Notes from Today's Game

Beautiful SF Sunday, Giants (Matt Cain) against Arizona (The Pecklers' own Brandon Webb).

I thought about going down to the park and picking up a ticket, but decided to be lazy and hang out at home and watch the game on the tube with Kruk and Kuip. Here are my notes: 1st inning, runners at 1st and 2nd, 1 out, Barry was up with a 3-2 count. With the runners moving, Barry checked his swing on a ball out of the strike zone. Estrada threw down to Tracy at 3rd who tagged the runner who had slowed down thinking it was ball four. The 3rd base ump called strike three on the appeal, and then signaled the runner out at third. 2-5 double play.

Krukow was talking about Moises’ hands and how quick they are through the strike zone, while showing yesterday’s walk off homer. He described that homer as a “2 iron shot.” May 12 against the Dodgers is orange wig night. Make sure you don’t miss that. Actually, I do, indeed, have tickets. I’ll have to take someone special and make sure to get there early.

I was downstairs in the kitchen watching the game with none on and two out in the Arizona 2nd inning and the game was scoreless. I shut the TV, called Max to go with me upstairs, and headed up to the TV room. I turned on the game and the score was 2-0. What the hell happened? At least Max was happy, as we were about to begin our own game of ball. He loves day games.

Kruk and Kuip showed some nut with a Barry 700 t-shirt (must have been XXL) wearing these gigantic orange sun glasses, with each lens about 5 inches across. Krukow’s comment: “That’s what it’s all about.” What, lunacy?

Sweeney made a beautiful backhand grab in foul territory while sliding of a sharp grounder right over the bag by Counsell. It reminded me of JT Snow, the best 1st baseman (defensively) I ever saw. Later in the game he missed a backhand stop one step from him that went for a 2 base error. That didn’t remind me of JT, who never would have missed it. Speaking of JT, he’s wearing number 84 for the Red Sox. Pretty cool.

Kruk was talking about Omar Vizquel and his fielding. Watching him make every play, every day is really special. Sorry, but Ozzie wasn’t any better. Kruk now calls him “The Great Vizquel.”

The Aflac trivia question was “Who are the 3 current members of the D Backs who were on the championship team of 2001? The answer was Luis Gonzalez, Craig Counsell and Miguel Batista. There are only 3 members of the Giants who were on the 2002 World Series team. They were…Barry, Schmidt and Worrell. Shinjo was on that team, and the paper reported today that he has retired from baseball to become a nude model. Is Barry next?

They played the Yogi Berra Aflac commercial. Thanks to Tivo, his lines about Aflac in the commercial were:

“That’s the one ya really need to have. If ya don’t have it, that’s why ya need it.”

“If you get hurt and miss work it won’t hurt to miss work.”

“And they give you cash, which is just as good as money.”

It’s always nice to see Yogi making a buck. Me hee for Yoo Hoo.

Brandon Webb hit one into the gap in left center field. Krukow pointed out that Randy Winn raised his arm quickly when he knew he could get it. This was a signal to Barry that he could ease off. Kruk added that the signal is "by request."

The portly right field ball dude missed an easy grounder. Kuiper: “You need a longer glove or you need to bend over.” Kruk: “Bending over is not an option.”

A guy got on TV by holding a sign that said: “Kruk, scratch this guy out ==>, with the arrow pointing to his seatmate. Kruk scratched the guy out, then scratched out the holder of the sign for sniffing his armpit.

Before he went out of the game, Matt Cain threw a 98 MPH fast ball. He’s only 21.

A foul ball went into the KNBR booth, where a guy Kruk referred to as Butlee dropped it. His name is Lee, but he’s referred to as Butlee because anyone but Lee could have caught it.

They showed Matt Cain sitting in the dugout. Does he shave yet?

Chad Tracy absolutely crushed a ball down the line off Fassero. This boy can rake. Is there anyone on earth that wouldn’t trade Pedro Feliz for this kid? Let’s throw in Fassero too, who is fully cooked.

Fassero struck out Luis Gonzalez. Krukow: “That’s how you pitch to Luis Gonzalez. Throw him a hanging slider and he’ll swing through it. I was a connoisseur of hanging sliders. I could throw one whenever I wanted to.”

7th inning, 1st and 3rd, no outs. Barry was on third, having raked a one bounce double to the centerfield wall to drive in the Giants’ first run. Moises drove a single to left, but Barry, moving at the speed of a glacier, had no chance to score. Finley hit a hard one hopper to Clark at 1st, who threw home instead of starting a double play. Barry had no chance, and they got him easily in a run down.

In the 8th, Shawn Green completely misplayed a shot to right into a triple for Finley. In the 7th he dropped a catchable ball in the right center gap that hit his glove, misplaying that one into a triple. Didn’t he used to be a great fielder?

Webb is a serious stud. All-star caliber. We’ve got him at 14. We must consider extending him to 19 next year. It’s against George’s foremost rule – don’t extend pitchers. It’s a good rule, but this guy looks like he’s really put it all together.

Brandon Medders came in to mop up in the 9th, and immediately gave up a couple of bouncing singles. He got out of it unscathed, but I could imagine him ruining Webb’s numbers for us.

You’ve got to love Kruk and Kuip. They really have a good time and it’s infectious. Max likes them too.