Giants Midnight Replay

It’s Easy To Cheer For a Champion

Reaching the top of the shit pile is nice once in a while, it affords you the perspective to look back down the hill your team climbed and the emotional journey you took with them. So in tribute to myself and fans like me. I am going to take a look back to the “not-so-Championship-year” of 2008. 

I have a nice wad of tickets in my dresser, sometimes I like to look back at them and then go back to see what the game was like. Back in 2008 I remember going to a game that just had the worst of the worst lineup. It was an early afternoon game, the Giants were playing the Braves. And while Braves fielded a decent lineup as they are want to do, the Giants served up a hot steaming pile of crap. Watching Ivan Ochoa and Jose Castillo take their place on the left side of the infield from my view reserve seat, while not cheer worthy did not ruin the game. I feel like we eventually got down to field level  and snuck into better seats for the later innings. 

Interesting to see that 3 of the starting 9 players they threw out there, were part of the last years World Series crew. And only Lincecum is the only starter in the bunch, Rowand and Burriss were benched for most of the year. 

The other part of this box score that I love (and unfortunately you can only see in this version) is that Giants were 0-8 with RISP, and wonderboy Aaron Rowand got all 3 RBI. 

Here is a bit of nostalgia for those who have been there over the last 54 years. 

Game Played on Wednesday, August 6, 2008 at AT&T Park

ATL N    0  0  0    0  1  1    0  0  0  -   2  5  1
SF  N    2  0  1    0  0  0    0  0  x  -   3 11  0

BATTING

Atlanta Braves               AB   R   H RBI      BB  SO      PO   A
Blanco lf                        2   0   0   0       1   0       1   0
Escobar ss                     4   0   0   1       0   0       1   4
Kotchman 1b                 3   0   0   0       1   1       9   0
McCann c                       4   1   3   0       0   1       6   2
Infante 3b                     4   0   1   0       0   2       0   0
Kotsay cf                       3   0   0   1       1   1       2   0
Johnson 2b                    4   0   0   0       0   1       3   3
Francoeur rf                   3   0   0   0       1   1       2   1
James p                        1   0   0   0       0   1       0   0
  Gotay ph                     1   1   1   0       0   0       0   0
  Carlyle p                     0   0   0   0       0   0       0   0
  Norton ph                    1   0   0   0       0   0       0   0
  Tavarez p                    0   0   0   0       0   0       0   1
  Ohman p                    0   0   0   0       0   0       0   0
Totals                         30   2   5   2       4   8      24  11

FIELDING - 
DP: 3. Escobar-Johnson-Kotchman, Francoeur-McCann, Escobar-Johnson-Kotchman.
E: Escobar (11).

BATTING - 
2B: Gotay (3,off Lincecum); McCann (29,off Lincecum).
SH: Blanco (2,off Lincecum).
Team LOB: 6.

San Francisco Giants         AB   R   H RBI      BB  SO      PO   A
Winn rf                             4   2   4   0       0   0       2   0
Ochoa ss                          2   0   0   0       0   2       1   5
Rowand cf                         2   1   2   3       1   0       3   0
Molina c                            4   0   1   0       0   0       8   1
Lewis lf                             4   0   2   0       0   0       2   1
Aurilia 1b                          4   0   0   0       0   1       9   1
Castillo 3b                        4   0   1   0       0   0       0   0
Burriss 2b                         3   0   1   0       1   0       2   3
Lincecum p                       3   0   0   0       0   3       0   0
  Wilson p                         0   0   0   0       0   0       0   0
Totals                             30   3  11   3       2   6      27  11

BATTING - 
2B: Lewis (23,off Ohman).
3B: Lewis (10,off Carlyle).
HR: Rowand (10,1st inning off James 1 on 1 out).
SH: Ochoa 2 (2,off James,off Tavarez).
SF: Rowand (3,off James).
GDP: Molina 2 (16,off Carlyle,off Tavarez).
IBB: Rowand (5,by Tavarez).
Team LOB: 8.

PITCHING

Atlanta Braves               IP     H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR BFP
James L(2-5)                 4     5   3   3   0   3   1  18
Carlyle                          2     4   0   0   1   2   0   9
Tavarez                         1     1   0   0   1   0   0   4
Ohman                          1     1   0   0   0   1   0   4
Totals                           8    11   3   3   2   6   1  35

BK: James (1).
IBB: Tavarez (2,Rowand).

San Francisco Giants         IP     H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR BFP
Lincecum W(12-3)             8     5   2   2   4   8   0  32
Wilson SV(32)                   1     0   0   0   0   0   0   3
Totals                              9     5   2   2   4   8   0  35

WP: Lincecum (12).

Umpires: HP - Derryl Cousins, 1B - Kerwin Danley, 2B - Angel Hernandez, 3B - Eric Cooper

Time of Game: 2:14   Attendance: 39955

Starting Lineups:

   Atlanta Braves                San Francisco Giants     
1. Blanco              lf          Winn                rf
2. Escobar            ss         Ochoa              ss
3. Kotchman         1b         Rowand           cf
4. McCann            c           Molina              c
5. Infante             3b        Lewis               lf
6. Kotsay              cf         Aurilia              1b
7. Johnson            2b        Castillo            3b
8. Francoeur          rf         Burriss             2b
9. James               p         Lincecum           p

 Thanks to Retrosheet who I stole this from. 

A Call to Arms (nerds needed)

Ok. Here is the deal. I need help running this blog. 

Anyone want to sign up. 

Requirements. 

• Be able to commit to coverage on a weekly basis (once, twice a week). People who can do more will be favored. 

• If I had my druthers it would be someone from New York. I want to keep the perspective from over on the east coast. That was the impetus for this blog in the first place. 

• BUT…… I know that, that is an unreal request, so anyone from anywhere is welcome to sign up. In fact I welcome getting some closer to the bay area coverage. 

• I am looking for about two games a week coverage, so if you think you can cover a game in an interesting way, (aka… not regurgitated extra baggs posts) then let me know. 

• or if you think you would like to do some more interesting posts other than game recaps I am open to that also. 

You all know what’s up, if you have read the blog then you know what kinds of things i focus on. 

My email is 

Jeffexcell@gmail.com 

hit me up if you are interested. 

How to Get Your Trophy Photos For Free

Sorry Giants. I don’t want to pay for these.

1. First go to http://www.printroom.com/pro/sfgiants/

2. Click on the gallery that you’re in. 

3. Click on your thumbnail

4. a. On an old Mac, hold the control button and drag two fingers up your track pad.

    b. On a new Mac just use your two fingers and spread them on the track pad. 

    c. On a PC…. google it.

5. Adjust your picture so it is biggest size you would like on your screen. 

6. Use the directional and Zoom on the left hand side to adjust, If you were at Finnerty’s then you will be able to almost get rid of the tiny little “Proof” stamp if you zoom in a bit and move to the right. 

7. Take a screen shot.

a. Apple, Shift, 3 (same time) for the whole screen and you can crop later. 

b. Apple, Shift, 4 (same time) and you get a little cropping tool for instant screenshot cropping. 

c. PC….. google it. 

Here is what I came up with. 

Or crop the “Proof” out, using a different border, like the one below. 

Becca and I cropped out the Proof on this print of both of us. 

Enjoy. 

Boooooring Giants Tweets.

Ever since Brian Wilson and Zito shut down their twitter accounts (thanks to some assholes) the Giants presence on Twitter has taken a noticeable nosedive.

But with Pablo Sandoval jumping on the Twitter bandwagon, I figure I would pick apart what was left of the San Francisco Giants’ twitter accounts. Here are some “highlights” (lowlights).

• Thomas Neal on his @TdaddyNeal definitley is the one tweeting the most, and as far as I can tell has the “most to say” if you consider this….

@TdaddyNeal Thomas Neal “Watching the Steelers Vs Ravens play make me feel like I made the right choice picking baseball No way in hell would I let Ray Lewis Hit me”

something to say.

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• Ehire Adrianza wins the award for worst tweets ever, let me give you a sample.

@soncaballos ehire adrianza “33 dias para Spring Training”

Ya….. he’s been tweeting that for at least 64 days now. wow, buy an XBOX dude.

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• If you want a big mouth full of POSITIVE VIBES!!!!! Then take a gander at Jeremy Affeldt’s Twitter account, or even his blog?.?.. Although it is my immediate nature to ridicule someone for using a twitter account for good and not for what it was meant for, I will refrain, because I like Affeldt and in this day and age it kinda takes some kinda balls to be mister religious man. (oh but please Jeremy, can we refrain from this question!!!) Here is one of his (not his) better posts.

@JeremyAffeldt Jeremy Affeldt ““Many of life’s failures are people who did not realise how close they were to success when they gave up.” - Thomas Edison”

Meh… not terrible, but pretty boring drivel.

————————————————————————————-

• Darren Ford is still in his Twitter diapers, as this is his only post.

@DarRunFord Darren Ford “Thanks for the love bout to learn how to tweet….lol”

————————————————————————————-

• On the other end of the talking spectrum is fan favorite Pablo Sandoval who has blown about 64 tweets or about one tweet every 45 minutes during his first two days on twitter. Hopefully Pablo can come up with something better than…..

@pandoval48 Pablo Sandoval “Well my friends is time to run…cardio time twitt off for few minutes”

……. you do that Pablo.. you do that.

————————————————————————————-

• The most instersting Twitter account and blog belongs to former Giants Minor Leaguer Garrett Broshuis who brings pretty funny and random tweets like:

@broshuis Garrett Broshuis “Sad gym tale: Old Cuban lady with whom I often prac spanish, hadn’t seen in months, no longer remembers me.”

And writes some seriously interesting blogs at his blog called, Minor League Life that everyone should check out.

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If anyone else wants to peek at all of the Giants who tweet you can see the full list here. Giants Tweeters

40 Giants in 37 days

Onward ho as we try and give a rundown of how each Giant player will do this year and along with weather or not they seem like fun people to hang out with or if they are typical jock lunk-heads. Next up:

Travis Ishikawa

How will he do this year?

You can’t talk about Ishikawa without talking about his defense. But what is everyone really saying when they say “man that guy can pick it”…? If Ishi batted .300 with 20 hrs, would everyone be talking about his “saweet defense”…? Nope. I was an Ishi supporter when it came to getting playing time. We should have let him (not Dan ortimeier) develop at 1st two years ago. Oh well looks like he is bench bound this year, unless Huff really stinks up the joint.

Do I like the guy?

I’m kinda “Meh” about him. He’s reminds me of that brother in law that you try to get along with but really have nothing in common with. You end up talking about something you have no interest in like college basketball or cars, but you would never call him up to hang out, and your relieved when they move to Utah.

Would I hang out with him?

Not unless there is a thanksgiving dinner to eat.

Will he be an essential part of the 2010 Giants?

I can see him getting some important ABs late in games when Uribe has already been used. Also let’s not forget that “saweet defense” that he can contribute late when we are up by 2 or 3.

40 Giants in 37 days

and on we go…. with a special edition where we talk about two different people

Sergio Romo (w/mustache)

How will he do this year (if he grows the mustache back)?

While consistently posting a strikeout rate higher than his inning total, Romo is essentially a ROOGY and no that’s not short for Japanese Left handed specialist….. That is basically a right handed specialist. Although he is not used in this manner, his splits say that he should be. 2.21 ERA, 26k’s,  vs Righties, 6.56 ERA, 15k’s vs Lefties. While his back breaking curve should keep getting him into games to set up Affeldt. One thing that Romo does not have to worry about is carrying the NOOB backpack anymore since Runzler will probably be in the bullpen this year. I predict another solid year from Romo, of course this all depends on him growing back his mustache.

Do I like the guy (if he grows the mustache back)?

Oh hells yes!

Would I hang out with him (if he grows the mustache back)?

again…. oh hells yes! we would sit around drinking blue slurpees playing SNES and sneak out at night to put Bologna on our neighbors car in the pattern of a huge penis.

Will he be an essential part of the 2010 Giants?

If he grows his mustache back.

……………and now for part 2……………….

Sergio Romo (with terrible BRC soul patch)

How will he do this year (with a horrible AO soul patch)?

TERRIBLE. seriously shave that shit!

Do I like the guy (with a crusty KC poop patch)

Ahhh Hells no!!!

Would I hang out with him (and his disgusting JW dirt patch)

Ahhh Hells no!!!

Will he be an essential part of the 2010 Giants

Not if he keeps his distasteful CG spilled bbq sauce patch

Seriously Romo, we love you but be a man, stop thinking you are going to look TOO mexican if you grow your awesome stache back! Embrace your ability to rock a lip sweater….