I was the lone no vote for Nelson Cruz to win the MVP of the recent major league All Star baseball game. Yes, he hit the winning homerun in the 10th inning that deserves a lot of credit. But my vote went to Mariners Nelson Cruz. He brought a camera to home plate and had National League catcher and Cardinal star Yadiar Molina take a picture of him with Joe West one the the "most liked" umpires in the game. The play of the game!Picture at right shows San Francisco Seals manager Lefty O'Doul talking with long time Seals catcher and coach Joe Sprinz. They are wearing the 1948 Seals caps that major league baseball after a long search, patterned for the 2017 All Star game caps..
San Francisco General
It was mentioned in the last post that we saw Korean baseball star Huang hit his first homerun for the Giants. I was about to report that it might be his only one but I see with the trade of Nuenez he will be brought up again this weekend. The Giants had a 2 run lead in that game in the top of the 9th. But where is the $61 million closer Melancon? Sure he pitched an inning the night before so even all those gigantic scoreboards can't inform the fans that he is back on the DL. Guess they were too embarrassed.
The story does not end at that point. We were entering a Sport Bar for dinner and the Red Sox game hit you in the face. But across the bottom was information at Melancon. I wanted to read it but I kept walking and tripped over a step and spent the next 8 hours at SF General. Now if I was 10 a couple of bandages would have done the job. But being 83 it takes over $12,000. I got my first ambulance ride (no siren) and about 10 different tests at he hospital that took about 4 hours. Then they informed me it was policy to keep the patient under observation for another four hours. I didn't complain because I was waiting for the headaches that fortunately never came. One of the fireman asked me if I was a related to Tom Sweeney the famous doorman at the Sir Francis Drake. I said yes. The fireman said he went to school with Tom and I replied then you went to Riordan. I don't think they were too worried about me after that conversation. My cousin and blog member JL of San Francisco and her husband picked me up outside SF General at 3:30 am. You know SF is pretty quiet at that hour..
My Right Ear
Months ago a growth started behind my right ear. At first I thought I could handle it. but it got worse and finally went to my primary physician. He referred me to my dermatologist, then on to my plastic surgeon and then on to a date for the surgery. Over four months in total.and as time passed and I noticed more people were avoiding me. It took that length of time to finally have the plastic surgery scheduled. The wait was worth it. The surgery was remarkably successful.49ers
I spent about five days up at Lake Tahoe recently with a couple blog members and their wives. Talk about experts on the 49ers. They never quit anayizing them. I think they know more then the coaches as they prepared for fantasy football. However LOB of Moraga thinks the Niners will win four and JD of Lafayette says five. The odds in Nevada currently are 4.5 over or under. Tough decision! I said they would win 6 games but then woke up from my dream and realized that Tittle and R.C. Owens didn't play for them anymore.
The 49er faithful are hoping the team will be in a position to draft USC's star quarterback Sam Donald when he becomes eligible in the next NFL draft. In recent years, highly rated USC teams have flopped and their QB's status has dropped dramatically. Only time will tell.
The NBA
If you listen to The Happy Hour you know they think there is nothing second to the NBA. Well maybe the Warriors. But other teams that try to copy the Blue and Gold miss their 3 pointers and the balls keep clunking off the back rim. Not very exciting. The biggest NBA problem is that most of their games don 't count. You only need 40 wins our of 82 to make it to the games that count. Remember last year at the start there was a great build up for the opener between the Spurs and the Warriors. Oh how important. The Spurs won by over 29 and the game didn't mean a thing. But people pay enormous prices to see the entertainment.
The Giants
Wonder what happened to the Giants? Panic, Crawford, Belt, Pence, Baumgartner are all hitting 30 to 50 points below their normal average. Oh that shift! Plus they hit very few homeruns in a league that teams win with homers.
The big news is Sandoval. NBC Sports Bay Area is covering the Panda in San Jose and Sacramento. I never have seen the Panda look so thin. But the report is that he can't drive the ball. The Red Sox had the same problem and that is the reason they released him. We might have been wrong about Sandoval. Maybe he has to weigh around 265 to hit. I am rooting for the Panda but I don't think he will have a contract with the Giants next year
Span in centerfield has had a better season. But I am still not impressed. I read that the Cubs are interested. Send him on. He will get 4 hits one night then go hitless the next two.
Bumgarner shows he can still pitch.which is most important. But he is not great. Maybe its time to send him on?
The Giants have many promising hitters at Sacramento or on the DL..We know that it is very difficult to make that big jump to the majors. Hopefully the Giants will find a couple of gems. I really liked Slater the rookie from Stanford. Then he got hurt. Would like to see him play center. Not sure he has enough power for the corners.
The AL West
There is a lot of finger pointing going on as teams in the AL West are all wondering who approved the Houston Astros move from the National League to the American. The AL West would be a great race if it wasn't for the Astros.
