It's About Time

I know it has been a while since my last blog.  I want thank all of you for letting me know how you miss my comments.  There haven't been any emails but I know in your heart your thinking of me.  I have just been very busy with three other very important projects and at my age I don't get as much done during the day as I used to.

Will Stanford Save Us Again?

It was in the late 1970s when a genius named Bill Walsh came out of Stanford and within a couple of years took a 2-12 49er football team to the Super Bowl Championship.  The Niners now have John Lynch another Stanford product trying to bring the Santa Clara based team back to respectability which I think he will do within a couple of years.  The Giants are looking at  a Stanford product bringing up Austin Slater from Sacramento to finally solve the left field problem.  An injured hand from winter ball has slowed his process but now he is back to full health and his record shows he might be the real thing. Lets hope that Stanford can save the Giants like they have the 49ers.

The Giants --- My Thoughts

I guess with age I don't take baseball as serious as I used to.  I remember when I was very young I would cry myself to sleep after listening to the 'old walnut farmer' Jack MacDonald describe another Seals loss.  I have learned that it is tough to stay in contention every year.  The Giants management has done a marvelous job  with the help of commissioner Bud Selig to win three World Series titles plus usually being in the race to the final week.

The management blew it this year and so did I.  The collapse should not have been a surprise.  The Mission Bay team had the worst record in baseball last year from the All Star game on.  But who did management blame? Who else but Santiago Casillla for having the worst closing record in the game. To solve the problem they signed a closer Mark Melancon for something in the range of 1/4 billion to solve the problem.  They didn't realize the Giants had to score a few runs in order for him to save a game a little detail they forgot. He participated in the World Baseball Fiasco and of course came up with an arm problem that put him on the DL.  Those who read my comments know that I am not a fan of the world championships so every time a player goes on the DL who played in the series I am going to blame those games.  Prove me wrong.  You also noticed after those games that Giants shortstop Crawford could not run the bases without pulling a muscle and going on the DL.

Perhaps the Giants finally realize they need batters who can hit.  This blog has pointed it out for a couple of years.  The Giants use the defensive shift against teams very successfully. Now it is being used against them and ruining a few players careers.

The team has very little chance of reaching .500 for the year.  They will battle San Diego for last place.  Will the Black and Orange use the NBA strategy of tanking some game so they can get a higher draft choice?  Not a bad idea!

The Giants called up a slugging first baseman Shaw from AA to Sacramento.  If he can produce will he be taking over for Belt before the 49er first regular season game under the new regime?  It was believed that by this time in his career Belt would be a solid .280 hitter to go with his  20+ homeruns.  He is currently hitting around.240 and always walking to dugout after striking out.

The one big joy about the Giants is seeing Crawford and Panik field their positions.  It is really appreciated when I see other teams play.  Panik has been a victim of the shift and his batting average has tumbled from .300 for a couple years to around .240.  Bochy has benched him a few game to look at other second baseman.  Arroyo was very impressive at second.  I think the Giants are a better team when  Panik plays but he being a New Yorker, would fit right in at second based for the Yankees with their short right field fence.  However the Giants would like to have from the Yankees is a player like Mickey Mantle who is not available.   I am not sure the pin strippers have anyone else the Giants could use.

It is sad to see an all star year by Buster Posey go to waste.  Perhaps you saw a couple of weeks ago he get a single to center field only have Neven the third base coach hold the runner from second at third.  As TV showed Posey was livid!  It was right after that that Posey started hitting homeruns.  Where do the Giants train their third base coaches?  One excuse for Nevin is the fact he getting very little experience at third this year.

Matt Cain has done a nice job.  He has surprised me but at his age look for the DL a little after the All Star game.  Ty Blach looks like a winner.  Moore is good some days and bad others which is no surprise.  Cueto still having fun win or lose and Bumgarner threw for the first time the other day and looked bad.  I was asked why I didn't use his injury as an excuse for the Giants.  The reason being he started four games and they lost all four.  No big loss!

Slater, Orlando Caliyte and Arroyo are prospects that might make the second half of the season more interesting.

Thank Goodness for the Warriors

The Warriors are three games away from winning another NBA title with a 16-0 playoff record.  Can they do it?  I think they will be disappointed if they don't.  If they do lose a game then win the title they will be the first  championship  team to celebrate by throwing Champaign bottles against the wall in disgust.

A couple of our readers from the south will be flying to Oakland Sunday to take in the game. I hope they see a blow out like the second game last year which the Warriors won by 33 points.

This week brings backs  memories attending the 5th game of the NBA 1967 World  Championship Playoffs at the Cow Palace.  The Warriors lost to the Wilt Chamberlin 76ers that evening and eventually the series 4-2

Oh how I loved this team pictured at the right that included Rick Berry, Nate Thurman, Jeff Mullins, Joe Ellis  Al Attles and Bill Sharman a great coach.

They were young and had the makings of a great future.  Then tragedy hit.  Franklin Mieuli the team owner was in his bath tub in the middle of some ocean and at the same time Pat Boone sold a few extra records.  Result Boone offered Berry $75,000 to play for the Oakland Oaks of the ABL.  Rick took the money and chances of an NBA title went down the drain.  Finally after years, Rick retuned to the Warriors to lead them to the 1975 title.  If Rick had stayed there would be a lot more championship flags decorating Oracle Arena.

Berry would have even been a greater player in the 3 point era along with Joe Ellis the ex USF star.

The teams in this era did not have the big television money.  The 76ers carried only eight players on their roster to afford Wilt.  Oh how the world of basketball has changed.

Join Us

I will be having an early 11 am lunch with my cousin Joan Leehane on the patio of MoMos before the Giants gamed on Wednesday June 28.  If your walking along the Bay or are planning on attending the game stop and say hello.