SB Nation User Blog: Kitspool

Romo to be activated Friday?

Kitspool — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:23:47 -0000

Romo to be activated Friday?

Welcome news, but who goes? I'd love to see Aurilia retire but I'm guessing Frandsen's going back to Fresno. Or would there be some other move?

The Giants in Seattle (with pics)

Kitspool — Tue, 26 May 2009 22:30:25 -0000

This is a bit late in being posted, but given how many Giants fans were in Seattle over the weekend for the interleague series (it must have been at least a few thousand), I was somewhat surprised no one had posted pics from Safeco Field, so I figured I'd share mine.

I was at the game Friday night--Randy Johnson's return to Seattle, Tim Lincecum's homecoming and of course Felix Hernandez Bobblehead Night, which was much calmer and more orderly than Timmy's bobblehead riot. We got there about two hours before game time and got to watch the Gigantes do their stretching exercises and batting practice. For a team that had just been swept in San Diego, they sure seemed pretty loose and happy. I yelled "PANDA!" at Pablo Sandoval when I saw him and he waved back--he was chatting with a lot of the fans, including some San Jose Giants fans holding a huge Venezuelan flag. Joe Martinez was signing autographs from the dugout, he looks a whole lot better now than he did with that huge black eye. Rowand, Cain and Timmy all drew a huge crowd of autograph seekers and were very obliging. Brian Wilson was keeping his distance from the fans (maybe a good idea), and when Kruk came out the dugout to chat with the players he immediately put his arm around Wilson for what looked like some pre-game encouragement.

As for the ballpark and the game, we had a great time, even though the Giants could only manage three hits in 12 innings:

Safeco's a great-looking park: much more intimate than I expected given that it has a retractable roof.
There's a central concourse a la The Big Phone that's really wide and full of good food choices (including a food court with the amazingly named Intentional Wok, serving Asian dishes). We had some brats and hot dogs that were tasty.
There's a great beer garden behind the center field wall that looked like a great place to get sloshed and yell at the outfielders.
The sound system seems better than at AT&T, or at least louder, although their in-game presentation leaves a bit to be desired: there were wayyy too many Shots of Fans Dancing on the Jumbotron between innings. In fact, we noticed that's literally all they did every half-inning from the 7th inning onwards. Also, it's weird to say this, but their video board looks small and primitive given that it's only 10 years old; they have yet to go to HD on the Jumbotron and they don't have the ribbon scoreboards around the field.
The fans and ballpark staff were almost uniformly friendly and polite. Just about everyone we met in Seattle was this way. The standing ovation the fans gave to Randy Johnson as he walked off the field was great. The roaring standing ovation they gave Junior Griffey in the 9th inning was unlike anything I'd ever heard, even compared to Giants fans cheering for Bonds. The only points off Mariners fans get is for the folks in the upper deck who successfully started The Wave not once, not twice, but THREE times during the game.

Lastly, sorry to reveal the hidden secrets of The Mayor of 311's hometown, but Seattle is an unbelievably great and beautiful city. I'm going to pretend it's always 75 degrees and sunny there and book my next trip soon. We'll be brewing up some Stumptown Coffee this weekend.

And now the pics:

The Giants stretch while David B. Flemming looks on.

Kung Fu Panda, with fully operational right elbow.

Joe Martinez signs a ball. Not pictured: black eye.

Kruk advises Brian Wilson on how not to suck.

Cain!

Timmy!

Right before game time. That's Qwest Field right behind the light stanchion.

E-Rent takes a pitch on the inside,

The Big Unit tries to get out of a jam.

World Series Games to Start Ealier

Kitspool — Mon, 18 May 2009 17:11:18 -0000

World Series Games to Start Ealier

No pun intended, but it's about freaking time.

I must admit, I LOL'd when I first saw it.

Kitspool — Tue, 12 May 2009 15:52:40 -0000

I must admit, I LOL'd when I first saw it.

Kim Possible

Kitspool — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 21:07:18 -0000

Kim Possible

Interesting ESPN profile of Kim Ng, the Dodgers assistant GM (and hopefully the future GM of the Giants).

Brewers' Dave Bush No-Hitting Phillies through 7

Kitspool — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:22:07 -0000

Brewers' Dave Bush No-Hitting Phillies through 7

/jinx

The bizarre 2009 schedule

Kitspool — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:25:24 -0000

(This might not be fanpost worthy but I couldn't quite shoehorn it into a fanshot.)

Has anyone taken a close look at the 2009 schedule for the Giants? I hadn't done so until last night, while seeking a distraction from the game. Not that the Giants have done themselves many favors with their poor play over the first week and a half, but the MLB schedulers haven't done them many favors either. Obviously it's hard to create a perfectly balanced schedule across a 162-game season for all 30 teams, but still:

Including the series just completed, they're playing the Dodgers nine times in the next four weeks, and then not at all for three months.
They play the Rockies 10 times over a 26-day period.
In May, they play the Rockies at home and then go to Denver three days later.
Their May road trip (the first time they leave the Pacific time zone) features two games in Chicago, then two games in Colorado, then three games in LA, with no day off in between.
Here's where it gets tough for them. Most years there's one long road trip (10-14 games). This year there are FOUR. Amazingly, they have three 10-game road trips in a two month period (June-July) and then they have an 11-game road trip in August.
There's a random, WTF 3-game road trip to Houston in August.

I'm sure other teams have it tough, too, but what's scary is that April is, at least on paper, the easiest part of their schedule, what with the lack of long plane flights and the games against the supposed-to-be-the-weakest-division NL West. And they're already 2-7.

Your thoughts on the schedule at (415) FAN-POST.

OT: The Goal of the Year?

Kitspool — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:18:07 -0000

OT: The Goal of the Year?

I thought PacBell Boozer and some of the other footie fans would get a kick out of this (no pun intended). Pretty great goal by Grafite in last weekend's Wolfsburg-Bayern Munich match.

RIP Voice of "San Francisco Giants Baseball"

Kitspool — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 23:44:22 -0000

RIP Voice of "San Francisco Giants Baseball"

Sad news: Brian James has died of a heart attack. He's the guy whose voice we've heard the last few years, doing a brief pre-recorded intro about the Giants' opponent, right before Jon or Flem or Kuip comes on the air. Also the guy who did voiceovers for all the KNBR shows.

Scott Eyre Going for Broke!

Kitspool — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:23:02 -0000

Scott Eyre Going for Broke!

I feel badly for anyone who's gotten swindled, but seriously...the dude only has $13? Maybe he can borrow some scrilla from Vijay Singh. Oh, wait....