The Morning After....

My Bowkermania signs.

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No?

…does this mean you now need to keep Moyer on your fantasy roster until the next Giants no-hitter?

Hopefully it won’t be 33 more years, but then, he is the “ageless lefty”.

and thinking occasionally “he’s looking good tonight”, until Pablo’s activity in the 5th. Then I figured “meh, blowout, maybe I’ll watch Firefly” (yes geeks I only started watching yesterday on hulu).

Then I got back to work, and looked at the line after the 6th and realized, like the old Python sketch… there’s something going on here! So I decided to curse it with my watching, like I did with Lincecum the previous night.

Until the 9th, I was trying to remember… how many times have I had to sit up and pay attention this year because someone had a no-hitter going? Two nights in a row, but several times this season I think. Not a problem I remember having in previous years.

I don’t know if it was mentioned yet, but the last no hitter against the Padres was thrown by Bud Black! The next one is liable to be Matt Cain tonight.

I got a new Giants hat today that I wore the whole game.

Driving home from Palo Alto, arrive on our block, it’s the break in the 9th. JD says, How are we going to choreograph this? (knowing we’re going to have an insane dog to greet us with screaming barks and flying leaps when we get in). Decided that I would jump out before he parked, open the front door, flip on the radio, turn it up loud, and JD would play with Charley in the front yard until he calmed down and the game was over.

But then we pulled up to the house. WTF, the garage door is open? We did not leave the garage door open. WTF. Check for a) yelling dog inside the house, b) bikes/skis/kitchen renovation stuff is all still in the garage. All is kosher. THEN go inside and turn on the radio, slightly distracted as to how the garage door was opened, wondering if we had been broken into or what. (Answer: Charley got the opener in his mouth and played with it while we were gone! Crazy dog.)

So we did hear the end. But the upshot is every time that my garage door is mysteriously open, when we’ve been gone for several hours drinking champagne and eating pork bellies and red velvet cake, the Giants are going to throw a no-hitter.

And in conclusion: Rally Charleyface!

I had tickets to the game and could not go

Last year, I was inspired by Sanchez to wear my facial hair like his (goatee with no mustache shaved). Like him, I occasionally let the mustache grow out, but yesterday morning I cleaned it up real nice in honor of his start that night.

And by the way, I’m still dancing!

I was sitting in front of my couch because that was the only place I could get Internet and talk to you lovely people.

My Internet went out.

I did not move.

Also, I did not turn any lights on even though it hurt a little to watch the TV in the dark like I was doing. But hey, Sanchez needed those lights in my house to be off, dammit.

Whiteside’s wearing Matheny’s old number.

eerie music

I guess my claim to fame here is that I never truly gave up on him. I was saying you cannot discount a lefty who throws 92. I advocated trading him, but to get something worthwhile in return. Not a Morrisesque dump.

So, even by hanging on by a thread, I suppose I am responsible for this.

I was on a first date with a girl who I had been wanting to ask out for a while. I had to keep getting up at dinner and looking at the box score on my phone when I realized what was happening. We had plans to go to an outdoor jazz festival after dinner but after the 7th I told her we needed to stop by a sports bar for a minute. I figured I would just get the fact that I’m a Giants fanatic out of the way early. To make a long story short we never made it to that jazz festival. I can’t tell you how many shots I ended up taking in celebration, and my date turned out a complete success! All-in-all one of the best nights I’ve had this summer! Amazing!!!!

I went to Thursdays game. Sat in the bleachers and the energy was electrifying as Lincecum went into the 7th with no hits. When it was broken up, I said aloud to my girlfriend “one of these guys are gonna throw a no-hitter this year. Maybe Cain on Saturday.”

A friend called and offered an extra ticket to Fridays game, but I live in Sacramento and had already been to the last two games. Between gas, parking and the usual 5 beers I buy…cost was an issue. Plus, it was Sanchez and I figured our chances of winning were low. So, I watched it by myself at a dive bar and couldn’t believe what I saw. I’m a grown man, but Sanchez hugging his dad then running out of the dugout for a curtain call brought a few tears to my eyes.

I was so shocked that anyone would have EITHER Moyer or Sanchez on their fantasy team that I looked up the #’s on ESPN fantasy. Moyer is on 6.7% of teams, Sanchez 4.1%.

I broke my finger playing three flies up. MAGIC BROKEN FINGER

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/sweetspot/0-4-46/An-unlikely-no-no-for—the-Spaniard-.html

I do want to mention (again) how much I like the Giants’ TV broadcasters, Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow. Particularly Krukow. When Sanchez came to bat in the bottom of the eighth, Krukow said

      Well, Tim Flannery has nicknamed Jonathan Sanchez “the Spaniard.” And in that movie, “Gladiator,” there’s that one line that says, “Spaniard, you win the crowd, you win your freedom,” and he’s really won the crowd tonight.

What we don’t know yet is what else Sanchez has won. But again, that’s a discussion for another day. Let’s just enjoy this moment.

I didn’t call my dad and tell him to watch (7th inning) because I didn’t want to jinx Dirty. I think my dad probably missed the no-no watching CSI repeats or something…

a guy named sanchez won today’s TDF stage.

/theremin

I called up Sanchez’ dad and told him to go to the game.

1. Last Years Cy Young Winner
2. The possibly last 300 Hundred Game Winner
3. Two Additional CY Youngs
4. The only No-Hitter this Year

In Conclusion…

Matt Cain really is a third starter at best.

Here is what a manic retard I am:

Having other engagements, I TIVO the game, arriving home about 9:00 pm. I arrange some snacks & beverages and plop on the sofa, ready for the game.

I’m running about 2 hours behind real time but am gaining ground by zipping through the commercials, trips to the mound and Amy G.

Now like any seasoned fan, I begin to think something special is happening around the 5th inning or so…Sanchez looked as dominant as we always thought he could be. Dingerz, runz…all the best stuff was going on for the Giants.

Here’s the nutty part – I refused to change my position on the couch for fear of jinxing anything. I wouldn’t get up to go to the restroom (postgame was a bit of a race with the devil, I must say), when my wife happened by & asked how the game was going I just mumbled something unintelligible and I was out of snacks and couldn’t go to the kitchen for more…FOR A GAME THAT HAD HAPPENED 2 HOURS AGO!!!!!!!!

It’s like rooting for the highlights, hoping something different happens this time.

My shrink says I’m not getting any better.

I almost thought it was a dream when I woke up.

Grant had the chance to get Sanchez into his fantasy lineup and went with Moyer. And I’m something like 3 ten thousandths ahead of him in ERA. So, last night’s game was really a win-win.

Baggs:

Fresno announcer Doug Greenwald passes along this nugget:

The last two no-hitters for the Giants in San Francisco were both umpired by the Runges. In Ed Halicki’s no-hitter at Candlestick Park in 1975, Paul Runge was the second base umpire. His son, Brian, had the plate for Sanchez.

Who’s ready to petition for a Runge to umpire all Giants games from this day forth?

changed my mind literally at the last second saying “if we go theyll lose, if we stay home theyll win. lets just take one for the team.” played wii and drank beers with the game on in the background.

after pablos MONSTER home run we decided to go see Bruno. I went to shut the tv off and saw the line score and said to my brother, “wait… we cant go yet.” he argued that it was over but I didnt want to say why we had to stay. he didnt get it until after the commercial break when he saw the line score. it was top of the seventh and i dont think we said anything but “dude, seriously?” after each out. after rowands catch we went from dead silent to an explosion of screams.

i NEVER get friday nights off. any other friday night and i would have been at work, but this night i got to share one of the most memorable things in my life with my little brother.

[IMG]http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x276/albooboo33/188de3cb-ed55-4dad-9387-e568745ab15.jpg[/IMG]

“Also, in case anyone worried about Runge getting caught up in the moment, the PitchFX cameras did have the final pitch of the game in the zone. It was high and away (the “1” button on your phone), but it was a strike. The impact of Sanchez moving from his fastball to his off-speed stuff in later innings is clear by the number of strikeouts, and what pitch type each third strike was. Once he switched to the slider, the Padres were helpless against it."

I have no great story. I was home in Oaktown, the fiancee was dog-sitting for a friend in SF, so for the first Friday in a long time I could actually listen to the game and follow it on McC. (My fiancee is incredibly understanding and supportive of me posting to this site at all hours of the day, but I try to keep it down on weekends. I wouldn’t want her to think I’m a total nerd or anything.)

Right around the 5th inning, making dinner, I think, “hmmm…maybe I’ll log in and post. That’ll probably jinx it, though.” It didn’t, I never uttered the words “no hitter” once before the final out (which is good, because I was home by myself), and I was actually got up from my chair to stand when there were two outs in the 9th. As I told the future Mrs. Kitspool when she got home, I’m really glad I didn’t miss this game.

I missed most of the game – heard some of the beginning on the radio, so a few moments during the fifth or so, and then the last inning and a half.

Still, what I saw, it was awesome.

realized it wasn’t a dream…and felt good all over again :-)

Is it wrong that those are the only words I have to describe the no-hitter?

Before the game, I was talking to Travis Ishikawa when Sanchez tapped me on the left shoulder while walking past on my right. That used to be Alex Hinshaw’s favorite prank.

"Who are you, Hinshaw?" I said.

"No, I’m not Hinshaw," he said.

"He’s a reliever. You’re a starter," I said.

"Oh yeah, believe it," he said.

We believe it now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqGsxwQpa_g

I was looking at Ishikawa’s splits, since he seems to be improving so much. Indeed, he’s gotten better each month in terms of OPS:

April: .224 / .264 / .286 / 0 HR / 15 K
May: .293 / .397 / .379 / 1 HR / 18 K
June: .250 / .283 / .591 / 4 HR / 11 K
July: .333 / .351 / .556 / 2 HR / 10 K

While the strike outs look like they’re way up from June, he already has almost as many at bats in July as he did in June, so the rate is similar.

I haven’t been this excited about Giants baseball in a long time. Even if the season ends in heartbreak, this is fun.

After Timmy’s start:

in the sixth. Tony Gwynn Jr. broke up the bid when he singled to left leading off the seventh on Lincecum’s 82nd pitch.

“We definitely didn’t want to get no-hit,” Gwynn said.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=290709126

This pretty much made me forget about the All-Star thing. Pablo will be OK.

I still got goosebumps and a little teary-eyed in the 9th inning. Just a remarkable game.

I also listened to the KNBR midnight replay last night. Jon Miller obviously does NOT believe in the broadcaster’s jinx.

Lol. Someone in my fantasy league just picked up Barry Zito…

I did watch it however, which is pretty rare for me because kid won’t go to bed with the TV on.

I’m still just so pumped up from the game last night, still watching highlights and youtube vids. Can not wait to get to the park tonight to see Cain pitch, i heard sandoval was taken out last night?

Cody Ross says Haren was the best pitcher he faced all year. I’m trying to recall which Giants pitched against the Marlins last series.

Enter code “panda” at sfgiants.com

Third deck only, but still $10 for a Matt Cain game.

Does anyone know what score is being used for the Giant’s Wrap highlight for last niight on sfgiants.com?

Let’s say that the most beautiful woman on earth (if that’s your thing) has you over to her home, makes a great dinner, serves great champagne, serves the city’s finest pie for dessert, is funny, sweet, charming; wears sexy outfits all night, looks at you across her champagne flute and signals you toward her bedroom with her eyes; she makes passionate love to you doing all your favorite things; with many encores during the night. And over the croissant and tea in the morning, uses the non-word “irregardless.” Would you think the experience was tainted? Would you feel bad about the night?

Didn’t think so.

Then why be irritated with Uribe?

But I don’t hate him. Errors happen. The good Lord tells us to be thankful for our bounty.

In the Spring of 2007, my wife asked me to donate our tickets to a game to a benefit for our daughter’s school. I said which game (I share season tickets with two other guys)? She said, “I don’t care, pick a shitty one.” I thought about it and then quickly focused in on the August 7th Tuesday night game against the Nationals. At the silent auction, I noticed that there was one bid for the tickets for a total of $50. These are field club seats (4 together) and are pretty insane if I might say so myself (and for the record I sat in 138 for 5 years). I thought about buying them back myself for $51 and figured it was a Tuesday night game against the Nats… Good choice.

Cut to now. My wife and kids are gone for two weeks. I went to three games last week. It was awesome. I had to be in Boston for meeting this whole week and on weds, I decided to leave a day early so i could catch my first game ever at Fenway. I put my Friday tickets up for sale on StubHub and sold them for $40 each (face is about $80).

I arrived in Boston last night and went to dinner with friends. I came back to my hotel room to see what was on the tube and of course ended up on ESPN classic which was showing a rerun of game 6 from 2002 (you know which one). I had not seen it since seeing it and was surprisingly unfazed by watching it again. I made it through the Erstad’s homer making it 5-4 and could not tolerate it anymore. That was about 10PM EDT and so i put the Giants game on my Iphone (the MLB at Bat app is the single best reason to have one) and settled into bed to listen. It was just about the purest form of enjoyment. It was so good that I fell asleep in about 15 minutes. I woke up once after Pablo’s homer and then again in the top of the ninth. Needless to say, I did not really go back to sleep and have been floating around Boston all day. Tonight, I go to Fenway and will wear my Giants hat with great pride. I can’t wait to see what happens the next time I sell my tickets for nothing…

The Giants ranked… 4th?

4. San Francisco Giants (46-38; Previous: 9) – Giants invoke mandatory text voting on bus and between at-bats, so sure they’d get Pablo "Kung Fu Panda" Sandoval into All-Star game they’d sent a box of bamboo shoots ahead to Busch Stadium. Maybe the Flyin’ Hawaiian has a taste for them.

And it is still beautiful!!

Tonight you’re mine completely,
You give your love so sweetly,
Tonight the light of love is in your eyes,
But will you love me tomorrow?

Is this a lasting treasure,
Or just a moment’s pleasure,
Can I believe the magic of your sighs,
Will you still love me tomorrow?

Tonight with words unspoken,
You said that I’m the only one,
But will my heart be broken,
When the night (When the night)
Meets the morning sun.

I’d like to know that your love,
Is love I can be sure of,
So tell me now and I won’t ask again,
Will you still love me tomorrow?
Will you still love me tomorrow?

I was feeling so good this morning that I had chocolate cake for breakfast…

Off to the game now, going to santa cruz then to the game, heard it’s raining down in the south bay in the mountains, have a great day guys

We’re newlyweds, and she’s new to watching baseball… Watching the replay this morning she sobbed, “His dad flew out to support him, and he was probably going to get sent down forever, but he pitched like the greatest thing ever, and his dad was there to see it and it’s just so perfect.” …and I thought, “My god, thank you for sending me this angel!”

Is everyone else decked out in their finest Giants clothing??? I did the shopping this morning just so I could walk around like a rooster.

I was in the middle of a bowl of Honey Nut Cherrios in the 6th inning when I realized what was happening. So… I had no choice but to continue eating bowls and bowls of Cherrios until the game was over.

Totally worth it.

Today I got a plushy panda wearing a karate outfit (gi) in the mail. Not the ones they sold at the Build a Bear. This one came from Amazon. A friend sent it to me.

Oh and the best thing about last night: I didn’t have to stab anyone!

so i may a crack up yonder about how zito should twitter about how to find that jessica alba sex robot and then check his twitter to see if he responded and saw that he deleted it LOL.. musta been in the last couple of days because I swear it was up (twss) in the last few days.

http://twitter.com/BarryZito
RIP

:)

Wow ESPN’s still talking about it.

with sanchez against the padres

I was in Vegas last night in the Sports Book at the Venetian. Funny thing they didn’t give us Audio on the game until the last out. Yes, the Yankees command full attention even during a no hitter, which is alright because they were showing the Padres feed. The whole experience was really bizarre considering I had to listen to the Padres announcers call the final strikeout. I also made money on them (I always bet on them straightup for superstitious reasons).

Afterwards, I got to get my party on down the strip into the early morning. Walking around drunk, gambling and yelling “No hitter!!!!” every five minutes. Great place for this to happen.

I spent the entire 7th and 8th innings explaining to my girlfriend why nobody was sitting next to Jonathan Sanchez in the dugout and why you weren’t supposed to say the words “no” and “hitter” without actually saying the words “no” and “hitter.”

By far the most exhausted I’ve ever been after watching a regular season game on TV.

I had no idea.
Whodathunkit?

Think I’m going to do something I used to do a lot but have somehow left behind…
…read an entire Gamethread.
Bye.

SUCK IT RUSSELL MARTIN!!

so good. what was that? “Ice is only good for _______ and my bourbon & 7.” what was the ______? I missed that.