Trade Deadline Anxiety

With a flurry of trade rumors flying around the baseball universe, Giants fans are all waiting for "the big move" that will save our season. The acquisition of Dan Uggla and Jake Peavy haven't quite been enough for us since our beloved team is basically treading water in a desperate attempt not to drown. Don't get me wrong, I think the Peavy move was relatively low risk and a smart decision given the unknown status of Matt Cain. He is a fierce competitor and I thought he pitched better last night than we could have hoped for from Petit. We all know it isn't enough though.

There are many players that are simply out of the realm of possibilities as far as the Giants are concerned. Come back to earth everyone, we aren't going to land David Price or Chase Utley. There are several names being floated around though that I think are reasonable to expect and will help the Giants without costing them too much.

Let's start with Zobrist. He's the #1 player on my list because he can help the Giants fill several holes while we are waiting for players to get healthy (fingers crossed).

Giants among multiple teams ready to act if Rays move Ben Zobrist, sources tell @ken_rosenthal and me. @foxsports
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) July 28, 2014

Giants remain interested in Zobrist despite giving up 2 prospects in Peavy deal. Giants had 2 scouts watching Rays this weekend.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) July 28, 2014

Based on the tweets from Jon Morosi this move is still on the table for the Giants. It has been suspected that they were asking a high price for Zobrist but if people are still talking about the Giants being interested, obviously the negotiations aren't totally out of the question. Our second base issues are reaching a point of total insanity and Zobrist could help us out tremendously. It's not like it can get worse right?

If we only make one more move, this is the move I want. Do it Sabean! (Please?)

Next on the list would be Chris Denorfia. According to MLB Trade Rumors, the Giants are among the newest teams interested in Denorfia and he would likely come cheap. He'd be a good short term solution with Blanco until Pagan comes back. Everything I have heard on Pagan lately is positive with a return in the next couple of weeks entirely possible.

Pagan to do full pregame work in AZ and is getting closer to clearing himself to go to minors, Bochy said.
— Andrew Baggarly (@CSNBaggs) July 28, 2014

If Sabean goes for Denorfia over someone like Alex Rios, this tells me there's a realistic chance for Pagan to come back and make an impact.

Everyone, including myself, wants a deal done now and the anxiety about this team is killing us all. The other dark cloud looming is the possibility for the Dodgers to acquire Price, Lester or Hamels. It shocks me that they haven't done anything yet, it seems they are always quick to make the blockbuster moves. I think we have to prepare for them to add one of the listed pitchers to their starting 5, which is going to make them even more of a pain for the Giants. Let's just hope our starting pitching can keep us in games and get wins and we will see how it goes with the Dodgers in September!

We are less than 72 hours away from the trade deadline, hopefully we all survive!

The Curse of Freddy Sanchez

Do you remember when Freddy Sanchez went down in 2011? Did you realize that from that point on San Francisco would become the place where second base careers would come to die? I bet you didn't...

Since Freddy got hurt it seems like we've had a slew of second basemen come through San Francisco and either get hurt or never come back. Here's a list!

Freddy Sanchez: 2009-2012
Jeff Keppinger: 2011
Orlando Cabrera: 2011
Bill Hall: 2011
Ryan Theriot: 2012
Marco Scutaro: 2012-2014
Tony Abreu: 2013-2014
Brandon Hicks: 2014
Ehrie Adrianza: 2014
Joe Panik: 2014
Dan Uggla: 2014*

We all know that Freddy got hurt on June 10th, 2011 and was never to be seen again. I don't think he ever officially announced his retirement from baseball to my knowledge but he basically fell in a black hole that day. They brought in Bill Hall (who??), Jeff Keppinger and Orlando Cabrera in 2011. Bill Hall signed on June 11th, 2011 and was DFA'd on July 28th, 2011. Jeff Keppinger actually contributed but was not resigned. He went to Tampa Bay in 2012 and is now with the White Sox and has only played 25 games in the last 2 seasons. Orlando Cabrera announced his retirement at the beginning of 2012.

Moving on to 2012 where we had Ryan Theriot before Scutaro came in to save the day. Theriot obviously had an iconic moment in the World series being driven in by none other than Marco Scutaro but missed the parade and was never to be seen in baseball again. He officially retired at least and is somewhat active on Twitter. Maybe we could talk him into a return...kidding. Sort of.

We made it through 2013 with Scutaro only to see our season be awful for various reasons. Little did we know that we were probably seeing the end of Scutaro, just like Freddy. Brandon Hicks started off as a nice replacement with all the bombs he hit but then he didn't get a hit for a month, A WHOLE MONTH, and back to AAA he went. Adrianza was actually starting to not make me want to throw something and then he got himself hurt again. Panik sprained his ankle on Tuesday and is unavailable. They are dropping like flies this season!

In case you missed it, Scutaro officially went back on the DL today along with Adrianza. And so begins the Dan Uggla era in San Francisco. Oh and also Tony Abreu is back up. Hank Schulman just said on KNBR that he thought Abreu left the team so he was even caught off guard seeing him get called up. And just in time for a battle for first place with the Dodgers! Yay!

I will say this about Uggla, a change of scenery could absolutely benefit him. All I want is for him to do something of value in a situation with runners in scoring position. Walk, sac fly, hit, whatever. Any of those things will make him better than Arias right now. Also, if Sabean is reading this (which I'm sure he is) DON'T GIVE HIM A MULTI YEAR DEAL IF HE HELPS US IN THE PLAYOFFS! As we can see, he's probably going to fall into some sort of black hole merely from playing second base on this team so it's not worth it!

Hang on kids...it's going to be a wild weekend!

The "Second Half"

I thought I would do a quick schedule break down of what we are calling the "second half" of the season between the Giants and the Dodgers. The Giants have 66 games left and the Dodgers have 65 games left. Here are some comparisons for you.

Home Games vs. Road Games

Giants Home Games - 28
Dodgers Home Games - 32

Giants Road Games - 38
Dodgers Road Games - 33

Normally I would be worried about so many road games but I think the Giants actually play pretty well on the road so maybe this is a good thing.

NL West Games

Giants vs. Dodgers - 9

Rockies
Giants - 7
Dodgers - 6

Padres
Giants - 7
Dodgers - 9

Dbacks
Giants - 6
Dodgers - 5 

Total - 29
Total - 29

I can't believe the Dodgers have 9 more games with the Padres. That seems slightly advantageous to them but we both have 29 division games left so that makes the Season Series between the 2 teams EXTREMELY important! Giants already have the advantage of winning 7 of 10 games so far. I'd say they need to take 6 of the remaining 9 games to stay in this race.

NL Central Games
Giants - 12
Dodgers - 19 

NL East Games
Giants - 17
Dodgers - 13 

The Dodgers are heavy with NL Central games and the Giants are heavy with NL East games. I think the Central is a much better division so let's hope that gives the Giants a little edge.

Interleague Games
Giants - 8

Dodgers - 4

Even though the Giants still have 8 interleague games left, the Dodgers 4 interleague games are against the Angels, which I think is going to be really interesting. I think the Angels are capable of giving the Dodgers trouble much like the A's with the Giants. Those games come up at the beginning of August so hopefully the Angels can do us a solid and wipe the floor with the Dodgers.

I just remembered we have 3 innings of a game left with the Rockies in September (which I will hopefully be at!) so technically we have 66.5 games left. So weird resuming a game 3 months later but it was sort of looking like the Giants might lose that game on that particular day so let's hope for a nice momentum shift in the Giants direction by that time. I'd really love to go troll some Rockies fans in Colorado!

Hopefully this gives you a quick, easy breakdown of the remaining schedules for the 2 teams. It's going to be a wild "second half"! 

Stadium Adventures - St. Louis!

Well I meant to write about Busch Stadium in St. Louis right after we got back but I've been slacking. Better late than never right? I have to say, we had a blast at Busch Stadium! St. Louis is absolutely a baseball city and the Cardinals have a great and storied franchise much like the Giants and the Cubs so as someone who just loves the game, St. Louis was a treat!

A cool shot from behind home plate on our first night there 

Transportation

From what I could tell, the metro lines that run to and from the ballpark aren't bad. We only used it once since we rented a car for our trip and we were staying about 15-20 minutes away from the stadium. There are several park and ride stations so you could find the nearest station, park there and ride the metro straight to the ballpark. If you do drive, there's a parking garage by the Arch that's really cheap with all day parking. It might be more expensive during the week but it's a great option because it's less than 1 mile from the Arch to the stadium. If you can find a good deal to stay downtown, even better!

Ballpark Village

This place is CRAZY AWESOME! The Cardinals really nailed it with this and their Hall of Fame Museum next door. You walk in to a giant Fox Sports Midwest Bar that has multiple other bars and restaurants both downstairs and upstairs. And it's always hoppin' in there! The word on the street is that it's better pre-game than post-game. I have no idea if they will charge anything for the Post Season but that is definitely where I would be watching the games if I couldn't get tickets.

Inside of Ballpark Village from the second floor

If you take the stadium tour, you can buy a combo ticket for the Hall of Fame Museum as well for $18 total. The tour is fantastic and ends on the field (take the 12:30 tour on a night game day and you might catch some players arriving when you are on the field!). The Cardinals are such a storied franchise, much like the Giants, that the Hall of Fame is a must. We spent over an hour in there and could have stayed longer. It was really cool. I'm not sure how to get this campaign rolling but the Giants NEED a Hall of Fame Museum. I also think they need something like the Ballpark Village.

From the Cardinals dugout at the end of our tour

Where to Sit

Much like Wrigley, we did a good job of sitting all over the stadium. We went to 4 games here, one Cardinals Yankees game and 3 Cardinals Giants games. Here's the breakdown of where we sat for all 4 games!

Game 1 - Section 127 (Right Field Box)
This section holds a special place in my heart even though it's right next to the Cardinals Bullpen. The usher in that section is a 19 year old kid named Aaron and he was awesome. He told us we could come back to his section any of the other 3 games and he would find us some seats over there. He was fun to chat with and hopefully if he makes it to San Francisco we can show him the ropes at AT&T. He also went over to Carlos Martinez in the bullpen and asked him for a ball, which he then gave to me. I was stoked! Since Sean is on a mission to be the next Zack Hample, any balls we can collect are a win!

View from the front row of 127

Game 2 - Section 201 (Legends Club Party Suite)
WORTH EVERY PENNY! We bought these as soon as tickets went on sale in December for $80 each. This ticket included all you can eat food AND drinks! You get to hang out in an air conditioned suite with a personal Bartender. Ours was Dorothy and she would have beers ready and waiting for us. Then you walk out from your suite to a section of about 30 padded seats and under an overhang. If you go anytime between May and August, get these tickets for a day game. TRUST ME! It gets pretty hot and humid there and having shade and AC is where it's at! The food was delicious and I would definitely sit here again.

View from our seats in 201

Game 3 - Section 172 (Left Field Box)
These are pretty much the equivalent seats to section 127 in left field. Right next to the Visitors bullpen and a great view. The best part about these seats and the right field seats is that these aren't bleacher seats. I'm not a huge fan of bleacher seats so I liked that we had actual seats in these 2 sections. If you're lucky, you can get someone to toss you a ball from the bullpen if you are a visiting fan. This was the game that Pence hit that homer into Big Mac Land right above our heads and it was freakin sweet to watch. We kept waiting for it to fall and it never did!

View from our seats in 172

Giants Bullpen - Javy getting warmed up!

Game 4 - Section 149 (Home Plate Box)
Last but not least, sitting right behind home plate! This was awesome. We only paid $90 for these seats on Stubhub and the seats were fantastic. Also padded seats which was nice! This was actually my favorite game of the 4 even though the Giants lost because we had 2 rain delays and it was our last day there, so naturally the more time we could spend there the better! We also got to see Oscar Taveras hit his first Major League home run. The stadium erupted and then the sky just opened up and it started pouring immediately. It was a cool moment to be apart of even if it was against the Giants. By the second rain delay we were pros and could tell it was about to start dumping rain again. We bailed for cover just before it started pouring again. They had to push a foot of water out of the center field bleachers once it finally stopped raining. I got a little worried they would call the game but luckily we got to finish it up. I think we would have died from the heat and humidity at this game had it not rained so I was so happy it did.

View from our seats in 149

Second rain delay downpoor. It was awesome!

And finally, the best kept ticket secret at Busch Stadium. Every home game at 9am you can buy a voucher for $11.20. They sell about 200 of these I think. 15 minutes before game time, you go to the specified gate with your voucher and redeem 2 mystery tickets. These could be anywhere from lower box to standing room only but for under $6 each, it's worth the gamble. We did it just for fun to see what we would get and ended up with tickets in the second deck (similar view as club level at AT&T). If you are not picky about your seats, this is the way to go!

Ballpark Food

The absolute standout thing I had here was the tater tot nachos. They changed my life honestly. Listen, you are on vacation at a new stadium, indulgence is a must. We shared these between 3 of us and it definitely filled us up. These are only served on the lower level behind right field to my knowledge. Also, they have a great beer selection here!

Tater Tot Nachos aka HEAVEN!

I will absolutely be going back here for games. It helps that one of our favorite baseball friends is a Cardinals fan so we will always be able to talk him into going back. I highly recommend checking this stadium off your list sooner rather than later!

Here are a few more pictures from our adventures.

The Fab Four! From Left to Right: Sean, Me, Kari, Bryan

The Hilton by the stadium has a restaurant and bar on the roof.
Cool shot of Busch Stadium from up there!

The Arch. I couldn't get enough pictures of the Arch!

I hope I've inspired you to check out St. Louis! You won't regret it!

Stadium Adventures - Chicago!

I don't think I've had a chance to mention yet in this blog how it's my dream to see a game in every Major League Baseball stadium in the US. Since I was a kid Wrigley and Fenway have been the top 2 on my list. I was fortunate enough to finally see the Giants play the Cubs back in 2012 at Wrigley and it was amazing.

Let's back up a little bit, back in 2011 I got sent out to Chicago for a work trip. I had a meeting on a Tuesday and my boss suggested that I fly out the Friday before since I'd never been there. My flight was paid for and I just had to pay for my extra hotel nights. So I talked Sean and my cousin Katie into going with me. We had an absolute blast and I fell in love with Chicago. It was in November so we took the tour of Wrigley Field and it was so cool getting to learn all about it's history and the unfortunate luck the Cubs have had. 

Here is a picture of Sean, Katie and me from our first trip!

     

Then we found out that the Cubs and Giants were playing at Wrigley on Labor Day Weekend of 2012. That was also conveniently a little over 2 weeks after the Giants were giving out their 2 for 1 Virgin America flight vouchers so it was a no brainer that we were going. We saw all 3 games in the series and sat in 3 different sections so we were able to get a good feel for the experience seeing games there. 

Here's the lowdown for seeing games at Wrigley!

Transportation

The public transportation in Chicago is AMAZING. You can pretty much get anywhere in the city via the subway/train and a 3 day pass will run you about $20. It puts the MUNI to shame in my opinion. Don't bother renting a car there, it will most likely just cause you grief trying to drive anywhere and deal with parking. The Blue Line train takes you from the airport to the middle of downtown and you can transfer to the Red Line that runs North and South parallel to Lake Michigan so you can get anywhere in the downtown vicinity on the Red Line pretty much, including Wrigley and US Cellular Field. Addison is the stop you need for Wrigleyville.

Wrigleyville

There are over 60 bars and restaurants in Wrigleyville, the Cubby Bear is one that gets talked about a lot. It's a huge place with lots of good food and beer. They aren't typically open or busy when there's not a game going on. My personal favorite is Murphy's Bleachers, almost directly behind the scoreboard in center field. It has a great old school Chicago feel to it with lots of memorabilia and the food is delicious. Our tour guide lives in Wrigleyville and he said that was his favorite place too. I'd trust the locals on that one! They are pretty much always open too. Definitely go check it out!

Where To Sit

Sean and I have become seat snobs and we like sitting as close as possible when the price is right. I personally would rather have to eat rice and beans for a week than sit in crappy seats but hey, that's just me! The 3 sections we sat in were Section 223, Section 35 and the bleachers. 

Section 223 is right behind home plate in the second section of seats. These are in the shade which can be awesome on those hot and humid summer days. 

         

 Here's the view from 223!

                                  

                                                     

Section 35 was right by the Giants bullpen, I believe we were only 3 rows off the field. These were amazing seats and I think we got a pretty good deal on them! 

             

    

These were my favorite seats!

                                                                                          

The bleachers are unique because they are all general admission tickets so it's first come, first serve and you can sit whereever you want in the bleachers. If you upgrade for the VIP bleacher seats you get in about 30 minutes before the rest of the crowd so you can ensure your favorite seats. Just bring a towel to save your seat, it's kind of an unwritten rule that people won't try and take your seats if you've put something down to stake your claim. We sat in right field a couple rows up and it was pretty fun. The Cubs fans out there are rowdy and hilarious. It's a fun experience sitting out there for sure.

Ballpark Food

Tons of good food but nothing stands out in my mind as a must have. Obviously I'd recommend a Chicago Style dog or pizza. 

I just wrapped up my 3rd trip to Chicago and it's definitey a place I will continue to visit regardless of if there's baseball to be seen there or not. Funny enough, the Cubs are playing 3 games at AT&T Park and I wasn't able to see a game at Wrigley on this trip. I did do another stadium tour though and we learned a lot of new things that we didn't hear on the first tour. Happy 100 years Wrigley!

                              

To the South Side! We did get to go see a White Sox game on Memorial Day while we were in town. They weren't playing the Giants but we wanted to cross another stadium off the list while we were in town. Unfortunately, there's not as much to say about US Cellular Field. The stadium is the polar opposite of Wrigley, all that's out by the stadium is a sports shop that you can enter the stadium through and a sports bar. Also, gates only open 90 minutes before first pitch, not the standard 2 hours. 

They did have a pretty good craft beer selection though and there was a Leinenkugal beer vendor selling Summer Shandy in the stands named Mark who sang a different song with Summer Shandy in the lyrics everytime you bought a beer. We loved him! They also have a Leinenkugal's stand that mixes Summer Shandy with Berry Weiss, Honey Weiss, and makes some fun different combinations of their beers that were delicious. 

We got super cheap tickets in section 116 row 2 (actually row 3 since the first row is AA) for $45. Our seats were awesome but there were a lot of empty seats at the game so we probably could have moved anywhere we wanted closer without a problem. The usher did come down and check tickets at the beginning of the game but that was it. They also had a bald eagle fly out from center field to the mound and it was one of the coolest things I've seen. Below are some pictures of the stadium, the last one has the eagle in it but you have to look close to see it.

      

                                     

                                 

                                      

                                      

I always love being at a ballgame so it's hard to totally disappoint me. Definitely go to a game there if you can, just know there are probably many better stadiums out there!

Well we are almost to St. Louis after an almost 6 hour train ride! We are going to 3 games of the 4 games in the Giants Cards series. We might try and score some cheap tickets for tonight's game too since it's Jeter's last time in St. Louis. Stay tuned for my review of Busch Stadium and LET'S GO GIANTS!!

Please Don't Ruin Our Season...

Please don't ruin our season...what on earth could I be talking about? The Giants are rolling right now, going 11-6 on a killer stretch of 17 straight games including a very difficult 10 game road trip that included winning the series against Atlanta (SWEEP!) and LA. Then, they welcomed in the Braves for a series at AT&T where they gave them another beat down and won the season series 5 games to 1. That was absolutely glorious! My friend the Braves fan is not amused.

One of many bets lost, hence the Giants hat!

Finally, the Giants split a 4 game series with the Marlins who freaking OWN AT&T Park, winning 10 of their last 11 games there before this series. I'd definitely call these 17 games a success and even the games that they lost, there weren't any glaring fundamental issues that should worry us.

So, what exactly AM I worried about? Sounds like everything is peachy keen with our Giants. Well, I present to you this iconic image:

The Giants had just come off of one of the worst road trips I can remember in Toronto and Colorado where they pretty much forgot how to play baseball, and here we were on Memorial Day Weekend playing the Rockies and witnessing one of the most iconic moments (playoffs aside) in recent Giants history. It was such a cool moment and I get the chills every time I hear Flemming's call of that inside the park walk off home run. Little did we know, this single moment would represent the end of the 2013 season for the Giants. Pagan was done for what would end up being over 3 months and by the time he returned to the line up, the Giants were merely fighting for the least embarrassing record for a World Series Champion team.

Flash forward to almost Memorial Day Weekend 2014, we are playing the Rockies and I'm going to go ahead and say this might be one of the more pivotal series thus far. Pagan and Buster are sitting tonight, and 99% of the Giants fan base had a minor heart attack when Pagan dove for that ball on Saturday and stayed on the ground holding his shoulder. We keep hearing it's just a strain and he should be fine soon, but I'm nervous for now because WE CANNOT LOSE PAGAN AGAIN!

No one thought Brandon Hicks was going to be any kind of replacement for Scutaro but as it turns out, he hits bombs and we love him for it. Colvin and Morse have been a great replacement for Belt and so far we are surviving his injury pretty well. But this team's sole weakness and potential for demise is their depth and we are going to get a feel for just how bad that could be tonight. We need Bumgarner to come out and dominate this potent offense from the first inning and we need to score first and keep the lead. To quote Kruk from the pre-game show, "If you can go out and score 22 runs in the first 3 innings, it aint enough, so  keep scoring!" None of this back and forth home run derby nonsense, not tonight anyway!

So let's keep our fingers and toes crossed that Pagan and Buster are really going to be just fine and we aren't talking about the moment that our season collapsed for the second straight year.

In hopes of staying positive, I leave you with the second best thing to come out of that inside the park home run last season.

This photo:

Photo Shopped into this photo:

Mad props to this blog for this moment of pure genius, I can't believe I didn't see this photo sooner. Rock on Pagan Angel!

Batkid

Remember our beloved Batkid? I had every intention of writing about this when it happened because it totally consumed my day on November 15th, 2013. As always though, time got away from me and then it seemed lame to post about it so long after it happened. But then came the Giants Home Opener and Batkid stole our hearts all over again. I was given a second chance and I refuse to squander it!

If you were living under a rock in November, or just want to revisit this amazing story, check out the Official Batkid Video.

Not only did Batkid completely take over San Francisco but people from all over the country were completely enthralled with this story and this event. Below are some of my favorite tweets and pictures from that day.

I'm really enjoying following #SFbatkid ... What a cool day for him and his family. Great job @SFWish !!!
— Will Middlebrooks (@middlebrooks) November 15, 2013

Well I didn't plan on getting teary-eyed today, but then #SFBatKid...
— Brandon McCarthy (@BMcCarthy32) November 15, 2013

Thanks for keeping our ballparks safe #SFBatKid! RT @SFGiants: #SFBatKID has rescued @LouSeal01 & captured @PenguinSF pic.twitter.com/sjDADNykqt
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) November 15, 2013

And then here came Opening Day at AT&T Park. I honestly hadn't even given a second thought to who would be throwing out the first pitch until Andrew Baggarly sent out this tweet:

Is #SFBatKid here for #SFGiants opening day? Also, anyone know how to creatively start a Lamborghini for me? pic.twitter.com/8gSCTLDxFE
— Andrew Baggarly (@CSNBaggs) April 8, 2014

And then it hit me, Batkid has to be throwing out the first pitch! And all I could think about was how amazing this was going to be if it was him. Sure enough, the Giants absolutely NAILED it on Opening Day yet again. We didn't need a World Series Flag being raised (no one would complain if we had another one being raised a year from now, don't get me wrong). This time, Batkid was everything Giants fans needed. Well done Giants.

I like what was said in the video about how the world needs more of these good news stories. I couldn't agree more. I hope you read this and felt a little better about the world today.

Peace, Love and Baseball.