With half of the 2013 MLB season already in the books as teams collect as much rest as possible during the All-Star break in preparation of the dog days of summer that await, the midway point couldn't have come at a better time for the San Francisco Giants. The defending world champs who've won two of the last three World Series titles, have looked like a shadow of their 2012 selves up to this point. Having been bit by the injury bug practically all year long with injuries striking up and down the lineup as well as across the pitching staff, the Giants who are without their spark plug on offense in speedster Angel Pagan, have limped to the halfway mark with a 43-51 record, 6.5 games behind the division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks. Though the GMen have maintained some success at home until their most recent home stand which saw Bruce Bochy's ballclub uncharacteristically drop 5 of 6 at AT&T Park, their road record of 15-31 is among one of the worst in the National League and has translated to their first sub .500 record at the break in years.
After appearing to hit rock bottom, losing 17 of their last 23 games, the Giants did manage to head into the All-Star break on somewhat of a high-note by taking 3 of 4 on the road against the pesky San Diego Padres. One of the wins being a game that Giants fans my age will be sure to one day tell their grandchildren about. Less than two weeks after being no-hit by Cincinnati Reds pitcher Homer Bailey who tossed his second career no-hitter in a 3-0 win over the Giants, Tim Lincecum who received the loss, had the tables turned on him just two starts later. Following their first pair of consecutive road wins in nearly a month, Lincecum would do something that baseball fans knew he was capable of the moment he broke onto the big league scene as a 150 lb. kid that could reach the mid to high 90's with his fastball while his build and features resembled that of a bat boy more than they did a Major League pitcher, resulting in players and fans simply calling him, "The Freak."
Despite his recent struggles, the now 29-year old pitcher in his seventh season would display a performance fit for the record books in vintage Lincecum fashion by tossing the 15th no-hitter in Giants franchise history and the 7th since the team moved out west to San Francisco. Striking out 13 Padres batters, Lincecum's only flaw came in the walk department where he allowed four men to get on base via the base on balls. Timmy also added a hit batsman, but none of that prevented him from making history and completing the first no-hitter in Petco Park history since the stadium opened its doors in 2004. The Padres who've been no stranger to the no-hitter having been no-hit on eight different occasions and as recent as 2009 against pitcher Jonathan Sanchez of these very same Giants, oddly enough have yet to throw a no-hitter of their own and are the only active Major League franchise with that claim.
Lincecum's no-no which was followed up by a bear-hug from his battery-mate Buster Posey who rushed the mound and a Gatorade bath from the rest of his teammates, required the second most pitches in MLB history, falling one pitch shy of Edwin Jackson's mark of 149-pitches on June 25, 2010 when he no-hit the Tampa Bay Rays as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks. With the All-Star break looming, you had to have wondered whether the extra days of rest factored in on Bochy's decision to keep his pitcher in despite the high pitch-count. But given the circumstances of just how rarely a feat of this magnitude occurs and the relationship Bochy has with his former ace who's come close to making history on a number of occasions, the skipper never would've heard the end of it had he elected to pull his starting pitcher in favor of the bullpen. Factoring in all the warm-up pitches, it's likely Lincecum exceeded the 200-pitch mark and is something I'm sure almost every pitcher that's ever stepped foot on a mound would sacrifice if it meant etching their name into the record books with a no-hitter.
Also worth mentioning is the spectacular defense Lincecum had behind him making play after play. None greater than the play outfielder Hunter Pence made in right when coming in hard making a diving catch to rob San Diego's Alexi Amarista of a hit to end the eight inning, preserving the no-hit bid. At that point it seemed that the Giants' right-hander was destined to make history. The no-no is just the most recent accolade to add to the illustrious career of Lincecum who also has a pair of Cy Young Awards on his well decorated resume as well as a pair of World Series rings. Lincecum, a popular topic in trade rumors as of late, has long been in need of a confidence boost since following up a stellar postseason while in the Giants bullpen, with a mediocre 2013 campaign. Bruce Bochy and company hope that this historic performance will do just that as the team tries to right the ship in the second half and get back to their winning ways. But with a rising Dodger squad and a Diamondbacks team that's shown no signs of slowing down expected to be atop the NL West pennant race until the end, the Giants will have their work cut out for them. But whatever you do, don't count Bruce Bochy's club out, because we all know what happened the last two times that took place.
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No more sleeping with the lights on and hiding under your covers, the "Dwightmare" is over. After days of weighing his options, NBA All-Star center Dwight Howard has made his decision on where he'll be taking his talents for the upcoming 2013-2014 NBA season and beyond -- Houston, as the signing was made official on Wednesday. Hoping to make basketball in Houston as synonymous with the city as codeine syrup and screwed and chopped music, Howard plans to bring the franchise its first championship since the team won back-to-back titles in 1994-95 with another dominant big man in Hakeem Olajuwon. And though he didn't make his decision on national television like LeBron James did a few season's back which rubbed people the wrong way, he still made a lot of people unhappy. However, there won't be any need for lighter fluid and matches to burn jersey's like we saw when LeBron made his often criticized decision to leave his home state of Ohio for the sandy beaches of Miami, mainly because Howard's departure didn't take everyone by surprise quite like LeBron's.
Even after Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak finalized the deal that was several years in the making to finally land the best big man in the league last offseason, we were all aware of the possibility of Howard being a one-year rent-a-player. What we didn't know, however, was just how mightily a Lakers squad which featured Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Pau Gasol and Howard would struggle. While injuries were partially to blame for their early elimination in the playoffs, falling to the eventual Western Conference Champion San Antonio Spurs in a four-game sweep, the Lakers' star-studded cast had a hard time gelling even when healthy which had to have made Dwight's decision to walk a bit easier. Not to mention Lakers head coach Mike D'Antoni's system which Dwight felt he was unfit for, whom he asked the Lakers to fire in November in favor of Phil Jackson. Having suffered from a torn labrum and coming off of back surgery in his lone season with the purple and gold, Howard received plenty of criticism from Los Angeles' media circus while getting little support from teammates Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant who he told during negotiations before making his decision, he was upset with after they failed to come to his aid and stick up for him.
Further spoiling the relationship between Howard and the Lakers organization was when Howard publicly said he, "never really felt embraced in L.A." But all things considered, even that would make it difficult to walk away from the extra $30 Million dollars that only the Lakers could offer him. Though it's become a rarity in sports these days, Howard's decision to ditch Tinseltown to play for a much younger Rockets franchise in a small market is proof that money isn't everything. Also left on the table along with $30 Million dollars is the torch to the Laker team that Kobe planned to hand down once he retires in the next few years. With big men being the foundation that paved the way to a number of NBA titles from Laker greats George Mikan to Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Shaquille O'Neal and so on, Howard walked away from the thought of becoming the latest big man to write his own chapter in Laker lore. If there's one thing Laker fans did learn about the failed experiment that brought the 27-year old Howard to L.A., it was that playing under the brightest of lights in Hollywood were just too much for him to handle and that the real Superman was indeed Shaq.
Where the Lakers go from here is anyone's guess. Though not signing Howard adds to the money Mitch Kupchak and company will save from an already hefty fee from the league's luxury-tax, it also opens the door even wider for the Lakers to go after not one, but two superstar talents via free-agency next off-season in a free-agent class that will most likely feature such star-studded names as LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony among others. As for the Rockets who landed arguably the most coveted free-agent player of the off-season alongside All-Star point-guard Chris Paul who announced earlier this week that he'll be re-signing with the Los Angeles Clippers, Howard joins a young squad led by the rising Chandler Parsons and the bearded James Harden who reached super stardom after leaving Oklahoma City last season. And with head coach Kevin McHale at the helm who knows a thing or two about playing inside the post and figures to utilize Howard to his full potential. Something Howard felt coach Mike D'Antoni failed to do in L.A.
Before making his decision and choosing Houston as his destination, Howard's list of suitors included the Atlanta Hawks, Dallas Mavericks and Golden State Warriors, all of whom he eliminated before eventually choosing between the Lakers and the Rockets. A choice he described as, "tough" before saying he made his decision solely on winning a title and not the money. And though Kobe Bryant took to his Twitter account to wish Dwight Howard the best with his new team after un-following him from the social networking site, we all know deep down that he doesn't mean it. Similar to when a man says he wishes his ex the best when she's in a relationship, it's all a lie. Even with Howard in the mix, I still have a hard time placing the Rockets ahead of the Spurs, Thunder, Warriors and Clippers in the Western Conference power rankings.
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Since my early childhood I've been attending baseball games with my father. In fact, some of my earliest memories are traced back when walking through the turnstiles at Dodger Stadium to cheer on the archrival San Francisco Giants. Continuing a tradition that we used to live by at least once a year when school was out for the summer until some 3 or 4 seasons back, my father and I set out to catch a pair of games at Chavez Ravine for my Birthday for the first time since the Giants added two World Series titles to their resume (one in 2010 and the other in 2012) while calling the Bay Area their home, leapfrogging the rival Dodgers in the process with 7 Championships to L.A.'s 6.
With seats down near the right-field foul pole in the outfield for game 1 of a 3 game series, my dad and I took a stroll down to the visiting bullpen where we watched in awe as the starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner threw strike after strike to the Giants catcher and reigning NL MVP Buster Posey as the battery warmed up before joining everyone in the ballpark as we sung the National Anthem in unison. Shortly after, we took to our seats some six rows back from the field as the game got underway. With the entire row to ourselves and our gloves in hand, we knew we had a good chance at catching a home run ball if one was hit our way. Little did we know our catching abilities would be tested several pitches into the game. After the Giants failed to get anything going in the top of the first inning, it was L.A.'s turn.
Three weeks into his big league career, Cuban sensation Yasiel Puig, who's been red-hot since being called up to the Majors on June 3, stepped up to the plate boasting a batting average well above .400. The noise Dodger fans made for their new favorite player when he stepped up to the plate was deafening as cheers and whistles were mixed in with the sound of maracas that blew out the stadium speakers. And in his first career at-bat against the Giants, Puig hit a 87 mph offering on a two-seam fastball our way. The ball appeared to be headed straight for my lap but then began curling around the foul pole a few seats over. Hesitant to move as if my feet were stuck in quicksand, I turned my head and saw that my dad had already drifted over some eight seats down the isle with his hands in the air. Doing his best Say Hey Kid impersonation decked out in his vintage Willie Mays Giants jersey lost in a sea of blue, my dad came down with the ball. Standing their in disbelief, I instantly began celebrating and laughing with my father as if he had just caught the final out of a World Series clinching game 7, despite our team falling behind, 1-0.
With a good amount of Giants fans sitting in our section, it wasn't long before they began shouting, "Throw it back!" And had it been me who caught the ball, I just might have. Instead, my father began to make a throwing motion as if he was going to toss the ball back onto the field but he played it off and shook his head no to the chorus of boo's from our fellow Giants fans to which he responded by blowing them kisses. As if the moment couldn't get any better, a Dodger fan sitting several rows in front of us pulled out and flashed a one hundred dollar bill from his pocket and offered to buy the ball from us. With little purpose of a ball hit by a player of the opposing team, my dad proudly obliged before handing me the Benjamin and saying, "Happy Birthday, son," Putting a stamp on the perfect father son moment. And though it would be the Dodgers who came out victorious on this day, 3-1 winners, snapping a five-game losing-streak against the Giants whom they would later sweep in the series, being there with my father to soak in a ballgame, much less witness him catch a home run ball which is a once in a lifetime moment, is something that far exceeds one single 'W' in the win column. However, getting the win would've been pretty nice, too, given I've been to nine Giants-Dodger games in L.A. in my lifetime and the only game they've won, I was too young to remember. Needless to say, this is one Birthday present that I'll never forget.
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