First post in a while - Pete Rose back in??

No-Nos...

Saw the entire Sanchez no-no...unreal - I realized about the 5th inning or so that I'd never seen a no-hitter before live - ever. Not on TV or in person. What an experience. I started getting really nervous and sweaty about the 7th inning, and was on my feet (at home, mind you) for the ninth. Very cool. Then I was at home randomly a few days later and caught the last 2 innings of the Buerhlie perfecto, that included one of the best catches I've ever seen...climbs the wall to steal a homer then juggles it on the way down - and he just was inserted in the game in the 9th! Can't imagine sitting for 8 perfect innings and then coming in for the 9th - that's a pro for ya.

Then tonight, I'm watching Countdown with Keith Olbermann (Howard Dean filling in - talk about DNCTV!) and Keith is at the Hall-of-Fame talking about how Pete Rose is seriously going to get reinstated becuase Hank Aaron and some other HOFers are pressuring good ole Bud to let him back in. Reasoning is that its (betting on the games) not as bad as 'roiding up. Please. Its not even close - there is flat no integrity in the games if you aren't sure who playing their hardest and who's taking a dive. Not a coincidence that even though some sports are hard-core against drugs and roids, and some aren't, they ALL have a zero-tolerance rule for betting.

Bud - if you're reading this (and if you are, tell your friends and maybe we can get 4 people reading it) stick to your guns. No one is saying Pete Rose can't open a baseball school, write books, appear on ESPN/FOX, write for SI, coach a Little League team, or heck, even be the biggest Little League booster out there. Point is, no one is stopping him from being involved in 'baseball.' You just can't be a MLB manager or be in the HOF. Sorry. All this push and pressure to 'pardon' him just smacks to me of pride and arrogance on his part. He doesn't care about being involved in baseball - he just wants to stick it to all those who've kept him out of the HOF.

Ok - going to bed. One final thought - the whole 'Panda' thing with Pablo is officially the stupidest thing ever. Never thought I'd say that after the Rally Monkey and Thunderstix, but if I have to see another Panda mask on an idiot fan, I'm going to puke...

Some thoughts from today's Giants game

So big day today - Katherine's first Giants game - see pics and more info on the general Hobbs blog - hobbs411.blogspot.com. Very cool.

Before I get to my main point, I have two reasons why I love this year's team: 1 - Pablo "Little Money" Sando had a bunt base hit. Oh yes - the same Pablo who could be an O-lineman for the Niners, whose uni probably consists of 50 yards of fabric, and whose belly hangs out a bit far for a pro athlete. The same. Caught everyone off guard and Gold-Glover David Wright didn't even attempt a throw. Made me think of the days of Brett Butler - I seriously had just looked at a bunch of banners near the concession stands of Wilbur, Matt Williams, Dravecky, Bobcat, and the rest of the 80's-era guys. Ah. 2nd reason why this year's team gets me excited - Bochy attempted a suicide squeeze in a one-run game with Cain at the plate! He fouled it off, but I love it! Of course Cain ends up ripping a single up the middle anyway, but man - when was the last time you saw that? Not in the Flipe Alouuu era or Bake...hmmm, sounds like it goes back to da man, Roger Craig, since we last saw some squeezes. Awesome.

Ok, the real point of this post - the MLB All-Star Game is such a flippin fraud its ridiculous. We all know the existing problems - tie games, requirement that every crappy team has to send a player, the pitchers wussing out and not pitching, etc. etc. Well, the biggest reason, I think we can all agree on, is that the fans choose the starters. Fans are stupid, and are only picking their guys - duh. I do it too - how many times did I punch a card for Pedro Feliz or David Bell? Come on. Well, I have photographic and first-person testimony that things are out of control. At the game today they were encouraging everyone to 'vote Molina' for the All-Star Game...fine, we've got to have one guy, and Big Money is a stud, ok, fine. I'll pick up a 'ballot' (you'll get why I use quotes in a second) and punch it for him. But they went on to announce that if you filled out enough ballots to stack as high as your ticket is long, they'd give you a free Molina bobblehead. So people are stacked up everywhere filling out HUNDREDS of ballots EACH. See below:















See that stack! That's what I'm talking about - we stood there and watched these people waste an hour or so filling out all those ballots...

Then you had to stand in this huge line while they validated EVERY ONE of your ballots (as if this 'vote' has any credibility anymore):















I can assure you the picture does not do the insanity justice - the line starts on the left and goes back 100-150 people deep. And this was the short line! Around the corner was the main one that had to be at least 200 people waiting HOURS in line...to get a Molina bobblehead. Seriously.

So in conclusion, I've seen too much...the curtain has been pulled WAY too far back, and I'm disgusted. What a joke. They shouldn't even be allowed to use the word 'vote' anymore. I can't wait to hear the numbers in a few weeks - 'Molina has 650,000 votes!' What really kills me about this, besides that it makes the voting screwy is that all of these players have All-Star clauses in their contracts - we're purposefully stuffing the ballot box and guys are getting (or not getting) tens or hundreds of thousands of extra bucks. Insane.

An update - didn't see any 'Panda' gear at the game thank goodness. Probably still in production. Just wait.

Panda vs. Little Money

Ok, so the game sucked tonight. Wilson got rocked, and I switched off. But it reminded me that I had to clear something up from the other night when Pablo hit the walk-off 3-run blast. Kuip and Comcast seem to be going to great lengths to grind it into our heads that 'Panda' is Pablo's nickname. What the heck? That is seriously the wussiest nickname I've heard since the Chicago 'Cubbies'. Come on. Is that what we want to think of him? I propose that we stick with what we had last year - think Kruk got it started after Molina had a clutch hit and Pablo followed up with another hit, and he called them Big Money and Little Money. That's perfect, and its even better that Benjie is Pablo's mentor and whatnot. Get with the program - fight the Panda! I tell you (as if anyone is reading this yet), if when I go to PacBell this weekend the Giants are already selling Panda crap, I'm going to be very upset.

I ask - would you rather our new boy's nickname be associated with being 'money' as in 'clutch', or would you rather think of this image whenever you hear Kuip or Amy Gutierrez (man she's painful to watch in postgame interviews - watch - each question starts with 'Talk about...') call him 'Panda':










Me neither.

Manny and Roids

Well well, Dodger fans (of which none read this blog but oh well)...welcome to the party! I wouldn't be too concerned, though - I'm sure it was just some B-12 shot or flaxseed oil that did it. Maybe he ate a poppyseed muffin that morning, who knows?

In all seriousness, what a moron. The guy is already universally recognized as one of the top 3 or 5 best right-handed hitters of ALL ding dang time. Its weird, but I think that the reasons why these guys are using roids (aside from the would-be scrubs looking to hang around) is so different for each one. I really think Bonds roided up because he was ticked that Griffey always got so much love and he thought he was better, and then the McGwire-Sosa thing really sent him over the edge. And I would bet that Manny started taking roids after he left Boston last year for no other reason then to show up the Sox. Yes, I think he's that stupid. 'I'm going to trash my career to show you guys why you never should have let me go.' It doesn't make sense that he's been on them for years - his stats have been pretty consistent over the years. The only jump has been since mid-year last year after the Sox dumped him. He hit like .358 or something with 60 RBIs in 50-something games last year - now that is a jump from his career norms.

Whatever - forget the seriousness - all I can say is where is an inflatable needle when you need it?

Opening Salvo

So with baseball season underway and Hobbs411 full (understandably so) of Katherine-themed posts, I've been told I need a separate blog to post my rantings about baseball, politics, and whatever else. I enjoy commenting on various commercials and ad campaigns, so I'm sure I'll touch on that once in a while.

I choose HumBaby as the name in honor of former Giants skipper Roger Craig, whose attitude defined baseball for me growing up. Back when baseball was still played by actual people, umpired by actual people, and announced by (for the most part) actual people who enjoyed baseball for what it was, not 'what it could be.' I know, its supposed to be 'Humm Baby', but somebody already had hummbaby.blogspot and humm-baby.blogspot, so back off.

Well, instead of starting on a negative note, I'll start with something cool. Did you see Jacoby Ellsbury steal home yesterday? That was awesome - talk about old-school ball. Bases loaded, against the Yankees, and the kid just suprised everybody. Check it out - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P1b0RN2sB4. I know. Its awesome. To the rest of the Hobbs men - how can you still hate the Red Sox? If only we had someone who could do that...or if only we could get a guy to third...

Anyway, enjoy the blog, and add your own thoughts...