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Mother Murphy and Dominoes
Coors Field is one of the most beautiful parks I’ve seen. Wide open concourses. Very easy to get
around. A lot of help from the staff there. The outfield is tremendous -
wide-open power alleys, the grass is in great shape. You get the sense that
this is a park where you have to have a lot of speed to play in the outfield.
I didn’t get to see the humidor but talked to a lot of players on both sides
yesterday. During the game, a lot of people had their binoculars on the Rockies
dugout to make sure the baseballs coming into the game were the ones that were
in the ball bag. But nothing could be seen that was out of the ordinary.
I did learn from one of the Rockies players that during batting practice they do
not use the humidor baseballs. And they put on a big display of hitting. He
said that if by accident a non-humidor ball gets used in a game, you can tell
right away because the ball just jumps out of here.
It’s a lot of fun before the game going into the clubhouse. Mike Murphy, who’s been
running the Giant’s clubhouse for half a century, is the calmest man in
baseball today. He always has a smile, always upbeat. Heck, he’s been there for
Mays, Cepeda, McCovey. Jack Clark, Tim Lincecum. Murph always has the answer if
any of the players needs anything – which is why he’s known as Mother Murphy.
Just a great guy. Never gets rattled or angry no matter how many players and
coaches are asking for this or that.
In the clubhouse pregame, with one look at the room, you get a sense of the
character of this team. There’s Aubrey Huff in his red thong just walking
around as if it were the most normal thing in the world- his way of bringing a
little humor and irreverence to a pressure-packed pennant race. You see Juan
Uribe and Brian Wilson deep into a dominoes game, with the tiles slapping on
the table and dollar bills changing hands. Some players get massages before the
game and you can smell the liniment from the trainer’s room.
I’m not sure what the players are eating, but the pressroom has got to be among the
best in baseball. Prime rib last night with baked potato, cauliflower au gratin
and array of desserts that looked like Willie Wonka put it together.
Dave Fleming, what a day he’s got today. He flew to Chicago this morning and driving
to South Bend, Indiana, to do the Stanford-Notre Dame game. He drives back to
Chicago after the game and flies back here to Denver Sunday morning so he can
do the Giants game. Dave was trying to talk Jon Miller into going with him and
watching the Stanford game before Jon had to fly onto wherever his Sunday night
ESPN game was. Jon was actually considering it. Not sure what he did but
considering how much travel these guys do all season, it says something about
their friendship that Jon would even entertain the idea.
Last night’s game was a pleasure to watch. Lincecum was hitting 95 mph, a perfect
game through five. This pitching staff is unbelievable. Eighteen games in a row
giving up three runs or less – you have to go back to 1917 to find a similar
streak, and that’s when the balls where about as lively as balled-up socks.
OK, I’m heading out of the hotel and walking with Mychael Urban to the park to do
my pregame show on KNBR. Only eight games left. The Giants are in great shape, but
it’s not over by a long shot.
Torres back tonight?
We made it to Colorado, getting into the hotel around 2:20 in the morning and getting to bed around 3:30 after finally getting the luggage. What a trip to Chicago. Warm and breezy at Wrigley. And Juan Uribe had one of those nights. The ball just jumped off his bat. Two home runs. Cody Ross with a no-doubter as well. And Buster Posey in his last 13 games has four home runs. So this ball club, one thing you can count on is them going out every night and pitching. The Giants have the best pitching in baseball right now – and if the bats can stay hot, they’ll be tough to beat.
Seems like last night’s meeting had an effect. Bochy took the hitters all under the stands at Wrigley Field and told them if they do their job, this team can go deep in the playoffs. It was very similar to the meeting Brian Sabean had with the pitchers before they went on this amazing streak – 17 games in a row giving up three earned runs or less. That’s about 150 innings of baseball without a bad inning. That’s an amazing streak.
Another good sidelight last night was getting to see Minnie Minoso, one of the great players of all time. He came up with the Cleveland Indians. Played for the Chicago White Sox back in the early ’50s. You look at his stats and he should be considered for the Hall of Fame. It was great to see him talking to Juan Uribe, who got to know Minoso when Uribe was with the White Sox. You could see the look in Uribe’s eyes, how much he admired Minnie Minoso. It was a very nice scene – and maybe had something to do with Uribe’s big night at the plate.
Last night’s game showed how Bruce Bochy handles his veterans. Everybody played last night except The Bullet, Darren Ford, and Ryan Rohlinger and Edgar Renteria, who’s hurt, and Andres Torres. Torres is moving around really well. He took batting practice yesterday. And I would not be surprised to see him in the game tonight or certainly tomorrow.
It’s a very exciting time for this team. They’re very loose. very calm. They’re having a good time. On the Giants plane last night, Jim Moorehead of the team’s PR staff, was giving us play-by-play of the Dodger-Padres game right down to the last out – and, of course, announced that the Giants were back in first place.
And then the Rockies-Arizona game. It was a wild one that finally ended up with the Rockies losing. They’re in a position now where they have to sweep the Giants here in Colorado to really keep their season going. They’re 31-46 on the road, and that’s been the big problem for them.
Traveling on the team plane is really interesting. Michael “Kel” King, the traveling secretary, he is like the Mad Hatter. He gets everything done. He gets everyone on and off the buses and planes. And of course Jim and his associate Matt Chisholm in the PR department, they have all the stats and all the information for you on the plane. It’s an interesting ride because you’re talking baseball all the way. You see Kruke and Kuip and Jon Miller and Dave Flemming, and they have every electronic device. They’re watching games from all over the country and it keeps the chatter going.
And the players are very relaxed on the plane. Tim Lincecum is funny, he really is. He was wearing this purple bow tie and he’s got a hat on. He just keeps everybody very loose. And then you get the veterans like Aubrey Huff and Pat Burrell. It’s pretty much all business with them.
This is a very good ballclub right now. They can feel it. They have these three games then come home against Arizona and the Padres – who are going to have their hands full with the Cubs in San Diego.
That’s what’s happening here. I’m heading out to the ballpark to see if I can find the humidor . . .
On the road with the Giants
Note: I turned the tables this week and asked Bruce Jenkins of the Chronicle to interview me. This conversation took place before Wednesday’s game at Wrigley Field.
Bruce: You’re traveling with the team for the first time on the team plane, team buses, team hotel. What’s that been like for you?
Marty: First of all, being around the ball club on the road, you travel nicely. The bus takes you to the ballpark. You never see your luggage. It’s taken care of for you. Duane Kuiper gave me the head’s up before we left: No jeans on the plane and no Marty Lurie hats. So I had to get a new hat to wear. And it really feels like a family, from the general manager to the manager to the coach staff, down to every single player.
Bruce: I’ve covered baseball since the 1970s and been in a lot of clubhouses. I truly believe the Giants clubhouse is one of the absolute best I’ve ever seen. It’s so even-keeled, a lot of humor, a lot of laughter. There are some definite leaders and the young guys fit right in. Have you found that to be true, too?
Marty: Absolutely. It’s Huff and it’s Burrell and people like that. Being in Wrigley Field, you find the clubhouses are so small so everyone is pack in there together. I say it’s like playing a game at the Smithsonian. Even for the players, they look at the ivy in right centerfield – the wall is 368 feet away. It looks like the old home run derby that we used to watch on TV. What I also like is that during the game itself, there’s no blaring music. There are no replays. There are no pitch counts. You very rarely can see the speed of a pitch. You don’t know any stats during the game. You actually have to come here and watch a baseball game. It’s organ music between innings. This is the way baseball should be played. So I got a new appreciation for the fans here. They have to know the game to follow it here because nobody’s helping them.
Bruce: What kind of feel do you have for the Giants going into the stretch drive?
Marty: Very good. The Rockies pitching has come down to earth. The Padres have struggled. Pitching, to me, is the key in September, pure and simple. And the Giants can pitch. I think they’re going to get in. I think they’re going to do it.
The Giants’ Ford Model T (for Turbo)
Marty: What’s the best part about being a major-leaguer?
Darren: Coming to the ballpark every day, being around the guys, working hard and getting better.
Marty: What kind of a baseball kid were you? Did you play Little League, Pony League and all that?
Darren: I played a little bit of the Babe Ruth League, a little bit of Legion ball. But growing up I wasn’t really too much of a baseball fan. But I love baseball now, and I am thankful that I got this opportunity to be where I am today. I know a lot of people would love to be in my shoes, so I’m thrilled to be here. We have great, great fans here in San Fran and you know they’re behind you 100 percent.
Marty: Who’s your favorite teammate here?
Darren: I got to go with Manny Burriss. He took me under his wing and really showed me the ropes. A couple of the older guys – Rowand, Pat Burrell – they’ve been behind me 100 percent. That helps a lot. I go out there and learn as much as I can from the older guys.
Marty: What kind of year did you have with the Richmond Flying Squirrels?
Darren: I had my ups and downs, like every player does. I struggled some but in the summer started to come out of it a little bit. I got hurt a little bit. But the knee is 100 percent now and thank God I was fortunate enough to get called up and hopefully help the Giants in this playoff round.
Marty: I see your speed and think, ‘If this guy can just bunt or put the ball on the ground, he’ll get on base every time.’ Are you that kind of player?
Darren: Yes, I am. Everybody has a role on a team. I’m not the type of guy who’s going to hit the three-run homer. I’m the type of guy to be on base to get that run scored. So I just try to play my role, whatever they ask me to do. Once I’m on base, I’m a threat so it gives some of the bigger guys an opportunity to drive me in.
Checking in with Mark DeRosa
Marty: How close are you to being ready?
Mark: I’d like to get a glove on my hand and go out and take ground balls and shag some flies and just be out there with the guys. Right now it’s just a steady diet of rehabbing the wrist and going through multiple bouts of that. Every day I wake up and come to the park with the intention of motivating myself to put the bat in my hand as quick as possible. I also understand this is the second time I’ve done this surgery and I don’t want to be stupid. But if I don’t give myself something to shoot for and instead just wait for the off-season, the motivation factor to come in and work hard every day might not be there. So I want to serve a purpose, come in, work hard, get better and at the same time help these guys win ball games.
Marty: How do you like being in the Bay Area?
Mark: I’ve been here by myself hurt the whole time, so I went through a pretty rough phase when I really wasn’t getting around the city too much. But lately I’ve been stepping out a little bit more. I’ve always enjoyed coming here as a visiting player. I love this city, but you can have the cold!
Marty: But restaurant-wise, it’s really an amazing city.
Mark: Oh, it’s got everything. I always go up to North Beach and find those little Italian joints. That’s my little area to go hang out and eat dinner, I’ve really enjoyed it so far. And I look forward to getting my family out here next year.
Marty: The stretch run, September baseball — you can’t wait to get to the park every day. Every day is almost like a playoff game, isn’t it?
Mark: It is, and we have a lot of veterans who have been there. Juan Uribe, Pat Burrell, those guys have won World Series. I mean, these are great guys to use as resources to understand that you are going to have to play a month where every game means the world. And it’s got to be played like that. You’re going to have some tired guys at the end of this month but when we play an NLDS game, everybody’s going to be fired up and realize it’s a different animal. And it’s something I feel like a Freddie Sanchez and an Aubrey Huff deserve to experience this in their careers. I’ve been very fortunate to get to the post-season but not go very far in it. So I’d like to get there as well, even if it’s as an observer.
Marty: Of course, you’ve got to have good pitching down the stretch.
Mark: That’s the name of the game. We’ve been fortunate. Our bats have heated up at the right time. But we’ve been still getting some gems from the pitching staff. I told Tim on the bus coming home from the road trip, we’re gonna go as far as he’s going to take us. These guys have battled hard all year, but you need your ace.
Interview with Cody Ross: Discovered in the Desert
Marty: You grew up in Carlsbad, N.M., and I always wondered how scouts find players who live in such out-of-the-way places.
Cody: We always said in Carlsbad that in order to get scouted in high school, people had to really want to find you because it’s not easy to get there. You fly in to El Paso then drive two-and-half hours to a little city in New Mexico called Carlsbad. There’s nothing in between. It’s just all desert. But there’s a really good baseball program there and has been for years. There are guys who have come out of there and played in the major leagues. Shane Andrews is probably the most well known. He played for about six years in the majors and had a pretty good career. Fortunately some college and pro scouts came and watched me play and gave me an opportunity and here I am today.
Marty: Were you one of those kids who traveled so people could see you play?
Cody: Oh, yeah. I played for a few different traveling teams. I played for a team out of Dallas, Texas. I played for a team out of Albuquerque, New Mexico and one out of Euclid, Ohio. We had a traveling team in Carlsbad but to get national exposure you had to go to a team outside of the state. Fortunately, as I said, I caught somebody’s eye and it worked out well.
Marty: I know you hunt and fish. So many players do, dating back to the 1930s or so. What do you get out of it?
Cody: I think it’s the peace of mind. You just get away from everything. You sit in your little tree stand, or you sit by the river and throw your pole in and just relax. You just clear your mind of everything and concentrate on pretty much nothing. During the regular season, you think about so much stuff that goes on every single day. So to get away and just sit by a lake, it’s peaceful.
Marty: What’s the most unique thing you’ve hunted or actually bagged?
Cody: I’m not too adventurous when it comes to that. I stick to the normal stuff: the deer, some antelope, elk. Nothing too crazy. (Laughs.)
Marty: With the Internet, people can know more about you than you know about yourself. When the Giants claimed you off the waiver wire, it was all over the Internet that they claimed you more to block the Padres than to get you. What did you think when you were reading and hearing all this?
Cody: When reporters asked me about it, I said, “I have no idea what it’s about. I have no clue.” They tried to explain it to me and it’s like you said, they knew about me than I did. I just took it for what it was worth. I didn’t worry about it. I just went out and did my job. I was in a lot of talks back in July about getting traded. It was all in the rumor mill and that can put added stress on you. But I tried to just block that out. And once this did go down, my initial feelings were sad because I was leaving a bunch of my friends I had played with for five years in Miami. But once I got over that, I was extremely excited to be coming over here to the Giants. It’s a great team and a great organization, and my wife and family are loving the Bay Area.
Brian Wilson: It’s Showtime
If Giants closer Brian Wilson had a megaphone loud enough to reach every Giants fan, he’d say, “Get to the park, and bring a big bag of loud.”
September baseball means that playoff hopes ride every pitch. Every play is magnified. The margin for error, for teams still in the playoff hunt, has narrowed to nothing.
“Basically the whole year has been like spring training getting you ready for that final stretch when you divide the good teams from the teams that go home,” Wilson said yesterday, as he sat at his locker before the game.
“You should be playing every game as if the whole season is on the line but the truth is nobody cares too much about a May 3 loss. Or the extra inning game we might have lost in April. In September you care because there’s not many games left. It’s like a 30-game season. And you build up seven months of practice for that.”
“You can say, ‘Play the game the same way so you don’t put too much pressure on yourself.’ But it’s not played the same way. You play to win and that is it. You will do everything in your power to win. You’ll have pinch runners, defensive replacements. You’ll have maybe five guys pitching one inning.”
“You can describe the atmosphere in the dugout as basically a positive anxiety. All you think about from the first pitch to the last pitch is you want to win. Nothing else matters.”
And fans make a difference, Wilson says.
“We feed off the positive energy that a crowd can bring,” he said. “We notice a packed house and screaming fans going nuts after a diving catch, or after a good pitch or a double play. The team feeds off that kind of energy. For them to come out to the park and have our back through the thick and thin gives us that extra edge that you can only get in your home park.”
Aubrey Huff’s Blog. First Entry Here.
Here’s the first entry from Aubrey. We will post his player blog information very soon.
Leading Off…
What better day to start my blog than after the most exciting game of the season?
I’ve never been in a playoff game, but I imagine that’s what it feels like. And I’ve never been in this kind of rivalry. I knew Giants-Dodgers was big, but I had no idea how big because all you hear back east is Yankees-Red Sox 24/7 on ESPN. It is definitely intense – I think the fans are even more into than the players, to be honest. You had 50,000 fans yelling against us last night. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a louder chorus of boos than when the Dodgers made the third out of the ninth. It was awesome.
It wasn’t just that we won. It was HOW we won. We battled back in a way I’m not sure we could have done a month ago. Now we’ve won 11 of the last 13, and we know exactly why. Not only has our starting pitching established dominance again (with Timmy’s struggles last night an aberration), but our offense is so much better. I don’t think anyone expected us to be doing what we’re doing now offensively.
Pablo is looking so much more comfortable at the plate since the break. Torres is the sparkplug. I can’t say enough about what he’s done – a huge hit again last night. He brings energy into the dugout and clubhouse. (And he’s a sweet guy. He probably says hi me nine times a day.)
Posey – what can you say about this guy? He’s smart, he makes adjustments, and he’s levelheaded. He’s never going to be a big ego, a guy with the fist pumping and pointing. He’s already got a veteran’s mentality with his approach at the plate and catching behind the plate.
Sanchez is great little No. 2 hitter who really changes the dynamic of the lineup.
And I’m feeling good at the plate. I know people are making a big deal about the year I’m having but I’ve had good years in the past. I just had them in Baltimore and Tampa Bay and nobody cared.
It was tough not being the lineup last night. It’s probably harder to watch a game like that than to play in it. Bochy figured if he was going to give me a day off, it made sense to do it when Kershaw was pitching. He’s so tough against left-handers. I knew Bochy was likely to call on me as a pinch-hitter at some point, so after about four innings I was getting loose on a stationary bike in the clubhouse and so watched part of game on TV.
But I was in the dugout when Kershaw hit Aaron Rowand. It was a weird thing to hit him when they were up by only one run. That got us fired up a little bit. That got us going. I know fans sometimes have questions about these unwritten rules, like when it’s bad form for a pitcher to throw at a hitter, or when a hitter is justified in going after the pitcher. When Kemp took a few steps toward Timmy, that made no sense because obviously Tim was struggling and wasn’t trying to hit him. We were all a little jumpy right there, waiting to see what was going to happen. And Bautista definitely wasn’t trying to hit Russell Martin. But by then, though, the Dodgers are all fired up because we’re making a comeback.
So then Kershaw hits Rowand. We’re getting a little hot in the dugout, but Rowand just walks to first because it was a “good” hit-by-pitch. Kershaw hit him in the right place. He wasn’t going for his head. He hit him in the leg. Now, I imagine, it’s all over and done with. They got their retaliation shot in, and that’s it.
The thing that’s so important about this game is that it was a real team win. You had Rowand dropping a sacrifice bunt. Burrell with the big fly to left (that Paul dropped). Torres with his two-run double. Pablo with his double down the line. Posey with an RBI single. The relievers were great, with Affeldt closing it out.
In the clubhouse afterward, everyone was just telling everyone else what a great job they did. It was just a big moral victory, coming back like that with their best guy on the mound. I was thinking about how some teams might have slipped into a funk after having a game stolen from them the way we did over the weekend. But we didn’t let it affect us. Now we’re on the verge of sweeping the Dodgers. Once you have two wins, you don’t want just to win the series. You want the sweep.
I thought last night about what Bengie said to us on the bus when he found out he had been traded and was saying goodbye: “You guys have something special.”
After playing on such awful teams for most of my career, I can’t tell you how happy I am to playing for San Francisco.
Hope you enjoy the blog. Not sure how often I’ll post. But send me your questions. Happy to answer them if I can.
See you next time.
What You Don’t See
When the Giants are struggling, as they are now, I like to get to the park really early and watch the players go through their routines. It reminds me that the results on the field don’t always reflect the amount of work that, every day, happens off the field.
I wish every fan could see this. You can still blast the players for going 0-for-4 or giving up a home run. That’s fair. But you’d never accuse them of not working hard enough.
Nearly four hours before a game, you see Nate Schierholtz in the batting cage behind the dugout. He’s tossing the ball and hitting it, the way a coach would do for infield practice. He tells me afterward that tossing the ball up and swinging helps him focus on throwing his hips into his swing. (On other days, he hits off a pitching machine and off a tee, focusing on different elements.)
You see Aaron Rowand asking Hensley Meulens if the hitting coach can show up at the park earlier. Rowand wants to put in extra time, before other players are in the cage. Meulens tells him to name the time and he’ll work with him as long as he wants. Rowand gets in the second cage, next to Schierholtz, while Meulens sits on a folding chair behind a screen and tosses pitches. Rowand whacks one pitch after another until he’s drenched in sweat.
On the field Manny Burris, rehabbing from a broken foot, stands at the plate, empty-handed, pretends to swing, then sprints to first base. Giants fitness trainer Ben Potenziano tells him to do it again and again, watching as Burris bursts from the plate and down the line, testing his foot.
In the outfield, Eli Whiteside is running from the left field foul pole to center field.
Back in the cage behind the dugout, where Schierholtz had been, Pablo Sandoval is taking his swings, trying to work out the kinks, nodding at Meulens’ advice and trying again.
Now Whiteside, Andres Torres and others are on the field taking turns laying down bunts. Infield coach Ron Wotus is firing throws to Buster Posey at first base to give him practice. The rest of the team has come out to stretch, Rowand leading the pack. When infield and batting practice are over, Rowand is back in the cage behind the dugout, standing at the plate in his rigid stance, waiting, waiting, waiting on the pitch- then exploding into the ball.
Inside the clubhouse, Dave Righetti and Barry Zito are scouring scouting reports, sharing thoughts on how to pitch this batter and that batter.
Then it’s game time.
The players and coaches know they can’t always control the results on the field.
But what they can control is how hard they work and how much they prepare.
So tomorrow they’ll be back, four, five, six hours before the game, giving themselves the best shot to win.
Fathers and Daughters
Before today’s game, in an open area under the centerfield bleachers, four famous Bay Area sports figures – Dave Righetti, Mike Krukow, Duane Kuiper and Brent Jones – sat on a stage for a panel discussion.
They’ve done panel discussions a million times.
But none was like this one.
On the stage with them were their daughters – Nicolette and Natalee Righetti, Tessa Krukow, Dannon Kuiper and Courtney Jones.
They had come to talk about the impact of fathers on their daughters, particularly in encouraging them to participate in sports. It was part of the Giants’ annual Team Up for Girls Day with Team Up for Youth and the Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative.
Tessa Krukow grew up with four brothers in a family where the dinner conversation was all about sports. Which was no problem for her. She lettered in several sports in high school and was the captain of the water polo team.
“She had more tenacity than any of them,” Krukow said of Tessa and his boys. “She broke her wrist the first day she tried snowboarding. As soon a sthe cast came off, she was right back on the board. ”
Tessa, now an assistant buyer for Sports Basement, said one of her best memories about her father was a drive home from a bad loss in a water polo game. Her father knew nothing about water polo but never missed a game if he was in town. Tessa was so angry about the loss that she didn’t even change out of her bathing suit but simply threw on a coat over and stomped to the car. Her father said they were making a detour, and he drove to Pismo Beach, not far from their home in San Luis Obispo.
“You’re going to jump into that water and it’s going to change your life right now,” Krukow told his daughter.
Tessa laughed telling the story. “It was January. I was like ‘No way.’ If you’ve never been to Pismo Beach, it’s freezing. But I thought, ‘OK,’ and I ran down the beach and into the water and I just swam.” When she emerged, she had left her anger in the water.
Moderator Anne Cribbs, the former Olympic swimmer, asked each of the daughters if there was something their fathers always said that still rings in their ears. Tessa had a quick answer.
“I just want to start by saying my dad never told me to grab some pine.”
Dannon Kuiper said her father always told her, “Keep it on the highway.” She said, laughing “I never understood what that meant.”
The most poignant moments of the morning came from Righetti and his teenaged daughters. Nicolette is hearing impaired, and Natalee has mild cerebral palsy. Her left arm is disabled. Still, she played volleyball one-handed. And Nicolette danced.
“I’m so proud,” Righetti said as his daughters sat on either side, smiling up at him. “No father could be any prouder.”
Natalee Righetti and Courtney Jones
Mike and Tessa Krukow and Dannon and Duane Kuiper
Nicolette, Dave and Natalee Righetti
Courtney and Brent Jones
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