Category: baseball

New Mexico – In the World Series!

As if I needed more to cheer about when my San Francisco Giants take the field tonight vs the Texas Rangers:

Ya’ll know Cody Ross, the NLCS MVP winner, hot hitter, Ross the Boss, solid outfielder picked up on wavers when Florida dumped salary. Solid, right?

Guess what?

He’s a New Mexico boy. Born in Portales. Raised in Carlsbad.

Saaaaaluuuuute!

Here’s a great article from the Carlsbad Current Argus

Cheers to The Good Man for the tip off on this bit of knowledge!

Hmm, What is There To Talk About?

Gosh. Slow day. What possibly is there to discuss?

Can’t quite figure it out.

There has to be *something* we can chat about here on my little ol’ blog.

Let me look at the local newspaper.

Upcoming elections. Sure. Whitman and Brown, running waddled neck to waddled neck.

Not much to add to that.

Volcano, earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia. Yikes. A lot of people hurt and killed. Tragic. What more can I say? My thoughts are with the people of Indonesia as they try to get their normal lives back.

Charlie Sheen trashed a hotel room while buck naked. Wish I could say that Sheen could get a normal life back, but I’m not sure he knows what that is. Can’t really get any energy to discuss that Hollywood oddity today.

Stock market is down a bit. Dollar is down a bit. Gold is up.

There is something nibbling at the edge of my mind, something I should talk about today.

Why can’t I quite put my finger on it?

Hmmmmmmmm.

Oh!

I know.

The World Series starts tonight. Game 1. San Francisco Giants vs the Texas Rangers.

THE WORLD FREAKING SERIES!

HERE IN SAN FRANCISCO!

A reward for long suffering fans like…oh…me.

Humm baby!

Click here for Expert predictions. Here’s a sneak preview…most aren’t picking the Giants to win.

Round and Round

The past couple weeks I’ve participated in the Theme Thursday challenge. A fresh topic is presented each Thursday and over the next week, bloggers interpret the theme.

Cool, right? I sure think so.

The first couple weeks were pretty easy. The words were game and knot and I happily interpreted them in my own way.

This week, the theme word is wheel.

It’s one of those deceptive words. It seems so easy. Simple. Complete. Because it’s so simple and ubiquitous, it actually becomes hard to narrow down a single interpretation of the word wheel and go with that.

So I won’t.

Here’s a real time brainstorming session. All the ways wheel speaks to me:

Ferris wheel. Uncle Cliff’s in Albuquerque. I’m kid, waiting in line. That incredible view of the lights of the city when I’m up there at the top and it pauses a moment just to let you sit. Yeah. The smell of cotton candy and corn dogs wafting up. That’s summer.

The Wheel of Fortune Tarot card. Round and round.

The Wheel of Fortune television show. Vanna, pick me a letter.

The wheels on a car. Man are tires expensive. Yesterday it rained like it meant it here in the Bay Area. The first big rain of the season. We drove up to San Francisco, and it became very clear that The Good Man’s car needs tires soon.

The steering wheel. Remembering gripping that big wheel when I learned to drive in my dad’s 1972 Chevy Blazer. Blue. Four wheel drive. I loved that truck.

“Wheel in the sky keeps on turning…” Who did that song? Gonna have to Google it. Oh yeah. Journey. Weirdly, Steve Perry has been in the ballpark during the San Francisco Giants baseball playoffs. The park has been playing “Don’t Stop Believing” and Perry has been leading the singalong. Hell, if Steve Perry is the Lucky Stuff that got us to the World Series, I’ll take it.

Wheels, as used in baseball. Referring to the feet, especially of a fast runner. “Man, that Andres Torres has some wheels! Did you see how fast he got to first base?”

If you say the word wheel to yourself long enough, it starts to sound weird. Wheeeel. Wheeeeeeeeel. Have you seen that Geico commercial with the little piggy going wheee wheee wheee all the way home?

Asleep At The Wheel, what a great band. Saw ’em play live at the Pan Am Center in Las Cruces. Danced my booty off. Fun!

Business lingo: “Let’s not reinvent the wheel.” Though lately that’s been replaced by the equally lame phrase, “Let’s not try to boil the ocean.” Argh! Take your low hanging, wheel inventing, consensus building, suit wearing phrases and stick them in your…. *curse words redacted* for the sake of my mom, who reads my blog.

Ok, I think that’s enough. There’s more where that came from, but ten interpretations of the word wheel is plenty.

And there you have it.

Photo by Tamás Schauermann and provided royalty free via stock.xchng

Keep Yer Politics Out of My Baseball

I have spent the past seven months watching my favorite baseball team, the San Francisco Giants, play incredibly imperfect (some say torturous) baseball.

I’ve experienced agony, ecstasy, and near ulcers but still I have watched because I’m a longtime fan. I’ve been there at Candlestick Park. I’ve been there at PacBell, SBC, AT&T Park. Heck, I’ve been there at Scottsdale Stadium.

Oh, I’ve been there.

I knew Tim Lincecum and Pablo Sandoval when they were playing for the farm team San Jose Giants.

Because I’ve been there, too.

And now…oh NOW that the team is getting coverage for making it to the National League Championship Series (NLCS) do all the politics and politicians come out in their shiny suits and gelled up hair to act like they’ve been there all along.

Our playoffs are their political opportunity.

Gah!

Baseball is not politics! Politics are not baseball!

The two don’t mix because baseball has its own politics, thank you VERY much.

We don’t need your stupid campaigning faces jack o’ lantern grinning out of the stands, Ms. Boxer, Ms. Fiorina and Mr. Newsom.

I shall not vote for the lot of you!

And then….

There is the whole ongoing kefuffle regarding the BART policeman who shot an allegedly rambunctious BART rider in the back.

The case and the video footage from that day are a highly sensitive and a very concerning issue for the Bay Area for a lot of reasons.

The case went to trial. The jury made a decision. The case is pending sentencing.

So now both sides have decided to take their personal issues to the baseball game by painting banners, attaching them to sailboats and setting sail for McCovey Cove.

You know, McCovey Cove, famous for all the boats, pontoons and kayacks sailing about when Barry Bonds played for the Giants and regularly dunked homeruns in the water?

McCovey Cove, famous for Friday “Beer Can Regatta” sailboat races.

McCovey Cove, that beautiful body of water that sits next to my beautiful ballpark and helps make it one of the most unique sporting locations in the world.

As the Fox Sports cameras seek out something to focus on as we cut to commercial, the cove is always a favored spot, owing to the beautiful views.

But this week, the cameras take in the “Free Mehserle” or “Justice for Oscar Grant” signs, and our own problems here in the Bay Area take precedence over the baseball game.

It’s a game. Just a game. It’s supposed to be fun.

How about I think about politics and other difficult issues when the season is over, ok?

(McCovey seen to the right in this photo of AT&T Park)

Photo From 22Gigantes

San Francisco Giants!

With a win over Atlanta, my boys are headed to the National League Championship Series! They don’t win pretty, but they manage to win.

Hand me a glass of champagne and two Prilosec! My tummy isn’t ready to face Philly!