The 2010 San Francisco Giants have been labeled more times than a re-gifted toaster. Called “misfits” and “castoffs”; their manager even refers to them as “the dirty dozen.” One Philadelphia writer called them a bunch of “rodeo clowns” but their most enduring title will surely be National League Champions.

The Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies to win the NLCS and they only needed six games to do it. This battle ended with an epic 3-2 win in Philly. In the end, a series dominated by starting pitching, was decided by the bullpens and one clutch hit.

Juan Uribe waved his magic wand again, this time in the 8^th inning when he drilled a Ryan Madson slider just over the right-field wall at Citizen’s Bank Park to momentarily silence the raucous Philly faithful.

The Giants relied on their strength, pitching, that included relief appearances by Tim Lincecum and Madison Bumgarner to hold the Phillies’ potent offense to eight hits and strand 11 runners.

None were more critical than the pair left on when Brian Wilson painted a knee-high strike past one of the game’s best run producers, Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard, on a 3-2 pitch to end the series. That pitch muted one of MLB’s most hostile venues as the Giants stormed the field, celebrating the franchises’ fourth NL Pennant since moving west.

“I knew I was going to throw everything at them,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. “This is a huge game. To go into a Game 7, you knew the momentum would be on their side. We were going to do all we could to win.”

Uribe, a journeyman infielder who was just 3-for-27 in the postseason, was the hero for the second time in three games.

Getting off to a shaky start, Giants’ starter Jonathan Sanchez gave up two runs in the first then after a game-tying rally in the third, the lefty again struggled. After a meeting from pitching coach Dave Righetti, Sanchez hit Chase Utely with a pitch in the back. After the two exchanged words, the benches cleared. Bochy then elected to remove the over-hyped Sanchez, and Jeremy Affeldt put out the fire just minutes after the altercation.

The Giants who were 7 ½ games out of first place early in July, whose GM has been fired millions of times by sports-talk callers and bloggers, and whose collection of “castoffs” weren’t good enough for anyone else, found a way to dispatch of the two-time reining NL champion Phillies, grab the pennant and hoist the Warren C. Giles trophy.

Another cast-off, Cody Ross stood soaked in champagne, holding his NLCS MVP Trophy after the game, “I could never imagine being in a situation like this,” said Ross. “I’m just going to cherish it. This is a special time for me. I felt like a 10-year-old kid. I was screaming, running and jumping as high as I could.”

Going into the World Series match-up against the Texas Rangers, these Giants have a legitimate chance to jump to that final rung on the ladder.

Used with permission of the author.

Theo is a staff reporter and feature writer for the Marin Independent Journal where he covers local prep and college sports. As an Associate Production Manager for ESPN, he helped produce Sunday Night Baseball among other national ESPN and ABC Sports telecasts. In addition to his contributions to Sports Climax, he is a columnist for Examiner.com and is the play-by-play voice for Sonoma State University baseball and softball.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

During the San Francisco Giants 6-5 comeback victory in Game 4 on Wednesday, which takes a commanding 3-1 lead over the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS, the team again proved they will fight to the final bell.

In the game, the Giants struck first before giving away two different leads then out came the knockout punch in the form of a Juan Uribe walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth. With the long-haired kid called the “Franchise” on the mound for Game 5, the Giants are one win away from the fourth World Series.

In the win, the slumping Buster Posey, a favored pick for NL Rookie of the Year, had a four-hit night that was supported by a bullpen that bent but never broke.

“We saw something special tonight,” said Andres Torres. “We never give up. We always come back. This team, we believe.”

Oswalt, who silenced the Giants bats and put the Phillies’ team back on its axis with the Game 2 equalizer on Sunday, took the mound in the ninth. Freddy Sanchez greeted him with a laser that was caught by right fielder Jason Werth. After giving up back-to-back singles to Huff and Posey, who broke a 1-for-11 slump with four hits and two RBIs, Uribe sent a soaring fly ball to left to ice the win.

“One of the biggest games I’ve ever been a part of,” said closer Brian Wilson, who earned the win with a perfect ninth inning.

The fight continues Thursday in a match-up of Game 1 starters Tim Lincecum and Roy Halladay. In that game, Lincecum responded to fans waving “Hippy Trash” and “Fix Your Teeth” signs by delivering a 4-3 win in Philly. Just one victory from the World Series, the Giants are looking to deliver the knockout blow few were bold enough to imagine before this series started.

“We don’t want to go on a six-hour flight (Friday),” said Huff, who had three hits Wednesday and scored the winning run. “We’re going to come out and play aggressive, the way we always play.”

BOX SCORE on MLB.com

Used with permission of the author.

Theo is a staff reporter and feature writer for the Marin Independent Journal where he covers local prep and college sports. As an Associate Production Manager for ESPN, he helped produce Sunday Night Baseball among other national ESPN and ABC Sports telecasts. In addition to his contributions to Sports Climax, he is a columnist for Examiner.com and is the play-by-play voice for Sonoma State University baseball and softball.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

Cody Ross is quickly making a name for himself in the 2010 NLCS. Keeping the San Francisco Giants hopes of a World Series alive, Ross hit two solo homers off Philadelphia Phillies ace Roy Halladay, leading his Giants to a 4-3 win in Game 1 of the series.

Black-bearded Brian Wilson picked up the four-out save and stranded the tying run on base when he struck out Shane Victorino to end the game. Wilson pitched around two base runners and recorded all four of outs by strikeout.

Though the battle of the pitching aces didn’t materialize in Game 1, there was little shortage of drama as Tim Lincecum overcame the potent Phillies lineup and a hostile Philadelphia crowd to lead the Giants to their seventh consecutive Game 1 postseason win in a series. That streak dates all the way back to the 2000 NLDS. Although we didn’t see the dominant version of Lincecum like we saw in Game 1 of the ALDS when he two-hit shutout the Braves; he still gutted out a win.

The Philly crowd held signs reading, “Hippy Trash”, “This Guy Stinks,” ”Wanna Smoke?” and “Fix Your Teeth.” The raucous crowd didn’t stop there. They taunted and whistled at him but in the end, it was Lincecum who got the win and stole the home field advantage in the series.

When asked about the whistling, Lincecum laughed and responded:

“I was thinking I must have a really nice butt.”

With the game promoted as the biggest duel in a generation, right arms were the focal point at the beginning of the night and early on Halladay’s looked stronger. He retired the first seven Giants he faced before Ross’ third-inning shot into the left-field bleachers silenced the rabid crowd and sent a wave of confidence into the Giants dugout along with a 1-0 lead.

The Phillies responded in the bottom of the inning when catcher Carlos Ruiz hit a solo shot off Lincecum. The first three innings were littered with solid contact outs and base hits against Lincecum but Ross — acquired during one of GM Brian Sabean’s many trips to the all-you-can-eat-waiver-wire buffet — picked up his team’s diminutive ace.

Ross homered again in the fifth to the same area in left, giving the Giants a 2-1 lead. With that shot, Ross joined Jeff Kent, Rich Aurilia and Will Clark as the only San Francisco Giants to hit two homers in a playoff game.

The next game is Sunday with Jonathan Sanchez and Roy Oswalt taking the hump.

Used with permission of the author.

Theo is a staff reporter and feature writer for the Marin Independent Journal where he covers local prep and college sports. As an Associate Production Manager for ESPN, he helped produce Sunday Night Baseball among other national ESPN and ABC Sports telecasts. In addition to his contributions to Sports Climax, he is a columnist for Examiner.com and is the play-by-play voice for Sonoma State University baseball and softball.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

For the San Francisco Giants to win the NL West title, it took a historic run of dominant pitching and the entirety of 162 regular season games. Moving on to the NLDS against the Atlanta Braves the  Giants’ starting pitching staff took a dramatic step from outstanding to superlative in their domination in that series and suddenly find themselves in the NLCS against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Looking ahead, in order to get past last year’s National League Champion Phillies, the pitching will need to be as good or even better than it was during the 3-games-to-1 NLDS series win over the Braves.

Here is the Giants expected lineup in charge of taking on the H2O squad of Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels:

1. Andres Torres, CF
2. Freddy Sanchez, 2B
3. Aubrey Huff, 1B
4. Buster Posey, C
5. Pat Burrell, LF
6. Juan Uribe, SS
7. Mike Fontenot, 3B
8. Cody Ross, RF

That Giants starting lineup includes only two players whose name were written on the Opening Day lineup; Huff — who was hitting third and playing first, and Uribe who started at second base due to an injury to Freddy Sanchez.

Ironically, the Giants’ three highest-paid hitters, Aaron Rowand ($13.6 million), Edgar Renteria ($10 million) and Jose Guillen may find themselves on the outside looking in when it comes time to cast the 25-man roster.

Looking at the one-through-eight hitters in the line-up, the Giants are a collection of aggressive, outhouse-or-castle hitters who sometimes make the opposing pitchers job a little easier.

Here are hitters to watch in this upcoming series:

• Pat Burrell — Motivated to take on his former team, Burrell smashed 18 homers, many of those in clutch situations.
• Juan Uribe — His 23 homers and 85 RBIs set new career highs and were second on the team. In a slump and getting only one hit in the NLDS, the Giants need Uribe to return to being the hitter he was for much of the regular season..
• Buster Posey — Posey is one of the game’s best young hitters. He was 6-for-16 with a .444 OBP and scored three runs during the NLDS against the Braves.

Now look at the Giants pitching staff. They set a modern-day record with 18 consecutive games allowing three are fewer runs and allowed more than three runs just three times in the final 26 games. During the NLDS, the staff allowed just 9 earned runs in the four playoff games, five that came in Atlanta’s lone win in Game 2.

Here’s the Giants expected starting rotation:

• Game 1: Tim Lincecum
• Game 2: Jonathan Sanchez
• Game 3: Matt Cain
• Game 4: Madison Bumgarner

Game 1 should be epic with Lincecum facing Halladay in the most anticipated matchup in recent playoff history. Each hurler stepped into October baseball with a bang with Halladay no-hitting the Reds in Game 1 and Lincecum allowing just two hits while fanning 14 Braves in a complete game shut out in his Game 1 start. If this series goes to 7 games, we may see this matchup three times.

As great as Lincecum has been, the rest of the Giants’ starting staff has performed nearly as well. During the NLDS they recorded an ERA of just 1.66, a WHIP of 0.82, struck out 46 hitters, walked just seven and gave up just 24 hits in the 38 innings pitched.

Looking at the Giants bullpen, they weren’t as sharp but will need to be if they want to take down a Phillies’ roster stacked with talent.

Here’s a look at the Phillies starting rotation:

1. Roy Halladay: 21-10, 2.44 ERA, 250.2 IP
2. Cole Hamels: 12-11, 3.09 ERA, 206.2 IP
3. Roy Oswalt: 13-13, 2.73 ERA, 211.2 IP
4. Joe Blanton: 9-6, 4.82 ERA, 175.2 IP
5. Kyle Kendrick: 11-10, 4.73 ERA, 180.2 IP

Prediction:

I see the Phillies winning in six. Although the Giants have played well, they are a team of rag-tag parts with the most expensive pieces expected to be on the bench for the majority of the NLCS.

The Giant pitching has done gotten the job done but to manage the Phillies potent lineup four times in seven tries may be asking too much. It should be a close series and a nail-biter for both teams with few lopsided victories.

Used with permission of the author.

Theo is a staff reporter and feature writer for the Marin Independent Journal where he covers local prep and college sports. As an Associate Production Manager for ESPN, he helped produce Sunday Night Baseball among other national ESPN and ABC Sports telecasts. In addition to his contributions to Sports Climax, he is a columnist for Examiner.com and is the play-by-play voice for Sonoma State University baseball and softball.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

The past week of San Francisco Giants baseball was like watching your dog dart out into the street in front of a speeding truck, dodge out of the way only to be hit by a car coming the other direction. This recent span has been one swift kick in the nuts after another.

First for our viewing pleasure, we were offered an epic come-from-behind attempt that turned into a heartbreaking 12-11, 12-inning fiasco loss at the hands of the Cincinnati Reds. That was followed by the Arizona D’backs going all slow-pitch softball on Tim Lincecum, who’s on a five-start losing streak, and Barry Zito

The Giants call it ‘magic’ while Duane Kuiper calls it ‘torture.’

Monday night’s 2-1 loss to the Rockies brought out a rare kind of furor, but the outcome of an MLB game can’t be assigned to one or two moves out of the hundreds that occur over the nine or more innings.

In the forefront of this, the two Giants most available to recent criticisms are waiver-wire-refugee Cody Ross and manager Bruce Bochy. Bochy has been a popular whipping boy for the Giants’ fan base the past few seasons but after Ross botched a broken-bat fly ball by the Rockies’ Carlos Gonzalez, Ross is now a familiar name, too.

The common perception is Bochy should have inserted defensive specialist — and apparent Roberto Clemente clone — Nate Schierholtz, which would have prevented the gaffe.

The San Francisco Chronicle’s Henry Schulman came to Ross’ defense in his game story:

“The first thing that must be said is that any right fielder in the majors would have charged the ball as Cody Ross did in the ninth inning Monday night, in a disastrous moment for the Giants that turned a game of beauty on the mound into a 2-1 loss to the Rockies.”

Schulman is a venerable baseball writer and someone who understands the game better than some who did; right Tim McCarver?

Then comes Bochy’s handling of the ninth.

Giants starter Jonathan Sanchez was excellent, throwing eight shut-out innings while allowing just five hits. With 102 pitches on the night, Sanchez was allowed to come to the plate to begin the bottom of the eighth and was scheduled to face the heart of the Rockies’ order in the ninth.

Sanchez ran the count to 0-2 on Dexter Fowler before losing his control and throwing four straight pitches for balls, issuing the lead-off walk. Bochy summoned closer Brian Wilson even though the next batter, Gonzales, was hitless in three trips to the plate against Sanchez and 0-for-10 against him lifetime.

There are two prevailing schools of thought here. Wilson should have been allowed to start a clean ninth inning and Sanchez should have been allowed to face Gonzales.

Clearly, no matter what Bochy elected to do, a large contingency would second guess, provided the end results turned out to be as disappointing as Thursday’s game. Bochy could have traded for Mariano Rivera and sent out three extra rovers to patrol the outfield and some would still say it was the skipper’s fault. But this one can’t be blamed on one man.

The questions the Giants’ faithful will be asking themselves is, ‘Was Thursday’s loss the direct result of one man, and who?’ and ‘Are these the type of inexplicable losses that just happen over the course of a 162-game schedule?’

Used with permission of the author.

Theo is a staff reporter and feature writer for the Marin Independent Journal where he covers local prep and college sports. As an Associate Production Manager for ESPN, he helped produce Sunday Night Baseball among other national ESPN and ABC Sports telecasts. In addition to his contributions to Sports Climax, he is a columnist for Examiner.com and is the play-by-play voice for Sonoma State University baseball and softball.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

It’s more American than apple pie. No, I’m not talking about baseball, the nation’s one-time favorite pastime; I’m talking about corporate cross promotion. This past weekend, the New York Yankees and rap impresario Jay-Z announced a new line of “co-branded clothes that will be sold exclusively at Yankee Stadium.”

The threads will include the signature Yankees cap, among other head gear, hoodies, and T-shirts that will feature Yankees and Jay-Z logos. Personally, I blame your girlfriend and her stupid pink hat. That innocent act of feminism spawned an awful, awful trend.

With that, Jessica Simpson donned a pink Tony Romo jersey, ESPN stopped covering sports and Ben Affleck sat behind the Red Sox dugout with a permanently surprised Jennifer Garner and her green Sox hat, seriously, she was always caught off guard by the cameras.

Alyssa Milano also jumped on board and reinvented herself from an out-of-work actress who dates baseball players to an out-of-work actress who dates baseball players who ALSO designs female-friendly fan apparel. And don’t forget about Lady Gaga who forgot to wear pants into the Yankees clubhouse.

Today you can walk into any stadium in this once great land of ours, purchase a Giants hat in blue and white, a Dodgers hat in orange and black, or a red Cubs cap; how confusing is that having a red cap with a ‘C’ on the front. Isn’t that supposed to represent the Cincinnati Reds?

Not a fan of your team’s crude, traditional logo? Class it up with an argyle print and if that’s not your style, there’s always plaid.

Still not sold, jazz up your city’s team with a bedazzled skyline embroidery on the front of your cap in place of the declasse logo, or even just add random colors and designs so it looks like an unsupervised pre-schooler got his hands on it. There’s even a line of hats specifically designed for Elmer Fudd as shown here.

Tradition, schmascmission. Who needs it in a country where cash rules over tradition.

Was it Jay-Z who rapped, “I’m not a business man, I’m a business, man,” or was that Bud Selig?

Used with permission of the author.

Theo is a staff reporter and feature writer for the Marin Independent Journal where he covers local prep and college sports. As an Associate Production Manager for ESPN, he helped produce Sunday Night Baseball among other national ESPN and ABC Sports telecasts. In addition to his contributions to Sports Climax, he is a columnist for Examiner.com and is the play-by-play voice for Sonoma State University baseball and softball.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

NL Rookie of the Year debates are picking up steam everywhere from around water coolers to the ESPN/East Coast-hype machine, who has done its best to make the debate over the 2010 NL ROY seem like a legitimate one.

It began with Jason Heyward. His legend spread like a Kardashian at …um, like wildfire. Fantasy owners drooled over him. Scouts wrote things like “Heyward is a can’t-miss five-tool player.” Another said “watching him is akin to witnessing the spawn of Mickey Mantel and Henry Aaron being gently cultivated in an organic clover field of clover while being serenaded by John Lennon and Fergie, as his home runs create double and triple rainbows as they streak across the sky. “

Heyward’s hot start bat helped solidify the hype, as he hit .292 with 10 home runs, 38 RBI and slugged .578. But since a trip to the disabled list, his East Coast zip code has done more to keep him in the conversation than his rather pedestrian numbers have.

On the year J-Hey is hitting just .259. He’s slugged just two long-balls since June 1, and has tallied a total of 51 RBIs.

Next was Stephen Strasburg.

Each of his minor-league starts was covered with more zeal than the Nixon impeachment proceedings. And he was spectacular. In just 63 2/3 innings, Strasburg has recorded 86 strikeouts and has walked just 18. His ERA is a crisp 2.97 and microscopic WHIP (walks plus hits divided by innings pitched) is 1.12. That included his past two starts where he’s allowed nine runs (seven earned) in 9 1/3 innings.

But his own trip to the DL, and a strict innings limit soon to be enforced by the Nationals will keep Strasburg’s name off the ROY trophy.

Then there was this kid named Buster. He’s outhit Heyward and outshined Strasburg all while putting a team in the thick of a pennant race squarely on his shoulders.

Gerald “Buster” Demp Posey III has lived up to his hype, and has surpassed the expectations of his main competitors.

In 68 games since being called up on May 29, Posey is hitting .337 with 9 homers, 43 RBIs, while slugging .516 with an OBP of .386. More impressively, the Giants are 24-13 in games he starts behind the plate (39-26 in his starts overall).

Additionally, Posey is hitting cleanup for the Giants and he’s catching one of the league’s best and most difficult pitching staffs to handle. Posey has also turned the Giants lineup into a legitimate big-league threat, adding protection for Aubrey Huff (.301, 15 HR, 46 RBI since the Posey promotion), putting Huff in the thick of the NL MVP conversation. He’s also picked up the slack left by Pablo Sandoval’s sophomore slump.

One scout beamed:

“Posey is the unicorn of catchers, except he actually exists. Imagine Johnny Bench as a centaur flying shotgun alongside Ted Williams in World War II as their DNA is cryogenically frozen together resulting in the 2010 National League Rookie of the Year.”

This year’s rookie class is impressive, to say the least. Barring injuries or some other unforeseen setback, Heyward, Strasburg, and Posey will be elite-level players for years to come, but the list goes even deeper than that.

The Reds’ Mike Leake has been a main cog in Cincinnati rotation, going 8-4 with a 3.78 for the first-place Reds. The Cardinals’ Jaime Garcia (10-5, 2.71 ERA), the Mets Ike Davis (15 HR, 51 RBI), the Cubs’ Starlin Castro (.314 avg.), Nat’s Ian Desmond (.266/9/49), have also rounded out a stout group of NL rookies.

But none of them have outperformed Posey.

“Mark my words: he’s Jason Varitek behind the plate and Derek Jeter as a hitter,” Florida State assistant baseball coach Mike Martin said in an interview with the New York Times. “He gets inside the ball like he’s Jeter, and he runs the show like he’s Varitek — and he cares, like both of them do. That’s what you’re getting.”

END IT.

Used with permission of the author.

Theo is a staff reporter and feature writer for the Marin Independent Journal where he covers local prep and college sports. As an Associate Production Manager for ESPN, he helped produce Sunday Night Baseball among other national ESPN and ABC Sports telecasts. In addition to his contributions to Sports Climax, he is a columnist for Examiner.com and is the play-by-play voice for Sonoma State University baseball and softball.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

Matt Cain did what he’s done dozens of times in his career prior on Thursday — leave with a lead and go home with a no-decision.

Luckily for Cain, it wasn’t worse than that. The bullpen couldn’t hold a four-run lead, and the Giants let the Cubs back in it late, but eventually pulled out another vintage 2010 Giants victory with a 8-7 come-from-ahead win at AT&T Park on Thursday afternoon.

Giants baseball – torture.

Andres Torres’ ninth-inning, one-out, bases-loaded single to the warning track in deep center brought home Aaron Rowand for the winning run, turning what was shaping up to be one of the toughest losses of the season into win that breathed a sigh of relief into the 40,000 plus fans in attendance. It was Torres’ third walk-off hit of the year.

Pablo Sandoval, seemingly once again out of hibernation, opened the second inning with a triple, and scored on Juan Uribe’s line-drive single to center, cutting the Cubs lead to 2-1. Chicago came right back thanks to a two-out RBI double from starting pitcher Randy Wells making it 3-1. But Pat Burrell hit the fist of his two home runs leading off the bottom of the third, then Sandoval followed by launching a wet one into McCovey cove to tie things up at 3-3 the very next at bat.

Burrell who is 16-for-43 with five homers and 15 RBIs since the Dodgers came to town July 30 — smoked a 2-0 pitch off left field foul pole for a grand slam, making it 7-3 Giants. That lead would prove to be surmountable, costing Cain a win, but what a month Burrell is putting together.

Burrell is hitting .356 in his last 15 games and 10 of his last 16 hits have gone for extra bases. Perhaps most impressive has been his timing. “The Bat” has the game-deciding RBI in four of the Giants’ last five wins; a homer to beat the Dodgers, a sacrifice fly to beat the Braves, another sac fly to beat the Cubs and Wednesday’s game-deciding homer to top the Cubs. Clearly his fingerprints were all over Thursday’s win, too.

Since joining the Giants on June 4 after being let go by the Rays, Burrell has smashed 10 homers and driven in 28 runs. That includes a rather dismal July where the water buffalo hit just .189.

A lot was made about the Giants not acquiring a bat at the non-waiver trade deadline, but if Sandoval, Burrell and Freddy Sanchez find themselves this lineup will gain instant credibility.

And that might be happening just in time to help Jonathan Sanchez remove his foot from his mouth with the first-place Padres coming to town for a three game set beginning Friday.

A lot has been made about Sanchez’s post-game quotes from last Sunday, essentially guaranteeing a Giants sweep this weekend, propelling them into first place for the duration. It’s no certainty that Sanchez — who’s only put together consecutive quality starts once this season (way back in April) — knew he was getting the ball, but at least he’s going on Orange Friday.

Used with permission of the author.

Theo is a staff reporter and feature writer for the Marin Independent Journal where he covers local prep and college sports. As an Associate Production Manager for ESPN, he helped produce Sunday Night Baseball among other national ESPN and ABC Sports telecasts. In addition to his contributions to Sports Climax, he is a columnist for Examiner.com and is the play-by-play voice for Sonoma State University baseball and softball.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

Donnie baseball is catching his share of heat after Bruce Bochy enforced rule 8.06 to force Dodgers’ closer Jonathan Broxton off the mound, and spur the Giants to a come-from-behind 7-5 win in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

While it was Mattingly’s untimely two-step that is catching the headlines, it was Matt Kemp’s Rude-boy behavior that sent the dominoes tumbling.

First of all, there was absolutely no fiber in Kemp’s body that actually wanted to fight – even if his opponent was going to be the diminutive Tim Lincecum. Boxer’s don’t come out of the corner and position themselves between their trainer, the referee, and the other fighter. But instead Kemp gave everyone – in particularly Pablo Sandoval who rushed toward his teammate like a bounding rottweiler – ample opportunity to prevent the fisticuffs from developing.

Here’s an excerpt from Bay Area News Group Giants beat writer Andrew Baggarly’s blog. And remember, Baggarly covered the Dodgers for many years, too.

“Let’s get this out of the way: Kemp is a headcase. He’s a tremendously talented baseball player, but he’s had his share of run-ins with teammates over the years. Lord knows how many times Joe Torre has reached for his favorite migraine medicine on Kemp’s account.

So I wasn’t entirely surprised to see Kemp make like Billy from Family Circus and take a rather curved path toward first base. But like a good college basketball team, it was really interesting to watch everything that happened away from the guy with the ball, er, beef.”

Kemp took exception to a pitch that “clipped” his jersey. This is when the wheels began to loosen.
Home-plate umpire Adrian Johnson was forced to issue warning to both clubs simply because of Kemp’s overreaction.

Also irked by the pitch’s proximity was Joe Torre’s bench coach Bob Schaefer, who began to fume, and was later ejected when Giants reliever Denny Bautista came up and in to Russell Martin. An ejection that would prove critical.

In the sixth inning, Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw was kept in to bat for himself — during a one-run game — then hit Aaron Rowand with the first pitch in the top of the seventh. Rowand took his base without a scene as both Kershaw and Torre were ejected.

As a result, instead of Torre’s second-in-command (Schaefer) taking the reins, it was the inexperienced Mattingly who became the acting manager – all because Kemp couldn’t distinguish between a bad outing for Lincecum and a pitch with intent.

This all resulted in a thrilling win for the Giants, and a frustrating moment — if not extremely embarrassing — loss for the Dodgers.

Used with permission of the author.

Theo is a staff reporter and feature writer for the Marin Independent Journal where he covers local prep and college sports. As an Associate Production Manager for ESPN, he helped produce Sunday Night Baseball among other national ESPN and ABC Sports telecasts. In addition to his contributions to Sports Climax, he is a columnist for Examiner.com and is the play-by-play voice for Sonoma State University baseball and softball.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

It’s been a little more than a week since LeBron James went on his prime-time, hour-long show “The Decision” reared back and kicked the city of Cleveland square in the nuts.

In the ensuing days, the Cavaliers and the city of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame couldn’t rip the pictures of their new villain down fast enough, trashed the carefully preserved rose corsage from the 2007 Finals, and set their Facebook profile to “single.”

Cav’s owner Dan Gilbert took it one tiny step further, writing an open letter so visceral and incendiary that the NBA fined him $100,000, and that was for a letter written in comic sans font, not “Angry Bitch” font.

As the team and the city bid their frigid farewell to their self-proclaimed former king, the waters in Cleveland are far from calm. Conversely, after the blunt stab to the back, LeBron gave the knife another twist, arriving in South Beach a day later to meet the Heat.

The new “Big-Three” were lowered down onto a stage in their uniforms, arms crossed, with pyrotechnics display that would make the Black-Eyed Peas envious.

“It’s not a dynasty, it’s a Dyna-three,” shouted the public address announcer, in a scene befitting of the self-aggrandizing that in seconds washed away a near decade of good will James had built up.

After the smoke settled from the South Beach party for the self-proclaimed Dyna-Three, James was said to have gone house shopping and may have picked up the $45 million mansion that mysteriously came off the real estate market just hours after “The Decision”.

What does your Airness Michael Jordan, a man who stayed loyal to his Windy City and has six NBA Championship rings think of all this? Jordan was chased down recently and with very little coaxing let the world know LeBron took the easy way out, a path he would never have considered.

“There’s no way, with hindsight, I would’ve ever called up Larry [Bird], called up Magic [Johnson] and said, ‘Hey, look, let’s get together and play on one team’. In all honesty, I was trying to beat those guys.”

Jordan went on the say “I’m a competitive guy” possibly implying LeBron either lost or lacked that quality.

Now that the city of Cleveland, Jordan and every blog in America has weighed in; the fact is that Cleveland, who was on the verge of an NBA title the past several seasons, is now even further removed from a true chance at its first championship since 1964.

LeBron showed a side of himself that none of us, except Skip Bayless, may have wanted to see–the self indulgent, naïve, obtuse side of his personality. I liked LeBron, I like the NBA and although I’ve never been to Cleveland, I wanted him to choose loyalty, you know the word he has tattooed alongside his left torso for the world to see. But I also get why he made the choice he did.

What I disagree with is the contingency claiming he took the easy way out. He didn’t.

The Cavs may remain viable, only because of Gilbert. Even with the fire-breathing tirade, the hallow promise of a world championship before LeBron wins one, and the petty move of having one of his company’s, Fathead, sell life-size stickers of LeBron for $17.41 – signifying the year Benedict Arnold was born – Gilbert has come out of this better than James. Way better.

All it took was 24-hours for James to ignorantly throw out all the good will he had accumulate over the past decade of his meteoric rise from high school to now.

“The King’ went from castle to outhouse after making perhaps the worst public relations decision since Spencer and Heidi Pratt got in front of a rolling camera.

Dan Gilbert Spanks LeBron James, Literally – Sports Climax

LBJ and “The Decision” – Sports Climax

Used with permission of the author.

Theo is a staff reporter and feature writer for the Marin Independent Journal where he covers local prep and college sports. As an Associate Production Manager for ESPN, he helped produce Sunday Night Baseball among other national ESPN and ABC Sports telecasts. In addition to his contributions to Sports Climax, he is a columnist for Examiner.com and is the play-by-play voice for Sonoma State University baseball and softball.

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