The Year in Review in Giants Baseball

Check list for an acceptable year
☒A. Beat the Dodgers
☐  1. Every time
☑  2. Most of the time
☑  3. Foil them in their quest for the pennant

☒B. Win all games at least half the time
☑  1. Half the time
☑  2. More than half the time

☒C. Win The Pennant

☒D. Win The World Series

October Surprise

All sources point to a devastating landfall for Hurricane Sandy this weekend along the Atlantic coast of the United States. That's where many if not most of my fellow Americans live, and I wish them all well, even the Republicans.

I hope all levels of government respond to the thrashing Sandy is about to deliver in a timely and effective way, too. A litmus test doesn't usually require this much water, but it would be good to confirm that America as a nation can at least still handle some things that need massive coordinated government effort, like a big, big storm and its wake.

The Curious Incident of the Unforeseen History Lesson

[Cue Twilight Zone music]

By some agency unknown to me the following scrap of newspaper settled on my lawn this morning. I found it when I went out to get today's paper, brought it inside and took this picture of it, which is unretouched, although it may get downsampled by Blogger a couple of times before it gets posted. Notice up in the corner a few line of Wallace Steven's "Notes On A Supreme Fiction," which is a fine effort in its own right, of course, but the eye is drawn to the headline on that page of the Santa Cruz Sentinel for May 8, 2011 that somehow found its way to my lawn, given over to a prominent report of another expression of excellence entirely, a no-hitter (his second) thrown by Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers against the Toronto Blue Jays on the previous day. Verlander is pictured getting a post-game dousing by teammates. Below that story is another picture, featuring what would prove to be a rare sighting of Freddy Sanchez playing second base for the San Francisco Giants above the happy news of another Giants win.

A Ghost of Baseball Past

After Pagan's angle shot off third base in last night's game, I'm prepared to believe we're now entering the very black and orange nimbus of Samhain itself, and the appearance of this curious page on my lawn does little to disuade me.

Noted

Here's an unexpected best of the web bobbing up in a stream of otherwise typical post-game conversation following the Giants victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in tonight's seventh and deciding game of this year's National League Championship Series, found deep in the thousands of comment appended to the game at ESPN's MLB site:
Mr. Jesus Christ
How'd you guys like that little broken-bat number I came up with for Pence? Man said a little prayer walking to the plate and I didn't want to disappoint him...
FastBallEddy I thought he made a deal with the devil.
Mr. Jesus Christ I know, right? Surprisingly I'm involved in most of the sports-related stuff. Goes back to my love of the chariot races....

George McGovern

You should have seen the crowd in line to vote for McGovern in my precinct in San Francisco in 1972.  Ah.

Giants Watch

Checklist for an acceptable year:

☐ A. Beat the Dodgers
☐  1. Every time
☐  2. Most of the time
☐  3. Foil them in their quest for the pennant

☐ B. Win all games at least half the time
☐  1. Half the time
☐  2. More than half the time

☐ C. Win The Pennant

☐ D. Win The World Series


Many's the year when only a mark beside A3 has saved the Giants from having an unacceptable season, not that there haven't been a disagreeable number of those over the years to bear with as well. But, yes, foiling the Dodgers makes for an acceptable season, whatever other indignities may have been endured. Winning the season series and knocking them out of contention in the same year is doubly satisfying.

 Your B2 season is just fine with me, of course. I'm not a greedy man, though the utter charm of checking D has not yet dimmed in my otherwise spotty memory. So, Go Giants.