Wall Wednesday: For Giants Fans

It's really starting to feel like fall here in San Francisco.  We had our first few rainy days of the season, it's starting to cool down, the Giants are in the World Series... That's right, I'm actually watching now as I write this post!  In that spirit, I wanted to add some decorations to my room that reflected the season and what I love about it most: post-season baseball.

The first thing I added was a little Giants garland out of string and construction paper.  It was super easy (I did it while watching one of the NLCS games) and I love the way it adds a touch of black and orange without dominating the wall or making the room feel darker.

On my closet, I'm collecting pictures from the SF Chronicle of my favorite players and moments.  I'm sure it will only get bigger as the World Series plays out!

Finally, I completed my Giants scarf!  I started knitting it during the last week or so of the regular season while I watched the games, and just finished it during Game 6 of the NLCS.  And, because I'm a superstitious fan, I've been wearing it as much as possible.  Who knew that the free pattern that came with the yarn would be so cute?

Well, off to keep watching the game.  The Giants are already up 4 - 0!

Of Bug Bites and Bad Plays

Picture from The Reporter

Welcome to the start of another week!  I had a very fun and productive weekend, although I somehow managed to get five very itchy and very inconveniently placed bug bites.  As anyone who know me will tell you, no matter the bug, I always swell up the second I get bitten.  Unfortunately for me this time around, two of the bites are on the backside of my knee, and the swelling is not only extremely uncomfortable but makes it difficult to bend my leg.  If only I didn't attend a college with millions of stairs...

Actually, I really can't complain, as long as I have amazing baseball games like tonight's NLCS Game 2 to distract me.  It seems like most of the Giants are finally starting to find their rhythm and we won 7-1 over the Cardinals.  The only downside of the game was that Giants second baseman and top-hit producer Marco Scutaro had to exit the game after taking a harsh slide by Matt Holliday in the first inning.  And now to consider the question that has the media buzzing: Was Holliday's slide into second base a "dirty play"?

Keep in mind that I am merely a fan, and a fairly ignorant one at that.  I don't know much about the nitty-gritty rules of the game (although I bought a book for just this purpose), but I do know what I heard and what I saw.  I heard both Bruce Bochy and the commentators state that the rule was you had to start sliding before you hit the bag, i.e. you have to start sliding on dirty.  I saw Holliday suddenly go airborne right above second base and then smash into Scutaro in what was an obvious attempt at stopping a double play.  Was the play intended to be "dirty" or illegal?  Probably not.  Holliday himself insists that he was only trying to break up the double play, not injury Scutaro or take him out of the game.  So, yeah, while I think that it was a poorly executed slide and that I'm not eager to see a play like that again, I don't think it was intentional.

That is all.

Did any of you see the play?  Or better yet, anyone out there with more baseball knowledge than I do who would like to weigh in with your opinion?

Playing Catch (Up)

Although I've been home from school for about a week, I have become incredibly lazy, and still have not gotten around to posting pictures from the various adventures I have yet to tell you all about. I will try to get to that within the next week or so, as after that I probably shouldn't even bother.

Picture obtained from the SF Chronicle at sfgate.com

There are a couple of things that I wanted to talk about in this post, and the first will be painful for any Giants fans out there. This past Wednesday, while playing the Florida Marlins, Giants catcher Buster Posey took an extremely hard hit catching a ball in front of home plate. Scott Cousins of the Marlins barreled into the young Rookie of the Year in an attempt at dislodging the ball and thus preventing himself from being tagged out. During the collision, Posey was forced backward, bending his left ankle awkwardly. It was revealed on Thursday, after x-rays and multiple MRIs, that Posey had fractured his lower leg and torn several ligaments. The injury will require surgery and probably keep Posey from playing for the rest of the season.

Now, this injury has become more than just a tragedy for the already offensively struggling Giants. Rather, it has sparked a nationwide discussion about whether the rules regarding plays at home plate need to be changed. And, as a loyal Giants fan, I felt like it was my obligation to at least voice my opinion on the play. Across the various Internet platforms I use, I have watched many people argue over whether or not it was a clean play. If you watch the video, it is pretty obvious that Posey was not, in fact, completely blocking home plate, and that Cousins opted to run into the catcher rather than take the open lane. However, from my understanding, that was a legal play; the runner is allowed to run into the catcher in an attempt to dislodge the ball. So then the question becomes, Should they make this kind of play illegal? I say, why not? The NFL has made attacks on defenseless players punishable with a fine, and I think that MLB should be able to incorporate a similar rule. I have read multiple articles that suggest that Cousins decided to go with the collision because he was trying to prove his worth and claim more playing time. However, if he had been facing a fine, he probably would have thought twice about committing to the play. So, while I agree that these collisions are simply a part of baseball, I also think that there are preventative measures that can be taken to help limit their occurrence.

Well, this post has certainly turned out to be longer than I was expecting. On an entirely different note, I have a favor to ask of you. I've been posting pictures of my artwork all year, and have been trying to find a way to make some money from it. Jobs are very difficult to come by in our current economic situation, so I have been looking into alternative ways of making money. One such alternative I found in Threadless.com. Here they print t-shirts designed and picked by the public. I have recently submitted a t-shirt for rating, and hope that it will get enough votes to be printed on t-shirts and possibly other products. I would greatly appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to look at the design and rate it! Remember, the higher it scores, the closer it will be to getting picked for printing.

Thanks so much for all your support. I know I don't tell you enough, but I really appreciate it and promise that I will try and get those pictures up soon!

Let's Go Giants...

... beat the Dodgers! And luckily we did, when I got to go to the Giants vs. LA Dodgers game this Tuesday night. I have never been to game where San Francisco has won before, and to have them beat my least favorite team in all of baseball, I was quite excited. I know that sounds rather harsh, especially from someone who grew up in Southern California, but I can't really help it. I was raised to be a Giants fan by a group of San Francisco natives; it's in my blood!

One of the perks of the game was that, because it was an outing through our academic institute, we did not have to pay for our tickets. Yes, that means we got to go see the reigning World Champions for free! The only downside was that we were in the nosebleeds. Scratch that, we were in the nosebleeds of the nosebleeds, on the very top row. But it was an exciting game to watch, so we willing braved the hundreds of steps and the freezing gusts of wind.

Justine brought her new camera, and took some amazing shots, especially given where we were sitting. She was nice enough to give me some to share with you:

The nearly bird's eye view from our seats

My favorite player: #55 Tim Lincecum

#17 Aubrey Huff

#48 Pablo "Panda" Sandoval

#5 Pat "The Bat" Burrell

Rookie of the Year #28 Buster Posey

My other favorite player: #21 Freddy Sanchez

I was pleased and surprised to see fans of the two different teams behaving well and respecting each other. The Giants fan that was beaten shortly after attending a Giants - Dodgers game in Los Angeles is unfortunately still in an induced coma. Before their series opener on Monday, the two teams came together to support the injured fan and his family, and encouraged fans to respect the team rivalry but not to act on it. If you're interested in helping support Bryan Stow and his family, you can go to Support4BryanStow.com.

Here's to many future ball games!

A Week (or two) in the Life

The past few weeks have been a lot of nothing but baseball, baseball, baseball! With the Giants in the World Series, there really was little else that I did but watch. Of course, I had a record number of four essays last week, so I was also staying up quite late and getting up early. To be honest, I'm just tired!

But the Giants won the World Series! What more could I ask for in my first year of college in San Francisco? I've been raised a Giants fan, so to actually be in the city when they finally won the World Series has been nothing short of amazing. Everywhere you look, there is orange and black. This was especially true on Wednesday, when the team had their victory parade ending at City Hall. I didn't get to go (I'm too dedicated to my classes!), but I had a few friends who went and you could feel the energy everywhere that day! Of course, every time I've seen a publication like a magazine or newspaper on the World Series, I've bought it, because this is a historic event and I want something to remember it by.

This picture was a request from my friends. Number 55, our starting pitcher Tim Lincecum, is my absolute-hands-down favorite player. The more games we watched, however, the more my friends became convinced that I look like Lincecum! So here, I am, embracing the look. My friend Justine has even taken to calling me "Timmy" when she's trying to get my attention. I don't mind - I could think of plenty of worse things to be called!

In other news, Sister Helen Prejean held a lecture on campus this week. She is the author of the book Dead Man Walking, that is more popularly known from the play and movie versions. She gave a talk on the death penalty that I really wanted to attend, but I couldn't due to a class. Luckily for me, Justine was willing to get my copy of the book signed for me afterwards!

The collage on my wall is growing slowly but surely. My plan is to have the entire wall covered by the end of the year, and it looks like that will be easier to do than I had originally expected!

One last update! I am now on Twitter! Yes, that's right, I gave in to societal pressures and joined yet another time consuming site. Actually, I had originally joined so I could follow a friend's tweets (Is that what you call them?) and decided it would be a shame to have one and not use it. So I am currently using it to record things that people around me say, whether they make me laugh, cry, or think about something differently. Feel free to check me out!

Have a good rest of the weekend, everyone!

We're going to the World Series!!

Or, at least, the Giants are. I was at dinner with some friend when we won the game. Practically the entire restaurant, us included, crammed into the bar to watch the bottom of the ninth inning. People were chanting, all the servers stopped serving, and my friends and I were holding onto each other for dear life. By the time the game was over, my heart was pounding and my fingers were all tingly.

I've never experienced so much positive energy is from so many people all at once before. It was a really powerful experience. The Giants haven't gone to the World Series since 2002, where they were absolutely dominated by the Angels. This is our chance for retribution! And growing up in Southern California, I've always been the only Giants fan among a bunch of Angels and Dodgers fans. It's nice to be around people that are just as excited as I am.

Nothing else really happened this weekend, other than a lot of rain and wet clothes. There was a slight bleach incident with my roommate's unfortunate comforter cover, but it was easily settled out. I babysat my cousins on Friday. I'll leave you with some images I took at their house, after they went to sleep.

Get ready for another week, everybody. First game of the World Series on Wednesday!

Little Happenings

This weekend was full of little happenings that added up to one very good time. Saturday was game one of the National League Championships between the Giants and the Phillies, and I went over to my grandparent's house to watch the game. Most of the family was there, and we made hot dogs, chili, chips and guacamole... It was the baseball fan's paradise. Complete with ice cream and chocolate sauce for dessert. My little cousins took to following me around for part of the night, and they even helped me with ideas for this drawing of mine. I think it turned out pretty good, don't you?

The best part of the night? Was it hanging with my family, watching the talented and adorable Tim Lincecum blow away the competition, or eating good food? The best part was that the Giants won!

Today was our first rainy day of the year. I went for a little walk in the rain to pick up some groceries, but for the most part every one just bummed around the dorm in sweatpants and slippers, trying to find the motivation to actually do our homework. And unfortunately, the Giants lost by five whole runs.

Hopefully they get their game back by Tuesday!

Take me out to the Ball Game...

Good morning world! Hope everyone is having a good weekend. I know I am, with the exception of the stupid school washing machines.

I was doing a jean load, when the washer stopped in the middle of the cycle for some unknown reason. And I mean dead in the middle of the cycle: there was still soapy water inside! Frustrated after doing as it asked and "reselecting settings" twice, I put my jeans in another washer and am having to start all over again! Needless to say, it was a complete waste of my time and money. And what was the response of the guy working at the front desk when I told him? "You want your money back, or something?"

Um, no, but the last hour of my life would be nice.

On a brighter note, I got to go the Giants vs Brewers game last night! Even though we lost, my friends and I had a great time. We had the bleacher seats right in left field, which was pretty exciting for only having paid $15. We took a charter bus to the stadium with a large group from school, and although we all sat in a clump, we got to go off and do our own thing.

Although it's been cloudy all weekend (and still is) the sun did come out for the beginning of the game yesterday. I hadn't been to a game in almost five years, so I couldn't help but marvel at how amazing the stadium is.

I've been raised a Giants fan, so I was super excited to get to go to a game. Can you tell? I wore my Giants t-shirt, a bright orange scarf, and a Giants beanie I got for my birthday. One of the first things that my friends did when we got there was to buy baseball caps. This was Wade's hat, and even though it's a bit big, I think I pulled it off quite well. What was the first thing I bought? A hotdog! The second? A pack of Twizzlers! We ate pretty much the whole time.

In the end, the Giants ended up losing 2 to 1. To be completely honest, the last two innings were very painful to watch. But I had a great time, and couldn't have thought of a better way to celebrate my first birthday here in San Francisco!