Monthly Archives: September 2013

Woo Hoo! Hunter Pence Gets his Multi-Year Contract!

Posted on September 28, 2013 | 1 comment

This is huge! Breaking news for sure, and it follows the day his teammates voted him winner of this year’s Willie Mac Award.

Hunter Pence and the San Francisco Giants: Five Year, $90 Million Extension on his Contract, that’s what they’re saying.

Oops! He’s all ours now!

I remember vividly last year when Hunter Pence signed with the Giants and flew into SFO to play in that night’s game. However, the flight was delayed and Pence arrived about 30 minutes after the game ended. But thanks to our loyal Comcast the cameras were on him as he arrived through the gate enroute to the clubhouse, duffel bag thrown over his shoulders, with our loyal “gonna be” fans waving and asking for autographs.

They obviously knew more about Hunter than I did. I mean, who was this guy? I liked his persona immediately as he dropped everything to sign autographs, shake hands, and basically just endear himself to the fans. And this was late, like 11:30 PM, most of the park lights had been shut down, and you know he must have been tired. I mean it was 2:30 AM Philly time.

Huggable, lovable Hunter with Xavier Lopez

So that’s my first exposure to Hunter Pence and it’s been all uphill since as we remember his rousing speech to the troops to keep going last year. This was the speech that got them to and through the playoffs for a chance to win the World Series, and win the World Series they did.

And 2013 has been another great year. Well, not such a great year according to the standings, but who cares about that? Our team has character, charisma, compatability, and the loyalty of 41,000 fans on any given day.

So welcome to five more years in San Francisco Hunter Pence! We, the best fans in Major League Baseball “softly” love you (sorry Buster) and open our hearts to you as you’ve opened yours to us.

San Francisco Giants’ Hunter Pence wins ‘Willie Mac’ Award (mercurynews.com)
Hunter Pence, San Francisco Giants agree to five-year deal (mercurynews.com)

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Tagged BUSTER POSEY, Comcast, huggable, Hunter Pence, lovable, Major League Baseball, next great Phillie, San Francisco, San Francisco Giants, Willie Mac Award, World Series, Xavier Lopez

So Who’s Your Favorite Team Now?

Posted on September 27, 2013 | 4 comments

Okay, so Division play is winding down and most of the Playoff teams have been decided . If your team isn’t one of them who you gonna cheer for? I mean, what’s a girl to do? Personally, I’m going to be hollering for the Los Angeles Dodgers. I know, I know, I’m a Giants fan and I said I wouldn’t. Go figure. But hear me out because there’s some logic to it.

If your team is beaten by another team and that team makes the Playoff’s, what happens if they’re knocked out early? It probably means that your team “really” sucked. If, what if, on the other hand, the team that beat the socks out of you for the Division, goes on to win the Pennant? It means that you were probably beaten by a really good team, a team that’s better than 14 other teams. So now your team isn’t looking so bad.

And what if, by some miracle of a chance, that team goes on to win the World Series. Then you can stand up really proud and say you were beaten by the best team in baseball this year. And really, there’s some honor in that don’t you think?

Yasiel Puig

But, if the Dodgers get whacked out of post season early we can always blame it on that little pipsqueak, Yasiel Puig, and not on the fact they’re a better team than we are. I know Puig’s good, well, really good, but he IS just a rookie and a bit of a smart aleck at that. And if they don’t do well, maybe we could also attribute it to Brian Wilson’s whining (think Larry Baer). Or to another 19-3 thrashing. I mean think of the options available if the Dodgers don’t produce in post-season. Just saying …..any way you look at it the Giants still come out smelling like a rose!

And you’ve got to hand it to the kids. They managed to stay out of the cellar (depending on the final three games to be determined) and at the end of a grueling, injury-filled season they’re wearing their last year’s World Series rings with smiles on their faces realizing the irony of it all. Baseball. You gotta love it.

Brian Wilson shouts at Giants CEO Larry Baer following Dodgers-Giants game (hardballtalk.nbcsports.com)
Brian Wilson’s Baby Fit (infotainmentnews.net)

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Posted in A1 Baseball, General, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants

Tagged Brian Wilson, Dodger, Larry Baer, Los Angeles Dodger, Playoffs, San Francisco, World Series, Yasiel Puig

The absurdity that is MLB’s tiebreaker system

Posted on September 25, 2013 | Leave a comment

GFBB Note: This is a rule that hardly anyone knows about, unannounced officially by MLB. It gives added strength to a team’s Intraleague record. So it stands to reason we’ll be seeing a lot more of intraleague play in the coming years. Not that that’s a bad thing, but in my opinion it takes away from the importance of Division play, i.e. why even have it? Division play I mean.

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Shortstop takes a Hit of a Different Kind ……Video

Posted on September 23, 2013 | Leave a comment

Video courtesy of YouTube and posted by sbjones20061

Back in July, as part of a pre-game ceremony, Chicago State Shortstop, Mattingly Romanin, became an unintended consequence of a mishap on the field. As a skydiver was making an approach to the field he landed squarely on the head/shoulders of Mattingly as he was standing near second base watching the performance.

No one was hurt in the incident, but the following day young Mattingly tweeted “I feel like I got kicked in the face yesterday …..” but I’m sure his actual feelings were more like “He tried to hit me with a forklift” which is totally understandable. In any event, the video says it all.

Daniel Descalso is still not a shortstop (vivaelbirdos.com)
Descalso getting more accustomed to playing shortstop regularly (kmov.com)

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Posted in A1 Baseball, General, A4 Uncategorized

Tagged Chicago State Baseball, forklift, Mattingly Romanin, non-sequitur, SBJones 20061, Shortstop, Wordpress, wordpress daily prompt, YouTube

Ruben Tejada diagnosed with broken right fibula

Posted on September 18, 2013 | Leave a comment

GFBB Note: What’s really amazing is that no one paid any attention to him as he laid on the ground, and then wobbled back to the infield. He kept limping back and forth and sideways in obvious pain. Immediately I wondered where the trainers were. Where was the Manager? Where was anybody to even ask the question “was he okay to play”? It was an unusual circumstance since Giants fans, and probably most others, are subjected to time-outs while fingers, bruises and other not-so-traumatic- injuries are checked out. Except for the fact that it was an outstanding catch, this was disturbing to watch. Sorry Ruben ~ we, the fans, feel for you.

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Baseball Ethics And The Pitcher’s Fake Challenge: It’s All About Yu

Posted on September 15, 2013 | Leave a comment

Ethics Alarms

Texas Ranger ace Yu Darvish, in addition to being the only Japanese-Iranian major league baseball player and an Abbot and Costello routine come to life (“Who won the game?” “Yu did!” “Who did? “Not Who, Yu!” “Me?” “Not you…Yu!” ), is apparently something of a trickster. In Saturday’s crucial game between the Rangers and the Oakland A’s, Darvish was facing A’s slugger Josh Donaldson, who had earlier in the season accused Darvish, a true flame-thrower, of being afraid to throw him his fastball. Darvish took up the challenge and as he prepared to throw his pitch to the Oakland thirdbaseman, shouted, “Fastball!” This, in the tine-honored traditions of the game, means that a pitcher is telling a batter that he can’t hit his best pitch, even when he knows what’s coming. It means, literally, “OK, hot shot, see if you can hit this, ’cause I’m…

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Barry Bonds loses his appeal, faces 30 days home confinement

Posted on September 13, 2013 | Leave a comment

GFBB Note: Craig Calcaterra’s take on the Barry Bonds Appeal is pretty interesting, no matter what side of this fence you’re on. And be sure and read the comments below the article as it gives a 360 Degree perspective, though some of them will give you a mammoth headache …..ugghh!

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The Dodgers on making the Playoffs or “What A Difference a Buck can Make!”

Posted on September 10, 2013 | 2 comments

Baseball Money

Brandon Belt made a comment yesterday about the Dodgers and their incredible 1st place NL West ranking this year, something to the effect, “that’s where they’re supposed to be”. I thought it to be a rather odd comment and did a little research to find that the Dodgers have the highest average salary this year in all of MLB, besting the Atlanta Braves who will undoubtedly be their biggest contender in the playoffs by more than double ~ Dodgers average salary $7,468,882 vs the Braves average salary of $3,095,800.

Personally, I’m cheering for the Braves for that reason alone. Even though my home team is the SF Giants, I’ve never bought into the “Giants-hating-Dodgers” routine that’s prevalent in both ball clubs. But I am a fan of getting those ridiculous obscene salaries in line with what the average Joe can afford to pay at the gate i.e., cut the cost of the tickets in half and halve the players salaries. or something like that. The players would still be making tons.

And I guess I’m still just a little peeved that the Giants, back in 2011, after winning the 2010 World Series and all the profits that go with that, raised the price of their season tickets. I know baseball’s a business but it doesn’t mean I have to like it. Just one fan’s opinion.