All-Star Game: How to Ruin a Great Game

The MLB All-Star Game was the most beautiful thing in sports. The Mid-Summer Classic. Right in the heat of July, everyone takes a break and watches the stars come out to play a fun EXHIBITION game.

You may have noticed I capitalized exhibition. This is because it is what I believe to be the true spirit of the game. It is supposed to be a fun and fancy-free afternoon to go see the games greatest play ball. Unfortunately, 2002 happened.

In 2002, the NL and the AL ended the 12th inning locked in a 7-7 tie. So what? Keep playing until someone wins, right? Wrong. Bud Selig decided to call the game. Why? Both NL Manager Bob Brenly and AL Manager Joe Torre had managed the game like games of the past. They used one pitcher an inning, and by the 12th, they had none left.

Giants Sweep Tribe, Dance in Street

I am a man of my word.

But when Eric and I had our daily conversation about horrendous music videos, and I told him, "If the Giants take two of three from the Twins, I'll post Mick Jagger and David Bowie's 'Dancing in the Streets' video," I honestly wasn't expecting to have to follow through.
The Giants surprised us again. And to the victors go the spoils:

After being swept by the A's, the Giants and their fans sounded the alarm and started preparing for the end of days. Chris Stewart went out and bought 90 flats of bottled water. Matt Cain ordered 4,000 packs of D batteries. Miguel Tejada bought 300 boxes of Ho-Hos. Then he heard about the coming Apocalypse and bought 400 more.

Cal Baseball: The Golden Team

It’s been said many times by many people: this is the ultimate story book season for the University of California baseball team. With the win over Texas A&M yesterday, the Bears stayed alive to be in the final six spots in the College World Series. The heroes? Not Pac-10 Player of the Year Tony Renda. Not junior standouts Chadd Krist or Marcus Semien. A couple of freshmen did the Aggies in. Kyle Porter pitched six outstanding innings in his fourth career start as a college pitcher, and held one of the most potent offenses in the nation to only three runs. Derek Campbell, only starting at second base because of a quad injury suffered by Renda, had clutch hits and clutch plays at second in the winning effort.

Every game a different player steps up. Every game a new hero rises. The Golden Bears are a team that finally believes in itself. Manager David Esquer has had great talent before, but it has never translated into a College World Series appearance until this year. This year, faced with adversity and uncertainty, California has everything to prove, and the desire to win is palpable. They wanted this last season to be the best they’ve ever had, and it shows on the field. Especially now, that the donors have shown their support and belief, this team plays like the champions they are. They don’t look like they’re just happy to be in Omaha. They’re playing with fire in their eyes and hearts, and the enthusiasm is proving to be contagious.

Will they win the whole thing? That’s still left to be seen. However, they’re still alive, and that’s more that can be said of all but five other programs. On Thursday afternoon in Omaha, the Bears get to have a rematch against number one seed Virginia, who defeated them in the first game of this double elimination round. I’m sure the game will be hard fought, as this Golden Bear baseball team embodies the spirit of the timeless quote, “The Bear will not quit. The Bear will not die.” If Disney doesn’t pick this up as a family film in the next five years, I’d be utterly stunned. But I encourage all of you to watch the game Thursday, as I’m pretty sure the real thing is going to be even better than a movie could possibly be.

Town Sweeps City -- Giants Embarrassed in Oakland

Well, you asked for a repeat.

And for the first time all weekend, the Giants delivered.

For the second consecutive year the San Francisco Giants were swept in Oakland by their cross-bay rivals. After being swept themselves in San Francisco, the Athletics evened the annual Bay Bridge Series to three games per side.

In a word -- embarrassing. Since the Giants swept the A's in late May, the Giants had lost only 2 of their last 8 series despite losing both Buster Posey and Freddy Sanchez to injury. The A's had only won 2 of their last 8 series, going 8-18 between their two meetings with the Giants.

First, let me disguise myself as a gracious loser. The A's outplayed the Giants in all three games, and thus, deserved the series sweep.

Now, to the whining. With the exception of the outcomes, this East Bay installment of the Bay Bridge series nearly mirrored that of last month's meeting. An inch (read: chair) here or there, and the Giants could have easily won two of the three games.

In May, the Giants' three victories were decided by at total of 5 runs. This month, the A's three wins were by a total of 6 runs.

Unfortunately, close losses are still losses and chairs are still in play. The Giants' offense leaves Oakland with as much confidence as Steve Urkel in the Syracuse Lacrosse team's locker room.

The Green and Gold Revelry

2010 was an unbelievable season for Your San Francisco Giants. The Band of Misfits experienced an unreal turnaround at about midseason, and rode their momentum all the way into November, where they won their first World Series since 1954.

But you already knew that. You knew how good the Giants were last year. You knew about the rally thongs, the beards, the Buster Poseys, the Machines, and all the other characters who made up that magical season. How could you not? It's only been captured and memorialized at every possible happening since last November. From parades to television specials to a creation of a whole fun new band wagon of fans, we remember, respect, and dare I say, idolize the 2010 Giants. Fortunately, if you aren't a big fan of either Orange or Black, it's now 2011.

Debate: Do 2010 Giants Owe a Bit of Gratitude to 2001 A's?

We said from the beginning we'd like more content like this, and sadly it hasn't quite happened yet. But with the upcoming 3 game set between the Giants and A's in Oakland, and with the release of the Moneyball trailer, something inside us burst. It was time to talk frankly about the real impact of Beane's strategy in the early 2000s. It started as an off-handed comment, and launched into one of our best debates ever. See below for a reformatted and slightly edited transcript of the conversation. What do you think?

CAL IN THE CWS! / A's v. ChiSox Thoughts

I'm sure you all know by now, but California, yes, that California Golden Bear baseball team has advanced through the regionals and earned a berth in the College World Series for the first time since 1992. That's right, the Bears haven't been to Omaha since George H.W. Bush's last year in office. The freshmen on this team were not alive when this program last was here. Think about that. Insane.

Talk about your ultimate Cinderella story. A program that was on the precipice of elimination has made it to the promised land. If Disney doesn't make a movie out of this in the next year or two starring Justin Bieber as Tony Renda, they will have seriously missed an opportunity, and instead I will make it.

The San Francisco Giants as the Black Knight

Some brief thoughts on the Giants' series split with the Cincinnati Reds:

Giants Quote of the Weeek #1:
KB: They just won the World Series. It seems like they should just chill out the next year.
Me: That's basically what's happening.
Ryan: God is making that happen for them.

The Giants are hanging on by a thread.

They're dangling on the edge of an eroding cliff, overlooking a 300 foot drop into an acidic lake filled with genetically mutated sharks.

Final Thoughts

"The saddest thing in life is wasted talent, and the choices that you make will shape your life forever."

I'm trying to figure out whether or not it was a coincidence that A Bronx Tale was on TV immediately following Game 6 of the NBA Finals.

The NBA Finals ended with a resounding thud last night, as the Dallas Mavericks beat the Miami heat 105-95 in what may have been the most uninspired Finals clincher since...2008.

Let me start by saying that I am complete and utter hypocrite. The thing I hate the most about the Heat losing is the absolute onslaught of web-content dedicated to mocking, celebrating and dissecting the Heat's loss. I do realize that I am adding to the landfill. Nonetheless, here are my opinions on the game, and even more so, my reactions to peoples' reactions to the game:

What's Eating Aubrey Huff?

Well folks, they did it. The San Francisco Giants are officially the best team in the league -- at not scoring runs.

As of Friday, June 10th, the Giants rank dead last in Major League Baseball in runs scored. Worse than the Padres, the Pirates and -- gulp -- the Oakland A's.

And it doesn't stop there.

The Giants rank 26th out of 30 in team batting average. They're 25th in both on base percentage and slugging percentage.

To put it much more PG than I wanted to at 10:00pm last night, they're pretty much just god-awful.

And yet, they're 7 game over .500. I'm willing to bet God himself is sitting up in Heaven in his shining white polar bear robe, stroking that long beard of his, trying to figure out how in the heck a team that ranks dead last in runs can have the fifth best record in baseball.

A's skid reaches 9; Bob Geren era over

The AL East has collectively taken a dump on the chest of the Oakland Athletics, and it has finally lost Bob Geren his job. Billy Beane has finally done it. He's drawn the line in the sand and said enough is enough is enough. I applaud him for it. A change of some sort needed to be made.

I imagine the decision to fire him kind of went like this:


I personally do not like blaming the manager for the shortcomings of a ball club. But, at the end of the day, Bob Geren was the leader of a team that was failing miserably, and you have to blame somebody.

Photos of Tim's 1,000th K and Freddy's TRI Value

Last night was my first visit to AT&T Park since the fateful night of Buster Posey's injury.

Like many, I took Buster's injury pretty hard. Witnessing something like that puts a pretty bad taste in your mouth. It got to the point where I almost didn't even want to watch the team play on TV. Buster's absence was a constant reminder of all that had happened.

But in an effort to practice what I preached, I returned to the ballpark Monday to see the Giants battle the Montreal Expos, and more specifically, in hopes of seeing Tim Lincecum's 1000th career strikeout.

The game was eerily similar to Buster's night, almost to the point that I feared some new cataclysmic tragedy was about to take place. The Giants went down early, erased a 4-run deficit late, and battled through extra innings. What's more is I was sitting in practically the same exacts seats. As an incredibly superstitious fan who refuses to take an additional sip of beer or put on an extra layer of clothing during a tie game, the similarities were making me more than a bit nervous. As I learned the night of Buster's injury, I'd take a loss as long as no one else got critically injured.

But luckily, the only injuries suffered were to the morale of the Washington Nationals -- and to those poor souls in Section 135 bombarded with poop from an armada of impatient seagulls. They always win.

You have to love extra-inning baseball games, particularly when it reaches the 13th inning. That's the real deal. The stadium empties to nothing but the borderline-unhealthy fans who wouldn't freaking fathom leaving a game at 11:45pm on a Monday night against the Washington Nationals. They're the fans who cheered like the team had just won another World Series after learning the Giants' had struck out 13 hitters, thus earning them a coupon for a free pack of Johnsonville Bratwursts. Best of all, you get to see the Giants Media team dig to the deep cuts of between-inning "rally video montages." Animal House -- check. Cheers -- check. 'Lil Jon -- check. Billy Madison -- check. Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman -- check. Wait, what?

Here are some of the photos I snapped of Tim's 1000th strikeout, as well as my slightly-stalkerish photos of his pre-game stretches. Click the photo for a larger version and scroll down the page really fast for cool flip-book effect!

The times they are a-changing

So, some quick thoughts and musings to keep you awake and entertained on this Monday afternoon.

-The first and best news is that the sun is out! Yes, we can finally warm up a little, and this pleases me like this dog is pleased.



-USC has been stripped of its BCS National Title that it won in 2004. Once again, Cal fans get to scream that they were cheated, to no avail. Still, I take a little bit of pleasure in it. Just a little bit. A sweet half smile. Ah, cheaters don't prosper.

-I'm really pulling for the Mavs in game 4. This Finals already will go down in history as one of the best, but it could easily reach that vaulted plateau of top 3 or 5 ever. The matchup is insanely storybook. The team with its aging veterans takes on the young superstars. I'm pulling for the Mavs overall because I'd like Dirk, Kidd, and Terry to get rings. However, if the Heat win, it shuts up every single pundit who said they couldn't do it. This will also please me. Thus I am torn, and have decided I just want to see a great series. I haven't been let down so far. Comebacks, LeBron, Wade, and Bosh doing what they do, and Dirk playing dynamite ball.... it's been a ride.

-The A's just can't seem to get it right. I don't want to say much more because I'll get upset.... but here's the fallout from the 6 game skid:

1. Kouzmanoff is now a Rivercat. That's right, AAA. Damn.
2. Adam Rosales is now the starting 3B.
3. Brett Anderson may be done. He's getting his elbow examined today. If he goes out, I'm not sure I like the chances anymore.

It was a very rough 6 game stretch. And the A's failed. Miserably. They play in Baltimore for three next. Gio is on the hill to start. They will win tonight. I stake my life on it. They're hungry. New reserve infielder Scott Sizemore will be our savior.

Song of the post:

Giants Roadtrip Recap: The Shape of Things to Come

We have survived the first week of 2011 AB.

After Buster.

It wasn't always pretty and it wasn't always fun, but we did it. Like a junkie trying to kick a bad habit, in some ways that first week is the most crucial. In it you prove to yourself that you can do this. This is who you are now. And through the good and bad, you're gonna be ok.

More importantly, they did it. The Giants won a game without Buster Posey. They won a series without Buster Posey. They survived a roadtrip without Buster Posey. They slept through the night without reaching out for Buster Posey. They made it through the Notebook without crying aloud to Buster Posey. And believe it or not, all of those seemed to be in question there for a while.

Not counting last Thursday's 1-0 loss to the Marlins (in which the Giants literally fielded 9 holograms while the actual players were curled up in the fetal position, weeping openly in their lockers), the Giants are a surprising 4-3 in 2011 AB.

Yes folks, it's going to be ok. We've got 4 months left with this team. And while it's hard to fight the urge to mope around and wonder why this happened to Buster, it's time to move on. It's time to turn the page on Buster's injury, stop burning bags of dog poo on Scott Cousins' doorstep, buckle it up and get after it.

And in Milwaukee and St. Louis, the Giants proved that they can and will do just that.

The Giants can be proud of who they are. Look at them mom, they made it. They're ok.