Tag Archives: yu darvish

A Chance to Win Diamond Girl’s Firstborn!

How can you win the awesome prize stated in the title?  By voting for Yu, of course.  You have until 1:00 PT to vote – so about 40 minutes- and all you have to do is:  tweet the hashtag #VoteYu (yep, that counts as a vote) or vote the good old-fashioned way right here or text “A2″ to 89269.

If you do this and tell me you did by messaging me on Pinterest or whatever, you will be entered to win my theoretical firstborn.  Terms and conditions apply.  See the cupcake shop around the corner for details.

Diamond Girl

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13-Minute Cupcakes and Assorted Rangers Pitchers

When I looked at the probable pitchers for this weekend’s Rangers-Giants series, I was disappointed.  If Twitter is any measure of the general population’s opinions (which it, well, isn’t, but no matter), a lot of other people were too.  Why?  Because we all wanted to see Yu.  Not you.  You’re awesome and all, and it’s not you it’s me… but I’m talking Yu Darvish.  Because he is pretty much the best thing to happen to Major League Baseball since Ryan Braun’s haircut.  When I saw, then, that he was starting in Oakland today, my fingers were on StubHub in record time and soon enough, I had tickets and had suckered my family into dropping everything and coming with me.  I have a delightful family, on occasion.

I got to the O.Co Coliseum sort of, um, early because apparently they open the gates an hour and a half before gametime, rather than two full hours, like they generally do in civilized pla— I mean, AT&T Park.  I’ve never been to Arlington, Texas but I imagine it’s something like it was in Oakland today.  Rangers.  Fans.  Everywhere.  It was kind of weird, but kind of fantastic.

Anyhow, for reasons I discovered and will explain later, My Favorite Ranger Ever (as much as I love Yu, this one goes to Alexi Ogando) was throwing a bullpen session when I did get into the stadium.  I was, oh, four feet away from him and it ranks up there in Greatest Moment of Emily’s Life, right up with the time I made cupcakes from scratch in just under thirteen minutes.  True story.

Pictures or it didn’t happen, you say?  Okay, I say.  I will gladly oblige.

Also, isn’t their Rangers-themed ball bag the cutest thing on earth?  I want one.  Even though I don’t really tote around baseballs.  Ever.  Still, I bet it could double as a fab makeup bag.

I would once more like to say thankyouAJPrelleryouarethebestandsoisAlexitheend.

The game itself was not nearly as fun.  Yu was not in tiptop Yu shape and sort of seemed to forget where the strike zone was, midway through.  Josh Hamilton, in good ol’ Josh Hamilton fashion, hit a double and Beltre singled him in, for the only Rangers run of the game.  I like the A’s just fine under normal circumstances… normal circumstances being when they are not scoring seven runs off of Texas.  I glowered into my avocado sandwich for a while and then the Yu jokes started and I had a good time.

All with one eye, of course, on the out-of-town scoreboard.  Yes, guys, I’m still a Giants fan, believe it or not!  It was getaway day in San Diego and the Giants had their first three-homer game since the beginning of April at Coors Field and they, you know, have a humidor and things so that doesn’t really count.  Today, it was the magical and marvelous combo of Buster Posey, Gregor Blanco and Angel Pagan.  Good times, eh?  The Giants head into this weekend’s matchup with the exact same record as the Rangers, by some fate:  33 wins, 25 losses.

To say I cannot wait would be a massive understatement.  Sure, my loyalties are a bit messy, but the games are also sure to be loads of fun.  And yes, Alexi is starting on Sunday, in place of newly-DL’ed Derek Holland.  Which is why he was throwing a bullpen.  So he can mow down the Giants.  Yep, messy loyalties, indeed.

Diamond Girl

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25 Words Can Speak Volumes

Haiku #1 of the Day:

So the Marlins are

in town now and I am so

absolutely stoked

 

Haiku #2 of the Day:

Why?  Because, of course,

I am going to go to

the ballgame.  Oh, yes.

Diamond Girl

p.s.  “Yu” and “Darvish” have been pretty much the only words to come out of my mouth for the past 24 hours.  He is beyond amazing.  MLB called his start dazzling and I have to agree.

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They Will Pitch Well and Make Us All Gloomy with RISP Stats and Other Predictions for the Coming Months

Hello, darlings, and apologies for my semi-accidental absence.  I ended up spending the weekend lying under a large shady tree just bein’ lazy, as Bing Crosby might say, and watching/listening to baseball in the moments that I was not doing aforementioned laziness.  No time for blogging, see what I mean?

Anyway, now that it’s the last day of the first month of the season and we have an off day at last (thank you, Bud Selig, you’re the best-ish), I am back to break everything down.  April has been a strange month for the Giants, but then again, isn’t it always?  You can’t say any of the games mean anything but it is certainly important in terms of getting to know the team’s personality on the field and often, I think, if you look back at April at the end of the season, you’ll see a lot of things that now look like psychic hints, even if they weren’t the least bit apparent at the time.

So!  I’m just going to go on that hypothesis.  If April tells us everything we need to know about this team, what does that mean for them?   Observe, 2012 Trends for the Gigantes:

Hair Will Disappear

Why would I think this, you ask?  Nod to Timmy’s haircut and Brian Wilson’s season-ending Tommy John surgery.  The hair everywhere trend is so 80s, you know.  The Giants are just now getting clued into this and life has never been better.  In that sense, at least.

The Whole Season Will Feel the Dog Days of August, aka WEIRD

I am staunchly convinced that April felt like August this year, so you probably will not be able to dissuade me, no matter what you try.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I direct you to the weird injuries like Buster Posey’s shingles and Aubrey Huff’s anxiety disorder.  Stuff like that is supposed to happen when everyone is wiped out from a long season.  We’re in for that all year, it would seem.  I am going to need to break out my extraordinary multitude of virtual Get Well Soon cards soon.

This Will Be the Year of the Triples

You heard it here first.  Of course, you saw it first on the field with Angel Pagan and Nate Schierholtz and people, but hearing is more important than seeing so I win, in this situation.  Anyhow, I have always been of the opinion that triples are the secret weapon of playing at AT&T Park so they should probably, you know, utilize that.  This year will be the year that Happens with a capital H.

Interleague Play Will Be a Drag

Okay, no proof here.  But it always is, so that’s just a safe assumption, right?  Until they play the Rangers, that is.  That will be wondrous, of course.

They Will Pitch Well and Make Us All Gloomy with RISP Stats

Safe assumption, 2.0.

But really, I am encouraged.  April has not been disastrous, mostly, and blue skies show summer is coming.  Baseball is just getting started.  Restock the orange juice and settle in.

Diamond Girl

p.s.  Yu Darvish is on ESPN tonight which means I can fine-all-ee watch him.  I am so excited you do not even know.  The Rangers were also in ESPN last night, facing the Rays, and I remembered that Jeff Keppinger is with them now.  Remember him, Giants fans?  He had an RBI in the Rays 5-2 victory.  This is Emily’s miffed face, right here.

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10 Things I Am Adoring About Spring Training

So!  My fish is now safely back in his bowl and I am ready to rock and roll once more.  I’m catching up on the baseball news I missed while I slept (and slept and slept) and I think things are looking pretty fabulous for the Giants.  Blogging Spring Training is always a very welcome challenge to me, but a challenge all the same.  Aside from (doesnotjinx) injuries (doesnotjinxagin), the Giants always look pretty fabulous to me, just by nature of the fact that they are wearing baseball uniforms and throwing balls and swinging bats.  I mean, would it really be fair of me to demand more of them?  In addition to that, I hate writing Spring Training game recaps almost as much as I hate reading them, so those are out the question for my blog.  Before you snatch my baseball fan card out of my hands for that particular bombshell, allow me to explain myself.  Game recaps tend to be a snooze, unless they have lots of hilarious quotes in them and since I don’t have all-access passes to the stadium or anything, I don’t have my own quotes.  Lastly, there’s a lot of downerness.  Especially when Timmy and Vogelsong and Surkamp are all basically questionable human beings.  (Ballplayers, that is.)

So!  This is all to explain why I’m writing the list below.  To fill the obvious void I see.  Okay?  Okay.    

Let’s proceed, then.  10 Things I Am Adoring About Spring Training.  Here goes.

10.  It’s Spring Training.  And there are bees.  I could just stop the list right here.

9.  The pitchers all throwing two innings and us all whooping like mad.  I totally do it, but it still cracks me up every time.  Let’s just say we get to see a lot of different pitchers out there every game.

8.  It reminds me of the drama of years past.  I’m talking Michael Young vs. Jon Daniels, Albert Pujols vs. Cardinals, Barry Bonds vs. The Rest of the World.  There have been some epic battles and this time of year always brings them back to mind.  There’s no warring quite like Spring Training warring.

7.  The hideous black uniforms.  Just kidding.  I don’t like those at all.  I hate those.  But I had to mention ‘em all the same.  Fashion faux-pas of extraordinary proportions must be brought to light.  Just because I wear all black all the time doesn’t mean baseball players can pull that deal off.

6.   The pictures.  By the time the regular season rolls around, I think the media figures we are over the feel-good TwitPics of assorted players doing assorted things (read: nothing).  But we’re not.  We’re really not.  We love them at all times.  ‘Specially now.

5.  Battles of the first base sort.  I still have an affinity for Aubrey Huff, Brandon Belt poses with baby giraffes, for Pete’s sake, and I have been quite taken with Brett Pill’s game.  So my stance on the 1B battles is TBA.  But I am enjoying the show, for sure.

4.  Half of my besties is back, of course.  Which besties, you might ask?  I’m talking about Jon Miller and Dave Flemming, of course, Baseball Broadcasters and Besties Extraordinaire.  Dave isn’t dropping in until Opening Day, but Jon should keep me going until then.

3.  Baffling, cryptic comments from everyone and anyone.  Am I really the only one who feeds of those hilarious, masked statements from All People Who Have Connections to Baseball?  The offseason drivel just doesn’t hit the spot like this does.

2.  Buster Posey being alive and kicking and baseball-playing.  ‘Nuff said.  Tomorrow, which is supposed to be his first start of the spring, is going to be legen… wait for it, wait for it… dary!  Seriously.  Legendary.

1.  Yu Darvish.  Yep, that’s me, the Giants fan.  But seriously, I was just so absolutely, terribly excited to see his first start and will continue to be excited about his next 500 starts.  I love me some Yu.  And I want to prove that Jon Daniels was obviously completely in paying him a billion and one dollars.  Personal stake in this, y’all.

Diamond Girl

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