After a mediocre start over the first two months of the season, mirroring last year’s precisely .500 record, the San Francisco Giants have caught fire in the last two weeks, winning eleven of the last twelve games and eight of nine against their rivals in the National League West, including a sweep of the Los …
Peter Magowan, savior of the San Francisco Giants, passed away last week at 76. His NY Times obit is here: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/28/obituaries/peter-magowan-dead.html One might quibble with the details of his purchase of the Giants in 1992, but one point is absolutely certain. If he had not had the vision and acumen to build Pacific Bell Park …
It may be a sign of climate change that the old Mark Twain joke about cold summers in San Francisco no longer seems to apply, at least during day games at AT&T Park. It was roasting in the upper deck behind home plate on Saturday, even for those of us used to the dry summer …
Paid a visit to the San Francisco Giants yesterday as they beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-2 on Sunday. The win brought the Giants record for April to 14-14, suggesting that the jury is still out on whether their off-season makeover will bear fruit. The defending National League champion Dodgers have had their own share …
The title is not a misprint. When I arrived in San Francisco to see the Giants on Friday, the temperature was 102 degrees. The high had been 106, smashing all previous records and reversing the normal weather pattern of cooling temperatures on the Bay inversely proportional to the summer heat of the Central Valley, as …
On the occasion of the San Francisco Giants’ annual visit to Wrigley Field, Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon said the following regarding their victory in San Francisco last year in the National League Division Series: “I’m telling you, man, Game 4 pretty much won the World Series. I did not want to see Mr. Cueto …
On my visit to AT&T Park last month, I was watching the Giants take batting practice when I noticed something important: players would come to the end of the dugout to sign autographs. Armed with this knowledge, I arrived early enough to be one of the first people in the gates when they opened and …
Last Friday, the San Francisco Giants played the Cincinnati Reds in a game that went 17 innings and ended after midnight, when Buster Posey hit a home run and allowed everyone remaining to go home and get some much needed sleep. I stayed for 14 of those innings, leaving only because I didn’t want the …
Just heard that Giant pitcher Madison Bumgarner just banged up his ribs and pitching shoulder on a dirt bike. Out six to eight weeks. A “What were you thinking?” moment if there ever was one. Reminiscent of former Giant second baseman Jeff Kent’s injury from popping wheelies during spring training in 2002. The Giants will …
For those who like to attend professional sports, the world has become increasingly segregated, with stadiums featuring luxury boxes and exclusive club sections with comforts and amenities above what is normally available to the average fan. Fortunately, at least at AT&T Park in San Francisco, it is possible occasionally to crash the party at an …
Found this item today buried in a Ringer article about the Oakland Raiders and their pending move to Las Vegas: the San Francisco Giants just sent their last mortgage check for AT&T Park without even issuing a new release to mark the occasion: http://www.sfchronicle.com/giants/article/Giants-pay-off-AT-T-Park-prepare-for-another-10952512.php The windfall isn’t expected to impact the Giants greatly. The franchise …
The ninth inning of last night’s Game 4 of the recently concluded series between the San Francisco Giants and the Chicago Cubs was as brutal a finish to a game as I’ve ever witnessed. Five Giant relief pitchers combined to cough up four runs and render what had been a 5-2 lead into a 6-5 …
It’s a good thing I don’t make my living as a prophet. I expected last night’s Giants/Mets game to go something like this: Madison Bumgarner would give up a run or two early, as he often does when settling into a game, and that would have been the difference as Noah Syndergaard pitched another shutout. …
The San Francisco Giants, as they did in 2014, managed to slip into the very last available postseason spot and earn themselves a road trip for a do-or-die playoff. With five wins out of their last six games, they are looking better of late than for most of the season since the All-Star Break. Even …
On Sunday, we got a definitive evaluation of Chip Kelly’s San Francisco 49ers, and the news wasn’t good. Their loss to the Seahawks in Seattle wasn’t nearly as close as the final 37-18 score, since the Niners scored their two touchdowns in what was essentially garbage time in the fourth quarter. The Seahawks, who had …
Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. –Dylan Thomas The San Francisco Giants’ even-year championship dynasty is coming to an end. It may seem premature to write their epitaph with two weeks left in the season, …
Johnny Cueto, whom the San Francisco Giants acquired last winter, is the hands-down best free-agent signing thus far in 2016. Yesterday, he won his tenth game and reduced his season ERA to 2.10, which would actually be about half that total if you subtracted the five-run innings he suffered on two occasions in April and …
I once heard a fan at AT&T Park say that he liked pitching duels when watching baseball on television, but when he was at the park, he wanted to see runs scored. I understood his perspective; hits and baserunners are a lot more interesting from the upper deck than a continual succession of pitches going …
One person much on people’s minds at last Saturday’s San Francisco Giants Fan Fest wasn’t even in the house. For the first time since 2008, the Giants are beginning their season without one of the most iconic players in their history: Tim Lincecum. Questions on his status came up in several of the interview sessions, …
This recent post in Grantland is a nice take on the news that Tim Lincecum may have thrown his last pitch for the San Francisco Giants due to his recent injuries. http://grantland.com/the-triangle/2015-mlb-tim-lincecum-san-francisco-giants-career/ I would add that somehow the Giants should find a way to get him out onto the field at AT&T Park one more …
My brother, who works in San Francisco, got an invitation to see the Giants play the Chicago Cubs Tuesday night from a luxury skybox. The accommodations were nice: no standing in line for bathrooms or concessions here. The play on the field, at least for Giants fans, was not. Pitcher Matt Cain didn’t have his …
Last Thursday was Grateful Dead Night at AT&T Park. Before the game a cover band serenaded the fans from the top of the visitor’s dugout, and Bill Walton, the world’s most famous Deadhead, showed up to announce a $23,000 donation to Grateful Dead Charities. Lots of good feelings to be had, minus the scent of …
At the end of last season, the baseball Triple-A Sacramento River Cats changed their major league affiliate from the Oakland A’s to the San Francisco Giants. Naturally, this enhanced their appeal greatly for me, so I paid them a visit. Raley Field, a 10,000-seat ballpark, gets good online reviews, and I rated it just a …
One of the benefits of arriving early at the ballpark is that sometimes you get treated to a little extra entertainment for the price of your ticket. Yesterday was Madison Bumgarner’s between-starts throwing day. There weren’t many fans in the park yet, but most of those who were crowded near the Giants bullpen to see …
Lately, the San Francisco Giants have followed their usual script of good pitching and weak hitting, as illustrated by the last three starts by Madison Bumgarner, losses by scores of 2-0, 1-0, and 3-2. They are doing much better in the standings than they should, mostly because they have owned the NL West-leading Los Angeles …
Here’s a pretty good Grantland piece on the Giants’ recent fall from grace. Jonah Keri zeroes in pretty accurately on their problems. He is , if anything, too optimistic on their season prospects. They play like a banged-up collection of spare parts, which in fact they were in 2014, and their championship seems all the …
Success often breeds higher prices, and Opening Day at AT&T Park was no exception. Up to the day of the game, I waited for online ticket prices to drop to a level I was willing to pay, but despite some late movement by a few desperate sellers, they never did, with the cheapest seats remaining …
With the glow still fresh from the San Francisco Giants’ recent championship, there was no question that I would attend their Fan Fest last weekend. I took both of my daughters with me, and I looked forward to seeing its attractions and avoiding the autograph lines, having spent the previous two Fan Fests standing on …
The triumphs of ancient Rome were something of a victory parade on steroids. Usually celebrated after a major conquest, they were long processions that included captives on display and soldiers of the victorious army marching and singing salacious songs at their leader’s expense. In the midst of the procession, the victorious general or emperor would …
Middle relief pitching is perhaps the least glamorous position in all of sports. Those who make a career of it rarely win lucrative contracts, at least by major league standards, but they can be as crucial to success as anyone else on a baseball team, particularly in October. No one has demonstrated this more effectively …