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M.T. Karthik

~ performances, works, writings from 1977 – 2017

M.T. Karthik

Tag Archives: one

ICYMI: SF Giants 1-0 in Cactus, Rally to Beat Angels 4-1

03 Thursday Mar 2016

Posted by mtk in Cactus League

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anaheim, angels, arroyo, baseball, game, giants, lollis, mlb, nl, one, sf, win

Since we are back up and running it’s probably a good idea to drop a post every day or two to keep us all connected. The Giants won game one out in Scottsdale by the score of 4-1 over the Angels. Samardzija started and Posey played and Tomlinson and Lollis and Arroyo all looked good.

I’m not going to write a lot because, honestly, every single second is being chronicled in triplicate by Schulman, Pavlovic and Baggs, and analyzed ad nauseum by the clowns at Comcast and KNBR, so it’s unnecessary to repeat what everyone already knows.

Here is a link to Haft’s Nice Wrap of our first Spring Training Game though.

Excited for the season. I have concerns about Angel Pagan and it looks like we will get to see him play today – and Matt Duffy, whom Jake Peavy called his favorite Giant in a twitter chat hosted by the Giants earlier this morning.

It was pretty cool to hear the likely Opening Day Starter’s thoughts on all kinds of things. I am looking forward to seeing him pitch in Game One at the yard on April 7th.

Waking Up After Last Night’s 14 Innings

01 Tuesday Sep 2015

Posted by mtk in Commentary

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1, 14, battle, chavez, dodgers, Francisco, game, giants, inning, one, ravine, San, sf, trench

In a way we can say we’ve been playing these guys, in this League, for 131 years.

Last night’s was a trench battle.

Games like that reveal what kind of fans we are and today, as we all wake up – some of us to read what happened, others to bemoan having stayed up – it’s also a gut-check.

Here‘s Steve Berman’s take at Bay Area Sports Guy and Grant Brisbee’s can be found here.

My first reaction is often lunging for reasons we lost that are our own responsibility and I landed upon Bruce Bochy – who let Jake Peavy stay in after Jimmy Rollins singled to lead off the bottom of the sixth.

I have pent-up frustrations from years of having a shorter leash than Bochy, and it makes me, ultimately, irrational, sometimes. So I contain myself and stare at the situation I questioned for minutes after a loss.

Waking up this morning it remains the problem. Leaving Peavy in to allow the homer that tied it 3-3 was frustrating … but then still leaving him in to face the hottest-hitting player in the League? That was just enraging. Too much trust, man.

When Ethier homered to give them the lead, this game felt doomed.

Berman defends Bochy of course; in ways not even Marty Lurie would.

Me? I realize Bochy’s the guy in the chair. Skip has won us three world series, not me or Marty or Grant Brisbee, but I still have so many issues with his crazy decision-making.

So I disagree with him, but what do I know? There have to be hundreds of more reasons than I can possibly fathom for putting in Broadway instead of Petit last night.

But a second point sticks with me about that fateful bottom of the sixth: blatantly and in extreme close-up and high-definition, Jake Peavy shook off Buster Posey on the pitch he delivered to Ethier. What did Posey call? What did Peavy throw?

(Jenkins informs me later: “It was a curve, and not a good one.”)

If Bochy left him in because he still had enough in the tank, did he also approve him blowing off whatever Buster Posey put up against the hottest-hitting batter in the league?

Bruce Jenkins, Alex Pavlovic, anyone ask that? Probably not much time or desire for such a question after a gut-wrenching loss.

Imagine asking the guys that. It would be hard to do. It takes being a kind of a dick as a reporter. But it ought to be done.  In New York they do it.

But we’re nicer guys than that. So much so, the guys kicked Baggs out for asking too many such questions. Which in my opinion was bad-form, whether we won the World Series or not. I do not like the way Comcast has us going – toward rah-rah coverage and TV-series spoof videos.

I’m the kind of fan who misses the days of reporters being in charge and being able to ask tough questions. I despair over the bimbo cheerleaders on TV asking catch-phrase rhetoricals. I honestly don’t think CSN Bay Area is good for the SF Giants.

Comcast turns coverage of local teams into collegial homerism. I find it clownish, actually, and the focus of the sportstainment-driven Comcast is way too far off-the-field. I rarely say any of this, of course, because it’s bad social-media form. When I do mention it, I immediately lose followers, so, enough of my media criticism.

We fought back after what I consider Bochy’s managerial mistake. I am proud of this. I love our never-say-die attitude. Bochy himself has it and he admires his guys for it. We don’t quit. It’s team-wide and seems infectious … every new guy gets on board.

In this regard, Marlon Byrd has stepped right in for Hunter Pence. It has taken exceptional effort by this crafty, very professional veteran to keep us in this race. I really love his hustle, heart, smarts – just the way he plays the game. Thank you, Marlon, you are a good Giant.

When my new favorite Giant, Josh Osich – the big lefty rookie – came in last night, he looked shaky, so it was George Kontos’ turn in a tough situation at Chavez Ravine. Yikes.

I have been harsh on Kontos in the past and also tried to praise him when he does well. He muted me a few weeks ago for being critical. I don’t feel bad about being critical. I do think the guys ought to take it.

In Los Angeles late yesterday George Kontos was excellent in relief in a place where he must have been haunted a bit. He dealt with it and hopefully even put it behind him with his performance. Forced to enter because Affeldt was unavailable, Kontos rose to the challenge. Way to Go, George!

One issue however was at the plate, where Kontos, like Adrianza earlier, botched a bunt to advance runners, dropping three straight fouls wide of the first base line and showing little control.

“So the inability of Kontos to bunt took all the pressure off the Dodgers. Here they come, bottom of the 13th, four to four!” -Vin Scully, midway through the 13th last night.

Kontos, Adrianza, and, I surmise, half the team should be practicing bunts every single day until the end of the season. Do they not know about Aubrey Huff’s critical bunt – the only bunt ever in the month of November – that helped us win our first World Series? and Bochy telling him to take bunt practice in September? uh, Hello?

Still, it was a great game. Both defenses were crisp, base running was excellent. Pitchers were good just up until the moment they weren’t, which means it was taut.

Duffy continues to impress to the point that he should be gaining ground in the race toward his ROY award for the National League.

The Dodgers let us hoist ourselves on our own petard – which in this case was injury-depletion – and they closed it out.

It hurts to lose one of those like a kick in the gut, but to be frank, I love baseball and that was a gritty 14-innings.

Waking up today, perspective is important. We’re the champs and still mathematically in this. But if we go down, let us do so with grace.

I believe we can do it: win back-to-back, especially since we have those four games against the nemesis at home to end the season and our schedule in September is much better than August was and we are finally getting back Joe Panik …

I still believe.

Giants Come From Behind, Hit With RISP, Beat Cards in St. Louis

30 Friday May 2014

Posted by mtk in Commentary, Post Game Blasts

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baseball.st., Cardinals, commentary, Francisco, gia nts, Karthik, League, Louis, mlb, mtk, nl, one, San, series, sf, win

This was the game where I began to wonder if we might have this. We might have the division because we are a real team … built from good guys.

I was worried because St. Louis is a baseball town and they’ve won the most titles in the National League, and their … culture, their actual baseball culture is so much better than ours – I don’t mean our best versus their best, I mean our current fans versus their perennial ones.

[I am not DONE complaining about this, you people need to CHANGE].

But this team shows a flexibility and a stick-to-it-iveness that is quite impressive. Giants came from behind twice with power from Morse (doing what we hired him to do) and Pablo Sandoval – wow, the cowboy boots shift is turning crazy now – who hit for an RBI for the 9th consecutive time, with a homer, which has brought comparison to Barry Bonds from everyone.

It is interesting to remember that Bonds arrived in SF from Pittsburgh at the age of 28. Pablo Sandoval will be 28 this August. What if Pablo’s “Barry Years” lie ahead?

(Just tweeted the shit out of that line)

Vogelsong pitched well, the ‘pen continues to impress and Romo continues to be a little shaky. He gave up a run in the ninth and had runners on who, crossing the plate, could cost the game. He wrestled his way out, inducing a pop up to end the game and I tweeted:

TWEET by @giantsbaseballcorner : “I don’t mind Romo struggling a bit against a decent team on the road and fighting his way out of it. #ElMechon #sfgiants 17th save. Builds.”

Moments later Ray Woodson tweeted he would spend the post game show trying to calm down the Romo Angst. My reply was:

TWEET by @giantsbaseballcorner : “Romo angst is typical of the non-baseball playing bandwagonning dumbasses who now occupy our park claiming to feel “tortured”

and I still feel that way this morning.

But it did lead to a discussion for me about the word “torture” and why it offended me when taken on as a badge after Krukow said it. It was true when Kruk said it about 2010.

It was “Torture” for the fans who have watched for five decades as the G-men kept getting close and failed to win the World Series in San Francisco. It was torture for anyone who watched ’02 …. ’93 …. ’89 … ’62.

But after we finally won, the word for the first win in SF was “RELIEF”

See, it can’t really be “TORTURE” again until 2068.

If we don’t win the World Series until 2068, that summer would be torture. Use of the term before then is insulting to long time fans – well at least to me.

 

Giants Beat Indians 5-1, First Interleague Game Win of 2014

26 Saturday Apr 2014

Posted by mtk in Post Game Blasts

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

5-1, Al, american, angel, baseball, cleveland, Francisco, game, giants, Hudson, Indians, interleague, League, mlb, National, one, pagan, San, series, Tim

I didn’t see this game, but I’m trying to make at least a placeholder on the blog for every Giants game this season.

From the papers I gather that Angel Pagan had a great game at the plate and running the base paths, with two singles, a steal and two runs scored.

Tim Hudson continues his steady, consistent pitching for the Giants. He went 7+ and allowed only one run. Huddy is averaging 5Ks a game!

The Giants won in their first Interleague game, 5-1, and the Dodgers lost in 11 last night so we are back in first place by half a game.

Go Giants!

[the comment below is the comment below]

mtk

I happened to be at the game last night. The buzz where I was sitting centered around the Mike Morse homer in the 421 area of the park. A big blast! Hudson’s steady pitching–I believe he had a 5 pitch, 3 up, 3 down inning. Very cool to watch. Last but not least, Pablo legging out a triple with a thunderous belly flop into third base and no throw from the defense.

The Kuiper home run video, bobble head and interviews were fun too. Check out the Kuiper video —csnbayarea.com. Cheers

Andre Reynier

Thank You, Sachin Tendulkar

26 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by mtk in India

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BCCI, career, cricket, day, end, India, International, ODI, ODIs, one, retires, sachin, tendulkar

200notoutGwaliorsachin

Bloody Thursday, a 5th of July at Mission and Steuart Streets in SF

16 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by mtk in installations, journalism, mural, S.F., sculpture

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1934, 1985, 5th, An, art, bloody, Bordoise, contract, Injury, July, Longshoremen, memorial, Mission, one, public, san francisco, sculpture, sf, Sperry, Steuart, Steuert, street, strike, Thursday, to, union

Public art to commemorate “Bloody Thursday” at the corner of Mission and Steuart Streets in San Francisco. The four-day general strike in SF in the summer of 1934 led to unionization of all the West Coast ports of the United States:

37° 47.602′ N, 122° 23.593′ W

Painted in 1985 by an artist’s collective, this mural-sculpture was placed by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union near the previous memorial, this plaque:

When the Hotel Vitale was built in 2004, the sculpture and plaque were moved a short distance and re-erected, with the plaque now mounted on the wall of the hotel. (Source)

The strike began on May 9, 1934 as longshoremen in every West Coast port walked out; sailors joined them several days later. The employers recruited strikebreakers, housing them on moored ships or in walled compounds and bringing them to and from work under police protection.

Strikers attacked the stockade housing strikebreakers in San Pedro on May 15; two strikers were shot and killed by the employers’ private guards. Similar battles broke out in San Francisco and Oakland, California, Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington. Strikers also succeeded in slowing down or stopping the movement of goods by rail out of the ports.

The Roosevelt administration tried again to broker a deal to end the strike, but the membership twice rejected the agreements their leadership brought to them. The employers then decided to make a show of force to reopen the port in San Francisco.

On Tuesday, July 3, fights broke out along the Embarcadero in San Francisco between police and strikers while a handful of trucks driven by young businessmen made it through the picket line.

After a quiet Fourth of July the employers’ organization, the Industrial Association, tried to open the port even further on Thursday, July 5.

As spectators watched from Rincon Hill, the police shot tear gas canisters into the crowd, then followed with a charge by mounted police. Picketers threw the canisters and rocks back at the police, who charged again, sending the picketers into retreat after a third assault. Each side then refortified and took stock.

The events took a violent turn that afternoon, as hostilities resumed outside of the ILA the kitchen. Eyewitness accounts differ on the exact events that transpired next. Some witnesses saw a group of strikers first surround a police car and attempt to tip it over, prompting the police to fire shotguns in the air, and then revolvers at the crowd.

One of the policemen then fired a shotgun into the crowd, striking three men in intersection of Steuart and Mission streets. One of the men, Howard Sperry, a striking longshoreman, later died of his wounds. Another man, Charles Olsen, was also shot but later recovered from his wounds. A third man, Nick Bordoise—an out of work cook who had been volunteering at the ILA strike kitchen—was shot but managed to make his way around the corner onto Spear Street, where he was found several hours later. Like Sperry, he died at the hospital.

Strikers immediately cordoned off the area where the two picketers had been shot, laying flowers and wreaths around it. Police arrived to remove the flowers and drive off the picketers minutes later. Once the police left, the strikers returned, replaced the flowers and stood guard over the spot. Though Sperry and Bordoise had been shot several blocks apart, this spot became synonymous with the memory of the two slain men and “Bloody Thursday.”

As strikers carried wounded picketers into the ILA union hall police fired on the hall and lobbed tear gas canisters at nearby hotels. At this point someone reportedly called the union hall to ask “Are you willing to arbitrate now?” (Source for text: wikipedia)

“An Injury to One is an Injury to All”

Protected: May Day Message from MTK

01 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by mtk in essay, North Oakland, protest, public letters

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1, day, i, Karthik, m.t., may, miss, mtk, one, peace, world, wp1, you

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M.T. Karthik

This blog archives early work of M.T. Karthik, who took every photograph and shot all the video here unless otherwise credited.

Performances and installations are posted by date of execution.

Writing appears in whatever form it was originally or, as in the case of poems or journal entries, retyped faithfully from print.

all of it is © M.T. Karthik

a minute of rain

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