Here we go...

After thinking I'd never do it, I joined Twitter yesteday.  So now comes the question, who should I follow?

For me, it'll probably be just about baseball and stuff/thougts that I think are amusing/funny.

I added Grant, Baggs, Schulman, Keith Law, Sergio Romo and Daniel Tosh. 

Who else do you suggest?  Doesn't Panda have an account?  What about Old Hoss something or other?  Any other McC?

Hey Royals Review folks!  Since the Giants just aquired Gregor Blanco, I was hoping you that have seen him play on a regular basis could share some fan scouting on him.  A brief look at the cursory look at the numbers suggests his one offensive ability is to get on base, which has been something in short supply on the Giants.

I've also read he's a plus defender in CF and that he's fast, but don't know much more than that. 

Also, what was the deal with him spending 2011 in AAA?

If anyone is willing to share any personal observations or background on him, those of us at McCovey Chronicles would appreciate it.

Thanks!

There's going to be a book signing Thursday November 17, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m at our favorite wine bar, A Grape in the Fog (opens new window) in Pacifica.  It's in Rockaway Beach, just off Highway 1 and a cool little spot to enjoy great wine in an unpretentious atmosphere.  (Note: Must be 21 or over.) 

San Francisco Giants: Images of Baseball
The book will be available for purchase at the event. It sounds awesome and has a forward by Will Clark.  Here's Amazon's description:

In 1958, San Francisco welcomed its first major league baseball team when the Giants left New York and journeyed across the country to the Bay Area. Steeped in tradition, the orange-and-black team has captivated fans for decades with rosters including Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda, Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry, Will Clark, Barry Bonds, and Tim Lincecum. This book provides a look into the team's history, highlighting the players and other notables who were instrumental in shaping the Giants organization. We'll be there!

Linden, Bloomquist, Ramos, Paterno, etc.

Nearly 24 hours and 3500 posts later, it's time for the inevitable poll. 

Where were you?

Let's go Giants!

Pretty eventful night!  Even though they mounted a valiant comeback and tied the game, the Giants weren't able to pull out a win. 

As per tradition, the evening started at Zeke's, where, as Kruk would say, "we got greased up".  About a half hour before game time, we made the slow ceremonial procession to the ball park, as per tradition. 

We were breaking up to enter the gates and remembered to take a group pic, butt unfortunately not everyone was around to be in it.  People from CSN saw our group, handed us a mike and asked us to say something for a commercial.  Of course we chose the most ridiculous quote from their list.

Other highlights included jponry getting hit in the face by a ricochet foul ball in the last AB of the game, Sweet Jesus Guzman's bizarre error that covered the predetermined over/under of .5 for Guzman's errors in the game and Goofus personally ending Latos no hit bid.  (We were on the visitors dugout and, not more than 20 feet from him I yelled "Hey Latos, you're throwing a no hitter!  Just thought you should know."  as he came in after the 4th. (Latos laughed and Bud Black turned around and scowled, but Stewie broke it up on the next Giant AB.  Mission accomplished!)

Thanks to everyone who joined the fun!  Post pics you took and I'll try to do the same as time permits today.

As most are probably aware, Tuesday 8/23 is tomorrow.  It's also the date for our 6th annual McC Night at the Yard. 

Details? Details shmetails:

Place: Zeke's (corner of 3rd & Brannan)
Time: 5:30ish (we'll head to the yard about 6:30

Edit: The previously-announced extra ticket has been claimed by capn, but check the comments for news about others with extra tickets.

Conversation starters:

• Are you goin'?
• Where you sittin'?
• Do you have extra ticket(s) available if people are still lookin'?
  

On Saturday morning, the Giants hosted an event for STHs that was very similar to the one held before Fan Fest and later shown on CSN.  Renel introduced everyone.  Kruk and Flem MC'd and the guests for the Q&A were Bochy, Panda, Beltran, Baer, Lopez, Vogelsong, Buster and Ross.

The crowd sat behind the visitors' dugout and the various guests sat on stools on top of the dugout.

It was a pretty cool event, but no hard hitting news to report; and all the questions from the audience were softballs. 

The highlight of the event was Posey.  They moved the stools down to the ground for his portion and he walked across from the Giants' dugout using one crutch.  Sad to see him like that, but uplifting to see him getting around a lot better.  He also reported that he had just done 30 seconds of walking with no crutch for the first time.  Kruk asked him about his comment on "The Franchise" where he said he didn't want his kids to be catchers.  He backed away from it a bit and said he meant he hoped his kids would be better athletes than he was.

The other highlight, for me, was Vogelsong and Lopez.  They're both intelligent and had funny self-deprecating humor.  Kruk mentioned Vogelsong's cap tips and he said "I've had a lot of years to preactice that."  Later, he demonstrated his technique and they asked Lopez to show his.  He did a submarine style cap tip to match his delivery that was pretty humorous.

I took some pics, but don't have time to post right now.  I know sfgirl, kdl and bgunn were there, so encourage them to post whatever pics they took and I'll get some up a bit later.

Hope you're hungry Barry.  We need you to eat innings.

Vamos Gigantes!

Go Giants

Mark your calendars!  Our annual game meet-up planning is under way.  This year's event will be the evening of Tuesday 8/23 against...wait for it...The Padres (gasp!)  More details to come as the date draws closer, but we'll be keeping with tradition and meeting for drinks ("What if I came here for the booze?") at Zeke's and then heading to the game.

In breaking with tradition, and because tickets are harder to get this year, we're also looking at purchasing a block of tickets with a bit of a group rate, but need to know what sort of participation we could expect, so please answer the poll after the jump.

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Chicago is a great town, but as everyone is probably aware, the weather could have cooperated a bit more.  Nonetheless, it was a fun time.  Wrigley Field is definitely a "must see" and hanging out with fellow McCoven made the trip even more cool.

Here are some of the pics we took.  Anyone else who took pics, please post 'em!

Heads up!  We're planning a meet up for McCoven who'll be in Chicago this weekend to see the Giants play at Wrigley.

When: Sunday May 15 at 10:00am

Where: The Cubby Bear - 1059 W. Addison - across the street from the ball park

Who: The Enchanter (& Mr. Enchanter) IanRogue (& Mrs. Rogue), Timmeh (& Timmeh's friend) Goofus (& Mrs. Goofus)

Everyone else is welcome to join us!  Please leave a comment if you think you can.

With 16 games, 624 PAs, and 147 IP under our belt, we probably have enough of a sample size to determine how the Giants are doing in team  "OPS+ plus ERA+" compared to rest of the NL.

If you'll recall, I came up with this measurement last season as a way of trying to answer the question, "Does the Giants superior pitching make up for their average-ish offense?"  By adding OPS+ and ERA+, my theory was that it would give us a park-adjusted idea of how teams compare when you balance their pitching with their offense.  As a non-stat guy, I also found it pretty easy to wrap my brain around.

You might also recal that the 2010 NL leader in this "PlusPlus" stat went on to win the World Series, so my efforts to get this stat copyrighted have been well worth it, if such efforts actually existed.

Without any further ado, here are the current NL rankings:

 
A couple observations:

• We're already seeing the separation you'd expect with the better teams rising to the top.
• LOL Dodgers
• San Diego, despite being ranked almost dead last in every offense category, remains "average" because of their pitching.
• The Giants won the title last season with a 216 "PlusPlus" and are currently ranked #4 with a 221.   It appears pitching has been pretty good overall this season, but that will probably balance out.  (Note the league average 104 ERA+.)
• As a reminder, league average OPS+ in the NL usually comes in at around 94 or 95, not the 100 many people assume.

Mrs. Goofus and I will be going to the Giants/Cubs game at Wrigley Sunday 5/15.  It's our first time visiting this ballpark and to say we're excited would be putting it mildly.  We've already splurged and bought great seats, but could use any advice from those that have been there about making the all kinds of awesome.

• Things to see and do in and around the yard?
• Food to not miss?
• Will the crowd be alright with people wearing Giants gear to the game?  We can take good-natured ribbing, but don't want food thrown at us or worse.  (If it makes a difference, we're sitting in the Infield Club section.)
• Any other Chicago tips on things we shouldn't miss? (We decided to hit the town Saturday afternoon & evening rather than go to that game too, but a cool place where the game might be on would be a bonus.)

Lastly, is anyone else going to be at that game?

Thanks and I remain faithfully your,

Goofus McP

Anyone who enjoys talking baseball would enjoy a conversation with Marty Lurie. Not only has he closely followed the game for nearly 60 years and done over 5,000 interviews, he’s watched many of the great players from different eras that are only black and white clips to many of us. Growing up in Brooklyn and attending games at Ebbets Field in the 1950s allowed him to watch plenty of Hall of Famers. He’s a living, breathing baseball archive.

Spend some time talking with Marty and two things are quickly evident; he doesn’t dwell on the past, using it as a reference instead, and he has a true passion for the game. The man loves talking baseball!

Marty hosts Giants weekend pre-game and post-game shows on KNBR. His show is for people who want real baseball talk, love the game and aren’t interested in zany sound effects, dramatic rants or a host that’s more interested in talking about his playing career than today’s game. You can follow Marty on Twitter as well as his own site. Marty was nice enough to spend some time "talkin' baseball" with McCovey Chronicles.

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