Remember Me?

Ah, the sound of the keyboard clicking, and the cursor actually moving on the screen and not just aimlessly blinking on a blank Microsoft word page.

 

It's certainly been awhile.

Truth is, I've been a little preoccupied since the end of baseball season, and I can't bear to write about the 49ers (where's a Christmas miracle when I need one?) I'm still reinforcing all my hockey knowledge, but until then, I'm really not knowledgeable enough to write about the Sharks or the Bruins.

 

But I can talk about the trades...and transactions that have happened.

 

FIRST:

 

Miguel Tejada. Miggi. The new Giants' shortstop. Taking over between second and third, he's 36 years old and coming to us from the San Diego Padres. It seems to be as if he might be declining, but still a good defensive and offensive addition to the team. I still think all in all the Giants really need some "POP" in their line up. There are days where we can really get the energy flowing throughout the whole line up...and other days when we...well...can't.

 

We'll definitely see what he can bring to the team.

Anyway, San Francisco is a very welcoming city.

So, Welcome.

 

We're still waiting on Edgar Renteria and whether or not he'll accept the offer the Giants have placed for him after Giants management turned down what him and his agent wanted.

Jayson Werth was a pipe dream.
I thought a new outfielder would be nice, in addition to Cody Ross and Andres Torres out there, but instead he signed with the Nationals for 7 years for 126 million dollars.
Kiss goodbye to those rings, Werth.

My friend and I (mostly him, I'm still warming up to the idea) had this idea that we could bring up Brandon Belt from the minors. Belt, a first baseman, could certainly bring some pop to the line up. Batting at .352 this year, he could definitely bring something to the team. 22/30 stolen bases, 23 home runs and 112 RBI's...not bad. Since Belt is a first baseman, and Aubrey Huff is our current first baseman, we could do a switch-a-roo, since Huff plays in the outfield.

We could send Aubrey Huff to right field, have Cody play in left, and put Belt at first.
I'd like to see that tried out.
We'll see.

SECOND:

Boston Red Sox walked out of winter meetings WINNERS.
Despite having to break out the wallet, the Red Sox walked away with former Ray, Carl Crawford who will join the outfield with Jacoby Ellsbury and J.D. Drew. It's likely that he'll be batting third behind Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia. As long as the Sox stay healthy, it's hard to say they need much more "POP" in their line up, but anything helps to push the team along into the postseason.

Adrian Gonzalez also joined the Red Sox, taking over at first base and moving Kevin Youkilis to third. Adrian Gonzalez is a former Padre.

The goal for the 2011 season is to strengthen the Red Sox bullpen. The starters also need to STAY HEALTHY (along with the rest of the team) as well as be more CONSISTENT.
Inconsistency is fun...to an extent.

With VMart off in Detroit, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Jason Varitek (who's usually back up) will take over behind the plate. They both hit well, and catch well, though Varitek (who's been with the Sox since 1997) will likely see more starts than Saltalamacchia -- although it depends on what we see from Salty as the early season progresses.

THIRD:

Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, and Cole Hammels?
Is it legal in MLB to have such a solid pitching rotation?

The Phillies are going to be the team to beat next year. Their line up consists of good hitters...and now with Cliff Lee rejoining their pitching rotation they're going to be a solid team.
It's gonna be a tough year.
The Phillies want to come back strong.

FOURTH:

Yankees lost Carl Crawford and Cliff Lee.
'Nuff said.

They did resign Jeter though.
I was thankful he wasn't coming to San Francisco.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to when the boys have report to their respective clubs.
No sweat.
Spring is right around the corner.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Endings.

While a majority of the country has settled into the offseason, today was the first day it really hit me; this is it.

We came all this way, won the World Series...

and NOW WHAT?

Don't get me wrong, the parade was super fun.

It finally settled in that we had really won the world series and I wasn't dreaming or anything.

The parade was really crowded.

Seriously.

It was just a sea of orange and black taking over the city of San Francisco.

Mr. Mayor.

B-Weezy.

Ramirez.

Freddy.

Zito. (Highs and Lows, <3)

This one's my fave.

But I'm biased.

Jonathan Sanchez.

Javi.

Cody Ross.

Willie Mays.

Hoist that trophy, Bochy.

AMEN TO THAT.

Quite honestly I was looking for more of an intresting series between two of the "underdog" teams so to speak. The Rangers had never been to the series, and as the SAN FRANCISCO Giants, we'd never won the series. We choked 3 different times. In 2002 we fell short against the Angels. In 1989, the year of the earthquake, we were swept by the Oakland A's, who brought the parade home across the crumbled bridge. I'm happy we won it all, but I wish it was more of a fight.

Texas took one game, so it wasn't entirely a sweep, but we never got to see their ace, Cliff Lee live up to his reputation. His dominance was virtually nowhere to be found. The Rangers' bats had nothing to say. Not Molina, not Hamilton. Texas sort of...rolled over and died.

--

I'm now cruising through the "now what" phase.

5 months or so until the first pitch is thrown for spring training.

104 days until players report to their respective clubs.

104 days of nothing but cold, foggy, San Francisco weather, November politics, and

even with the holidays soon approaching, it's still not the same.

The last part of summer that we were clinging on to is now gone.

(I guess they call it the "fall classic")

Time to get back to reality.

Reality Sucks.

Let's make it better...

Best part about baseball though,

It's always back the next summer.

It's about to be a looonngg winter. 

 At least I get to ask Santa for a very special present...

GIANTS ARE WORLD CHAMPIONS!

First thing's first.

Listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7Bq1DpffjE&feature=share

That song sums it up.

"Frisco Swag."

FUCKYES.

WE'RE THE WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!!!!!

screaming and crying and cheering and shouting...

annnnd skipping school wednesday for a parade.

let's break this down in large print.

(1). Tim Lincecum breaking it down for us today.

Madison Bumgarner, 8-inning shut out yesterday.

no words.

(2). Edgar Renteria.

like always (credit to cody for starting a rally, and uribe for getting the idea)

but RENTERIA. WORLD SERIES MVP!!!!

HOMMMMEE RUNNN!!!!!!!!!!

Wasn't easy.

Wasn't always all smiles.

WASN'T WITHOUT THE TORTURE.

for the first time,

the SAN FRANCISCO Giants are the world champions and the parade, the party, the pride is coming home to SAN FRANCISCO.

HOME.

city by the bay.

We won against the stupid professional odds.

we beat out the Phillies.

and we finished Texas in front of their crowd.

it's SO UNREAL

The Giants are coming home World Champions.

They, We made history.

ain't no one gonna forget it.

"WORLD" SERIES. VERY BRIEFLY GAMES 1&2

We've made it this far.

We beat out the Padres, the Braves, and then the Phillies and never looked back.

Talk about high scoring games!

Together, in world series games 1 &2, the Giants have managed to score a total of 21 Runs against the Texas Rangers -- in a world series game.

It hadn't really sunk in until Wednesday night when Freddy Sanchez was busy smacking doubles all over the field.

Then Uribe blasted one out into the bleacher seats, and then it really set in.

"Oh man, we're in the world series..."

O'Day came in as relief, and Uribe just squared up and swung. The guy's E.R.A was infinity, 1-run over 0 innings pitched.

Game 1 was expected to be a pitchers duel. A low-scoring square off between ace Tim Linecum and the Rangers' star pitcher, Cliff Lee. It didn't start out a pitchers duel. The Giants actually had to come from behind because Lincecum didn't have his command early on, giving the Rangers an early 2-0 lead at AT&T Park in the 1st inning. Since it was early, no one was panicking. The Giants aren't huge on offense, but I guess they were really excited.

Game 2 was a 9 run shut out of our Texan opponents. With CJ Wilson on the mound with his electric blue glove, the Giants produced the in the 5th, putting themselves 1-run ahead. The much indicated pitching duel of game 1 came during game 2, Matt Cain pitching a MASTERPIECE, still hanging on to that E.R.A of 0.00.

Edgar Renteria proved to be helpful and productive in games 1&2, offensively and defensively, not missing a beat. Renteria played short, moving Uribe over to third, putting Pablo Sandoval on the bench. I reckon (I really just said that out loud, it's all this Texan stuff) that he'll be at short in Texas as well.

Edgar Renteria, the world series rally starter, hit a home run into right field off of Wilson in the 5th to put the Giants ahead by 1. We also decided to rack up some insurance runs along the way. At one point, it was 2-insurance runs. As usual, it was Cody Ross who broke up Texas' no-hit game early on with a double. Cody came home twice, and walked twice, in addition to his double. Monday night, he earned an RBI during the 5th inning rally. Aubrey Huff has also been producing, especially when we need him most. It seems that he can hit balls through the holes, and like Cody manages to find the grass, if not the bleachers.

Matt Cain left the game to a standing ovation after getting himself into a slight situation. Slight. Javier Lopez came in and as usual took care of business by finishing Hamilton on two pitches, putting away the main threat.

After an exciting 6-run rally in the 5th in Game 1 of the World Series, the Giants decided to pull together a 7-run rally in the 8th -- with 2-outs. It was bottom of the 8th, with 2-outs forever. We scored all 7 of those runs with 2-outs. Texas played with their bullpen after their pitchers issued a number of walks. We scored on a number of walks, and loaded the bases on walks. With two outs, we swept through our line up once. The Ranger bullpen was rarely ahead in the count. Renteria singled, Rowand tripled and Torres doubled clearing the bases, and putting us ahead of Texas by 9-runs.

Texas I guess wasn't having fun and just wanted it to be over. We called to our bullpen, and the Texans went quietly as the park erupted in cheers.

Over the last 3 games, our pitchers, Sanchez, Lincecum AND Cain have been able to get on base. Sanchez and Cain both singled, and Linecum got on via an error. Point being, it's kind of rare...Madison Bumgarner can handle the bat well, so we'll hope that when he gets his chance to pitch, he can get on base as well.

It's been quite the week.

Spirit week at school, and the World Series...and Halloween coming up just as the Giants head to Arlington in Texas.

we're here in the world series (it's settled in -- I got my Cody Ross jersey today with the World Series patch on it) and we're fucking loving every bit of it

Texas might have cowboys, but

 we're equipped with a team of misfits (one of whom is a rodeo clown),

Don't mess with Texas? PUH-LEASE.

Y'ALL AIN'T GOT NUTHIN ON US.

GIANTS TO THE WORLD SERIES!!!!

I didn't sit down once during the entire 3 hours plus duration of the NLCS Game 6.

I paced in the living room, walked up and down the stairs outside a couple times to get air and did some jumping jacks and stretches.

Not for a moment did I breathe in that game.

Swear.

From the first inning where the Phillies scored on us twice, and to the very last of the 9th when Brian Wilson struck Howard out looking with two men on.

Here's how it broke down

With 3-outs to go:

Ross Gload to pinch hit.

easy out, Huff with the put out.

With 2-outs to go:

Jimmy Rollins takes a walk.

Still with 2-outs to go:

Polanco to first on a fielders' choice.

Rollins out at second.

With 1-out to go:

Chase Utley takes a walk.

STILL with 1-out to go:

In 7 pitches, Brian Wilson strikes out Howard looking.

The moment we took the NLCS:

Ran outside, screamed with my neighbor: "WE'RE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!!!!"

and jumped into his arms.

Best moment ever.

With that said, let's talk about evvverrything we had to do to lead up to the best moment ever.

From the moment the game started, there was crazy tension and emotions were running high as ever. In the third, Chase Utley was hit by a pitch square in the back by starter Jonathan Sanchez (who went two batters into the 3rd inning). Intentional? Absolutely not. Did Utley think so? Highly doubt it. 

Utley, will jogging over to first reached down and picked up the ball that had bounced off his back, and tossed it lightly to Jonathan Sanchez. Sanchez, I guess, didn't appreciate that, and had some words to say to Chase Utley over at first. Utley turned around, and said something along the lines of (I suck at reading lips), "WHAT?" before waving him off. The dugouts cleared, Huff played peace-maker, and no one was ejected. Pitchers were warned, and Game 6 continued on. 

Bochy voluntarily pulled Sanchez out, in fear that he would become more wild than he already is. It was only the 3rd inning, and the score was tied. 

The rally we had scored on was sparked by Jonathan Sanchez's bat. Sanchez singled, and Torres hit a lllooonnngg single due to some base-running confusion from Sanchez who held up at second. Freddy was able to lay down a perfect bunt, and we turned to Aubrey Huff. Huff "effortlessly" singled, scoring Sanchez easily. Torres was out at the plate after colliding with Carlos Ruiz. He was clearly out.

Aubrey Huff took that time to run to second base, putting himself into scoring position for Buster Posey. Posey hit a ball slowly into the infield, and Howard errored allowing Huff to score.

Without a starter, Bochy turned to our bullpen, first summoning up Jermey Affedlt. Our bullpen, despite their recent inconsistancy was AMAZING.

Affedlt pitched 2 shut out innings. Two-innings not breathing.

We then brought in game 4 starter, Madison Bumgarner...whom my friend and I have started calling, "Mads," because his name is too long to say.

Sorry, dude.

Mads came in, and got himself into some situations...some bases loaded, some threats...aaannnd got us out of those situations just as quickly.

When he left the game, we were still tied.

Javier Lopez came into the game in the bottom of the 7th in relief of Madison Bumgarner. Lopez still kept his rep. looking scoreless. Not allowing a single hit. He earned the win tonight, because obviously Sanchez got the no-decision.  

Lopez deserves so much more credit than he's getting, plus, fun fact, we have matching necklaces.

Our pitching staff held it down for us, allowing Juan Uribe to hit a go-ahead two-out homer in the 8th to put us on top.

 In the top of the 8th, the Giants were 6-outs away from the World Series. In the bottom of the 8th, Tim Lincecum comes as relief. He strikes out Werth.x We were 5 outs away. Lincecum found himself stuck in a situation with two men on, and just one-out. In such a close game, Bruce Bochy called upon Wilson to end the inning.

Wilson stepped out there, in all his bearded glory...

and gets Ruiz on a double play to end the inning.

Three outs away.

With 3-outs away, you know what happens. The moment Wilson saluted to the boo-ing, silent crowd I don't even KNOW how I felt. There were NO words for it.

The moment the guys jumped into each others arms screaming and jumping like five year olds, I wasn't even thinking about anything else.

They showed the guys celebrating in the clubhouse, and I looked around for my boy Cody. He wasn't there. Turns out he was standing accepting the NLCS MVP honors, all 5 foot 10 inches of him standing tall and grinning like the Cheshire cat. Actually his grin beats out the Cheshire cat.

Just when I thought I couldn't be happier, I found out that Cody's nickname is *smiles.*

I knew I saw something in him day 1...

Or I really didn't.

Sometimes things just work out funny like that.

Me = hella proud.

nor-cal speak. I love it.

I still love him as much as I did when he was Giant day 1. I think he even had some hair then.

BRIAN WILSON:

I want to be your best friend.
even if cody's already my best friend, i'll have 2 besties.

Giants in the World Series since 2002.

A chance to win it all.

Today, tomorrow, Monday we celebrate.

Tuesday, we stress a little.

I won't believe it until I see it Wednesday.

Best strike-out ever witnessed.

let's hope that the world-series can top this moment.

BABY.

THE GIANTS ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES, AND

TORTURE NEVER FELT THIS GOOD.

Painful (NLCS Game 5)

I thought we got off to a great start.

For the past several games in this series, its been like this: the team that got on the board first, won the game. There was a lot of back and forth, but that team always managed to win.

Today the Giants got on the board in the first and scored on a fielder's choice (crappy Conrad like fielding from Utley) and Posey got the RBI. At one point we were up 1-0, but we just couldn't hang on.

Today's game was very...MESSY.

Errors, and off line catches. Fouls that were called fair and slow reactions cost us Game 5 to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Roy Halladay attempted to bunt, his bunt ended up behind the plate, or on the plate, which is normally ruled foul. Instead it was called fair, and the throw to third to Sandoval to attempt to keep Ibanez (who unfortunately today produced) from stealing third, but he didn't manage to get his foot on the bag in time for the out. Halladay, thank goodness, reacted slow, thus he wasn't able to make it to first one time.

In the hellish third inning for the Giants, the Phillies were able to score two more with some balls hit nicely into the outfield, out of reach for Burrell, Torres, and Cody. At the end of the third, the Giants were down by two. Being early in the game, no one was having a panic attack quite yet.

We were able to kind of rally in the next inning. Cody Ross doubling in Burrell who had doubled before him. On a pop fly by Sandoval, Ross thought he could make it to third, so he broke for third, aaaannndd he didn't make it -- ending the inning. Cody had a rough night tonight, striking out mulitiple times -- swinging...I know his wrist hurts, but he can obviously still double. I hope that monstrous bruise on his wrist gets better by the time the Giants are in Philli.

The panic attack came when we just couldn't get men on base home.

We left them stranded there more than once. We had plenty of opportunities, and they just vanished.

Tim Lincecum didn't have the game of his life, but he did O.K, the change up looking better than I remember it. Like they said though, the velocity slowly decreasing...

Javier Lopez made an appearance tonight; good as always.

Sergio Romo also came out...though he was gone after he somehow injured himself tripping and trying to run to first base. Man down.

We wasted the 8th to come back, and in the 9th, Werth hit a solo-shot over the right field wall off of Ramierez, and the score was 4-2.

Damn you Werth.

Anyway, after a quick ninth, and Lidge striking out pinch hitter Ishikawa swinging, the Giants scrambled out of that dugout as quick as the possibly could and the crowd was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

The Giants are off the Phillie -- again.

Is it just me, or does it feel like we're mirroring the Rangers vs. Yankees series?

The fact that we were so close just made that loss just so much more painful.

I'm going to now go two days trying my best to hate Roy Oswalt (hate the enemy). On a weirdly different note, I've decided that I want Dan Uggla to be a Giant, it fits.

Our team looked tired today, worn out; ready to take a nap.

Seriously, Cody Ross and Pat Burrell both looked like they could have fallen asleep right there on the grass. Huff was swaying on first base, and Freddy could maybe fall asleep standing up. Posey was maybe sleeping behind the mask; dozed off a few times.

well, no more of that, WAKE UP GUYS.

Get some sleep on that 4 hour plane ride over to Philli.

On Saturday, Jonathan Sanchez will take the mound against Roy Oswalt.

Despite Oswalts stunning (see! there go the compliments!) home record, the Giants have proven that what happens in the regular season means nothing in the post-season.

Sanchez has proven to be our pressure pitcher.

Put the champagne glasses down, breh.

We ain't done yet.

JUST. ONE. MORE.

sound familiar?

Yeah.

Let's go out there and play like we mean it.

How the Giants Roll (aka NLCS Game 3)

Hey Phillies, you're on our turf now.

Home of the Golden Gate Bridge, and notoriously difficult to walk up hills (even more annoying to drive up, ah the tires!) Foggy mornings, days, and afternoons, sporadic weather, and chilly Pacific winds, nope, San Francisco never disappoints. 

After coming home off rather painful loss in Philadelphia, the San Francisco Giants were quick to bounce back. After an earlier flip-flop in the pitching rotation by manager Bruce Bochy the Giants put starter Matt Cain on the mound. I've decided that the Giants just have a problem with Game 2 no matter who we put on the mound. But that's beside the point. Matt Cain shook off his last start (which he quite honestly did fine in, we just didn't win) and took to the mound again today for round 2.

I wonder how he fits all that hair under the cap...

Matt Cain was looking good...pitching wise.

He dominated, allowing two hits, issuing just two walks and striking out five. He featured a wide array or pitches today and went for 7 innings before handing the ball to our bullpen. Cole Hamels pitched today for Philadelphia. The lefty went for 6 innings, allowed one walk, 5 hits and 3 runs. He also struck out 8 in the process. San Francisco claims to have the best bullpen in all of the majors -- but in the post season, the bullpen has been slightly inconsistent. Today however, they got the job done, no messes to clean up. Javier Lopez came in the 7th to relieve Cain, the lefty specialist also took on a righty today, and managed to keep his post season record perfect.

Brian Wilson (what an awesome guy) earned the save. His second against the Phillies. He allowed on hit to Rollins and struck out Werth swinging. We ended the game on a high note, as Ibanez (who is 0-10 in this series) ground into a double play.

It's annoying that since today's game was in the middle of the day, I could have bought tickets from a secondhand source for a reasonably cheap price. However, since it's a day game, I'm also stuck withering away in French, Anatomy and Math class while shouting the scores across the room to friends.

"TWO AND OH TO BURRELL!"

One can see how that could not work out well, or better yet, in French. "TROIS ET DEUX A HUFF!"

Sigh, two more years, just two more years. Only, who knows where I'll end up in two years...

I feel like I'm going to hear about the importance of education tonight...

Oh well.

Last night the Rangers shut out the Yankees in a 8-0 win lead by the seemingly unstoppable Cliff Lee.

Today's batting line up was all twisted and weird and mutated, not that it didn't work out for us. My first thought was that it would mess up our team chemistry going on, but I guess not. We led off today with Edgar Renteria who was at short, then Freddy Sanchez at second in his usual spot. Instead of Huff, Posey followed, obviously behind the plate for the day. Burrell started in left, batting 4th. Then came Cody Ross (cheers loudly) who was in right, but later moved to left. Aubrey Huff followed Ross, then it was Uribe starting at third today. I guess his wrist was better. Aaron Rowand started in centerfield today and took on the 8th spot in the batting line up.

I guess it wasn't weirdly mutated, just different.

Aubrey Huff, Freddy Sanchez, Edgar Renteria, and of course Cody Ross all produced. We somehow found a way to get men from base home without any big blasts. The Phillies got through the line up once without a hit. Edgar Renteria in the lead off spot was the one to break up the no-hitter, singling to spark a rally of sorts. Freddy succesfully bunted, sending Renteria to second. Posey got out (the details are vague because we were setting up an experiment while all this was happening). Burrell took the walk, and with two outs Cody Ross came up to bat.

Continuing to add to his impressive post-season record, Cody earned himself another RBI by singling and sending Burrell to third and Renteria home. Still with two outs, Aubrey Huff singled in Pat Burrell to make the score 2-0. Matt Cain was able to hang on to that after having to dig out of a few stressful situations. No bases loaded situations though. We were able to keep their offense quiet today. Silent actually, shutting out our second team this post-season. Our third run came after a double by former Phillie, Aaron Rowand. In another 2-out situation, Freddy Sanchez was able to knock him in, making the score 3-0 Giants.

Looks like the one run game streak has ended, but it's very possible that it could come back.

2 down, 2 to go.

Phillies in San Francisco Day 2.

Let's Go.

Pictures

These were on my friends camera, they're from the Giants vs. Brewers and the Padres vs. Giants.

goodtimes.

NLCS Game 2

It goes without saying that that game could have gone better.

Much better.

The Giants didn't put up a fight (except for the Cody Ross home run, thanks, Cody), and basically earned ourselves a loss despite Jonathan Sanchez's efforts.

The Phillies really did do everything they could to win that game, and the Giants did nothing but help them. We managed to not catch a pop up in the middle of the infield. Really, it went straight up in front of the pitchers mound. Sanchez stood there motionless, Fontenot, Huff and Posey all came in for it. I think maybe Posey was trying to avoid that collision incident like the one that happened in the NLDS game 2 with Pablo Sandoval. Huff looked at Fontenot who was going for the ball before doubting himself and looking at both Huff and Posey who had paused midway. Jonathan Sanchez observed the entire situation without ever shouting for anyone to get it. No one called the ball, and it ended up falling a few feet away from Fontenot -- there was no play. Our team may be close, but we're not telepathic.

Then there was the almost error by Edgar Renteria who caught a ball, and watched it pop out of his glove before he finally smothered it while shaking his head. Still managed to smother it though, so could have been worse.

Andres Torres struck out 4 times and we got a grand total of four hits. In the second inning, Oswalt walked Cody Ross, and in the process attempted to take his head off. Ross walked up to the plate with the crowd booing -- loudly. Oswalt threw this pitch that Ross had to elaborately dodge so it wouldn't decapitate him, and the crowd cheered.

Hm...accidental?

Of course, he got back at Oswalt during his next at bat by swinging at a pinch inside and sending it into the stands for a home run. Our only run of that game.

Freddy Sanchez got two hits, and Travis Ishikawa got one pinch hitting. That was all though, our offense was flat out dead.

The Giants have a great bullpen to brag about; arguably the best in all of the majors, but they didn't get the chance to prove that last night. We saw something like 5+ pitchers come in and out of the game, none of whom were able to minimize the damage. Not Casilla, not Rameriez, no one.

There was no fight.

Baseball has taught me to be optomistic. More specifically, the Red Sox have taught me to be optomistic. We have a lot of games to go, and hey, we're coming home. We just need to stay one step ahead of them. Get on the board first, and fight for it.

Giants are coming home.

Actually, they're likely already home.

and I'll be watching the game tomorrow on my phone during class.

It's not over yet, it's far from over.

Being home, the Giants better be pumped with energy and ready to fight.

I plan on sending the Phillies home LOSERS.

Let's make it happen.

Giants take NLCS Game 1

Well, the much anticipated duel between Lincecum and Halladay has come to an end, the freak walking out of Game 1 with the win.

That duel might be over, but the series is far from over.

Breifly, tomorrow Jonathan Sanchez will take on Roy Oswalt. Originally, it would have been Matt Cain, but Bruce Bochy did the flip-flop early on, slating Sanchez to pitch Game 2.

We've won game one, the Rangers have tied their series with the Yankees in an impressive 7-2 win today. People are already looking way ahead, will we see Benji Molina? Let's not even go there yet.

We're taking this ONE GAME A TIME.

Game 1 like all the other play-off games the Giants have played, was determined by just one run. Tim Lincecum out pitching Roy Halladay in the end, walking away with 8 strike-outs. Brian Wilson (after torturing Giants fans) strutted away with the save.

The Phillies got close several times, too close for comfort, but the Giants managed to stay one step ahead of them.

The first thing to take notice of is the size of Citizens Bank Park. It's SIGNIFICANTLY smaller than AT&T, a hitters ballpark indeed. Before the Giants came into the NLCS game 1, we knew that our offense had to step it up. I don't know how many of our guys took this seriously, but Cody Ross did.

Cody Ross was coming off heroics in Atlanta, Georgia against the Braves. In Atlanta, he became public-enemy #1, In Philidelphia, he was booed at his last at-bat.

Cody Ross continued to display his heroics in Philidelphia by hitting back to back home runs off of ace Roy Halladay.

He's finding pitches he likes, and it's good. The Giants, not surprisingly, left a number of men on base. However, the Phillies did the same, leaving our pitching staff to clean things up.

Ruiz returned Cody's first homer with a solo shot of his own, tying the game.

Cody Ross, unsatisfied I guess, hit a second homer at his second at bat. He was "on base" a total of 3/4 times tonight, the last time, on a walk which loaded the bases, but we left it that way.

The Giants did have some success getting men home tonight. Uribe and Burrell both earned RBI's. Burrell, the Bay Area native and former Phillie got some revenge today by singling in Posey who had singled, and Uribe singling in Burrell who had doubled. The runs earned there turned out to be key in addition to Ross' two runs.

They were more than just cushion as it turned out Werth hit a two run shot to make the game a one run game. In the end however, after Wilson pitched something like a million and two pitches outside, he struck out two after giving up a single to end the game.

The best part is that the look on Ross' face after he hit both those home runs.
basically, priceless.

Always excited, always with that grin, I love it.

Wilson came in after Lopez in the 8th. Lopez ("the lefty specialist") struck out both of the lefties, and set the stage for our star-closer.

Wilson struck out the last Phillie swinging, after an intense, intense at bat.

But like the Wilson all of us here in San Francisco know, he's not out there to play games, he's out there to get the job done.

There's all this criticism on the Giants' 1-run game style, but that's just the way we do it.

I mean, obviously they weren't able to come back from that one run defecit, so no matter how we won it, we still won it. Having that one run is just enough for us to walk away with a win, and in the end, does it matter how we did it?

Not a Highly Paid Cheerleader

So I might be biased, but

Barry Zito is NOT a highly-paid cheerleader. 

He's a highly paid "daddy" of the pitching rotation.

...and occasional (apparently) long term relief pitcher...

The only person who can be angry at Zito right now is Zito,

and maybe the guy who makes out his pay check.

stop complaining because the Giants are in the NLCS.

I'm sure he knows he messed up.

He'll bounce back, just watch.

Give the guy a fricken break.

"Adopt" a Rookie

My friend and I, we have this tradition of adopting an up and coming player every year.

No, I don't mean guys like Madison Bumgarner and Buster Posey,

we look into the minors, pick a player who we feel has potential, and keep an eye on them.

This year's baseball rookie, is sort of, kind of a rookie. He's had his first major league hit for the Giants which was against Arizona.

His name is Conor Gillaspie.

He caught my eye for the first time in 2009, playing with the San Jose Single A minor league south of the Bay Area. He looked like a good player, fielded well, and had a strong arm. As much as I'd love to say I look just at the stats and numbers, but I got a lot by gut feeling too.

He's got the opposite of Cody Ross batting/gloving going on.

He bats left, and throws right.

It just hits me sometimes, I look at a guy, and I think, "Dude. He's gonna make it big."

I got that gut-feeling when it comes down to Conor Gillaspie.

My friend doesn't think potential is enough. She says, "potential to succeed means there's also potential to fail." But I don't even go there.

It's kind of a fun tradition. Single A to Double AA, etc, etc. Means a lot when they actually go out there and prove their potential. Then you can say to everyone, "I TOLD YOU SO!"

Plus, doesn't that smile just look charming? :]

My hockey rookie of the year is definitely fresh, but he's probably already got a fanbase going for him.

At the age of like 18 (I can't really do math in my head, so I could very likely be wrong), he hails from Canada and plays for the Boston Bruins.

His name is Tyler Seguin.

He's my favorite because he's #19.

Just kidding. But #19 is a favorite number because it means you share with Boston's Josh Beckett.

He's not a big shot yet,

but maybe he will be.

That's the fun of it,

we'll just have to wait and see.

Riding High on The "I Told You So" Wave.

I woke up this morning, lightweight grouchy because I had a math test AND I got a 'C' on my most recent economics test and had to do a crap load of test corrections, but then, I went to get the paper, and of course, I flipped to the sporting green first, and this is what I saw.

Pretty great way to start the day off. Except for I hate clowns.

I'm LEGIT scared of clowns. Especially rodeo clowns because I swear this one time, this crazy clown was trying to steal my horse in Arizona. Think he got way too close at one point when my back was turned, but he musta spooked Draco (the horse, yes he's named after Draco Malfoy), and the horse freaked, the clown ran and I never saw him again.

Anyway, story time over.

ON A DIFFERENT NOTE:

How does one even associate the words, "Average Joe," with the San Francisco Bay Area?

You're around here long enough, you're barely an average Joe, and our baseball team is most definitely not a bunch of "Joes."

Just to name a few un-average guys:

You've got Brain Wilson with his shoes, and the hair, and the beard.

Timmy's lengthy hair.

Buster Posey's incredibly decorative, and elaborate catching mask.

Romo's beard.

Really, the beards in general.

Aubrey Huff's transformer tattoos.

Barry Zito, being the awesomely-quirky Barry Zito he is...

I like the whole, "fear the beard" thing or what not.

I mean, quite honestly, who cares how they look so long as they play well?

I don't.

 The beards didn't get us to the NLCS.

This is our team,

We gotta lot of personality,

so lay-off 'em.

If you ain't gonna embrace it,

don't criticize it.

NLDS Game 4

Nothing I write here will do this game justice; nothing anybody writes will do the whole series justice. The Braves and the Giants played 4 games throughout this NLDS series, all one run games that had EVERYONE on the edge of their seats. Not for a moment was anything for certain. Things changed in split seconds -- if you blinked, you'd miss some crucial turning point in the game.

The series was flawed with errors on both sides. The hitting was minimal, the pitching phenomenal.

The series has come to an end, but there's so much to say about it.

Game 4 was the most intense game I'd ever sat through.

The Braves' Derek Lowe came in on 3-days rest and got through the Giants order no sweat. The Giants were hitless against Lowe until the 6th. The only base-runner had been Andres Torres who had gotten on base via an error by shortstop Gonzalez, but he was caught stealing second shortly after.

The Giants sent out rookie pitcher Madiosn Bumgarner. The North Carolina native is just 21 years old, and he just turned 21 too. If his birthday had been any later he wouldn't have been able to celebrate with the guys in the clubhouse legally. Despite his young age, he pitched beautifully for about 6-innings with the help of Buster Posey behind the plate. I think that Posey is partly responsible for the success we've had with our pitching rotation and our unstoppable bullpen. Bumgarner limited the Braves' damage to just one run. Like I said though, things change instantly.

After my thousands of rants on Cody Ross, I can't help but to feel like I have the right to say, I told you so. 

Cody Ross, lucky #13 would be the one to break up Lowe's no-hitter with a home run over the wall.

After his first at-bat, Edgar Renteria told him, "Cody, get your foot down." Maybe that did it for him.

But the Braves, who were trying not only to stay alive for one more day, but also win one for their retiring manager Bobby Cox returned the aggressiveness.

Braves' catcher, Brian McCann sent a home run ball almost a mirror image to Ross' home run to put the Braves on top again.

The Braves were going to put up a fight, and the Giants did the same. In the top of the 7th, we loaded the bases. Aubrey Huff drew a walk and Buster Posey singled --  Pat Burrell also drew a walk, and Bobby Cox came out to take the ball from an exhausted looking Derek Lowe. Peter Moylan came out to face Juan Uribe with one out and the bases loaded -- a pressure situation indeed.

Uribe got to first on an error by Gonzalez, his second of the game. Huff came home to tie the game and everyone was safe. Moylan sat down and Venters came up to try and keep the score at 2-2. Aaron Rowand came out for a pinch hit to replace Mike Fontenot who had a few stumbles himself in this game. Rowand struck out swinging, but nobody was breathing easy. Not Giants fans who ddesperately wanted a lead in the 7th and not Braves fans who knew that there was still 1-out to go, and as they'd learned from yesterdays game, a lot can happen even if there's just one out to go.

Cody Ross came up to bat.

Cody singles in Buster Posey, earning his 2nd RBI of the game, 3rd of the series (because obviously the error yesterday didn't count), and putting the Giants ahead by 1.

The inning ended there, Burrell got thrown out at home, but Bochy turned to our bullpen to hang on to that 1-run lead. Our bullpen must have shaken off whatever jitters they were having before this, because they came out there and took care of business.

The game was suspenseful up until the very last out. The Braves ended up stranding two men on. The throw that ended the game, and Bobby Cox's career could have been disastrous for the Giants. Juan Uribe gloved Melky Cabrera's grounder perfectly fine, but the throw to first was VERY high. Travis Ishikawa who'd come in to play first handled it neatly, jumping up to catch the ball, but in time to get his foot back on the bag for an out, thus ending the ball game. Brian Wilson earned his second post-season save.

The Giants gathered to celebrate, but not before the crowd chanted for Bobby Cox to come out. When the Giants paused to clap and cheer for him, Cox waved back. The crowd stood and cheered for the former Braves manager who had watched his team play for the last time.

They didn't play in front of a full crowd, and they didn't win the game, but Bobby's got a lot to be proud of. Cox stepped out today, for the last time in his #6 uniform, a legend leaving the field for good.

The Giants players only had good things to say about him. Bobby Cox will be missed, his presence will be irreplaceable. He leaves behind a void that will likely never be filled, but also a team that will carry on his legacy.

The moment ended when Cox disappeared back into the clubhouse, and the Giants returned to celebrating. Cody Ross was whisked away to do press conferences, and joined the celebrations a little bit later.

Everybody keeps saying that he was an unlikely hero, but to me, I saw it coming. It's the whole 'gut feeling' thing again, I guess. I'd been talking about him the moment we got him off waivers, the day he hit a single for San Francisco in his first at-bat as a Giant; or when he was running for his life to first base against the Dodgers.  He might be an unlikely hero to everyone else, but to me, he was just waiting for the right moment.

"'Gimme some! Gimme some!' Ross shouted as he entered the scrum of players celebrating in the visitors' clubhouse at Turner Field. Oh, they gave him some, all right. Enough adult beverages to get a fraternity through a weekend immediately poured all over the outfielder's shaven head. 'Can't breathe! Can't breathe!' he said laughing as he ran out of the sudsy shower he'd so gleefully requested and received." - MLB.com

I'm pretty sure I've already said this,

but Cody, I love you, breh. 

"You know, the past is the past. I'm glad I'm where I'm at now, and I'm happy to be here and I'm just enjoying the ride."

- #13 Cody Ross

And what a ride it's been.

Sure, enjoyable in times like these, but being a fan all season long, there were some moments of heartbreak no doubt. That's the thing about baseball though, it'll break your heart, but it always makes it up to you somehow.

"'I watched the whole throw, every millisecond of it, watched Ishikawa's foot, saw the umpire call him out and then -- pandemonium,' Wilson said. 'It was, 'Where am I? Who's going to hit me? Do we even do that right now? I don't care. I'm going to jump around.'"

-Brian Wilson
(yahoo news)

I think I had my eyes closed during that last play too, but after that it was reason to celebrate. Fans have roughly 2 days to jump around, celebrate, eat cake, pie, parrrttyyy in the middle of the damn week...and then we can settle back into our stress mood again.

"I don't know how you can be a fan of this team all year, it's a grind...we don't do it easy."

- #17 Aubrey Huff.

(ESPN)

In response, I'd have to say, it hasn't been easy all year long, but moments like these go a long away. I love this team, and truthfully, in the beginning of this season, I saw the team as a whole bunch of guys who played as individuals. We didn't really come together as a team just yet. It took some time, and some new guys and suddenly we were playing play-off quality. Getting to watch the team come together has been amazing, and this baseball season is going to be UNFORGETTABLE.

This series will be unforgettable.

No, the Giants don't do it easy, but 'easy' isn't necessarily what we want to see. They put our faith to the ultimate test.

But in moments like these, in the thrill of the win, the thrill of your favorite outfielder whom you pleaded to be in the starting line up (pleaded to no one influential of course), is the HERO...that's when it's all worth it.

It's worth it when you see all the guys jumping around in the clubhouse like little kids.

It's worth it when you're hugging random strangers in Giants jerseys.

It's worth it when you've lost your voice cheering.  

It's all worth it when your team pulls through an amazing win.

No, easy isn't what we want.

Forget all the bandwagon fans -- they're just experiencing the torture. Those of us who've followed the Giants forever, we've already gotten used to it. 

And all that torture just makes every unforgettable win, like this one that makes it just that much better.

Giants --

Let's go round 2.

Thanks, Conrad!

Giants fans all know that the hero this evening is clearly Aubrey Huff.

In what was a rather un-eventful game, the Giants emerged with a 3-2 win against Atlanta. For Atlanta, the game was heart-breaking.

Huff might be the man of the hour, but I can't say that we could have done it without Braves' second baseman, Brooks Conrad. I am indeed thanking the second baseman of the opposing team, why? Let's just say, Errors.

Plural. The guy errored 3 times in the game.

He errored once in the first, looking like he had lost the ball, but Tim Hudson dug himself out of that sticky situation and the Giants left two men stranded. We can assume that Conrad was...let off on a warning.

Don't do that next time.

The second time he errored, he wasn't so lucky. In the 2nd, Mike Fontenot lead off with a triple, a big hit for the Giants. Fontenot took the place of third baseman Pablo Sandoval today, thus allowing us to keep Freddy in second. Anyway, Fontenot tripled, bringing up Cody Ross. Ross had sort of an off offensive day today, at least in comparison to his last several games in which he has at least doubled once in each game. He had a good defensive day though, both out in right field fighting the strong sunlight and out in left. He's been a key offensive player in this series. Ross comes up to bat, and it appears to be an easy out; a pop up to shallow right field. The right fielder comes running in for it, and so does Conrad who calls it, he reaches, he looks like he has it, but it just pops right out of his glove.

Fonenot who was on third came home easy making the score 1-0, which is what it was for a majority of the game. Cody Ross was safe at first. This time, Conrad didn't get out of that one. The Atlanta crowd looked like zombies for a lot of the game, Jonathan Sanchez not allowing a single run up until the bottom of the sixth when Tim Hudson broke up Sanchez's no hitter with a ball out to shallow right field. Sanchez ended up striking out 11, and allowing just 1 walk throughout the 8 innings he pitched.

Our pitching rotation, our starting pitching rotation has been incredible. Lincecum, Cain and Sanchez able to hang on to leads. Our bullpen on the other hand seems to have the play-off jitters. They're going to need to shake those off, clearly Wilson has shaken them off, so the rest of the bullpen should follow suit. Our bullpen, which is one of the best, and maybe even THE best in all of the majors is back to the way they were pitching in August. Our pitching in August was frankly, not a good sight.

Braves fans, like zombies, came back to life in the 8th inning right after we put Sergio Romo out there. Romo and Lopez were both warming up in the bullpen, but Bochy put Romo out there instead; Romo, I'm sure, was trying to redeem himself for the mess he sort of, kind of got us in Friday night. He was unsuccessful in that he gave up a a home run to Eric Hinske in the 8th with a man on base, making the score 2-1 Braves. 

Hinske would have been the story.

His big hit would have made him man of the hour for the Braves, and Mr. Asshole of the hour for the Giants. However, that was not the case today.

The Giants mounted a comeback. With one out in the 9th, Travis Ishikawa, pinch hitting, drew a walk. The Giants had a base runner. Andres Torres struck out, bringing up Freddy Sanchez with two outs. The Giants were just barely hanging on. The Braves were just 3 strikes, or a pop out, or a line out, or a ground out away from taking game 3.

 Freddy Sanchez, clinging to a life singled off of Krimbel.

Bobby Cox called up lefty Dunn to pitch against lefty Aubrey Huff. Huff tends to hit better against lefties.

Giants fans were holding their breaths again, with two men on, and two outs, we were back to holding on for our lives. Aubrey Huff didn't seem the feel the pressure. Dunn however, looked like he was feeling it.

Braves fans were on their feet, cheering for him to close the game already.

Unfortunately for them, it wasn't so easy.

Aubrey Huff came through for us with a single, sending Ishikawa home, and tying the score in the top of the 9th. The Giants were alive! There was a pulse!!

But the Giants didn't feel that was enough. After the few pitches that Dunn threw, Cox called upon Moylan to pitch against rookie catcher Buster Posey. There's kind of a pattern -- if Huff is on it, Posey's on it. It SORT OF went that way. Sort of.

This is where we need to thank Brooks Conrad again.

With a men on first and second, Buster Posey sends a ball straight at the second baseman, like the guy didn't even have to MOVE to get the ball.

But maybe Conrad is secretley a Giants fan because he pulled a Bill Bucker and let that ball roll right through his legs and into the outfield.

Freddy Sanchez was safe at home and the Giants were very, very much alive.

Braves fans were silenced. The story was no longer about Eric Hinske, it was about a 9th inning come back with just one out left.

With one out left, we hung on. That says something about the team.

It says to Jonathan Sanchez, "we got your back."

I have no idea what that says about the Braves' second baseman...

Brian Wilson made an appearance in the ninth to take care of business, which he did. Brian Wilson got the  save, ending Game 3 for the Giants and the Braves.

It's funny (well, funny isn't the word I would use, but I can't think of a better one) to think that if we had hung on to that lead in Game 2, we would have clinched. But I guess the baseball gods just wanted to make things interesting. Well, mission accomplished to them!

This series has been about taking advantages, or least it's starting to be. We definitely took advantage of Billy Wagner being out. Losing Billy Wagner was no doubt a HUGE blow to the Braves, and Bobby Cox did what he could. The Giants took advantage of this.

Andres Torres stole a base today, even after Hudson's crazy attempts to keep him at first, he still went for it, and made it. However, he was left stranded on second maybe one pitch or so later. With Torres back in our line up (he's been back for awhile) we have some speed in the 1st and 8th spots of our line up. 8th spot being Ross, who apparently has wheels. The speed isn't necessary, I suppose, but it's nice to know that we have it.

The Giants will send out rookie pitcher Madison Bumgarner tomorrow, 

and the Braves will send out Derek Lowe on two days rest.

Before we go out there tomorrow for Game 4, our bullpen needs to shake off their jitters, because we need them. We need all the guys on the team to be playing their bests, we can't afford any less.

Who knows what the baseball gods have in store for tomorrow,

we'll just have to wait and see.

Hold your breaths Giants fans because

 We're gonna keep on fighting.

NLDS Game 2

Matt Cain on the mound tonight. After Tim Lincecum's performance last night, he's got a lot to, erm, live up to. As always though, Matt Cain threw a beautiful performance for 6 innings or so. Cain had the offensive support tonight. 

Pat Burrell decided to pull the good stuff out early. After Freddy Sanchez singled (he isn't playing his best due to his arm, but he's still playing brilliantly), Aubrey Huff struck out swinging. Buster Posey drew a walk and Burrell homered and earned 3 RBI's to put the Giants on the board 3-0.

Matt Cain kept the Braves scoreless until the top of the sixth inning. The runs kept coming in as Cody Ross doubled in his first at-bat, continuing his hot streak. Matt Cain shows that he can also hit when he singles Ross in to make the score 4-0. '

Matt Cain continues his dominance until Derek Lee singled and McCann singled after to send Lee home for the only run that Atlanta  has -- so far.

We see Aaron Rowand today. Cody Ross gets on base in a fielder's choice, Sandoval out at second after a single. That could have been a double play if Ross wasn't that fast, but clearly that's not the case. Aaron Rowand pinch hits for Lopez, and singles, sending Cody Ross to third, and we head back to the top of the line up, but we strand the two runners at first and third.

Our bullpen gets the chance to kick some ass tonight. Lopez and Romo both throw, and Wilson will likely throw as well.

Wilson does come in, after Romo who is leaving Wilson with no outs and men on first and third. Wilson can't dig himself out of the situation and Miguel Cabrera gets and infield single. He then makes it to second on a throwing error by Pablo Sandoval. Both Lee and McCan make it home, one of them on an infield single, and the other on the sacrifice by Conrad. The second out is by Ankiel, hitting a pop up to Cody Ross. Matt Diaz finally strikes out. After going threw a majority of their line up, the Giants tie with the Braves at 4-4. 

At this point, the Giants could use a late knight in shining armour. 

Our usual knight in shining armour, Pat Burrell is finished for the night. So someone's just going to have to step it up. 

Nobody to the rescue. Not Buster Posey when the bases were loaded, or Cody Ross when we had the tying run, or winning run on first. No heroes whatsover.

We lost a cushy 4 run lead, on an error by Pablo Sandoval. The error cost us game 2.

The Giants will go back to the dugout with their heads hanging.

Game 3 will begin in Atlanta Sunday, we got a team that can clearly play well,

but how well can they play when we need them to?

Giants will go on the road again.
We'll brush it off, pick up all the pieces,
and fight with all we've got.

NLDS Giants Game One

So I succeeded yesterday in getting tickets: 

After a stressful 2-3 hours on stubhub, and craigslist and all these secondhand ticket sites I called my mom and requested that she buy tickets.

Her response: "You wanted tickets? Oh! I had pre-order!"

I think I died a little bit inside, but I was resurrected after I had seen the physical paper print out tickets from stub hub that reassured me that I was going.

It was a somewhat crazy day. My friend's parents had been trying to get tickets for several hours on Wednesday night, but the computer they were using wasn't cooperating. So after a frustrating evening, they decided that she couldn't go, but of course, she didn't tell me that until after I got the tickets, and then she remembered her parents said she couldn't go that morning during breakfast.

Anyway, I presented her the tickets, and she decided that she HAD to go, I mean it was play-off game one of the NLDS and the most amazing Giants team of all time. After me having a panic attack that my NLDS tickets were going to go to waste, we sort of hatched a plan.

So my father is a dictator.

I know all children try to say this, but this is the honest-to-god truth. For example, I'm not supposed to be keeping this blog, or ever speak a word about baseball -- you can only imagine how difficult that is for me, especially during this time of year.

Anyway, my mom was covering for me, saying that I was at a PSAT prep class or whatnot at the high school. My dad isn't a genius, so be bought it.

I was covered, but my friend wasn't. After attempting to tell her mom the truth, her mom said no -- and I was like, "what do I do now?!" She calls her mom back, tells something of a lie and then comes over, and we head over to the game via BART. The thing is, her dad didn't have a clue, and he was going to the game. Our goal: don't run into her dad.

Our seats were in the outfield and her dad's were behind the first baseline. She refused to stand up the whole game...though honestly I highly doubt anyway one could see a specific face from that far away...without binoculars, I mean.

Unfortunately, we were right below where all the cameras were, so every other inning, my friend had to duck to avoid being on the screen. We also couldn't see the screen because we were right under it -- so it was quite the dilemma. In the end though, we had a lot of fun, you know, all that lying to your parents stuff, you shouldn't do it, unless your dad is like mine and wants to keep you in a math prison for the rest of your life because you're his unsuccessful-selfish-failure-of-a-child, then go ahead and lie to go a play-off game, it was all worth it.

it's put through photoshop a little...makes them look cooler.

an awful attempt at a picture of my favorite outfielder (well tied with Torres) from an iPhone camera.

do you see the camera man from the news?

we spent a lot of time avoiding him.

lou seal out front.

Fight.

Police came down to break it up.

right before or after the fly over started the game.

my friend and I with our backs to the play field.

the wind was sort of picking up.

It was definitely worth it.

I couldn't have asked for more.

After all the effort I spent on my Microsoft Paint piece in my last post (it actually wasn't much work at all), I'm glad that Bochy actually took it to heart! Kidding, he's just a lot more logical than I thought he was.

I can complain no more about Jose Guillen! He's not in the line-up at all, apparently with some kind of disk injury. Bummer -- for him. Of course, Zito isn't in that line up either, but I still cheered for him. I'm sad he's not in there because I felt like we really did need that play-off experience, but it'd be hypocritical to say that Bochy should look at the numbers for Guillen and kick him off the roster, but not look at the numbers for Zito so he can stay. I guess he did what had to be done.

I'll miss him though. :(

Anyway, I couldn't have asked for more from last night's game.

Lincecum 14k?!

That would have been a lot more exciting of Halladay hadn't just thrown a no hitter the day before, but nevertheless it was impressive.

In a hundred and something pitches, Lincecum also threw a complete game.

The game did not move at a fast-pace and like any good play off game, it was low scoring.

(1-0) to be precise. The score came after Buster Posey singled himself to first, and then stole second. Whether or not he was safe, or he was tagged out was...quite frankly unclear. From the angle we were at, it looked like he was safe, but we couldn't really see the glove of the second baseman. But you know, in the end them ump, "calls 'em as he sees 'em," and he called our rookies first base stealing attempt safe, so I guess it was what it was. The next to at-bats turned into two outs. Sandoval came up, and Lowe decided to walk him intentionally, bringing up (cheers loudly) Cody Ross.

As always, I stood up on my seat, and jumped and cheered and chanted Cody. Cody is likely going to be primary right fielder now that Guillen isn't playing. During the switch, as I predicted, he would move to left. Of course, instead of Guillen replacing him in right, it would be Scheirholtz. Anywho, Cody was up at bat with two outs and man in scoring position.

I was holding my breath during Cody's at bat as he took a hard swing at the ball. I watched the ball skip to right field into the grass and Posey speed off to home, scoring the only run of the game on Ross' single. 

Kudos to the both of them!!

One helluva base steal for Posey and a huge single for Cody!

Guillen not in the line up, Lincecum striking out 14, Posey scoring the winning run and Cody Ross knocking in the winning run -- err, only run...see what I mean by, "I couldn't have asked for more?"

San Francisco Giants fans have got the beard thing going on. They're putting on beards to match the players on the team. Sergio Romo, and Brian Wilson. Honestly, their facial hair means nothing to me as long as we keep winning. Cody's got the scruff thing going on too, works I guess because he doesn't have hair on his head...I love though that each of our players has a distinct personality, but I like it more than our team has personality. Their personalities come together to make the team work.

We don't play as a whole bunch of individuals who play well. Honestly, sure certain games are going to have heroes, but it's a team thing.

They obviously got here as a team, and playing like a team with a shitload of personality is what's going to push them through the play-offs.