Al Zarilla said:
Yeah, his last few years you had to fear for the guy's head exploding, it was so freaking big.
I know there are likely many reasons he's slimmed down, but he's really into cycling now. It's pretty difficult to be a cyclist at the body frame he was working with at the end of his career. I know people just want to assume he just dropped the PEDs and lost the weight, and that's probably true to some extent. But he could have kept up with the body building, too. I think he's as dedicated to the cycling stuff as he was to baseball. Maybe he is a person who just needs something to challenge himself. Anyway, he just did a 60-mile race up in Santa Rosa like two weeks ago. Some friends who have seen him said he's a lot smaller than he used to be, but what mass he has is still all muscle. He's also fast: He finished 32nd out of 951 riders. All the bike people I know who've met him have said he's been delightful and asks a lot of questions about biking and times and things. Maybe he only goes biking on his good days?
Anyway, great game from my perspective. Y'all might like this exchange regarding AJ Pierzynski's flop, as roughly transcribed by me:
Jon Miller: Ishikawa swung the bat and on the follow-through it hit Pierzynski in the helmet. And he stood up, then fell down dramatically, like he had been shot.
Mike Krukow: (dripping with disgust) Oh, jeez. What a clown. A total FLOP job. (utterance of disgust, like an UGH) Now, he did get hit in the helmet, but then he acted like... like a sniper had gotten him. I will tell you this, I've never seen a flop in baseball, but it doesn't surprise me that the first time it's with Pierzynski. Clown. What a CLOWN.
The Giants HATE Pierzynski. Hate him. Not only are many fans still bitter that they gave up Joe Nathan and Francisco Liriano for him, but it was clear that the team and front office feel that he's just an asshole in general. He clearly hated San Francisco and he played and acted like it. He was only here from one season ages and ages ago, but he is still one of the most hated Giants ever. That actually takes quite a bit of talent, Giants fans are pretty easygoing folks. But when you lose Kruk, it's all over.
Notes: Blanco is usually a great fielder. The drop today was shocking. Also, he admitted after that game that he showed bunt again against Choate to get into his head, which I think is fabulous.
The Giants are winning ugly, but I guess you can say that they are creating opportunities that allow them to score on all these wonky plays? I would say it's unsustainable, but we're one game away from the World Series. Maybe it's more sustainable than I think. Still, nothing is a given. I'm just happy that we have three tries to get one win.
I am sad for Vogey. He didn't have it tonight, and his defense wasn't helping him out. But with his postseason record, I can see why the Giants threw him out there. Petit is amazing. He's quietly put together a fantastic career in a Giants uniform. He and Casilla are both fairly low-profile even with the local writers, let alone national media. I think Petit's record didn't get more coverage because it was a bit weird and it was done in a strange way. He set down 46 straight hitters (46 up, 46 down), but it was over the course of a month and a half or something. Three or four hitters here, two there, then six innings here, then an inning there. Amazingly enough, though, during the streak, he virtually never got close to walking a guy. He had, I think, one three-ball count across all 46 hitters. He's a strike thrower.
Affeldt is also putting together a sweet little postseason. He's a quirky guy and prone to ridiculous injuries (he might be the only professional athlete ever to suffer a somewhat serious injury hugging a five-year-old kid), but he's been mostly a steady performer over his Giants time span.
Machi has not been mostly a steady performer. He's been great and he's been bad, and right now he's more terrifying than terrific. But then he can go be terrific for a long time and you forget the sad days....
I think literally every single person on the Giants playoff roster has made a positive impact, from Posey and Pence on down to Perez and Duffy. All, of course, except for Tim Lincecum. This makes you wonder why he's even on the roster at all if he's never going to be used.
Looking forward to Bumgarner tonight. Hopefully he continues his postseason success! GO GIANTS!