Big Island Ball

I'm home after a trip to the Big Island of Hawai'i. It was my first time in the Aloha State. The city of Hilo is one of the rainiest places in the USA, averaging over 150 inches annually. I traveled with my friends Kevin and Kelly and we went to see some baseball. Their son Eamon plays for the University of Hawai'i-Hilo Vulcans. They are an NCAA Division II school in the Pacwest Conference. Here's what you see a lot of in Hilo:

The ballplayers do this so regularly they are actually pretty good at it. Our Friday night game was cancelled. A doubleheader was scheduled for both Saturday and Sunday but only three games were played. Saturday's second game was suspended and resumed on Sunday and went into extras so they only played one more game. Of the five we expected we saw three, but they were all exciting back-and-forth contests. The Vulcans won all of them against their Oahu rivals the Hawai'i Pacific University Sharks.

We were lucky enough to see Eamon pitch as he got an inning of relief in Saturday's 10-7 win. He gave up a run on a couple of ground balls but struck out the last batter to end his outing with a flourish. Dad and I agreed that he looked good and just got BABIP'd a bit. Eamon's best buddy Jake pitched four impressive shutout frames in relief in Sunday's 8-4 win so that was a lot of fun. Here they are:

Yreka's own RHP #47 Eamon "Little Moose" Velarde is on the left. He's the biggest guy on the team at 6'5" and 245 pounds. He's majoring in Marine Science. LHP #19 Jake "Big Berts" Laberta is from Arizona and is double-majoring in Communications and Business Economics.

They are a study in contrasts. Eamon is poised and has a relaxed, compact motion on the mound. He saunters on and off the field, whipping his cap off and hopping over the third base line in imitation of Johnny Cueto. Jake is extra-intense and stomps around like a bronco just released from the pen. He looks like he's going to run the ball to home plate rather than throw it. He actually reminded me a bit of Giants southpaw Alex Wood.

There was a Giants connection: slugging OF/1B/DH Joseph Gallagher is from the Sacramento area and knew Logan Webb from youth baseball, had played on a senior-level team with Sammy Long, and had also played against Mauricio Dubón! He bashed a homer in the 1st inning on Saturday. Kelly ran around meeting all the other Moms in the stands and we visited with Joe's mother Susan. She was from Massachusetts. My parents are from Boston so I'm tuned to hear that accent. I've been "Mahk" all my life! Susan was clearly Irish with her red hair, blue eyes, and freckles. We talked and it turned out that her father's family was from Sligo which is where my Dad's family is from. We joked that we were long-lost cousins. Speaking of Mom and Dad, here are the Velardes:

Kevin is also 6'5" and he played baseball in high school and has always loved the game. He keeps his hand in things by being an assistant coach with the Yreka High Miners varsity squad. Kelly was the real athlete of the two however, playing both basketball and softball in high school. She's a middle school teacher and it was Easter Week so we traveled on her Spring Break. Kevin is recently retired from an administrative job with the high school--we were colleagues for 20+ years before that. As you can see Wong Stadium in Hilo is a big place and has covered grandstands. It's college ball so there were lots of parents and local supporters. On Saturday they served a deep-fried whole fish on a bed of rice for ten bucks! A very Hawai'ian kind of ballpark food experience.

The baseball team also has a field on campus and it was right next to the new softball complex and the teams share the batting cages. We ran into a couple of softball players on our walking tour and they spotted Kevin and Kelly straight away and knew they were Eamon's parents. One of them, RHP #17 Tehani Seto quipped "come for the baseball, stay for the softball." I told her to put that on a T-shirt! There's a lot of mutual support and respect between the baseball and softball players. Here are the lads rooting for the lasses:

 Here's the view from the hill behind the outfield fence:

The Vulcans are batting and wearing black, their opponents are the Urban Knights from San Francisco's Academy of Art. That's Hilo Bay in the background. They had to play two rain-shortened games (winning both by big margins) but had two games cancelled. The women can do the tarp drill just as well as the men! I kept saying "boys" and "girls" because I was a high school teacher for 30 years but they of course say "men" and "women" at the college level. Fast-pitch is a great game that emphasizes speed and defense. Quick ball transfers and accurate relay throws play a big part. We saw lots of steals, bunts, and slash hitting, but also a couple of big dingers. Good stuff all around. The rain ultimately chased us away. We socialized with Tehani and her teammate OF #9 Kaia Bradford and both were personable, funny, and super-smart. They call Kaia "Wade" because her lefty batting stance is reminiscent of Wade Boggs. Who'd have thought that the ballplayers knew about some old guy from the 80s and 90s? It was great being with parents because I got to meet lots of Eamon's fellow students. If you ever get concerned about the future--I know I do--I can say that hanging around those youngsters was most inspiring. They move at 78 rpm all the time but I like their attitudes and their enthusiasm is infectious. I think the world will be in good hands.

Baseball is a big circle. I learned to love the game because my Mom always had KSFO AM-560 on the radio when I was a kid. Lon Simmons' rumbling baritone is a big part of my youth. He did play-by-play for both the Giants and 49ers. Mom grew up near Fenway Park and watched the Red Sox teams of the 1940s and 50s with Ted Williams in LF, Dominic DiMaggio in CF, Johnny Pesky at SS, and Bobby Doerr at 2B. In high school Eamon played in the Bobby Doerr Baseball Classic in Junction City, Oregon, where Doerr is from, and even got to meet the Red Sox legend (Doerr died in 2017). David Halberstam has a book (The Teammates) about those four fellows.

Kevin tells me he gets stopped all the time by people who see his "Y" ball cap from Yreka HS and his "FRC" shirt from Feather River College in Quincy (where Eamon played before transferring to Hilo). I believe it now. One of the flight attendants on our our trip out asked if we were from Yreka because of the hat and inquired if we knew a friend of hers. It turned out to be one of my former students! We had a long layover in Seattle and were accidentally at the wrong gate when another passenger started a conversation with us. Turns out he was from Etna (also in Siskiyou County), had played baseball in Ashland, Oregon with their state championship squad, and went to the College World Series with Oregon State. He'd also been an assistant coach with Feather River (before Eamon's time) and at the University of Michigan. He was now a minor-league hitting coordinator with the Detroit Tigers after several years with Driveline Baseball. His name was Max Gordon and he's the subject of a book by Jacob and Dylan Kornhauser as he was in a horrible accident that almost killed him (and did kill his brother) yet recovered to stay in the game. Naturally he knew a lot of the same people (other coaches and former HS ballplayers) that both Kevin and Kelly knew. Baseball really is a small world.

It was a great trip despite the rain. It rains all the time of course but even the locals, who normally have a placid take on everything, remarked on the intensity of the downpours. We got to visit Volcanoes National Park where we saw tropicbirds and shearwaters as well as flowing lava, and we did a jungle hike, three miles in to a secluded beach where we swam with the sea turtles. I bought a couple of groovy 100% rayon Hawai'i-made aloha shirts as well as some orange-and-black board shorts. We drank a lot of Hilo and Kona beers and visited the two microbreweries in Hilo. We saw waterfalls aplenty and clambered over rocks that were less than ten years old out to some spectacular ocean vistas.

The Giants have been kicking ass so I want to say "good job" to all my loyal readers. Thank you! But no more bitching about the ugly City Connect uniforms--we covered that last season. Besides, ugly unis are part of our formative years as fans. Remember the White Sox in black short pants and the Pirates in head-to-toe canary yellow? Sheesh! These are nothing compared to those 70s skin-tight double-knits in pastel blue and whatnot. Anyway I hope I don't jinx the Giants winning ways by coming home.

I'll resume posting about the team after this four-game set in New York is over. There's a double-header today after the rainout last night and a day game on Thursday, so I'll do a write-up after that.

--M.C.

One billion dollars

I put "MLB and betting" into the Google search box and I got a long list of links from places like DraftKings Sportsbook, The Action Network, Vegas Insider, BetMGM, Covers.com, Odds Shark, VSiN, Sportsbook Wire, SportsBettingDime, Simplebet, SBR, etc., etc. There are lots of places where a fool can part with his money. There have always been such places. The difference today is that betting on sports, and baseball in particular, is now actively encouraged and enabled. The powers-that-be WANT you to bet on sports!

MLB is the latest entity to hitch a ride on the Great Gambling Train. They have an exclusive agreement with MGM that allows it to be the "Official Gaming Partner of MLB." Why would MLB, after decades of recoiling in horror from the potential taint of betting on games, suddenly embrace this new arrangement? Simple. It's about the money. ONE BILLION DOLLARS is the projected revenue (that's annually) from this unholy alliance. And make no mistake, this is an unholy alliance.

Rob Manfred has a cynical practical approach. Sports betting is huge. Baseball fans are going to bet anyway so let's have some say in how the whole thing goes down. That's true. People are going to bet on sports whether it is sanctioned or not, regulated or not, legal or not. Manfred figures MLB needs to get its cut, and by partnering with MGM, they can tap into that company's history of running casinos and other legal gambling enterprises.One could always go to Reno and place a wager on a game. Or lay down money on a season. (My brother-in-law once gifted me a $20 betting chit "Giants to win the World Series @ 7-1." Not a bad bet--it was 1989, we came pretty close!) But that's small potatoes. Baseball is a perfect game for prop bets. Every plate appearance is an opportunity to place a wager. With smartphones and apps you can now bet on almost any aspect of a ballgame in real time. In fact, you can "play bet," that is, use the apps without wagering real money. That's perfect for the kiddies. They'll be squirming in their seats anyway so give 'em the phone and let 'em wager their play money. Just think how good they'll be at betting when they are old enough! Practice, practice, practice.

It's hideous. I realize we live in a world of token-ization, where everything we value is cut up into bits, tagged, re-named, and then marketed back to us. It's not just baseball. I also realize that the Great Gambling Train has already left the station. This post is just vox clamatis in deserto (a voice crying in the wilderness).

So why holler about it at all? Just to get it on record, I suppose. I don't think gambling should be illegal, but I do think it should not be encouraged. Gambling is NOT a positive social good. It is the opposite, in fact. It's a corrosive, anti-social behavior that does a lot of harm. But I'm also a realist. Baseball is big business, and business is what America is all about. When CEOs want something, they get it. So we will have betting and baseball living together in perfect har-mo-ny, side-by-side and all that.

I remember watching a 49ers game with a buddy several years ago who was really into his fantasy team. He would jump up and down and cheer for some random guy on the other squad to gain a few yards. Then root for a missed field goal or a fifty-yard punt or somesuch, seemingly independent of the game result. I was the old-fashioned stodgy one, rooting for my team and hoping the guys did well. My friend wanted the 49ers to win, but spent the whole time paying attention to single events that might help or hurt his fantasy team. I hated it. It wasn't fun, it was stupid. But that's how he enjoyed the game.

I suspect many "modern" fans of the game(s) need some sort of buy-in to the contest(s). They need a stake--a piece of the action. MLB and MGM will make sure they get one!

I'll get back to the 2022 Giants soon, don't worry.

--M.C.

 

p.s. I think we need to put the 1919 "Black Sox" and Pete Rose in the Hall of Fame. Those guys were misunderstood. They were obviously pioneers. Early-adopters are always penalized by history. Time to right the wrongs!

Perspective

In 2007 the Giants took Madison Bumgarner with the 10th overall pick in the June draft. Ben Kaspick posted on his twitter feed some screenshots of reactions (from the McCovey Chronicles blog) by Giants fans at that time:

You gotta love it. Here's more:

The moral of the story is that fans don't know jack! Perhaps it is better to say that I don't know jack and even "experts" are just guessing. The draft is a crap shoot and all you can hope for is that the guys doing the picking have worked hard and done their best. In a few years we'll know the results. Until then I'm happy to have new blood in the system.

Notables from the 2007 draft include #1 David Price, #2 Mike Moustakas, #5 Matt Wieters, #14 Jason Heyward, #27 Rick Porcello, #34 Todd Frazier, and #48 Josh Donaldson. There were 64 picks total if you include the supplemental round, and the Giants had FIVE more after the tenth (Bumgarner) pick. They were Tim Alderson (#22), Wendell Fairley (#29), Nick Noonan (#32), Jackson Williams (#43), and Charlie Culberson (#51). Those look like whiffs until you consider that Alderson was traded for Freddy Sanchez and Culberson was traded for Marco Scutaro.

MLB owners are assholes. Just in case you weren't sure which side of the labor divide I'm on!

--M.C.

There's baseball somewhere!

In Taiwan, in fact. The CPBL (Chinese Professional Baseball League) season is underway. They plan to open stadia to fans--only 1,000 to start--tomorrow. There are five teams in the league. Taiwan has a population of 24 million in an area that's a little bigger than Belgium and a little smaller than Switzerland. The parks normally hold from 12,500 to 20,000 fans at capacity.

And in South Korea. The KBO (Korea Baseball Organization) opened their season yesterday. The KBO has ten teams. The Lotte Giants play in Busan and the Sajik Baseball Stadium is the biggest in the league and holds 26,800 fans. South Korea is home to 52 million people in an area the size of Iceland, about three times the size of Taiwan. There are no fans at the games and no word yet on when that will happen.

Taiwan reports fewer than 500 cases of COVID-19 and six deaths. South Korea reports almost 11,000 cases and 256 deaths. That's a very different public health situation than here in the States. It does, however, give one hope that a 2020 MLB season could happen in some limited form. I'm not planning to follow the CPBL (although you have to love the Rakuten Monkeys) or the KBO (although the SK Wyverns play in Happy Dream Park) so you'll have to use the links I've provided if you are desperate for pro ball.

Bundesliga, the top professional football league (soccer) in Germany is slated to resume on the 16th of this month. All matches will be behind closed doors. This seems like a riskier proposition. Germany appears to be ahead of places like Italy, Spain, and the U.K., but they don't seem to be near the level of containment that Taiwan and South Korea have achieved. I wish them the best of luck.

Stay safe!

--M.C.

MLB 2020

The Hall of Fame announced they would postpone their induction ceremony this summer and make it part of the 2021 event. It was scheduled for July 24-26. Derek Jeter, Larry Walker, and Ted Simmons will have to wait for their moment. (The late Marvin Miller is also on the docket.)

Wimbledon, scheduled for June 29 to July 12, will be played next summer.

The Olympics, scheduled for July 24 to August 9, will take place next summer.

The Indy 500, a American Memorial Day Weekend fixture, has been re-scheduled for August 23rd.

The Masters, originally scheduled for April 9-12, is now set to take place November 9-15.

What's going to happen to Major League Baseball? We've seen some ideas floating around about a possible re-start to the season but nothing is firm. I'm not convinced that any of the things I've heard about are practical, and in fact I would not be surprised if MLB, at some point, just pulls the plug on 2020. That would be unfortunate but probably for the best. I like that people are being creative and trying to imagine how to get the season going, though. When confronted with new problems you have to generate new solutions, and I appreciate the optimism and enthusiasm of the folks involved.

I suppose my main concern is the re-direction of health care resources. As we know testing for COVID-19 is still an issue (although LA just announced all its citizens can get tested for free) in many places and I'd hate to see ballplayers and MLB folks get prioritized over ordinary citizens. If entertainment venues and industries can implement the strategies needed to hold events without taking people and supplies away from hospitals and other care facilities then I could go along with it. Obviously there can't be any fans, at least at first, which seems silly to me. Fans are part of the game! I have little interest in "lab rat" sports. Perhaps limited audiences with strict social distancing might work, but everyone will still use the same entrances, same toilets and washrooms, etc. Doesn't sound very appealing to me. If baseball does re-start, I think eliminating sports-casters would be a useful improvement. They are pointless. I'd rather have a raucous audience than a goddamn talking head.

I feel for the stadium workers, the concessionaires, and all the seasonal and ancillary businesses (the pubs and restaurants near the parks, for example) that are getting hit hard by the closures. MLB will survive this--some of those folks will not. For their sake alone I'd like to see baseball come back. Don't get me wrong, I miss baseball too, but I don't NEED baseball. No one "needs" sports, fer chrissakes! I really hate all that "we need sports more than ever now" nonsense. People found ways to entertain each other long before professional sporting events took over the public consciousness.

Will the Indy 500 really run in August? We'll see. And if that looks like it will work, maybe MLB will resume in August as well. I miss my Giants, that's for sure, but I'll survive. I'm happy that the lights are on, the water is flowing, the grocery stores are open, and I can Zoom with friends and family. I'm fortunate to be in a position where the crisis has not hurt me much but I am certainly aware of the impacts it has made on many people and their families, and I hope it gets better soon. Lots of things will likely be very different when we "get to the other side" of this mess.

So, readers--what do you think?

--M.C.

Opening Day . . . Not!

Today was supposed to be Opening Day for Major League Baseball. The Giants were to open against the Dodgers in LA this afternoon. Opening Day has been marked in my calendar since I knew the date. I remember more than once, back when I was a working stiff, calling in sick in order to attend the Home Opener. I'm sure many of you have done the same!

This extraordinary response to the COVID-19 pandemic has robbed me of my favorite pastime--following the San Francisco Giants. That's a real bummer! At the same time I am encouraged by my fellow humans. People are really trying to do the right thing and fight off this virus. I'm not often proud of the human race, but lately I've been impressed. Folks are taking this thing seriously and doing what needs doing. Look past the callous shortsightedness and the vainglorious posturing of our so-called leaders in this crisis. Look to your neighbors, friends, and families. Listen to people who actually know something about diseases**. Communities will take care of business, all we can hope is that the apparatus of government will help and not hinder those efforts. (Don't forget to give a shout out to all those folks who have to leave home every day and go to work in order to provide us with essential services. They have to risk infection so we that we can be safe. I gave my mail carrier a big thumbs up and hearty thank you yesterday. From ten feet away, naturally.)

Tonight we are firing up the DVD player and putting in the Matt Cain Perfect Game disc! That was a special night, one of the greatest moments ever for all Giants fans.

Stay safe. Stay home. Stay positive.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.


** WHO, CDC, HSPH, UCSF, for example

Welcome, Javier!

The newest (and youngest) member of the Giants is Javier Alexander Francisco Estrella. He's a 16-year old shortstop from the Dominican Republic. Here's the rule governing eligibility:

Foreign-born players from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Mexico, Panama, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia and other countries are free agents. They may sign with any Major League club during the international signing period, which begins July 2 and runs through mid-June the next year. To be eligible to sign a contract, a player must be 16 years old at the time of signing and turn 17 years old by either 1) September 1 or 2) the end of his first professional season, whichever is later. Players also must register with the MLB Scouting Bureau.

That's from Cot's Contracts, a site all baseball fans should be familiar with! Note that this does not cover Japanese players, the NPB has a special arrangement ("posting system") that determines if a player can sign with MLB. Residents of the USA (and its territories like Puerto Rico) and Canada are subject to the draft. They have to be high school graduates, too.

I'm not sure why kids from foreign countries have more freedom than kids from the States, but that's our system! I think it is stupid. There should be the same rules for everyone. In fact, I would get rid of the draft entirely, and make all ballplayers free agents as soon as they stop playing amateur ball. Ideally they would not be able to sign contracts until they were legal adults, but I guess that's what agents, scouts, and parents are for. (Not to mention the notorious buscones.) Some wag called all that jockeying in foreign countries to find baseball talent a "field of schemes." Indeed.

Regardless, the Giants have a new international prospect. He's been compared to Fernando Tatis, Jr. That fellow made the majors last season with the Padres at age 20 and kicked ass.

Interestingly, MLB has considered skipping the 2020 amateur draft. After all, no one is playing ball so scouting isn't happening and if you can't scout you can't evaluate talent. What a great time to get rid of this anachronism.

--M.C.

Coronavirus

The Giants have announced that the exhibition game scheduled against the A's for Tuesday, March 24th will not be played in San Francisco at Oracle Park. It is likely the teams will stay in Arizona and play the Bay Bridge Series games there.

San Francisco mayor London Breed has announced recommendations to halt the spread of COVID-19. They include cancelling or postponing all "non-essential" large (over 1000 people) gatherings.

The KBO has already postponed the season openers, so has the NPB. Washington Governor Jay Inslee has issued a statewide ban on large gatherings which includes the Seattle Mariners and their opening series at T-Mobile Park. So far MLB has not made any general announcements about the schedule but teams are taking steps such as limiting clubhouse access and cancelling fan events. Here's the official statement from MLB.

We'll see how this unfolds. Stay safe out there, my friends!

--M.C.


update: the River Cats have cancelled the exhibition against the Giants in Sacramento that was scheduled for March 22nd. I also learned that the Giants AAA team's home field is now called Sutter Health Park. It was Raley Field for its first twenty years. The River Cats became a Giants affiliate in 2015, taking over for the A's who moved their AAA affiliation to the Nashville Sounds. The A's are now back in the west with the Las Vegas Aviators.

update two: the NCAA announced that its post-season basketball tournaments (aka March Madness) will be played with only "essential staff and limited family attendance."

update three: the President suspends all travel from Europe for 30 days. I suppose this means it is not a hoax anymore but a real health threat. Anyway, the UK is exempted. And so are cargo ships and flights--just a passenger ban.




***You might want to read this post by DrBGiantsFan who blogs at "When the Giants Come to Town." He's a doctor in real life and has a detailed and thoughtful take on the COVID-19 situation.

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.

Bad Boys

Teams rise and and teams fall. We've seen that with the Giants, have we not? Today we found out that baseball was not happy about the Astros and their sign-stealing shenanigans. The manager (AJ Hinch) and GM (Scott Lunhow) were suspended for a year without pay by MLB and were then promptly fired by the team's owner (Jim Crane). The toast of the baseball world not long ago will also be stripped of 1st- and 2nd-round draft picks for the next two years. Ouch! Oh, and a $5M fine, which I understand is the maximum. Chump change for this industry. I should note that The Athletic was given credit for breaking the story. If you read this blog regularly you know I like that site, they have a nice supply of good writers so there is usually something interesting or useful to read. The Astros still have a formidable team, talent-wise, I should note. Also there will likely be fallout in Boston as manager Alex Cora was on Hinch's staff. The Sox are facing a potential sign-stealing investigation as well. Carlos Beltran, the Mets new manager, was an active player on that 2017 championship team. I remember a story after that World Series that Beltran had picked up a tell from Yu Darvish and let all the guys on the team know, that's why they clobbered him. Seems like what really happened is that he had the job of relaying the stolen signs!

In Giants news, infielder Zack Cozart was cut loose. The Giants still owe him almost $13M. They gave the roster spot to waiver claim Jake Jewell, a 26-year old right-handed pitcher. The Giants took on Cozart and his salary presumably to obtain the #15 pick in the 2019 draft, North Carolina State 2B/SS Will Wilson. The Giants chose Arizona State OF Hunter Bishop with the #10 pick. Two chances are better than one, right?

Also, Jose Alguacil has returned to the organization and will serve as the manager of the Richmond Flying Squirrels (AA, Eastern League). He ran that club back in 2015 before managing the River Cats and then joining the Giants as first-base coach.

--M.C.

Good things on a bad night

SD 4  SF 1
The Giants lost and Reyes Moronta went down--literally--with a shoulder injury. But there are usually some silver linings, and last night one of them was Logan Webb. He threw five shutout innings and didn't give up a run until there were two outs in the 6th. It was a fine effort (one walk, seven whiffs) by the youngster who hit 97 on the radar gun. He has scary-looking stuff and it is exciting to watch him emerge.Tyler Rogers also pitched well in relief (four outs on 14 pitches). Outfielder Joey Rickard had two hits. Austin Slater hit a homer.

Those things all matter. Something that matters a lot less, but is a silver lining in a way, is that Jon Miller, on the radio, mentioned The Athletic and quoted an article by Grant Brisbee. Miller, as you know, embraces modernity with the enthusiasm of an eight-year old forced to kiss his great aunt. It's nice to know that he uses the internet, maybe he'll even try Baseball-Reference or, god forbid, FanGraphs*.

The Giants could use a winning streak!

--M.C.


*Must-watch FanGraphs plug from Daniel Murphy. It's only a few seconds, so check it out. It's scary when the players are better informed than the media covering them.

9th inning: 8-10

1st inning: 6-12
2nd inning: 6-12
3rd inning: 10-8
4th inning: 4-14
5th inning: 8-10
6th inning: 7-11
7th inning: 9-9
8th inning: 6-12
9th inning: 8-10

The final tally for 2017 is 64-98 (.395), 40 games out of first place and 23 games behind the wildcard. The Giants tie the Detroit Tigers for the worst record and will get rewarded with the number two overall pick in the 2018 June draft (the Giants had a better 2016 record than the Tigers).

It was a season in which everything went wrong. The team was a disaster from the opening bell and never found its footing. Considering the expectations and track record you could argue it was the worst season ever for the San Francisco Giants. The team was 16th of the 30 ML squads in runs allowed per game (4.79); they were 29th in runs scored per game (3.94). The league average for RA/RS was 4.65, I think you can see the problem. They couldn't hit and the pitching was sub-par. They also couldn't play the field or run the bases. The only players on the club with anything close to their expected performances were Buster Posey (.320/.400/.462, 4.3 fWAR) and Jeff Samardzija (207-2/3 IP, 3.8 fWAR).

One of the things about being a sports fan is that the outcomes are random. If you like movies of a particular ilk, say rom-coms or super-hero franchises, you can pick those when you go out and you will stand a good chance of getting your money's worth. If you go to the circus or to the opera you have a pretty good idea of what to expect. Sporting events don't give us that luxury. You have to take a risk--the performance could be a dud. Imagine if Broadway musicals had the variation we see in ballgames. Tuesday night's Hamilton could really stink but Sunday's would be epic, for example. Who would stand such a thing?

What we learn in life is to take the bitter with the sweet. There's no way to separate the bad from the good as the world is all jumbled up. It's not neat out there, it's messy, and it can't be untangled. We love the Giants so they drive us crazy. If we didn't care it would be a lot easier. But we do, so it isn't. We cry "wait 'til next year" when things are bleak. The 2018 Giants may be bad, or they may bounce back, there's no way to know for sure. One thing I'm sure of is that I'll be right here, chiming in on my beloved orange-and-blackers, and hoping you'll join me.

As always, my heartfelt thanks to all of you for reading, lurking, commenting, and posting. This is our 10th full season of blogging here at RMC, that's over 2200 posts! Writing about the Giants has taught me much about myself. It's brought into focus my lifelong relationship to baseball, allowed me to muse often on the nature of fandom, and forced me to ride out the highs and lows with some degree of equanimity. I can't wait to see what next year brings.

--M.C.




p.s. Baseball is a slow, sluggish game with frequent and trivial interruptions, offering the spectator many opportunities to reflect at leisure upon the situation on the field. This is what a fan loves most about the game.   --Edward Abbey (from Vox Clamantis in Deserto)

G-Fans Bid Cain Adieu

SD 3  SF 2
It was only fitting that Matt Cain would pitch well in his farewell; it was only fitting that the Giants would tag their teammate with another ND. You are what you is, like FZ sez, and Matt Cain is (was) a hard-luck pitcher. At the same time, he had an outstanding career, and his exploits will forever be etched in SFG lore. The fans got their celebration today, desperately needed in this un-celebratory season, and the Tennessee Stud got a proper send-off. Bit of drama in the 5th, his final frame, after walking the leadoff man he got a visit from Boch, the crowd booed, then the skipper left him in, and then they cheered. Matty did his part: twelve pitches to three batters for another scoreless inning.

Cain's line was 5 IP (18 batters, 73 pitches), 2 H 1 W, 4 K, and zero runs allowed in his 331st start. He turns 33 tomorrow having pitched professionally since he was 17 years old, all in the Giants organization, making his major league debut in 2005.

The Giants had a 1-0 lead after the 5th when Cain was pulled. The Padres tied it in the 6th. The Giants went ahead in the 7th. They took a 2-1 lead to the 9th, and with two strikes, two outs, and two on, a two-bagger scored two and the Rockies went ahead 3-2. That was the final--the Giants lose in Cain's last start. But that's the story of 2017. It will be over soon, I promise.

Matt Cain helped the Giants to a whole heap of wins over the years even if he didn't get the 'W' tag after each one. He was near tears in his post-game chat with AmyG, and that's only fitting.

--M.C.




p.s. Thanks to the real Matt Cain for inspiring me to spill lots of digital ink over the years!

p.p.s. Apologies to John Updike.

7th inning: 9-9

I'm a little late, I know. Got home yesterday after a week on the road. We camped in the mountains for five of the seven nights. We had a great time and got an excellent view of the eclipse (which was amazing). I missed a lot of baseball so you folks will have to fill in the details.

1st inning: 6-12
2nd inning: 6-12
3rd inning: 10-8
4th inning: 4-14
5th inning: 8-10
6th inning: 7-11
7th inning: 9-9

On Sunday the Giants were 50-76 for a .397 win percentage. They've since taken two of three from the Brewers and bumped up to 52-77 for that elusive .400 mark (actually .403). In a world where the Dodgers are playing .712 ball and streaking toward perhaps the single-season win record it doesn't seem like much. But any improvement is a good thing.

It will only take eleven more wins to reach 63 and avoid 100 losses. There are 33 games left to play, I think the Giants will pull it off. I know, it's a jinx to say it, let alone post it, but I think we'll be saved the ignominy of recapitulating 1985. They have twelve wins in the month of August, the only month that they've scored more runs (so far) than they've allowed. That needs to continue. I'm encouraged that Matt Moore is looking better. And Johnny Cueto should be back soon, that will be nice to see.

Looks like our super southpaws are up next, I'll let the Mystic One do his thing for those games and I'll be back on Sunday for Chris Stratton's start.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.


p.s. I'll be working up some posts over the next few days on my other blog about the eclipse and our adventure if any of you are interested.

4th inning: 4-14

1st inning: 6-12
2nd inning: 6-12
3rd inning: 10-8
4th inning: 4-14

That's  26-46 or .361 ball. It's as bad as it gets. The great ride we've been on is over.

If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous, he would, without hesitation, name that which elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of Commodus. [AD 96-180]

That's Gibbon. The Edward Gibbon of History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Just a little editing and we get this:

If a man were called to fix the period in the history of the world during which the condition of the Giants fan base was most happy and prosperous, he would, without hesitation, name that which elapsed from the promotion of Buster Posey to the departure of Sergio Romo. [AD 2009-2016]

Oh, yes. The accession of Buster Posey. And Madison Bumgarner. And the Core Four. And Matty and Timmy and the rest. Alas, those days are over. This new incarnation, the 2017 Giants, stinks. That's it. They stink. Even if they play .600 ball the rest of the season they will finish 80-82, hardly a playoff-caliber squad. This is a team with a $180M payroll, in the top five for MLB. This kind of performance is a disaster.

The Giants had an epic run from 2009 to 2016, getting to the playoffs four times and winning three World Series titles. That's the past. They kept the band together as long as they could, and it worked, getting that third championship and having a real shot at a fourth. Not many clubs can claim that. But the higher you climb, the harder you'll fall. It was an incredible experience to watch high-caliber championship baseball. But we have a new reality. To put it in newspeak, this is a team in transition.

I don't claim to know what to do. The team needs an obvious re-build, that's for sure. Key members will still be key members, but changes will happen and it will take more than just one season. It should be fun, as fans, to watch that happen. And that's it: I'm a fan. Just because the team sucks doesn't mean I stop being a fan. Sure, the crash after a raging high is tough, but I can handle it. I liked the team in 1985 when they lost 100 games; I'll stick by them now.

But it'll be rough going. I'll need a lot of bourbon, local herb, and Bessie Smith records to get through it. Will you stick with me?

--M.C.

Motherly Love

8-3 win in SF
The Giants take their third straight over the Reds with a big win today behind Jeff Samardzija and a resurgent lineup. Four runs in the 1st and three in the 2nd backed the big righty and Brandon Belt launched a long homer in the 6th to complete the scoring. Today was among the Samardz-jiest starts of the season for The Shark with dominant strikeout stuff mixed in with nine hits allowed. 114 pitches to get twenty outs, lots of foul balls and long counts and busy innings but overall effective, even if not very pretty. No walks or homers allowed--that's what I like to see. By my reckoning he's pitched well enough to win in at least five of his eight starts, four if you are picky, and had no decisions in his two best outings. He hasn't been great, but he's been perfectly adequate in the fourth-starter role and the 1-5 W-L record reflects the team's inadequacies more than his. The only W's that matter are in the team's win-loss record, as we all know, and the Giants get their fifteenth win and crawl out of the NL West cellar.

forget about
the brotherly and otherly love
motherly love
is just the thing for you

Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers out there!

--M.C.

A Bright Spot

Hey, Hey, Giants come out on top of a weird game, 10 - 7 over the New York Mets.   Madison Bumgarner facing off against Jacob deGrom.  That promised to be a low scoring pitching duel between two of the games top aces.  Madbum and deGrom both lasted only 5 innings.  Madbum gave up 4 runs on a grand slam, deGrom gave up 8 runs.  Has Madison ever given up a grand slam before?  I don't remember it.  It was the worst outing in deGrom's career.  Madbum struck out 6 and walked 3, gave up 6 hits and threw 89 pitches.  He got 2 of those runs back, home run number 3 for him on the year off of deGrom with 1 runner on.  Good thing, too, because after the Giants went up 8 - 4 at the end of 5, the Mets charged back with a 3 run 6th.  Gearrin, just back from rehabbing, gave up 2, Smith 1.  Then Law, Lopez, Romo and Casilla held the Mets.  Matt Cain was put on the DL to make room for Gearrin.  Giants tacked on 2 in the bottom of the 8th on a Buster Posey double for a final of 10 - 7.   3 rbi on 4 hits for Nunez, 3 hits for Span and 3 for Crawford, 2 for Pence, 2 for Posey, and hits for Panik, Pagan and Madbum.  I like being able to type a lot of names when listing guys who got hits.  17 total for the Giants.  To sweeten the deal, LA lost to the Phils so the Giants (who should have never have been in this position) gain a game.  And I get to use my favorite label.

How about those Olympics, huh?  Even if you accept the premise that athletic talent is randomly distributed, which you may not, athletic talent alone doesn't let you compete at an elite level.  You need training, coaching, nutrition, facilities, good PED's; and all of that takes money.  So I spent the afternoon doing division so that I could have some numbers to post that weren't associated with an L.  The following is a list of medals divided by GDP in billions of US dollars (x 1,000,000).

Azerbaijan           285.7
Kazakhstan          120.7
Hungary               119.7
New Zealand        82.8
Denmark               39.7
Russia                   37.9
Australia               22.5
Netherlands           19.7
Great Britain         14.7
South Korea          12.9
Italy                       12.4
Canada                  10.3
France                     9.6
Germany                 9.2
Brazil                      9.1
Japan                       8.2
US                           5.1
China                      5.1

You can't compute North Korea's numbers, although they have won 7 medals, as they have apparently no GDP.  Did you know Vietnam won 2 medals (shooting)?  Algeria and Quatar both won medals track and field, as did the Bahamas.  Fiji won a medal in rugby.  Did you know rugby was an Olympic sport?  Hard to tell if you watch NBC.  The Dominican Republic won a medal in taekwondo.   You know who the real Olympic heros are in this table?  The independent, or refugee athletes, who have won 2 medals.  No GDP or even anyone to cheer them at home.  Or home.

Madbum Finally Wins

This team is driving me crazy.  I was all set to dump on them with all sorts of invective and swearing, and they go and win and look (mostly) pretty good doing it.  They are so confusing.

The Giants have THE WORST record in the major leagues after the All Star break, still.  They are 9 - 18 since the break (.333).  That happens to teams sometimes for short periods, but it has been a month.  I can't explain why one team, with mostly the same players, was the best team in baseball and now is the worst.   And you know the worst part?  Teasers like tonight's 6 - 2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.  Because whenever that happens, I get my hopes up and then have them dashed the next day, often when they don't score at all.  I could give up on this team, but I know I can't.  It's like heroin, you need it even when it doesn't get you high anymore. 

But you know what?  The Giants have been playing .500 ball for awhile now.   They have won and lost alternately since August 3 and played .500 since July 28 when they went to Washington DC.  A record of .500 doesn't win you a division, but it sure beats what came before (2 - 8).

The Giants finally put a W on Madison Bumgarner's record.  That is his first since July 10.   Maddy went 7, allowed 0 runs, struck out 8 and walked 3.   He allowed 3 hits.  He has a National League leading ERA (except for Clayton Kershaw, who probably won't be able to pitch this year).   Derek Law threw a perfect 8th and Romo and Lopez struggled through the 9th, giving up 2 runs before Casilla ended the game on 1 pitch.

Joe Panik, hitting!  3 hits including a pair of ground rule doubles that bounced over the wall.  Denard Span, getting 2 rbi in each of 2 identical situations (runners on 2nd and 3rd, 2 outs).  A 2-run home run for Brandon Belt!  The Giants actually left 9 men on base in spite of scoring 6 runs.  So which team will show up tomorrow?  Will it be the crappy, no-scoring Giants, or the real Giants?  Please, please, let them be good.

So to wrap things up, I present a list of medal counts in the 2016 Olympics on a population-weighted basis.  The total number of medals a country wins, even though it incorporates many individual sports, seems to be a big thing, but wouldn't you expect a country with the larger population to win more medals?  Just a random sprinkling of athletic talent would seem to indicate that it would.  So although we like to see the US rack up medals, when a country like the Bahamas wins something, that is really meaningful. 

Country                 Medals per 1,000,000

Hungary                             1.12
Australia                            0.91
Great Britain                      0.46
Canada                               0.33
Italy                                    0.30
France                                0.28
South Korea                       0.26
Germany                            0.20
US and Japan                     0.19
Russia                                 0.16
China                                  0.03

Makes you think, doesn't it.

Rookies Take Care of Business

Chris Heston pitched well and Josh Osich came in to get four big outs and the Giants prevailed over the Phillies, 4-1. Andrew Susac's three-run homer was the back-breaking hit--he and Osich were teammates at Oregon State. Veterans Angel Pagan and Buster Posey were the rest of the offense with six hits between them. It was a good day at the yard. I like what I've seen from the flamethrowing southpaw. The 'pen can use a lift from a lefty with Jeremy Affeldt on the DL. The Dodgers got a late homer to fuel a comeback win in Milwaukee and close out the first half 4-1/2 games up on the Giants, that was the only blemish on the day.

Last night I went to a boxing match for the first time in forty years. Locals, all pros, we saw seven fights: two KOs, two TKOs, two unanimous decisions, and one split decision. Something for everyone. It takes some cojones to stand within arm's length of another fellow knowing he is going to hit you and try to put you down with blows. I had to admire their guts. In the end, if the fighters were even, the one with more stamina--more heart--prevailed. I kept thinking about the Giants. Our boys have shown tremendous resilience and determination in their championship campaigns. If they hope to prevail in the second half they will have to play their best ball. They've got 73 games left and the team ahead of them is on a pace for 92 wins. That means the 46-43 Giants will have to play .630, 46-27, to tie. Win as many games in the second half as the first. That's a tall order. Certainly the Dodgers could fade and fall like a glass-jawed amateur, but you can't count on that. No, the Giants will have to get in close and counter-punch. And no, I haven't forgotten how well that second wild-card worked out last season.

Enjoy the All-Star Break, everyone!

--M.C.

Tell Him Goodbye

This tweet from Baggs was in the feed on the sidebar.

I grew up with Lon Simmons. I remember when the Giants had Russ Hodges and Bill Thompson on the broadcast as well. KSFO, 560 AM was on a lot in my house when I was growing up, it was my mom's favorite station. Lon did the 49ers with Hugh McElhenny, too.

One of the things Lon did well was let the game speak for itself. Today's media-saturated world does not appreciate silence. There has to be noise all the time. Either the announcers never shut up or the stadium PA has music or other stuff to fill the air with sound. Baseball is a relaxed game punctuated by moments of tension. Lon had a great feel for the pace of the action, and knew when to sit back and allow the listener to enjoy the slow moments. It's a lost art. The Giants are lucky to have Miller and Flemm, they are both excellent. But neither have Lon's rich baritone or his sense of timing. Maybe with his passing they can learn some of his subtlety.

Recquiescat in pacem, Lon. Thanks for decades of entertainment!