Fear The Blog

I’m Not Here

Kaiser The Great — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 18:59:21 +0000

While I was excited that MLBlogs was moving everybody to WordPress.com and away from the horror that is Moveable Type, I guess I wasn’t that excited because it took me three months to get around to checking out the relocation.

Since I’m retired and not really here, I’m not sure why I felt the need to change the look of this blog, other than I’ve never really liked the three themes we were offered at the old MLBlogs and was excited about the opportunity to use any WordPress theme I want. In the end, I went the unoriginal route and am trying out their latest and greatest theme. I’m not sure I love it, but there’s lots of fun stuff to play with, so I’m keeping it for now. (I hope there’s a way to change the link color to something other than Dodger Blue though!)

As for the year-in-baseball so far, this is my second year actively following the Giants, and it pretty much reminds me of last year. They can pitch, they can’t hit, their roster is full of “old guys” nobody wanted and rookies with crazy potential, and they are constantly being written off as an impossibility but continue to be contenders. Actually, the only real difference between this year and last year is that they have been first in their division for a much greater duration than they were last year because the unstoppable Padres are a thing of the past and dead last.

Without this blog, I must admit to not paying as much attention to the team this year as I did the year prior. I don’t have to know what happened in a game or series if I don’t have to write about it. Not that I watched ever game religiously last year either (I have a family that competes with the television) but if I missed a game last year, I made a point to at least watch the highlights and read the recaps. I’m not quite as religious about that now.

But that said, I still listen to sports radio and have kept up with the team’s status and player changes, and sneak in a game every once in awhile on the television when the kids are asleep and the wife is engrossed in a gardening book. I’ve even gone to two live games so far this season (I am 2-0) and have another scheduled for next week, which I think ties me for last year’s game attendance count.

So to recap, I have no idea what I’m talking about. I am into them as much as I was last year, I guess it just feels “less” because I’m not constantly forming what I see and hear into paragraphs. Is that good or bad? Am I back or just goofing around? I don’t know, but here’s another post.

WordPress sure is cool, isn’t it?

WordPress?

Kaiser The Great — Wed, 11 May 2011 20:37:30 +0000

WordPress you say? SO coming back now. Maybe.

Retired

Kaiser The Great — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 22:55:07 +0000

I started this blog a year ago as an exercise in earning my newfound fanaticism for baseball and the Giants, and while I may not have posted as often as I should have, and I’m not really sure I ever found the voice or direction I was looking for, I did manage to post every month, meet some good people, made it on the top leaders board twice, and got to follow a team from their beginnings in spring training to taking it all in November.

It was fun, but I think I’m done. Not with baseball or the Giants, mind you, I’m still paying attention on a regular basis (not that ANYTHING is happening…zzz…) but my interest in blogging has wained. I blame Facebook and Twitter, which makes sharing ones thoughts far easier through their services than having to compose multiple coherent (and hopefully entertaining) paragraphs by way of blog. (Especially Movable Type Pro.)

I know you’ll miss me, but I’ll still be around, reading and commenting on many an excellent blog I’ve become addicted to. You can also befriend me on Facebook, if you haven’t already. I post lots of links and opinions there, sometimes they’re even baseball related.

So update your feed reader of choice, this site is now officially historical, an archive of my first year actually paying attention to a sport I’ve always claimed to love. It was a helluva ride, thanks Giants!

Jeter Signs with Giants!

Kaiser The Great — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 21:24:53 +0000

Psyche.

One to Go…

Kaiser The Great — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 19:57:34 +0000

Juan Uribe has signed a 3-year $21 million deal with the Dodgers.

My first real Giants break up. I was under no illusions that this team would stay the same forever. Heck, it didn’t’ stay the same throughout the season. But I also knew it would be weird to see players I’ve come to love wearing someone else’s uniform, a freakin’ Dodgers uniform, no less.

I’ll miss his ability to hit clutch, and I love him at third base way more than the Panda. On the other hand, I’m glad the Giants didn’t spend that kind of money to resign a 31 year old who hasn’t had a .300+ batting average since his debut in 2001.

Speaking of resigning old players, I’m not AS stoked as I was last post about Huff returning, now that they’ve announced that the deal consists of a 2-year $20 million contract. I don’t think I would have paid that much. There’s a reason it’s called a “career year” (singular). Let’s hope it pays off.

Ch..ch..ch..changes. Now we need a new shortstop.

One Down…

Kaiser The Great — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 17:44:53 +0000

So I guess I just needed to be patient one more day and I would have had something to talk about. Aubrey Huff has returned with a two-year contract with a club option for 2013.

I don’t necessarily want everyone back, but Huff was certainly on the Want List. He had a great season this year, he was the home run leader with 26 and third in batting average with .290.

Rk	Pos		Age	G	AB	R	H	HR ▾	RBI	BA
1	1B	Aubrey Huff*	33	157	569	100	165	26	86	.290
2	SS	Juan Uribe	30	148	521	64	129	24	85	.248
3	C	Buster Posey	23	108	406	58	124	18	67	.305
4	LF	Pat Burrell	33	96	289	41	77	18	51	.266
5	OF	Andres Torres#	32	139	507	84	136	16	63	.268

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/23/2010.

He’s was also seventh place in this year’s NL MVP, which is pretty cool. That means he’s officially the 7th best player in the National League, right? Okay I guess it doesn’t mean that, but it’s cool anyway.

It’s funny because when he was first signed, no one, including myself, was particularly excited about the acquisition. He was an old guy with a .189 batting average for 2009 and if you Googled him, all you could find was a picture of him topless on the Howard Stern show. I was way more interested in Mark DeRosa. Just shows what the hell I know eh? Or any of us, for that matter.

He may have cooled off a bit towards the end of the season, but he was also there from the beginning and was bound to be a bit more tired than guy who just came out of the woodwork at the last minute. No one can argue that Huff wasn’t an integral part of this year’s World Series win, both on and off the field, and I hope his presence next year keeps the fires lit.

I guess this means the rally thong won’t be going to the Hall of Fame just yet.

Questions

Kaiser The Great — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 17:32:12 +0000

Man post-post season is ridiculously boring, isn’t it? Even Jane Heller has been reduced to move reviewing. There could be news if someone would actually do something, but so far there’s just unanswered questions, like…

1) Will Aubrey Huff and Juan Uribe like their offers and come back next year?

2) Will Jonathan Sanchez, Andres Torres, Cody Ross, Mike Fontenot, Ramon Ramirez, Santiago Casilla, Javier Lopez and Chris Ray come to arbitration agreements?

3) Will Zito learn to pitch again or will they downgrade him to an 8 bazillion dollar bench warmer?

4 Will Pablo Sandoval be playing next season or will he eat himself out of baseball during the break?

5) Will Mark DeRosa…do…um…anything?

Heck, I’m so bored I’m even watching to see what happens to Jeter and Werth! I think they should come to the Giants. Yeah right.

2010 Cy Young

Kaiser The Great — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 17:34:19 +0000

Congrats to Roy Halladay for winning the 2010 Cy Young Award.

With a perfect game, a post-season no hitter, a 21-10 win-loss record and an overall 2.44 ERA, all in one season, who else could have won this thing, really? As awesome as Giants starters were this season, I didn’t expect any of them to snag it, as none of them had those kind of stats. It was nice to see three on the list though, including Matt Cain and Brian Wilson, the latter who scored more points than Lincecum. Crazy.

So again congrats to Roy Halladay. I love pitching and you were certainly impressive this year. BTW, Cody Ross says “hi.”

2010 TYIB Awards

Kaiser The Great — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 18:21:19 +0000

Pitching won the World Series and yet not a single Giants starter is amongst the nominees for MLB’s This Year In Baseball Awards. Who comes up with the nominees? It almost seems too silly to participate in the voting, but of course I did. If you’d like to vote party, here’s a handy-dandy cheat sheet. Remember you can vote more than once in each category, so make sure you tag every Giant!

STARS

Rookie – Buster Posey

Closer – Brian Wilson

X-Factor – Pat Burrell

Executive – Brian Sabean

Manager – Bruce Bochy

Postseason MVP – Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Cody Ross, Brian Wilson

MUST C

Postseason – Tim Lincecum, Buster Posey, Edgar Renteria, Juan Uribe, Brian Wilson

And there you have it. Apparently there was nothing to see from the Giants until they hit the postseason. Awesome.

2010 Rookie of the Year

Kaiser The Great — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 20:06:47 +0000

Congrats to Buster Posey on being the 2010 National League Rookie of the Year!

Buster beat out his main contender, Jason Heyward with 129 points to Heyward’s 107. I don’t really get how the points thing works, but it sounds good.

At least in my neck of the woods, there’s been a lot of speculation as to whether Posey would get it, as Heyward and Posey’s records are fairly close, but Heyward played all year while Posey didn’t show up until June. I’m not sure what put Posey over the top. I don’t think it was the post-season, because I think they have to vote on that stuff before it happens. It was probably the complete shift in awesome between Pre-Posey-Giants and Post-Posey-Giants. Or maybe it was because Posey is a catcher, and catching the best pitching staff in baseball, while Heyward is a right fielder, which probably isn’t as glorious a position.

Whatever the reason, good decision Voters of Stuff!

Rookie of the Year AND World Series ring in the same year? It’s good to be Buster.