42

A few days ago I was astride a granite boulder that rested in the scree along the edge of a Sierra lake. I was craning my neck to examine a small plant through a hand lens--it was a wild orchid, the tiny white flowers spiraling up a short stem that clung to a crack in the rock. The afternoon sun had crisped my forearms umber, and the wind whipped my hat enough so that I needed my chin strap. Down the mountain was a stream strewn with Tiger Lillies in the shady spots, and I soaked my hot, tired flesh in a surging pool eddying out from a small waterfall. The butterflies abounded along meadow verges, iridescent Melissa Blues and stately Lorquin's Admirals, and warblers chased each other among the lodgepoles. A few days before that I was dumping my companions and the beer cooler from the canoe and into the Russian River with an unfortunate maneuver. Fortunately, all was recovered, the summer levels being quite low, and we wrestled our craft back to action and finished the float. There were Fourth of July fireworks from an Oakland Hills vista, a famous play in a small theater in the big City, a Sonoma wine-tasting excursion, a seafood dinner along the Carquinez Strait, and many wonderful long days and late nights with family and friends. In short, it was a hell of a holiday.

And speaking of hell, how the hell did this happen? This 2013 Giants team? Poor performances, sure. Key injuries, of course. But collapse? This is not one of the scenarios I envisioned. At the very worst, I thought this a .500 club. I did not believe this team was capable of playing this poorly. Every baseball team puts up stretches of .350 ball. Sometimes it even lasts a whole season--just ask the Astros. But this sustained run of bad baseball is a shocker. On May 12th, the Giants had just taken three of four from the Braves and were 23-15, in first place in the West by two games. They've gone 19-35 since, including a stretch where they lost 16 of 19. They are now in fourth place, 6-1/2 back, fighting it out with the Padres for the booby prize.

The 2009 Giants won their 42nd game on July 1st (Game 77). The 2010 Giants won their 42nd game on July 5th (Game 82). The 2011 Giants won their 42nd game on June 24th (Game 76). The 2012 Giants won their 42nd game on June 26th (Game 75). The 2013 Giants piled it on in San Diego last night, finally racking up win 42 on July 12th, their 92nd game. That's the kind of math I don't like. In terms of seasonal innings, Games 73-90 constituted their fifth 18-game cluster, and cluster it was. They went 3-15, an unimaginable stretch of bad luck and worse ball-playing. That's 11-7, 10-8, 8-10, 8-10, and the unfathomable 3-15 for the five innings. On a bright note, two wins in Games 91 and 92 gets the sixth frame started off with a nice 2-0 record. If you break it down by month, April was 15-12, May 14-13, June a swooning 10-17, and July a wretched 3-8. If any team could use an All-Star Break, it's San Francisco.

I'm back home, my friends. I'm plugged in again. I'll admit that I took a vacation from the Giants as well--when I go AWOL I go all the way. I did not know about Homer Bailey beating Tim Lincecum and his mates with a no-hitter. I did not know about Zack Wheeler besting Matt Cain and the boys, Matty throwing his shortest start ever, on the heels of getting clobbered by the Dodgers. What's up with Cain? I'm dumbfounded. We watched Tim be just about the lousiest starter in the NL last year, now we get the pleasure of doing it all over again, this time with no. 18. I swear I have not insulted the gods! In fact, I make my regular offerings, just like always. Perhaps more drastic measures are needed. Thanks for holding down the fort in my absence.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Just the Facts, Man

I'm tired of opinions. They are fooking goddamn everywhere. Everybody's got one. You know something? I don't give shit. I don't want to hear it. Get in line. Write a blog. Stick your opinions up your bleeding fecking areshole, mate. I'm so sick of opinions I don't even want to hear my own.

So we are sticking with the facts, here. The Giants got their asses handed to them lost. It was 4-0. They got four hits. And one run. If I had an opinion, I might opine that four runs allowed and five innings pitched by a visiting starter in Denver ain't half bad. But I don't have an opinion and I don't want to hear any fucking opinions. The Giants got four hits. And one run. And they have played 79 games and lost 41 of them.

There, see? Don't you feel better when people stick a sock in it? When they hold back on that verbal diarrhea they can't help spewing? I know I do. The Giants lost Friday night's baseball game in Colorado.

--M.C.


p.s.  I'm off on a two-week holiday, my friends. You won't be hearing anything from me until the middle of July. The rest of the ro' will be chipping in, of course, and they are free to spout whatever the hell they want. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my blog-mates all of our readers and regulars and hecklers and lurkers. In my opinion, you make it all worth it! Thanks for sticking around. See you in a while. GO GIANTS!

Braves Take Round One

Atlanta's 22-year old rookie starter, Julio Teheran, needed only 93 pitches to get 21 outs. He couldn't stop Buster Posey, but managed to keep a lid on most everyone else and that was enough. Ryan Vogelsong continues to miss his corner spots and find the middle of the plate, and you can't do that very long in the big leagues. The Braves have some hitters in that lineup and the return of Brian McCann makes them even more formidable. I don't know what's going on with Vogie--he seems to have plenty of velocity and movement. He also threw 93 pitches but could not get through the 5th inning. He was not hitting the glove consistently, and when he fell behind and had to groove one he got dinged. Last night was game 35, and everyone in the rotation has now logged seven starts. The two southpaws have nine quality starts between them while the three right-handers only have seven, and four of those belong to Matt Cain. We've all been scratching our heads over Tim Lincecum's struggles, but Vogie has been worse. Let's hope he figures it out before too long. The Giants could use a big start from Cain tonight as the bullpen is short-handed with Santiago Casilla sidelined. Not to mention the fact that the Braves are countering with Giant-killer Tim Hudson, who's given up just 49 runs in 122 IP (17 starts) in his career against San Francisco. Expect a lot of ground balls.

I'll miss the game and Matty's outing as I have a retirement party to attend, one I've been looking forward to for some time and should be a lot of fun. Last time I missed watching Cain he shut down the Dodgers. Perhaps I should miss more of his starts.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

The Spanish Solution

The lads sported their orange kit last night and used it to good effect, seeing off the tourists one-nil. It was a cracking good show in the center of the pitch, with Barry Zito and Buster Posey leading a stifling, sure-handed game of ball control.

Hey, it worked for Spain! They won the World Cup final 1-0. And they won the semifinal 1-0, the quarterfinal 1-0, and their round of 16 game (the octofinal) 1-0. This 1-0 thing has real potential--we are talking international potential.  It saves on scoring, it really does, and that just tires the lads out unnecessarily. Best to save them for defense.

Seriously, it was a tremendous performance by Barry Zito. It wasn't a complete game, but it was as dominating as Lincecum's. TEN strikeouts! The Mets have to be scratching their heads--they came to San Francisco and wound up playing the Padres. When I said the Giants would have to play "as well" as the Padres, I didn't mean they had to play like they were the Padres. But a win is a win is a win. Whatever works, I say. The team has been smoking in July, winning 9 of 13. Matt Cain goes today, and it would be nice to see him re-discover his May form (6 starts, 44-2/3 IP, 10 R, 35 K, 0.918 WHIP, 2 CG).

Go Giants!

--M.C.

The HOF Senator of No

Senator Jim Bunning (R) KY has been in the news recently as a conspicuous dick-head who single-handedly obstructed the payment of unemployment benefits to millions of struggling Americans. It turns out he's consistently ranked as both one of the most conservative US Senators and as one of the worst US Senators.
As I'm sure anyone who'd be reading this blog would know, Bunning is a Hall Of Fame pitcher. So I asked myself, "Just who is this guy and what kind of a ballplayer was he? Were there any portents of dick-headedness apparent early in his public life?"

He pitched 17 ML seasons, 1955 thru 1971, with a won-loss record of 224-184 and a career ERA of 3.27. His 2,855 career strikeouts was #2 all-time at the time, now ranks as #17 all-time.
A perusal of his career stats page shows that he was a "workhorse" pitcher during his peak years, roughly '63 through '67, eating up 300+ innings and recording complete games in the teens annually.
In 1958, as a Detroit Tiger, he threw a no-hitter, and on Father's Day in 1964 he threw a perfect game for the Phillies.
The '64 season is notorious for the great "Phillie Phold."

"Bunning is remembered for his role in the pennant race of 1964, in which the Phillies held a commanding lead in the National League for most of the season, eventually losing the title to the St. Louis Cardinals. Manager Gene Mauch used Bunning and fellow hurler Chris Short heavily down the stretch, and the two became visibly fatigued as September wore on. The collapse of the 1964 Phillies remains one of the most infamous in baseball history. With a six and a half game lead as late as September 21, they lost 10 games in a row to finish tied for second place." (from Wikipedia)

Bunning and Mauch feuded. Mauch was experimenting with the idea of the manager calling pitches from the dugout but Bunning always shook off those signs.

Maybe that's what Senator Bunning has been doing lately, stubbornly shaking off the signs, signs from the American people, that change is a welcome thing, that we selected a president and a congress to get certain things accomplished, to make the world a better place. Instead he's standing up for some obsolete notion of the way things ought to be. And he's doing it all for a losing cause.

Happy Anniversary to Me!

Today is NUMBER TEN with the ever-lovin' wife, Robyn. Pretty cool, huh? She is a truly great partner and makes me a better man every day. Who could ask for anything more? Ok, maybe she would be even more perfect if she was a slugging firstbaseman...nah, then I would have to share her with the rest of the world.

Yesterday we had our semi-annual pilgramage to the City and the Ballpark. I didn't take the big camera (too much public transportation for that) but our phone cameras did pretty good. This one at the right was taken THE EXACT SECOND that Pablo hit his first homerun that night. I shit you not! I heard the crack of the bat right as the shot was taken...check out my eyes. I'll post a few tomorrow, as well as Monday's game review. We had a great trip and the game was a doozy, so I'll have alot to discuss.

But right now I'm going to go give my favorite Giants fan a kiss. Why don't you do the same?

Off Topic Topic

I am choosing not to comment at all on today's spring training game that featured Tim Lincecum. If you want to know about it, you can check this recap.

My rationale: I do not want to practice writing posts describing that type of performance. When, or if, Tim ever really truly tanks it, blows chow, coughs blood, etc. in a meaningful game, I want my written reaction to be fresh and unplanned. So, you see, I am really doing this for you, gentle reader. I just want to be the best dang blogger out there!

Anyway, here's my off topic question: How do you pick a cap for the new season? Same one until it decomposes? New one every year? Rotating stable of favorites? There must be dozens of answers to this very simple question. Share some with me. It is officially spring on Friday. I need to pick my cap before then in order to be ready for Opening Day. Don't you?

photo link