So apparently, the cool thing to do on the interblognets around the turn of the calendar year is to look back on the year that was. Thus, we’re proud to present the first annual Say Heys, est. 1959.
The “One Shining Moment” Award for the Best Montage: the new pre-game introduction video at the Warriors games
The 2 Girls, 1 Cup Award for the Most Cringe-Inducing Moment: 756!
The Max Power Award for Best Nickname: Stephen Jackson, aka Captain Jack
The Baron Davis Award for the Best Beard: Baron Davis
The Rod Beck Award for Most Lovable Giants Pitcher: Matt Cain
The Atlee Hammaker/Salomon Torres Award for the Most _____ Giants Pitcher: Barry Zito (Runner-up, somehow: Trent Dilfer)
The Teri Schiavo Award for the Most Overexposed Vegetable: Barry Bonds
Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please. After this past summer of painful baseball at Pac Bell and the Coliseum, we really didn’t think it could get worse.
We were wrong.
During the month of October, not one sports team in the 415 or 510 area code won a single game. (And November ain’t off to such a hot start either.)
A’s: n/a
Giants: n/a
Warriors: 0-3.
49ers: 0-4.
Raiders: 0-4.
For the heck of it, we’ll even toss in Cal football: 0-3.
Conclusion: it’s time for the San Francisco Rumble and the ABA. That, or hockey.
This is probably the best tribute to Rod Beck we’ve seen. It’s just from Fox Bay Area’s feed from the Giants’ own tribute earlier this summer. Watching those highlights makes us feel warm and cozy. Seems like a lifetime ago.
Mike Krukow said it well: “A good friend, a great Giant.”
Of course, then Duane Kuiper chimed in: “Rod Beck! No longer with us.”
To wit, here is part of the Chronicle columnist’s article today:
Meanwhile, photographs by pitcher Barry Zito (quickly becoming a boldface regular) are featured in the first issue of the Men’s Book, San Francisco magazine’s new periodical offspring. Two of the pitcher’s shots are of himself, one’s a woman pulling down her dress and the third’s a teammate in what appears to be the bathroom. “If his pitches miss the mark on game day, he has the lens to fall back on,” says the magazine.
Montblanc is making a series of special edition pens, the sale of each (for $615) to include $149 to be donated to UNICEF. Famous individuals from all around the country are donating their signatures to be engraved on these pens. The Bay Area’s chosen personality - drum roll begins here and gets louder - is Barry Zito.
And two weeks ago, during the Barry Bonds ceremony, guess who had a cameo?
Despite this season’s showing, the honoree’s teammates, who arrived together in a bus, strolled in to awestruck gasps, and Barry Zito was immediately surrounded by admirers. I asked if he minded that by the time he’d become a Giant, the team, the “Bar-ree, Bar-ree” chant had been taken. “I think I got Zito,” he said. “Two syllables, that works.” That “admirers” is meant literally; he’s rock-star handsome with a kind of mane of shiny brown hair. “Great use of gel,” I said to my pal S.C. “Great use of genetics,” she said.
Conclusion: Barry Zito is a PR machine and Leah Garchik hearts him.
During the first inning of Sunday’s game against the Rangers, Nick Swisher showcased one of the better mound assaults we’ve ever seen.
The background: Swisher hit a home run in each of the first three games of the four-game series. When Vicente Padilla hit him in his first at-bat on Sunday, it was the third time in the last three games that Swisher had been hit, so Nick being a real man, he charged the mound like no other.
The dropping of the shoulder really makes it special.
It seems like yesterday, but Brian Johnson’s epic game-winning homerun took place nearly a decade ago, almost to the day. Has it really been ten years?
Johnson grew up in Oakland, attending Skyline High School. He lettered in the three major sports, and was even Gary Payton’s backup on the hoops team. Interestingly enough, his best sport was probably football, as he earned a full scholarship to Stanford, where he was the starting quarterback during his first three seasons. In the meantime, he led the Cardinal baseball team to a pair of College World Series championships. The fun part: he played seven positions–all but catcher and second base.
Johnson was drafted by the Yankees in the 1989 Draft. He soon returned to catching duties, despite not playing catcher since high school. He cracked the big leagues in 1994, with the San Diego Padres.
But his moment in the sun was September 18, 1997. We’ll let the Giants official site do the honors:
After more than four hours of baseball, the teams were still stuck at five runs each when Johnson came to the plate to lead off the bottom of the 12th. Reliever Mark Guthrie threw one pitch, and Johnson clobbered it. It rode toward the wall in left, but having already seen an earlier Dodgers blow to nearly the same spot look like a sure home run, only to be knocked down by the Candlestick Park wind, the 52,140 in attendance held their breath.
When the ball cleared the fence and landed in the left-field bleachers, the ballpark erupted. It’s possible cars on nearby Highway 101 thought an earthquake was happening as the frenzied crowd celebrated wildly while Johnson circled the bases. The catcher later said he didn’t even feel his feet hitting the ground as he ran, and when he crossed the plate, his teammates mobbed him. The scoreboard itself almost seemed alive as it displayed the current NL West standings, with the Giants and Dodgers in a flat-footed tie.
That was the season of Dustiny. And no one epitomized that feeling more than Brian Johnson.
With last night’s loss to the Diamondbacks, the Giants were officially eliminated from the playoffs, about three months after they were unofficially eliminated. Of note: Jonathan Sanchez had some bright moments in his start and hard-throwing rookie Erick Threets made his major league debut in the ninth inning. [SFGate]
Rajai Davis keeps going and going and going and going … [SJ Merc]
Nate Schierholtz is hitting .391 since being recalled from Fresno. The Danville native and San Ramon Valley High alum doesn’t even wear batting gloves. The funny thing is that he has an endorsement with Franklin batting gloves. That Nate: he’s cah-razy! [SFGate]
The Giants could certainly look to Arizona’s successful rebuilding project. [Giants Talk]
Looking back on the season, here are some of the good moves made by the Giants’ braintrust: the Morris-Davis move, sticking with Hennessey as the closer, signing Molina and the handling of Tim Lincecum. [El Lefty Malo]
Ex-Giant Todd Linden notched the winning hit for Marlins in yesterday’s game against the Nationals. 76,000 empty seats and 375 fans were in attendance. [The FanHouse]
As the Giants and A’s wrap up their respective wastes of a season, we’d like to take a moment to reflect on one of the most painful baseball summers in recent history.
But let’s take a moment to consider just how lucky the Bay Area has been in terms of putting out competitive baseball teams over the last two decades.
The last time both Bay Area teams lost 85 games was that magical 1985 season. The Giants are pretty much a shoe-in for 85 losses this year, but Oakland’s late-season “surge” has made it necessary for them to lose 10 of their last 14 games to reach the 85-loss mark.
Why do we mention this? Take a look at the other two-team markets in the Major League and the last time(s) both teams lost at least 85 games.
New York: Mets and Yankees lost 85+ games in 1992, 1991.
Los Angeles: Dodgers and Angels lost 85+ games in 1999, 1992, 1987
Chicago: Cubs and White Sox lost 85+ games in 1999, 1988, 1987, 1986
Not only does the Bay Area have the longest streak going (by far), but since that 1985 disaster–which simultaneously spawned two dynasties (one led by a certain Will Clark, the other by the Bash Brothers)–the three other markets have a combined nine170+ loss seasons.
Good lord, is this the longest baseball season ever or what?
The preseason seems like a promise-filled, somewhat hopeful lifetime ago. March was a far cry from the doldrums of the tear-stained September we are experiencing now.
Remember when Brian Sabean compared this 2007 squad to the 1997 team? Sure, both versions had lots of turnover with established veterans coming in. Because we are masochists ’round these parts, let’s revisit the five biggest questions about the 2007 Giants, posed by the Chronicle back in the halcyon days of March. Oh, how full of hope the city was!
1. Does Barry Bonds still have it? The Giants invested up to $20 million for one more year of his potent bat, and they will need it if they hope to win.
Um, hope to win what?
Bonds was (and is) the Giants’ best hitter, by far. He’s played in just as many games as Ray Durham and Bengie Molina. He’s hit a more-than-respectable 28 home runs at the age of 43, which in this steroid-less era is good for the top 10 in the league. He hasn’t be incarcerated and has successfully avoided any new performance-enhancing drug scandals. His average (.278) is lower than expected, but his OBP and OPS are among the league-leaders. Perhaps Surely that $20 million could have been better spent, but Bonds–for all his faults–did his part this year. He wasn’t outstanding, but he was as good as could have been expected.
2. Will Barry Zito be a real difference-maker? The team gave him the richest contract ever for a pitcher on the premise that he is Jason Schmidt and then some.
Obviously, Zito had a terrible year with an even worse first couple months on this side of the Bay. He’s picked it up lately, but it’s pretty obvious that the only differences he made were negative.
The bright(ish) side is this: with the emergences of Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain (and the re-emergence of Noah Lowry) the Giants’ rotation is absolutely stacked. Plus, Zito has shown signs that next year won’t be as bad. The bottom line is this: he was an innings-eater on a bad team. He will end up with 25-plus decisions by the end of the year; put him on a good team and he easily notches 15 wins.
Also, Jason Schmidt was somehow even more of a disappointment for the Dodgers.
When we get depressed with life, we take some delight in remembering that there’s always a Jose Canseco or two (get it? his twin Ozzie? eh?) out there, roaming the empty streets of a Miami suburb, trying desperately to remember where he got “those awesome hamburger tacos” last Tuesday.
And then we remember that he’s a best-selling author with another book on the way.
Brian Wilson and Bruce Bochy got tossed after Wilson hit Yorvit Torrealba in the eighth inning of a one-run ballgame with a man on first. For some reason, plate umpire Jerry Meals thought Wilson intended to put the tying run in scoring position. The nonsensical ejection cost the Giants the win, as Brad Hennessey coughed up the game. [SFGate]
The Giants’ newest pitching darlings might be a pair of September call-ups: Dan Giese and Erick Threets. The 30-year-old Giese used to be a car salesman and the 6-5, 240-lb Threets tops out at 100 mph. [SFGate]
Meanwhile, here are some other intriguing September call-ups. [McCovey Chronicles]
No matter who gets called up, Omar Vizquel will be at shortstop. [SFGate]
Jack Taschner will be sent back home to have his left shoulder examined. There goes any playoff hopes.
Now that the youngsters are getting more and more playing time, the Barry Bonds era is waning in its last four weeks. [ESPN]
Brian Sabean’s report card contains more D’s than this month’s Maxim. [Giants Cove]
Russ Ortiz is out for this season and next. [The FanHouse]
Colorado halted the Giants’ six-game winning streak with an 8-0 “drubbing.” Nonetheless, Bochy is proud of the way the boys in black finished up August, essentially providing a great deal of hope in an otherwise dismal season. They won 16 of 31 games over 30 days; that’s quite the busy month. Among the good things that happened during the stretch: the arrival of Rajai, 756, Zito/Cain/Lowry dominating and Hennessey’s perfect 7-for-7 saves. [SFGate]
We meant to get to this earlier in the week, but it’s too good to let go. A guy named Ray McDonald was Barry Bonds’ high school teammate at Serra and he actually led the league in hitting during their senior year (Bonds was second). And the former Girls Softball Coach of the Year carries around a laminated official 1982 WCAL stat sheet that proves it. Al Bundy, is that you? [Deuce of Davenport]
An excellent piece about just how remarkable Matt Cain really is. And he’s only 22. [Vegas Watch]
But will the 2008 Giants embrace a youth movement, or will it be (another) half-hearted effort? [ESPN]
Rawlings has made a very fancy $400 glove, but not many major leaguers have took a liking to it. Only three use it. Of course, one of them is our very own $126 million man. [Lion in Oil, via 100%]
A case for putting Kevin Frandsen in the lineup every day for the rest of the year. What’s the worse thing that could happen? [El Lefty Malo]
Jonathan Sanchez’s season saw him go from starter to reliever to starter to reliever and back to starter. Now he’s headed for the Arizona instructional league. Welcome to business of baseball. [SFGate]
The Tigers’ Curtis Granderson thinks there’s a problem with minorities’ interest in baseball. [ESPN Blogs]
Crazy Crab annihilated the Rockies’ mascot. Good work kids. Stay tuned for the next round. [Home Run Derby]
Vinnie Chulk’s middle finger is numb from tobacco use. Yep. [SFGate]
The A’s beat the Jays in 11 innings last night, but the big news of the day was the deal that saw Esteban Loaiza go to the Dodgers. Oakland will save about $7.6 million. There was talk of former Giants starter Brett Tomko coming back to the Bay in exchange for Loaiza, but the A’s decided–rightly–that they would rather give Loaiza away and save some dough than take Tomko. Meanwhile, the Dodgers designated Tomko for assignment. [SFGate]
This season, the A’s have made an astonishing number of moves, basically overturning their entire roster. Their payroll has dropped from $80 to $60 million. [SFGate]
AN thinks that Beane should continue to gut the team until all the high-priced talent is gone. We’re looking at you, Mike Piazza, Mark Kotsay, Bobby Crosby and Eric Chavez. [Athletics Nation]
Who should be expected to be on the expanded 40-man roster? [Catfish Stew]
Mark Ellis helps kids with diabetes and kids who wanna learn to read and do other good stuff too. [Official Site]
Here’s an amazing story: Oakland’s AAA team, the Sacramento River Cats are in first place (with a five-game lead), despite being involved in 174 transactions this year. 174! [SFGate]
Posted by Say Hey
Posted by Say Hey
Posted by Say Hey
It seems like yesterday, but Brian Johnson’s epic game-winning homerun took place nearly a decade ago, almost to the day. Has it really been ten years?
As the Giants and A’s wrap up their respective wastes of a season, we’d like to take a moment to reflect on one of the most painful baseball summers in recent history.
Good lord, is this the longest baseball season ever or what?![[raymcdonald.jpg]](http://bp2.blogger.com/_d8bF7KBsmHI/RtOS6HIdzuI/AAAAAAAAAx4/iFQkNLNUH-A/s1600/raymcdonald.jpg)
