Let Javy Pitch!

I'm not gonna lie to you all, I've been too depressed about the Giants poor performance lately to find anything worth blogging about. We had a shot to take the series in Atlanta and a combination of not scoring runs and bullpen meltdowns prevented that. We should have swept the Padres but another bullpen mistake and one hell of a catch prevented that as well.

Then in come the Marlins. OK guys, this is the worst team in the National League, we got this right? RIGHT? No. They managed to put up a whopping 8 runs in a 4 game series against the Fish. June has just been downright sad.

Back to my point: Javier Lopez. Twitter has been brewing up a lot of conversation about Javy lately including the lovely Nicole Vogelsong's campaign to get Javy to the Allstar game:

She also included this AMAZING photo from NLCS Game 7:

I am all for Javy in the Allstar game. I'd campaign for him any day! He started really winning me over in 2011 when I found out that he had a degree in Psychology. It's rare to hear about Major League players who took the time to get their degree and I really respect that about Javy and George Kontos. Our bullpen is funny AND smart!! The next thing that I noticed about our favorite lefty specialist was his walk up song. This catchy tune, "Coastin" by Zion I &  K. Flay, is just so different from what your used to hearing especially from relievers. Some of your standard walk up songs include "Hells Bells" by AC/DC, "Shipping Up to Boston" by Dropkick Murphys and who could forget "Jump Around" (don't act like you don't miss BWeez just a tad). Anyway, go listen to "Coastin" and tell me it isn't awesome. I also had the privilege to attend the "Breakfast with Champions" season ticket holder appreciation event in August 2011 where they did 3 different segments of player Q & As and Javy came out with Ryan Vogelsong and were hands down my favorite portion of the event. And most importantly...doesn't he just look like a nice guy??

There's also the "strut". If you haven't seen Carmen Kiew's FANTASTIC compilation of Javier Lopez Struts please stop reading an watch it now. Go ahead, I'll wait.

As you can see there are plenty of non-baseball related reasons to love Javy. Now we need to get down to business. Javier Lopez is good at pitching. His sidearm delivery and frisbee like slider are such a weapon against left handers. Now here is where it gets crazy...I'm feeling pretty confident that he might be able to get more than one batter per game out. WHOA THAT IS CRAZY! Pitching to more than 1 batter?! Oh the madness! Let's not forget that he closed 7 games for the Giants in 2012 which I'm pretty sure had to entail getting multiple batters out. I looked at his stats since he's been with the Giants and since he came to the team in 2010 he's only given up 1 home run. With as many late inning home runs as it seems the Giants have been giving up, that stat alone makes me want to see him pitch more. Our bullpen is flat out struggling and I just don't get why Bochy won't pitch him more. I know we don't question the bullpen master who's won the Giants 2 World Series in 3 years but come on Boch! LET JAVY PITCH!!

End rant. I feel better getting that off my chest. Maybe Javy could put that psychology degree to use and give us all some logical explanation of why he isn't pitching more. I know we would all feel better if he stayed in games longer. At least until he made a mistake and turned everyone against him in an instant ;)

Happy Perfect Game Anniversary Matt Cain

If you are any kind of legit Giants fan, surely your attention has been brought to the fact that today is the anniversary of Matt Cain's perfect game last year. With as dreadful as these last 2 days in Pittsburgh have been we all needed to remember this moment in Giants history today so we could take our minds off of all the issues the Giants are facing right now.

The perfect game was such an amazing moment to be any part of, whether you were watching at home or actually at the game witnessing history in person. I will never forget that day. I remember it vividly since I was preparing graduation gifts for my 2 cousins who graduated high school and getting ready to head down to San Diego the next day. Sean and I were watching the game, he was on the couch and I was in mad crafting mode at my table behind the couch. All of the sudden we get to the 6th inning and a vague comment was made on the broadcast about there being no hits or something along those lines (we all know the rules about actually speaking of a perfect game when it's happening...YOU JUST DON'T DO IT!).

Sean and I finally realized what was happening and crafting became much less important and more stressful all at the same time. I was so nervous about what was happening that I had to be extra careful not to mess up my gifts. When it got to the 7th Sean had walked into the bathroom when that ball was hit to deep right center aka Triples Alley territory and I just kept saying, "Oh no, oh no" and then miraculously Blanco caught that ball. I could watch the replay of that catch a million times and still be amazed every time. That catch was unbelievable! I believe they quoted Bochy today saying, "I still don't know how he caught that ball."

After that catch, everyone knew it was meant to happen. Cain was going to throw a perfect game. We were glued to every pitch waiting for it to be final because there was no freakin' way it wasn't happening. 2 down in the 9th with Jason Castro in as a pinch hitter, sharp ground ball hit to Arias at 3rd, stumble, throw, and he's out! Just the right amount of drama to conclude what was the first perfect game in Giants franchise history. They pan to Matt Cain's wife who's in shock and that's right when I got uber emotional. I'm a nerd, I get it.

I was able to dig up this gem of a text message from my sister (since she barely texts me and no I'm not bitter about it! Haha):

My favorite line is obviously, "His wifey was totes insta tears". I still get a little choked up every time I hear Dave Flemming's call or see the replay of that last out. That's a game that will be talked about for a long time to come. It's a story I will tell my kids someday and hopefully they will fully appreciate the significance (if not I'm trading them out for new kids dammit!).

I learned some fun new things about the perfect game today from Jon Miller during the pre-game show. Jason Castro is from the Bay Area and his family was at the perfect game. They went up to the broadcast booth and talked to Kuip and Jon and they were all a little shocked Castro wasn't in the starting line up because he hit his first Major League home run against who else but Matt Cain. When Castro came up in the 9th with 2 outs Jon and Kuip were definitely more on edge given his past with Cain. Cain said that he just threw that last pitch as hard as he could right down the middle and hoped for the best. As we all know, everything worked out just fine. The Giants posted this video today and I highly recommend you watch it. You will too be "totes insta tears".

As I wrap up this post, the final line for Cain today was: 6.2 IP, 2 H, 0R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO. It's hardly perfect but compared to the last 2 games, it's almost a dream come true for Giants fans today. So go enjoy the fact that we didn't get swept by the Pirates and relive that perfect day in 2012 like it was yesterday.

Finding Comfort in Baseball

This post is almost entirely a product of me not being able to sleep. My poor dog has some "hotspots" and has to wear a cone so they can heal. Sean let him outside at about 1am and he managed to pull his cone off forcing Sean to hold him from trying to lick his wounds while I searched for the cone in the dark for a solid 5 minutes. I feel bad for him, look at the poor guy! He's miserable.

I can't say I haven't laughed at him a lot though since putting the cone on but this is definitely not fun for anyone. 

OK back to baseball. I have been thinking a lot about how much of a commitment being a baseball fan can be. It's 162 game season that starts in the Spring and takes you all the way to the Fall 6 months later. Anyone who's not a big baseball fan will tell you this is too long, anyone who is a big baseball fan will tell you it's not long enough. 

As many Giants fans will tell you as of late, you can go through some rough times during the course of 162 games. Your team loses 5 of 7 games in a week with bad pitching, sub par defense and a lack of hitting and things start getting into major stress mode. I cannot relate to being an Astros or Marlins fan right now, losing that many games in 2 months is not something I can comprehend these days. Your team will undoubtedly cause you frustration and distress many times throughout the season but also bring you so much excitement and joy. It's the highs that get you through the lows because the highs are so much fun!

Regardless of the emotional roller coaster being a baseball fan puts you through for 6 solid months, it's always there for you. It remains constant when so many other things in life seem to be wavering and changing. You know you are probably going to get at least 6 games a week (with the exception of weird weeks like this with 2 lame off days) and you know that your team is going to get on the field every day and give it all they've got to get a win. 

The investment is worth it when you always have baseball to fall back on when everything else seems to be going a little crazy in your life. The connections baseball gives, the relationships it builds, the memories it creates, all 100% worth the 6 month, 162 game ride. 

I will cap this post off with one of the best quotes from Kruk at the 2010 World Series Parade:

"And everybody here today, you are standing here and you are not standing alone. You are standing with the person who taught you the great story of the San Francisco Giants. Whether it be your dad, or your mom, or a friend, or your sister, or your grandpa. They taught you right. They taught you you had to be loyal, you had to love your team. And to a man on this team, this 2010 team, to a man back in August, they plugged into you and you fueled and energized this group all the way through the crazy month of September, and through what was an epic month of October, and what is one glorious day in November. And you have but one responsibility. And you owe it to the person who taught you the good book of San Francisco Giants. You need to pass this story on, keep this love alive. And when you tell the story simply tell them, 'We're the Giants, we're San Francisco, and we're the World Champions!"

And some fun photos!

My first Giants game with Sean! My Giants bestie Lezlee with us too - August 2011

Fan appreciation day September 2012 with the crew the day after they won the West

Celebrations after NLCS Game 7 at Creeky Tiki