One May Be the Loneliest Number but...

On August 29, 1977, Duane Kuiper hit the only home run of his career off of Steve Stone, while Stone was with the White Sox at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium.

Steve Stone was originally drafted by the San Francisco Giants.

On November 29, 1972 Stone was traded with (OF) Ken Henderson to the White Sox for Tom Bradley.
On December 11, 1973, Stone was traded with Steve Swisher to the Chicago Cubs for Ron Santo.
On November 29, 1978, Stone was signed by the Baltimore Orioles as a free agent. In 1980, Stone would win the American League Cy Young award, posting a 25-7 won/loss record with a 3.23 ERA.

Duane Kuiper was drafted by the Chicago White Sox of the 1970 amateur draft in the 1st round but did not sign.
In the 1972 amateur draft he was selected by the Cleveland Indians in the 1st round and did sign.
On November 14, 1981, the Cleveland Indians traded Kuip to the San Francisco Giants for RHP- Ed Whitson.

Like Kuip says, he sure got a lot of mileage out of that home run off of Stoney in August of 1977.


(thanks to baseball-reference.com for the facts)

Kevin Marquez

Some Guys are Just CLUTCH. In Orange and Black it's spelled: B-U-S-T-E-R.

August 26th, 2014 at AT&T Park, in a game between the Colorado Rockies and SF Giants and its scoreless after 5 innings.

Not a whole lot different from many of the Giants' games but one thing had to pique one's interest was that MadBum was perfect. In baseball terminology, that meant 15 men up and 15 men down.

Then Buster Posey, Bum's battery-mate, rips one over the wall, and it's Orange and Black-2 Purple-0.

When Justin Morneau got the double to break up the perfect game you realized the score was only 2-0, with the leadoff batter on second base, in scoring position. How many times had a perfect game turned into defeat when a pitcher was pitching a gem of a ball game?

Ask Bob Hendley, of the Chicago Cubs, the night Sandy Koufax threw his perfecto. (Charles Robert (Bobby) Hendley was born on April 30, 1939 in Macon, Georgia, where he still lives today. He attended Lanier High School (now called Central High School) and led his team to the Georgia State High School Championship. Hendley was also a standout athlete on the school’s basketball and track teams.

Hendley received a scholarship to the University of Georgia; however he elected to forego college to sign with the Milwaukee Braves after being drafted by them in 1958.

Drafted out of high school, Bobby Hendley made his Major League debut with the Milwaukee Braves on June 23, 1961.

After the 1963 season, Hendley was traded from Milwaukee to the San Francisco Giants in a six-player deal. On May 28, 1965, he and Harvey Kuenn were traded by the Giants to the Chicago Cubs. Although they didn’t know it at the time, both Hendley and Kuenn would become immortalized in baseball history a short four months later.)

The fact that the Koufax’s perfect game ended with a score of 1-0, although remarkable, is not what sets the game apart from any of the other (now) 23 perfect games ever pitched; in fact there have been seven perfect games with a 1-0 final score. No, what puts the Koufax perfect game into a class of its own is that while no Cubs player managed to get a hit or reached base safely, the Dodgers themselves managed to get only one hit and had only two base runners during the entire game. If you really want to get technical, there was actually only one Dodger player to reach base safely during the game when you consider that it was Dodgers left fielder “Sweet” Lou Johnson who reached base both times – once on a 5th-inning walk and the other on a bloop double behind Cubs Hall of Fame first baseman Ernie Banks in the 7th inning.

Obviously the fact that Koufax faced the minimum of 27 batters without allowing a base runner is the big story here, but the fact that Cubs left-hander Bobby Hendley allowed only one hit himself is what makes this epic pitcher’s dual the greatest game ever played.

What makes this game even more incredible it that it wasn’t even Sweet Lou’s bloop double that accounted for the only run scored in the game – in fact, Johnson was left stranded on second base. It was the leadoff walk to Johnson in the bottom of the 5th inning on a 3-2 pitch (that could have been called either way) that led to the only run of the game. That questionable 3-2 pitch was the difference between a 1-0 shutout and a double no-hitter through 8 1/2 innings.

Then Buster hits another bomb and the score is 3-0. The catcher helps the pitcher and the Giants win 3-0.

It's now officially "Put a Fork In It Time." Because now, and only now is there hope of something special happening.
Like hitting rock bottom, not until then is there reason to believe things will change.


Kevin J. Marquez

(thanks to this website for the Bobby Hendley info: http://www.thinkbluela.com/index.php/2012/12/04/the-other-guy-2/)

Time to Put a Fork in the 2014 San Francisco Giants

After seeing Mike Morse bumble around in left field with the reasoning that as long as he hits homers and drives in runs his pathetic defense won't be enough to cost the team any games (that theory really backfired, eh?) and then the horrific Monday night game on August 25th, against a Rockies team with the worst record in baseball (although against the Giants they are 8-4) it is time to put a fork in the 2014 Giants.

If you look up the old posts I may have done the same thing in 2010 and 2012, because in either year there was a point of no return that, well, being a Giant's fan is just too much to endure. Nothing sickens me more than bad baseball. When you make mistake after mistake, do everything possible to assist the opponent into scoring runs and then the age old inconsistent strike zone. Enough, is enough.

Time to see if the 49ers can come to their senses and re-sign Alex Boone and if Colin Kaepernick can learn how to add touch to his passes and not throw the fastball every time.

Barring a miracle, like the ones in 2010 and 2012 I don't see any reason for me to tune into 680AM, KNBR. With their lame ads and idiotic promos, that too is something I don't really need to be subjected to, know what I mean.


Kevin J. Marquez

PS: They better sign Pablo (Pah-blow) not (pab-low) or next season will be another six months of futility.

One should note, that WHEN to put a fork in something is the key to making it happen.
In 2010 and 2012, the torture and total frustration were enough to place el tenedor in the orange and black hopes.
Now, this 2014 team is the year of Panik, and the fork needed to be applied. It is the last hope to change the fate of a favorite team.

I Thank Joe Torre

Go back in your San Francisco Giants' time machine.
Back to the dreary days of when Orlando Cepeda was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ray Sadecki.
Cepeda goes on to win the MVP and the Cardinals win the World Series in 1967.

Then on March 17, 1969, Cepeda was traded to the Atlanta Braves for Joe Torre. Torre, joins the Cardinals and he too gets the "magic" as he wins the 1971 MVP. Torre remembers these days and sees how the Giants got "Ground-screwed" by those buffoons on the Cub payroll. He takes the Giants protest and makes the Cubs have to continue the game in the bottom of the 5th inning, ahead 2-0, Thursday, August 21, 2014 at the friendly confines of Wrigley Field.

Sometimes there is justice.

Kevin J. Marquez

They Got "Grounds-Screwed" at Wrigley Field, August 19,2014

Did you see the ultimate in incompetence when it comes to a grounds crew putting, or attempting to place, a tarp on the infield during a downpour of rain?

On August 19, 2014, at Wrigley Field, the crew re-enacted an old Three Stooges skit as they fussed with, and miscalculated the length and distance of tarp while the skies opened up with a hard-driving rain. And in a season where the Giants have had their share of being "Replayed" by the Stooges in their New York call center, tonight they got a once in a lifetime flogging by the most incompetent group of jokers since the sound effects reduced Curly, Moe, and Larry to buffoons of the most recognizable order. The Giants indeed got "Grounds-Screwed."

And since the major leagues probably will not do a thing about this inability to cover the field, one has to wonder if there wasn't a degree of intent or purpose to this mockery of unrolling the tarp and placing it over the infield of a baseball diamond. That this is allowed just goes to show how the powers that be really aren't concerned with "getting the call right" but instead just giving the illusion that they'd like all calls to be accurate but the end result is that those buffoons in New York are getting footage the teams AT that particular game are not seeing and that what happened to the Giants at Cubs on August 19, 2014 is just an "oops" that no one will do a damned thing about.

The world is filled with people who act as if they give a damn but after further review you come to realize it's all an act.

This so-called effort comes across as pitiful. What we witnessed tonight was DESPICABLE. Those hired to review calls-in-question and even the inept performances like the comedic grounds crew chumps of Chi-town on August 19, 2014, ought to be ashamed. When those involved cannot accept responsibility or those "chosen few" in New York hide behind the facade of never being introduced by major league baseball by name and title,no photo ID, no name, and no accountability is just plain pathetic.


Kevin J. Marquez

Unbelievable Circumstances Cost Giants One Run. What IS the Rule?

BASE PATH - The base path belongs to the runner EXCEPT when a fielder is in the path attempting to field a batted ball or when a fielder is in the path and in possession of the ball. After a runner has been put out (typically on a force play at second) he has NO rights to the base path. If R1 is put out at second by a long distance, he must duck or get out of the path. If he is hit with the throw while in the path, or makes contact with the fielder who is in the act of throwing, while on his feet, he is guilty. Rule 7.08(b), 7.09(L)

In the bottom of the first inning of a game (August 12, 2014 @ AT&T) between the Chisox and Giants, Hunter Pence triples. Next batter, Buster Posey, grounds one to shortstop but as Pence begins his sprint home he notices the bat is in the way so he goes in standing up and gets tagged out because of his inability to slide.

Because it was his teammate who dropped the bat is this legal? What about sportsmanship? As an umpire or catcher I immediately would toss the bat aside to clear the path as to avoid any possibility of injury. That the catcher and home plate umpire just left the bat lying there annoys me. Am I wrong for thinking that because they did leave the bat in the path of the runner there must be a rule protecting both the catcher and home plate umpire? Otherwise, one of the aforementioned would have kicked or tossed the stick aside. It wouldn't have been a matter of safety for the catcher but rather an opportunity to make a play.

What is the rule?



Kevin J. Marquez

Something Shady

When an umpire rules that a base runner-sliding into a base- came off of the base, in which the fielder kept the glove on the base runner OUT, isn't the same true, depending on whether the great and powerful video crew gets the appropriate angle. Can you then rule "Safe!" if while the defender is applying the tag, the ball rattles around inside his glove?

You won't always get the shot that shows the ball rattling around in the glove, but on those fortuitous moments when the glove happens to be turned in a way as to expose the insecure ball this should be definitive enough to either over-rule or leave the damned call alone.

Just who are those douches in New York, anyway? Why aren't the players, managers, and coaches seeing EXACTLY what those douchebags in New York are viewing to allow them to make the decisions they are arriving at? There is something shady about this newly implemented system in Major League Baseball.


Kevin J. Marquez

Home Plate Umpires Be Aware!

Far as I can see, fans are not showing up to the games to see you. But if you don't do the job you were hired to do you will be heckled.
I understand you guys/gals have it rough. But you knew what you were getting into when you signed up for the duty of umpiring baseball games.

I would like to see the home plate umpire pay attention to how the pitcher is throwing the ball on a given night and see if you can adjust to his pitch. Rather than making him adjust to your strike zone, take an inning or two to see what the pitcher is doing. Now if the guy is all over the place and unable to enter anywhere near the strike zone (rulebook version) then you go by what you deem to be a strike. (Hopefully, rulebook version.)

I say this because the fans that went to see that game were going to see the pitcher on their favorite team. And if the pitcher is known to be "around the plate" but on a particular night was in the lower half of the strike zone (or upper) I think it's the home plate umpire's duty to make the adjustment for the better game outcome.

If your strike zone is strictly yours and one team is getting the benefit of an easier adjustment, who do you think is going to win? That is not why umpires were added to the game of baseball. Quite the contrary. Umpires were introduced into the game to follow a set of rules that kept the game fair and eliminated any extra curricular or unseemly behavior. Your job initially was to keep things in line. No hanky-panky.

When one teams appears to have an advantage the umpires truly are the "bad guys." There is a real good chance that game will have gotten out-of-hand and an indelible scuff mark will remain in the fans' and players' minds because of the ineptness of that particular game's umpire crew.

Finally, I think it behooves you to have a yielding manner in which to call balls and strikes. Those who have this style of assessing what is and is not a strike will get a better understanding from the players,coaches, and managers because they will remember how your flexibility was for the betterment of the game and they'll think twice about giving you grief on a bad night you may have in the future.

Kevin J. Marquez