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At the San Francisco Chronicle, Henry Schulman has been doing a tremendous series in which he interviews players from the 2010 San Francisco Giants team each week. I highly recommend checking it out.
This week he interviewed Jeremy Affeldt, and the interview was fascinating. I was most interested in Affeldt’s transparency about how his relationship with Bruce Bochy was not good in 2010, and how Bochy was honest with him, but spared no feelings. It was a fascinating glimpse into the dynamic of those teams, and eventually Affeldt and Bochy had a great relationship.
But the highlight was Affeldt’s admission that he couldn’t see in 2014, during his vital appearance in Game 7 of the World Series.
I go underneath the dugout and I’m sitting there shooting water in my eyes. Buster drops underneath the dugout and says, “How’re you feeling?” I said, “I’m feeling OK but I can’t see.” He says, “What? You’ve got to be kidding me. We have to tell Bochy and Rags.”
I said, “You’re going to tell that guy right now I can’t see? You’ll have to get the defibrillator out and jump-start him.” I go out to warm up for the last inning and my first warm-up hits the grass. Buster stood up and looked at me. I said, “Hey, I’ve got a 50-50 shot” (of throwing to the right Buster). I’m picking you up. I’m picking up the fans behind you and a lot of times I have to figure out which target I’m throwing at.” Again he said, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Then I hit (Alex) Gordon with a curveball. I got the wrong target. Buster is freaking out. Then I get a double-play and get out of it.
Holy crap.
Did Barry Bonds hit a home run today?
Yup.
May 14, 1997: Against the Cincinnati Reds, Bonds hit a solo home run in the 10th inning off of Mike Remlinger. It gave the Giants a 3-2 lead, and they would win 4-2. It was his 6th home run of the year.
May 14, 1998: In the first game of a doubleheader against the Montreal Expos, Bonds hit a 2-run home run in the 1st inning off of Dustin Hermanson, scoring Bill Mueller. It gave the Giants a 3-0 lead, and they would win 6-1. It was his 10th home run of the year.
Giants links
- Roger Munter on the organization’s depth at catcher (There R Giants)
- Maria Guardado talks with John Shea about the Willie Mays memoir (MLB)
- Ann Killion on what we can expect when sports return (SF Chronicle)
- Podcast: Alex Pavlovic and Kelli Johnson talk with Tyler Heineman (NBC Sports Bay Area)
- Podcast: Kate Scott and Andrew Baggarly talk about fan feelings (The Athletic, free)
- Craig Edwards on why a five-round draft is a mistake (Fangraphs)