bay area baseball

[Chris Daddy Cool]

the playoffs are almost around and my two teams, the Oakland A's and San Fran Giants are in good position to make it in.

Anybody want to tell me why they WON'T make it?

[brassnuts]

Because they're always right up there in the playoffs and never do anything about it.

... this coming from an As and Giants fan.

[Chris Daddy Cool]

i'm talking about strictly whether or not they make it in the playoffs

[M2d]

I can tell you why they shouldn't make it. The Giants have, hands down, the worst fans in baseball.

I just got back from the game tonight. my section was Stadium Club right behind the Giants dugout. pretty prime, right? especially in a stretch drive game against a contender, right? then why was my section half empty?

the game was tied at one until the Giants scored one in the bottom of the fifth. the stadium was silent. in between innings, I was listening to the little community service message they played on the scoreboard. I heard every word.

the next inning, the astros had 2-3-4 up. Beltran, Biggio and Berkman. Lowry was dealing. The stadium was silent. LLowry got the first two out and went full on Berkman. the stadium was silent. the scoreboard exhorted the crowd "Make some Noise!!" a roar went up that lasted a full four seconds and then...yup, the stadium went silent.

maybe there was a special on Chardonnay Spritzers. Maybe there was a backup at the wireless ports. Whatever the reason, the crowd was absolutely dead. Middle of the pennant race, the giants are leading the wildcard and within sniffing range of the division, and they are playing one of the teams on their heels in the wildcard. plus, they've been playing good ball lately. And, the fans can't keep their heads in the damn game for longer than a few seconds at a time.

these fans do not deserve a playoff team (although I can see my Dodgers are about to hand them one).

[Ulysses]

I was there last night about 20 rows above home plate. My sister and I were cheering for the Astros. Well, at least in the first inning when they were hitting home runs instead of completely self-destructing.

But while we were cheering for the 'stros nobody was jeering us. Once a guy started smoking a few rows down, the whole section went ballistic, though.

[M2d]

It seemed like the only time the crowd really got into it was when Bonds was getting walked (four times intentionally tonight). I think it was the rubber chickens more than anything else that pulled them from their seats.

as to the intentional passes, well, it's just good baseball (tonight, at least).

the first inning, bonds came up with a runner on second. they threw to him and he took them off the wall in right center for a triple (btw, there were two triples in the game tonight, both by the giants...pretty rare). the next two times he came up, they walked him with runners on and first base open.

each time they walked him, JT Snow hit some weak poopy fly behind him to end the inning.

the next time up, there were runners on first and second. count was 1-1 and the game was still close. first time the entire crowd had been on its feet the whole game. then the reliever threw a wild pitch, moving the runners up. I immediately sat down (had to stand, even though I hate the giants, because everyone else was standing and I couldn't see otherwise), knowing what was coming. everyone around me was shocked and screaming at the stros for walking barry here. it was serious anger, too. not the normal ragging on an opponent for walking barry. they couldn't understand why walking him here was a good play.

right there, giants fans started climbing on my list of "least knowledgable fans", paralleling their rise on the "most pathetic" list.

[Chris Daddy Cool]

dude you live in SF and you're an astros fan?

[Boris]

I'm a big time A's fan. I am very concerned about their starting pitching. I think they really miss Rick Peterson. Mulder has been atrocious lately. Zito, Hudson and Harden have been good but not great. I think after 5 years opposing batters have figured out that these guys don't throw many strikes. Fortunately the Angels are massively underperforming. Even so it will be tough to close out the division. Texas has pride and talent. Seattle has young guys that are fighting for respect in the big leagues and a spot on a major league team next year. That is always a tough team to face at the end of the season.

[Chris Daddy Cool]

i'm really concerned over mulder's performance as of late. he's dropped from cy young leader to not mentioned at all. i love zito but he's been pitching like a normal pitcher all year. hudson has been the rock of the staff, but even he's been getting touched up as of late too.

they simply can't lose the west because they won't win the wildcard as that's coming from the east.

[sfer]

[ QUOTE ]
The Giants have, hands down, the worst fans in baseball.

[/ QUOTE ]

You've obviously never seen a sporting event in Philadelphia. They would boo Rocky if they had the opportunity.

Also, I think attendance in excess of 95% capacity is a pretty good set of fans.