Guilt

  OK then. Baseball is finally over for my beloved Giants. Thank goodness. This leadership pair of Farhan Zaidi and Gabe Kapler has created a baseball team and method that’s just pitiful. It’s painful to watch. And boring. Tedious. A struggle. Never knowing from day to day who is going to be on the club as players or where they might be in the batting order or what positions they might play. No stars. The way Kapler handles pitchers makes it even worse. One result of the inconstancy in player positions is that the Giants lead all of baseball in errors committed in an era of lower error rates in baseball. I can’t be the only one who sees the problem and the source of said problem. It’s no puzzle why the Giants find it impossible to sign truly first rate talent. I’m a big fan of Mike Yastrzemski and Brandon Crawford, but, other than that…….Who would want to subject themselves to that nonsense, anyhow? It’s no wonder that the ballpark is habitually empty, or nearly so. ...

 Yeah….I’m a baseball guy. I live for baseball season….I have a grand-son playing baseball in Bakersfield Little League, and a daughter playing adult softball in Plumas Lake. Well, not actually IN the lake—that’s just the name of the town. I subscribe to MLB.TV. Because that’s where I can watch the MLB games featuring my beloved, yet incompetent, SF Giants. However, I have a couple of complaints about MLB.TV. I find that MLB shows endless commercials during the National Anthem. You’d think that a sport that wants to drape itself in Red, White, and Blue could carve out enough time for the anthem. You’d think. I find that I have to listen to the radio broadcast on Sirius Satellite Radio to get the Anthem, then launch MLB.TV to watch the game. Look, I have my issues with the butchering of the Anthem by “stylized” singers, but it’s still the Anthem, and it’s important. Then there’s the idiotic “Baseball Zen” nonsense that they use for time fillers between innings. I figure the...

  I’m wondering if any other baseball fans/followers are unhappy with the homogenization of the American and National Leagues. At this point, there’s really no difference—As an example, the Giants, at the beginning of this season, will have played their first 15 games, and 12 of them have been against American League teams. The only games they’ve played against a traditional National League team is a 3 game series against the Dodgers. I don’t really see any point of having National League and American League teams. Just call is Big Boys Baseball (or something) and divvy up the teams in 4 team configurations based on geography, or political bent, or total tattoos, or whatever you want to use. Give the little divisions whimsical local names, like the Peppercorn Division, or the Cornfield Division, or whatever. There’s currently 30 MLB teams, so if they made up 10 more, there would be 40 teams, or ten 4-team divisions. Just think!! Ten Champions every year!! And the...

  Watching the local (Portland, Oregon) news this AM, and this stands out—Calling the situation with the “homeless” a crisis cheapens the word “Crisis”. When there’s a true crisis, they’ll need to make up a new word, because what they’re calling a crisis now is a government problem that can be addressed quickly and easily by institutionalizing the crazies in the population and arresting much of the rest for the crimes they commit and the arrest warrants already issued for crimes already committed. Those who are left will scatter. A “Crisis” is when the Russians launch nuclear missiles, or if a 5 mile wide asteroid is on a collision course with the Earth. A bunch of drug addicts, alcoholics, and nut cases living in tents on the sidewalk just doesn’t make the grade. As usual, you’re welcome.