(a.k.a.) What I do during the week when I've accomplished everything else that I wanted to do. I logged on to ESPN
Of course I had to wait around for twenty minutes. My internet connection has been slow lately, but it's not so slow that any site that doesn't include naked women in videos is worth waiting for ... nevertheless, I opened a new page so I could do some web surfing while I waited for ESPN to load.
That's always a problem. What do I look for? There's only so much crap that one can randomly search for before it starts getting repetitive. Of course, one can always search for porn, but that get boring as well because every "free" site requires some sort of credit card.
FREE FREE FREE!!!
What the heck, I like naked women as much as (if not more than) the next guy, so I click on the free part, and what comes up?
Insert credit card information to verify age
HUH? What happened to free? Apparently to prevent underage children (and random adults) from surfing the web for porn they verify one is 18 by having them enter a credit card number. This is brilliant, because no kid on the planet could ever figure out how to enter an adult's number without first turning 18...but I digress.
It did get me to thinking. I'm a huge fan of movies with explosions, and also a huge fan of movies with nudity in them (who isn't?) How come this is so hard for Hollywood to understand? There are plenty of people who would pay to see naked women around blowing shit up. I don't need to see them having sex, just blowing shit up. That would be cool. No plot, nothing. In fact, take it one step futher and just call it, "Naked Chicks Blow Shit Up." Oscar winner, right there. Straight to the point.
But no such luck in my life.
Enter the internet. With all the crap that is out there, certainly someone has friends that are willing to run around naked (heck, topless is fine) with a pack of fire crackers just setting them off, so I do a Google search. I always start specific with these things, because one never knows what they'll get if they just jump straight into what they want. I type into the search bar, "Naked Chicks Blow Shit Up."
Nothing.
Not a damn thing. Sure, I could remove the quotes, but let's get one or two hits first. So I try, "Naked Chicks Blow Things Up."
Again, zero.
Fine, I remove the quotes, but go back to using "shit" instead of "things."
753,000 hits, the first one having to do with some Mother/Daughter/F*** thing ... no, that's not what I'm looking for. I don't want full on porn, I just want naked chicks blowing shit up. Other items one the list:
Teen Thongs
Stockings and Suspenders
College Girls Webcams
Sexy Naked Cheerleaders
and my personal favorite
the Monkey that blows shit up.
OK, the last one at least is in the ball park. The only thing the rest of them have in common is naked women (I'm guessing, I didn't actually go to the sites) ... and while naked women is cool, this search has led me to something else, Monkeys Blowing Shit up.
So, I do a search on Monkeys blowing shit up.
One.
Obviously, PETA has gotten to the "let's have monkeys blow things up" crowd. Yet another reason to hate them. The one hit was just a review on a movie called, "Stand Strong America," which I've never heard of and the comment was anti-Australian, and pretty profane ... not really worth repeating.
How hard would it to be? One shot of a naked chick (or a monkey) blowing something up.
So I went back to checking ESPN.
Still loading.
I check my bank account at Wells Fargo (I have Bill Pay with them), and apparently I'm getting charged again for the Bill Pay service (I have had this fee waived in the past). I send them an email,
I have the opportunity to have bill pay services through another bank. They are not going to charge me a fee for the service. I would rather keep all my accounts at Wells Fargo. Can you waive the fee?
Seemingly straightforward. They've done so in the past, it's not a big deal. The eventual response was pretty much a canned response ... no need to read it, but here it is, just in case you're interested.
Dear Mookee:Thank you for your interest in our quick, convenient, and secure online Bill Pay service. Wells Fargo Online with Bill Pay through the Internet gives you the ability to pay any individual or company in the U.S. from your personal computer with the exception of federal, state or local tax agencies. The Internal Revenue Service and other tax agencies do not accept payments from third parties.
Bill Pay is free of monthly service fees if you have an eligible checking account. For customers who do not have an eligible account, Bill Pay is free for the first two months for new customers only, and remains free of monthly service fees if you maintain at least $5,000 in your qualifying personal accounts at all times. Otherwise, Bill Pay is $6.95 per month (includes up to 25 payments per month; each additional payment costs $0.40). For more information about eligible and qualifying accounts, please refer to the Bill Pay fee waiver at wellsfargo.com/bp_waiver or call us at the number below in the event we may find an account that better fits your needs.
To enroll in Wells Fargo Online with Bill Pay, please visit our Web site at wellsfargo.com and select the Bill Pay link under the "Banking" heading or call us anytime at 1-800-xxx-xxxx.
Why don't they just say, "NO" and be done with it?
So of course, I look into it and apparently I need minimum balances (most of them somewhere around 5000). Sure, I could probably figure it out one way or the other, but the main point here is I can get the same service for free elsewhere. This is also not even bringing up the fact that $6.95/mo to pay for a service that SAVES WELLS FARGO MONEY. They no longer have to process checks, it would seem they should pay me to have the service, but no such luck. I send a response back to them.
I was recently rejected to have the bill pay service fee waived from my account. I would rather not have to move all my payments to another bank, but considering I can get the same service for free elsewhere, it would be a waste of 6.95/month to continue using Wells Fargo. I was told there are other accounts that I could get free bill pay with, like those requiring a minimum balance, but I don't make enough money to maintain minimum balances required for these fee waivers.I'm not sure what the problem is. It would be slightly more convenient for me to maintain my Wells Fargo account, but not necessary. All I'm asking for is a simple waiving of 6.95 / month, I'm sure your bank can afford this. I realize I'm not a huge customer, but I've been loyal for about ten years now, I would think my business is worth that little amount.
I left it at that and made a phone call to the Toyota dealer I bought my truck from, because as of yet I still have not received a statement telling me where I should send my monthly payments (I bought the truck about a month ago). They tell me the account has been sold to Wells Fargo. As much as I'd love to forget the whole thing, somehow I think they'll eventually be looking for their money, so I called Wells Fargo.
I was on hold for an accumulated amount of time of about 30 minutes, transferred from here, to there, to somewhere else, finally given to someone in the loan department. I said, "I've been told my loan was sold to you."
The guy on the phone was clueless. He said I should get something in the mail and that should be that. So, I let the cat out of the bag and said, "I'm refinancing with someone else. Is there an account number and location I can send the payoff amount to?"
I finally got the information I was looking for and called the new bank I was refinancing with (coincidentally, the same bank that was giving me bill pay for free). It took me a grand total of five minutes on the phone to get them all the information they needed, which was apparently more than I needed to do.
I check my emails, another from Wells Fargo on my Bill Pay endeavor. Another canned response, the best part of which being that they're competitive.
Dear Mookee:We know that from time to time banks offer special deals on certain accounts or services. While you may be able to find a temporary discount on a select product or service, we know that when you compare the total of products, service and convenience we offer, you will find us very competitively priced.
Bill Pay is free of monthly service fees if you have an eligible checking account. For customers who do not have an eligible account, Bill Pay is free for the first two months for new customers only, and remains free of monthly service fees if you maintain at least $5,000 in your qualifying personal accounts at all times. Otherwise, Bill Pay is $6.95 per month (includes up to 25 payments per month; each additional payment costs $0.40). For more information about eligible and qualifying accounts, please refer to the Bill Pay fee waiver at wellsfargo.com/bp_waiver.
Accounts that can be combined for Bill Pay fee waiver include a wide range of checking and savings accounts making it easy to design the right combination to fit your individual needs.
Online Customer Service is unable to provide you with a permanent fee waiver for this service fee.
For more information on these accounts, as well as the features of our Bill Pay service, please visit our web site at wellsfargo.com, or call us anytime at 1-800-xxx-xxxx.
We appreciate the opportunity to offer you the best in banking services, both now and for many years to come.
Sincerely,
Wells Fargo
Thanks guys. Basically I'm not going to get the service for free. I send them another email that says,
$6.95 is infinitely more than $0.00. I don't find that competitive.Nothing. No response. So I switch all my bills over to my other bank and send Wells Fargo a message to cancel my bill pay.
They respond with more canned drivel on what I can do to get the fee waived if I really want to waive it. If I really want to cancel I have to email them again (I haven't done so yet, but I'll get around to it).
What's really strange to me is the $600/mo that I was going to have to pay for my truck was more or less shoved under the rug. Sure, they would have figured it out eventually and I would have been paying, but one would think they would know where that account was ... in the meantime they're holding on to the $6.95/month like it's the difference between making a profit and going under as a business.
Thankfully I'm able to now use my Wells Fargo account for my benefit, and although they'll make some money off it, most of that cash will be transferred once it goes into the account. Now that most everything else is done, I can go back to checking on my sports.
The ESPN page finally finished loading. What did I want to look into? It's the college football bowl season, how about that? I scroll over "College Football" and click on "schedules." The page begins to load...
more waiting, very annoying...
Then I remembered I hadn't done the web search for "monkeys blowing shit up" without the quotes.
It's about that time of year again, time to talk about the Giants and baseball. I love this team, but like a shitty girlfriend, they tease, then pan into nothing. Granted, it's not entirely their fault. The entire NL West is shitty, so being 7 games under .500 at 54-61 still only means they're 5.5 games out of first place ... in years where they're not going to compete, why can't the Padres, D'backs, or Rockies (anyone but the Dodgers) pull off a AL Central type 76-40 that puts everyone out (not to mention second place in that division -- 69-46).
Anyway, I'm watching the Giants losing to the dodgers, then tying, then losing again, and they've got this new slow motion camera that takes 1000 frames / second. 1000 FRAMES PER SECOND!!! Holy shit this thing is awesome. They're showing 95mph fastballs that take 20 seconds to get to the plate in crystal clear pictures ... absolutely amazing. They're calling it XMO. Not sure if that's spelled right but it sure is cool.
I'm still not a fan of Felipe as the manager. I'm not as mad about it as last year, I like the man, just not sure what the problem is. His starters (pitching) are fine, and he's got decent arms in the bullpen, but he is still over coaching when he uses the bullpen. All that aside, I still love the Giants. There really isn't a guy on this team I don't like...and that includes Barry.
I've warmed up to Barry for two pretty simple reasons.
1. After everything that's happened, he's still the same Barry. Media pressure, steroids, home run pressure, being old ... he's still the same guy I've hated for god knows how long. He hasn't changed. One has to respect that...even if he's not a likeable guy ... such doesn't seem like much, but when one considers #2, it's pretty big.
2. He's taking a huge hit for baseball. Let's face it. If Barry is on steroids, he's not the only one in baseball, yet no one hears anything about anyone else. Barry is apparently the only one in baseball on drugs. Never mind the fact that such hasn't been proven or that if it's true nothing he's taken is illegal in baseball ... he's the only one you hear about.
As for the rest of the Giants...what a great team. I'm just sad they're all old...as for favorites, hard to say ... but I'll go with a tie between the middle infield, Omar Vizquel and Ray Durham.
Anyway ... on another note, the new Capital One commercials (small business loans) are hilarious ... even better than the old ones with the pirates.
Professional sports teams are traditionally named after aspects of the city in which they reside. College sports teams sometimes have a history as well, but colleges generally tend toward things like the Devils, or Tigers, or (by far the best nickname ever) Boilermakers. Professional sports have the ability to actually take in aspects of the area and give people who otherwise might not know something to associate with the city.
Unfortunately some of the best names will never materialize because of the politically correct climate in which we live. Teams such as the San Francisco Fags, the Utah Mormons, the Washington Clueless, the Alabama Crackers, or the South Carolina Slaveholders are likely to never materialize (though I should admit that's probably a good thing). But due to the nature of team movement, league re-alignment, etc., some names either make no sense or are misrepresenting. I've compiled a few different lists that discuss these teams.
First of all, the best team names.
10. St Louis Blues (NHL) -- St Louis, well known for Blues and Jazz ... but they opted for the Blues in 1967. Seven years later in 1974, the other mecca for Jazz, New Orleans, adopted that name (more on this later).
9. Columbus Blue Jackets (NHL) -- initial knowledge of this name makes one think, "huh?" But if one looks past that confusion, one learns that Blue Jacket was a Shawnee War Chief from the Ohio Valley. History lesson inserted with a name that makes sense.
8. Portland Trailblazers (NBA) -- the Oregon Trail. Lewis and Clark.
7. Indiana Pacers (NBA) -- Perhaps the first thing people think of is the Indy 500...which needs a pace car. I'll admit, I almost put this one on the stupidest list, but this is an abstract name that actually makes sense.
6. Philadelphia 76ers -- 1776. Declaration of Independence, Philadelphia.
5. San Francisco 49ers (NFL) -- I already mentioned a more appropriate name, but California became huge because of the Gold Rush, and it started in 1849.
4. Green Bay Packers (NFL) -- the Packing Industry, very solid in Green Bay. What a great sports city ... some 90,000 people and they have a very storied tradition in professional football.
3. Milwaukee Brewers (MLB) --how about the Milwaukee Drunks? no...inappropriate. OK then, how about throwing in a subtle hint at saying, "Milwaukee loves its beer."
2. Pittsburgh Steelers (NFL) -- the Steel City. They make Iron City Brew. Great call on Pittsburgh's part.
1. Hartford Whalers (NHL) -- I realize they no longer exist (I believe they became the Carolina Hurricanes) but what a great name. Representing the Northeast's strong whaling tradition and just being direct about it.
Names that make NO SENSE Whatsoever.
5. St Louis Rams (NFL) -- Has anyone ever seen a Ram in St Louis? Or in LA for that matter? Where the hell did this idea come from?
4. Arizona Cardinals (NFL) -- a name that makes plenty of sense in St Louis, where they are originally from, but in Arizona? How about the Grand Canyons? That's a pretty stupid name too, but at least fits.
3. Memphis Grizzlies (NBA) -- right, there are plenty of bears in Tennessee ... and the ones that actually do exist there are not Grizzlies. Try going a bit further north, or moving back to Vancouver, where one might actually come across a Grizzly.
2. Utah Jazz (NBA) -- Right, there is so much musical cutlure coming out of Mormonland. Hello? Do people in Utah even know what Jazz is? Again, a great name in New Orleans, but in Utah it's equivalent to using a hair dryer to blow dry one's bald head.
1. LA Lakers (NBA) -- Again, Minneapolis LAKERS makes sense. The land of 10,000 lakes. Los Angeles has a few puddles in the streets every once in a while, and there is a giant Ocean just to the west, but lakes? They're more appropriately named the Droughts.
Names that are just plain stupid. These aren't really in any order, they're just stupid.
10. Los Angeles Angels (MLB) -- Not because of the Angels, but rather their location (which hasn't changed) ... or the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Or the Anaheim Angels. Or the Calfornia Angels. Figure out where the hell you are. How the hell are your fans supposed to get to the game if they don't tell them where you're located? The really screwy thing here is they have never moved anywhere, they just keep changing where they say they're from. Here's an idea, get out a map and LOOK. Then be from there. What a bunch of weenies.
9. Baltimore Ravens (NFL) -- OK, I understand that Edgar Allen Poe wrote the Raven, and he's from Baltimore, but who ever heard of naming a FOOTBALL team after a poet?
8. Tennessee Titans (NFL) -- What? The Titans? How many Titans are in Tennessee? Elvis ... The Tennessee Elvises would be cool, they could force all the members of the team to wear stupid wigs and shimmy around like they're Forrest Gump on acid...that would be entertaining.
7. Washington Redskins (NFL) -- In the age of political correctness, and the changing of inoffensive names (Indians, etc.), how does Washington get away with REDSKINS? I don't have a problem with the name, people frequently read incorrectly into these types of names ... but one doesn't see the Southern "Darkies" or the Asian "Yellowmen," how do they get away with "Redskins?"
6. Toronto Raptors (NBA) -- Give me a break. The Raptors? Like the antagonists in Jurassic Park? I don't think there is anything Jurassic about Toronto. I could live with the Wooly Mammoths, but somehow I don't ever see Raptos wandering around the streets of Canadian towns.
5. Washington Wizards (NBA) -- WTF? The Wizards? What was wrong with the Bullets? OK, the Bullets was a stupid name as well, but why go from one stupid name to another stupid name? At least make it mean something. The Washington "Capitols" may be a boring name, but at least it makes sense.
4. Minnesota Wild (NBA) -- What the hell is a "wild?"
3. Anaheim Mighty Ducks (NHL) -- Oh, their owner is Disney, and the Mighty Ducks is a hockey movie about kids in Anaheim, made by Disney. That's not an excuse. Walt Disney was allegedly a Nazi ... how about the Anaheim Nazis, or at the very least the "Alleged Nazis?"
2. New York Red Bulls (MLS) -- Huh? The Red Bulls? What the hell is this, a sports team or an advertisement for energy drinks? I'd have a problem with "Red Bull Sports Arena," but at least that might make some sense.
1. Club Deportivo Chivas USA (MLS) -- If ever I saw an obvious grab at catering to a certain group, this is it. Let's be in Los Angeles, let's use Spanish, and let's name ourselves the same name as an already named team in Mexico. Not only are we desperate for fans, but we're unoriginal as well. Way to go LA.
Boring Names.
5. Houston Texans (NFL) -- What was wrong with the Oilers? That made sense, lots of oil in Texas, but no, let's just go with something dull ... why not the "Earthlings?"
4. Montreal Canadians (NHL) -- Where is Montreal? Oh, right, Canada.
3. Washington Capitols (NHL) -- Just in case the moronic hockey fans forget what the capitol of the United States is. Good thinking, cater to our morons.
2. FC Dallas (MLS) -- "FC" being football club...how about this. They're in the MLS and they're a football club. Where are they from, I wonder, Houston? ... no, then they'd be Texans.
1. Real Salt Lake (MLS) -- "Real" from Spanish "royal" (or something like that). It is not a reference to the team actually existing (and therefore, real). "Real" refers to the top teams in the Spanish league...in this case, Real Madrid. Newsflash for Utah. There is no Jazz in Utah. There is no royalty in Utah. There are no Spanish clubs in Utah, and you don't play in the damn stupid F*&#ing Spanish League.
Mean Names (again, in no particular order)
5. Miami Heat (NBA) -- Not like the people in Miami needed to be reminded, but just in case they forgot.
4. Carolina Hurricanes (NHL) -- Natural disasters is how we want people to know us. How about that. Why not just name themselves the "Katrinas" (though I think New Orleans is saving that one).
3. Colorado Avalanche (NHL) -- (see above)
2. Chicago Fire (MLS) -- This one is just plain tasteless. I'm not offended by it, but it's kind of like the San Francisco Earthquakes. Whatever.
1. Phoenix Suns (NBA) -- It's hot in Phoenix (see Miami Heat). That heat comes from the Sun...oooo science lesson. Thanks Mr. Wizard.
Conferences that are misrepresenting. If you're going to refer to a division/conference geographically, then let's be at least moderately accurate. Otherwise, just refer to them with Numbers, letters, or random names. How about the pansyass league?
5. NFC East (NFL) -- Um...Dallas is NOT in the East, on any map, anywhere. I realize with restructuring it's important to keep rivals together (Cowboys/Redskins), but why call it the East if it has teams that are not from the East? Why not just call them the "we want to keep this rivalry together division."
4. (Eastern) Atlantic (NBA) -- Toronto isn't on the Atlantic Coast. Sorry, that big mass of water is NOT the Atlantic Ocean. To the NBA's credit, Toronto is more East than West.
3. (Western) Northwest (NBA) -- Minnesota? Denver, Utah. I sort of understand Denver and Utah, but Minnesota isn't anywhere near the Northwest.
2. (Western) Southwest (NBA) -- Memphis? Huh? Right, all those Chumash Indians in Tennessee. Forgot about them.
1. (Western) Pacific (NBA) -- Dallas, Phoenix. The Pacific Ocean is on the West Coast. It is no where near Dallas. At least Arizona borders California.
That's about it. Sorry it's so long, perhaps I'll get to the college mascots later, or include other professional sports as well. Let's just call LA, with the Lakers, the Angels, the Mighty Ducks, the Dodgers, and NO NFL TEAM AT ALL, the biggest loser. Most of us can probably agree with that.
I realize this post won't get any comments, in fact, it's almost a waste of time, aside from the fact that I want to post something new and college basketball's national championship tournament is exactly the way college sports should be. Just because I need at least a couple of comments, I'll throw in that I hate atheists.
All of that aside, 64 teams (65 if you count the play in). That's less than a quarter of the NCAA Div IA teams that play. In a sport that has its professionals absolutely out of control and playoffs that last as long as the regular season, its college ranks have it almost perfect. They could easily add a few more teams and give a couple of pre-round byes. Not that such should happen, but there are teams that consistently don't make it because some other team won their conference tournament. Allow for enough teams to make about 25% of those eligible to play. This would allow a team that kicked some serious ass in the regular season to make it to the dance. Being from a small conference requires winning the conference tournament...but that's another discussion entirely.
Right now I just want to talk about why this tournament is so much fun...that being that it moves, most everyone gets a chance, and everyone likes an underdog...and this tournament is ripe with them. This is a perfect example of the "best part is the journey." Seriously, the first weekend, in fact, the first two days (first round) is so amazing. Little guy over big guy with some closely contested matchups thrown in. Not to mention that at the end of the thing there is no argument on who the national champion is. There is no debate even if the team that wins was never ranked during the regular season. Sure, there can be debate on who the best team is, but there's no debate on who that national champion is...it could be anyone...and it is the team that is able to put together a six game winning streak at the right time.
I sit here watching lowly George Mason about to put the lights out on the mighty North Carolina. Sure, not the same North Carolina of old, but still a great basketball team. George Mason, if they hold on to win, exemplifies why this is what sports are all about, on any level. So, as the first weekend of this March Madness 2006 wraps up, let me just say that for once, the powers that be actually have something right. It's not perfect, but it's close enough that the debate will probably never begin on how to make it better.
College sports are amazing. Sports are amazing, but college sports, I love them. Why they are important is an issue for another time. For now, as it's that time of year, I want to talk about preseason rankings.
In most sports, the schedule is long enough that a preseason ranking is fine. I don't like it, but it's not a big deal because a team can easily bounce back from a loss. If they don't fully bounce back from it, there's always a playoff system at the end to determine whether or not those that rank know what they're doing (Div IA football playoffs is another issue entirely). In college football however, preseason rankings are stupid.
There are at most, 12 games in the regular season. A team that is ranked highly can lose one, maybe even two games a season and still have national title hopes. A team that is ranked poorly at the beginning of the season has no choice but to go undefeated the entire season and even then may not have a chance at a national title (happens all the time).
Take Oklahoma this year, for example. They're a good team that lost a lot of talent and was way over rated at the beginning of the season. They dropped from being a top 5 team to completely out of the rankings in a matter of two weeks. They're not a national title contender, but there's a chance they'll make a bowl game this year. Good by Oklahoma standards? no. Good by national standards? more or less.
But the fact that they were ranked so highly before even playing a game is ridiculous. Now they look like a horribly crappy team when they're simply just not as good as they were "supposed" to be.
Or take Purdue. I love the Boilermakers but they started the season ranked 16, didn't even PLAY, and moved to 13th. How does that happen? How does anyone know they're any better than any of those other teams that lost without taking a snap? Now they've lost to Minnesota (and Minnesota was favored), and moved to 20th. Minnesota, previously unranked, is now 19th (which makes sense, they won in overtime, so being slightly higher ranked than Purdue makes sense).
All I'm saying is to wait to post the rankings. Even three weeks would work. Some of the good teams will have played each other (Texas/Ohio St, Arizona St/LSU, among others), and other teams will have demonstrated some skill (or lack thereof) that is comparable to some other team. If TCU beats Oklahoma in the first game of the season, does that make TCU better than Oklahoma? No, but it does mean that someone who has Oklahoma highly ranked should reconsider where they had them. Don't make the rankings public until after week three and most cards will remain about the same.
Of course there's the money angle. But if one thinks about it, while USC is dominant at the top of the rankings, this isn't always the case. Who should be #2? or 3? Don't make the rankings public until week 3 and games like Ohio St/Texas are much more common in the first three weeks of play. The USCs (if they exist) don't have to show they're good, they won last year, didn't lose anyone, so are still good, but those teams that lost significant players (Oklahoma) will have to schedule teams to prove their worth.
For the big conferences, where playing ranked opponents is common, it's not a huge deal. Keeping the rankings quiet is much more important for the school's that don't have the opportunity to prove themselves the entire season. Of course it is a completely moot point if there is a playoff, but that's a story for December.
I've stayed away from sports on this site mainly because very few people who visit actually watch sports. In addition to that, most bloggers probably don't care much for sports either, and those that do probably keep their blogs mostly sports specific.
But I am a sports guy. I always have been. Never really much of an athlete, too much attitude in high school and not enough talent. But I love watching sports. I can watch pretty much anything. In fact, aside from Law and Order reruns, sports is pretty much the only tv I ever watch.
But all that is for another time and another place. I'll start a sports folder sometime later, and give an appropriate introduction then. Today I'm here to complain about Felipe Alou, manager of the San Francisco Giants.
I like the guy as a person, he seems like a personable, likable sort. But like Joe Paterno of Penn St football, it's time to retire. How many times do Giant fans have to watch him overthink everything at the end of the game? Sometimes it doesn't make a difference, but sometimes it's huge.
I sat and watched the Giants 4-0 lead in the ninth inning dwindle to 4-3, no outs, one man on with Tyler Walker, the "closer" for the Giants. Granted, this was not a close opportunity, being up by four runs, by Tyler Walker once again screwed up. How anyone can say Tyler Walker is a good closer is beyond me. That however is another issue for another time.
So, Felipe finally takes Walker out, still no outs, 3 runs scored, one man on. Puts in a rookie, Jeremy Accardo, who gets an out, allows a hit, and gets another out. So, man on first and third, two outs. The kid isn't doing too poorly, in fact, he's not doing badly at all, and what does Felipe do? Like always, goes to the bullpen.
In the bullpen are Jason Christiansen and the guy the Giants got in the offseason to CLOSE games Armando Benitez. I realize Benitez has been out the past few months with an injury and is just back from that, but if you're going to warm him up, why not use him? Put him in, get one out. How hard is that? Never mind that Alou shouldn't be taking Accardo out, he's replacing him with Christensen. What the hell is this?
Needless to say, one pitch, over Tucker's head in right field, guy from first scores, game over.
If this was the first time Alou had done something along these lines, fine. But we consistently see relief picthers come in, get one batter out in clutch situations, then get taken out because they throw with the wrong arm.
C'mon Felipe, let the pitchers pitch and quit overthinking the game. As the manager, you're the battlefied commander, you tell your people what to do and they do it. Get rid of them if they can no longer perform or are not performing, not when they're doing their job.
On another note, while I understand the scoring, Jeremy Accardo getting the loss seems ridiculous, that honor should be Tyler Walker's.