E.L.M.

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• Posted Sabean, Bochy Coming Back to El Lefty Malo
  Looks like my upcoming treatise on the pros and cons of retaining the services of Brian Sabean is moot. Both the Chron and the Merc report today that both are coming back next year. The Chron's Shea is vague, except...
• Posted He Got a Betatron, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wz4CC3Pq24">Man</a> to El Lefty Malo
  The morning after my wedding last September, we had an informal brunch with a nice noshy spread, people wandered in and out, no sit-down, no fancy set-ups, no cheesy hotel facilities, just sunshine, the warm smell of oak trees and...
• Posted Post-Game Report 4/5/07 to El Lefty Malo
  Giants 5, Padres 3. Now I can shave. Did any of you have any superstitions going until the Giants won? Same T-shirt every day? Same underwear? Say it isn't so. If you were at tonight's game, what did you do...
• Posted It's Not Giants News, But.... to El Lefty Malo
  Dice-K! ******* P.M. UPDATE: It's from a story written by Rich Draper's understudy, but the following sentence, from Bruce Bochy regarding the home run Taschner gave up to Gonzalez, is the quote of the day for its simple sanity: "He'll...
• Posted Post-Game Report to El Lefty Malo
  Just back from the yard. I'm ofer two so far. Good thing I don't have more tix until April 20th or so. Giants lost but looked a hell of a lot better doing so. Lots of hard-hit balls that went...
• Posted Big Tall Man to El Lefty Malo
  Tonight's starting pitcher for San Diego, Chris Young, is 6'10", 260 pounds. He big. I forgot about his height over the winter, as I had more important things to think about, and I also forgot just how good he was...
• Posted Opening Dazed to El Lefty Malo
  Just back from the yard, where nothing went right. The highlight was Barry Bonds's stolen base in the first inning. Prepare yourself for all manner of pronouncements from tomorrow's columnists about the symbolism of today's game. So much more than...
• Posted 25 Men and a Seal to El Lefty Malo
  Lance Niekro's in. Jason Ellison's off to Seattle. Sweeney is on the disabled list, postponing a decision on his fate. A couple thoughts: * Ellison was traded for minor-league pitcher Travis Blackley, who used to be a top prospect. As...
• Posted Cuts to El Lefty Malo
  Just announced after today's game: Down to Fresno are Brian Wilson, Scott Munter. Wow, Sabean wasn't messing around with the harsh assessment on the radio. To minor-league camp go Tomas De La Rosa, Sun-Woo Kim, Scott Atchinson. That leaves a...
• Posted Brian's Song (and Dance) to El Lefty Malo
  The old softshoe is back, Mr. Talkin' Much and Sayin' Little, just give 'em the old razz-ull dazz-ull but in that monotone New England way, though I should say that as I caught the season's first "Brian Sabean Show" on...
• Posted No Ice for the Dice to El Lefty Malo
  I'm on assignment Thursday and Friday with little time to write, so you'll have to amuse yourselves elsewhere. I recommend here. And here. And going against my initial instincts, here. If you don't vote for me, I'll get a dolphin...
• Posted The Prodigal Fopp to El Lefty Malo
  After a year and a half wandering through the sodden woods of the Pacific Northwest, straining to hear the call of the marbeled murrelet, his once-powerful right arm slowly regaining strength after.....the accident....the prodigal son has returned. An insignificant contract,...
• Posted Caption Contest to El Lefty Malo
  Good gosh a'mighty, these are a few of my favorite things: Flanderin' mayors, supermarket checkout boys, solar power, and ugly-ass ties. Have at it....
• Posted Baggarly, Part 3 to El Lefty Malo
  We finish up the Q&A today with Merc beat writer Andy Baggarly by taking on a few big issues: media responsibility, Barry Bonds's image, Cal Ripken's double standard, and Pete Rose's gambling problem. Big thanks to Andy for his participation....
• Posted A Few Bits of Tid to El Lefty Malo
  * One question the Giants must answer is whether to start the season with 11 pitchers or 12. The latter seems more likely, what with only two days off in April. Food for thought, however: the LA Times reports the...
• Posted Nor a Lender Be to El Lefty Malo
  The Rangers are changing the name of their ballpark from "Ameriquest Field" (Ameriquest is a mortgage company) to yet another corporate moniker. Take a guess -- Pfizer Pfield? Halliburton Park? ExxonMobil Greens? The answer is their own: "Rangers Ballpark in...
• Posted Perhaps Because I Am a Libra... to El Lefty Malo
  ...I cannot kick a man when he's down, not for very long at least, unless his name is Neifi, and even then, come on, he is one of the top 1,000 or so baseball players in the world, let's give...
• Posted The Existential Dread of the Daily Blogger to El Lefty Malo
  Over at McCovey Chronicles, Grant encapsulates the boredom of spring training, or as Sartre once wrote, l'inexprimable ennui de l'entrainement du printemps, with this post. As the famous rap song says, "Self-deconstruction, you're headed for self-deconstruction." No less existential is...
• Posted The Clenched SFist Is a Symbol of Defiance in Some Cultures to El Lefty Malo
  Grant and Lefty down by the schoolyard: our SFist conversation, part 3. Please note that the editor of the SFist picked the Dodgers to win the division. I think he's angling for a promotion to run the LAist. Also please...
• Posted Springtime for Baggarly, Part 1 to El Lefty Malo
  I've never been to spring training, though much of what it's about -- the leisurely pace, the re-emergence of grass and sun, the loose camaraderie of players not yet under eye-popping pressure -- is what I love most about baseball....
• Posted Use Your SFist and Not Your Mouth to El Lefty Malo
  Grant and Lefty parley-voo Giants, Part 2. The more time I spend on SFist, the more I get aggravated after reading the Zipcar ad that says, "350 hours a year having sex," because, really, come on, that's an hour a...
• Posted On Your Toes and Hit that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_University%2C_Fresno#Fight_song">Line</a>! to El Lefty Malo
  Road trip to Fresno, anyone? Not to see the Bulldogs, sorry. But it's quite possible that the triple-A Fresno Grizzlies could start the year as entertaining as their big-league affiliate and provide a sneak peek at the Giants a year...
• Posted Ich Bin Ein SFist to El Lefty Malo
  Part one of a preseason discussion with me, El Lefty Malo, and the handsome, mysterious Grant Macronico, is now available to download for your eyeballs on SFist.com. And no, neither one of us is Gavin Newsom's new girlfriend....
• Posted Cy Younger to El Lefty Malo
  [Ed. Note: I've made a few changes to the following post. Thanks to A. Baggarly for the gentle corrections.] Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News [not Oakland Trib, though because of corporate ownership, his work appears there, too]...
• Posted Records Were Made to Be Broken to El Lefty Malo
  We're getting close to seeing some of the open roster spots nailed down. Brad Hennessey not only thinks Russ Ortiz has "pretty much locked up" the fifth-starter job, he also wants to be traded. Jason Ellison is forcing his consideration...
• Posted Use 'Em or Lose 'Em to El Lefty Malo
  Steve Goldman, who writes a Yankees blog for the Yes Network, takes up the debate I highlighted a couple days ago: should phenom pitchers be forced to hone their craft in the minors even if they're pretty damn good already?...
• Posted Bonds Third, Durham Fourth to El Lefty Malo
  According to reports from Arizona this morning, Bruce Bochy is testing a lineup with Barry Bonds in the third slot, somwhere Bonds hasn't been since 2002. Bochy's reasons are sound: get Bonds up in the first inning and get him...
• Posted The Other Side of Tinstaapp to El Lefty Malo
  No, we're not talking about a remote islet in the Dutch Antilles. For those of you not familiar with the acronym TINSTAAPP -- There Is No Such Thing As a Pitching Prospect -- it was coined by Baseball Prospectus writer...
• Posted I've Got Me a Date with Botticelli's <a href="http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/masterpiece.html">Niece</a> to El Lefty Malo
  A couple years ago Oakland Trib beat writer Andrew Baggarly broke the news that AJ Pierzynski was a jerk-face. OK, maybe not "broke," but certainly "reinforced." Baggarly took some heat at the time -- by the typical fandoids who say...
• Posted Noise Pop to El Lefty Malo
  The Matt Cain contract is 4 years, $9 million, plus a mysterious 5th year option that includes "escalators." For some reason whenever I hear that word in relation to baseball contracts I think of the shoes David Bowie wore in...