Tag Archives: diamondbacks

October 3, 2011 · 12:52 pm

The Verdict, So Far

My accidental blogging vacation (read:  I was sleeping all weekend and forgot to write anything) is over and the playoffs and their pumpkin/cinnamon/cranberry scent are gaining steam.  And yes, making me hungry.   All things considered, it’s going pretty well, from my perspective.  As it stands:

Milwaukee leads series again Arizona, 2-0

Verdict:  Very good!  Awesome!  Fantastic!  And other words of a blissfully affirmative nature. 

Philadelphia is tied with St. Louis, 1-1

Verdict:  Well, whoever wins this, can get crushed by the Crew in the NLCS.  Ideally, that would be the Phillies.  (Picture: Braun going 3-3 with 3 homers against Cliffy.)

Tampa Bay and Texas are tied, 1-1

Verdict:  Texas has momentum now.  It’s only going to get better from here on out.  Repeat that 100 times and then come back to me, okay?

Detroit and New York are tied, 1-1

Verdict:  Good.  Because this is a good matchup and one that makes me question my loyalties for (nearly) every waking moment.  So a tie means more good games.  And more indecisiveness on my part.  Decide for yourself if that part is good.  Jorge Posada’s triple- by which he proved my belief that age only matters if you’re wine or cheese or something- certainly helped the Yankees cause in my eyes.  Doesn’t he just rule?

Overall verdict:

I would give this whole thing so far four and a half stars, except for the bizarre start times.  I am sorely tempted to write Bud Selig a new post-it, demanding that he change the start times so I don’t continually miss the beginnings of games, but I am trying to spare y’all.  You’re welcome.

Diamond Girl

p.s  I still love u, Ryan Braun.  And if Kirk Gibson picks on you and claims you didn’t tag third again, I will totally fistfight him.

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September 26, 2011 · 1:35 pm

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

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September 11, 2011 · 8:30 pm

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

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August 30, 2011 · 1:08 pm

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

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August 29, 2011 · 1:40 pm

I Propose Two Options

We are, somehow, one series away from September baseball.  The Giants are going to be playing only other NL West teams this coming month, with six games against the arch-nemesis Diamondbacks and seven against the Rockies, who may contend a little down the stretch, just ‘cause.

Which means the Giants have 27 innings and three days to figure out what the heck they are doing this year and they’ll be doing it against the Cubs, starting tonight.

I’m not an absolutist and I do believe in fairies (I do!  I do!) but I think there are really just two options at this point.

First!  (Note: I am not endorsing this or recommending this.)

The Giants could fade away into the sunset that is the end of the baseball season and the hugable moments that were Eric Surkamp and Mark DeRosa on Saturday night will fade into the good-but-not-great memories of 2011.  This team has had a lot (a lot?) of injuries this year, after all.  This is a legitimate option.

Second!  (Note:  I am totally endorsing and recommending this.)

The Giants could realize that the darkest time of night is right before dawn and all that and the hugable moments there were Eric Surkamp and Mark DeRosa on Saturday night will soon be regarded as just predictions of what was to come for this team.  This team has had a lot (a lot?) of injuries this year, but they are mega-resilient, too.  This is way beyond a legitimate option.

So.  I think you can tell where I stand on all this, but as to what will really happen?  I’m stumped. 

In any case, I got a little lone-Barry-Zito-fan-happiness out of hearing that the ankle is doing a little better and he’s optimistic.  I’d like to see him back this year.  Yep, after all that.  I still would.

And speaking of the ankle!  Did anyone else see the photo of it they had on The Franchise last week?  I’m not prone to saying “ew” but for lack of a better word… ew.  They shouldn’t be allowed to show that kind of thing on TV without warning me or something.  Just an, “Emily- enormously swollen ankle, coming up next!” text would have done the trick, you know?

And no, I won’t show you a screen-grab of it.  Because I’m nice to my viewers, like that.

Diamond Girl

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