No California Teams this year

For the second time since the Wild Card was introduced in 1995, there will be no California teams in the post season.

In 1999 and this year, the West was represented by Arizona and Texas.
And the Wild Cards in 1999 were the Mets and Red Sox.
We're not sure who it is for this year.

Let's run them down.

In 1995, the Dodgers won the NL West crown. (The Angels lost a one game playoff to Seattle.)
In 1996, both the Padres and Dodgers were in.
In 1997, the Giants won the NL West.
In 1998, the Padres won the National League pennant.
1999 saw no California teams.
2000 had the A's and the Giants winning their Division.
In 2001, the A's won the Wild Card.
2002 was the greatest year for California. The A's won the AL West but the World Series was between the Giants and Angels.
2003 had the A's and Giants winning their Division again.
The 2004 Angels won the Division.
In 2005, the Angels won the Division and advanced to the ALCS. Meanwhile the Padres won the NL West.
2006 saw the Padres and Dodgers both in the National League playoffs and the Oakland A's making it to the ALCS.
The 2007 Angels won the Division.
The 2008 and 2009 Angels and Dodgers each won their Division. Both made the LCS in 2009, the closest we have seen to a Freeway Series.
And the 2010 Giants of course won the World Series.

But with the elimination of the Angels tonight, any California dream for the World Series was put to rest.

Good luck next year, Giants, A's, Dodgers, Angels or Padres.

I want some West Coast Bias next year.

Reason to hope for the Champs?

What's THIS?
The Giants won.
The Diamondbacks lost.

The World Champs are 6 games back.
That's too much, right?

Wait a second...
Let's say the Champs do well against the Rockies and the Padres show some resolve against Arizona.

And then let's say the Giants slap the Dodgers around next week.

Let's say it is possible for the Giants chop Arizona's lead to 4 or 5.

Then on the 23rd, 24th and 25th the Giants play the Diamondbacks.
What happens if the Giants sweep that series?

I'm just saying....
The defending Champs are still defending....

My sons and a rivalry

I have written before about the fact that I am raising one of my twin boys to be a San Francisco Giants fan and the other to be a Los Angeles Dodgers fan.

It only seems right.
Why would they be Red Sox fans? They've never stepped foot on New England soil. Yet we've lived in both Northern and Southern California.

Now they aren't really into it yet, although they love wearing their team hats.
But they are getting close to the age when you start to follow a team.
And my Giant fan son is well aware that his team "won the trophy" last year.

Tonight after dinner, they finished watching an episode of Zooboomafoo and I saw that the Giants and Dodgers were in the bottom of the 9th inning.

What happened next made me question if I am a good father.

I turned to TV to Prime Ticket and Vin Scully was calling the game.
I explained that it was Dodgers 3 and Giants 0.
If the Giants scored 4 times, they would win.
But if the Dodgers got three outs before the Giants could tie the game, the Dodgers would win.

So Aidan, the Giants fan, cheered every batter on the defending champs.
Matty, the Dodger fan, loved that the players were wearing the same hat that HE wears.

The Giants tried to rally, but Matt Kemp made a fabulous catch against the wall.

At one point Giant fan Aidan tried to cover Dodger fan Matty's eyes. I guess his logic was if he wasn't enjoying the proceedings, NOBODY should see it.

They each gave a "YAY" for their team. A "Go Giants!" and "Come on win, Dodgers!"
And I sat back in my seat, glowing. I was hoping that they were beginning to love this game. And seeing that I watched so much baseball with MY parents that I was passing the bond on.

Then the Giants lost.
3-0.

It was the 6th time in 7 games that the Giants were held to 2 runs or fewer.

Matty gave a cheer.
Aidan rolled over on his belly.

AIDAN (The Giants fan.): Daddy.

ME: Yeah buddy.

AIDAN: I'm going to have a nightmare tonight.

ME: Why, pal?

(Aidan began to cry and pointed to the television.)

AIDAN: The Giants lost.

He came up to me, and hugged me. Tears flowing.

MATTY (The Dodger fan): Don't worry Aidan. It doesn't matter if you win or not. It's all about having fun.

(I love Matty's sentiment. But in truth, it DOES matter when it is your vocation!)

AIDAN: The Giants are NEVER going to win again.

ME: Buddy... your team won the Trophy last year. They are a good team. They just lost a game. MY team lost a game today too. But in baseball you win, you lose and you follow your team every day.

AIDAN: They didn't even score.

MATTY: Don't worry. They'll score tomorrow.

(Matty is clearly unaware of the Giants inability to score.)

AIDAN: I can't believe they lost.


Aidan sat like a lump, arms wrapped around me.
And I couldn't help but this that I did this to him.

He was a happy boy today playing and collecting pictures of animals and I introduced into his life the emotional rollercoaster of following millionaires playing a game.

But hey!
At least his team has won a title in his lifetime.
It's been since 1988 for the Dodgers.

This is a big step into a larger world for both of them.

That's it for the Champs

7 games back.

Losing 2 must win games.

Scoring a grand total of 3 runs in the final 2 games.

It looked like a magical repeat season was going to happen in San Francisco, but I suppose it was the Law of Averages kicking in.

All of those walk off wins and 3-2 nail biters went their way all through 2010 and the first four months of this season. Now they broke the other way.

This team isn't going to make up 7 games. That's a week of games with 3 weeks to play.

Best keep this core together, let Beltran go and hope Posey is back and can hit in 2012.

Anyone who had the Diamondbacks winning the west, I want to hear from you.

10 Reasons why the San Francisco Giants winning the 2011 World Series would be good for baseball

Continuing the Why Each Team's Potential World Championship Would Be Good For The Game series, we move on to the Defending World Champion San Francisco Giants.

Now earlier I wrote posts for the Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals and Cleveland Indians knowing that their time as contenders wouldn’t be long. I never expected to throw the Champs into the “Quick before they fall out” pile.

But here we are. In the month since acquiring Carlos Beltran the Giants have gone 10 games in the wrong direction. They have turned a 4 game lead into a 6 game deficit. And with a showdown against the Diamondbacks looming, their season could startlingly be over in early September.

Their losing ways have been against lowly teams like the Padres, Cubs and Astros. A year after being unlikely Cinderella champs, they are the targets for teams with spoiling a pennant on their mind.

Then again, a strong September could catapult them right back into the playoffs, playing their patented brand of heart attack inducing baseball.

Yesterday they let go of Aaron Rowand and Miguel Tejada, thus ending a "Third ring for Rowand" and "Win a Ring for Tejada" motivation.

But Madison Bumgarner won and who knows? The champs could defend their crown

Now with the Giants, I am not going to make the reasons to support them winning a title personal. They are my dad's team, my son's team and my favorite National League team. But every team has fans and every team has someone's dad rooting for them

These are for fans everywhere.

10 Reasons why the

San Francisco Giants

winning the 2011 World Series

would be good for baseball

1. Another World Series title could put Bruce Bochy into the Hall of Fame.



He's borderline as it is. He took a Padres team that, save for 1984, was a consistent non factor and in short order led them to the 1996 post season. Then he won the 1998 pennant in San Diego. That team was dismantled but he put together Division winners in 2005 and 2006 in PetCo Park. Then he won the first ever World Series title in San Francisco with one of the worst offenses on paper for a fall classic.



He is a classic old school manager who gets respect throughout the league. AND he is already tied with Earl Weaver, Bobby Cox and Leo Durocher for World Series titles.



Another one would make the conversation very interesting.



2. Another title could help confirm Tim Lincecum's greatness



Isn't it fun to see greatness unfold? Sometimes aces can start off wonderfully and even become World Series heroes and Cy Young winners and then fade out from injuries or ineffectiveness. (Think Bret Saberhagen, Fernando Valenzuela and Dwight Gooden.)



I hope Linecum has a Tom Seaver, Greg Maddux or Tom Glavine type of career. He already is a multiple Cy Young Award winner and was a legit post season ace, winning the clincher.



He should be one of the great faces in baseball and a player to market the league around. Having him win MORE in October will make that possible.

3. Maybe there can be real closure with the Bonds era.



I have been a defender of Bonds despite thinking he used tons of steroids.



I honestly think that time will be kind on him. His new trial will happen soon and inevitably it will end with, at worst, a slap on the wrist.



The Giants have clearly moved on from the Bonds years (#25 jerseys were oddly absent the last time I went to the Giants dugout.) The team has built a World Champion without him.



Eventually I hope he will return to the Giants in some capacity. If Mark McGwire can return as a hitting coach, why can't Bonds? Look, EVERY team had players who were on juice. It was the era. And now the era is passing. Another title in San Francisco might help put it a little further back and Bonds wouldn't have to talk about the past. (Oh sorry. That's McGwire's line.)



4. More October calls from the best announcers in the game



Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow are the best play by play men in the game. They are knowledgeable, funny, classy and have a sincere style to calling the game. They aren't prepackaged or playing a part. And when they get into a game, it means some GREAT calls.



Here's Kupier's call of Juan Uribe's Game 1 Home Run last October.



Meanwhile Jon Miller also calls games for the Giants and he is the Gold Standard.



But best of all listen to Dave Flemmings' call of Edgar Renteria's eventual World Series winning home run. The way his voice cracked meant he was speaking for Giants fans everywhere who couldn't believe their eyes when the ball left the park. This October needs more calls like that.







5. Another Championship would mean more celebrating with Willie Mays



The greatest player in baseball history is Willie Mays.



Willie Mays is still with us.

Willie Mays still has all of his faculties.

Willie Mays must be celebrated for as long as he is on this Earth.



6. The Giants - Phillies rivalry needs to be cultivated!



The Giants and Phillies could be a great post season rivalry in this decade. They have stockpiled aces. They played a wonderful series last year. AND there seems to be bad blood between them.

The Giants would inevitably have to go through Philly.

A laid back West Coast city and a wound tight East Coast city each with recent World Series titles could make for many great Octobers for years to come.





7. Carlos Beltran could get redemption for the "Called Third Strike."



Baseball is great for redemption stories. And right now, despite putting up great numbers in his limited post season experience, Carlos Beltran's best known highlight is looking at a called third strike to end the 2006 NLCS.



A base hit would have tied the game. A double would have won the pennant for the Mets. Instead it was St. Louis who won.



He may never get redemption in the eyes of Mets fans, but a little peace for Carlos would go a long way (and help him collect this winter as a Free Agent.)





8. Brian Wilson in the spotlight can only be a good thing for baseball.



If Zach Galifianakis was a baseball player, who would be be?



OK, probably Brody Stevens, but that's not the point. The point is Wilson has the great closer stuff and the All Star resume and the clinching the World Series highlight on his reel to give him substance.



And his style is so bizarre and legitimately funny that it can only bring attention to baseball from people who normally wouldn't watch.



Also it could spark a renaissance of awesome facial hair on closers and more goofiness. There is a place for a stoic Mariano Rivera. But it's nice to have a pitcher look like Rasputin on the mound.





9. A Repeat World Series title would give the Showtime show a great ending!

I thought it was going to have a great finale with a return to October. If thye come they erase a 6 game hole and make the post season and win it all... the show might win the Emmy.

It would be GREAT TV!



10. The Giants becoming the fun championship caliber team will help lead MLB into the 21st century!



As I said in a Sully Baseball video, the Giants are the fun marquee team to root for. They don't have the pompousness of the Yankees nor the annoying elements of Red Sox Nation. Fans who think they dominated the past decade (winning 2 World Series each between 2000 and 2009 plus consistently being in the playoffs will do that) have a new option. The Giants have a sense of humor that many of the Northeastern teams don't have. But that sense of humor is meaningless without consistently winning.



Bandwagons are healthy for sports. People have jumped on Steeler and Cowboy bandwagons for generations. Same with the Celtics and Lakers. And every once in a while a team with a truly unique personality becomes a trendy favorite. Think of the Raiders in the 70s and 80s. The Bulls of the 90s.



The Giants should be one of those teams. But they can't be that if they are one win and done. Baseball needs to expand its brand to a younger audience. And the Giants should be that team.



It's tough to do that when they are playing golf in October.

I thought for sure the National League West was a slam dunk. I didn't think the Diamondbacks would be a factor.

But here we are. The Defending Champs and the team that should be a flagship franchise for baseball are fighting for their playoff lives.

If they come back and win it all, the 2011 season DVD will be amazing!







If you liked this then go ahead and read the entries for the other teams.



CHICAGO WHITE SOX

CLEVELAND INDIANS

LOS ANGELES ANGELS OF ANAHEIM

NEW YORK YANKEES

ST. LOUIS CARDINALS





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I am keeping my eye on Tommy Hunter

A year ago, Tommy Hunter looked like he was exactly what every team wanted. A young pitcher who could win. In fact he had the best winning percentage in the American League. At age 23 he won 13 games, pitched to a solid 3.73 ERA in Texas and had an ERA+ of 120, which I understand is good.

He made three post season starts and while he didn't exactly shine in the October spot light, he got his initial butterflies out.

Cut to a year later, and injuries and the rise of Matt Harrison has made him expendable and he has been shipped off to Baltimore for 36 year old Koji Uehara.

I'm going to watch Tommy Hunter carefully as he goes to the Orioles. There is no way Uehara will be part of any playoff team in Baltimore.

But I wonder what Hunter will be at Camden Yards. Will he be yet another toss in, a young player traded away at the deadline never to be seen again.

Sure he started in the post season.
Big deal. So did Dana Kiecker.

But what if the Orioles got a steal. A nice valuable piece to an elusive playoff puzzle.

What if Hunter comes back and becomes a nice #3 or #4 starter like he was last year? What if that happens and some combination of Zach Britton, Jake Arrieta, Chris Tillman, Brian Matusz and Dan Klein break through and become successful?

Then he might become a valuable cog in a surprising young pitching staff.
Hell, he has ALREADY been on a staff like that. Maybe that's what his role would be. The guy to remind them "Hey! Nobody thought WE'D be a good staff. But we wound up playing in a little thing called the World Series."

It's an interesting deal.
It could amount to nothing... but I have my eye on him.

Who needs Beltran?

Seriously, all the Giants need to do is get 2 runs a game and they can beat the likes of Cole Hamels and the Phillies.

Isn't that the game plan that won them a World Series last year?

Giants walk off and some other thoughts

OF COURSE they got two homers from Nate Schierholtz!

How else are the Giants expected to win?
Normally?

Seriously, I am worried about Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper. They are losing their voice after virtually EVERY game.

With all of the crazy wins this team has, the new Showtime show will have more heart stopping finishes than Hoosiers!

Meanwhile, how awesome was Pablo Sandoval's 8th and 9th innings?

Not only does he get the game tying double, but he saves at least one run with a dazzling 2 out diving stop to end a potential go ahead rally against Brian Wilson.

Speaking of Wilson...
I really was hoping he'd get the win.

He has 6. That's tied with Tim Lincecum. When your CLOSER has as many wins as your ace, you would have to assume your team is dreadful, not in first place approaching the All Star break.

It's been a weird year for the Giants.

It could be the oddest World Championship defense ever.
But hey! It is working.

You still worried about Tim Lincecum?

The Giants needed a win to take the series from Minnesota and they handed the ball to Tim Lincecum, who has looked decidedly human in his last 4 starts.

Like 0-2 with a 7.59 ERA in those 4 games.
Panic!
What should the Giants do?

Lest we forget that he had a crappy run LAST year as well.
Remember how he pitched in the post season?
4-1, 2.43 ERA, 43 strikeouts in 37 innings.
7 1/3 innings per start and winning the World Series clinching Game 5 in Texas.

So how did Linecum do today?
7 shutout innings, 3 hits 12 strikeouts and 2 walks.
Not bad.

Relax Giants fans.
He's fine.

Giants fans... it's time to shut up about the Buster Posey injury

Let me get this out of the way at the top.
The Giants are my second favorite team. (Oh I'm sorry... that would the DEFENDING WORLD CHAMPION Giants are my second favorite team.)

I basically made a video love letter to them this off season.

I am raising one of my sons as a Giants fan.

I would love to see them win the West and the NL Pennant again. And short of a Red Sox - Giants World Series, wouldn't mind seeing them repeating.

But the reaction of the Scott Cousins collision is getting to be absurd.

Yes. It was a devastating injury. I get it.
Yes. I understand the Giants lineup isn't deep enough to withstand a loss like this.

But a lot of Giant fans are crossing a strange and frankly annoying line.

Some of my friends have posted this picture where they are studying the trajectory of Scott Cousins path to the plate.

They are literally being some sort of a half assed Jim Garrison with this analysis.

I keep waiting for a friend of mine to insist there was a second slider and Scott Cousins was just a patsy.


Yes it sucks that Posey got hurt. I don't think a bang - bang play at the plate in extra innings was part of a conspiracy.


Which brings me to Brian Sabean. It's one thing for some drunk knucklehead to call the collision premeditated and cause for retribution. It's another thing when the General Manager of the Giants does it on the record.

In the wake of the stupid violence that went on against a Giants fan this year, isn't it ironic that the call of retribution came FROM the Giants' front office?

The injury last week put a damper on the year long love fest that has been the Giants World Series defense. But virtually EVERYTHING went right last year... this is some adversity.

The main thing is to fix the roster now and get a player who can replace Posey behind the plate and another bat. Now I wonder whose job that is...

SABEAN! So quit putting vendettas out there and do your damn job! Being the loon who claims collisions at the plate are "malicious" and the rest of the nonsense that foamed out of your mouth on KNBR might not exactly put you at a strong position to negotiate with other teams.

You better hope you don't have to make a deal with the Marlins!
Act like you've been there before, because YOU HAVE!

And finally a message to some other Giant fans...

Then there are my many Giant fan friends who can't stop bringing it up in mid conversation.

Remember how Lily Taylor kept writing songs about the boyfriend who dumped her in the movie Say Anything? Everyone was just super annoyed that she couldn't shut up about the guy.

That's what a lot of Giants fans are turning into.
The first few days. OK. But how long is this going to go on? The rest of the year?

Do you want to know the best revenge?
Winning.

And guess what the Giants are doing?
Winning.

They are the first place Giants. They've had a few dramatic wins in just the last few days. They are getting contributions from rookie Brandon Crawford and big power behind Cody Ross and Aubrey Huff.

And look at the Division they play in. The Dodgers are a joke. The Padres are rebuilding. Do you REALLY think the Diamondbacks are going to do this all year? And so far, the Giants have won 6 of 9 against Colorado and they go after them again today.

Even with NO Posey, the Giants have as good a shot as any team in the National League to win the pennant with the exception of Philadelphia. And guess what? The Phillies are not invincible.

Put the Giants staff in a short series against the Marlins? The Braves? The Rockies? The Reds? The Brewers? The Cardinals? Wouldn't you pick the Giants every time?

And speaking of the Cardinals, remember 2006?

They not only lost Mark Mulder but they lost their closer Jason Isringhausen before the playoffs. They had to slap together a playoff staff that included rejects (recently released Jeff Weaver) and untested rookies like Adam Wainwright.

Did they whine? Did they bitch and moan?

Nope.
They shut their mouth, injected their HGH and won the Damn World Series.

Take a page from that Giants.
Say "Yeah that sucked... but guess what? We're going to win anyway."

Because right now? You are bordering on Miss Havisham's territory.

Yeah that's right. I made a Charles Dickens reference in a baseball post.

And I have great expectations myself for this Giants team (see what I did?)

Your team is the defending champion.
Your team's name is the Giants.

Right now Giants fans, you are acting like neither a champion nor a giant.

It's not a bad stadium... but AT&T Park is better

For the first time since the mid 1950s, my dad is a fan of the defending World Series Champs. And who knows? They are in first place by themselves again and there could be another fun October this year.

It's my dad's birthday and everything I wrote a couple of years ago still stands.

The main thing that is different is I got to watch part of the World Series with him last year. We've both had recent World Series winners and for a long time it seemed like NEITHER of us would see our teams win.

I am still curious to see what would happen in a Giants - Red Sox World Series.
Maybe this is the year.

But that is speculation for the future.
For today, all I can say to the man my kids call "Poppy" is Happy Birthday. Let's have a lot more.

This Lincecum fellow isn't bad

Not sure if you noticed or not... but this kid can pitch.

And the Giants made a very interesting statement tonight. They went into Colorado, who were red hot and only lost 3 games all year (and as I wrote earlier, 2 of those losses were extra inning affairs.)

The light hitting Giants made sure the Rockies were down 5 runs before they even came to bat. And Lincecum made sure they didn't get as much as a hit until the 7th inning. By then it was an 8-0 ass whuppin'.

With Ubaldo Jimenez coming off the DL tomorrow, the Rockies can't be too sure what they are going to get from him. And the Giants are throwing Matt Cain on Wednesday.

In other words, the Giants are making a statement.
The Rockies may have the best record in baseball, but the Giants are still the champs.

And this Lincecum kid might have a future.

Giants fans... your team is called THE DEFENDING WORLD CHAMPION SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS

I expect your ALL to refer to your team that way all season.
It doesn't matter how many times you say "Giants" in a sentence... you need to call them by their full name.

"The Defending World Champion San Francisco Giants are playing today. Batting lead off for the Defending World Champion San Francisco Giants will be Andres Torres. Then Freddy Sanchez, the secondbaseman for the Defending World Champion San Francisco Giants..." etc etc.

You never know when you will be able to use that title again. And until they are eliminated, savor it... fans of the Defending World Champion San Francisco Giants.

It looks cool, doesn't it Giants fans?

It's real.
The Giants really did win the World Series.

I remember in 2005, I had to stop and pause every time I heard someone call the Red Sox "The Defending World Champions."

It made the whole year pretty cool.

Enjoy it.
Giant fans have earned it.

Something special happens around 0:59 of this video

7th inning of Game 5...

Lee and Lincecum are locking antlers in a pitchers duel...

Giant fans at the Public House watching.

For the first minute of this video, everyone is paying close attention, but know there are 2 outs, Cliff Lee is not the pinata he was in Game 1, and that a scoring opportunity may be squandered here.

I mean how many times can Edgar Renteria come through for the Giants.

Then the fly ball...

There is cautious optimism...

Then it completely clears the wall.

At around the 0:59 mark of this video, listen for that pause before the place erupts.

That pause was the very last moment that a Giant fan ever thought they were going to die without seeing their team win it all.

Then collective "YEAH!"

At that moment they knew the Giants were up 3-0 with Lincecum on the mound.

They knew that the World Series was theirs.

No more Finley grand slam.

No more J. T. Snow thrown out at the plate.

No more handing the game ball to Russ Ortiz.

No more Troy Glaus double or Scott Speizio homer.

No more Benny Agbayani walk off shot.

No more watching the Marlins get 3 walk off wins in two different series.

No more winning 103 games and missing the playoffs.

No more Earthquake series.

No more Jose Oquendo home run.

No more Maldonado losing it in the lights.

No more line drive by McCovey.

At that moment, all of that became prologue.

And the release of happiness was well earned.

I had a similar scream in 2004.

It felt good.

Enjoy it Giants fans.

Pitchers and catchers are reporting soon.

The Giant Alternative - A Sully Baseball Video

In my latest video, I question what MLB has done to appeal to younger fans and ask why they aren't marketing the World Champions more.

Filmed on location at AT&T Park... camera work by my lovely wife.

Rest in Peace, Red the Fish

Today we lost our fish, Red.
My son Aidan named him. He took one look at him and said "He's red. So his name is Red." And how is that less of a creative name than "Sully."

Before the 2010 postseason, I held up a logo of a baseball team on either side of his tank. Whichever side he swam to, I wrote down as his prediction.

He was pretty good.
In fact he predicted EVERY SINGLE post season series correctly until the World Series.
He picked the Rangers to win the World Series.
My wife picked the Giants and won.

Well, now he is gone... flushed to the great unknown.

You were a good fish, Red. We'll miss you. And you were a hell of a lot better at picking playoff series than me.

Rest in peace.

My last post for 2010

I guess it is appropriate that I am in San Francisco for the last day of 2010.
For all time, 2010 will be associated in baseball with the Giants and their unlikely title.

It was a good year to be a Giants fan... just ask my dad.
It was a good year to be a Rangers fan.
It was a good year to have Roy Halladay on your fantasy team.
It was a good year to be Joe Mauer or Adrian Gonzalez's accountant.

And it was a super fun year to write this blog.

There might be some changes in 2011 as I try to make Sully Baseball a little more ambitious.

But as 2010 goes, the readership grew in a much faster pace than I could have imagined and I thank you all for that.

So this post makes it 1,086 updates for the year... just about 3 a day.
Look for more in 2011.

Happy New Year everyone.
Let's hope 2011 is another great year for baseball.