It's Almost Over

Spring training enters into its final week as well as the NCAA basketball championships.

The Giants are looking much better now that both Aoki and Panik are putting the bat on the ball.   Duffy is the real question.  Bochy says he is currently the best hitter in camp.  How can they send him down?  They don't have a position for him to play.  Sunday he played the entire game at third base but really didn't get much action.  The worst option is to have him make the team then sit on the bench and only get a few at bats each week.  It's better to let him play for Sacramento and be ready when he gets called up.  As soon as I wrote that the Giants could pick up Ludwick, Maxwell's bat caught fire and he signed with the Giants before the fire department arrived.  John Bowker a name from the past got a rbi double for the Giants in their last Cactus League game this spring.  Remember about seven years ago as an outfielder he played first base for the desperate Giants a good portion of the season hitting about 10 home runs.  But he never could lay off that pitch in the dirt.

Starting pitching is impossible to figure.  Cain looks great when giving up hit after hit.  Then on Monday Hudson gets hit around.  It was also announced that Peavy has a dead arm. What's going on?  It will be trial and error the first few weeks and hopefully five reliable starters will eventually emerge.

The question is being asked why the Giants are coming home this weekend to play the A's when they could have stayed in Arizona site of the opening game Monday.  It's called money!  Looks like the final roster decisions will be helped by using the DL.

The Dodger owner was quoted in the local paper saying he is not too upset that only 22% of their fans have Time Warner and can see the Dodgers on television.  Why should he be upset when the Dodgers got all the money to pay those ridiculous salaries like over 30 million to one pitcher while Time Warner is taking a $1 billion bath.  Only Giant - Dodgers national televised games are available to us.

Wrigley Field's new Jumbotron

At Sloan Field in Mesa the Chicago Cubs have drawn at capacity of least 15,000 this spring for every game but two.  I noticed from the internet that Wrigley Field will be ready for opening day.  New outfield stands will be built during the first  couple months of the season as the games are being played.  The owners of the apartments behind left field are very upset at the Cubs for building a very large Jumbotron because it blocks the view of some of their roof seats.  The solution was actually very easy --- just raise the apartment buildings about 100 feet and put in new foundation with a bar on the ground floor.

Late Trade News -  Pagan, Cain and a PTBNL to the Yankees for Alex Rodriguez.  April Fools

NCAA  I predicted on this blog that the final four at the start of the tournament would be Kentucky, Michigan State, Wisconsin and Duke.  Actually I would have rather seen Arizona, Notre Dame, Michigan State and Gonzaga.  Arizona because Russ J a big supporter of this blog is U of A grad and I want him to be happy.  Notre Dame who gave Kentucky all they could handle is recruiting my granddaughter to play soccer.  Michigan State is my wife's Alma Mater and of course Gonzaga is the home of  Bing Crosby.

I just happen to see that the NY Times reported recently that this is the second lowest scoring college basketball season since 1952.  That's hard to believe since there were low scores in the 40s and 50s. The Cow Palace use to have a very exclusive  '21 Club' for those few players who got 21 points in a game played at the pride of Daly City.  I do remember in the middle 1940s seeing Lowell High beat Washington 11-10 in a heart stopper at Kezar Pavilion. Believe me every point was a thrill! Maybe Washington won don't remember that detail and I couldn't find it on Google.