Guillermo Pulls an Alberto
This just in: Guillermo Mota has been suspended for using the performance enhancing drug, Clenbuterol. It’s his second time caught using PEDs, so he’s out for 100 games. AKA, something close to eternity. Ouch.
Apparently, this is the same drug that caused Alberto Contador to lose his Tour de France and Giro D’Italia titles, which makes me cringe, because you know how I feel about doping and cycling-baseball similarities. Coming from a cycling family, I watched a lot of it as a young child and remember really enjoyed watching Contador race way back when, as well as many other cyclists who have now been stripped of their titles. They are, of course, ultimately making their own decisions, but it still makes me sad, more than anything else. Same for baseball. I hope it’s isolated, as in incident, but I can’t help but wonder all the same.
The Giants, meanwhile, are seriously stretched thin as this point. They have lost people to just about every reason under the sun (knock on wood moment, right there) and in the bullpen, are missing four out of seven Opening Day relivers. Those being: Affeldt, Wilson, Otero and now Mota. I think they’re going to need to put this message out soon:
Mota’s situation, of course, isn’t an issue of luck, but seriously. Are the Giants having the worst luck this year or what? Okay. I need to stop now, before I knock on wood for a third time.
Also, today, discussing cologne, Derek Jeter said, “Some guys [spray it on] before the game,” he said. “You would be surprised. I won’t name names, but…” My money is on Andy Pettite. And A-Rod, of course. I also have to say once more how much I love those cryptic Yankee quotes. (Not.)
Now one mandatory “Beat LA!” before I go. Because we totally are. Going to beat LA, I mean. You heard it here first.
Diamond Girl
I Have Come to an Unfortunate Conclusion.
The Giants are only able to able to hit when I am there. Not so unfortunate, right? Just an excuse to go to the ballpark all the time. But there’s more. The Giants are only able to hit when I am there, rooting for the Brewers. Kind of weird, no? But my logic is sound, aside from all the millions of games they’ve won when I was neither there nor rooting for the Brewers. But the two Giants-Brewers games at AT&T Park I’ve been to have both been offensive outbursts, of sorts. Today’s game was not especially high-scoring, but San Francisco got nine hits, which wasn’t too shabby at all. In 2010, the Giants won with an astonishing final of 9-2. (Jose Guillen was the star of the show, remember him?)
I wasn’t planning to go to any games in this series, actually, but apparently I have become the go-to person when someone has Giants tickets they can’t use. (Thank you, you know who are!) I do not mind this development at all. So I picked up this morning and ran away to the circus. The circus being the ballpark, of course. It was a glorious day for a game and my Brewers hat did need a little dusting off. (If you have no idea why I go to the Giants games and root for the BrewCrew, check out this post from way back when.)
In the top of the ninth, one avocado sandwich and one almond ice cream bar later, I did the rally cap thing and… boom. The Brewers tied it up. See? I am good luck all around. The Giants did eventually walk off in the eleventh, with a single from Hector Sanchez. Granted, the pitcher they were facing from Milwaukee, Tom Dillard, was this close to walking in that walk off run, but it was a win all the same and the Giants are back at .500, going into this roadtrip. Basically, I couldn’t be that crushed at the end.
Even when I am dying of sun exposure, I can rock a rally cap.
On to Los Angeles tomorrow and that is always exciting. Yes, you are allowed one joke about me going to LA and pretending to be a Dodgers fan. Then we can go back to being Giants fans and all will be well. Sound like a plan?
Diamond Girl
p.s. So, this.
The Odds Were Ever In Their Favor
So that was a mixed bag, hm? (Bag meaning game, of course. Not a literal bag, guys.) The Giants edged out a win at 5-2 and in the process, snapped the four-game losing streak. Plus Ryan Braun hit a homer, so I can’t really complain. MadBum is quickly proving himself to be the surprisingly fantastic one, although it isn’t really surprising at all. Still, who predicted him to be the designated stopper in 2012, plus hit splendid RBI doubles? If you did, feel free to raise your hand. Fresh brownies are waiting to be sent over to you via the World Wide Web if you have proof. If nobody comes out of the woodwork, then I will just assume that we are all surprised. It’s not that he hasn’t been fantastic in the past, because he has been. But sighing with relief when he takes the mound? That’s new, at least for me.
Angel Pagan is also making himself known to Giants fans and call me crazy, but I am totally seeing a little rivalry between him and Andres Torres, who were traded for each other over the winter. Torres has gotten a hit and RBI in every game since coming off the DL in New York and Pagan is currently sporting a 19 game hitting streak. Remember when Uribe and Huff used to hit back-to-back homers (sort of) all the time? Friendly rivalries, even if imagined by crazy fans like me, are terribly fun.
Speaking of Huff. If you haven’t read this piece where he discussed his anxiety disorder with the Chronicle’s Henry Schulman, read it now. Seriously. Not only is it very touching, it’s also informative. As before, we (okay, I here) at Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend wish him all the best and hope that everything goes up from here.
The game today was interesting to me, in that all of the issues from the past few days and the season so far, really, were still there, but they did get that win, by luck or by skill. Baseball is funny like that, isn’t it? There weren’t really fundamental changes, aside from a few choice hits with RISP. More like the odds being ever in their favor.
I admit it. I said that just for the Hunger Games nod. But still.
Diamond Girl
p.s. Yesterday, Rivera said to the media, “I’m coming back. Write it down in big letters. I’m not going out like this.” You. Do. Not. Even. Know. How. Tempted. I. Am. (To write it down in big letters, that is. If I can find a big enough piece of paper, I am totally doing that tomorrow.)
Top 10 Movies That Will Throw You a Curveball
I will take you out of your suspense: I am still depressed today. Because not only are all the Giants problems still raging, but yesterday the Best Closer Ever Who I Adore By the Way (Mariano Rivera, that is) twisted his knee before a game and torn his ACL. The outlook is not rosy. It may be the end of his career. As I’ve mentioned here before, the Core Four were some of my first loves in baseball so this just feels sad on many levels. Yankees fan @JaneHeller1 on Twitter said, “Watching Mo cry has completely traumatized me,” and I have to echo that sentiment. The weather has improved over here, but I am still glum.
On that note, we’re going to do the Top 10 Movies That Will Throw You a Curveball (aka, are seriously depressing). Here we go:
10. Corpse Bride. This one, I was not expecting to be sad, actually. I am a massive fan of Tim Burton (says so in my header, guys) so I was excited to see it and did ended up enjoying it but man, was it was sad. Twilight, you got nothing on that love triangle.
9. The Lord of the Rings. This makes both lists, because it is just that awesome.
8. Gallipoli. War movies are some of the saddest around, but also some of the best. This is one of my favorite war movies and I was reaching for my tissue box by the end. That end is heartbreaking. Consider yourself warned.
7. Titanic. Not for the reasons you think. Full disclosure: I didn’t make it to the end, so I can’t fully judge, but this was depressing indeed. Depressingly bad. I have a strong distaste for James Cameron and although I do like Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, that movie was unequivocally and sadly terrible in my book.
6. The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. This is the only short on the list and it actually won Best Animated Short at the Academy Awards a couple months ago. It’s absolutely beautiful and very sweetly sad. The whole thing is available on YouTube, so do yourself a favor and watch it.
5. Winter’s Bone. A girl trying to protect her younger siblings from a community in Missouri that has been torn apart by the meth trade. Indie thriller and sad, sad, sad. But good, good, good, too.
4. Melancholia. This Lars Von Trier apocalyptic allegory for depression is amazingly and terribly beautiful and will leave you a little bit shell-shocked and more than a little bit gloomy.
3. Bright Star. Historical movie about the basically tragic life of John Keats. Dying of consumption and writing wonderful poems, need I say more?
2. Finding Neverland. I cried. The End. (Incidentally, why is Kate Winslet in so many sad movies?)
1. Never Let Me Go. And this one gets the prize for Making Diamond Girl Cry Harder Than She Has Ever Cried About a Movie Before. I’ve seen it three times now and it just gets sadder with time. It’s really one of my favorite films ever, but be prepared to sob your heart out before you watch it.
May the fourth be with you, darlings! The Giants are going to turn it all around tonight! (Probably.)
Diamond Girl
p.s. I promise to actually talk about baseball tomorrow.
Top 10 Movies to Watch When You Get Thrown a Curveball
Three adjectives to describe today in Giants-land: depressing, depressing and (wait for it) depressing. Not only did it start off with memories of last night’s unpleasant game, but then came the news that Pablo Sandoval needs surgery to remove the fractured hamate bone in his right hand and will be out for four to six weeks. This announced, of course, a year to the day after Pablo had that surgery on his left hand. Eerie baseball god stuff at its best. Then there was another unpleasant loss, clinching a sweep by the Marlins in San Francisco and it’s been drizzling in a decidedly non-baseball-ish way all day.
I was not kidding when I said depressing, depressing and depressing. May is not off to a good stuff over here. Understatement of the year? Perhaps. But you know how I am, a semi-eternal optimist, so I’ve decided that rather than rehashing all of this horribleness any further, I am going to go a different route. What route, you might ask? The Top 10 Movies to Watch When You Get Thrown a Curveball, aka when you are depressed, route. Not strictly baseball themed, but who knows, the players might get just the inspirational kick they need if they were to watch some of these. And if you watch a few, I seriously can guarantee a good mood. So!
10. Annie Hall. Just when you thought you had problems… this move will put things, er, in perspective. You will feel positively normal and very lucky to be you when it finishes.
9. The Pink Panther Strikes Again. In the vein of laugh-out-loud movies, this rates right at the top of my list.
8. The Lord of the Rings. Not a comedy, but in terms of raising valorous feelings in you? This is just about the best.
7. Some Like It Hot. Because black-and-white movies just have that quality to them. And Marilyn movies, too. Marilyn movies are a surefire to way to boost your mood.
6. Holiday Inn. Another black-and-white one, this time with Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby dancing and singing and bringing good cheer and peace on earth to everyone who watches.
5. Robin Hood. Um, speaking of inspiring valorous feelings? If the Giants watched this, I would put money on a month of no losses.
4. Confessions of a Shopaholic. This is the newest one on the list and while from the outside, it looks like a romantic comedy, inside it’s much better than that. It’s a hardcore comedy and an absolutely hilarious one at that. Again, will make you feel positively normal by the end.
3. Redwall (TV series). This is the only TV series on the list and I’m featuring it because it is just that good. Brave mice defending their abbey against evil rats, while using crazy British slang and brandishing mini-swords? Yes, please. Childhood favorite, guys.
2. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Isn’t this everyone’s go-to film when they’re depressed? Yeah. I thought so.
1. A Day at the Races. Marx Brothers. Need I say more? (Watch the whole seven minutes. “Worth it” does not even begin to cut it.)
So there you have it. My motley rundown of the best non-depressing movies. Tomorrow, if things are still not going our way, I’ll do a motley rundown of all the best depressing movies. See? Something to look forward to! No need to feel down!
Diamond Girl
The Marlins and the Trout!
First of all, a little tradition we have here at Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend (one girl show, so that’s a royal we)…
Whenever the Marlins are in town, well, that scene from The Social Network gets a few more views on YouTube. Because honestly, ever since seeing that movie, I can’t talk about the Marlins – Florida or Miami or Ozzie Guillen’s Bandit Crew or whatever they’re called now – with a straight face. I always always think of this scene and dissolve into laughter.
Anyway, the game last night was all kinds of fun, although the lack of, you know, hitting does grate on nerves sometimes and losing to Ozzie Guillen’s Bandi – I mean the Miami Marlins, doesn’t feel fantastic. Still, I don’t blame the umpires for this one, although they got a good deal of heat. Apparently, that would-have-been pinch hit double by Gregor Blanco was indeed fair and the call was blown, but by the time you get to that point, it’s everyone’s fault. Moreover, as a trained Little League ump (oh, yes) I am just not much for booing the umps. They have a better view, a way better view and really, how often are calls overturned? Compared to how much you will be on the hook to pay for when I need hearing aids by the time I turn twenty? These things should be considered, people.
Sometimes I wish I was a Blue Jays fans. Canadians seem mellow. At least, when hockey is not involved. But this game did inspire an idea in me. I have been doing some yoga lately, in solidarity with someone who shall remain nameless and who should really read my blog more, and happened to do it yesterday morning. At the game, I found myself very Zen and go-with-the-flow-y. So I would like to propose to the Giants that they offer complimentary yoga sessions before games for anyone who buys a ticket. They could fire all their security and put the money into the studios and instructors and stuff, because it would be that effective. (Maybe. Perhaps. Potentially. On second thought, maybe they should keep the security. Just as a precaution, you know.)
I was very impressed by Pagan though, even more so in person than I have been on TV and radio. He made some very nice defensive plays and runs well and is altogether eerily like Andres Torres. Except not so bouncy. He’s like Andres Torres post-yoga class. See what I did there, guys?
One last thing I want to touch on… as many of you may have heard, Andy Pettitte testified in the Roger Clemens trial yesterday and it’s worth reading about here, if you haven’t already. The whole thing seems unfortunate and uncomfortable, but this quote did make me smile (from Sports Illustrated): “The prosecutor asked Tuesday whether Clemens was in the courtroom, and Pettitte pointed to the man in the suit and ‘greenish tie.’” Pettitte, for his part, wore a non-greenish tie and I am rather partial to it.
He has good taste in ties. See my favorite tie in the history of the world.
Diamond Girl
p.s. The Giants reported it was a sellout and since I was there, nestled in the nosebleeds, I can say with a tremendous level of confidence that no-way, no-how. And if we’d kicked out everyone a) wearing an orange fedora OR b) using Instagram to take wide shots of the field, then we definitely would not have had a sellout. More like myself and, oh, two other fans. I love Instragram and all but… in moderation? No? That’s not possible? Okay. It was worth a try.
25 Words Can Speak Volumes
Haiku #1 of the Day:
So the Marlins are
in town now and I am so
absolutely stoked
Haiku #2 of the Day:
Why? Because, of course,
I am going to go to
the ballgame. Oh, yes.
Diamond Girl
p.s. “Yu” and “Darvish” have been pretty much the only words to come out of my mouth for the past 24 hours. He is beyond amazing. MLB called his start dazzling and I have to agree.
They Will Pitch Well and Make Us All Gloomy with RISP Stats and Other Predictions for the Coming Months
Hello, darlings, and apologies for my semi-accidental absence. I ended up spending the weekend lying under a large shady tree just bein’ lazy, as Bing Crosby might say, and watching/listening to baseball in the moments that I was not doing aforementioned laziness. No time for blogging, see what I mean?
Anyway, now that it’s the last day of the first month of the season and we have an off day at last (thank you, Bud Selig, you’re the best-ish), I am back to break everything down. April has been a strange month for the Giants, but then again, isn’t it always? You can’t say any of the games mean anything but it is certainly important in terms of getting to know the team’s personality on the field and often, I think, if you look back at April at the end of the season, you’ll see a lot of things that now look like psychic hints, even if they weren’t the least bit apparent at the time.
So! I’m just going to go on that hypothesis. If April tells us everything we need to know about this team, what does that mean for them? Observe, 2012 Trends for the Gigantes:
Hair Will Disappear
Why would I think this, you ask? Nod to Timmy’s haircut and Brian Wilson’s season-ending Tommy John surgery. The hair everywhere trend is so 80s, you know. The Giants are just now getting clued into this and life has never been better. In that sense, at least.
The Whole Season Will Feel the Dog Days of August, aka WEIRD
I am staunchly convinced that April felt like August this year, so you probably will not be able to dissuade me, no matter what you try. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I direct you to the weird injuries like Buster Posey’s shingles and Aubrey Huff’s anxiety disorder. Stuff like that is supposed to happen when everyone is wiped out from a long season. We’re in for that all year, it would seem. I am going to need to break out my extraordinary multitude of virtual Get Well Soon cards soon.
This Will Be the Year of the Triples
You heard it here first. Of course, you saw it first on the field with Angel Pagan and Nate Schierholtz and people, but hearing is more important than seeing so I win, in this situation. Anyhow, I have always been of the opinion that triples are the secret weapon of playing at AT&T Park so they should probably, you know, utilize that. This year will be the year that Happens with a capital H.
Interleague Play Will Be a Drag
Okay, no proof here. But it always is, so that’s just a safe assumption, right? Until they play the Rangers, that is. That will be wondrous, of course.
They Will Pitch Well and Make Us All Gloomy with RISP Stats
Safe assumption, 2.0.
But really, I am encouraged. April has not been disastrous, mostly, and blue skies show summer is coming. Baseball is just getting started. Restock the orange juice and settle in.
Diamond Girl
p.s. Yu Darvish is on ESPN tonight which means I can fine-all-ee watch him. I am so excited you do not even know. The Rangers were also in ESPN last night, facing the Rays, and I remembered that Jeff Keppinger is with them now. Remember him, Giants fans? He had an RBI in the Rays 5-2 victory. This is Emily’s miffed face, right here.
Well, That Was Better Than It Could Have Been…
…but also, probably, worse than it could have been. In Dream Diamond Girl world where blueberry muffins grow on trees and my computer never freezes up. Ah, Dream Diamond Girl world… okay. Back to the point. The Giants finished up the (what feels like endless) roadtrip today in Cinci with a 9th inning comeback – hugs, Angel Pagan – and now have a winning record, at 10-9. Can you believe we’re 19 games into the season? And if so, can you believe the Giants have only been on the road for less than a week? It feels like ages, people.
I want to break it all down, because when there are no off-days, I feel perpetually rushed.
See, I’m pretty bipolar about off-days. On the one hand, as I’ve bemoaned before, I loathe them. No baseball? Shoot me, please. On the other hand, the chance to sit back and have a mini-offseason to think things over is rather useful. On that note…
I case you can’t see that, because my camera does night like text, that reads “Dear Bud Selig, The Giants like off-days, too. Love, SF Diamond Girl.”
Just throwing that out there.
Anyhow. The Giants have a pretty strong case of very good stuff and very bad stuff, but not necessarily a lot in the middle. The Sandoval hit streak gets more amazing and weird and wonderful every day and, as it turns out, Pagan has a bit of a hit streak going as well. The hitting with RISP numbers are still dismal and the bullpen is facing difficulties as well. The team hasn’t quite clicked out there, save for a few times, and the minor injuries certainly build up to create trouble. Freddy Sanchez had a setback in rehab and one series away from May, that raises some pretty serious questions. (And I’m not talking the “Are you related to Jonathan???” kind of serious questions.”
Mostly, though, I am feeling optimistic. No, really. I am. Three-and-a-half out from the Dodgers and the season is progressing. Basically aside from Timmy’s struggles, the Giants haven’t had any huge surprises, performance-wise. They’ve been dismal with RISP for a good long while now and as long as the pitching holds up, they are perfectly good.
And if the pitching doesn’t hold up, well, the NFL draft was today and the season isn’t that far off. The Niners might compete and stuff, especially if they hire me as GM. Don’t be too depressed, Giants fans.
Diamond Girl
The Hyper-Fast Rundown
Time to do a hyper-fast rundown. Ready? Okay. I’m tired out already. Whew. Where to start?
There are the obvious woes of the Giants, the ah-mazing hit streak of Pablo Sandoval, the creepily good resurgence of the big Z, what’s wrong with Timmy… all that good stuff. But what’s really taken over the news today is the announcement that Aubrey Huff is on the 15-day Disabled List with an anxiety disorder. I don’t think it’s what anyone was expecting out of the Huff announcement and it certainly raises a lot of questions. Personally, I would hope we can all back off a little at the moment and just send positive thoughts his way, for whatever he might be dealing with. He is a person first and a baseball player second.
With that said, Andrew Baggarly, over at CSN, reported this afternoon that Huff is going through a divorce at the moment and raised a good deal of ire within the fan ranks – people saying that was an invasion of privacy or just classless/in poor taste to report. I think a lot of what is being said about Huff should carry over to Baggarly, honestly. Bottom line, he’s trying to do his job. They both are. The whole thing is unfortunate, to say the least, but empathy all around is the best tactic, I think. Aside from the fact that I absolutely adore that word, even. Isn’t “empathy” a fantastic one?
Onwards! For a short and wonderful time, the A’s were the first team in MLB history to have three Aussies on the team. (As my brother quipped, “Because the A’s are so aussie-ome.” Score, darling. You should read my blog more.) Then they DFA’ed one of ‘em, so they’re not quite so down-under heavy anymore. But they still have two. And two is making me grin and be glad to be in the Bay Area, even if I’m only vaguely A’s sympathetic. Don’t shoot me, guys. Vaguely.
Lastly, a shout-out to Joe Martinez, former Giant extraordinaire, who was called up by them Diamondbacks today. I am not the least bit D-Back sympathetic, but I do hope Joey does well because I love that guy. It’s okay if the Diamondbacks beat us just a couple times this season, right? In completely non-key games and stuff. Yeah, it’s okay? Good. I am glad to agree on this.
Diamond Girl
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