Giants are the World Champions. Consequently, the Giants flag remained a-flyin' in my back yard 24/7! Today, though, is 11/11. Veterans Day. (Pet peeve: Veteran's Day. Fer chrissakes, it ain't possessive. One vet don't own the freakin' day!) I put up the Stars and Stripes on Veterans Day, and think about the old man freezing his ass off at the Chosin Reservoir in 1950 when he was all of 19. Now, the American flag has its own spot in my front yard, but I'm a stickler for flag protocol, so the Giants flag had to come down. I mean, the season has to end some time, eh? The poor black banner was stiff with ice (it's been below freezing the last few nights) and showing some wear and tear. Once it thaws and dries it will go back on my wall, where I can revel in the 2010 World Series Championship over and over again. In the mean time, I'm enjoying my Veterans Day holiday from work, warm and happy and relaxed in front of the computer, drinking coffee and procrastinating about the chores that need doing.

Happy Veterans Day, everyone.

--M.C.

Celebrating a championship, part two.

Too cool for words.

RMC wink-&-a-nod to BRZ for the awesomeness.

--M.C.

Another Comment About the World Champion San Francisco Giants

Today's contribution is from the Washington Post. It is here. I guess by now we have all read a fair bit of analysis on everything from how Sabean and Bochy are geniuses to how it was all about home-grown talent to how pitching dominated (it did). Bruce Jenkins even managed to get in a shot at Moneyball (clearly demonstrating that he did not read the book or does not understand it. If anything, it was a derivation of the principles in the book that Sabean exploited).

As we bask in the glory of our richly deserved World Championship, I strongly recommend that we all take a deep breath, review in detail Nassim Nicholas Taleb's "Fooled By Randomness," feel the glow of that victory and think carefully before re-signing MVP's because they are.

Celebrating a championship, part one

There's nothing like a good old-fashioned spending spree to celebrate the Giants winning the World Series. Yesterday I plunked down my hard-earned credit card number on the MLB website and ordered the following:

--the DVD set of all the Series games (plus Games 4 & 6 of the LCS and a bonus disc!)

--Series and LCS "official" progams

-- must-have license plate frame

--killer patch for my Cain jersey

and, best of all,

--high-style wristwatch for the discerning gentleman.


I'm hella stoked, and I mean hella stoked as in 10 to the 27th power stoked!

Just doing my part to ease California's recessionary woes,



--M.C.


p.s. Tell us how you are helping America--what have you splurged on to celebrate the World Champion San Francisco Giants?

What the NY Times had to say

November 2, 2010 - NY Times Editorial
They Really Are Giants

Let's remember this later when we are locked in to professional football
and the gloom of winter. Let's remember it when rich baseball teams go
on their off-season spending binges, packing the payroll with talent for
their annual open-checkbook march to the playoffs.

Let's remember, for as long as we can, this long-haired, farm-raised,
mostly home-grown and organic World Series, won by the Giants on Monday
night.

It was their first championship in 56 years, and their first as a San
Francisco team. And team they were - not a consortium of superstars, but
a smooth blend of rising stars and nonstars, of rejects and never-beens,
modestly compensated by Yankees and Red Sox standards, but hard-working
and well-anchored by a staff of awesome starting pitchers, all in their
20s.

Thanks to them, this Series felt relaxed and fun, relatively free of the
high-stakes anguish so prevalent in the playoffs. The pleasures started
with great pitching: Madison Bumgarner in Game 4, his performance as
majestic as his name. Tim Lincecum, all spilling locks and whipsaw arm,
throwing smoke in Games 1 and 5. The black-bearded closer Brian Wilson,
pitching a 1-2-3 ninth to seal Monday's game, 3 to 1, and the Series,
four games to one.

Let's remember, too, the excellence of the Texas Rangers, who got as far
as they did through heavy hitting and the ace Cliff Lee, all but
invincible through the season, the playoffs and - well, for six innings
on Monday night, anyway. There was even a good first pitch, by George W.
Bush in Game 4: an easy strike by a former president who knows how to
throw a baseball.

Excellence and ease, from teams that clicked, that was this Series.
"It's a whole different vibe since Barry Bonds left," one Giants fan
told The Times a few days ago. "People have just opened up and realized
we can have fun with this whole thing." The Giants once tried to build a
franchise around Bonds, the sullen slugger, but the glue didn't hold. It
did this time, with players like the creaky Edgar Renteria, age 35,
whose .412 Series average and three-run homer Monday night helped make
him the M.V.P. Yes, he was a star, but just one in a constellation - of
eccentrics, castoffs, teammates, winners.

JOY!!!!!!!!!! x 2

Photo credits to Susana!


November 1, 2010, approximately 7:35 PM PDT (champagne spraying duties by Leon) ...

November 5, 2010, approximately 4:35 PM PDT (T-shirt courtesy of my Parents!) ...

The Best Team in Baseball

The Giants have always been the The Greatest Second-Place Team in Baseball. The franchise has been the losing team in the World Series 12 times! "Always the bridesmaid and never the bride." San Francisco fans are well aware of the 1965-1969 teams that finished second every season despite averaging 91+ wins and being stocked with HOFers. Those guys had already lost in the Series in 1962, and lost in the playoffs at the end of the run in 1971 to the eventual World Champs. The Will Clark Giants lost to the pennant winners in 1987, and lost the Series in 1989. The 1993 and 1994 teams finished 2nd. The Barry Bonds Giants lost in the playoffs in 1997 to the eventual World Champs, and finished 2nd in 1998 (and lost a Wild-Card qualifier) and in 1999. In 2000 they lost in the playoffs to the eventual pennant winners, lost the division (finishing 2nd) in 2001 to the eventual World Champs, lost the Series in 2002 (after finishing 2nd in the division), and lost in the playoffs in 2003 to the eventual World Champs. They finished 2nd in 2004. It was an organizational curse to be "second-best." This organization--one of the oldest--has the most wins of any baseball team in history and the most wins of any professional sports franchise in North America. The San Francisco club, however, had an empty spot on the organizational mantle. The Big Prize kept eluding them.

No more. The Commissioner's Trophy resides in San Francisco after an extraordinary 2010 season. The Giants won the NL West, the NLCS, the NL pennant, and the World Series. In this sport, that means you get to puff out your chest and proclaim that you are the best.

The San Francisco Giants are the best team in baseball.

Savor every minute of it, my friends.

--M.C.


p.s. I have my new 2010 World Series Champions t-shirt and I'm wearing it to work today. Get yours soon!

ZO GOING HOME FRIDAY PM!!!!!!!!!!

It's been an emotional week! How much better can it get? Here's to some more great news!!!

Giants Fever Everywhere!

I taught my first Yoga Classes after 'The Day' on Tuesday night. Of course, I had to mention my great mood, & many others whooped it up, too. I began each Class by reading the following quote, saying that it was spoken a famous Yoga Guru, asking the Students to guess which one:

"I try to tell myself all the time to relax & take deep breaths, control the breathing. It helps me relax & stay calm & act like it's not a big deal."

No one guessed it, but a couple of Students were on the right baseball track (one said 'Yogi Berra'). Then, I repeated the first part of the quote & continued:

"I try to tell myself all the time to relax & take deep breaths, control the breathing. It helps me relax & stay calm & act like it's not a big deal. Obviously it is, it's the World Series. I just tried to go out there & relax, & it's worked out," said Madison Bumgarner, 21-year old Starting Pitcher & Winner of Game 4 for the 2010 World Series Champion San Francisco Giants!!!!!!!!!!

I then challenged them to control their breathing throughout Class, because, if a 21-year old Kid pitching in the World Series could do it, then they could, too. They had great Classes, especially their breathing!

Yesterday, I took my first Class since 'The Day'. Vince was teaching the Class. He's a Yankee fan, but helped me out by trading Classes, so I could watch games & was genuinely happy & supportive throughout. Also in the Class was a long-time Student, John Boller, who had bet me $5 on the Phillies series, then double-or-nothing on the World Series. I insisted that he pay me in Class, so I practiced next to my new $10 bill (helping to inspire me throughout a very hot Class - in reality, the bill may have been green, but it looked orange & black to me!). There was a Woman in the Class named 'Audrey', but Vince called her 'Aubrey' throughout the entire Class! After Class, I heard him talking to her to verify her name, so I reminded him that it was 'Aubrey Huff' who had confused him!

Hands down, my favorite Giants' speech of the day yesterday was Buster's - I think that he will become more & more of a Team leader than he already is & will back it up:

"San Francisco Giants, World Series Champions. Let's enjoy this today, tomorrow, this week, this month. Then, let's get back to work & make another run at it," he said, as he pounded his fist on the podium for emphasis.

Translation: have some fun, enjoy it, work hard again IMMEDIATELY, but baseball's tough (notice that he didn't see that we're going to win again, he said that 'you make another run at it'). 29 other Teams are out there going after it, too, so success doesn't just happen every day or every year. Take care of the details. Don't take anything for granted.

I LOVE THAT GUY - he really has it together, & he is our Catcher for a long time to come!!!!!

While the feelings of disbelief come & go, I always get giddy talking about what happened, the Games, the interviews, the Parade, the history behind my Giants' fandom, my 'good-luck charm' Family (who show up & get to celebrate in only their second full season), you guys, everything. And, emotional, especially when talking about our mutual Candlestick Park Section 30 history, Zo's situation, & every time I see Willie McCovey. I became a Giants' fan, when Mays, Marichal, & McCovey were all there. I saw all of them play. But, mainly because of his exciting return to the Giants in 1977 & his part in the 1978 season, an ultimately frustrating, but unexpectedly good one, I will always feel more fondness for Stretch. His big 3-run HR in the Friday night game (http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SFN/SFN197805260.shtml) of the series against LA which was eventually capped by Mike Ivie's pinch-hit Grand Slam on Sunday (http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SFN/SFN197805280.shtml), was a hugely emotional moment. I'll never forget Lon's call:

"The Fans really want Willie to tattoo one here ... Here's the pitch ... There's a high drive to right field ... Way back ... Way back ... You can tell it 'Goodbye'!!!!!"

Big Mac also seems to be barely hanging in there, physically, so I think that this victory meant more to him than the others. He looked great yesterday in the Parade! Seeing him was my teary-eyed moment of the day.

Huff's Bunt

Lost in the well-deserved excitement of Edgar Renteria's historic three-run homer, Aubrey Huff's sacrifice bunt which preceded it was my favorite moment of the World Series.

The bunt didn't change the score, thanks to the homer, but something about it was just thrilling, when it occurred. We were clearly seizing the upper hand against Cliff Lee, with runners at first and second and no outs. Then Huff comes up and I thought,"Now would be a perfect time to bunt, but Huff never bunts, so never mind," and BAM he hits an awesome bunt, and I know "bam" is not a word associated with bunts, but this was a manly bunt, a vigorous bunt; a shot between the mound and first. Lee had to act fast and he ended up making an awkward throw for the out.

And this was the moment I knew we were going to win.

It turns out Huff had NEVER put down a sacrifice bunt in his entire career. But he did it this time, and he did it without hesitation, and he did it perfectly. So with runners on second and third and just one out, our chances of getting at least one run were excellent. But poor sad Pat the Bat K'd again. It would have so sweet if he could have even hit a middling fly ball then. A run scores, we win, he's the hero. But no, that mantle would go to Renteria in the next at bat.

The day after The Day After

Some wag in the comments section of McCovey Chronicles pointed out that 11-01-10 is "54" in binary. Clever chap. The Boys of November straddled the Great Divide between the World of the Living and the World of the Dead by winning back-to-back games in Texas on both Hallowe'en and All Saints Day. The orange & black unis had to help, eh? (Día de los Muertos is on November 2nd--The Day After.) So, how do you feel, my friends? I'm still a bit numb. I've been mainlining Giants since April, and that doesn't count the angst and anticipation of the off- and pre-seasons. Going cold turkey is a real bitch! I'm nowhere near ready to fire up the hot stove--there is too much joy to be had here in Mudville to worry about 2011. I want to wallow in the glory of a World Series championship and bask in the happiness it brings me. I turned 50 last November, and I turn 51 on the 13th. The 2010 Giants gave me a damn fine birthday present, don't you think?

Oh, and the Giants open at 10-1 to repeat.

--M.C.

OTHER MEDIA ...

I especially love the headline in Noticias de Oaxaca ... 'Gigantescos', meaning, pretty much, 'Huge Giants' or 'Super-Giants'. Perhaps, a new Raising Matt Cain banner slogan?

From today's Oregonian ...

From today's Imparcial de Oaxaca:

http://imparcialenlinea.com/?mod=leer&id=138616&sec=deportes&titulo=Gigantes,_campeones_

From today's Noticias de Oaxaca:

http://www.noticiasnet.mx/portal/deportes/beisbol/%C2%A1gigantescos

From one of today's Chronicle stories:

"[Will] Clark began walking away from the interview, then returned. 'Oh, by the way,' he said, 'for all of those pundits that talked about Mr. Lee ... he got his butt out-pitched by Mr. Lincecum.'"

BBC website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/baseball/9147770.stm

CBC (Canada) website - this story's pretty amusing:

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/baseball/story/2010/11/01/sp-giants-rangers-game.html

Champions by the numbers

The San Francisco Giants are the 2010 World Series Champions. I'll say it again because I checked and it is still true: the San Francisco Giants are the 2010 World Series Champions.

Here are some World Series numbers from the five games:

43     Strikeouts from Texas pitchers

42     Hits by Giants

34     Giants starters IP

31     Strikeouts from Giants pitchers

29     Hits by Rangers

29     Runs scored by Giants

12     Runs allowed by Giants pitchers

11     Strikeouts by Pat Burrell

10     Giants relievers IP

10     Runs allowed by Cliff Lee

7       Homers by Giants

2       3-run homers by Giants

1.000     Giants team WHIP

.190/.259/.288      Texas Rangers batting line (avg/obp/slg)

0.00     Combined ERA for Bumgarner, Cain, Casilla, Romo, Mota, Lopez, Wilson


--M.C.


Oh, I forgot my favorite:

.733     The Giants post-season win percentage (11-4)

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!!

GIANTS WIN!!!!!!!!!!!

World Champion Tim

We are all Giants! We are all World Series Champions!

The San Francisco Giants, led by a dominating Tim Lincecum, finished off the over-whelmed Texas Rangers in front of their shocked home crowd. In a display of near perfect NLWest ball, our beloved bhoys waited out Lee once again and whupped the hapless rednecks, 3-1. ( Oh yeah, it's a whuppin'...c'mon, two runs is plenty!) The Freak and his crew of "misfits" sliced through The American League's best in a rather tidy 4-1 series. Did we really just go 11-4 in the post-season?
Tim Lincecum made it clear to the world why we call him "The Franchise." We pretty much count on him to be better than their best. It works. Using a vicious slider, Tim "coaxed" the Rangers into a nifty TEN STRIKEOUTS. (He must know how much the chicks love the double digits.) I especially loved how Tim schooled his old battery-mate, Bengie Molina, with a pitch that Bengie had never seen before! A two time Cy Young winner and he's mastering pitches in the last couple months of a pennant race! Wrap your brain around that one for a while. A good indication of Tim's nasty big time stuff is the number of swinging strikes - 22 compared to Lee's 8. "Quality start" does no justice to Tim's marvelous job:

8 innings 3 hits (2 singles, hr) 1 run 2 walks 10 strikeouts game score 80!

Could he have finished? Maybe, but that's not how we roll. What better way to end this wonderful journey than with Wilson getting the save?

Congratulations to all my Giants friends and fellow bloggers. We were blessed by a thrilling team that never stopped believing, even when some of us did.
Not me, though. I knew we were going to win all along...

Now, what say we hash over every luscious detail of the 106th World Series?



Note: This post, hell, this entire season is dedicated to Zo, the Mystic One. Your sacrifice goes unparallelled in Giants fandom. Way to go! Now GET BETTER.

TIM LINCECUM - WIN!!!!

Well, let's just say that today's line-up contains more than a couple of surprises. And, yes, it does include both Burrell & Rowand.