Tag Archives: ryan vogelsong

June 17, 2011 · 3:09 pm

Well, We Had That Coming

So that’s how it feels to be walked off against!

I don’t know about you, but I prefer walking off ourselves.

Still, didn’t we sort of have it coming after walking off against everyone else?

The irony was, of course, that Vogelsong was starting for the Giants and Zito for Fresno on the same night.  Ryan was good, Barry was fine.  The Giants seem to be giving the “take your sweet time” message to Zito, but he’s not buying it and claims to be all ready to go.

I think the Giants just have no idea what to do with him.

Even if he came back as a reliever, they’d have to get rid of someone in a somewhat stellar bullpen.  Santiago Casilla is on the front of my mind (he, you know, let in the winning hit last night) but his ERA is at 1.80, so that’s unfair.

There’s simply isn’t room.

Not to mention that Barry is the polar opposite of a reliever.  I don’t doubt that he’d try his best, I just doubt he’d do it well.  If this were a youth play (I’ve done my fair share) they’d “split the role”.  It’s maddening, but nobody’s feelings are hurt, right?  So Zito could take four innings and then Vogey could take four and then a bullpen guy could take the ninth.  The rest of the bullpen would be all rested for the next day.  Takes teamwork to a whole new level.

In all seriousness, I am stumped.  Sometimes this team feels like a maze/wreck.

Until we play the A’s.  Then I see how good we have it.  It’s good for my soul.

Speaking of which… I keep trying to figure out why I feel like we’re going into a big series.  This is Interleague Play (read: meaningless.  Yes, I said that, Selig.) against the last place A’s.   I think it’s because a) There is really something of a Bay Area rivalry b) They’re a team I’m familiar with which always scares me because I know what to look for and c) It’s now or never for Oakland.  Not really.  It’s June.  But it’s now or not for a while.  The A’s are only six games back and I, for one, still think they have a lot in them.   Check out this little gem of an interview with Billy Beane.  They have spirit, they just need a little breath of air to get ‘em going.

And just in case you were wondering, since this is the FAQ during every Bay Bridge series?  No, the Giants do not stay in hotels.  Or fly from SFO to OAK.  But they do get meal money.  So that they can go out on the town in Oakland, I guess.  It’s a really exciting city.  I totally want to go out on the town there.

Sarcasm, people.  Sarcasm.

Diamond Girl

 

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June 6, 2011 · 12:07 pm

I 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?

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May 31, 2011 · 10:18 pm

con•tu•sion/kənˈto͞oZHən/

(Don’t worry about it.  I can’t read those pronunciation guides either.)

Happy Birthday to Dave Flemming and happy wedding to Dave Feldhouse!   They are both great KNBR people and I’d honestly rather sing their praises than talk about this game.  But putting something off never made it any better, so…

This one hurts.  Literally and physically.

Not a whole lot of other ways to say that.

Listening to Pat Burrell on defense brought back memories of the Roman soldiers stuffing parsley in their ears so they don’t have to ear the atrocious bard singing.  I seriously went looking for parsley during some of the worse moment of today’s game, but unfortunately (fortunately?) our house doesn’t really stock it.

So I listened (minus parsley) in a horrified little ball during the 8th inning and at the same time chanted “M-I-A-M-I” to get my mind off things.  I have a feeling Rangers/Cowboys/Mavericks come as a package, but Miami is more fun to say than Dallas so Texas is out of luck this series.

Back to the game.

The part that really horrified me was Brandon getting injured.  Me and contusion (Noun: A region of injured tissue or skin in which blood capillaries have been ruptured; a bruise.) are getting to know each other a little too well.

I could say our bullpen is a massive failure but the massive failure element, Jeremy, actually did really well today.  It was Romo who faltered.  And Javi Lopez.   We all have bad days.  I mean, I have days where I walk into doors excuse me to parking meters.  A few runs are nothing compared to that, right?  I’m just going to make some tea and dream about winning baseball teams and a dictionary in which the word “contusion” does not exist.

Tomorrow is Happy Timmy Day and two out of three wouldn’t be bad and June is a nice shiny new start.  Just shape up, bullpen.  One bad day is fine and understandable.  Two?  My patience wears thin.  And no more of those bruise things.  I mean it.

Diamond Girl

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May 26, 2011 · 9:35 pm

A Massive Assortment of Get Well Soon Cards Plus Lots of Brightsideness

We’re going on 24 hours since Buster Posey’s fateful moment and it still hurts to talk about it.  I seriously have sympathetic ankle pain.  It’s been chewed up and spit out by the media and then mashed over so I can’t say with any conviction what of this is true: He won’t be back this year. He won’t catch again.  The Giants are signing Bengie.  The world ended.

Okay, the last one isn’t true.  But the other ones might be.  I hope with every fiber in my body that he gets better in his own time and doesn’t rush it, that that’s incredibly soon and that he comes back to catcher with no problem.  And I would just about die if they signed Bengie.

Fittingly or at least predictably, the Giants then lost 1-0 today.  Vogelsong was excellent (don’t say a word about Barry Zito.  I mean it.  I am living in a blissful state of ignorance that there is any issue.  So zip it.) but the team did not seem to be buying the whole “adversity makes heroes” thing.  They will have to, in time, but it feels like the unbelievably stable rug was just pulled out from under us.  Forever just ended, you know?

There’s been so much debate about whether or not it was a clean play.  I think it was a just fine play.  Fun?  No.  But dirty?  Nah.

The bottom line is that disastrous, nightmare injuries happen and the team has to figure out how to pull through.  I’m surprised to hear Crawford was called up and a little skeptical of Belt coming back, but it will no doubt be fascinating to watch.  Adversity may or may not make heroes but it makes for some interesting storylines and what is a season without those?

Bright side, people.  Bright side.

Diamond Girl

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May 5, 2011 · 11:58 pm

There’s No Place Like Home

Haven’t blogged since the Mets series started and now it’s ended, huh?  I’ve been doing important things like making cupcakes from scratch in just under 13 minutes (impressive and superwoman-ish), getting a haircut (always traumatic, but especially so when the stylist tells me about her former orange mohawk as she cuts my hair.  I do not want an orange mohawk and I am never letting you near my head with scissors again.) and general biting of nails and adjusting of radio antennae.  The usual.

The Giants won 2 out of 3 with that iffy Vogelsong outing, beyond stellar Lincecum outing and dismal Sanchez outing.  The offense snapped minimally to life and Aubrey had a 3 hit game (!) as well as an extra inning game winning homer. 

I’d be lying if I said I was ever a huge Mike Fontenot person (remember this fateful day when I was left wondering “who is this guy”?  And not in the good way that Kruk says it.) but he does provide some interesting and right now really great depth.  His contribution- and opportunity to contribute at all, really- is unexpected for sure but in a pleasant sort of way.  But I’m sure I speak for the whole Short People community when I say I wish his height wasn’t brought up every time he hits or fields a ball.  Time to get a new storyline, media.  Height is boring.  And do you really want to pay for his therapy bills when you give him a complex?  Didn’t think so.

It’s sort of a best of times/worst of times moment for the boys in orange and black because as thrilled as I am about Timmy and his pitching for the ages, they’re still under .500 and coming home to face the Rockies.  Who are sort of (sort of?) good right now.  It’s not dramatically awful there are just troublesome things, like Sanchez’s two terrible starts in a row and Vogelsong’s one bad start and the fact that we are all really losing patience with Tejada and Posey had fewer hits than him on the road trip which is disturbing as a factoid.

Enough with the downer-ness.  The season is young and unexpected heroes have already stepped up.  There are more waiting in the wings (Hello, Fresno/Seattle/cities with underrated players who are interested in trading) I think. 

And San Francisco is really darn happy to have you all home, losers or winners.

This is, sadly, not a real cake.  Just a mocked up one.

Diamond Girl

p.s.  Don’t you dare say “that hardly counted as a no-hitter”.  A no-hitter is a no-hitter and they are beautiful, walks and facing terrible teams or not.  My rose-colored glasses magically appear after every one and I glow for a few hours.  Congratulations to Liriano and the Twins.

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