Raising the Flag

You would think that the euphoria here in San Francisco ended long ago, but that's unbelievably wrong. The excitement and energy has carried over from November of 2010 to the 2011 home opener at AT&T park, San Francisco. The city has been waiting patiently for the return of their beloved, championship team. Tickets for the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday home opener, a series set to be against the St. Louis cardinals is sold out. The park that has been dormant since november will come alive again as the giants come home.

Here in the windy, foggy streets of San Francisco, there's been a lot of pressure to repeat, a feat that hasn't been accomplished since the 2000 Yankees. The San Francisco giants are new to this whole champions ordeal. Across the bay, the Oakland athletics repeated way back before I was even born.

San Francisco didn't get off to a great start, seeing as we nearly got swept by the dodgers ad the padres. Then again, when have the giants ever been consistent? I think the team is still trying to find their "fight." and it'll come, in time it'll come.

The giants have added rookie Brandon belt to their roster. Belt is taking over at first base, moving veteran Aubrey huff to right field.So far, belt has hit an impressive homer over the dodgers' centerfield wall. For now, pat Burrell is playing in left, but with the return of Cody Ross, things could change a lot. Clothes are the options. 1). pat burial leaves, someone is given up, rowand or burrell or maybe schierholtz. 2). Brandon belt spends some more time In triple aaa Fresno, moving huff back to first & keeping Burrell in left. Thy decision will depend on how belt plays in the time Cody needs to recover. Things will work themselves out; when the time comes to make the changes, well see how things have played out & make the changes accordingly.

Aubrey huff struggled a little bit his first several games, but lucky for us, he began producing again yesterday. He's still breaking in right field, but he's a team
Player and would be happy to contribute anyway he can. Brandon belt has brought with him an air of patience. The kid, unlike many rookies, knows how to wait for the right pitch. He has a really good eye, and rarely looks frantic at the plate. For a rookie, he's calm and tames each of his swings.

Tomorrow begins a new chapter for the treen. They get to come home to screaming fans who are craving more wins, and perhaps, dare I say it, maybe even another title. Spring is starting to look a little tiny but like summer, and that means baseball is officially back here in the city. the giants will take the field tomorrow as world series champions.

2011 is just another season. Were gonna take this one game at a time and see where that takes us. hopefully, it'll take us far & maybe, just maybe, well get to relive 2010 again.

Either way, its gonna be a good season of ball, I can feel it. I mean, it's baseball, anything cam 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?

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.

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.