October 2010 Archives

You can't spell Madison Bumgarner without OMG. The 21-year-old pitched a game to remember for the ages, and Edgar Renteria played another game to remember for the aged. To understand Bumgarner's performance tonight, go back and watch him pitch to...
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Two pitches. Jonathan Sanchez wasn't very good tonight, but he might have gotten away longer with his erraticism if not for two pitches. The first was the fastball down and in Mitch Moreland deposited in the right-field bleachers. The second...
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Whew. Off day. Deep breath. No one's happier than Mrs. Malo, who for a month has put up with my absenteeism (whether I'm at the ballpark, or watching at places like this, or with friends like this) while she deals...
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That might be how Brian Wilson would describe Dave Eggers' World Series sketchbook.  ...
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It's easy to get caught up in the gosh-how-about-them-Giants! snark-shock at their twenty runs in the first two games of this series. Twenty runs! How is this band of misfits doing it? America wants to know!Good hitting. Bad pitching. Crappy...
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Timmy didn't exactly outpitch Cliff Lee tonight. So I'll say he unpitched him. He was less not so good. From my vantage point in the bleachers, Lee was constantly up in the strike zone. The Giants worked him to the...
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World Series. La Serie Mundial. The MLB Championship. The SuperBaseBowl. Whatever you call it, it's exciting. It's coming here. John Legend is singing the National Anthem, for goodness sake. Brrr.....that was a chill going up my spine just thinking about...
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Jeff at Lookout Landing, a Mariners-themed blog, has a great post on the improbability of Juan Uribe's opposite-field home run Saturday night. But his post is really about the ridiculousness of looking at paper, puffing out your chest, and predicting...
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Well, that was fun. A big Malo cinco alto to everyone who greeted the Giants as they arrived home on Sunday. A glimpse of Madison Bumgarner's pink-dotted suitcase was plenty reward, I imagine. I might have been there but I...
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I don't make predictions. I simply don't. They're fun fodder, but they're all based on paper, and they're all pulled out of predictors' nether regions. Because, in the end, in a seven game series, who the hell really knows. I...
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It's three hours before Game Six time. No matter what happens tonight, I want to go on the record with a big round of applause for Jonathan Sanchez. Four weeks ago, if you told me that Sanchez was the man...
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No predictions. No gloating. No nothing. Game Five is what it is what it is: that's my psychological strategy today. I'll ignore the big picture by focusing on a tiny dot: specifically, the red dot a hitter sees when a...
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The Phillies just found something out tonight. Roy Oswalt should not become a short reliever. They also found out about certain places, inside which there is magic. And Buster. And men wearing Rally Thongs. And a Panda who will confound...
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* Joe Blanton? Game 4 starter? Really, Charlie Manuel, when you have Roy Halladay on your bench? I wrote a few days ago that a Game 4 matchup of Blanton-Bumgarner could be the deciding factor if the Big Three rotations...
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Matt Cain will not necessarily strike you out. But when he's on, he will take the sting out of your swing. You will be a tick late on the high fastball or out in front of the change-up. You'll get...
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With a little help from Baggs...RF Ross2B Sanchez1B HuffC PoseyLF Burrell3B UribeCF RowandSS RenteriaP CainIf Uribe is still injured, put Renteria 6th and put Sandoval 8th at third base. ...
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After last night's Giant Sombrero -- 0 for 4 with 4 strikeouts -- Andres Torres is now 3 for 25 with one walk and 12 Ks in the post-season. It would be tempting to chalk it up to a small...
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At least there's one thing Phillies and Giants fans can agree on: the home-plate umpiring in this series has been atrocious. I like the idea of instant replay, not the idea of automatic balls and strikes, but after watching Dan...
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Stay classy, Philly. Maybe you should go back to booing Mike Schmidt, your best player ever. You filled up your airwaves with early coronation, you wolf-whistled Tim Lincecum (hence his comment about the attention referenced in this post's title), you...
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I'm not looking past the Phillies at all, but here are a few reasons why I would prefer a Rangers-Giants World Series: * No images of Rudy Giuliani in the stands. * Steinbrenner Embarrassment. * No Yankee fans polluting cool,...
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Second in a series. Remember, post-season results don't count. I've already cast my imaginary ballot, and Bruce Bochy is on it, but in which position? Bud Black took the Padres from universally predicted cellar dwellers to front runners and, in...
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Remember back, it seemed eons ago, when we were all abuzz over how to build the Giants' first postseason roster in seven years? Some of the conversation now seems so....quaint. Winning games with guys who once seemed on the bubble...
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Everyone's hullaballooing about each team's starting rotation, and for good reason. Lincecum/Halladay, Cain/Oswalt, and Sanchez/Hamels are three excellent pitching matchups. I'm not going to analyze which Big Three is better; I'm throwing all the nerd stats and the retro stats,...
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I'm sick of this "torture" thing, aren't you? When the marketing department catches on, you know it's time to move on. For the motto of the rest of the post-season I nominate what Kruk said at some point tonight, I've...
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When it comes to ballpark rally music, "Don't Stop Believin'" is about as tired as, well, pick any AC/DC song, but I really liked this. I especially dig the Will Clark imitation. Check out Ashkon's other vids, too, if you...
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It will go down in history as "The Brooks Conrad Game," not the "Jonathan Sanchez One-Hit, Eleven-Strikeout Game" or the "Aubrey Huff Hit-of-His-Life Game" or the "Travis Ishikawa 10/10/10/10 Game" -- yes, Jon Miller actually noted just before Ishikawa's at-bat,...
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Sometimes a team loses because good people have bad days. The Giants were poised to win this game twice, first when Sergio Romo and Brian Wilson were lined up for the 8th and 9th innings with a three-run lead, and...
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Take that, Roy Halladay.  ...
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Um, Timmy. And then there was Timmy. And even after he threw a few fastballs high out of the zone -- Timmy. As the caller on KNBR just said a few minutes ago, "He's so Gemini." Exactly. Speaking of Sportsphone,...
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Perhaps you've heard by now: Barry Zito and Jose Guillen will not be suiting up for the Giants against the Braves. It didn't take genius to figure out Cody Ross and a li'l bit of Nate Schierholtz would help the...
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Barring an October Burriss Surprise or a Ford Uprising, here are your choices: PoseyWhitesideHuffF. SanchezUribeSandovalBurrellTorresSchierholtzRossFontenotRowandRenteriaGuillenIshikawaAssuming the team goes with 11 pitchers, it's fifteen men for fourteen spots. Sounds like a movie thriller set in a lifeboat or a crowded jail....
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Rosters for the Division Series are due Thursday morning. Giants brass have hinted they'll go with eleven pitchers, which makes sense. Four starters and two potential days off (Saturday and Tuesday) mean plenty of rest for seven arms. The obvious...
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Handing out the award hardware after the post season is confusing. Every year, tens of thousands of fans -- yes, I've counted them -- wonder why Joe Schmoe's World Series heroics didn't propel him to a decisive MVP victory. It's...
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You thought the last three days were gut-twisting, floor-pacing, thumb-chewing, hair-losing exquisiteness? Grab some pine, meat, you ain't seen nothing yet. And I can't wait. I been waiting my whole life for this, since the...oh wait, that was 1987. I...
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So much weirdness, so little time. You've probably heard all these observations in various places the past few hours, but let me summarize: - The Giants spanked the ball all over the yard against Claymore Richardson and for four innings...
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1) Send a couple emails.2) Think about Matt Cain.  3) Call boss. Check in. Sound busy. 4) Call Papa Malo. Discuss transportation options to Mays Field. 5) Look at Richard Clayton's numbers against Giants; contemplate possible lineup. Even against a...
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