Welcome to Czar’s blog #7 of 2019.
The available games, dates and number of tickets will be shown at the end of the blog before the rules. Remember when you email me back to identify the game, the date and the number of tickets you want. Please whitelist my email so you get the blog posts and ticket offers all season long.
Is .500 the best we can do?
The Gigantes continue to play .500 ball in June. The last eleven games have been 6 wins and 5 losses but they did (over 7 games against the Snakes, 3 in AZ and 4 at home) take the series against Arizona 4 to 3. For that trend to be meaningful something needs to happen – a trade for power, a call up going crazy (like Alex Dickerson?) or a meltdown of classic proportions of the other teams in the division. However, the last two games have been eye-popping. For the Giants to score over 10 runs in two successive days (Sunday 10-2 and Monday 13-2) either the stars were perfectly aligned or a power surge in the system is emerging. This week should tell us whether those two games were an aberration or a sign of what may happen after the All-Star break.
The Outfield and the pitching – a continued work in process
Just when I was so high on Duggar, he gets hurt and goes on the DL. Then Alex Dickerson comes up in left field and provides a power bat like the G-Men haven’t seen in a long time. Pillar moved back to Center and is looking good, and Yaz continues to impress. Dereck Rodriquez was sent down yesterday (ouch! His bobblehead day was this Saturday – that hurt) and Austin Slater (the Stanford guy batting big numbers at Sacramento) was brought up – and he tripled and homered at his first game back in San Diego. Bum continues to impress (he's rock solid), Shaun Anderson looks good but Pomeranz either has 11 K’s or gives up 10 HR’s – I still can’t tell what to make of him. The back end of the bullpen continues to be nails and Will Smith has earned his selection as an All-Star. Now we just have to work on getting the ball to him ahead in the late innings.
Is Bum Gone?
The rumor mill is quiet but the way he has been pitching it’s hard not to believe that one of the contending teams (Yankees?) with a solid farm system isn’t salivating over him for the stretch run. He could be gone, and he could be back, but Fire on the Mountain will never be the same.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uMWbZj-gWg
The Upcoming Series
Friday night is called “Christmas in July” and no one is sure what that means unless the second coming of Willie Mays is out there somewhere. However the Cardinals, a .500 team in 3rd place in the NL Central, is always an entertaining foe. Yadier Molina and Marcell Ozuna are the offensive draws, and they have Paul Goldschmidt and Dexter Fowler. This weekend is the last three games before the All-Star break and both teams will probably play stars that they want to showcase for end of July trades. A Friday night in July at Oracle should be raucous.
On the board ready to be picked up are:
FRI 7/5 v. Cardinals (7:15 -2)
That’s it!
Ciao, and GO GIANTS!
The Czar
THE PROTOCOL: the firm has four seats in Section 118 (Premium Lower Boxes), Rows 25 and 26. These are awesome seats directly below the press box and 25 rows behind home plate on the left side behind the screen. It is foul ball territory for left-handed batters so bring your glove – I have collected 16 foul balls myself over 19 years, and I am looking for more (although since the screens were raised in 2018 it’s become tougher to get a ball). If we can't use all the tickets ourselves (or clients and friends of the firm don't claim them by calling me and reserving a game), then my next step is to give the tickets TO THE FIRST PERSON WHO GETS BACK TO ME PROVIDED THAT THEY ARE SERIOUS. If you ask for the tickets and don't use them, you will be taken off the list unless there is a seriously good reason. There will be a wait list.
When there are four seats available (we split up a lot of games) we will allocate the tickets two and two if the first people back just want two tickets. You can also go for four and might get them. I'm the Czar, my call.