quid.pro

And... we're back

The 3 1/2 month interregnum when this wasn't as much of a baseball blog is now over. Nothing special about this quote from Extra Baggs, I just wanted to remind everyone that pitchers and catchers reported on Tuesday.

As part of the physical, players step inside this cocoon-like thing called a Bod Pod that uses displaced air to measure your body fat.

As the Chronicle noted, Jeremy Affeldt was 19 percent. Manager Bruce Bochy was 17 percent. So Affeldt immediately pleaded his case to the Chron that the reading was inaccurate because of the size of Bochy’s head.

Low man on the body fat index? You’d probably guess Tim Lincecum, right?

Well, he was 4.2 percent, which is pretty amazing. But non-roster invitee Marc Kroon was even lower, at 4.0 percent.

Pablo’s body fat index is in the notebook, too, and it’s a big improvement. If he’d have gone the other direction this winter, his reading today would’ve been “hatch won’t close.”

Brian Wilson, not that kind of seaman

I don't care if the Giants go to the World Series again or not, this is going to be a fun year for baseball for us San Francisco fans. With the triumvirate of Brian Wilson, Aubrey Huff and Pat "The Machine" Burrell each having rings, things are only going to get crazier.

My favorite picture of the year

I was wandering through the Mobile Andrew archives and have decided that this picture best captures 2010's story for me. I apologize to my audience for turning Quid.Pro into too much of a Giants fanboy blog, but this is Astrid and I entering AT&T for game 1 of the World Series. I went to 42 games this year in total and there were other games that ended up more exciting (#1 was probably Lincecum's 14 strike out performance in game 1 of the NLDS). But the energy of the crowd, anticipation for the game and expectation that this team might actually win the World Series made this particular trip in through Willie Mays Gate the most special.

This image is now on my rotation of desktop images.

Oh, and the Giants won the game and Series. 

More thongage!

“The Giants might have overpaid a little for Aubrey Huff. Good. Is this what post-championship bliss is like?”

Grant, McCovey Chronicles

The torture is over!! (Until April)

 

Wild, bizarre ride

“The playoffs are fun when the weird things happen for your team, and every year, one fanbase out of 30 gets to enjoy a wild, bizarre ride that leaves the weird ledger completely lopsided.”

Grant, The McCovey Chronicles

I don't want to say I called it, but...

The Giants are going to the World Series! What a season, what a set of personalities. Not surprisingly, I'd love to see them win but at this point just taking the pennant is so well deserved by a team that has more personality than any team I've ever watched, save the 1986 Mets. But those Mets were the bad kids, doing drugs in the back of the bus and generally causing mayhem across the league. The 2010 Giants are more like the freaks and geeks crowd. Just my kind of people.

I want to point out that I called this back in May with a post, Why the Giants are going to the World Series this year. To the guy who commented on my Facebook link to that post with "dream on" I respond with "unfriended."

Also give the Giants credit for having the merchandise machine turned up full blast. I got this in my email within 3 minutes of Brian Wilson's last pitch (or should I say Ryan Howard's watching that pitch go into Buster Posey's mitt as a called strike 3).

Finally for all my dear friends who have asked for tickets, unfortunately my timing in baseball is no better than my timing otherwise. I sold four of the six season tickets we had before this season and don't even have enough to keep the family happy. Renée, Astrid and I have already begun the negotiations.

Go Giants! To fans of my mobile blog who have grown tired of baseball post after baseball post, I'm sorry. But indulge me for up to 7 more games.

Timmy!

“He was lights-out. We had two runners at second base the whole night and that was it. I don’t know how many he struck out, but it was more than fingers on my hand.”

Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox — who has fewer than 14 fingers — talking about Tim Lincecum

Wear it

I had never heard the expression "wear it" used much until I met my good friend David Tokheim. It's such a great baseball expression.

The Giants’ magic number is three and each team has one more game to play before the Padres arrive Friday. So the best the Giants can do is clinch a tie for the NL West before the final three-game series begins.

There’s nothing worse than watching an opponent celebrate in front of you. Come this weekend, one of these teams will have to wear it, as the ballplayers say. And they’ll think about the year that was…

via Extra Baggs

Buster Posey: if only he could catch his own pitches

The Giants liked what they saw, drafted Posey after his junior year, and barely two years later, handed him the catching job.

And yet, second-guessers might say the Giants are underutilizing Posey. As a junior at Florida State, along with catching every game, he was the closer. He has a 93-to-94 mph fastball, a "plus" slider and changeup, and great command.

via SFGate