Results tagged ‘ Darren Ford ’
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 . . .
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.
Darren Ford’s Excellent Spring
At 1 p.m. today in Vineland, N.J., home-health-care aide Carla Ford received a call from her mother, who had received a text from California.
Darren Ford, Carla’s 24-year-old son, had been named the winner this morning of the annual award given to a player in his first big-league camp “whose performance and dedication in Spring Training best exemplifies the San Francisco Giants spirit.”
The Harry S. Jordan Award is a big deal because it’s voted on by the Giants’ players, coaches and training staff. Tim Lincecum won it in 2007, Brian Bocock in 2008 and Joe Martinez last year. All three made it to the majors in the year they won.
“Darren’s very humble, so he didn’t let me know, but I’m sure he would have told me about it later,” Carla Ford said by phone a few hours after she had heard the news. (Ford’s host family from the San Jose Giants had texted Carla’s mother with the news.)
Ford has batted .500 (10-for-20) with two doubles, one triple, four RBI and four stolen bases in 17 games this spring for the Giants. Last year Ford played for Single-A San Jose. He batted 300 in 101 games and helped the team to its highest regular season win total in franchise history (93 wins) and the California League Championship.
No one in Vineland seems surprised by Ford’s success. He was a star not only in baseball but football, basketball and track in the city of about 55,000 people in Southern Jersey.
“He was always the fastest of the fast,” says Ford’s 24-year-old cousin, Kevin Ford, who said he thought Darren would end up in professional football.
Darren, too, thought he might pursue football. His mother watched him one day in high school as he sifted through letters from football, baseball and track coaches from different colleges.
“Oh my god, Darren, how are going to decide what to do?”
“Mom, I’m leaving it in God’s hands.”
“You’re right,” she said.
Soon afterward, Darren attended a baseball tryout at a local college where he caught the eye of a scout for the Milwaukee Brewers. After a year at Chipola College in Florida, the Brewers drafted Ford in the 18th round of the 2004 draft. He came to the Giants in the 2007 trade that sent Ray Durham to the Brewers.
But it’s no surprise, really, that Ford ended up in baseball instead of football. It’s in his blood. His grandfather, Ted Ford, played in the majors for four years for the Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers, from 1970 to 1973. Ted Ford has lived in Texas since Darren was born and has had little interaction with his grandson beyond the occasional phone call. So Darren was raised and shaped by women – his mother, her five sisters and their mother – plus Darren’s own two sisters.
Carla Ford, a single parent, born and raised in Vineland, worked from 10:30 at night until 7 in the morning as an aide at a residential facility for mentally handicapped women. (Two years ago, she took on a second job, working days as a home health care aide from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.) She raised her children in a three-bedroom apartment, pushing them to play sports. She attended every game she could.
“I would always tell Darren, ‘Don’t come home (after school). Too much stuff to get into here,’ ” Carla says.
If Ford begins the season with the Giants’ Double A team in Richmond, VA, about 35 family members from Vineland are planning to attend Opening Day.
“We’re such a close-knit family,” says Darren’s grandmother, Beverly Ann Borden. “I know Darren gets very homesick, so we try to visit him every place he plays. We were in San Jose last year and everybody there treated us so well.”
Perhaps, before the year is out, San Francisco will be on the travel schedule for the Ford family from Vineland, N.J.
A Glimpse of Spring
If you can’t make it to Scottsdale this year, set your DVR to Comcast SportsNet Bay Area at 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon. (See other times and dates below.)
You’ll get an hour of spring ball like you have never seen it.
“Inside the Clubhouse: Spring Training 2010 Part 1” takes you into the clubhouse in Scottsdale, where the cameras first follow longtime clubhouse manager Mike Murphy (and his dog, Bella) as he dotes on the players like a favorite uncle.
“Everybody’s here early,” he says on the first day of camp. “First time I’ve seen that in a long time.”
You’ll hear from Bengie Molina about how much it means to him to be back with the Giants after an uncertain off-season. New players Mark DeRosa and Aubrey Huff weigh in on their expectations for the 2010 club. You’ll see Manny Burriss and top prospects Thomas Neal and Darren Ford hold hands in prayer before digging into breakfast at their favorite spot, Lo-Lo’s Chicken and Waffles.
The cameras also followed Tim Lincecum on the day in November he found out he had won a second consecutive Cy Young, and they follow him to New York for the awards ceremony in January.
And you also get to see Pablo Sandoval’s famous hike to the top of Camelback Mountain during Operation Panda.
Tune in. It’s an insider’s experience of the sights and sounds of Giants baseball in the desert (plus Tim and his Cy Young).
Air dates on Comcast SportsNet Bay Area:
Sunday March 21 @ 5 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.; Tuesday March 23 @ 6:30 p.m.; Friday March 26 @ 1:30 a.m..
Then look for the debut of “Spring Training 2010: Part II” on Tuesday March 30 at 6:30 p.m.
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