Umpires who are hurting the game

“Time! No, that’s a balk!” You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.

$126 Million!

Don’t get me wrong: I’m sure that nobody is more pissed off and depressed about Barry Zito’s performance with the Giants than Barry Zito. He’s a competitor, he’s a nice guy – he did not join the club to collect an oversized paycheck and lean back. But that doesn’t change the fact that the $500k/game pitcher that the Giants signed in an irrational “OMG Schmidt is leaving!” frenzy has gone 0-5 this season (after a less than stellar 2007 season), while the young pitching that San Francisco has been known for for several years is kicking ass while making a fraction of that salary. And that sucks.

In 4 years, Giants management has:

• Kept signing Barry Bonds mostly for the money that his homerun pursuit was generating, never getting close to winning a championship
• Traded away promising pitching for hitters that everybody had doubts about (and who left after 1/2 season)
• Spent ridiculous amounts of money on unnecessary pitching while not signing a single big hitter

And that sucks, no matter how well this young team will do this season. I actually believe in the team and think that they can pull off some amazing upsets! But that doesn’t excuse obvious piss-poor management.

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Happy Easter!

What I learned at the Giants game today:

• Not getting a single run out of bases loaded with no outs is of the best ways to motivate an opponent team that was showing all the signs of getting beaten into submission.
• Speaking of which, you probably won’t go very far in the season (or deserve to win) until you get at least one run out of bases loaded with no outs.
• Barry Zito is a great pitcher, but having played in the American League sure shows when he’s at bat.
• Recording 1-2-3 innings against a pitcher who was at 50+ pitches after two innings is a good way to keep that pitcher in the game much longer than he should have been.
• Barry Bonds might still be a great hitter with an outstanding OBP, but his diminished speed is hurting the team. He only got to frst base on the “double” that drove in Aurilia, and he was out at 2nd base in the same inning when other players would easily have made it.
• I don’t really care that the Giants are 1-5 and were swept by the Dodgers. It’s early in the season and they have lots of time to pick up the pace. I kinda like that peace of mind, it’s too early to get upset
• Taking the Larkspur ferry to the ballpark and watching a game is an awesome way to spend Easter Sunday.
• Not putting on any sunscreen – even if the entire day was overcast – is an awesome way to get sunburned in the face. This is San Francisco, after all!
• Reading an interesting book is a great way to pass the time in the ferry. The ride never felt that short before.

And finally:

• I love going to games with my fiancee.
• And she looks great with a Giants hat on.

Boooo!

Looks like a bag of money fell from the sky, hit Jason Schmidt on the head – and killed him. Well, at least in the eyes of San Francisco Giants fans he’ll be dead now. I don’t think anybody expected Schmidt to stay for the next season, but did it have to be LA?

Still, good memories. Like that 16 K game last season…

What The Hell?

Hillendrand for Arcado? You’ve got to be kidding me! Way to shaft a player that the club slowly and steadily developed and who was starting to get real results. Well, Victoria and I are going to the game tonight…not sure I wanna go now ;(