Barry Zito's tweets about Brian Wilson's tweets

Barry Zito tweeted on Tuesday:

BarryZito: Hey guys great win for the team.. WIlson deleted his account as that was the way for him to prove all the media wrong in their assumptions12:22 AM Apr 28th from web

I guess that means no more tweets from Giants Closer Brian Wilson on twitter. As you may know, Wilson used twitter earlier this week to talk about drinking all night, then he went out and blew a save. Then he canceled his account on Tuesday. Wilson photo by AP. Oh, well. At least we can still enjoy the soothing tweets of Zeets:

BarryZito: In a Nob Hill cafe...Jamiroquai just got trumped by John William's sweet sounds of his nylon string guitar..10:53 AM Apr 28th from mobile web

or

BarryZitoBrian will be missed. I'll pass on the love from you guys... Off to enjoy the day in the city. Jamiroquai will be my soundtrack today. 10:15 AM Apr 28th from web

I also enjoy Shaquille O'Neal's tweets, who describes himself as "Very quotatious, I practice random acts of Shaqness":

THE_REAL_SHAQ: Just had a bowl of heart to heart kashi cereal, not bad, on my way bak to shaq 24 hour fitness, 8 pack here I come 7:43 PM Apr 27th from TwitterBerry

USC football coach Pete Carroll has had some really insightful ones too. I can't find it, but it was like "Just watched some film, now I'm off to lunch. Hope it's good!"

Really insightful stuff. Thanks guys. Am I the only one who's kind of glad there's a media filter? Sometimes the media saves celebrities from themselves ...

Jax

Beat L.A.!

What a satisfying 5-4 win against the Dodgers last night at AT&T Park. I was watching the game in the living room with my jaw on the floor, as usual. Stephen got home from work late and he told me he heard Barry Bonds on the radio being interviewed by Jon Miller during the sixth and seventh innings. Stephen said he tried to record the audio while he was driving but his recorder was out of batteries. Typical.

Anyway Barry was in a great mood, and even he said that people have told him how different and nice he has been since he stopped playing. Because when he was playing he was such a jerk to reporters, fans, teammates, coaches, basically everyone except his employee/friend Greg Anderson, who is still in jail because he won't testify against Bonds. It's been years.

Bonds has stopped playing, but he hasn't "retired" because he's still not letting go of the idea of playing again. Bonds, who is 44 for goodness sake, hopefully will start his 10-year personal services contract with the Giants soon. I take it that means hitting instruction, and not, um, nutrition. He will be really valuable to young hitters if he can do it the right way.

Last night on the radio he said Bobby Bonilla once told him "you can't get hits unless you swing." Hopefully the advice will be a little better than that. Part of the reason Bonds was such a phenomenal hitter was his eyesight, and you can't teach that.

While Bonds is the home run king, he is not a .300 lifetime hitter. He said part of that was because teams put the shift on him, moving 7 fielders toward right field (e.g. the pitcher and catcher don't move, but the third baseman is at shortstop, the shortshop is at second base etc.). They did the same thing to Ted Williams.

Bonds also said since he stopped playing he has watched every Giants game on TV. He sat next to Giants Managing General Partner Bill Neukom and part owner Larry Baer on Monday night, and he wore a blue shirt and blazer. Photo by AP.

Chatting with Jon Miller, Bonds said again that one of his most memorable at-bats was against the Dodgers' Eric Gagne, which was the best pitcher in baseball at the time meeting the best hitter in baseball, if Bonds did say so himself.

He also said the Giants, who are 9-9 and third in the NL West right now, will warm up as the weather warms up. Everyone says Barry Zito is pitching better, pitching angry, and the team has the tools to contend in August. Bonds said the team just has to be in contention in August, then shift in to overdrive through August and in to the playoffs.

Want another pitcher/batter matchup for the ages? Check out Wednesday night's Giants-Dodgers game with Tim Lincecum facing Manny Ramirez. 7:15 p.m. PDT on CSN. I call shotgun on the TV, folks, and I want to finish off that knuckle bone while I'm at it. Can't we record 90210 or something? I mean this is baseball history unfolding.

Bonds, by the way, told Jon Miller it was too bad the Giants didn't sign Manny in the off season ...

Jax

It's been awhile

I have been so busy sniffing out barbecue lately--it's practically every night around the house here. Those steaks looked soooo good. I totally missed out. I got Dogfood, again.

Anyway the Giants have been doing a little bitter, taking a two game "set" (not a series if it's two games) from the Padres. I have a little bet going that the Giants will beat the Padres a lot this season, so I'm looking OK with that.

Big Money Bengie Molina hit the game winning hit yesterday in the bottom of the 10th. I think Bengie got that hit because Manager Bruce Bochy said he would finally have a day off from catcher, and Bengie really, really wanted to go home for the off day today. Ice those knees, man.

Bengie said on his blog he was pretty happy to hear backup catcher Steve Holm was being called up from Triple-A. I'm pretty happy too. How the hell can the Giants have third baseman Pablo Sandoval get in a squat? Are we trying to kill all our players?

Peace out,

Jax

Chasing Tail

I hope I can make this my new background. Wouldn't that be great.

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been busy chasing house guests.

-Jax

Only 161 games to go

Hey everyone, Jax here, shaking off the rain. I hope I don't get Jungle Paw again from all the moisture in there ...

Anyway, opening day was full of surprises. After all that talk about how the Giants have no offense and would rely heavily on pitching this season, they bang out 10 runs and Lincecum only lasts three innings in his first start. You never know.

Travis Ishikawa and Aaron Rowand had 2 hits and 3 RBI a piece, and Rowand had been cold as ice at the plate all spring. (He hit for .189 this spring, not .170 as previously posted--sorry Mrs. Rowand.) But who cares? Now is what counts.

And the best thing about the Giants this year? Can you imagine being the Brewers, or any team that comes to SF for a series, and having to face Lincecum, followed by Randy Johnson the next day, followed by Matt Cain the next day? The visiting team loses the first two of those games and their spirit is just crushed for the next one.

But maybe that's wishful thinking. The Giants had a bad record at home last season (Paw is sore, can't find stat.)

The Giants actually had a lot of offense this spring, and if yesterday was any indication, let's keep that rally alive!
Here's a shot of Travis Ishikawa (left) who was a San Jose Giant not long ago. This was taken in 2005, and he is with Brian Munhall and Nate Schierholtz (right). Photo by Dave Nelson/Flickr.

Jax

Opening Day, folks!

Baseball fans, Happy New Year!

It's opening day and the Giants are facing the Milwaukee Brewers at AT&T Park. There was some rain earlier, but right now it's in the Top of the 4th and the Giants are up 4-3.

I'd love to be at the ballpark, but alas, here I am in the garage listening to the game on the radio. I listened to some of the spring training games in the last few weeks, it really calms me down while Brooke is Furminating me with the Furminator brush. It's kind of like a spa day (yawn). Photo credit: Flickr.

Anyway, let's go Giants! Our good friend Andy Baggarly wrote a good preview of the Giants in Sunday's Mercury News, if you haven't read enough of that already. Bengie Molina is in a contract renewal year, and Randy Winn can be a free agent at the end of the season, so expect production from them. If only we could get Aaron Rowand to get his .170 average up.

This season's all about starting pitching and reaping the Giants' farm system, which is ripe with players (need I mention Lincecum, Sandoval, Buster Posey). If the Giants can get through April without a backup catcher (Sandoval is playing third base and catching when Molina can't) and the relief pitching is decent, and they can sweep the dooomed Padres, I think the Giants can set themselves up for a good season.

Opening Day lineup/batting order:
RF Randy Winn
SS Edgar Renteria
LF Fred Lewis
C Bengie Molina
3B Pablo Sandoval
1B Travis Ishikawa
CF Aaron Rowand
2B Emmanuel Burriss
P Tim Lincecum

Also, here's a kind of funny economic argument for the Giants winning the NL West with an 85-77 saeason. Bernie Madoff took the Mets owner for half a billion dollars, and other financial calamities that means less money's flowing in to trades and player acquisitions for other teams. Maybe Manny will have a lackluster year in LA, who knows?

Go Giants!