Tagged: Cubs
Giants Split 2 Games With The Cubs!
The Giants start the game off with a bang. Renteria got a bunt single. Then Aurilia got a hit, and then Bengie Molina hit a 3 run home run.
Lincecum doesn’t seem to look like he has his best stuff early on in the game. Derrek Lee hits a double off Lincecum in the bottom of the 2nd inning. The Cubs then got some productive outs to move Lee over and score him. After 2 innings the Giants lead 3-1.
It’s a 3-2 lead for the Giants heading into the top of the 8th. The Cubs still have some good players on the bench. They sat some good players today against Lincecum. Probably figured today is a good day to take off instead of getting themselves in a slump against Lincecum. The Giants haven’t got a runner in scoring position since the 2nd inning. The Giants have managed to get bases loaded in the top of the 8th inning with no outs. Aaron Rowand hit a 2 run double. Randy Winn follows up with an RBI single scoring Molina. The Giants end up scoring 3 runs in the top of the 8th. The score is now 6-2 Giants.
The game is over the Giants win 6-2 over the Cubs. The Giants and Cubs split the 2 game series in the Giants only visit to the windy city.
Tim Lincecum is the winning pitcher. Giants are now 13-12 so far in the early season.
Giants are now off to Colorado to face the Rockies. Randy Johnson and Matt Cain will get the next two starts for the Giants.
~ King of Cali
Giants, Cubs & Random Thoughts!
Lincecum
Lincecum is 2-0 at Wrigley Field. He’s on the mound today for the Giants. Giants fans are hoping Lincecum can get the win and split the 2 game series with the Cubs. After this 2 game series the Giants head to Colorado to play another 2 game series before a weekend series with the Dodgers.
Who Wants to hit?
Giants players are struggling at the plate. Jesus Guzman was player of the week in the minors and has been playing first base. He’s been hitting some home runs too, so I’m sure the Giants are really thinking about brining him up. Emmanuel Burris has been in a slump since the season started. The Giants also might be thinking about calling Kevin Frandsen up too. Giants are getting to the point where they will need to shake things up for these players to score some runs.
Pablo Sandoval
The Giants have decided to rest their hottest hitter Pablo Sandoval. They don’t want to wear him out so since they are facing a lefty today. They will give Juan Uribe the start at 3rd. Pablo Sandoval’s first impression of Wrigley Field is it’s old and he was disappointed that there wasn’t any ivy on the walls. He will have to wait till the playoffs or next season to see it with the Ivy.
It’s now game time, so I’m sure I will have another blog later on today’s game. Go Giants!
~ King of Cali
My 2nd Fantasy Baseball Team
Last Friday I did my 2nd Fantasy Draft. I had the 6th pick in the draft. My #1 pick of the draft was Josh Hamilton. I have never played Fantasy Baseball before so I’m still not to sure how everything works. I know I have two guys on this team that are injured. I decided to get Alex Rodriguez since I figured he would be back in May. I also got Troy Glaus. I had no idea he was injured. I think I seen on MLB. com today that he won’t be back till June. Grrrrrrreat (not Tony The Tiger Grrrrrrreat) now I need to figure something out. lol Well here is my 2nd Fantasy team. Let me know what you think and any suggestions would be nice. =)
Team – King of Cali
C Brian McCann
1B Pablo Sandoval
2B Howie Kendrick
3B Alex Rodriguez
SS Rafael Furcal
OF Josh Hamilton
OF Alfonso Soriano
OF Corey Hart
Util Andre Ethier
Util Jim Thome
BN Delmon Young
BN Orlando Hudson
BN Troy Glaus
BN Fred Lewis
SP Jon Lester
SP Matt Cain
RP George Sherrill
RP Chad Qualls
P John Danks
P Ryan Dempster
P Jered Weaver
~ King of Cali
Giants Pablo Sandoval – Injured
In yesterday’s game in the 5th inning against the Cubs. Giants 3rd baseman
Pablo Sandoval took a bad hop groundball off the face. Then ball hit him in the mouth. Sandoval tried to backhand the ball. The ball hit him right in the face, drawing blood. It turns out the ball hit him in the mouth and chipped a tooth. Sandoval does wear braces so his lips got stuck in his braces. The Giants trainers had to pull his lips out of his braces and then they rushed him to a dentist. There hasn’t been any other updates, but he’s expected to sit out a few games. Sandoval is the projected starting 3rd baseman for the Giants. He has had a great spring. He’s hitting .450 with 2 home runs, 6 RBI’s, 18 hits in 40 AB’s. Giants fans are really excited to have him in the line up for a full season. Last year we got to see what he can do in 41 games. He hit .345, with 3 home runs, 24 RBI’s, 50 hits in 145 AB’s.
Pablo Sandoval took a bad hop groundball off the face. Then ball hit him in the mouth. Sandoval tried to backhand the ball. The ball hit him right in the face, drawing blood. It turns out the ball hit him in the mouth and chipped a tooth. Sandoval does wear braces so his lips got stuck in his braces. The Giants trainers had to pull his lips out of his braces and then they rushed him to a dentist. There hasn’t been any other updates, but he’s expected to sit out a few games. Sandoval is the projected starting 3rd baseman for the Giants. He has had a great spring. He’s hitting .450 with 2 home runs, 6 RBI’s, 18 hits in 40 AB’s. Giants fans are really excited to have him in the line up for a full season. Last year we got to see what he can do in 41 games. He hit .345, with 3 home runs, 24 RBI’s, 50 hits in 145 AB’s.~ King of Cali
Giants vs. Cubs recap.. Today in Baseball History
Today’s line up for the Giants might possibly be their opening day starting line up. The big question right now is who will win the starting 2nd base job. It will either be Burriss or Frandsen.
Randy Winn
Edgar Renteria
Fred Lewis
Bengie Molina
Pablo Sandoval
Travis Ishikawa
Aaron Rowand
Emmanuel Burriss
Tim Lincecum
Ryan Dempster gets the start for the Cubs and Tim Lincecum for the Giants. Randy Winn starts the game off with a single. Fred Lewis who is making his first back to back start of the spring then walks. Giants now have runners on 1st and 2nd. Bengie Molina helps the Cubs get out of the inning by hitting into a double play. Lincecum’s first pitched is hit for a home run by Alfonso (on my fantasy team) Soriano. That’s the first home run or any run for that matter that Lincecum has given up so far this spring. Lincecum then walks the next guy on 5 pitches. This is his 2nd walk of the spring. Doesn’t seem like a typical Lincecum start. Lincecum also walked the next batter Ramirez. Bengie Molina got the first out of the inning by throwing out Theriot who was trying to steal 3rd base. Hoffpauir the Cubs first baseman hit a RBI triple. Fontenot then followed that up with a RBI single up the middle giving the Cubs a 3 run lead. The Giants go 3 up and 3 down in the top of the 2nd inning. Lincecum starts the bottom of the 2nd off by walking the first guy he faces. In the game against Japan Lincecum did walk 3 guys, but those stats do not count on the spring stats. Soriano did get another hit off of Lincecum, but he did get thrown out by Bengie Molina trying to steal 2nd base. No runs scored for the Cubs.
Burriss does lead the top of the 3rd inning with a single and moves up to 2nd on a Lincecum sacrifice bunt. Dempster then got the next two guys out to keep the Giants scoreless. Lincecum holds the Cubs scoreless in the 3rd. Sandoval gets a single in the 4th but no other excitement in the inning for the Giants. The Cubs knock Lincecum out of the game in the 4th inning. The did score one more run off of him. Making the score 4-0 Cubs. The Cubs get one more run in the bottom of the 5th. The Giants finally get on the scoreboard in the top of the 6th inning. Bocock and Lewis score for the Giants to cut into the lead. Going into the bottom of the 6th it’s the Cubs 5 and the Giants 2.
In the 7th inning the Giants would tack on another run. Jesus Guzman is as hot as they get and doesn’t seem to be cooling off. He hit a solo shot to make the score 5-3 Cubs. Nothing for the Cubs in the bottom of the 7th inning. No runs for the Giants or Cubs in the 8th inning. Velez does hit a ball off the wall to get the speedy Velez a triple. Uribe comes in to pinch hit. He gets a RBI single scoring Velez. Torres gets a single to set up runners at 1st and 2nd for pinch hitter Buster Posey. Posey did get hit by the pitch and now bases are loaded for 19 year old Nick Noonan. Nick Noonan has given the Giants an 8-5 lead with a grand slam with 2 outs in the top of the 9th inning. The Cubs start a rally in the bottom of the 9th, but were only able to get 1 run out of it. Ending the game with bases loaded. The final score is Giants 8 and the Cubs 6.
The Giants get 8 runs on 11 hits and 0 errors. The Cubs get 6 runs on 13 hits and 0 errors.
Highlights
The only Giants player to have a multi hit game is the hot hitting Jesus Guzman. This guy is forcing the Giants to find him a spot on the opening day roster. Guzman went 2-3 with a home run, 1 RBI and scoring 1 run.
Tim Lincecum went 3.2 IP, 7 hits, 4 runs, 4 walks and 6 strike outs.
Side Notes
Cubs announce the #31 will be retired on May 3rd. It’s being retired for two former Cubs players Maddux and Jenkins.
Randy Johnson had an MRI and it shows that the his arm is fine. He’s only going to miss one start. Johnson is expected to make his next start Monday against Seattle.
Today in Baseball History
1985 – Commissioner Peter Ueberroth reinstates Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays. The two Hall of Famers had been banned from associating with major league baseball due to their employment with Atlantic City casinos.
~ 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
Q&A with radio host Damon Bruce from KNBR
I would like to introduce all of you to Damon Bruce. You can hear Damon on KNBR, the Giants flagship station. Where he is the nightly host of “Sportsphone 680”, which is heard from 7-10pm Pacific Time. You can also stream his show online at www.knbr.com. You gamers out there might recognize his voice, he does the play-by-play for the video game “The Bigs”. One thing I love about Damon is that he’s very passionate about the Giants and what they should be doing to improve the team. Damon was born in Chicago. You would never know it from hearing him on the radio, but he’s a Chicago Cubs fan! I know that his second favorite team is the Giants! Damon does a “Giants Hot Stove League Show” where he interviews players, coaches and broadcasters.
I recently contacted Damon, told him about my blog and asked him if I could
interview him for it. He agreed to let me interview him via email. I did get a chance to meet Damon when I was at the Giants Fan Fest. I walked up and introduced myself to him. Not only did he know who I was, but he obviously reads his own emails! He told me he would have all the answers to me by early in the week. It was great to finally meet the man behind the voice. (Picture to the right is Zito, Frandsen and Bruce at Giants Fan Fest.)
interview him for it. He agreed to let me interview him via email. I did get a chance to meet Damon when I was at the Giants Fan Fest. I walked up and introduced myself to him. Not only did he know who I was, but he obviously reads his own emails! He told me he would have all the answers to me by early in the week. It was great to finally meet the man behind the voice. (Picture to the right is Zito, Frandsen and Bruce at Giants Fan Fest.)Here is a Q & A with sports host Damon Bruce from KNBR.
King: Since it’s known you’re a Chicago Cubs fan and you cover the Giants. Who would you want to win in the NLCS if they played each other?
Damon B: Cubs vs Giants – Lets hope, and it’s a sfe bet… that’s not going to be a problem for me. Personally, I would love to see the Cubs in the World Series in my lifetime, but not at the expense of me getting to cover a World Series in my lifetime. I would likely have to take the series off, and just start drinking heavily.
King: Who is your favorite player current and all time?
Damon B: Favorite Player All Time – Mark Grace… if we’re talking current Giants: Lincecum or Cain
King: What’s your best Giants memory?
Damon B: Covering Bonds the night he tied Hank Aaron in San Diego. It was surreal to watch him do that in another team’s ball park. Padres fans didn’t want to applaud, but they couldn’t stop themselves. It’s covered in scandal, but it was quite a moment in time.
King: What’s your opinion on Manny Ramirez possibly being a Giant?
Damon B: Sign him before the Dodgers do… are you even serious with this question? This guy is a proven winner, and the best post-season performer in ML history. I can’t belive the Giants are just watching the Dodgers take their time with this guy.
King: I like adding Renteria and Johnson if they add a clean up hitter. If they don’t then I don’t see a point if they aren’t trying to win. What do you think about those signings?
Damon B: Both are stop gaps… Renteria will be an offensive upgrade over Omar, but not 1/2 the defender. It really show’s they don’t have a player in their minor league system ready to go at SS. It’s a C-plus signing, maybe a B-minus… lets see how he plays and adjusts to NL pitching again. Johnson is a sub-plot to the season which will be cool to cover. 300 wins is special, and hopefully it gives the Giants incentive to deal some pitching for a bat.
King: If you were the Giants GM what moves would you have made this off-season?
Damon B: Manny… Manny… Manny… trade some pitching for a real bat if he didn’t sign. I like the Affeldt signing, would have tried to deal for Holliday instead of letting the A’s do it. Would have never inked Zito for that cash… I could go on & on… but I’ll spare you. Oh, I would have made a move on Dan Uggla.
King: Has there been a recent move by a team this off-season that you’re impressed with and didn’t see coming?
Damon B: I think every off-season needs to be spent addressing major issues… there is a major lack of major league bat in the middle of this line-up, and until that’s fixed, they’re just painting a rusty car, not treating the rust.
King: What’s your prediction for the NL West?
Damon B: D-Backs, Giants, Dodgers, Rockies, Padres.
King: What’s your take on the Barry Bonds issue?
Damon B: Should have come clean a-la A-Rod and this would have been over years ago. His ego was his greatest asset and worst enemy at the same time.
King: Is there anything you want to let people know about you that they might not know?
Damon B: I’ve written a book about Bay Area Sports Lists… will be out near the beginning of baseball season. It’s the first time I’ve ever done anything like this, so I’m excited, and hope people dig it.
I hoped you guys really enjoyed getting to know a little about Damon Bruce.
Thanks again Damon for taking the time to answer these questions and it was really nice to meet you at the Giants FanFest. Here is a picture of Damon and I at the Giants Fan Fest.
Thanks again Damon for taking the time to answer these questions and it was really nice to meet you at the Giants FanFest. Here is a picture of Damon and I at the Giants Fan Fest.~King of Cali
Rich Aurilia back with the Giants
Ken Rosenthal has reported that Rich Aurilia has decided to accept the Giants minor
179 league contract of the Phillies and Cubs. It’s reported that the deal should be finalized today. Aurilia has played 10 of his 13 seasons with the Giants. He can play all infield spots. He would be a good fill in person at 1st and 3rd base. Welcome back Richie!
Aurilia was quoted as saying “I’m happy I’m a Giant and hopefully I can finish my career with the Giants,” Aurilia said. “I have a lot of pride in putting on that uniform.”
~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
If you were a GM what realistic moves would you make for your team this off-season?
Its funny cause I wrote this topic down and was going to post a blog about it.
Then I actually found another blog with something similar. It was about the Giants and what they would do if they were the GM. I do give the guy credit because he did put a lot of time and thought into it, but it just wasn’t realistic. What realistic moves would you make with your team. Trades, free agent signings or whatever you can think of. You can’t change any of the teams your team has already made this off-season. Starting today….
Then I actually found another blog with something similar. It was about the Giants and what they would do if they were the GM. I do give the guy credit because he did put a lot of time and thought into it, but it just wasn’t realistic. What realistic moves would you make with your team. Trades, free agent signings or whatever you can think of. You can’t change any of the teams your team has already made this off-season. Starting today….If I was Brian Sabean I would trade some pitching for a bat. I would trade Jonathan Sanchez to the Florida Marlins for Jorge Cantu. He hit .277 with 29 home runs and 95 RBI’s. That would be the corner infielder they were looking for. He can play 3rd base and then Pablo Sandoval can play first base.
Then I would make a hard push for Manny Ramirez. He would be another great bat that would be in the middle of the lineup. Then the Giants would be the favorite in the NL West. They would have a very decent lineup with a great starting rotation.
If by any chance the Giants are out of it by trading deadline. Then I would trade Bengie Molina since he’s in his last year of his contact. No need to re-sign him with Buster Posey ready to come up by the end of the season. Posey was drafted by the Giants with the 5th overall pick in the 2008 draft. Randy Winn would like to stay a Giant. He’s been a good Giant too. I would re-sign him if he doesn’t demand a lot of money. If he’s not signed before the trading deadline. I would also trade him as well. To get some minor league player or players. No sense in letting him walk at the end of the season and get nothing in return.
~King of Cali
King of Cali 