I'm keepin a close eye out on our rotation and bullpen. Schmidttie is just BRINGIN IT. I missed Opening Day for the first time in a few years, but my first game back was phenomenal. The Cubs were in town and I was 6 rows away from our bullpen. Schmidt was starting and he was amazing. He still had some heat in the 9th inning and looked SOLID throughout the game. Matheny and Finley have been great to watch. And Vizquel and Feliz will never cease to amaze me! But, ofcourse, my big guy, Bonds, really brings the game to a whole new level. He is absolutely choking with every at-bat, hung on #713, but atleast he's squeezed in a few awesome clutch hits since that last longball in Philly. The Bay Bridge series is in Oakland this week, so it'll be a great weekend!
Our last series in Houston was great - Feliz' bat is hot and Finley's our very own Triple machine! I watched when Barry was hit and it was so disappointing to see/hear the reaction from those ignorant Houston fans (yes, I am allowed to stereotype all people from Houston, and Texas, by extension, because this opinion is based on 38,000+ people! hehe).
Came across this article by "Betting Fool" of sfgate.com - here are some snippets:
Houston, I have a problem: Your fans suck
Betting Fool, SFGate
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Sharks fans, you are off the hook. So to speak.
Clueless Astros fans set a new low on Tuesday, cheering a 90-mph fastball (slider, my butt) directed at a man's head.
Stone him! Burn the witch! Nice.
...There is nothing positive or legit about Astros fans and very little to like about the city of Houston. Enron, hellish traffic, awful weather, a horrible college football program and drum-roll please . . . No Reggie Bush!
The Astros have never won anything, going to the World Series last year only to be swept. The Oilers left town, eventually replaced by the awful Texans.
What's that, the Rockets won NBA titles? Why yes they did, when the NBA was at an all-time low. Along with the Baltimore Ravens in football and the Arizona Diamondbacks in baseball, the Rockets were some of the worst world champions -- ever.
Dallas is classy and cool, San Antonio is funky, charming, historic and has maybe the best Mexican food on the planet. Austin is outrageous tunes and tons of fun.
Houston? The town smells bad. Maybe it's because it's always wet or hot. The worst stop on the PGA Tour is in Houston, sponsored by a greedy oil company...
You'd think the local Houston media wouldn't jump on the anti-Bonds bandwagon to the extent the fans did when Russ Springer appeared to go after Bonds, with a horsehide weapon.
If you thought that, you'd be wrong.
From the Houston Chronicle: "Astros reliever Russ Springer delivered a blow Tuesday night for every major-league pitcher Barry Bonds might have cheated with the help of steroids and every fan he might have spurned throughout the years. Just in case there's any doubt what America thinks of Bonds, the crowd of 35,286 delivered a standing ovation after Springer drilled Bonds with a pitch in the fifth inning."
What utter garbage.
First of all, Russ Springer is a clown, a nobody, confused with other unimportant players like Russ Davis and Dennis Springer. Where does this journeyman nimrod get off "delivering a blow" for anyone?
Does Bonds get to "deliver" anything against all the pitchers who used steroids? If he did, there would be some seam prints on some foreheads.
As for "what America thinks," how does the writer know that Houston speaks for America? If Houston speaks for America, I'm moving to Canada -- by Friday.
Did you realize that Springer also delivered a blow for "every fan" Bonds has spurned? With one gutless head-high fastball, that nimrod did more for baseball than Mother Teresa did for the poor in 20 years.
Speaking of 20 years ago, my most vivid memory of Astros' fans is the noise they made only when the giant animated hands went into action on the Astrodome scoreboard..."
And ofcourse, an update from our classy friends at mlb.com...
05/18/2006 8:41 PM ET
Giants decline to start hit-batter battle
Team takes the high road in incident with Astros
By Gene Duffey / Special to MLB.com
excerpt: "Instead of throwing at the Astros, the Giants completely outplayed them on Wednesday, 10-1, to complete a sweep of the three-game series in Houston.
Bonds did not play in the third game.
"Sweeping them hurts more than anything," said right-hander Matt Morris, who pitched eight innings to earn the win.
The Giants outscored Houston 34-5 in the series, scoring in the first inning of every game and never trailing in any of the three games."
Two words: LAST LAUGH!
