Tagged: A's
Earthquake Shook This Blog Out Of Me!
As I was thinking about what I would like to blog about today. I feel the ground shake a bit and think it’s someone walking by then it shakes a little more and it turns out we just had a little earthquake. This made me think back to our big earthquake in 1989. I was 9 years old and my dad had just dropped off my sister and I at home. We were just about to watch the start of game 3 of the World Series. It was the San Francisco Giants vs. Oakland A’s. The Bay Bridge Series. Well I know I didn’t care about the game once the earthquake hit. I remember the day October 17th 5:04pm. It was 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale (surface-wave magnitude 7.1). We ducked and got under the table and I just remember the ground was rolling under us. I would hate to have another one like that. I remember watching the news and seeing the Bay Bridge had a piece of the upper deck fall. I remember seeing players from both teams standing on the field. The Giants got swept by the A’s in that World Series and I just blame that on the earthquake. I need to have something to blame it on and that’s the only thing that makes me feel okay about that World Series loss. =) Our earthquake today was reported as 4.4. I think it’s the Baseball Gods trying to shake everything up for the NL West. Go Giants!
Here is a picture of the Bay Bridge.
The Day The World Series Stopped.
Picture of Candlestick Park right after the earthquake.
~ King of Cali
MLBlogs Latest Leaders Tournament
Today I seen on “The Max” blog. There is a one-on-one tournament set up with the MLBlogs leaders. The first round is almost over. I’m up against “Yankeeology”. I just hope I make it past the first round. I really like reading blogs. Just cool to see different opinions and to debate in good fashion. Well if you haven’t checked out “The Max” blog. You better check it out and see if you’re one of the teams in the tournament. Good luck and good blogging!
ps. VOTE FOR ME!!!! 😉
UPDATE – Tim Lincecum is scratched from making his start today against the Angels. Don’t worry Giants fans. He’s not hurt…. He has the flu.
~King of Cali
Who would you build around?
This is just something I have been thinking about and I’m curious as to what other bloggers think about this. If you could start your with one player. Who would be the guy you would build your team around? Would you start off with a young Ace like Tim Lincecum. Somebody that can start every five days and shut the other team down. Maybe you want a star shortstop like Derek Jeter. Someone that can hit and give you a 100% day in and day out. Maybe you want a centerfielder like Aaron Rowand that goes balls out on defense. You can even go with a monster swinger like Ryan Howard. He can spark your offense and get a ton of RBI’s. There is so many ways you can go with this. I’m just curious to see what bloggers would go with what guys to start a team and build around them. I look forward to your comments.
~King of Cali
I’m #9 on the leader list
This is the highest I have ever been. I just want to say thank you to everyone
for reading and commenting on my blogs. It’s nice to know that people actually read them. =) I use this as my way to talk about baseball, cause none of my friends are die hard baseball fans like myself. I dedicate my #9 ranking to “Mr. October” Reggie Jackson. I know everyone knows Reggie’s #44 was retired by the Yankees. The A’s also retired Reggie’s #9 that he was wearing when he was with the A’s.
for reading and commenting on my blogs. It’s nice to know that people actually read them. =) I use this as my way to talk about baseball, cause none of my friends are die hard baseball fans like myself. I dedicate my #9 ranking to “Mr. October” Reggie Jackson. I know everyone knows Reggie’s #44 was retired by the Yankees. The A’s also retired Reggie’s #9 that he was wearing when he was with the A’s.Reggie has made the All-Star team 14 times. He has been a world series champion 5 times, Silver Slugger Award 2 times, World Series MVP 2 times and the AL MVP 1 time. His induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame was 1993. He did receive 93.6% first ballot votes. Jackson’s career statistics were AVG .262, home runs 563 and RBI’s 1,702.
Today in Baseball History
1903 – The New York Highlander franchise (to be renamed Yankees in 1913) is approved as a member of the American League.
~King of Cali
Just some quick thoughts from 2 Spring Training Games…
Yankees – Astros
Russ Ortiz pitched 3 solid innings today for the Astros. He’s trying to win the 5 spot in the rotation for the Astros. He did have one bad pitch. That turned out to be a home run for Angel Berroa. I was listening to the game online and I heard a name that sounded so familiar. It was Cody Ransom. He was a Giant a while back. He never really made it big, but I was glad to hear he’s still playing. I don’t think he will make the Yankees opening day roster but he did play 33 games for them last season hitting .302.
Mike Hampton got lit up today. He gave up 4 runs on 6 hits in 2 innings. He did manage to get 2 strike outs.
Giants – Royals
I love listening to baseball on the radio and I must say Giants fans are really lucky to have the guys we have on the radio. Today KNBR the Giants flagship station is not doing the game. I had to listen to the game with the Royals radio guys. All I can say is I feel sorry for Royals fans that have to listen to the games on the radio. These guys were just so blah. I mean I don’t want to say they were bad, but they were just so boring compared to Jon Miller, Duane Kuiper, Mike Krukow and Dave Flemming. They did make me laugh one time. One of the guys told the other one that he’s already in mid season mode (the way he was calling the game). Then the other guy says why cause of all the (Royals) errors. It just made me laugh out loud.
The Giants didn’t play that great today. Matt Cain gave up 3 runs on 5 hits in 1.2 innings. I didn’t really get much better for any other Giants pitchers except the Giants closer Brian Wilson. He 1 inning allowing 0 runs. The Giants had 8 different pitchers in this game. Dave Roberts had an 0-3 day and still hasn’t managed to get a batting average yet this spring training. Burriss went 2-3 to to help his battle for the 2nd base job. The only other Giants player with 2 hits was Torres. The final score of the game is Royals 14 and the Giants 5.
The other Bay Area team.
The Oakland A’s have signed Orlando Cabrera to a one year deal. They signed him for $5 million less than what he was asking for this off-season. Orlando signed for $4 million. This means Bobby Crosby will no longer be the starting short stop. He will play a utility role or be traded. I was actually excited to see how Crosby would do this season. I’m sure he will have a fine season in whatever role he is playing this year. I guess this signing means Nomar might be retiring. He said last week it was the A’s or retirement.
Today in Baseball History
1927 – Babe Ruth becomes the highest paid player in major league history when the Yankees announce the Bambino will earn $70,000 per season for the next three years.
~King of Cali
Abreu going out west… Orlando Cabrera too?
One big name is now off the free angent list. Bobby Abreu has signed a one
year contract with the Angels. I think this is a good move for the Angels. They already have big bad Vlad and to add a good bat like Abreu can only help your offense. They did need to fill some gap that was left by Mark Teixeira depature to the Yanks. Now lets see what move the A’s will come back with now. The A’s are still working on a deal to try to sign Orlando Cabrera. If he doesn’t want to be teamless this close to Spring Training. I’m sure they will work something out within the next few days. The AL West should be a good battle with the A’s upgrading their offense and the Angels still having their solid team. They did lose Teixeira but got a decent bat by adding Abreu.
year contract with the Angels. I think this is a good move for the Angels. They already have big bad Vlad and to add a good bat like Abreu can only help your offense. They did need to fill some gap that was left by Mark Teixeira depature to the Yanks. Now lets see what move the A’s will come back with now. The A’s are still working on a deal to try to sign Orlando Cabrera. If he doesn’t want to be teamless this close to Spring Training. I’m sure they will work something out within the next few days. The AL West should be a good battle with the A’s upgrading their offense and the Angels still having their solid team. They did lose Teixeira but got a decent bat by adding Abreu. ~King of Cali
Check the attendance for your team…
Teams Dates Home att. Home avg Road avg Total
NY Yankees 81 4,287132 52,928 35,193 7,137,726
NY Mets 79 4,042,045 51,165 35,944 6,953,516
LA Dodgers 81 3,730,750 46,059 34,710 6,542,284
St. Louis 81 3,432,917 42,382 32,342 6,052,643
Philadelphia 81 3,422,583 42,254 33,214 6,112,949
LA Angels 81 3,336,747 41,194 29,621 5,736,079
Chicago Cubs 81 3,300,200 40,743 36,328 6,206,469
Detroit 81 3,202,654 39,539 29,308 5,511,391
Milwaukee 81 3,068,458 37,882 33,237 5,760,633
Boston 81 3,048,250 37,633 38,367 6,155,993
San Fran. 81 2,863,847 35,356 32,272 5,445,583
Houston 80 2,779,487 34,744 32,198 5,387,486
Colorado 80 2,650,218 33,128 32,812 5,307,964
Atlanta 81 2,532,834 31,270 34,105 5,227,115
Arizona 81 2,509,946 30,987 33,946 5,259,562
Chicago WS 80 2,460,294 30,754 30,253 4,910,792
San Diego 81 2,427,535 29,970 35,795 5,326,908
Toronto 81 2,399,786 29,627 30,119 4,809,298
Washington 80 2,321,988 29,025 32,825 4,948,027
Seatle 81 2,329,788 28,763 29,823 4,745,428
Minnesota 81 2,302,431 28,425 29,527 4,644,597
Cleveland 80 2,169,760 27,122 31,029 4,652,092
Cincinnati 81 2,058,632 25,415 34,288 4,835,994
Baltimore 78 1,950,077 25,001 31,654 4,482,366
Texas 80 1,945,857 24,323 29,765 4,327,076
Tampa Bay 81 1,811,986 22,370 30,343 4,239,403
Oakland 81 1,665,256 20,559 29,943 4,030,782
Pittsburgh 80 1,609,076 20,113 33,701 4,338,855
Kansas City 79 1,578,922 19,986 29,918 4,002,291
Florida 80 1,335,079 16,688 33,335 4,001,845
AL total: 34,488,931 AL average: 30,630
NL total: 44,085,595 NL average: 34,201
MLB total: 78,574,526 MLB average: 32,536
What’s the Giants next move?
I keep reading and hearing about the Giants and possibilities. Seems like the
Giants are rumored with any and every free agent. The Giants needed so much so pretty much any player addition was a good fit for the Giants. Early on in the “Hot Stove” the Giants were linked to have interest in Rafael Furcal who would have been a great addition at shortstop. They ended up with Edgar Renteria. I don’t think that’s a bad move. Saves some money and Edgar is still an upgrade at shortstop. I think the move is fine if the Giants get another good player. If no other moves are made. Then I don’t see a point. Just let the young guys play. I just think this NL West division is so weak this year. That it’s there for the Giants to just take it. The starting rotation is really solid and the bullpen has been improved with the addition of Jeremy Affeldt and Bob Howry.
Giants are rumored with any and every free agent. The Giants needed so much so pretty much any player addition was a good fit for the Giants. Early on in the “Hot Stove” the Giants were linked to have interest in Rafael Furcal who would have been a great addition at shortstop. They ended up with Edgar Renteria. I don’t think that’s a bad move. Saves some money and Edgar is still an upgrade at shortstop. I think the move is fine if the Giants get another good player. If no other moves are made. Then I don’t see a point. Just let the young guys play. I just think this NL West division is so weak this year. That it’s there for the Giants to just take it. The starting rotation is really solid and the bullpen has been improved with the addition of Jeremy Affeldt and Bob Howry. Giants fan have also heard the Giants name with free agents such as Orlando Hudson, Adam Dunn, Pat Burrell, Manny Ramirez, Ty Wigginton, Joe Crede, C.C. Sabathia and now Bobby Abreu. I’m sure I left a few other names out.
We all know where CC ended up at. He’s went with the money and signed with the Yankees. You can’t blame a guy for wanting to get paid. Giants fans just hoped CC we take a hometown discount to play for the Giants. It was like a fantasy for Giants fans. It just wouldn’t have made much sense to pay him a huge salary and not get a bat with that money. Well we didn’t get him but where’s the big bat?
We no longer would need Orlando Hudson if we have 3 players who are trying to fight for our 2nd base position. To me it was either Hudson or a shortstop and we already got the shortstop. Pat Burrell who is from the Bay Area didn’t seem like a good fit to me either. He’s just not the big bat I think the Giants should add. It’s known they want a first or third baseman. Ty Wigginton and Joe Crede seem like they would be okay, but they are not the big bat that the Giants need. Adam Dunn sounds okay to me even though he’s not great on “D” and strikes out a lot. I’m just trying to get any bat in a Giants uniform. I would have never said I want Dunn before today. I did also see the Giants were interested in Bobby Abreu and a cheaper alternative to Manny Ramirez. I just can’t see the Giants bringing him. He’s a good player but he’s on the decline with his power numbers.If anyone from the Giants front office ever reads this blog. Please let us Giants fans know if you want to win or just put an okay team out there to get your $$$ rolling in. Giants fans have been waiting a long time to win it all. I’m not saying this is the team to do it, but if we had a bat like Manny’s then we would have a great shot at winning the NL West. Then once you get in the playoffs it’s a crap shoot. Well I like our chances in a crap shoot with the starting rotation we would take into a playoff series.
~King of Cali
Holliday and Crosby are hitting with McGwire
The A’s have added some bats to their lineup. They have added Matt
Holliday and Jason Giambi. These guys should help generate more runs for the A’s. Bobby Crosby had a down year and that’s the reason the A’s were making a push for Rafael Furcal. Maybe the non signing of Furcal can be a good thing. Holliday has been hitting with Mark McQwire. Holliday then sent a text to Crosby to see if he would be interested in hitting with them. McGwire has changed Crosby’s mechanics.
Holliday and Jason Giambi. These guys should help generate more runs for the A’s. Bobby Crosby had a down year and that’s the reason the A’s were making a push for Rafael Furcal. Maybe the non signing of Furcal can be a good thing. Holliday has been hitting with Mark McQwire. Holliday then sent a text to Crosby to see if he would be interested in hitting with them. McGwire has changed Crosby’s mechanics.Thursday Holliday made his first Bay Area appearance since the A’s acquired him in November from the Rockies. Holliday said “I don’t know what he looked like before, but from the first day I saw when he hit with us to now…he’s pretty drastically different.” This is something all the A’s fans are happy to hear and now it’s wait and see till spring training starts.
I know it’s a baseball blog, but I have non baseball news….
It’s a big weekend in the Bay Area for Warriors fans. Monte Ellis is making his comeback today after a scooter accident has had him out all season. Also Baron Davis comes back to Oakland on Sunday with the Clippers.
~King of Cali
Swisher coming back to the Bay Area?
Everyone knows since the Yankees have signed Mark Teixeira. That they are
now shopping Xavier Nady and Nick Swisher around to see what deals are out there for them. Only one of them will be traded. They Yanks would like it to be Nady. The rumor going around right now is that Nick Swisher would be a nice match for the San Francisco Giants. Swisher has hit 104 home runs over the last 4 seasons. He does have some pop, but I don’t think it’s enough pop for how low his average is. His highest average of his career is .262 and last season he hit .219. If I wanted to get someone with pop that has a low average. I would just sign Adam Dunn and not lose any players via a trade.
now shopping Xavier Nady and Nick Swisher around to see what deals are out there for them. Only one of them will be traded. They Yanks would like it to be Nady. The rumor going around right now is that Nick Swisher would be a nice match for the San Francisco Giants. Swisher has hit 104 home runs over the last 4 seasons. He does have some pop, but I don’t think it’s enough pop for how low his average is. His highest average of his career is .262 and last season he hit .219. If I wanted to get someone with pop that has a low average. I would just sign Adam Dunn and not lose any players via a trade. I do think Swisher would be a nice fit for the Giants, but still don’t think he’s the big bat that they said they needed in the middle of their lineup.
~King of Cali
