(No comments on the messy hair or the lopsided handwriting, people. I am still under a hot chocolate hangover. You can’t expect me to actually write straight.)
Diamond Girl
Tag Archives: oakland
My Dreams Have Officially Been Crushed
In today’s depressing news, “@Yoenis_Cespedes” on Twitter is not really the Cuban outfielder who reportedly closed a deal with the A’s yesterday worth $36 million. (You could buy about ten gourmet cupcakes ‘round here with that kind of money.) Why is this depressing? Check out one of the account’s recent tweets:
also my fans i will be honest with u on this ok i really like oakland a jerseys and shoes they are very style and miami was just ok really
I was seriously clapping my hands together in glee at reading that. I was all, “We have someone who is actually vaguely fashion-conscious on a Bay Area sports team!” (Barry Zito lost that title when he wore this, of course.) Then Jane Lee, of mlb.com, went and shot down once and for all that that was really his account. Which was good journalism and everything, but still decidedly depressing.
I do have to agree with the troll- I mean, person- running the fake account, though. Oakland’s uniforms are a thousand times better than those Miami ones. Especially those new weird rainbow ones that they’re rolling out with their new stadium which may or may not also be rainbow themed. Unconfirmed on that, but I’m working on it. If anyone every did a baseball themed fashion show, I would totally recommend the A’s as a model. Open for loose interpretation, of course. Loose loose interpretation. Just because I said they’re good in the scheme of baseball uniforms doesn’t mean I’m saying they’re ready for the runways.
Anyhow! The Giants were so kind as to inform me very cheerfully via iPhone notes app that Spring Training is now three days away.
This was the photo reminder. Instagramed, no less.
Three days! Staying on the topic of cupcakes, since I can make cupcakes from scratch in just under 13 minutes, I could make about 220 batches of cupcakes, which is about 2640 cupcakes, between now and Spring Training starting. Perhaps enough to feed the Giants 25 man roster? Or to open my own gourmet cupcake shop that sells them for a slightly more reasonable price?
That would, of course, all be contingent on my taking no breaks on the baking front for three days. Not even to check Twitter or scroll through photos of badly dressed celebrities. Read: unlikely.
Still, this all goes to show that Spring Training is very soon. To make a long story short. Which is good news indeed.
Diamond Girl
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The Lowdown on the Get Stepped on by Taller Giants Fans Event, aka Fan Fest
I have detailed my feelings towards Fan Fest previously on the blog- you can read that here or my account of last year’s Fan Fest here (which I wasn’t at but made an account of all the same).
A few things that are now on my mind…
Firstly I have no excuse like I did last year. I am available, I know where and when it is happening and cannot claim to have had an aunt in a freak skydiving accident, because some number of y’all have seen Confessions of a Shopaholic and would catch me in my lie.
Secondly I do know not whether it is Fan Fest or FanFest. A quick search on my blog demonstrates severe schizophrenia on my part as to this particular dilemma. Now how I can I go if I don’t even know how to spell it? This could be a good excuse. Another quick search shows that the Giants call it Fan Fest- two words- while the A’s, contrarians that they are, spell it as one word, FanFest. What to make of it all?
This is the official logo which, of course, conveniently evades the issue by making it completely unclear whether or not there’s a space, with their cute logo. Which is cute. But that’s beside the point.
Thirdly I miss my KNBR fix and if I stay home, there is the upside of following the whole thing on the radio, rather than braving the sandy field in my fabulous boots and the lines as long as the playoffs Bud Selig is proposing/promising/guaranteeing. I repeat, we need a new commish, people.
But fourthly Fan Fest is the baseball equivalent to a horrible family tradition that you do just so you can show your battle scars in the future and be all, I survived!
This is all to say I am, as of yet, undecided. Perhaps if I make some cupcakes and listen to lots of calming Enya beforehand I will go. Or perhaps I will make some cupcakes and give them out to add positive vibes to the event and play Enya over some portable speakers, to amp up the whole positive vibe thing even more.
No one will mind if I wear my antlers too, right?
Yes, it’s Instagramed. Yes, I am occasionally a hipster. And a Rangers fan. That too.
Diamond Girl
Filed under Uncategorized
Caught Between Rock (Kepp) and a Hard Place (Font)
No offense to Jeff Keppinger and Mike Fontenot, because I’m sure they are both wonderful guys, but do you all know the phrase “between a rock and a hard place”? The Giants were distinctly there last night, at the (not especially tender) non-tender deadline.
Because San Fran is apparently really tight on cash these days, they could only keep one of the aforementioned guys and in the end, it was Fontenot. Personally, I was more partial to Kepp, but I mean, really? That’s not, er, the most fantastic pool to choose from right there. In addition to which, they’re pretty much the two people on the roster who I always forgot about, so I’d be lying if I said this move was going to have a big impact on my life.
The other guy they let walk was Eli Whiteside, who I did actually have a bit of an affinity for. I’m not sure if it was the grey hair or the occasional homerun, but I did like having him on the team. Then again, you know how I feel about Chris Stewart, so if this means for playing time for him, then I’m happy. Who knows, Whiteside could get a better gig somewhere else. Looking for a catcher, Rangers? I know you are.
Speaking of which, we have a bit of other news in the former-Giant vein! Aaron Rowand signed a minor league with the (wait for it) Marlins yesterday. I hope he has a good time in Miami and all but, well, they do have a lot, a lot of players. I would guess that’s going to be the hardest team to make, out of spring team. Seeing as they have an 80 man roster or so, what with the players they had before they went on the spending spree and the players they have now. They’re going to need a couple of planes and buses to take the team anywhere!
And Travis Ishikawa signed a deal with the Brew Crew, which makes me inordinately happy. Stop it with the Prince Fielder comparisons already, people. Trav (fab nickname, right?) was one of the best pinch hitters in the game in 2010 and I think Milwaukee is lucky to have him around.
Yes, I’m still mad about how the Giants (mis)treated him at the ring ceremony at the beginning of the season. Take note, Milwaukee. If you win a championship he needs to be there, uniform and all. Please and thank you.
In other news, Oakland may soon be entirely team-less with the Warriors mulling a move that would put them side-by-side the Giants, the Raiders talking Santa Clara and the A’s, of course, pushing San Jose. Nothing seems imminent and the city of Oakland is making their own push now (with a glitzy mock-up featuring a fantastic hotel, no less) but it’s a pretty feeble push on their part.
I’m a Giants fan and all, but it still seems pretty stubborn for the Giants to block the San Jose move so firmly. Especially if they get the Warriors next door. Share the love, folks. There’s room for everybody. And how much more revenue could they possibly lose? They’re already too pressed for money to get Kepp and Font, both.
We have a strange train of events playing out here. But welcome back, Mike Fontenot. I’m sure I’ll stop forgetting about you when you completely over-perform in 2012.
Diamond Girl
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A Word for Billy Beane and Five Things About 2012 to Get Excited For
I admit it: I do not know quite what Billy Beane was thinking with yesterday’s trade, which sent Trevor Cahill and Craig Breslow to Arizona. (Strategically done, of course, after the Winter Meetings because Beane is a spoilsport and doesn’t like doing things at the most dramatic time of year. Excuse me, I’m in a bad mood with him right now.) Looking at it unbiased, I would say it’s a gamble on the A’s part, but maybe a gamble that could pay off.
But I do have that bias. Why, you ask? I am not much of an A’s fan and really, really not a Diamondbacks fan. But I am a Giants fan (duh, right there). And that trade probably just made Arizona, oh, a thousand times better for 2012. Really? No slack for your across-the-bay-buddies, Billy? I may have to renounce my Moneyball/Billy Beane love right now. Jon Daniels so just got the Best-Dressed GM Award back, without even wearing any fabulous clothes.
After reading up on that trade, I went to look at Rangers news, but that was basically depressing too.
I told you I was having post-Winter-Meetings depression.
I figure if I’m all baseball-depressed, then everyone else must be with me. So I’ve decided to list 5 things us Giants fan should be excited about for 2012! Because aside from facing Cahill tons, there really is a lot to get stoked for. Ready? Okay. You sure? Okay.
5. Vogelsong/Strong. Vogey’s amazing breakout year in 2011 was… for lack of a better word, rather amazing. Being the skeptic that I am, though, I want to see more of that before I go all ga-ga (not in the Lady sense). I think we’re all really curious to see what he’s going to follow it up with and I, for one, am getting excited already.
4. All the new wedding rings on the field. They’ll glint. In the stadium lights. I think.
3. Angel Pagan. Yes, I said it before, but I’ll say it again. He has a fabulous name.
2. Freddy Sanchez. Picture him playing ball. With just that image, are you not excited now?! I am beyond, beyond excited to have him back out for the Giants. Things are just sure to get better with him at second base.
1. [insert cheesy line here about the smell of freshly mowed grass and hot dogs and the crack of the bat]
0. This bonus one goes to The Dark Knight Rises. I liked Batman Begins much better than The Dark Knight, to be perfectly honest, and unfortunately, Liam Neeson does not appear to be reprising his role in the new one (I mean, he was in a massive train explosion, but I don’t assume he’s dead) but I’m stoked to go back to Gotham City all the same.
And, well, duh, The Hobbit. But that’s so near the end of 2012 that it might as well be 2013. Still, I am just about swooning over it already.
There we go. This post just went from “Completely Depressing” to “Basically Upbeat”. The movie talk and the cheesy line probably helped.
Diamond Girl
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