So my car was stolen on friday May 7th in the early am hours. I was up and dressed to go to the gym at 6 when I walked outside and saw my car was gone. I had only had it 3 months at that time. Filed a report, called insurance, called the dealer (since I'm still making payments, etc). The lady friend had stayed over that night and she let me borrow one of her cars. Friday afternoon, I get a fraud alert call from my bank. I keep (kept) a prepaid card in the glove box for emergencies. At the time it was stolen with the car, there was only 20$ on it. They tried to use it 3x at a gas station for 60$ in the deepest east part of Oakland. The former mrs g.oso lives in San Leandro which is about a mile away from this gas station, so she drove by the gas station and the surrounding neighborhood streets to see if she could find it. No dice.
Fast forward to 1:30am Tuesday. I get a call from Pleasant Hill PD, they pulled my car over and arrested the guy who was driving it. I went to pick it up, and it was a mess. Fast food trash all over, they smoked in it, etc. But still in good condition. Insurance paid to have it detailed, and for mechanic to inspect it. The auto detailer found a receipt from Safeway in Alameda dated Saturday morning for flowers and a balloon.
Fast forward again to last night when I got a call from South SFPD. They had busted a crew of guys who went around the bay area stealing catalytic converters and one of the guys had my ID on him. Long story short, I have two drivers licenses and I stupidly kept one in the car bc I'm lazy and don't want to bring my wallet with me to the gym at 6am. And tbf, I usually keep my glove box locked bc of this, but it wasn't when the car was stolen. Anyway, San Mateo Co DA is going to court today to file the case and could be a multi-county affair with the number of people and places these crimes took place.
Nice that you got it back. I guess no damage to the body so that's good. Insurance is happy they only need to get it detailed. I assume they didn't damage the car to get in so maybe just a slim jim.
I had an appointment for Real ID that i had to cancel and reschedule bc of a work conflict. But my rescheduled appointment was for 2 months after my then current license expired, so I renewed the license online, then went back 2 months later and got my real ID.
I gotta give props to my folks and friend's parents. We slid down the stairs on our butts, cardboard, and whatnot. It was hella fun. There was visible wear and tear to carpet and wood due to this activity and they knew we were doing it.
I need to make a grocery store run this afternoon. Does anyone want to suggest a recipe that I should try? For a long time, I watched way more cooking shows than actual experiences cooking. That has changed a bit even pre-lockdown just because my work has become less hands-on and cooking reminds me of doing experiments (with more delicious results).
Rather than a specific recipe, I guess I actually want ingredient suggestions so that I can attempt to try multiple recipes on later this week on something that's versatile. I do tend to just buy whatever proteins that is on sale. My pantry has most of the common East Asian ingredients (soy sauce, rice vinegar, fish sauce, mirin, gochujang, etc.)
Yeah, I might try this. Outside of a very small amount of anchovy in a sauce/dressing, my main experience of them came from the rare time that I order them on pizzas from chain places like Pizza Hut, Domino's, Papa John's.
As for the recipe below, I think I independently did something quite similar a month or so ago, with canned tuna and bacon and leftover lettuce stem (which kind of had the cabbage texture) and a lot of pecorino romano (which dominated the flavor).
I recommend experimenting with a mirepoix (onions/carrots/celery). Mirepoix is the backbone of French (and US southern) cooking. I have found that it works regardless of recipe (or lack thereof). Then build an option tree off those.
Mirepoix + canned tomatoes = marinara
Mirepoix + frozen beans + corn + frozen okra + some sort of pork product = succotash
The first two are something that I almost always have on hand, but I don't typically buy celeries unless it's a recipe that requires this NoLa "trinity". I'll get all three this time though.
I'm not sure I need the carrot and/or celery in the marinara, but I'm sure I'll find something interesting to try with that base.
My daughter made pain au chocolat for Sunday dessert, but they didn't turn out right. Very tasty, but about a third of the size they're supposed to be.
Am making thai gai ying roast chicken tonight for dinner. Fish sauce glazed roast chicken, served with coconut rice and whatever else I can find in my fridge.
The Thai version of Hainan Chicken Rice is better (slightly better) than the Singaporean/Malaysian version. I mean it's all close enough that it doesn't matter, but the best thai versions are better than the best sg versions. But then the average SG version is way better than the average thai version.
As a child I had a friend who lived in Benicia and whenever I slept over at his house we'd make a trip out to a big concrete slide that was in a park. I wonder how big the slide actually is, because it seemed HUUUUUGE when I was young.
We used to take the boys there visiting the in-laws. That is a huge slide because it's wide, not like the narrow concrete ones in Berkeley I remember. And I think it's slightly curved so you can hit the sides. I'd guess it's 5+ feet wide and maybe 50 feet long? It's been at least probably 15 years since I've been though.
There is a slide in Jacob Ballas park in Singapore, which starts off a platform that is 2.5 stories off the ground. It originally was built so that the slide was short, steep, and very fast. It was wonderfully chaotic. Young kids flying out of the slide without good enough reaction time to stand and landing on their backsides. Kids getting smashed in the back by the next kid down. Skinned knees and arms.
Kids were either sprinting to go up the stairs again with a giant grin on their face or whimpering in pain. There was nothing in between. We called it the "vortex slide" because kids would go without pause for over an hour.
In typical Singapore fashion, word go out to the government that too much fun was being had, so they changed it to have an unnaturally sharp curve, followed by a flat part. Kids slowed down at the curve, then stopped at the flat part. Inevitably, some other kid would follow and they'd get stuck in there for a short period of time. The slowdown made it boring and the kids stopped going on it. But at least the government did its job to make sure nothing bad happened.
I remember the long concrete slides in the Berkeley Hills. I think one was at or near the Rose Garden and another was further up in the hills. Maybe on Spruce or further up Euclid. Probably been 40 years since I've been to it.
Wilbur Ross set up illegal counterintelligence unit within the Commerce Department...no surprise from this money laundering (ex chairman of Cyprus Bank) buffoon
Judge Amy Berman Jackson unseals less redacted documents related to the Manafort case. To the surprise of nobody, Manafort and team actively colluded with Russia in 2016.
Gordon Sondland sues Pompeo and US for reneging on $1.8m reimbursement for legal fees. Trump reneged after Sondland acknowledged quid-pro-quo. Trump fired him later.
Wife and I got our second shots on Friday (Moderna). Saturday and Sunday were... unpleasant. I am pretty sure I was hallucinating or at least having crazy fever dreams. Something about trying to single-handedly solve the Israel-Palestinian issue. Hardly ate anything all weekend, severe chills, weaknesses, aches, nausea. Head-splitting headaches. Today, I am exhausted from all of that.
On a more macro-scale: We use the Kedren Clinic in South Central LA for our first shot, as well taking my FIL and BIL for their shots the week after. Each time, there was not much of a line. This time, there was a more massive line, which we all attributed to the CDC's recent statement that the vaccinated did not need to wear masks.
I heard there are only a few folks showing up each day now at the Berkeley mass vaccination sight near Golden Gate Fields. Vaccinations seem to be petering out before our eyes. Hopefully the state is ready to open by June 15th. As far as Cal's upcoming football season is impacted - who knows? I keep getting emails from Cal Athletics about making a deposit on my season tickets. I imagine at this point there will be seating at Memorial in the Fall but what percentage of the seats will be full?
This is what you get when the defense isn't worried about literally anyone else on the floor besides Steph Curry. Klay Thompson can't return fast enough.
That said, maybe Dray's best move there would have been to just bull into the defender and try to get a call.
Yeah, the ugly floater was the non-committal move.
Another possibility would be to try to pass it out for Wiggins or JTA to get an open look, but not sure there was enough time for that (and the defenders were shading to their men at the arc anyway, knowing Draymond is not a scorer).
Just brutal....didn't even hit rim, nor did Wiggins on his huge 3 in OT...
Pretty much the two biggest shots of the game were taken by players not named Steph Curry, and neither even drew iron...pretty much sums it up right there.
the only time I really see him try to score is either on the break when he'll attack the rim or on the fake handoff. Or the open 3 (which he was shooting fairly well the last month) but that's also a last resort usually.
If the Giants are even in contention for a wild card spot by end of season they are ahead of schedule in the rebuild. It's not shocking if they're not better than the Dodgers yet.
Is Giants really "rebuilding" though? I think they have been clever in maximizing the values that they get from some aged veterans, but who on their current roster outside of Yaz (and he's already 30) will still be a key player in 2-3 years?
Wasn't the game plan for this year was to trade some of the short-term-lease starting pitchers for even more young pieces who would be key contributors a couple of years down the line?
Well I think Posey and Crawford hitting really well helps. The question is can they keep it up. They've had one of the easiest schedules so far (other than sweeping the Padres). This weekend Buehler, Bauer, and Urias shut them down. All their damage was against mostly AAA pitchers that are up due to injuries.
I think the Giants are coming up on a tougher stretch so I think we'll see what Giants are made of soon.
Agreed...tough to see Crawford and Posey continuing this pace, tho they'll likely hang around through the summer. The BBB trifecta gives them a championship pedigree, and with a vet like Longoria and some role players, they'll hang with most teams in the NL...just not LA. They play in a pitchers park and play great D...
Yeah, there are certainly some exciting players coming up (even if Joey Bart lost some luster from his debut last year), but they are not (yet) contributors at the MLB level. It is also arguable whether "having a winning culture" is really a thing (and they already have that from having most of the key players from the 3 championships...that were won by some voodoo magic).
As a non-Giants fan, I just would not be surprised that should the Giants fall a bit behind that the best move for them might be to trade one or more of the overperforming SPs for prospects midseason.
As a Giants fan, with all of the money coming off the books, SF's probably going to look like an entirely different team next season. Tough to see Crawford (40 HR) and Buster continuing the paces they've set so far...Gausman & Wood are a solid enough 1-2 to keep them competitive, tho. The bullpen is a disaster, however, and Kapler really can't be confident with anyone from game to game...talk about voodoo magic.
Over the long haul, you gotta think the more talented & balanced rosters will eventually rise to the top...you're gonna have to beat Atlanta & LA to do anything.
GBBR. Was in section 313 yesterday. There were 4 Giants fans with obnoxious cheers that they repeated over and over. "Recall Gavin back to first" after the batter's interference on the steal. "Recall Gavin...". They left for beers during the 2nd and left for good after the top of the 3rd. That's a lot of money for less than 3 full innings.
One of No 3's best friends' parents invited us to brunch at the Gotham Club. Did get to stand at the bullpen viewing location and watch Urias warm up before the game. He threw a ball up to us after he was done.
Figure the Pads will eventually fade...only way they stick around is if Tatis absolutely carries them the rest of the way, like he did yesterday. Machado is so overrated, Grisham, Myers & Profar are bums, and Tommy Pham is not a major league ball player. The right side of the IF is steady, but the supporting cast just doesn’t give you enough consistently to beat LA.
I find it somewhat amusing that Grisham (1.8 fWAR), Myers (0.5 fWAR), and Profar (0.0 fWAR) are lumped together. Grisham's helped by some luck right now (high BABIP) and Myers' value is sagged by his bad defense, but I would still say that one of them is good, one is meh, another bad.
Sure, Ruey, according to the analytics, they're decent enough players, which is why I'm fading the Padres over the course of 162 games rather than predicting the bottom completely falling out...but the eye test tells a different story than fWAR. All 3 players have clear deficiencies to their game, and all are best served as part-time/bench players on a contending team rather than your leadoff CF, starting RF and starting LF/utility, respectively.
I think the Padres' 2021 prospect relies more on how healthy their pitching is than these guys. I still blame Grisham for his error (while with the Brewers) that kickstarted the 2019 Nats playoff run that gave them the title, but I kind of like his approach as a batter.
this article references that book _Infinite Baseball_ which is my favorite baseball related book. it is as much philosophy as sport and written by a Cal philosophy prof.
“Baseball is boring,” Noë told me cheerfully. “But it’s boring the way physics is boring or classical music is boring. If you don’t know what’s going on, it’s indeed mind-numbingly, excruciatingly
I might have to check this book out, even though I think the way that people *should* view baseball has changed due to technology. Scoring baseball game still has some values, but there are also inherent limitations to them.
Unless I don't get around to it (like 55% of the stuff I want to write), I am planning to write a breakdown of Andrew Vaughn's MLB career thus far (relying mainly on the fun stats and stuff from BaseballSavant) since he's approaching that 130 AB threshold which will knock him off the prospect list (it also means that if he stops playing right now, he's still rookie eligible (for award purposes) next year.
Boomtho Story Time
So my car was stolen on friday May 7th in the early am hours. I was up and dressed to go to the gym at 6 when I walked outside and saw my car was gone. I had only had it 3 months at that time. Filed a report, called insurance, called the dealer (since I'm still making payments, etc). The lady friend had stayed over that night and she let me borrow one of her cars. Friday afternoon, I get a fraud alert call from my bank. I keep (kept) a prepaid card in the glove box for emergencies. At the time it was stolen with the car, there was only 20$ on it. They tried to use it 3x at a gas station for 60$ in the deepest east part of Oakland. The former mrs g.oso lives in San Leandro which is about a mile away from this gas station, so she drove by the gas station and the surrounding neighborhood streets to see if she could find it. No dice.
Fast forward to 1:30am Tuesday. I get a call from Pleasant Hill PD, they pulled my car over and arrested the guy who was driving it. I went to pick it up, and it was a mess. Fast food trash all over, they smoked in it, etc. But still in good condition. Insurance paid to have it detailed, and for mechanic to inspect it. The auto detailer found a receipt from Safeway in Alameda dated Saturday morning for flowers and a balloon.
Fast forward again to last night when I got a call from South SFPD. They had busted a crew of guys who went around the bay area stealing catalytic converters and one of the guys had my ID on him. Long story short, I have two drivers licenses and I stupidly kept one in the car bc I'm lazy and don't want to bring my wallet with me to the gym at 6am. And tbf, I usually keep my glove box locked bc of this, but it wasn't when the car was stolen. Anyway, San Mateo Co DA is going to court today to file the case and could be a multi-county affair with the number of people and places these crimes took place.
Fin
Yikes. Glad you have your car back!
I apologize for this being your introduction of my hometown of South SF
Thanks for helping catch catalytic converter thieves.
Nice that you got it back. I guess no damage to the body so that's good. Insurance is happy they only need to get it detailed. I assume they didn't damage the car to get in so maybe just a slim jim.
And how do you have 2 drivers licenses?
Didn't throw out the old one, I'd guess.
I had an appointment for Real ID that i had to cancel and reschedule bc of a work conflict. But my rescheduled appointment was for 2 months after my then current license expired, so I renewed the license online, then went back 2 months later and got my real ID.
And tada, 2 IDs.
and the stolen license is presently booked into evidence by SSFPD
Wow, that is a saga. And you ARE lazy.
gym shorts are not meant to carry a phone, keys and wallet.
There's a technology innovation opportunity there.
Zippered pockets on running/work out shorts are crucial.
Wow that was a great BST! Glad it is getting worked out, however slowly.
Oof. 12% of the participants in an ultramarathon in China died on Saturday.
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/extreme-cold-weather-china-kills-20-ultramarathon-2021-05-23/
Holy cow!
Staircases
I gotta give props to my folks and friend's parents. We slid down the stairs on our butts, cardboard, and whatnot. It was hella fun. There was visible wear and tear to carpet and wood due to this activity and they knew we were doing it.
Looks like Tony Hawk would ride down the sides
I think I'd get vertigo on that staircase featured in the photo.
DBD Test Kitchen
I need to make a grocery store run this afternoon. Does anyone want to suggest a recipe that I should try? For a long time, I watched way more cooking shows than actual experiences cooking. That has changed a bit even pre-lockdown just because my work has become less hands-on and cooking reminds me of doing experiments (with more delicious results).
Rather than a specific recipe, I guess I actually want ingredient suggestions so that I can attempt to try multiple recipes on later this week on something that's versatile. I do tend to just buy whatever proteins that is on sale. My pantry has most of the common East Asian ingredients (soy sauce, rice vinegar, fish sauce, mirin, gochujang, etc.)
maybe get something you dont use that often or have in pantry already
i personally like anchovies a lot. it lends itself well to many things Italian
there is a nice caramelized cabbage-bread crumb-anchovy recipe on NYT Cooking that we have as a weeknight staple
Yeah, I might try this. Outside of a very small amount of anchovy in a sauce/dressing, my main experience of them came from the rare time that I order them on pizzas from chain places like Pizza Hut, Domino's, Papa John's.
As for the recipe below, I think I independently did something quite similar a month or so ago, with canned tuna and bacon and leftover lettuce stem (which kind of had the cabbage texture) and a lot of pecorino romano (which dominated the flavor).
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/12373-pasta-with-caramelized-cabbage-anchovies-and-bread-crumbs
I recommend experimenting with a mirepoix (onions/carrots/celery). Mirepoix is the backbone of French (and US southern) cooking. I have found that it works regardless of recipe (or lack thereof). Then build an option tree off those.
Mirepoix + canned tomatoes = marinara
Mirepoix + frozen beans + corn + frozen okra + some sort of pork product = succotash
Mirexpoix + water + chicken breasts + noodles = chicken noodle soup
The first two are something that I almost always have on hand, but I don't typically buy celeries unless it's a recipe that requires this NoLa "trinity". I'll get all three this time though.
I'm not sure I need the carrot and/or celery in the marinara, but I'm sure I'll find something interesting to try with that base.
my local safeway sells pre-diced mirepoix in a quart container. Trader Joe's sells it too.
My daughter made pain au chocolat for Sunday dessert, but they didn't turn out right. Very tasty, but about a third of the size they're supposed to be.
Had Joe's special last night - eggs, parmesan cheese, spinach, and Italian sausage.
Am making thai gai ying roast chicken tonight for dinner. Fish sauce glazed roast chicken, served with coconut rice and whatever else I can find in my fridge.
was looking at some recipes and posts about it. mouthwatering...
I made thai chicken and rice recently (a take on hainanese chicken rice) complete with the fermented soy bean chili dip and holy shit it was amazing.
(sgbear don't look)
The Thai version of Hainan Chicken Rice is better (slightly better) than the Singaporean/Malaysian version. I mean it's all close enough that it doesn't matter, but the best thai versions are better than the best sg versions. But then the average SG version is way better than the average thai version.
That reminds me of analog music vs digital music.
which one is which?
Best analog is better than best digital. But average digital is way better than average analog.
Slide
As a child I had a friend who lived in Benicia and whenever I slept over at his house we'd make a trip out to a big concrete slide that was in a park. I wonder how big the slide actually is, because it seemed HUUUUUGE when I was young.
We used to take the boys there visiting the in-laws. That is a huge slide because it's wide, not like the narrow concrete ones in Berkeley I remember. And I think it's slightly curved so you can hit the sides. I'd guess it's 5+ feet wide and maybe 50 feet long? It's been at least probably 15 years since I've been though.
There is a slide in Jacob Ballas park in Singapore, which starts off a platform that is 2.5 stories off the ground. It originally was built so that the slide was short, steep, and very fast. It was wonderfully chaotic. Young kids flying out of the slide without good enough reaction time to stand and landing on their backsides. Kids getting smashed in the back by the next kid down. Skinned knees and arms.
Kids were either sprinting to go up the stairs again with a giant grin on their face or whimpering in pain. There was nothing in between. We called it the "vortex slide" because kids would go without pause for over an hour.
In typical Singapore fashion, word go out to the government that too much fun was being had, so they changed it to have an unnaturally sharp curve, followed by a flat part. Kids slowed down at the curve, then stopped at the flat part. Inevitably, some other kid would follow and they'd get stuck in there for a short period of time. The slowdown made it boring and the kids stopped going on it. But at least the government did its job to make sure nothing bad happened.
Here is the slide after the stupid change.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jensenchua/2906291828
I remember the long concrete slides in the Berkeley Hills. I think one was at or near the Rose Garden and another was further up in the hills. Maybe on Spruce or further up Euclid. Probably been 40 years since I've been to it.
Don't think those are there anymore.
Oh yeah, Cugelson loved those as a lad.
Maybe have taken No 1 20+ years ago but I can't remember.
LA's Skyslide is closed and will be removed.
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/california/articles/2021-05-22/thrill-is-gone-los-angeles-skyscraper-slide-wont-reopen
I didn't even get to go yet
Good
SkyHouse .. 4 story penthouse in lower Manhattan
https://newatlas.com/skyhouse-nyc-penthouse/26791/
i have been here, and even done the 4 story slide a couple times.
the couple who owns it is are both early Google employees ...
this video works
https://vimeo.com/62392305
also, there is a 4 story exposed beam that is all set up for rock climbing w/ an auto belay to let yourself down
Our Crumbling Democracy
Wilbur Ross set up illegal counterintelligence unit within the Commerce Department...no surprise from this money laundering (ex chairman of Cyprus Bank) buffoon
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2021/05/24/commerce-department-monitoring-itms/
Judge Amy Berman Jackson unseals less redacted documents related to the Manafort case. To the surprise of nobody, Manafort and team actively colluded with Russia in 2016.
https://twitter.com/dsamuelsohn/status/1396842288274345987
What? Gambling at Rick's?
Gordon Sondland sues Pompeo and US for reneging on $1.8m reimbursement for legal fees. Trump reneged after Sondland acknowledged quid-pro-quo. Trump fired him later.
https://twitter.com/AndrewDesiderio/status/1396813928131448836
good luck with that
They tried to overturn the 2020 election. Now they want to run the next one.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/24/2020-election-republican-official-races-490458
KEEP OUR SCHOOL'S NAME OUT OF YOUR MOTHERFUCKING MOUTH
Reference:
https://twitter.com/RBReich/status/1396551741596848132
Ironic that she's talking about missing "e"
Today in Covid-19
Wife and I got our second shots on Friday (Moderna). Saturday and Sunday were... unpleasant. I am pretty sure I was hallucinating or at least having crazy fever dreams. Something about trying to single-handedly solve the Israel-Palestinian issue. Hardly ate anything all weekend, severe chills, weaknesses, aches, nausea. Head-splitting headaches. Today, I am exhausted from all of that.
On a more macro-scale: We use the Kedren Clinic in South Central LA for our first shot, as well taking my FIL and BIL for their shots the week after. Each time, there was not much of a line. This time, there was a more massive line, which we all attributed to the CDC's recent statement that the vaccinated did not need to wear masks.
I heard there are only a few folks showing up each day now at the Berkeley mass vaccination sight near Golden Gate Fields. Vaccinations seem to be petering out before our eyes. Hopefully the state is ready to open by June 15th. As far as Cal's upcoming football season is impacted - who knows? I keep getting emails from Cal Athletics about making a deposit on my season tickets. I imagine at this point there will be seating at Memorial in the Fall but what percentage of the seats will be full?
typo "sight" should be "site" obviously.
Pro
Phil Mickelson, a young man at merely 50 years old, wins the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, SC.
https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/31500415/phil-mickelson-50-wins-pga-championship-become-oldest-major-champion-golf-history
Ugh, Draymond floater to win/lose the game ::face palm::
This is what you get when the defense isn't worried about literally anyone else on the floor besides Steph Curry. Klay Thompson can't return fast enough.
That said, maybe Dray's best move there would have been to just bull into the defender and try to get a call.
At first I thought he was trying to draw a foul.
Yeah, the ugly floater was the non-committal move.
Another possibility would be to try to pass it out for Wiggins or JTA to get an open look, but not sure there was enough time for that (and the defenders were shading to their men at the arc anyway, knowing Draymond is not a scorer).
that was U-G-L-Y
[FreshPrinceOfBelairShotByCarlton.gif]
so so so bad
Just brutal....didn't even hit rim, nor did Wiggins on his huge 3 in OT...
Pretty much the two biggest shots of the game were taken by players not named Steph Curry, and neither even drew iron...pretty much sums it up right there.
the sad thing is that Draymond just doesnt play w/ that scorer's mentality anymore.
in the pre-Durant times, he was a serious scoring threat and would have dunked that final shot.
the only time I really see him try to score is either on the break when he'll attack the rim or on the fake handoff. Or the open 3 (which he was shooting fairly well the last month) but that's also a last resort usually.
A's trimmed by the punchless Angels 6-5. Bullpen failure was the cause...
Giants enter the weekend with the best record in MLB, exit it in 3rd place in the NL West
If the Giants are even in contention for a wild card spot by end of season they are ahead of schedule in the rebuild. It's not shocking if they're not better than the Dodgers yet.
Is Giants really "rebuilding" though? I think they have been clever in maximizing the values that they get from some aged veterans, but who on their current roster outside of Yaz (and he's already 30) will still be a key player in 2-3 years?
Wasn't the game plan for this year was to trade some of the short-term-lease starting pitchers for even more young pieces who would be key contributors a couple of years down the line?
Well I think Posey and Crawford hitting really well helps. The question is can they keep it up. They've had one of the easiest schedules so far (other than sweeping the Padres). This weekend Buehler, Bauer, and Urias shut them down. All their damage was against mostly AAA pitchers that are up due to injuries.
I think the Giants are coming up on a tougher stretch so I think we'll see what Giants are made of soon.
Agreed...tough to see Crawford and Posey continuing this pace, tho they'll likely hang around through the summer. The BBB trifecta gives them a championship pedigree, and with a vet like Longoria and some role players, they'll hang with most teams in the NL...just not LA. They play in a pitchers park and play great D...
Yes. The farm system is very highly rated. They're just stitching together what they can get for now without sacrificing any prospects.
Yeah, there are certainly some exciting players coming up (even if Joey Bart lost some luster from his debut last year), but they are not (yet) contributors at the MLB level. It is also arguable whether "having a winning culture" is really a thing (and they already have that from having most of the key players from the 3 championships...that were won by some voodoo magic).
As a non-Giants fan, I just would not be surprised that should the Giants fall a bit behind that the best move for them might be to trade one or more of the overperforming SPs for prospects midseason.
As a Giants fan, with all of the money coming off the books, SF's probably going to look like an entirely different team next season. Tough to see Crawford (40 HR) and Buster continuing the paces they've set so far...Gausman & Wood are a solid enough 1-2 to keep them competitive, tho. The bullpen is a disaster, however, and Kapler really can't be confident with anyone from game to game...talk about voodoo magic.
Over the long haul, you gotta think the more talented & balanced rosters will eventually rise to the top...you're gonna have to beat Atlanta & LA to do anything.
Would like their chances a whole lot more
GBBR. Was in section 313 yesterday. There were 4 Giants fans with obnoxious cheers that they repeated over and over. "Recall Gavin back to first" after the batter's interference on the steal. "Recall Gavin...". They left for beers during the 2nd and left for good after the top of the 3rd. That's a lot of money for less than 3 full innings.
One of No 3's best friends' parents invited us to brunch at the Gotham Club. Did get to stand at the bullpen viewing location and watch Urias warm up before the game. He threw a ball up to us after he was done.
All three teams (SD, LA, SF) are essentially tied for first and will be battling for at least another month. At that point, one team may fall behind.
Figure the Pads will eventually fade...only way they stick around is if Tatis absolutely carries them the rest of the way, like he did yesterday. Machado is so overrated, Grisham, Myers & Profar are bums, and Tommy Pham is not a major league ball player. The right side of the IF is steady, but the supporting cast just doesn’t give you enough consistently to beat LA.
I find it somewhat amusing that Grisham (1.8 fWAR), Myers (0.5 fWAR), and Profar (0.0 fWAR) are lumped together. Grisham's helped by some luck right now (high BABIP) and Myers' value is sagged by his bad defense, but I would still say that one of them is good, one is meh, another bad.
Sure, Ruey, according to the analytics, they're decent enough players, which is why I'm fading the Padres over the course of 162 games rather than predicting the bottom completely falling out...but the eye test tells a different story than fWAR. All 3 players have clear deficiencies to their game, and all are best served as part-time/bench players on a contending team rather than your leadoff CF, starting RF and starting LF/utility, respectively.
I think the Padres' 2021 prospect relies more on how healthy their pitching is than these guys. I still blame Grisham for his error (while with the Brewers) that kickstarted the 2019 Nats playoff run that gave them the title, but I kind of like his approach as a batter.
Other College
ESPN: The age of tampering in college football
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/31477534/tampering-arrived-college-football-looks-nba-free-agency
The rich get richer...the SEC is always right in the middle of it, too.
At what point do they form their own Super League? If that hasn't happened already.
Cal
Cal baseball article
this article references that book _Infinite Baseball_ which is my favorite baseball related book. it is as much philosophy as sport and written by a Cal philosophy prof.
https://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/summer-2019/get-your-head-in-the-game-a-thinking-fans-guide-to-baseball
my favorite part of the book is ...
“Baseball is boring,” Noë told me cheerfully. “But it’s boring the way physics is boring or classical music is boring. If you don’t know what’s going on, it’s indeed mind-numbingly, excruciatingly
boring.”
I might have to check this book out, even though I think the way that people *should* view baseball has changed due to technology. Scoring baseball game still has some values, but there are also inherent limitations to them.
Unless I don't get around to it (like 55% of the stuff I want to write), I am planning to write a breakdown of Andrew Vaughn's MLB career thus far (relying mainly on the fun stats and stuff from BaseballSavant) since he's approaching that 130 AB threshold which will knock him off the prospect list (it also means that if he stops playing right now, he's still rookie eligible (for award purposes) next year.
GO Bears!!!