Only 3 Games Out

Giants

Only in the NL West can a team lose 6 out of 9 on a road trip and still only be 3 games out of first place.  The Giants can't thank the Dodgers enough!  A hard schedule, a collapsed and over worked pitching staff coupled with some tough breaks will make it very hard if not impossible to go on another six game winning streak which they need desperately.  The loss of Panic hurts because I feel that he is the glue of the team.  They never seem to play as well  when he is not in the lineup.  The very hot Cubs just took the Giants to the cleaners but thanks to the Dodgers losing they did got get hung out to dry.

I believe a key turning point of the season will be the next  two games against the Astros.  Bumgarner has got to win and if  Heston can get back on track, pitches well and wins his next start the Cub nightmare will be forgotten especially if the Dodgers keep losing. If they don't win and the Astros sweep them even though its only August it will be a tough road with their current pitching.

What are the Giants going to do for pitching?  I am sure Bochy had an  extra drink on the flight back to SF trying to figure it out.  Vogelsong will be back starting, Peavy can give you five innings and I guess they will have to continue to go with Cain and hope Leach comes off the DL as soon as possible.   Do they have anyone in Sacramento or Richmond that could possibly start?

The rookie infielder Tomlinson off to great start but looked over matched at the plate in Chicago.
The loss of Aoki will hurt and keep Pagan in the lineup.

I guess Bochy complained about a strike called on Blanco to end the game that looked like it was the fourth ball.  No replays on those but how many did have during the game about  some stupid plays at first base.  That's why I am not a fan of instant replay. I just love it when they show the replay on the big screen and everybody in the stadium knows the outcome and then you see the umpires still waiting for word from New York. 

Football

The loss of Alton Smith is just another blow to an unbelievable off season for the 49ers. 

The 49ers are also worried about rain that could make the field muddy.  They believe the El Nino stories that could present a problem.  Today teams put on a new field after a weed is found on the turf.  They should have played at Kezar back in 40s,  50s and 60s with high school football four days a week, college football  and the Niners' on the weekend. There was no grass left by the start of October.  Todays players don't how good they have it.  I am sure the 49er fans will enjoy the rain to cool them off from the tremendous heat that normally penetrates Levi Stadium.

It would take a football fanatic to watch the Hall of Fame game Sunday night.  I turned in for a few minutes and discovered that the Steelers quarterback was going to be the water boy from last year and the Vikings were not going to play their star Peterson who has not played in a year.  Reminds me of 49ers when they held Frank Gore out of pre season games and then the announcer would say when the season started that he is rusty.  How much do they charge for those games?

College Football

My Stanford alumni fiends are wonder how USC is going to be this year.  I think they are ranked 8th or so in the country.  This can only lead to disappointment because expectation are so high since they will have close to a full compliment of scholarship players available.  It is easy to forget that the Trojans loss their stars on offense and defense who will be playing on Sunday and they are hard to replace.  Prediction 9 wins 3 losses.  As a USC alumnus who reads the blog told me next year is really the return of Trojan football when they play Alabama at Jerry Jones' AT&T Stadium in Dallas.   

Blogsite

I was requested to provide additional information about Fatima.  After eight weeks of work the Fatima update is available for those that might be interested. It takes Fatima from 1917 to 2017.    www.fatimainquiry.blogspot.com