Girls Love Baseball: More Unconditional Love

Girls Love Baseball: More Unconditional Love: I love baseball.  I always have. Since I come from a family that is about almost every sport except baseball, I believe that I was called t...

More Unconditional Love

I love baseball.  I always have. Since I come from a family that is about almost every sport except baseball, I believe that I was called to baseball for a reason that has not been revealed. I that seems ridiculous, but I have loved baseball since 1961 when Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle were having their home run race to break Babe Ruth's record. (Maris won because Mickey got sick) I was 8 that summer.

I knew very little about baseball. I knew that I would follow my brother to an empty lot at the end of our street.  He played baseball with the boys in the neighborhood, and they would not let me play. I knew that Walter Cronkite would give an update about the race on the evening news, and I never missed it.  I knew that girls played softball, and boys played baseball.  That meant that baseball was better and softball was something they made up later. I tried softball, but I was more prone to soccer and rowing. I threw like a girl.

In Buffalo, where I grew up, there was a minor league team that went away, the Buffalo Bisons. The team came back several years later.  I moved to Massachusetts after college, and that was when the real love set in.  Fenway Park. It had its own T station.  You could just take the subway. Bleacher seats were closer to the field the very close Green Monster.  On a hot summer night with nothing to do, I could take $20 to the park and have a great time of it.  It was before Roger Clemens won a Cy Young. I am always hoping it was before Performance Enhancing Drugs. They were still trying to win the World Series. I got everything about baseball.  Hot dogs. Statistics. Hope. Agony. I stayed with the Red Sox for a long time. Even after I moved to California, I could not let go of my team. I cried when they won the World Series last year.  And by then, I was already a fan of the San Francisco Giants.

Love for the San Francisco Giants was a different kind of thing.  I watched them cautiously at first.  Fenway was always full of business men wearing ties. They would just show up after work.  In San Francisco, the fans were more fun. Fewer ties. Lots of orange wigs and signs.  What was not to love about the G-men?  This summer has been the ultimate.  All that winning. There was no suffering because as Duane Kuiper told us, "They cannot lose." It sure seemed that way. That was in May. Madison Bumgarner was pitcher of the month. They were 9.5 games ahead of the Dodgers.  While hate is not a popular idea in San Francisco, it is okay to hate the Dodgers. And somewhere along the great reign as the team with the best record in baseball imploded. In just a short while, the record shrunk to where it is today.  The Giants and Dodgers are tied for first place in the NL West. The Oakland A's are the team with best record in baseball. I can't be for the A's, they play my Red Sox.

San Francisco: 46-36 (.561), Los Angeles: 47-37 (.560)  After Timmy Lincecum's second career no-hitter, there was going to be a spark.  The Giants have not won since then, but they have been playing better baseball.  The pitching has been stronger. The defense been fighting. The games have been better, more competitive.  But the losing has been really hard on me. I want the momentum to swing the Giants' way. Now, the Dodgers have it.

The hardest part has been watching the fans who had previously celebrated every run, are getting mean and nasty about losing. There are things I am really pissed about. Mostly, I just want them to seem like they want to win. That's when the have fun.

It was certainly cool that Buster Posey put an end to Homer Bailey's possible no-hitter. There were other nice pieces of baseball in the game.  So what if the return to excellence did not happen as a giant explosion after the No-No.  If anything, baseball is a game about patience. That is why it is good. Keep going my 2014 Giants. You ARE giants, and capable of true greatness. I don't care what anyone says.

Girls Love Baseball: Girls Love Baseball: Falling off a Cliff

Girls Love Baseball: Girls Love Baseball: Falling off a Cliff: Girls Love Baseball: Falling off a Cliff : SF (46-35) vs. CIN 42-38 Cincinnatti 7, SanFrancisco 3 WP Broxton The hardest part about falli...

Grant Brisbee

I read Grant Brisbee on Bleacher Report. If you like baseball, even just a little bit, you should read him, too.

Giants ruin everything, everything is ruined http://sbn.to/1yYLutQ

That says it all.

Girls Love Baseball: Falling off a Cliff

Girls Love Baseball: Falling off a Cliff: SF (46-35) vs. CIN 42-38 Cincinnatti 7, SanFrancisco 3 WP Broxton The hardest part about falling off a cliff is that you take the good st...

Falling off a Cliff

SF (46-35) vs. CIN 42-38
Cincinnatti 7, SanFrancisco 3 WP Broxton

The hardest part about falling off a cliff is that you take the good stuff with you. Matt Cain was just terrific.  And Romo, along with a few other guys, threw it all away.

1. I was glad that Bochy took Morse out of the game, as Morse has been rather useless. I was sad that he took Crawford out.  That was stupid. 
2. I really liked the first 9 innings of the game. It was the fighting Giants. While the hitting was sparse, they were back in the fighting mode. I was actually enjoying the game.
3. Look for Bochy to call up his son, Brett Bochy who has been a closer in Fresno for a couple of years now. 
4. I take back what I said about Cain before. Dave Righetti helped him to make some adjustments, and he really showed up. 
5. Will moving out of June help?
6. The kids, being Panik and Duvall, were just terrific. 
7. BamBam, please help those bats. 
8. Team of Giants, please start talking to one another.  
9. Giants hold the NL West lead by just one game. 
10. My hope is that they can hold their record to above .500 until they get back to winning.  I do believe they will get back to winning. Rev. Pence, where are you?
11. Romo used to be like a brick wall. And now he seems so little.

Just 12 more hours till they play again. 

Unconditional love. Not always easy.

Girls Love Baseball: Keep Your Courage

Girls Love Baseball: Keep Your Courage: Friday June 27 W:  Cueto  (8-5, 1.88) L:   Bumgarner  (9-5, 2.90) SV:  Chapman  (16) HR: None. I am always saying, "Keep hope aliv...

Keep Your Courage

Friday June 27
WP: Cueto: (8-5, 1.88) , LP Bumgarner (9-5, 2.90) HR: None

I am always saying, "Keep hope alive."  I believe in the idea of Major League Unconditional Love.  Stand by your team. In a summer like this one, it would be easy to flip loyalty to the Oakland As. But I am from Boston, and I could never root against the Red Sox. While I really admire what the As are doing, I am here with the Giants. It took me a long time to shift my loyalty to orange and black, but now I am stuck on the Giants. No matter what.

It was easier when the Giants were 9.5 games ahead in the NL West and had the best record in baseball than now. You know, hanging on to the divisional lead by a mere two games and being the worst team in the Major Leagues for the last two weeks. Oh, they are still over .500, but how long is that going to last? They are easily intimidated by excellent pitching. You can't stay in first place of the NL West if you are afraid of the opposition.  You were fierce in the beginning. Please get fierce again. What did you guys do with your courage?

Pablo Sandoval: Stop worrying about your 100th homer. I don't know if you are still wearing the boots, but they have run out of magic.  Back to basics - see the ball, wait for your pitch, hit the ball.

Mike Morse: Your bat is frozen, too. You are not that fast, so those home runs are your road to Beast-dom. Hang up the BEAST shirt until the BEAST returns.

Hunter Pence: Thank you for never giving up. Keep your courage.

Adam Duvall: Thanks for giving us hope.

Joe Panik: Keep your eye on the ball.  All the time.

Buster Posey: You are amazing. I like you more and more.

Fans: Keep showing up.  don't give up. Stop laughing at how Hunter Pence runs. Watch his efficiency as a base runner, by doing whatever it is he does, he saves steps rounding corners. He gets there faster. Watch it.  (Glad I finally got that off my chest)

• • •

Everything changed when we lost Angel Pagan. Call him a table-setter, a rainmaker, a spark, a starter. I miss him.

Brandon Belt will be back soon, but then what will happen to Adam Duvall.

I wonder if Marco Scutero will ever return.  This is a huge loss, but let's remember that until they  lost Angel they were winning.

• • •

Saturday Probables:
CIN: Simon (10-3), 2.92
SF: Matt Cain, (1-6, 4.82)

Welcome to the House of Hope

Thursday, June 26, 2014
reds (40-38) vs giants (46-33)
reds 3, giants 1

Giants lead in NL West two games over LA

Now this is where I get all smarmy about baseball.  I know I am not the only one who does this emotional roller coaster thing about the Giants. I try to not do it, but my heart has a mind of her own.
Timmy pitches his no-no and we forget that the team is only as good as the guy who is pitching the next day. It was Nirvana, that no-no. While in the midst of that celebration it was almost like we forgot that we won. That is how baseball happens. I want the Giants to ride off into the post season  sunset and take us all with them.

It just so happens that Ryan Vogelsang (5-4) was really good tonight. The Reds' Mike Leake (6-6) was just better, and he capitalized on the fact the Giants have the coldest bats in baseball, I am sure. He struck out 12. Vogey got 6, and he only allowed one run.  Machi came out to relieve him and allowed the only runs he's allowed all season.  I mean his ERA is now .84.  That is POINT 84.

I was happier when they were winning.  I know they were, too.  Hunter Pence and Buster Posey have the only truly functional bats on the team.  I suspect Pablo Sandoval is too consumed with making it to the All Star Show to let his bat do the talking. Morse, has not offered up a long ball in weeks.

The Church of Baseball, not the one from Bull Durham, is real. At the root of all its goodness are the lessons about hope. We have enough hope for all of us. So come on Giants. Please bring your talents to the House of Hope they call ATT park.  We are still for you. We are still buying tickets and caps and tee shirts, beer and garlic fries. We are still following you on Twitter and putting decals on our cars. You are right when you say that the Giants fans are the best in baseball. We are.  And we are still here.

Note:
Wasn't Adam Duvall's homer a beauty? It was so great to see his band of family and friends there to cheer him on. Keep going Adam Duvall.  I have read that you are a very good hitter.

Girls Love Baseball: Watching a No No. Tim Lincecum

Girls Love Baseball: Watching a No No. Tim Lincecum: San Diego Padres (34-45) at San Francisco Giants (46-32) Tim Lincecum: 0 hits, 1 walk, 6 K/2 singles, 2 rbi, 1 carefully finessed walk Th...

Watching a No No. Tim Lincecum

San Diego Padres (34-45) at San Francisco Giants (46-32)
Tim Lincecum: 0 hits, 1 walk, 6 K/2 singles, 2 rbi, 1 carefully finessed walk

The No No

Since 2007, We've been watching Tim Lincecum grow up.  We have watched him win two Cy Young Awards and make a huge contribution in the winning of two World Series. For a brief moment, we watched him be demoted to the bull pen, and he did it with great dignity. We watched him throw a 148-pitch no no at San Diego last year.  Less than a year later, today, June 25, 2014, he did it again. This time he needed 113 pitches. Lucky for us it was before a sold-out day game as at ATT Park.  

I was watching on television.  It was clear that he was having a special day from the beginning. I started crying at about the 4th inning. With the game on, I watched what was happening on Twitter. People were leaving work to drive home and see it.  I was not the only one who knew it was coming. The Timmy naysayers remained nasty. The people who like him, including me, remained steadfast. As it turned out, it was our day.

One of the great things about the game was that Timmy was having fun. I have not seen Tim have fun at work for a while.

Tim Lincecum has poise. While he has continued to lack consistency, he is maturing. He gets better and better. Not in the ways of the Freak who won those Cy Youngs, but in a way that shows an increasing knowledge of pitching. He is developing a pitcher's mind.  He's still very intuitive, but more wise. He knows what to do. He wasn't worrying about speed;  his game was about placement.  Yes, he is sometimes rattled.  But not today. But he has a quiet confidence. He made it look easy. I'm willing to bet that this was not his last NoNo.

We knew he was "on" from the first pitch.  The first batter was Will Venable.  The count rose to 3-1 before he fought  back  to strike him out.  And he kept going.  And his team kept showing up to help him. The outfield. The infield.  And wasn't Hector Sanchez amazing?  Timmy was good, but let's not forget that he had his whole team behind him. Teamwork at its finest.


A Few Notes:

1. Buster Posey went 4 for 4. with 2 rbi.
2. Lincecum had 2 hits and a walk.  He scored twice. Sandoval had 2 hits with an rbi.
3. Lincecum walked into the game at 5-5, 4.90 ERA. He left at 6-5, 4.42 ERA
4. There was only one San Diego base runner, Chase Headley, who walked in the second.
5. The Dodgers beat the Royals, 4-2. The Giants remain 3 games ahead in the NL West.

Girls Love Baseball: Fooled Me Once - Odrisamer Despaigne

Girls Love Baseball: Fooled Me Once - Odrisamer Despaigne: Before the game tonight, I posted this note: LATE NOTE: Tonight, the Giants are back in their own yard. They were set to face Andrew Cha...

Girls Love Baseball: Something Nice - Hunter Pence

Girls Love Baseball: Something Nice - Hunter Pence: A guy named Solomon Tucker made this photo of Hunter Pence having  a quiet moment before the Diamondbacks vs Giants game on Sunday night. ...

Rookie Night

Padres (32-44) at Giants (45-30). 1st of 3-game series.

LATE NOTE: Tonight, the Giants are back in their own yard. They were set to face Andrew Chashner, but he has been put on a 15-day dl.  He has been replaced by a rookie making his first Major League appearance, Odrisamer Despaigne who's been called up from AAA ElPaso. The Padres have a major pitching rotation problem with two guys on the DL - and Casey Kelly on the 60-day list. Ouchies for the Padres.  I hope the Giants can get on top of the new kid. He is so new the TV guys have to pause before they attempt to say it.  I'm still trying to figure it out.

There are a few notes of interest for this game.

1. It is the 47th birthday of Hensley (BAM BAM) Meulens, the Giants' hitting coach.

2. There will be a pre-game ceremony to honor Tony (Mr. Padre) Gwynn who recently died of mouth cancer. He was 54. It was the diagnosis of Gwynn that prompted Bruce Bochy to give up chewing tobacco.

3. Joe Panik, a rookie, has been called up from Fresno AAA. He is a true rookie. He made an appearance in the Saturday game against the Diamondbacks, drawing a walk. On Sunday, he started at 2nd base and played the whole game. He got a couple of hits and made some nice defensive plays, including a glove toss to first base for an out. Well done,

It seems that we are all very excited to have Panik be making his at-home debut tonight. I am certain that he will get a very warm welcome. His parents and girlfriend were there for the first two games but have gone back home to New York. He'll be at 2nd again.  Panik is very Posey-esque.  He is very groomed and confident. He was went to St. John's.  A Jesuit school in Queens, NY.  He was definitely cut from Jesuit cloth. He is his own man, and I'm guessing he will do well. I'm sure the folks at ATT are set to give him a warm welcome. We need him.

4. Mike Morse returns to play first base after a brief absence with a back injury.  There is a sigh of relief here, though Morse's bat has been very cold of late. We need some hits from THE BEAST.
His injury happened with a swing-and-a-miss. He walked away limping,   I can only imagine how much energy it takes from a slugger like Morse to swing and miss. The guy is 6-5 and huge, all muscle. The biggest guy on the team.

5. The mighty Hunter Pence has moved his batting average up to .301. Only guy on the roster to be over ,300. He's been kissing .300 for a while, but getting to .301 is just cool.

The World is Round

Back in 1979, I became the first woman sports writer at The Courier-Express in Buffalo, New York. It was a terrible experience, mostly because the boys in the department did not want me there, and they did what they wanted to let me know it. After about 18 months, I was begging to get out. It was a job I had wanted. By the end, I had lost any interest in sports that I had nurtured since I was a kid. I grew up in a sports family. My brothers played soccer, hockey and hockey. Seriously, we were a serious hockey-playing family. I often say that I grew up in the Dann Memorial Rink at Nichols School in Buffalo. We had season tickets to the Bills and the Sabres. We skied. We water skied. One of my brothers was a decent tennis player. I played field hockey and basketball. I was a nerd, but sports were really important to me.

I don't want to go through all the gory details of what happened in the sports department at that paper. The sports gig became too much. I was wounded. Working with men who thought it would be a good idea to walk over to my desk when they wanted to fart, having an editor who did nothing to support me. Over time I came to dread going to work. I lost confidence. I drank too much. I gained weight. The farting men from the sports department got me. They won. They wore me down. I doubted myself as a writer. Ultimately I left sports and journalism behind. I moved to Provincetown, Massachusetts to walk on the beach, watch whales and try to figure out what to do next.

Ultimately, I moved to Boston where I worked for a software company, became an AIDS activist, went to divinity school, and watched a lot of baseball. In Boston, there are two things a person can do to get away from it all without leaving the city. Swan Boats and Fenway. I'm not sure if my love affair was more about Fenway or the Red Sox. But it was in Boston where I really began to understand baseball as being about way more than "See the ball. Hit the ball." Fenway was the house of hope. In those days there was so much hope in there that you could cut it with a knife. The sell-out crowds were the disciples. In a town where there is Major League Baseball, all you need is a uni or a ball cap and you can make a friend for life with the guy behind you in the checkout line at the grocery store. Baseball is a great teacher. It is unconditional love. It is blind faith. We learn that hope that never dies, and if it doesn't work out one day or one season, you can come back and do it again.

I have no explanation, but in 1995 I moved to the Bay Area. That is the San Francisco Bay area. It took me about 10 years to let another team into my heart. From California, I continued to hang onto to every pitch in the Red Sox seasons. The internet makes it easier to follow a team via long distance, and when the Red Sox won the series in 2004, I was in heaven. It was then that I was able to start letting go of my team and transfer my affections elsewhere. For sure, I could never be for Oakland (though this season I have been watching pretty closely)It took me a while to adjust to the National League. Now, after two world championships and some really amazing players, I have fallen all the way down into the loving arms of the San Francisco Giants. I have a happy life.

The Giants had good romantic qualities that make baseball more fun. A rivalry between the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers traversed the country and settled between the San Francisco Giants and the L.A. Dodgers. It is more intense than the rivalry between the Red Sox and the Yankees. I am sure that crime stops when the Giants play the Dodgers. Giants fans are incredible. The diverse spirit of the Bay Area fills ATT Park with unbridled fun and passion. Bankers wear orange clown wigs. Teenaged girls make signs praising Hunter Pence's ass. ATT is not as loud as Candlestick, but it is loud. The food is fun. Between There is a host of commemorative hats, shirts signs, and face paint. Even when they lose they are loved. For me, they have restored my love of sports in a new way. My life is richer for this, and I am forever grateful.