“…They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time.” - Field of Dreams
Welcome to Czar’s blog #1 of 2021 – the 21st year of the Czar’s Blog.
For those new to the Czar’s Blog we started sharing our Giants tickets with our friends in 2000 when the new park was built (and we moved from our two tickets at Candlestick to four at PacBell Park – now Oracle). The Czars Blog started soon after to report on the team’s progress throughout the year and distribute our tickets. We have lived the ups and downs that included four world series, three trophies and one crushing Game six in 2002. We saw Barry Bonds hit 762, Travis Ishikawa hit a walk-off to get to the WS, Matt Cain pitch a perfect game, Lincecum throw a no-hitter and Bum walk out of the bullpen for a five inning Game 7 save. It has been magical, and it will be this year. Our regular four seats are 25 rows behind home plate at the most beautiful ballpark in baseball. We do not charge our friends for the tickets and we favor children (of all ages). I am the Czar and I decide who gets the tickets, typically the first one responding with a request after the blog goes out. The rules are below.
This is a special year because real baseball is back after a shortened pandemic season where only our cutouts watched the games. Our cutouts are now in our windows seven stories above California street guarding the office like they guarded our seats during last year’s short season. Is the season really going to happen? There have been good signs: Tadich Grill reopened last night (Monday) for the first time in a year. I had my usual Tadich meal and exchanged fist bumps with the waiters (and owners) that have welcomed San Francisco regulars for decades. The City by the Bay is waking up.
We use mail chimp so give permission for the blog to arrive in your mailbox if you want to receive the blog and participate in the fun. Past blogs can be found at www.beveragelaw.com at the Czar’s blog archive.
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.
The Giants this year (so far anyway) are playing it safe for the fans with a 20% occupancy limit at the stadium, mandatory covid vaccinations (or negative tests), masks required and isolated seating groups. Charter season ticket holders have priority so we have four seats for each game we can get in April (five games), but our traditional two and two seating in row 25 and 26 is now a four in line in row 25 starting at the inside aisle right behind home plate. We can all live with that. May will be different but we don’t know how until the end of April.
2021 – A Rebuilding Year
This year reminds me of 2008 (the end of the Bonds era). Only three mainstays remain from the glory years – Crawford, Belt and Posey. Bochy has retired and this is now Farhan’s team and he and Gabe Kapler, the new manager, feature analytics. Players will be moved around depending on a statistical analysis of their performance against other teams and certain pitchers. However, it is still baseball, still one man with a bat facing one man with a ball with 8 other players on the field and still April. There are 158 games left.
What does the team look like so far - four games into the season?
The G-Men went 1 and 2 in Seattle to open the season and the opener was a disaster with a total bullpen meltdown. The Giants came back tonight and beat the Padres (picked to challenge the Dodgers this year) in a tight game 3-2 – bringing their record to 2 and 2 (.500) and third place in the NL West. Nail biting at its best.
This is a group of good-looking players getting their legs under them. There are big bats (Posey, Longoria, Dickerson, Ruf) and both Slater and Yaz will be in that group soon. There are smooth bats, good defense and high average players (Solano – Donny Bats), Mauricio Dubon and Wilmer Flores who are going to be fun to watch all year. The Giants are already one of the top home run hitting teams in baseball so far in this young season. They are going to surprise a lot of teams with their offense.
The starting pitchers are looking better than expected. Kevin Gausman pitched a stud opener in Seattle but got burned by the bullpen. He’s good. We know Johnny Cueto and he looked like his old self and DeSclafani threw a masterpiece against San Diego tonight. Logan Webb is a tough call, and the bullpen is shaking itself out, although I really like Jake McGee as the closer (he reminds me of Brian Wilson without the attitude).
What do the G-Men look like? A .500 team getting experience playing together. They will challenge for a wild card, if they play like they are playing now, all season. Like I said, welcome to 2008.
What do we have to look forward to?
Joey Bart and Heliot Ramos. They may both be up this year.
Seven of the Giants top 10 prospects, including Marco Luciano, are top rated by the baseball writers. Normally, that means it will be a while until we get to witness this group’s talent, but Bart and Ramos could be a game changer later this summer. Bart has tasted the Majors and could have headed back there if not for the return of Buster Posey. Ramos had one of the best springs of any prospect anywhere and isn’t far away from finding his own spot on the team. This will be a very interesting summer.
Can the Giants compete in a strong division is the question.
The National League West – The G-Men are picked to finish 3rd or 4th in a very tough NL West.
The national sporting press pick the Dodgers to run away with the NL West and return to the World Series. To get there they will have to take out the talent loaded Padres and run over the rest of the division. The G-Men are picked to finish either third or fourth (depending on what will happen in the Arizona desert and whether Bum can carry that team) but there are always surprises in baseball, and this year will be no different. I can’t wait to see how the G-Men do against the arrogant and talent loaded Dodgers – every game will be like a playoff. There may be some surprises in store for the team that should not be named.
Whatever happens, it’s time for 2021 Baseball!
On the board ready to be picked up are:
· ROCKIES AT GIANTS: SAT, APR 10, 2021 1:05PM – 2 tickets
· REDS AT GIANTS: TUE, APR 13, 2021 6:45PM – 4 tickets
· MARLINS AT GIANTS: THU, APR 22, 2021 6:45PM -3 tickets [I’m going]
· ROCKIES AT GIANTS: MON, APR 26, 2021 6:45PM – 3 tickets [i’m going]
Ciao, and GO GIANTS!
The Czar
THE PROTOCOL: the firm usually has four seats in Section 118 (Premium Lower Boxes), Rows 25 and 26. Covid will change the protocol month by month but real life may reappear for the August and September stretch run. 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.