Change up

Change up

Guess what happened to today! The SFGiants lost! An ugly 8-1 slouch to the freaking Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Orange County, and all Points South.

So, I could lament again today, but I won’t. Lamenting what promises to be a long season can wait. I have 162 regular season games to whine.

Today, I’m going to think about my best Spring Training memories. For a variety of reasons and a story too long to tell here, I’m not going this year. A fact that kind of crushes me, to be honest.

I adore Spring Training. The weather is warm, the ball players are laid back and the pace is easy. When at ST, I live each day for baseball. Nothing more, nothing less. Days are planned around baseball. It’s such an amazing bit of life that I find I crave it in the offseason.

I recall the very first year I went. Not that long ago, honestly. 2005 was the year. My friends met me at the airport in Phoenix and we hit the road immediately. Our destination was Hi Corbett field in Tucson.

We arrived early enough to watch the Giants take batting practice. I was *astounded*. It is a small ballpark. The sun was bright. And Mike Matheny was standing RIGHT THERE leaning on his bat!

He was so close you could almost reach out and touch him (but I showed restraint). My friend’s daughter took a photo of her mom and me leaning into the net behind homeplate watching batting practice intently.

That day. That game. Will live in infamy. It was my first hit off the crack pipe and I’m now forever addicted.

Next best memory is from last year. My friend is a “host family” for minor leaguers. The first player she had is a set up guy and *really* good so he gets invited to the big camp. We’d spent a lot of time with him in Scottsdale and then he got into a game we attended. I totally bellied up to the rail with my camera in hand. The other people were giving me dirty looks and harumphs. I said, “Oh, I’m sorry, that’s my little brother pitching and I want to get some photos”. Oh you should have seen the people scatter. Suddenly I was like a celebrity because I “knew somebody”. I chuckled silently to myself, moved in and took many good action shots.

Sadly, my adopted little brother got lit up that day, but it’s still a good memory. He’s pitching his brains out in Norwich and I’m hoping to see him in Fresno this year.

And finally, there is the lemonade vendor at Scottsdale stadium. “Lemonade, lemonade, just like Grandma made, you KNOW you want it!” The guy is a ham and makes me laugh and sells tasty lemonade. My mouth waters just thinking of it. Could use a glass now.

Oh well.

Next year. Gonna be there. There, I said it and I mean it.

It’s gonna be a looooooooong season

San Francisco Giants are four games into Spring Training. Holding a 1-3 record.

And the losses? Ugly.

Zito? Meltdown. Lowry? Meltdown.

Brightside? Cain.

As with last year, his amazing performances will be overshadowed by a weak bullpen and even weaker bats.

2008 Season? More of the same.

*sigh*

I wanna be optimistic, I really do.

Ok, today at 12:05pm Pacific Time. Zito’s second start. Fingers crossed.

If I was there, I’d park it by the new Harp booth and drink my way through the start….

Oh baby!

You wanna know what I’m doing?

Sitting in my office listening to KNBR.

Because Jon Miller is calling a game on the radio.

Giants baseball is on the air.

Spring Training has begun.

I think I just wept a little………

That Smell

That Smell

No, I’m not gonna tell a gross story. Or break out in a Lynyrd Skynyrd song.

Today, at lunch, I stepped outside into the sunshine to grab some lunch. The ground crew was working and they’d just cut the grass outside my building.

What I smelled was that curious mix of warm Spring sun on pavement, and fresh mown grass.

You know what that smell means to me?

Baseball. Of if you are Latino, beisbol.

First Giants Spring Training game is Thursday.

*sniff sniff* Can you smell it too? It’s here! Baseball will be back on the radio tomorrow.

I freaking can’t wait.

Demand generation

Apparently the key to putting butts in empty seats for a flagging NL baseball team is to hire a bunch of fat guys.

No, I don’t mean Ray King, Mo Vaughn and David Wells.

Though it couldn’t hurt. No, the Florida Marlins have a better idea!

Male cheerleaders. Fat male cheerleaders! *Agile* fat male cheerleaders! And they’ll call them Manatees! W00t!

I am not making this up: AP story.

Ummmmkaaay. I’m sure I’ll buy an extra overpriced seat to get out to the yard to see dancing fat guys.

Good news though, the Marlins already have Armando Benitez to help set the fatness standard.

Good luck with that!

Everyone in the pool

By now all the position players should have reported to their respective camps and Spring Training is underway.

I am completely bummed because I don’t get my own version of “getting ready” for the season, my annual trek to Scottsdale to take in some early Spring baseball.

I’ve gone the past four years in a row, and my usual traveling partner is out of commission. Her health, her finances and her pending grandbaby are all in the way.

Feh.

So to satisfy my need to know how it’s going where it’s warm and not raining, I go here, to Giants Jottings.

This is a friend of mine who has a house in the area and is all too willing to report back.

I suggest checking in every day, it’s always good, useful stuff.

Meanwhile, I stare out a window at the dreary day and sigh.

I’m ready to hear “play ball!”, I really am.

Misremembered.

It’s now firmly a part of our lexicon. Thank you Roger freaking Clemens.

I listened to bits and pieces of his testimony before Congress Wednesday regarding his use of illegal and banned substances and was shocked and appalled by the behavior on both sides of the conversation.

The day was all about tossing people under the bus.

Chuck Knoblauch, a bit player at best, tossed Clemens under.

Andy Pettitte, Clemens supposed best friend, whoosh, tossed Clemens under the bus.

And then Clemens went ahead and tossed his wife right on under.

Good times.

And in the finest hour, Clemens said that Pettitte, his best friend, must have “misremembered” when he told investigators that Clemens had used performance enhancing substances.

And the Congressmen were no better firing off supposition and innuendo. What we have here is a modern day McCarthy trial. These Congressmen are so keen to go after the superstars that they’ll listen to any sub-Mendoza Line player who got name checked in the Mitchell Report who wants to squeal out names in order to distance themselves from the circus.

Re-freaking-diculous.

It was bad what they did to Bonds. It’s bad what they are doing to Clemens. It’s bad for baseball.

And in the end, baseball will prevail. Because it will.

“The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it’s a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh… people will come Ray. People will most definitely come.”

–Terence Mann, Field of Dreams.

Glad I watched this movie again last week. Because I need to believe again in the magic of the game I love.

Am I a baseball purist that expects each player to be pristine and au natural? No. But do I condone steroids? No.

I just want to put this awful witch hunt behind us and move on.

Did anyone even notice that Giants pitchers and catchers reported to Spring Training, uh, Wednesday?

I choose to think about that. And pray to whichever entity you choose that I can “misremember” the events of this week.

Now. Gentlemen, play ball.

Photo by Karen Fayeth

Pitchers & Catchers Report

In 22 days and 19 hours.