The Sports Thread

[Gazoo]

Play Ball!!!!!!
Spent a few hours mingling with the Giants today. Woo hooo what fun. My new Rich Aurilia is Steve Finley! Autographs from so many, most notably Felipe, Moises, Matt Cain, Noah Lowry, Matt Morris, Mike Metheny, Steve Finley, Lance Niekro, Omar Vizquel, Jason Ellison, Todd Linden. Orlando Cepeda too. Talked to Tim Worrel and Armando Benitez but no pics with them.

Come on Opening Day!!

Ooh, I could get hooked on metheny.  Or Finley, though he's one of the main suspects in the 'roid investigations.

Great job!  And good luck!  I'll be rooting for the A's along with the Phillies and Red Sox (there ain't a team that can handle a man like me, that's why I juggle two or three).

[Alicat]

Play Ball!!!!!!
Spent a few hours mingling with the Giants today. Woo hooo what fun. My new Rich Aurilia is Steve Finley! Autographs from so many, most notably Felipe, Moises, Matt Cain, Noah Lowry, Matt Morris, Mike Metheny, Steve Finley, Lance Niekro, Omar Vizquel, Jason Ellison, Todd Linden. Orlando Cepeda too. Talked to Tim Worrel and Armando Benitez but no pics with them.

Come on Opening Day!!

So how were you able to arrange this little tete-a-tete?

Annual Community Fund (big fund raising event) lunch. Takes place Friday before Opening Day for the past few years. Was at the SF Hilton. Big opportunity to chat with players and if you pay enough to sponsor a table, you get a player to sit with you. We had no player at our table but Moises and Jeff Fassero were two tables away.
Just sent y'all an Ofoto invite link.

[RGMike]

Yikes! not an auspicious Opening Day for either local team.  Especially bad day for Barry Z.

BTW, Gaz, nice piece on the A's in the current ESPN mag.

[princessofcairo]

i'm having no luck trying to find the video of the witasick catch from last night's game (the ichiro hit to his head). anyone have any suggestions? also, i never saw the autistic kid's three-pointer's, either.

[Alicat]

Ya gots to love the Giants 5th inning at almost 11pm! Glad I'm warm and dry at home watching it.

Allloouuuuuuuuuu! Makes it 6-4. First homer of the season.

Finley performs too!

11pm and raining almost torrentially. Windy too. This can't go much longer.

I guess it can. Rain slows, Braves tie the game and Bobby Cox is ejected. Dang.

[ggould]

Ya gots to love the Giants 5th inning at almost 11pm! Glad I'm warm and dry at home watching it.

Allloouuuuuuuuuu! Makes it 6-4. First homer of the season.

Finley performs too!

11pm and raining almost torrentially. Windy too. This can't go much longer.

I guess it can. Rain slows, Braves tie the game and Bobby Cox is ejected. Dang.

that woulda been a good time to turn off the tv, and avoid reading the papers the next day!

[urth]

Ya gots to love the Giants 5th inning at almost 11pm! Glad I'm warm and dry at home watching it.

Allloouuuuuuuuuu! Makes it 6-4. First homer of the season.

Finley performs too!

11pm and raining almost torrentially. Windy too. This can't go much longer.

I guess it can. Rain slows, Braves tie the game and Bobby Cox is ejected. Dang.

that woulda been a good time to turn off the tv, and avoid reading the papers the next day!

If you were reading today's Chron (at least, the 5-star-and-a-dot edition that landed on my front walk this am), it wouldn't matter. there's no coverage of the actual game, no score in the recap of yesterday's games, and the Giants are still 2-1, first in the NL West standings. Guess it got over too late for the Chron's deadline.

But you're right. An ugly finish. Best to get that one behind us. Just hoping they can get thru today and tomorrow's contests with no more rain. The field looked an absolute bog last night.

[ggould]

Ya gots to love the Giants 5th inning at almost 11pm! Glad I'm warm and dry at home watching it.

Allloouuuuuuuuuu! Makes it 6-4. First homer of the season.

Finley performs too!

11pm and raining almost torrentially. Windy too. This can't go much longer.

I guess it can. Rain slows, Braves tie the game and Bobby Cox is ejected. Dang.

that woulda been a good time to turn off the tv, and avoid reading the papers the next day!

If you were reading today's Chron (at least, the 5-star-and-a-dot edition that landed on my front walk this am), it wouldn't matter. there's no coverage of the actual game, no score in the recap of yesterday's games, and the Giants are still 2-1, first in the NL West standings. Guess it got over too late for the Chron's deadline.

But you're right. An ugly finish. Best to get that one behind us. Just hoping they can get thru today and tomorrow's contests with no more rain. The field looked an absolute bog last night.

Out on the beach, our edition did post the final score, but it was too depressing for me to stay awake that long.  Even the announcers were writing it off to a sort of "shake this one off and move ahead" kind of thing.

[RGMike]

Out on the beach, our edition did post the final score, but it was too depressing for me to stay awake that long.  Even the announcers were writing it off to a sort of "shake this one off and move ahead" kind of thing.

I was sick Fri nite and went to bed at 7:00 (!), though I had the radio on, tuned to the A's game (the Giants were still in a delay at that point, and references to that by the A's crew went on thru the game).  I was drifting in & out, and turned the A's off shortly after they ended. I assumed the Giants game had been cancelled. It wasn't until I saw my Post-Game E-Mail this morning that I learned the sad truth.  Kruk & Kuip were quoting Felipe today as saying it was "the ugliest game he's ever been involved in."

[ggould]

Kruk & Kuip were quoting Felipe today as saying it was "the ugliest game he's ever been involved in."

If it weren't for the fact the Gigantes already had scored a bazillion runs, they might have given the game away today too!

[urth]

Kruk & Kuip were quoting Felipe today as saying it was "the ugliest game he's ever been involved in."

If it weren't for the fact the Gigantes already had scored a bazillion runs, they might have given the game away today too!

Yep, some of the bullpen is not exactly trustworthy so far. Jeremy Accardo has been rocked at least twice now. However, Jack Taschner dropped is ERA by 50%--from 135.0 to 67.5!

Going to the game tomorrow, assuming the heavens don't open up and create a bog in the outfield again. I'm not entirely optimistic.

[ggould]

been napping to TV golf today, feeling pretty sub par myself.  Wondering if Rod's still there.  File a report?

[RGMike]

Kruk & Kuip were quoting Felipe today as saying it was "the ugliest game he's ever been involved in."

If it weren't for the fact the Gigantes already had scored a bazillion runs, they might have given the game away today too!

Yep, some of the bullpen is not exactly trustworthy so far. Jeremy Accardo has been rocked at least twice now. However, Jack Taschner dropped is ERA by 50%--from 135.0 to 67.5!

Going to the game tomorrow, assuming the heavens don't open up and create a bog in the outfield again. I'm not entirely optimistic.

Hope you stayed 'til the end, bub. Exciting finish -- yay Lance Niekro!
Meanwhile the A's almost did the opposite; they had a 6-0 lead in the 8th that became 6-4 and came thisclose to blowing it.  Quite a day for using the remote.

[urth]

Hope you stayed 'til the end, bub. Exciting finish -- yay Lance Niekro!
Meanwhile the A's almost did the opposite; they had a 6-0 lead in the 8th that became 6-4 and came thisclose to blowing it.  Quite a day for using the remote.

Oh yeah--I'm not one for leaving before the last out, for reasons exactly like what happened. Besides--it was only a one-run game before Niekro's dinger, so it could have turned around at any point--which it did!

Gotta say the Atlanta pitching over the course of the series did not look nearly as invincible as it has in the past (although Smoltz was pretty steady after that rough second inning).  Possibly Leo Mazzone took the magic dust with him to Baltimore?

But Winn's dying quail of an RBI was a lovely thing to see--particularly since the clouds, which had been just pissing a little all afternoon, were about to really dump.

[RGMike]

Damn, the A's just got swept by the previously-crappy Twins.  Time to worry about Esteban Sadder-But-Louiza?