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M.T. Karthik

~ midcareer archive, 1977 – 2017 plus 2022

M.T. Karthik

Tag Archives: world

The 1962 World Series Between The Yanks and Our SF Giants

22 Friday Jul 2016

Posted by mtk in history, World Series

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1962, baseball, bobby, Francisco, game, giants, last, McCovey, mlb, out, richardson, San, series, seven, sf, Willie, world, yankees

We’re playing in New York City against the Yankees this week, and immediately my thoughts turn to Willie McCovey whose line drive that could have won the first World Series in San Francisco was caught by Bobby Richardson in Game 7, beginning a 27-year World Series appearance drought for the G-men.

 

Hence my two new hashtags:

#BeatTheYanksForMcCovey

#SweepTheYanksForMcCovey

WillieMcCoveyMTK2012

Many long time fans associate the Game Seven loss with intense feelings not only because of the drought that followed, but because the drought implied we couldn’t win it all in San Francisco. The implication that we were somehow cursed not to win in SF grew for another 26 years and it’s the basis for the intense feeling of relief we all felt when at last we won in 2010.

The history of the ’62 Series fascinates decades later because of the incredible talent on both sides, but among fans I have interviewed about it, there lingers a feeling that the Giants let this one get away. So many of us ache for Willie McCovey.

Rather than share my interest in it, which would just be more historical slather, here are links to three from the net that might interest you:

  • A nostalgic take by Baseball Almanac
  • A statistical take from Baseball Reference
  • A pseudo-authoritative take from Wikipedia

From Wiki:

“This World Series, which was closely matched in every game, is remembered for its then-record length of 13 days, caused by rain in both cities, and its appropriately dramatic conclusion. The Yankees took the Series in seven games for the 20th championship in team history. The Yankees had won their first World Series in 1923; of the 40 Series played between 1923 and 1962, the Yankees won half.

The Giants had a higher cumulative batting average and lower earned-run average, hit more home runs, triples, and doubles, yet lost the Series.”

And here is the MLB’s one-hour World Series Film about the entire 1962 World Series

FUN!

Go Giants!

 

 

 

mtk

 

 

 

 

 

I Concede. I’d Rather You Awesome Guys Just Go Out and Enjoy Some Games

20 Sunday Sep 2015

Posted by mtk in Uncategorized

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baseball, best, champions, corner, fading, Francisco, giants, Karthik, League, major, mlb, moments, mtk, National, nl, San, series, sf, world

Go out and have fun.

It’s a shame the season turned out like it did, but not really.

After a weird-bad opening we OWNED May, June swooned, badassed July, and had the bottom fall out in August – injuries.

But there are so many reasons to be proud.

Special Thank You to @Madison05587725 Bumgarner #MadBum You make us all want to play hard,work hard and win. Never Change #TheLegendOfMadbum

Thank you @bcraw35 for quietly having your most outstanding season yet. Love your laid-back, get-it-done style. You are the #NLGoldGlove SS.

Wow! What a ride you young guys gave us! Thanks! @kelbytomlinson, @JoshOsich and especially @JoePanik and @mm_duffy for outstanding play!

Thanks for great stuff this season (good quotes, AlPav) @AlexPavlovic @hankschulman(Get Well, Hank) @extrabaggs @baseballmarty @JohnSheaHey

I really wish, Aoki-san, we could’ve gotten you, Marlon @mjbsr6 and @MikeLeake44 a World Series Championship ring. Thanks to all. @sfgiants

Thank you vets @MikeLeake44, Nori Aoki, @JakePeavy_44, Tim Hudson and especially Marlon Byrd @mjbsr6 for joining our team, giving your all.

Thank you @kelbytomlinson, @JoePanik, @JoshOsich and especially @mm_duffy for outstanding play from rookie/first year @sfgiants @knbr @mlb

Well, we will have won half of the last six world series after this one is played. I’d like to see the Cubs take it all. #Maddon #OddYear

No One Has Yet Won Back-To-Back World Series in The 21st Century

05 Saturday Sep 2015

Posted by mtk in Commentary

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back, baseball, commentary, end, giants, mlb, mtk, series, sf, to, world, year

… and with our current seven-game slide, looks like there won’t be one now.

I am quite proud of our biennial success. 2010, ’12 and ’14 represent, at least in the absence of back-to-back championships, a kind of a dynasty. I call it the Bruce Bochy Era and it has been a blast! an incredible ride!

I’m not giving up on us yet, but being swept in LA after losing two to the Cardinals at home put us in need of desperation wins. Every game counts and the loss to the Rockies last night just about puts us away.

It has been another roller coaster season, horrible opening, followed by the best team in baseball in May, then an epic June swoon that turned right into an excellent July.

Injuries claimed our month of August.

HEY, MLB: STOP THROWING AT AOKI-SAN!

The absence of Pence and Panik and Pagan and Aoki at the critical juncture of our season killed us. But the bright spots were brilliant – starting with the National League Rookie of the Year performance put in by Matt Duffy. The Duffman was fantastic.

Joe Panik had an incredible year and Brandon Crawford had his best year yet in every statistical category. Kelby Tomlinson and Josh Osich, rookies who debuted and performed exceptionally well under pressure, were another bright spot.

Cain’s problems, Huddy’s age, and Lincecum’s hip were a bummer, but Chris Heston threw the first no-hitter by a San Francisco Giant rookie in over a century!

Posey was excellent and our hitting was the best in the league for long stretches, with almost five guys hitting over .300!

It isn’t over, but I thought I would wax philosophical about the road to now.

Go Giants, do the impossible – win back-to-back for the first time in the 21st century!

Believe We Can Win Back-To-Back World Series with Champs Blood

09 Sunday Aug 2015

Posted by mtk in Commentary

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#championshipblood #champsblood, back, back-to-back, baseball, believe, best, can, champions, championship, commentary, corner, giants, Karthik, mlb, mtk, series, sf, to, win, world

Sigh. At this moment we’ve lost three of four games in Chicago and are down 2-0 in the last.

Last night, Brian Murphy, typically, doomsaid in the towel;

but our pitching is a hot mess from starters to the ‘pen and losing Joe Panik has sent our batting order round the bend. It’s an odd year and we look cooked. So Brian took to roasting the team.

This was the day after George Kontos muted me on twitter for sending a tweet saying the ‘pen has to tighten up … I suggested maybe we should all go out and throw darts together.

Yo, George! I meant it seriously! as a stimulant, let’s go to a bar and throw some darts in a few friendly competitive rounds of “cricket” to get the juices flowing – a little less oversensitivity and a little more performance appreciated, kid. It isn’t just sixteen-year-old girls who like your hair out here. It’s also long-time Giants fans who have seen a LOT of relievers come and go. I like you, man. You’ve improved a lot. But don’t get your panties in a wad when I beg you and your pals to focus and play better.

Anyway, let’s put all that aside. Because this bad mojo and weird vibage needs to fall away.

I say we’ve been here before and we can defeat The Odd Year Curse because we have the talent and we have the experience and our management knows what they’re doing.

Bochy

We’re only missing the timing.

and I think that’s starting to come together even as we make mistakes. Roberto Kelly at 3rd has been a learning experience, but I think he has climbed that steep curve swiftly. Same can be said for Cain. Everybody keeps dogging the big horse, but I see a work-in-recovery-in-progress. He knows the game. He is still hitting 92 occasionally. He can peak in September for all we know.

Jake Peavy, already looking better generally, may come through like he did last year at this time. He is way better than we expected when he came off the DL.

In 2010, we went through this game in August against the Reds and it was a seriously low point for the team. REALLY READ the entire blog entry of that  game. I wrote it in one fell swoop after the game happened and I think you’ll feel it. At that moment we were severely sunk. And what we did from that game on, was epic.

I am pretty sure the Sabean/Bochy private meeting with the guys that Brian Murphy refers to in his post happened immediately after that particular game. I am trying to get you someplace we have been before but with DEPTH.

Now in the 2012 season we faced the departure of Melky Cabrera. We were at the game almost exactly three years ago when it was announced Melky had tested positive and would be gone. Woah, what a weird vibe. Lincecum vs. Strasburg at AT&T. There were Milkmen and Milkmaids at the game … dressed! They were selling hats!

But again, everybody said after Melky was gone we couldn’t do it. And we swept the Tigers in epic style, with Panda’s three including two off Verlander and Cain outdueling Scherzer and my favorite closeout ever: Sergio Romo’s fastball – NOT SLIDER – getting Miguel Cabrera looking … ohhhhhhhhh, god … that is nice.

2014 came with it’s own challenges, but we were full strength and with Panda and Madbum and Posey and Cain and the whole machine working. Out here in the Bay, we knew what nobody in the country knew – that these guys have #ChampionshipBlood.

Ishikawa had to go yard. Panik had to draw that 9th inning walk so we could go nine more innings and finally win off the Belt homer in the top of the 18th. It all had to happen. For the rest of the country it was hard to chew and swallow. But we knew we’re the best.

We are the best TEAM around. We play as a team and we pick each other up. Every other night another hero. #25GuysOneCommonGoal

So there we were without home field advantage and we had to be the bad guys by beating the darlings of the nation in their house. We sent Madbum out there to handle it. He mowed ’em down in epic fashion.

(btw, Peavy’s still in and it’s still 2-0 Cubs in the 4th)

It would be easy to give up to the odd-year phenomenon. I say, don’t.

The National League is intensely competitive this year and the Mets, Nationals, Dodgers, Cardinals, Cubs, Pirates and others beat each other up as much as they beat us up; so anything can still happen. We gotta play smart, stay healthy, and win the right ones.

I think Bochy and upper management are staring intensely at the health and well-being of guys and trying to get ahead of that process. The absence of Joe Panik in Chicago this week speaks to that. (I even got to a point where I thought, maybe Boch doesn’t want Maddon to even see Panik – we do have to face them again this month after all).

So because of all this intense competition, we can win the division. I will repeat that: We can win the division. I’ve been using the hashtag #SeizeTheDivision because once we grab it we cannot let go.

I think if we field Aoki, Panik, Duffy, Posey, Pence, Belt, Crawford, Blanco and Maxwell.

And if we have Bumgarner, Heston, Peavy and Cain as starters and Kontos, Affeldt, Lopez, Osich, Vogey, Romo, Strickland and Lincecum as relievers

by August 20th.

And if those guys, are supported by Pagan and Hudson, Susac and Sanchez … we can spend the last six weeks of the season actually winning this thing.

I believe in that group of guys for the last six weeks, but the math has it that we play the Cubs again, and the Pirates, the Nationals, the Cardinals TWICE (who are due for some losses) and the Astros this next few weeks. So it may not happen right off.

This is the worst stretch of our schedule. All we have to do is what Rich Aurilia said and go .500 during this stretch to stay in the mix.

I think this year the NL is going to come down to the wire like in 2011 when the Cardinals went crazy and the Red Sox tanked and we all watched four TVs on the last night of the season.

and I think if we are smart we can take advantage of that. We can time Bumgarner right because we have lots of starters. We can sneak wins in when they matter most in the last few weeks of the season by juggling our talent.

We can do this.

I believe.

Let’s Go Giants!

Let’s win Back-to-Back and be a true #SFDynasty Tighten up, play the game right and with 25 Guys sharing One Common Goal, let’s Win Today!

It is the 7th inning in today’s final game at Wrigley and we are still down 2-0, so while I was writing this it sounds like Jake Peavy after giving up the initial coupla runs settled down and Arrieta is rolling along. I don’t know. I do know we can prey on a bullpen with only a two-run deficit and I do know that I love our community and I hope you all read this and believe we can do this. We can win back-to-back. We can turn all this around on a dime and take over.

BECAUSE WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS, MY FRIEND.

AND WE’LL KEEP ON FIGHTING TILL THE END.

Let’s go Giants!

Incredible Season, Relentless Team, Hall of Fame Manager

30 Thursday Oct 2014

Posted by mtk in Commentary, World Series

≈ 1 Comment

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after, champions, champs, day, fame, Francisco, game, giants, Hall, incredible, manager, mtk, relentless, San, season, series, team, the, world

Bruce Bochy, I’d like to shake your hand.

I want to thank you, congratulate you and apologize for doubting you from time to time. What you have done with a number of different players over the last five years is testimony to your brilliance and inspiration.

You finally brought a championship to San Francisco, and not just one, now, but three – and you did it with an ever-changing array of players, overcoming injuries and incredible odds.

Your staff – Righetti, Meulens, Wotus, Kelly, Flannery and the others take their lead from you and have all been superb. Your team and staff management is a thing of greatness. In my opinion, sir, you have earned a place in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Yet you always give it up to the guys and wow, what a group of guys. Without Matt Cain and without Angel Pagan and without Michael Morse in the regular lineup for much of it; without Buster hitting the way he usually does – likely from sheer exhaustion – they fought and never quit.

The grittiness, stick-to-it-iveness, toughness, persistence and grind-it-out effort were a thing of beauty. The 18 inning game was one of the most impressive efforts I have ever seen made by men in Giants uniforms.

Guys, I am so very proud of you all and our team spirit. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for another world championship. I feel truly blessed.

Sincerely,

M.T. Karthik

in Giants Baseball Corner

Your World Series Champion San Francisco Giants

29 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by mtk in Game 7, World Series

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champion, champions, Francisco, giants, mlb, San, series, sf, thank, world, you

Your World Series Champion SF Giants

Thank you Brandon Belt @bbelt9

Thank you @hunterpence

Thank you @BusterPosey

Thank you #MadBum

Thank you @KFP48

Thank you @bcraw35

Thank you @gregorblanco7

Thank you @JakePeavy_44

Thank you @kimberlybhudson and family of Huddy Thank you Huddy.

Thank you Bruce Bochy(HoF)

Thank You Brian Sabean

Thank you @JeremyAffeldt

Thank you @JoePanik

Thank you Michael Morse @Mcode38

Thank you Juan Perez @juan_perez24

Thank you @SergioRomo54

Thank You @Ehire21

Thank you Yusmeiro Petit! Seriously!

Thank you @andrewsusac (and @sophia_susac)

Thank you Travis Ishikawa.

Thank you Matt Duffy  @mm_duffy

Thank you Hunter Strickland @hstrickland60

Thank you George Kontos @G_Kontos

Thank you Brandon Hicks.

Thank you Dave Righetti.

Thank you SIR Bam-Bam Muelens.

Thank you Ron Wotus.

Thank you Roberto Kelly.

Thank you Tim Flannery.

Thank you Thank you

Thanks to all #25GuysOneCommonGoal

Your World Series Champion  #sfgiants

Thoughts on Jake Peavy Before Game Six of the 2014 World Series

28 Tuesday Oct 2014

Posted by mtk in Commentary, pitchers

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Tags

baseball, data, Francisco, game, giants, info, Jake, mlb, Peavy, pitcher, San, sf, six, stats, thoughts, two, world

Jake Peavy joined the Giants and went 6-4 with a 2.17 ERA in 12 starts.

He only gave up three home runs. He threw 58 strikeouts and 17 walks, for a 3.41 strikeout-to-walks ratio.

He gave up 65 hits and 24 runs, 19 of them earned.

Jake was particularly good in August when other starters were struggling. In his 13th season, Peavy is returning to play for the manager whom he entered the league under, Bruce Bochy, who managed the Padres when Jake debuted.

At the age of 33, he is the only player on either team in this year’s World Series who is a current World Series Champion, having won with Boston last year. In that way he reminds me of Ryan Theriot who won with the Giants in 2012 after having won with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2011. “The Riot” scored the winning run that completed our sweep of the Detroit Tigers and he remains a part of SF Giants lore.

But, Peavy got no decision in his only World Series appearance with the Red Sox and he took the loss in Game Two of this Series. In fact, in the post season he has more often than not, suffered defeat.

He made three postseason starts in 2013 and the Red Sox lost two of them. So despite good numbers in the regular season, against the stiff competition of the playoffs, Peavy has not induced confidence. In eight postseason starts, including this year, Peavy’s ERA is more than seven.

Two of those starts were “flaming disasters.” Tim Brown has written about that and more  today here.

There is no doubt Peavy wants to win and is a competitor. But the atmosphere in Kansas City tonight is going to be intense. The Royals, with their backs against the wall, against their own walls, are sure to be a formidable team. There are going to be no easy outs in this one. It’s the American League park, so a DH adds to the certainty of that.

Jake Peavy ended the 2014 season smoking hot. He was rolling along so well, I pushed hard for the Giants to use him rather than Madison Bumgarner in the Play-In Game against the Pirates. A lot of people teased me for my massive spamming in favor of starting Peavy. I was concerned we wouldn’t have Bumgarner available twice against the Nationals.

But Bochy, the Master, brushed off any such suggestion, started Bumgarner and we won it to advance, leaving Peavy to start Game One of the NLDS against Washington’s Nationals.

And he had one of his best Post Season starts ever.

Peavy didn’t allow a hit until the fifth inning and exited with three walks and three strikeouts in that one, an unqualified success. He was pulled after a two-out walk to Jayson Werth in the sixth, but kept the Nationals scoreless on only two hits.

The AL is a different animal and you have to stay crisp, sharp and on top of it against these hustling Royals. Their speed is crazy and they can hit. They haven’t been hitting, but they can hit. Which makes ’em even more dangerous. Backs against the wall and due. Here’s hoping Jake can #GetPeaved and the Giants can make this happen.

Giants in SIX.

M.T.

GBC Recap – The Opening Series v. LA (2-1)

04 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by mtk in Series Recaps

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16, 2013, angeles, Arias, Arizona, baseball, Bumgarner, cain, Cardinals, Casilla, champion, chavez, classic, corner, diamondbacks, dodgers, Francisco, George, giants, gold, hunter, inning, Joaquin, Kershaw, Kontos, Lincecum, los, Louis, Madison, matt, mlb, opening, pablo, pence, platinum, ravine, recap, reliever, Romo, San, Sandoval, santiago, Sergio, series, solid, St., stellar, Tim, world

It took a perfect outing from one of the best lefties in baseball – including the first home run he ever hit in his life  – to mar what was otherwise an excellent opening series for the San Francisco Giants.

The Giants looked crisp off the mound and decent at the plate, hitting in rotation situationally and even manufacturing runs. The biggest issue at the plate is we are once again on pace to lead the league in hitting into double plays! But it’s early and that stuff will hopefully start to winnow out. Pitching – particularly Cain, Bumgarner and Romo – was stellar.

The Giants won the series 2-1 over their NL West division rivals the Los Angeles Dodgers to take an early season lead in what will likely be a fight for first place in the division with Arizona. The Diamondbacks made a statement in last night’s game – a scrappy, hard-fought, come-from-behind, 16-inning win over the St. Louis Cardinals to start their season 2-1 as well.

Pitching

Starting pitchers did not allow a single earned run.

Cain was, typically, Big Horse consistent and stable. Bumgarner was intensely precise and Lincecum used balls and walks liberally, but stayed on top of his game.

Madison Bumgarner’s performance was platinum. He had tight, controlled movement and dominated the Dodger lineup. It was great to see from the young, powerful Big Country Mad Bum.

Relief

Bruce Bochy showed smart sensitivity pulling Cain in the first game. Cain and Lincecum are the eldest on our very young staff, and both got pulled before the 7th. This is how to develop middle and late relief and to protect starters’ arms over the long season.

Over the course of the last two years Bochy has slowly shown an increasing willingness to use the bullpen rather than risk fatigue – either of arms in the long term or of minds on the mound in the short term – with our starting pitching. This has culminated in the masterful use of a committee of late relief and closers last year down the stretch.

It’s important because our most significant problem (as pointed out most clearly by Bay City Ball) is depth at Starting Pitching. If one of our big 5 goes down, we’d have to adapt fast.

That said, poor George Kontos …

Image

shake it off homes. freak swing by the opposing pitcher.

Before that Kontos had an excellent 7th inning and looked ready to work the middle and pass the ball over to one of our capable lefties before Romo. It was a shame it shook out like that. We believe in you George, it was a solid outing before the guy decided he wanted to make history in LA.

In a way George, we needed you to take that hit because a LOT of us really don’t want Matt Cain getting any more losses in tight games than he has to. The poor guy has suffered his entire career with win-loss records beleaguered by our inability to produce runs. You took those runs that night so Matty wouldn’t get them and the loss and we appreciate it.

Casilla’s wild pitch, Lincecum’s, others’ can be chalked up to the season being very young and we should be honest and expect more sloppy working it out in the first month or so.

In Casilla’s case especially, the guy is coming off winning the World Baseball Championship – The Dominicans ran the table! and he was overwrought and excellent in relief. (Haft has details on Casilla’s effort).

The guy has played more ball under pressure than most this year – Casilla gets a one month pass.

(DR vs. Japan would’ve been interesting)

TWEET

Casilla’sWP:coming off winning the WBC,beating PR to do it,more ball under pressure than most this year – Casilla gets a one month pass.

Sergio Romo was SOLID GOLD. and he tweeted throughout including one which read that his “goal” was 50 saves! That was exciting to read.

I hope you make it my man … That’s What’s Up!

Batting

Shutdown performance by Kershaw was followed by a solid job of hitting by the Giants in game 2, specifically by Joaquin Arias, but as YahooSports pointed out “The Giants scored their first run on three consecutive one-out hits, including Arias’ RBI single.”

Situational hitting and manufacturing runs was the story of the offense and this continued to game three when Crawford and Pagan joined in on the action. But the team added homers by Pablo and Pence! Thrilling stuff to see the offense coming together – power, contact, base-running (I’m excluding el caballero loco on that last one). Pagan leading off, Scutaro, Pablo and Posey behind him is going to work well.

The problem remains that too often the Giants destroyed opportunities by hitting into double plays. It is the beginning of the season and on any other team I wouldn’t bat an eye, but we have a historic problem that reaches back several years in this regard. Maybe bunt practice in order to take advantage of squeeze chances would help in other situations as well. If we aren’t going get a lot of hits, or score a lot of runs we have to at least keep runners on the paths and continue to manufacture runs as we have been doing the last year and change.

Defense

Infield

With Brandon Belt falling sick, Bochy had a chance to do more moving of the chess pieces. Arias on first and Sanchez behind the plate yielded and didn’t, had succeses and problems, but more I was happy to see this kind of constant moving about of players. I am of the mind we need a flexible team offensive scheme.

(Hec or Bus)ter at plate

Belt, Posey, Arias or Panda at first

Arias, Panda or Scutaro at third

Blanco or Torres in LF.

It’s flex-offense. I love Bochy for this team approach and have no problem with half a season going by with pieces moving in concert or individually to suit opponent, weather, interleague and etc. I have come around on this. Used to chew my nails to shreds over Bochy’s calls, now I see a logic in it. We can recreate units to suit. Cool.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Brandon Crawford also known as @bcraw35 continues to rock short. Golden Glove campaign [BCrawGG13] required.

Outfield

Hunter Pence still looks like a crazy-eyed wild man going after balls. I trust him … and yet … it makes me nuts to see Pence and Pagan still doing the chipmunk act from the old Looney Tunes cartoons .. “After you.” “No, After You. “No I insist.” (ball drops to the field). I know Pence has only been out there a few months for us, but he and Pagan have to work that out because problems we saw last year continue. Pagan manhandled CF again. LF hardly saw any action at all so the platoon was untested.

All told an excellent series for the Giants and a great way to launch Giants Baseball Corner. I will be posting Series Wrap-ups like this whether I post full series game for game or not. Feel free to comment, feedback etc. best is on TWITTER, in my opinion.

Sorry to everybody but particularly to Julian for over tweeting while getting GBC set up.

All are welcome here where we are focused on the relentless flow of the positive river.

Karthik

Opening Day 2013

01 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by mtk in Opening Day

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2013, baseball, broadcast, champions, corner, Francisco, giants, Karthik, mlb, pennants, San, series, sf, world

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Studies for Collage of 2010 World Series Ring

26 Wednesday Dec 2012

Tags

2010, baseball, collage, drawing, Francisco, giants, Karthik, m.t., mlb, mtk, ring, San, series, sf, study, world

2010ringMTK20120012010ringMTK2012002

Posted by mtk | Filed under baseball

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The SF Giants Should Hire Usain Bolt to Pinch Run

04 Sunday Nov 2012

Posted by mtk in baseball, S.F.

≈ 1 Comment

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ask, baseball, bolt, Darren, draft, Ford, Francisco, freelance, get, giants, home, jackie, karthikm.t., Mays, mlb, mtk, pinch, play, robinson, rookie, runner, San, series, speed, squeeze, steal, usain, Willie, world

After listening to fans of Usain Bolt talk during the Olympics about using him as a wide receiver or kickoff returner in American Football, it suddenly struck me there may be a better fit for his crossover to commercial US sports:

The San Francisco Giants should hire Usain Bolt to pinch run.

He would never bat, never face a pitch. Why not teach the Jamaican how to position himself, when to run, how to turn the corner and how to slide?

He’d be used in the exact way Bochy used Darren Ford in ’10 and ’11:  to manufacture runs in key innings, in late innings and extra-inning games on the road, for our generally run-depleted squad.

Darren Ford’s exploits, which gained him the nickname The Bullet, are well remembered by fans of the current two-time World Series Champion SF Giants.

Most famous was his game-winning run in the 2-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies in September during our run to the division lead in 2010.

“With the game tied 1-1 in the eighth, Mike Fontenot drew a walk. Fontenot runs fine. Ford, however, might be one of the fastest guys on any big league roster. Ford ran for Fontenot and broke for second, and was standing on the bag, when Colorado‘s Ubaldo Jimenez fielded Tim Lincecum‘s quite average sacrifice bunt.” reads this b/r piece on the play.

But in Spring of the following year, Bochy used Ford to do it again.

Usain Bolt might be a very effective pinch runner if he can be taught the mechanics of base-running. Willie Mays stole home 5 times, Jackie Robinson 9 times … how many do you think Bolt could take if he could be put in position? Think squeeze play.

Bay Area Sports Guy hosted a piece on how important base-running is to the SF Giants just before this season started, but anybody who understands baseball and what just happened with the Giants versus the Tigers will get it, so please comment and spread the discourse.

Here’s the man, doin it:

Usain Bolt as solely a pinch runner – a specialist position. Inexpensive, but possibly very effective in tight games, when you have great pitching and defense. Discuss amongst yourselves.

Go Giants!

Image

the pennant

03 Saturday Nov 2012

Tags

baseball, bicycling, Francisco, giants, mlb, omm, pennant, San, series, sfg, woohoo, world

Posted by mtk | Filed under baseball, our son, S.F.

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Buster and Panda World Series Parade

01 Thursday Nov 2012

Posted by mtk in baseball, S.F.

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2012, baseball, Buster, Francisco, giants, MVP, pablo, parade, Posey, San, Sandoval, series, trophy, world

Gallery

Hall of Famers SFGiants WS Parade

31 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by mtk in baseball, S.F.

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2012, Big, Cepeda, Clark, Dave, famers, Gaylord, giants, Hall, hey, Jon, Juan, kahuna, kid, Marichal, Mays, McCovey, Miller, mlb, of, Orlando, parade, Perry, Righetti, say, series, sf, the thrill, Will, Willie, world

This gallery contains 6 photos.

Buster Homering On Big Screen at Civic Center 1080 HD

28 Sunday Oct 2012

Posted by mtk in baseball, S.F.

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Buster, center, civic, Francisco, giants, home, hr, mlb, Posey, run, San, series, world

incredible night in san francisco

Image

Me and Marty on Willie Mays Plaza Pre Game 3 of the World Series

27 Saturday Oct 2012

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3, AT&T, away, california, championship, detroit, Francisco, game, giants, knbr, Lurie, Marty, Mays, park, Plaza, radio, ring, Romo, San, San Francisco Giants, series, shutout, tigers, vogelsong, Willie, world

ALL YEAR LONG I HAVE HUGE … OK NOT HUGE, BUT ALL KINDS OF LITTLE DIFFERENCES WITH THIS GUY AND YOU KNOW WHAT HE DOES?

He invites me on the radio to talk about it.

and last Saturday he let me wear the Championship Ring from 2010. wow.

Marty Lurie, radio host who joined KNBR after working to cover the A’s, was immediately a lucky element for the Giants.

He and I stood exactly where we are in this photo two years before, and bore witness during the run that finally made the Giants World Series Champs in San Francisco. Marty walked in and we won.

For decades a criminal defense attorney, and at that a New Yorker, Mr. Lurie became a historian of the game of baseball independent of what he does now for KNBR. If anyone must, Marty Lurie must be associated with the cross-country relationship the Giants have that reaches back to the Polo Grounds in New York City.

But yes, by providence and timing, Marty has grown into a unique role and is now an important member of the San Francisco Giants team.

Mr. Lurie’s an excellent radio interviewer whose competence is a direct result of his research. I loved watching him at the Public House in Game 5 against the Braves back in 2010. He sat down to score the game and pulled out a yellow legal pad to do it. He’s a baseball nerd trained as a lawyer!

Mr. Lurie’s interviews of baseball players and managers, which he’s been conducting season-long for three years now, are a growing chronicle of the game.

Lurie brought a whole lot of AL contacts over to KNBR  the first year and was eager to share with us NLers the value of certain stories. But slowly over the past three years, he has joined the stewards of the Giants Championships of 2010 and 2012 who collectively are arbiters of our first time championship memories.

So Mr. Lurie is an attorney who can discuss both leagues’ histories very effectively.

Marty, I’m saying it here for the first time: You’re the only lawyer I really like.

Thanks for letting me wear the Championship Ring and for doing such a bang-up job behind the mic.

sincerely,

“M.T.” and, in 2010, “Carter from Oakland”

(just pissed off a whole lot of lawyers I know who think me and them’re “real close”).

Posted by mtk | Filed under baseball, S.F.

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with Marty Lurie on the Plaza at Public House before WS Game Three

27 Saturday Oct 2012

Posted by mtk in radio

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Tags

2012, AT&T, Carter, from, from oakland, game, house, Karthik, Lurie, m.t., Marty, mt, mtk, oakland, park, public, series, three, world

ALL YEAR LONG I HAVE HUGE … OK NOT HUGE, BUT ALL KINDS OF LITTLE DIFFERENCES WITH THIS GUY AND YOU KNOW WHAT HE DOES?

He invites me on the radio to talk about it.

and last Saturday he let me wear the Championship Ring from 2010. wow.

Marty Lurie, radio host who joined KNBR early in 2010 after working to cover the A’s, was immediately a lucky element for the Giants. He and I stood exactly where we are in this photo two years before, and bore witness during the run that finally made the Giants World Series Champs in San Francisco. Marty walked in … and we won.

For decades a criminal defense attorney, and at that a New Yorker, Mr. Lurie became a historian of the game of baseball independent of what he does now for KNBR. If anyone must, Marty Lurie must be associated with the cross-country relationship the Giants have that reaches back to the Polo Grounds in New York City.

But by providence and timing, Marty has grown into a unique role with the World Series Champs and is now an important member of the San Francisco Giants team.

Mr. Lurie’s an excellent radio interviewer whose competence is a direct result of his research. I loved watching him at the Public House in Game 5 against the Braves back in 2010. He sat down to score the game and pulled out a yellow legal pad to do it. He’s a baseball nerd trained as a lawyer!

Mr. Lurie’s interviews of baseball players and managers on Talkin’ Baseball, which he’s been conducting season-long for three years now, are a growing chronicle of the game.

So Marty Lurie is an attorney who can discuss both leagues’ histories very effectively. He brought a whole lot of AL contacts over to KNBR  the first year and was eager to share with us NLers the value of certain stories from the lesser league.

But slowly over the past three years, he has joined the stewards of the Giants Championships of 2010 and 2012 who, taken collectively, have become arbiters of SF’s first time championship memories. (full disclosure, GBC hopes to be included in that group of stewards)

Marty, I’m saying it here for the first time: You’re the only lawyer I really like.

Thanks for letting me wear the Championship Ring and for doing such a bang-up job behind the mic.

sincerely,

“M.T.”

and, in 2010: “Carter from Oakland”

(just pissed off a whole lot of lawyers I know who think me and them’re “real close”).

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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The Night the SF Giants Won the World Series, Civic Center, SF, 2010

01 Monday Nov 2010

Posted by mtk in baseball, journalism, S.F., short film

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2010, Bochy, Bruce, Buster, City, civic center, game 5, giants, Hall, Lincecum, November 1, Posey, san francisco, series, sf, Tim, win, world

Right Up to the Moment Renteria's Pelota Leaves the Park

01 Monday Nov 2010

Posted by mtk in full games

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2010, arlington, baseball, center, champion, civic, Francisco, giants, mlb, moment, mtk, park, pelota, renteria, right, San, series, sfgiants, up, world

and the battery died.

and we won.

and wept and hollered and whooped it up in SF.

at last.

Karthik

Right Up to the Moment Renteria’s Pelota Leaves the Park

01 Monday Nov 2010

Posted by mtk in full games

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2010, arlington, baseball, center, champion, civic, Francisco, giants, mlb, moment, mtk, park, pelota, renteria, right, San, series, sfgiants, up, world

and the battery died.

and we won.

and wept and hollered and whooped it up in SF.

at last.

Karthik

99 is the Summer of Unity, (From New York to the World), 1999

10 Thursday Jun 1999

Posted by mtk in NYC, poetry

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1999, 99, brooklyn, from, is, Karthik, m.t. karthik, mtk, new, new york, of, summer, the, to, unity, world, york

From New York to the World
’99 is the summer of Unity

Indian time is measured by the moon
but this is a lyric for the month of June
“I like New York in June, how about you ?”

july and august maybe into september
if we make it last we’ll have something to remember

this is the evolution of the revolution
known as urban contribution
we’re rubbing out the borders and the edges of the thing
so we can get together and sing

99 is the summer of unity
from new york to the world
99 is the summer of unity
from new york to the world
99 is the summer of unity
from new york to the world

there ain’t no such thing as the 21st century
there’s only right now that includes everybody
from Tokyo to Paris, Frisco to Mali
we all know who the greatest is … it’s ali.
we can talk about you and all about me
but what it comes down to is we

99 is the summer of unity
from new york to the world
99 is the summer of unity
from new york to the world
99 is the summer of unity
from new york to the world

niggahs on the left side crackers on the right
everybody who knows better can separate the fight
by jumping in the middle and shouting out the chorus
but you got to shake your ass or you know you’re gonna bore us

everybody’s looking for the next big thing
Y2K ain’t shit yet, so just sing

99 is the summer of unity
from new york to the world
99 is the summer of unity
from new york to the world
99 is the summer of unity
from new york to the world

Saramago’s written a book
in which we all get blindness
while the dalai lama says
his true religion is kindness

I don’t know what the answers are but you might be forgiven
if you put away your bigotry and listen to the women!

99 is the summer of unity
from new york to the world
99 is the summer of unity
from new york to the world
99 is the summer of unity
from new york to the world

nobody knows where we’re going
nobody can say about the weather
but wherever we’re all headed
we’re in it together.

99 is the summer of unity
from new york to the world
99 is the summer of unity
from new york to the world
99 is the summer of unity
from new york to the world

M.T. Karthik, Brooklyn, 1999

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYLHNRS8ik4

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