Results tagged ‘ Giants ’
Down To Willie
Nomar Garciaparra, Derek Jeter, and A-Rod dominated SS in the American League for quite a few seasons. I was always partially to “Nomah”, but you couldn’t go wrong with any of them.
Congrats, Giants!
Tonight, I want to congratulate the San Francisco Giants on their 2010 World Series championship!
Your team may have had to struggle just to make it to October, but once you got there you rode Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, and your veteran leadership (how many World Series has Edgar Renteria starred in?!) all the way to the promised land, even knocking off the mighty Cliff Lee to finish things off.
Savor this night, as you never know when it may come again. However, this squad (even the bit players) will be immortalized along the facility hallways and organization reunions for all-time.
Very Quick NLDS Thoughts:
Phillies vs. Reds:
Though the Reds are clearly the “fly under the radar and upset everyone” team, I’ll take Halladay, Oswalt, and Hamels in a short series.
Braves vs. Giants:
The Giants can pitch, but Jason Heyward is a special player and will turn this series to Atlanta. Bobby Cox is also an X-Factor as the best manager in baseball.
Remembering Bobby Thompson
As a fan of baseball in general, and especially the history of the game, I would be remiss not to mention the recent passing of Bobby Thompson, best remembered as an outfielder for the National League’s New York Giants.
Thompson is, of course, best known for this moment, widely regarded as one of the most exciting in baseball history:
As Twins fans well know, there aren’t too many more exciting moments than those that happen during a post-162 (or, at that time, a post-154) game. Although perhaps Ralph Branca would disagree with me…
Thompson wasn’t a spectacular player, but over the course of 15 seasons he compiled 1,705 hits, 264 home runs, a .270 batting average, and was an All-Star three times. However, all that was overshadowed by one dramatic swing of the bat.
2010 MLB Picks
My “official” predictions for the 2010 MLB season (before the season gets too far along and starts to affect my judgement!):
AL East
New York
Boston (Wild Card)
Tampa Bay
Baltimore
Toronto
AL Central
Minnesota
Chicago
Kansas City
Detroit
Cleveland
AL West
Los Angeles
Oakland
Texas
Seattle
NL East
Philadelphia
Atlanta (Wild Card)
New York
Florida
Washington
NL Central
St. Louis
Chicago
Milwaukee
Cincinnati
Houston
Pittsburgh
NL West
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Arizona
Colorado
San Diego
AL Champ: New York
NL Champ: Atlanta
World Series Champ: Atlanta Braves
Questions, comments, rants, profanity-laced tirades?!
MLB Predictions: 2009
Each year, usually after receiving the Sports Illustrated Baseball Preview issue, I make a complete set of MLB picks. It’s always fun to look back at them and see how right/wrong (wrong far outnumbering the right!) I was at the end of the season. Here they are for ’09:
AL East:
Boston
Tampa Bay (Wild Card)
New York
Toronto
Baltimore
AL Central:
Minnesota
Chicago
Kansas City
Cleveland
Detroit
AL West:
Los Angeles
Texas
Seattle
Oakland
NL East:
Philadelphia
New York (Wild Card)
Florida
Atlanta
Washington
NL Central:
Chicago
Milwaukee
St. Louis
Cincinnati
Houston
Pittsburgh
NL West:
Los Angeles
Arizona
San Francisco
Colorado
San Diego
AL Champion: Boston
NL Champion: Chicago
World Series Champion: Chicago
So, after 100 long seasons of waiting, I think this is the year that the Cubbies will finally win the big one. I just think that their pitching is too good not to make a deep playoff run.
The Big Unit Moves West
With the Minnesota Vikings making a playoff run, I have spent most of my blogging efforts covering them. However, I did want to keep things at least somewhat up to date with a relatively big free-agent signing.
About a week ago, Randy “Big Unit” Johnson signed a 1-year, $8 million contract with the San Francisco Giants. Johnson is approaching 300 wins (he has 296) and 5,000 strikeouts (he has 4,789), and those milestones are likely one of the reasons he is hanging around.
Johnson, predictably due to his large stature, has struggled with various back injuries in recent years, but when he is on his game he can still be dominant and very entertaining to watch.
The Giants aren’t expected to compete in the NL West this season, so Johnson was likely brought in to mentor young pitchers Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain, who are promising young stars in Frisco.
I’m glad that the Big Unit is still hanging around…he’s fun to watch!
zkonedog
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