Results tagged ‘ arizona ’
Three Game Fives! Plus Gloomy, Apocalypse-Is-Coming Stares
Guess what, people? (If you guessed that Apple is in mourning you would be right, but wrong. Right because it’s true, but wrong because that’s not at all what I meant.) There’ll be three game fives this year for only the third time in MLB history (others were, in case you’re a geek and you’re wondering, 1981 and 2001)! Yankees/Tigers will fight it out tonight and tomorrow all the National League stuff will be decided.
Yep, I’m seriously considering heating up my flatiron for the occasion. All this drama necessitates some stress-relief and what better stress relief than roasting my hair within an inch of its life? I think that came out sounding weirder than I meant for it to.
Anyhow, stress aside, I’m really totally stoked about all these games. Around the league, and this may just be me, this season felt a bit lackluster so it figures and is awesome that these playoffs have been nothing short of thrilling. Just good baseball all around, you know? It’s been tons of fun to check the scores as the games progress, because I really genuinely have no idea which way they’ll all go.
I’ve also really been surprised by the fight the Diamondbacks have put up. I mean, I still think the Brewers are going to take this, hands down (I know, jinx alert!) but I had this belief during the regular season that Arizona was a world-class fluke and would be crushed out of the playoffs at the first chance anyone got but apparently that was irrational. I will say now with a gloomy, apocalypse-is-coming stare that I was wrong and they really have something going. And (repeats the gloomy stare) that it’s pretty great that they overcame all the last place predictions and took the division.
All that said, BrewCrew f-o-r-e-v-e-r! And I’m glad Texas clinched earlier. Because as much as stress gives me good hair, four game fives would have been a little much. Thank you, Rangers. For preserving what is left of my sanity. You rock. And so do the playoffs.
Diamond Girl
p.s. In other news, Timmy likes to trash nice apartments and then deny he did it. Huh.
Epic, Massive, Total Buzzkill
My Saturday and Sunday were spent doing things like adding new Pandora channels, watching The Dark Knight, browsing earrings with text on them on etsy.com and watching my fish eat. Which is to say, anything but thinking about the Giants.
I’d be lying if I said I was excited to write this post. In fact, I’ve kinda-sorta been putting it off. Because I’m more than a little bit crushed. I can deal with losing. No, really. Don’t raise your eyebrow at me like that. I can. But this season has just been a heartbreaker. Especially that beautiful surge right at the end that made it impossible not to hope. Mathematical elimination hurts in any case. 2010 and the organization “having something good going” feels a long way off right about now.
So I am just gazing at my antlers on my dresser (almost that time of year again! Almost It’s Time time!) and trying to muster enjoyment for the last three games of this year and then the postseason.
Once the sting of this all wears off, I’m sure this season will look like a fabulous example of resilience, because the Giants made a hell of a run despite tons and tons- and did I mention tons?- of injuries.
There are, of course, some unfortunate things to come out of this year, foremost in my mind right now being Tim Lincecum’s (and probably Cain, too) dissatisfaction with the Giants and the offense and all that and desire to leave. Really, it was also disappointing to finally get the Bat that Will Save the Offense and have it be a letdown. The Beltran trade was that move every team wants their GM to make at the deadline and this is just an example of it not working out real well. Total buzz kill.
Then again, wasn’t that whole series in Arizona massive, total buzz kill?
I need cupcakes. Pronto. That is all.
Diamond Girl
Very Literal Snake Watch and the Whole Machairi-Champourgker Phobia Thing
Well, so, seeing as the Giants are 8.5 games out of first place we’re not really doing a Snake Watch on dem Diamondbacks. But I did make friends with snake today! (Don’t worry, it wasn’t a diamondback. It was a non-poisonous, non-Giant-beating sweetheart who licked my hand and left me totally in love with snakes.)
The first two games against Los Angeles on Friday and Saturday marked borderline season lows for me. I guess I wanted to hold out hope that this team was still contending until the actual elimination and those games drove home that fact that this season is probably not going to culminate in any playoffs for the Giants. It was a bit sad. It that was all made better, of course, by today’s game, though. Contending or not contending, March is a long way off and there would be any number of slightly heartbreaking changes this offseason. Today was just a fun September game, with them all playing their hearts out and it was decidedly smile-worthy.
And now a word about Affeldt. Two words, actually. 1) Ouch! 2) Oh. My. God. No.
Well, that was five words in the end. But you know what I mean. I have actually developed a strange phobia of knives and frozen hamburgers over the past few days. To make this all legit and Greek, that would be machairi-champourgker. Jeremy has scarred me for life with that injury.
On the upside, Zito will be getting one more chance at life- I mean, pitching- because of it. He was activated today and will probably work out the bullpen. I am most definitely intrigued.
Diamond Girl
Your Choice
Apparently, the Giants failed to notice the part of yesterday’s blog post where, after I detailed how they could train wreck the rest of the season, I put a disclaimer. In case you missed it too, it was: “Note: I am not endorsing this or recommending this.”
They are rather stubborn, this bunch, and they don’t hit ever, in the same way that Facebook doesn’t crash ever. (Yep, I quote The Social Network when I’m depressed.)
Bochy named this as the Official Low Point of the Season, though frankly, I could think of some other ones, like the day when everyone got injured or the day when… well, you get the point. This has been a season with a few ups and a whole lot of downs.
It’s not over, of course. There are still a fair number of cold hard baseball games to be played and the Giants still have some great pitchers and, you know, Carlos Beltran. None of that has changed. They’re not brilliant, but in my opinion, they weren’t last year either. There are the obvious differences like lack of Buster and Freddy, but stranger things have happened.
As much as a part of me wants them to just quietly slip off the map now, another part of me thinks that I’d sure as heck like a good show in the last month of the season, whether or not they end up in the playoffs.
I don’t think the team has changed that much. I think it’s our perception. The orange-tinted glasses have fallen off in a hurry and the Giants need to clean up the pieces.
I’m sure there are a lot of people who are just settling in for the wait until Opening Day, 2012, but that feels beside the point. The season isn’t over until the last pitch is thrown, bottom line, as this team proved last year and until then we just need to ride with it as fans.
Or find an ocean paradise and sunbathe without a radio/TV/internet connection for a month and just forget Giants baseball exists. Your choice.
Diamond Girl
There Are Many Reasons I Do Not Like Cincinnati.
There are many reasons I do not like Cincinnati. One of the things is that I always forget about them, when I’m trying to list all the teams. I also (embarrassing confession here) confused them with the Twins for more years than I care to remember.
The foremost reason, though? Their weekend sweep of the Gigantes, culminating in a dismal 9-0 victory in which someone actually struggled as much as Zito did. I mean, not one person. The whole offense. It was a game that made you wonder why on earth Sabean thought Beltran was enough. Kind of, Why not Pujols and A-Rod and Reyes and Braun and Ethier while you’re at it? feeling.
Maybe it didn’t make you wonder that. But trades have infected just about every moment of my awake time and I have started to dream about them at a startling rate as well. The upshot of all of this end-of-July craziness is that my quintessential Rockie, Ubaldo, is in Cleveland and my quintessential Dodger, Rafael Furcal, is in St. Louis. And that the Giants- other than Zito and our offense saviors 0’fers since being traded- are in a nice spot. Sure, this upcoming series against Arizona is scaring my hair into being curly again, but the fact is the Giants took one of the premiere hitters off the trade market and are legitimately poised to defend that- ahem, is this a total jinx?- championship. Same on the Rangers side, actually. Their brilliant bullpen bolstering will make them a real serious force to be reckoned with, I think. I’m happy with how this trade deadline has played out.
Weirdness? Tomorrow is August. Dog Days.
This season is going by in a heartbeat. I know Sabean better than to think this is the team we’re going to have down the stretch but… who knows. This could be the team we’re going to have down the stretch. I better settle into spelling Keppinger’s name.
Diamond Girl
3 + 3 = 3 Wins + Mandatory Low Point In Trailer When Main Character Cries Or Almost Cries If He Is Tough Guy Brad Pitt So He Can’t Actually Cry
I don’t drop “Baseball Gods” a whole lot. But when people hit triples, they always feel like little gifts from Baseball Heaven. And has anyone else noticed that they do tend to come to people who really, really need them?
Like Pat Burrell who is rumored to be the odd man out later this year and Eli Whiteside who has, well, big shoes to fill. And he isn’t really fillin’ them. Then Billy Hall’s (am I coining Billy?) magical half hour with Bam Bam seems to have paid off, which comes at a nice time when Freddy pessimism is at a 2011 high. I am all for the holistic, natural approach and have (some amount of) total confidence that the shoulder can heal on its own but it’s good to have some, ahem, backup.
Which means that this night of three basers notched MadBum his third win of the year and a 3.21 ERA. Sometimes I have the urge to bang the heads of the offense together but then I remember that they do things like hit key triples and I go to my punching bag (laptop keyboard) instead.
We are on our way to sweeping the Diamondbacks, which is a phrase I would have been petrified to utter a few days ago. This is good.
Zito is moving up in the world and will be starting in AAA Fresno tonight. I guess this must be his first time pitching for the Grizzlies and I think he’ll fit in. No snarky-ness there. Barry and Chuckchansi Park just seem like a match made in heaven. Still, I’d be lying if I said I don’t feel like the clock is ticking down to doomsday.
The first Moneyball movie trailer hit the web yesterday my skepticism about it is fading.
I think it looks really good, actually. The hairdresser captured Billy Beane’s vaguely volumized hair perfectly and even if they look nothing alike otherwise (yeah, that’s a big cause of mine) they do kind of make the same expressions.
And am I the only one who thinks doing this looks incredibly fun? Even if that is the mandatory Low Point In Trailer When Main Character Cries (Or Almost Cries If He Is Tough Guy Brad Pitt So He Can’t Actually Cry). So I don’t think it’s supposed to look fun. But it does.
Someone else commented that the field looks suspiciously dark in this walk scene and why doesn’t the stadium have any lights?
True.
I will be in the theater opening day, I think. I’ve only done that for one other movie, Takers, and it was unwarranted. That was a terrible movie (not to mention Hayden Christensen’s character was the first of the bank robbers to die, which tempted me to demand my $8 back, but that seemed petty). I have hope, though. I kind of think this might be my first baseball movie love.
Diamond Girl
p.s. Congratulations to former Giant/Grizzly Jesus Guzman on his call-up to San Diego!
I remember seeing him during his two weeks up at AT&T Park in 2009 and enjoying watching him play. Wishing him much success. I mean, some success. Enough for him to have a happy career but the Padres to keep on their last place, sub-.500 ways.
5 Best Tim Lincecum Moments
Yesterday was a strange day. I forgot there was a Giants game. I think I actually forgot the Giants existed. Somewhere around the fourth hour of The Fellowship of the Ring director’s cut at AMC Theaters, it all came back to me. But I was too engrossed to care.
Evidently, the Giants squeezed out a win against the Diamondbacks in this as-super-important-as-June-series-get series. Since I spent the evening a several realities away, I’ll leave the breakdown of that game to others.
I woke up to see happy birthday messages to Tim Lincecum everywhere. Which reminded me…
He signed that ball for me last June 15th and the whole crowd of autograph seekers sang Happy Birthday to him. It was loads of fun. So in honor of his big day coming around again, I’ve made a list of my personal top 5 favorite Tim Lincecum moments.
5. August and Beyond
In 2010, Timmy faced adversity… but it was storybook adversity. The kind where there’s a clean, simple problem with a clean, simple, perfect ending. Sure, it didn’t feel that way while it was going on. But looking back? Couldn’t really have gone down better.
4. A Day In The Life
I absolutely loved this Comcast SportsNet show. It didn’t feel overly rehearsed or corny but it wasn’t boring either. It was just a nice little slice-of-life. Well done.
3. The Kiss
Remember her? The girl who said she wanted her first kiss from Tim Lincecum? And he totally gave it to her. Too sweet.
2. Beanies Galore
The beanies have gone rather MIA recently. But remember when he wore them all the time? To his first Cy Young press conference even? Those were the days. I love ‘em.
1. 15 Strikeouts
Everyone has baseball games they attended that they will never, ever forget. Timmy’s career high 15 strikeouts against the Pittsburgh Pirates is one of those for me. Orange K after orange K going up on the wall and him just never slowing down.
Happy Birthday, Timmy. You’re named The Franchise for a reason.
Diamond Girl
p.s. Can my cake which won me the Ultimate Tim Lincecum Fan award get an honorable mention? I think there’s, you know, a striking resemblance.
</aaI Am Irrationally Excited…
…about the draft tonight. And all the gossip. I even watched a painfully boring, but still kind of interesting video about the top 50 prospects and I have popcorn waiting to be popped in expectance of the show at 4 PT. MLB says this is the deepest draft ever and Jon Daniels/Kip Fagg seem to imply the opposite. I can’t decide who I believe. Probably the Rangers. Neither the Giants nor the Rangers are picking anytime near the beginning, but I do have a Pirates soft spot, so first overall should be fun (but shame on you, people who leak who’s going to be picked. It takes away all the suspense!). You know what won’t be fun?
The coming weeks in Giants rotation news.
I’m scared. I really am.
With every beautiful Vogelsong start that makes me warm and fuzzy I am reminded that Zito and his pesky foot are getting a little closer to being better and that at some point (sooner rather than later?) Sabes et al. are going to have some choices to make. They say they are going to “get creative”. I say, if that includes glue and feathers then Zito should definitely get the call. If it includes pitching? I vote for Vogey.
Or maybe the A’s are in need of starting pitching and the Giants will eat the cash, get rid of him and I can still see him sometimes. Is that selfish? Don’t answer that question. Really, I don’t think it would be smart (or viable) for Giants to get rid of him. It’s called “insurance”, my friends, (not to mention piles of cash) and with our injury luck that rotation doesn’t feel safe. So I’ll just have to sit tight and wait until they decide to put their creativity on display (in a case? On a table? Mounted on the wall? Anyone’s guess.).
The bats aren’t exactly on fire, but they’re doing a decent job and the team seems dead set on looking only forward, which I am loving. The Nationals, who are in last place, nine games out, are coming to town tomorrow and Arizona is ever-so-vaguely skidding so now seems like a good time heat up.
Even though here in the Bay Area we are all walking around under a ceiling of fog in winter coats. That has got to make it a little harder to play baseball.
Diamond Girl
p.s. I don’t mean to be a fawning fan girl. I really don’t. But aren’t Brandon Crawford and his fiancé the cutest couple ever?
sfdiamondgirl
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