3 is a big number for the Giants right now

The number 3 is retired at AT&T Park in San Francisco for former New York Giant great Bill Terry. He was a Hall of Fame first baseman and was the player/manager for the 1933 World Champion Giants.

I bet most Giant fans have no clue who he is.

But they should be thinking about his number in regards to the playoff push.

They were sunk tonight in Los Angeles... down 4-0 in the 7th... down 4-3 in the 9th inning... they were on the verge of letting wasting another chance to take advantage of the Padres struggles.

Then Juan Uribe did his best Brian Johnson impersonation and slugged a gigantic homer against L.A.

It was a big one... one of those if the Giants DO win this Division, it will be shown again and again on the Diamondvision by China Basin.

The standings say the Giants are 2 games back of the freefalling Padres.

Actually they are 3 back in the loss column, which is probably a better barometer of what the Giants have to do.

They are also 3 games behind the Phillies for the Wild Card. Now granted, the Phillies look like a run away freight train. Good luck stopping them.

But the Giants have 26 games to make up 3 in the loss column to these two teams.
They come to San Diego for four games next weekend.

And how does the season end? With a series between the Giants and the Padres in San Francisco.

How many games in that series?

Three.

I know I've said this about the Brewers already but...

They NEED to go fulltime back to the M-B glove logo.

They just LOOK like the Brewers when they play with that hat.

Look, if you don't want the block letter uniform with the stripes, fine.

I like them but I can take or leave them. But the hats have to stay.

The Brewers had a fantastic rally last night in the 9th inning capped by Prince Fielder (who looked like he was wearing 2 uniforms worth of material) getting a strange hit off of a sidewall in Miller Park to score the tying and winning runs.

And the whole thing looked cooler in the Harvey Wallbanger get up.

TELL ME I'M WRONG!

I update the board with pleasure!!!

Best win of the year!

I'll say it... yes even better than Jason Bay homering off of Rivera.

This was the definition of a teeth grinder in the making. Heck it even had the stupid image of Buchholz running, stopping and getting thrown out!

It was the game that was going to knock the Sox off a playoff spot.

They were ONE STRIKE FROM LOSING!

They've won 4 of 5 since the Yankee series against good teams. And this one was a Remo Williams-esque bullet dodging.

DODGED A BULLET GAMES - 16

April 17 - 10-8 win against Orioles. (Overcame 7-0 deficit.)

April 24 - 5-4 win against Yankees. (Bay homers off of Rivera in 9th to tie it.)

April 25 - 16-11 win against Yankees. (Overcame 6-0 deficit.)

April 29 - 6-5 win at Cleveland. (Overcame 5-0 deficit.)

May 12 - 4-3 win at Anaheim. (Down 3-1 in the 8th.)
June 11 - 4-3 win against Yankees. (Down 3-1 in the 8th. Rallied against Sabathia.)

June 12 - 5-2 win at Philadelphia. (Overcame Ryan Howard's 9th inning shot to win in 13)

June 21 - 6-5 win against Atlanta. (The wind turns Nick Green's fly ball into a walk off shot)

June 27 - 1-0 win at Atlanta. (Masterson and Papelbon wiggle out of late jams.)
July 1 - 6-5 win at Baltimore. (Sox score 4 in the 9th and Lugo wins in in the 11th)

July 8 - 5-4 win against Oakland. (Wind keeps Hairston's 9th inning go ahead homer in the ballpark)

July 10 - 1-0 win against Kansas City. (Pedroia drives in the only run with 2 outs in the 8th.)

July 30 - 8-5 win against Oakland. (Ortiz tests postive then hits a 2 out 3 run go ahead homer.)

July 31 - 6-5 win at Baltimore. (Youk's 2 run homer saves Smoltz from another bad start.)

August 10 - 6-5 win against Detroit. (Sox snap 6 game losing streak with 7th inning rally.)

August 14 - 8-4 win at Texas. (Victor Martinez hits a 2 run 2 strike 2 out double to take the lead and make up for Buchholz's baserunning mishap.)

TEETH GRINDER GAMES - 21

April 14 - 6-5 loss at Oakland. (Sox blow early 3-0 lead. Lose in 12)

April 28 - 9-8 loss at Cleveland. (Sox blow early 5-1 lead. Lopez drops 3rd out.)
May 14 - 5-4 loss at Anaheim. (Ortiz goes 0-7 stranding 12 runners.)
May 15 - 5-4 loss at Seattle. (Red Sox blow their second 4-0 lead in three days.)

May 17 - 3-2 loss at Seattle. (Red Sox strand two in the 9th. Lose in the bottom of the 9th.)

May 23 - 3-2 loss to the Mets. (Papelbon lets up a 2 out 2 run homer in the 9th to Omir Santos)

June 18 - 2-1 loss to the Marlins. (Rain washes out a tight game after 5+ innings.)

June 28 - 2-1 loss to the Braves. (Tying run on base in the 9th. Solid Penny outing wasted)
June 30 - 11-10 loss at Baltimore. (The Red Sox blow a late 10-1 to the lowly Orioles.)
July 3 - 7-6 loss to Seattle. (Red Sox comeback in the 8th only to lose in the 11th.)

July 4 - 3-2 loss to Seattle. (Saito walks three in the 9th as the Mariners rally to win)

July 9 - 8-6 loss to the Royals. (Bullpen blows early 4-0 lead.)

July 21 - 4-2 loss at Texas. (Beckett loses a complete game and the Yankees take over first.)

July 22 - 3-1 loss at Texas. (Sox are swept for the first time all season.)

July 28 - 9-8 loss to Oakland. (Sox blow 3 run lead in 9th. A's rally with 2 outs in 9th and 11th.)

July 29 - 8-6 loss to Oakland. (Down 5-0 in the first, Sox comeback falls short)

August 4 - 4-2 loss in Tampa Bay. (Longoria hits 13th inning walk off with first base open.)

August 5 - 6-4 loss in Tampa Bay. (Sox gets swept in a 2 game series with the tying run at the plate).

August 7 - 2-0 loss in New York. (A-Rod's walk off with 2 outs in the 15 ends a teeth grinding marathon.)

August 9 - 5-2 loss in New York. (4 outs from avoiding a sweep, Bard lets up back to back homers to Damon and Teixeira.)

August 13 - 2-0 loss to Detroit. (Verlander wiggles out of early and late jams.)

-5... let's win this series tomorrow.

For those of you who didn't understand my Remo Williams reference... here's a clip that will probably clarify NOTHING.

I dedicate this entry to two different fans at the Cleveland game last night

There were 20,929 tickets sold for yesterday's Cleveland/Tampa Bay game.

The number of people who saw the mindboggling ending where the Indians came all the way back from an early 10-0 hole with a wild 7 run bottom of the 9th inning was a lot smaller than 20,929.

The staff at Sully Baseball salutes two specific fans among the 20.929.

1. THE GUY WHO WAS PRESSURED TO LEAVE

Inevitably there was a big time Indians fan there with his friends. This guy loved Andre Thornton, Joe Carter and thought Greg Swindell was going to be a left handed Roger Clemens.

This guy is still bitter about Jose Mesa's 9th, Tony Fernandez's error and Joel Skinner not waving home Kenny Lofton.

And this guy was at the game with his friends who wanted to split when the game was 10-0.

This guy didn't want to leave. He knows the Indians came back from a 12-0 lead on August 5th, 2001! They scored 4 in the 8th and 5 in the 9th and 1 in the 11th!

But his friends wanted to go. His friends wanted to go to some cook out or some kegger.

And by the 8th inning when it was still 10-2, he gave in. 

But as he was leaving, pressured into abandoning his seat, he looked back at the field, knowing he was doing the wrong thing.

I hope he gave his friends more grief than Job ever got on the ride home.

"YOU DIDN'T LISTEN TO ME! WE WATCHED THE LOUSY 10-0 PART OF THE GAME!"

I feel your pain, brother.

I hope your friends bought all of your drinks.

2. THE GUY OR GAL WHO CONVINCED THEIR FRIENDS TO STAY

Inevitably there was someone who persuaded their friends to stick around.

I bet they said "It ain't over til it's over."

I bet they said "Stranger things have happened!"

And I bet they capped it off by saying "I bet you thought the Cavs/Magic game was over before LeBron took his shot!"

And when Victor Martinez hit that liner up the middle, I hope that person thumped their chest like Greystoke!

I hope they screamed "I TOLD YOU!!! I TOLD YOU!!!"

Baseball is the greatest team sport there is... and I submit yesterday's Cleveland/Tampa Bay game as proof.


No clock to run out. No taking a knee. You need to get that 27th out.

These highlights give me goose bumps, and I don't like either team!

ENJOY.

BRING BACK OIL CAN!!!!

I called up my cousin Dave the other day during the A-Rod press conference to assure him that I would not throw him under the bus if I ever were involved in a steroid scandal.

He asked me if I had heard about Oil Can Boyd... which I hadn't. But any non steroid news would be welcome, especially about one of my favorite players from the 1980s.

Well the Can is trying a comeback.
He hasn't pitched in a big league game since getting lit up on October 1, 1991 while pitching for the Rangers, but he wants back in.

And the staff at Sully Baseball thinks he should get a chance!

Why?

1) He's been playing in the minor leagues... granted the independent Brockton Rocks but it's not like he's been just sitting on his La-Z boy since the first George Bush was in office.

2) Current batters haven't seen him. Hell, in this year's draft there will be some kids in the first round who weren't even born when he threw his last pitch.

3) Baseball needs a renaissance of nicknames, and few ones were as cool as "Oil Can."

4) Pitching is bad enough on so many teams that how could a flier on the Can be any worse? The Pirates signed two kids from India who have never played baseball before but won a reality show. Kind of like The Rookie meets Slumdog Millionaire.

How could bringing the Can back be worse than making the baseball equivalent of Sanjaya a shot?

5) Oil Can is healthier than Mike Hampton. At this point I think Stephen Hawking is healthier than Mike Hampton!

6) Oil Can's hero is Satchel Paige. The fact that Paige was only one year younger than Oil Can is now when he made his debut with the Indians is part of Oil Can's inspiration. And playing a game of Six Degrees of Separation would bring a lot of today's players closer to Satchel.

Satchel started pitching in the 1920s and dominated through the 1930s and early 1940s. He was denied the chance to stare down Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Mel Ott and all of the other stars at that time.

He was brought out of retirement in 1965 to pitch a game on the last home stand of the year for the Kansas City A's.
Despite being 58 at the time, he pitched three scoreless innings against the Red Sox... letting up only one hit: A double to Carl Yastrzemski.

When Yastrzemski, the last major leaguer to get a hit off of Paige, retired in 1983, one of his teammates was Oil Can Boyd.

That's a pretty short connection. Let's have that connection continue to today's players!

and finally

7) Wouldn't Oil Can getting one more shot be a welcome relief from all of this steroid talk? Wouldn't it be great to bring back a guy who loved the game and was one of the great characters... at least to give him a shot!


So come on! There are 30 teams out there and ALL of them need another arm.

Bring back the Can!

You know someone left Fenway early

You know it... someone saw the carnage of a 7-0 lead at the 7th inning stretch and said "F This... I don't need to see my team lead to the hangman's noose like the end of In Cold Blood."

That guy probably felt like staying for the final 9 outs would be a grotesque act of masochism and left to beat the traffic.

I can also imagine that guy wanting to shut the Red Sox completely from his mind for the night.

"I spent nearly 7 months obsessing over this team and for what? To see them get man handled by Tampa Bay and not even show up in their home park?" He probably thinks.

He doesn't turn the radio on... putting on a CD.
Not Dropkick Murphys or Sweet Caroline.

He turns his phone off to not get the inevitable call from his Yankee buddy who wants to rub it in.

And he drives off to Maynard or Sudbury or wherever he lives... beating the traffic.

When he gets home, he doesn't turn on the TV or check his e mail.

That guy is probably asleep right now thinking the Red Sox season is over.
He won't know until tomorrow morning when he reluctantly reads the Globe.

I can't decide if they person should be pitied (for missing the come back), mocked (for leaving the game) or envied (his surrealistic parallel universe experience would be unique and not unlike George Bailey finding Zuzu's pedals.)