Giants Midnight Replay

Stress

I have been stressed lately. Getting finished with my finals, switching jobs, eating a lot of pizza, and watching the Giants….. all of these things stress me out. I want to say that my “magical vacation” to Chicago to see friends and the Giants play at Wrigley Field was a cloud of fun and relaxation, but it really was just more stress. I will fill those blanks in with a post when I get a chance. For now I am wallowing in a couple of stress free days. Now all that stresses me out are the Giants. Why did I even dream that this win would be an easy one?

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The Omar Vizquel defensive inside play of the game goes to:

Nate Schierholtz for making an absolutely balls to the wall flying catch to end the game. If he missed the ball we lose. Flat out spectacular!

The Eugenio Velez defensive mishap of the night goes to:

Miguel Tejada, sure he made an amazing dive to get the ball but how much does that mean when you almost throw it away…. at this point I know I am being petty, the guy is getting better. 

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The Jack Donaghy (hero) award goes to:

Madison Bumgarner, how do you win your first game, hit a double and suppress the hell out of the opposing batters. Madison went all beast-mode on the dodgers today, I’m impressed. 

The Devon Banks (goat) award goes to:

Police people. I know I know, I am suppose to welcome safety to the ballpark right? nah, this just looks like a my house after the kegger I threw in high school got broken up. 

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more stuff:

Fontenot gets the scoring started!

The absolute meanest Pablo face I have ever seen. Awesome!

When you can’t win you just go after the batters I guess. 

I love that look that pitchers have when they can’t believe that they just gave up a hit. 

Soooo close to his first shutout. zoiks. bummer moment here. 

I probably should have giving Fontenot the Velez award today, but I just couldn’t. I like the guy too much. 

Usually a good sign, if you have two outs in the ninth, not today. Brian needs to take a day or two to heal that ankle. 

That is the second batter that got hit tonight. just saying…

Who is this guy? and what has he done with the old crappy Tejada? No joke, let’s pay some respect to a guy who seems to be turning it around. I really do want to root for you buddy, just give me a reason. 

Take notes Darren Ford, this is the only way you are going to make the bigs. 

Don’t Feed The Velez

The Velez is a special creature, not unlike the spooky Thestrals of Harry Potter. While the similarities might stop at being made up of an odd assortment of sticks and skin. One could draw the parallel that only those who have seen death will see a Thestral, and only teams who are already dead would want a Velez.

In the cruel world of the Velez, teams with no real hope of contending will come into the dark forest that is the non-tender land to throw apples or hunks of meat at the Velez.

But ultimately the frightening Velez will banish himself to the dark forest forever with his brick gloves and swiss cheese bat. 

Don’t feed the Velez….. especially ground balls. 

And let’s remember…… Eugenio has been a Dodger for all of…… 8 games.

Minor Victories

Patrick hits one out opposite field. 

There is something about spring training games that do not lend to television. The absence of the crowd, the lack of real lighting on the field, and the terrible black spring training jerseys that do nothing to help the viewer pick the player out of the background of sad local advertisements and night sky. There is something inherently not as exciting about the Pat Burrell home run than if he hit it while wearing home creams or road grays.

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With that said.

Data (hero) of the game:

• Cody Ross for breaking it open with a 2-run double.

Lore (goat) of the game:

• Yorvit Torrealba…. WTF, how does this lifetime .257 hitter seem to be on every team we play, and hit everything that we throw him?

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Velez Award goes to:

• Daigle for dropping a routine comebacker that he had gloved and was walking over to flip to Belt. 

….. It could have gone to Pablo for this, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt since the infield is probably getting hard. 

The Omar Award goes to:

• Burriss and DeRosa for turning a fancy double play. 

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Random Screenshots.

Skinny Pablo says……… this is for you Texas

Caveman

The Maestro speaks

Caveman….. pickin boogers

Cody getting a great read on the ball

Buh-Bye-Burrell

BTW… Whuuuuut Pablo steals a base?!

4 Out of 5 Omars

Last season I used a rating system called Neukoms to rate how the Giants played. This year I figured I’d switch it up a bit. There will be less coverage (because no one seems willing to help me out here), and therefore the Neukom rating system seems a bit antiquated. 

This year I will cover as many games as I am able to watch (and keep up with my masters program). Which figures to be about 1/2 the games. I will be doing a weekly round up and sporadic game to game coverage when I can. 

This year I will continue with certain aspects of last years game coverage such as:

• The hero and the villain of the game

• The screenshots

Also I will be adding:

• Either a defensive award if it’s a week round-up, or a defensive rating for the team if it’s game coverage. I will call these Omar ratings…. as in Omar Vizquel, possibly the best defensive player to ever wear a Giants uniform and my favorite player at the moment. 

• Velez Award….. basically the fail of the game. 

• FHOTG (figure that one out!) and some more surprises. 

Tonight is the first televised game round up. So keep ya eyes peeled for coverage. 

Eugenio…… Always Missing Stuff

If you didn’t catch it (no pun inteded) Eugenio missed his flight to Dodgertown. Maybe he is having second thoughts about joining the evil empire….. or maybe it’s just Velez missing something….. I think we saw some of that when he graced us with his presence. 

Without further ado…… my favorite screenshot from last year…. it just happens that it’s a picture of Eugenio missing something. 

aaaaaaaaand another one. 

and here he is again watching his missed flight leave. 

Just Stopping By For a Ring…. (Outgoing Male)

Non-tendered

1. Chris Ray

This guy deserves a ring the least out of these players. The Mariners will be his 4th team in 5 years. That must feel strange, winning a World Series then just moving on. And like that the last remaining parts of Bengie Molina are gone. (one small tear).

2. Eugenio Velez

Wearer of silly road jerseys, man of many nicknames, fan whipping boy and crusher of meaningless homeruns. If Eugenio will be missed, then he will be missed for pure entertainment value. A sad clown in the outfield, a bumbler of balls on the infield. So long stickman. This is one Giant that I will not mind seeing in Blue next year. Also on a side note. It is totally unfair that a player like Velez will get a ring and a player like Omar Vizquel will not….. just saying. 

Sold Out

3. Juan Uribe. 

Oh…. Hello Mr, “used to be my favorite player!”… Let me tell you something. If you win a World Series with a team on Nov. 1st….. Then by the END OF THE MONTH… you are signing a contract with their rival of A HUNDRED AND TWENTY YEARS!!!! … That ain’t cool dog. That’s like splitting a 4 pack of condoms between two girlfriends. (kinda). Why did you do that man? Not cool! I will not cheer for you when you come back! Show some damn loyalty! You have already earned $19,072,000 before you signed the Dodgers contract………… You know what…. forget it….. Enjoy the ring, have fun in the worst town on earth. I can only hope that your contract plays out like Jason Schmidt’s did. 

I’m just kidding Juan…. I’ll miss the hell out of you. Goodbye Jazz Hands. 

4. Edgar Renteria

ohhh snap, I totally forgot about this guy… No seriously, I completely forgot about him. I posted this post without even thinking about him. But let’s be honest. Did anyone ever like this guy while he was here? I hated the signing from day one. Who needs an old ass shortstop soaking up 18 million dollars while playing poorly and getting injured frequently. 

So great he hit a home run that won us a World Series. But he also had the nerve to shoo a million dollars away like a pesky fly. That, in my book is Renteria showing his true colors. A million dollars WTF! Get lost ass hole. I will work the rest of my life and never make a million dollars. Good riddance. 

The Flying Stick is Back

Thought I would pay tribute to our recent call up with some of his highlights from this year. 

- This one has to be my favorite. It pretty much cost us the game. 

- This one cost us an extra base.

- This was just a one time thing……. right?

- ooooooooh maybe not.

Well there was that late inning meaningless HR that he hit. But we still lost that game by one run, so I am not putting it in. 

- Here’s to hoping he performs better this time. 

He is 7 for 24 at Fresno with 5 Stolen Bases, and 7 K’s, and a OBP of .370

(small sample size)

OK Now You CAN Be Mad….

Giants lose to the Padres on Eckstien’s walk-off HR 3 to 2. 

Screenshot of the day.

What exactly are “The Fundamentals?”

Is it working a pitcher for a walk (1 BB taken)? Is it taking an extra base when you can (above)? Is it calling off the other outfielder on a fly ball (above)? Is it getting to a ball in the corner so someone doesn’t take 3rd base (above)? Does it extend to, getting a runner home from third with less than two outs? Because we did SOME of those things. And for that reason I give this game a…

3 out of 5 Neukoms rating.

The Rocky and Bullwinkle Awards (heros) go to Matt Cain for being a quiet leader who is continually taking punches to the stomach every 5 days, and to Jazz Hands for making this game more exciting in the 9th and not leaving it up to Torres to get a run in…… I think we know how that has gone. 

The Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale Awards (villans) go to David (fucking) Eckstien for being a short little prick!!!! who has now officially hit %50 of his HRs this year, and Clayton Richard for becoming another mediocre pitcher to look amazing against Giants hitting. 

Don’t blame Affeldt…… what are the chances that Boris hits one out? (1 in 300ish)

ST Game #17

It’s hard to talk about a game that sucked. We lost this one pretty bad. Lincecum got roughed up a bit, giving up 4 runs, 4 hits, 4 walks, and striking out 4. 

My late round fantasy pick Shin-Soo Choo taking Timmy deep in the first inning. 

Oh god I love it when Velez dives for a ball that he does not need to dive for…… New Velez nickname…. Unnecessary Dive.

The good news is that we commited NO errors!!!

The Not So Fine Moments of The Game

Some Pics from last nights beat-down from the Padres. 

Eugenio Velez……Caught Stealing by a MILE!!!

Matt Down’s throw pulls Aubrey Huff off 1B/

Kevin Frandsen does further damage to this puppy dog persona by dropping a routine ground ball.