Tag Archives: madison bumgarner

March 12, 2013 · 6:26 pm

In Canada, Which is a Country to the North…

If it were up to Bud Selig, the whole season would probably be interleague play with a little international and intergalactic play mixed in.  Intergalactic play could actually be pretty cool, if Jar Jar Binks were involved, but I digress.  It’s not – thankfully – entirely up to Selig, so for now, there’s not that much interleague play at all.

There is, however, Spring Training when the leagues kind of play musical chairs.  Which leads to some pretty fabulous matchups.  Bumgarner vs. Darvish kind of matchups.  They were both rather good, as one would hope, and it didn’t feel much like a Spring Training game at all.  Certainly not to Andres Torres, who took it all a little bit, er, seriously.  A little bit more seriously than maybe was necessary, but that’s why we love him, right?  Anyhow, Bumgarner beat Darvish as it were, which might have been a) a fluke b) Darvish’s hair was Sampson-like but silly Lincecum started a trend so the rest is history c) Bumgarner rules and his gift ideas do, too.  (Nope, never dropping that one.)

In World Baseball Classic news, I do not get it.  Any of it.  I’m sure it’s not that complicated, but I can’t bring myself to understand how it works.  Still waiting on the free gelato/pizza/Italian soda/caprese pasta/mint green Fiat.

That brawl was pretty epic, though.  Speaking of people who take things too seriously.

In Canada, which is a country to the north…

Diamond Girl

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February 20, 2013 · 7:11 pm

The Giants Had a HIMYM Marathon with Microwave Popcorn Today

Apparently the universe is a football fan.  (Or is the universe a plural?  The universe are footballs fans?)

Snow at Spring Training

Photo/@mlbPeteMcCarthy on Twitter

This was the scene at Spring Training in Arizona this morning with some rain and some hail and some, um, snow?  I have a hard time wrapping by head around that, but pictures or it didn’t happen doesn’t really apply because there are pictures.  Lots of pictures.  Bored beat writers at Spring Training love taking photos, you know.

Anyway, it sounds like the Giants sort of kicked it and did baseball related things indoors, which I assume means a How I Met Your Mother marathon and microwave popcorn.

Closer by committee is garnering some eyerolls but I mean it did work when these guys a World Series last year, so I don’t think it’s time to panic just yet.  The closer situation may become apparent in unexpected ways once they start playing games or something.

Madison Bumgarner thinks you should get your girlfriend/wife/imaginary girlfriend a baby calf for Valentine’s Day and also he hit Javier Lopez in the hand with a pitch and bruised him pretty badly.  Lopez is out for a few days, but should be back pretty soon.  Whether or not girlfriend/wife/imaginary girlfriend will ever be back after receiving that gift is anyone’s guess.

Diamond Girl

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October 26, 2012 · 6:31 pm

The Evils of Consumerism On an Off Day

As you guys know, I have a love-hate relationship with off days.  Aside from them being necessary because of travel and whatever, they’re hard on us fans.  The World Series is intense and a day away from it, while it should be relaxing, just leaves ample time for us all to go stir crazy.   (On which note, anyone else see World War III break out on Twitter today about sabermetrics and the Giants?  As I said.  Stir crazy.)

The Giants are up 2-0 in the series, which is obviously the best way to go into an off day.  A little feeling of confidence is unavoidable (not to mention, wonderful) but this team has come from behind to steal too many series’ this season for me to write off the Tigers.

Madison Bumgarner helped out the cause quite a bit with a stellar performance last night, making us all basically feel like slackers, because he’s 23 and he’s already pitched in two World Series game, not to mention he has a World Series ERA of… 0.00.

Do those zeros look like googly eyes to you?  Because they do to me.  Googly eyes like, “Holy crap, how did we get this lucky?”

The series heads to freezing Detroit now, so it seems only fitting to give full disclosure that I absolutely have a Detroit complex.  See, the Bay Area part of me doesn’t fall prey to the evils of consumerism and advertising, but… I am a complete sucker for those Chrysler commercials.

My sources tell me Detroit is not nearly that pretty (understatement of the year?  Perhaps.), but still.  I hope FOX does some pretty shots of the city.  With that completely awesome slow-mo camera of theirs, maybe?  A girl can dream.  A girl can also have nightmares.  Which I have had about that awesome slow-mo camera of theirs.

Diamond Girl

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October 8, 2012 · 8:02 pm

May the Odds Be Ever In Your Favor and All That

Last night was the second big game I’ve missed due to concert tickets in as many years.  Last year, it was game six of the World Series and as it turned out, I wasn’t terribly sad that I missed that.  And last night… well, I can’t say with complete sincerity that I wish I’d seen that one.  I did sneak over to the bar and subtly glance up at the TV screen and as it turned out, it just as the score went final.   I squinted.  3-0?  6-0?  9-0?  No.  That couldn’t be.  But it could be.  And it was.

(This was a different tack than last time, when I made everyone I was with swear to keep me in the dark, should they happen to figure something out about the game.  I also walked as far away as I could from random people, because I was afraid that someone would mention the game in passing and I didnotdidnot want to know.  In case you’re wondering, yes, this is a completely true story.)

Nothing went right for the Giants last night.  They were outhit 2-13 and now they’re down 2-0 in a five game series and the rest this one is in Cincinnati.  Cain and Bumgarner are burned so it’s down to Vogelsong.  The team can’t really hit or pitch or field at the moment, but other than that, all is well.

That’s the bad stuff.  Ready for some good stuff?

In my completely non-scientific studies, home-field advantage in the playoffs is not all it’s cracked up to be.  Don’t bother showing me statistics that support the importance of home field advantage.  As I said, completely non-scientific.  Who knows, playing without Panda hats and, you know, weed in the crowd could be just the wakeup call the team needs.

Also, Ryan Vogelsong is pretty darn fantastic.  He’s had his ups and downs, but haven’t they all?  (With the exception of Matt Cain who is Matt Cain so that’s irrelevant.)

It won’t be easy, but it’s not impossible.  Don’t lose faith, Giants fans, there’s still baseball to be played and anything can happen.  Pep talks for the win.

The odds are decidedly not in our favor.  But were they in Jennifer-Lawrence’s-character-whose-name-does-not-immediately-come-to-mind-but-she-was-kinda-similar-to-her-character-in-Winter’s-Bone?  The answer is no, in case you got lost somewhere in there.

If all else fails, stock up on some almond chocolate cookies from Trader Joe’s.  I just took my own advice and trust me, it works.

Diamond Girl

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September 18, 2012 · 1:36 pm

A Totally Theoretical Cliff Lee

(First a PSA:  If you so happen to write a blog or just be in possession of a computer – which I assume you are, if you’re reading this and you’re not an alien reading it on a cool, futuristic bot thing – don’t try at home what I’m doing right now.  That is, balancing a laptop and an extremely full and extremely hot mug of orange tea.  However, getting this tea will change your life, so I do recommend that.)

Anyhow, I spent yesterday at the beach, mediating on the meaning of life and singing Western States Motel songs at the top of my lungs and when I got home, it was all Giants game time.  It did not disappoint.  I mean, it did in some ways, but the team did what we’ve come to expect over the past several weeks and they pulled out a win, even though Madison was not nearly at his best and even though it took a million and one relief pitchers.  They didn’t tear it up with the bats, either, but in case I’ve failed to mention it before, 2-1 games are my very most favoritest.  (Yes, I am of the opinion that for every time we shave a number off of the magic number, I get to use another made-up word.)  2-1 where the Giants win, of course.

It’s a strange time around Major League Baseball, with the second wildcard – which. is. not. wild. – weirdness and all sorts of teams that are in no way, shape or rational form in contention being… in contention.  I feel like if I were (totally theoretically) on one of those teams I would feel a little trippy about this whole thing.  “Man, we’re 74-74 and we might get into the playoffs?  Duuuude,” says Totally Theoretical Cliff Lee.

Or maybe the players aren’t saying that kind of things at all.  Maybe they’re too busy sending flowers to Bud Selig to talk about that stuff.

My tea is completely cold by now, so that’s probably my cue to end this.  Terribly excited for the game tonight.  Isn’t this playoff race wondrous in that it’s not totallycompletely a race anymore?  I did not enjoy this part of the 2010 season at all.  We have a little more wiggle room right about now.  And it’s magical.  (Inside.  Outside.  Everywhere.)

Diamond Girl

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