The Top Ten things I'd like to see at the 2010 World Series

10. A foot race between Pablo Sandoval and Bengie Molina. Winner gets a XXXL Antler t-shirt. Loser does a belly flop into McCovey Cove.

9. Nolan Ryan sitting next to Robin Ventura with his arm around his neck. Yes, I know Ventura has never been associated with the Giants, but it’s a funny thought never-the-less.

8. Expanded instant replay. Yes, I had to go there.

7. Steve Perry singing the National Anthem in San Francisco with Barry Zito on guitar. Hey, Zito has to make an appearance in the World Series somehow, doesn’t he?

6. Wouldn’t it be nice to see Brian Wilson of the Giants dressed up as Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys on Halloween? In fact Wilson’s warm up song should be “Don’t Worry Baby” - God only knows how appropriate that would be. Did you like how I incorporated three Beach Boys songs in there? Don’t answer that…

5. Pablo Sandoval doing the Ozzie Smith flip. Then again, didn’t we already have an earthquake during a Giants World Series in 1989?

4. An Ian Kinsler trifecta, where he is hitless, speechless and ring-less. I’m just saying.

3. The look on Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez’s face if the Rangers win. This idea could make for a great Master Card commercial…. Alex Rodriguez's contract: $275 million. Mark Teixiera: $180 million. The look on their faces after the ALCS: Priceless. There are some things money can’t buy.

2. None of the Ranger pitchers going more than five innings. After all, the Rangers bull pen lead the American League in innings pitched. That’s right. Let’s look at the facts and ignore the hype (excluding Cliff Lee).

1. Chuck Norris throwing the first pitch in Arlington and then challenging Kung Fu Panda to a fight. “Kung Fu, eh? Let’s see what you got Pablo!”

Evidence that the Loch Ness Monster is real?

I never thought I’d see this day. I mean seriously; there are a lot of things I thought I’d see before I ever saw the Texas Rangers in the World Series. Things like men landing on Mars or real life video of the Loch Ness Monster seemed much more likely.

I have to tell you. As great a story at this Rangers team might be, I am having a hard time with it. If you’re one of those Angel fans who are happy for Vladimir Guerrero, well then – you’re just a better person than I am. The idea that Vlad could get a World Series ring in Texas after six years without one in Anaheim just isn’t sitting well with me. Call me selfish; call me a jerk; whatever. The idea that it’s even possible for him to win in another uniform is just downright depressing.

Suffice it to say, I’ll be cheering for the Giants.

I admit, it will be hard to root against Bengie Molina, but a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. Let’s face it, I have had to endure way too many Yankee and Red Sox titles lately and even though those are tough to swallow, it’s something I’m familiar with. This whole Rangers in the World Series thing is another matter. It just leaves a sour feeling in my stomach.

I will say this about the Rangers. There’s a certain amount of satisfaction in knowing that Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira had to watch the Rangers celebrate their ALCS win. I mean, I’m sure both guys never thought they’d see the day when the Rangers would do something like that. Every time I think about that, I have to smile. Come on, it has to make you smile too doesn’t it? Here are two guys who left Texas for what they thought was a sure thing (getting to the World Series multiple times) in the Yankees only to lose to them when most people thought that just couldn’t happen. It’s just beautiful and I thank the Rangers for giving me that.

Now, I’m sure if I let myself, I’d find a lot of reasons to root for the Rangers; however, I just can’t go there. You see there are a lot of other things that really bug me about the Rangers.

First of all, what’s the deal with having red uniforms? It’s bad enough that you have a lot of ex-Angels are on your team, but stealing the team colors too? Then there’s the whole disliking Ian Kinsler thing and well, let’s just stop with that. I’d rather not focus too much on the negative today. Let’s just say it’s just easier and a lot less painful to cheer for the Giants.

Speaking of the Giants; one thing I really appreciate about them is that they’re not hung up on contracts. Barry Zito has a $126 million contract and he was left off the post-season roster. Aaron Rowand is in the third year of a five year, $60 million contract and he’s spending quite a bit of time on the bench.

The Giants are clearly about putting the best players on the field and that’s not necessarily something team’s do. I applaud them for that. I’m thinking about Scott Kazmir. Catch my drift Angel fans?

I’m also enjoying the fact that Jose Guillen hasn’t been on the post season roster either. If he was, I’d have a hard time watching the World Series all-together.

Also - I’m really liking the “cast off” image of the team. Guys like Pat Burrell and Cody Ross are good stories. One minute they’re out of baseball and the next they’re on the game’s biggest stage making huge contributions.

Other observations, thoughts and ramblings…

I’m happy that Bengie Molina will get a ring and a nice bonus regardless of which team wins it all. Steve Henson of Yahoo Sports points out that his time with both the Giants and Rangers is going to pay off big time. The Giants voted Molina a full share before the play-offs rolled around.

I loved the way the ALCS ended with Alex Rodriguez looking at strike 3 for the final out of the game. I don’t know what it is about A-Rod but most of my memories of him in the post season over his career are of him leaving his bat on his shoulder for better or worse. Maybe it’s just me, but I’d much rather see a guy try to put the ball in play than just stand there looking for a walk.

On the other hand, I didn’t like the way the NLCS ended because a guy like Ryan Howard should be trying to make something happen instead of watching it happen.

I wonder how much Cliff Lee is going to be offered this off season. I’m guessing the Yankees will offer him all of Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge and all the Coney Island hot dogs he can eat. I’m hoping he ends up some place other than New York and/or Texas.

This post season has really provided us with some stud pitching. Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, Tim Lincecum, Cliff Lee and C.C. Sabathia are as good as there are in baseball. They might be the five best pitchers in baseball not named Felix Hernandez. Remember when Josh Beckett was in their class?

I’ve been trying to look up the pre-season predictions from all the experts to see how many of them had the Giants and Rangers in the World Series.

I started looking last week.

I’m still searching.

ESPN? Nope. Fox Sports? Nada. Sports Illustrated? Negative. This could take a while.

It has to be out there; somewhere, right? Then again...

Isn't baseball great?

Last, but not least – check out Bengie Molina’s blog “Behind the Mask” as he details his emotions of winning the American League and going against his former team.

Tough duty in Tempe... somebody's gotta do it

These days in Tempe are long days, but they are good days. Today was no exception. The weather was incredible and the baseball was top notch.

We started the morning with breakfast to go from Matt’s Big Breakfast. It was easily the best meal I had in two days. We arrived at Tempe Diablo Stadium early in the day and I had a chance to catch up with Bob, who I wrote about last month.

While waiting for the players to make their way out to the practice field, a friend of mine who works for the Angels invited us into the stadium to watch batting practice. We jumped at the opportunity and spent the morning taking photos on the field. It was quite the treat.

As the crowd trickled in, Cheryl and I made our way out to grassy area in left field to visit another member of the awesome team that works at the stadium – Joe, who I also talked a bit about last month.

Joe was ready for a big crowd and we chatted with him for quite a bit before heading over to see his wife Jackie. Joe had some more great stories and observations for us. He’s just a lot of fun to spend time with.

We eventually made our way over to see Jackie who works the VIP elevator. In order to talk with her we had to get in with her and we did. We got some strange looks from people who wondered why were spending so much time in the elevator going up and down; as you might imagine.

We had some fun with that telling people that Jackie was telling us the “untold” stories of what happens in the elevator. Jackie, ever the good sport chimed in and said “we’re up to Aunt Hazel.”

Spending time with the people who work at the stadium is just priceless. You can even have a good time just riding in the elevator!

As we left the elevator and made our way to our seats, we ran into an old friend named Gary, who is annual visitor to spring training. Seems like we’re always running into someone we know in Tempe.

We also ran into fellow 514 Fanatics, Christy and Andy, along with their kids; Christy’s sister Cindy and her brother John and their friend Jeff.

Our friends Dori and Vic were also in the house. The 514 Fanatics were representing!

Game time and lucky for Cheryl and me, Joe Saunders (our favorite pitcher) was on the mound to face the Giants, who had Barry Zito going for them.



Joe looked very sharp for four innings. He seemed to run out of gas in the fifth, but not before he fanned six Giants along the way. That’s a high number for a guy who usually relies on his defense to get the majority of his outs. In any case – Joe looks ready to roll.

These days it seems like there are ex-Angels on just about every team in baseball. Today was no exception as Bengie Molina reminded the Angels and their fans of how good a clutch hitter he is.

Molina had the biggest hit of the day for the Giants; a bases loaded double that knocked Saunders out of the game. Unfortunately, I got that on video today and will upload it in the next couple days. Molina looks to be in mid-season form and will hold off one of the Giants top prospects in Buster Posey for a little while longer.

When he left the game, he made it a point to go say hello to Mike Scioscia, the coaches and the team. There are a lot of great memories tied up in Bengie Molina. He’s easily one of our all-time favorites.

Funny story about the Molina’s... One year Cheryl and I made up some t-shirts that read “Thall shalt not steal on the Molina Brothers.” We always received some nice compliments whenever we wore them.

One game as Cheryl was walking the concourse a lady stopped Cheryl to ask her about the shirt. Turns out it was Bengie’s wife. One thing led to another and we ended up making shirts for the whole family.

We always associate Molina with good times and good memories.

Speaking of memories, Bobby Abreu gave us one today. Abreu homered off Zito in the third inning for the biggest blast of the day. It’s always good to see Abreu hitting lefties hard. Abreu also homered after the game when he stopped on his way out of the player’s parking lot to sign autographs for waiting fans.

Here are a couple more photos... a familiar face returns in Scot Shields and a bright young one trying to bunt his way on in Peter Bourjos.



More blogging tomorrow… I’m dead, dog tired right now.