Perfection

"It was a team effort... and it turned out perfect."

In quite literally the best-pitched ballgame I have ever seen, Matt Cain threw the 1st ever perfect game in Giants franchise history on Wednesday night. It was so special. Right from the get go, Cain was rolling, and it slowly began to cross every Giants fan's mind, Cain was about to pull it off.

I have grown accustomed to the pitching prowess of the San Francisco Giants, so much so that as I watch the first inning game of every game unfold, I am always thinking no-hitter. Until the opposing team gets a hit, I'm thinking no-hitter. When Matt Cain pitched against the Pirates last month, I believe it was, in the game where the only hit he allowed was a single to opposing pitcher James Harrison, I was thinking no-hitter up until that point. Even in Tim Lincecum's starts this season,from the moment he steps on the mound until he gives up that single to the leadoff batter, I am always thinking no-hitter.

Never has my thought process paid off in such a grand manner.

An Ignorant Fan's Soccer Enlightenment

It has been well documented on this blog that my two least favorite sports to watch are basketball (because they score too much) and soccer (because they score too little). However, with the NBA Finals looming, I will be exposed to more basketball than I ever wanted to be exposed to on ESPN and other sports news sources. My reprieve from all this hoops: Euro 2012, ironically.

I have watched at least 10 minutes of every match, including a few which I watched for the entirety, and despite my initial thoughts of this is boring, they keep passing, I have come to enjoy the tournament. I'm not a seasoned soccer fan by any means, but I do enjoy watching the Dutch finesse, the Ukrainian fervor, and the Russian attack, although I have absolutely no idea if these traits are trademarks of these nations or if I just seem to have picked up on the wrong things. Either way, I enjoy this new sport.

The New Giants Outfield and Other Thoughts

Thoughts on the season so far for the San Francisco Giants....

• I cannot say enough about how the Giants struck gold with their new outfield (Melky, Pagan, and Blanco). Let's start with the star in left field, Melky Cabrera. Melky Cabrera is the hottest hitter in the NL, with 51 hits in May, tying the Giants record for hits in a month that Randy Winn set back when he was a big part of the team. Melky has totally revitalized the lineup. The Giants' 3-4-5 spot with Cabrera, Buster Posey, and Angel Pagan, actually strikes fear into opposing pitchers' hearts. Cabrera has also instantly become a fan favorite. The Melk Men who roam AT&T Park are awesome and nearly every fan loves to watch Melky swing the bat.
• Moving to center field, Angel Pagan has also stolen the hearts of Giants' fans. With his excellent defense and consistency behind the plate, he has been a constant presence on the field and in the batter's box. After moving out of the leadoff spot to make room for Gregor Blanco, he has added another layer of solidity behind Buster Posey as the #5 hitter in the lineup to create a great 3-4-5 punch. He has also set a record of his own, with a 25-game home hitting streak, a Giants record.

Warriors Move to SF

I don't always blog about basketball, but when I do, it's about something as important as the relocation of the Golden State Warriors.

After owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber told fans exactly what they've known for two days now, it is now official that the Warriors are planning a move to a brand new waterfront arena near AT&T Park on the San Francisco Pier after their Oracle Arena lease ends in 2017.

This comes as no surprise to anyone. When Lacob and Guber bought the team, immediate speculation about a possible move to SF created some buzz. What I'm more interested in is if this move will spark a mass exodus out of Oakland. The Oakland A's have long been pursuing a new stadium in nearby San Jose. The Raiders have been linked to a possible move to Los Angeles, and even if that doesn't happen, everyone knows they want a new stadium.

The Melk Man y El Caballo Loco

After last season, it was clear that the Giants needed offense. Brian Sabean knew this, and he made two major moves to bolster a pitiful lineup by trading Jonathan Sanchez to the Royals for Melky Cabrera and trading Andres Torres and Ramon Ramirez to the Mets for Angel Pagan. Needless to say, both have been absolutely tremendous acquisitions.

Pagan has been a solid leadoff hitter, with a respectable OBP of .308 and an OPS of .753. But those stats don't tell the whole story. Personally, my favorite part of Pagan's all-round game is his work ethic. He constantly tries to outrace infield rollers and choppers, something that many pro baseball players don't bother to do anymore. While patrolling the outfield, Pagan almost always makes each catch with two hands to secure the ball, another thing many big leaguers neglect to do. These and other subtle facets of Pagan's game make him one of the better leadoff men in the league.

Giants Update

This is generally a high point in the sports calendar with the NBA playoffs and NHL playoffs underway and the baseball season well into the grind of things. However, for me, this has been one of the slowest times of the year, just like February. As many of you already know, the NBA is not my sport. And since the Sharks are out of the NHL playoff race a little earlier than I anticipated, I'm not following hockey that closely either.

And that leaves me with baseball, which I've been following as closely as a human possibly can. I've tried to catch at least the first and last innings of every Giants game and have watched quite a few in their entirety so I am well versed as to how the Giants season is going. And I'm here to tell you it's going just alright.

The Giants offense had been producing for much of the start of the season but their bats have cooled off lately, with the exception of Angel Pagan's, who has a nice solid hitting streak going that is enough to make many of us forget about the loss of Pablo Sandoval. But, all in all, the last few games, ever since the series against Miami where San Francisco was swept, the bats have been pretty stagnant. Some of it has to do with opposing pitching, but the Giants bats have just seemed less impressive as a whole.

AJ Jenkins??

To be totally honest, I had never heard of AJ Jenkins before in my life until the 49ers drafted him with the 30th overall pick and made him their #1 draft pick this year. Granted, I don't watch a lot of Big 10 football, but Jenkins was never mentioned in any mock draft I have read or any related draft article on the internet. I had absolutely no clue about this guy.

Turns out that Jenkins is a good receiver with above average hands and quick feet. However, he does not possess a powerful frame that you would look for in a #1 receiver.

Even though I'm not too thrilled about this pick (I really wanted San Francisco to move up and take David DeCastro or at least grab Cordy Glenn at their spot), I don't doubt that the 49ers made the best decision for themselves. After seeing how Aldon Smith panned out last season after many criticized his selection, I have a new level of respect for Trent Baalke and the 49ers front office. If they selected AJ Jenkins, they truly believe that he can be their franchise changing wide receiver.

Who's Out After Sharks Collapse

Remember how my last post was about how the Sharks stole Game 1 of their series. Well, they couldn't manage to steal another. In what is possible one of the worst playoff exits in recent memory for San Jose fans, the Sharks played terrible hockey and ended up losing the series without winning another game. They couldn't hold their 1-0 lead in the 3rd period in Game 5 and went on to lose in regulation, with Niemi surrendering two goals in the last 7 minutes of the game.

With the sharks playoff failure in mind, the question now falls to the front office management: who's out? A disappointing playoff exit such as this one always brings about buzz that a star player or coach is about to leave the team. Who will it be?

Sharks Steal One in St. Louis

The Sharks were outplayed, outfought, outgunned, outhustled, and overall out-hockeyed for a little more than 4 periods Thursday but still managed to steal the game in the 2nd overtime on a beautiful goal from the slot by Martin Havlat. The Sharks were totally overwhelmed with the Blues' defense and fast break offense throughout the game but they held strong behind a monumental effort by goaltender Antti Niemi, who basically kept the Sharks in the game during the 1st overtime and much of the entire match.

The game was a grinding, low-scoring one, and I will be one of many to tell you that the Sharks did not look good. But the important thing is that they got the win, which is the only thing that really matters in the playoffs.

Good teams play well most of the time and win most of their games, great teams win even when they are not on top of their game. Now, that doesn't mean great teams don't play well, and that also doesn't mean I'm calling the Sharks an elite team. They are not one, at least not this season. What I am saying is that if the Sharks want to make a Stanley Cup run this postseason, they have to win games where they struggle in addition to games where they dominate. You're not always going to play well, but if you win, it doesn't matter.

I'm glad that the Sharks got the win; now they must focus on playing well tomorrow. If they win tomorrow, they clearly will have the upper hand in the series. A loss reduces their series advantage to a slim one at best before returning home to the Shark Tank.

Ode to Zito

Since the Giants have the day off today, I feel like it is the perfect time to thank Barry Zito for a game well pitched yesterday. Who would have thought that Zito would get the first Giants win of the season? Who would have thought he was going to pitch a complete game shutout? Who would have thought that he would have a better WHIP than both Lincecum and Cain through their first start? Nobody.

If I told you at the beginning of the season that the Giants would average 6 runs a game through their first four games, you would have called me a liar. Nobody thought that all of a sudden, the Giants' bats would come to life and the Giants' arms would fall asleep. This team's strength is supposed to be the pitching, but pitching quite literally stank throughout the first 3 games. And then Zito starts the 4th game, throws a complete game shutout 4-hitter and turns around our season. And he had this great pitching performance, his best as a Giant, in notoriously hitter-friendly Coors Field in Colorado!