ONE MORE GAME!

Are you kidding me? Who the hell are these guys? How do they keep doing this? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE???

It's not like I doubted the Giants could get to the playoffs and do some damage in the first round, but I don't think any of us could have expected to be in a situation like this.

About 5 minutes after the dust settled, I said out loud-- partly to my dad, and partly to no one-- "We're up 3-1. I can't believe it. We're up 3-1. This is really happening."

There is simply no apt way to describe the feeling most of us have right now. Over a lifetime as fans, we devote tens of thousands of hours, spend thousands of dollars, and invest immeasurable amounts of emotion in our teams. We do all this in hopes that when it's all said and done, someday we are in a position like we're in right now.

We are one game from the World Series.

I almost don't even want to say it. I feel like we're in the 7th inning of a perfect game... shhh! Don't say it!

With another dream Lincecum/Halladay matchup set to begin Thursday evening, we must remind ourselves that this series is not even close to being over. Halladay is capable of shutting us out, as is Roy Oswalt during a potential Game 6 in Philadelphia. With that said, here are my observations from Games 3 and 4.

Game 3

-- Matt Cain was an absolute monster. After a horrible performance in the regular season's final series against San Diego, I was worried about him a little bit. After a tough luck loss against Atlanta, I felt a little better. But after Tuesday's performance, I fully expect to win whenever he starts.

-- Cain and Buster Posey are what you call "old souls". With Cain, a longtime veteran at the age of 26 and Posey, a 23 year old rookie, there is a calming presence that the two of them bring to the table. I imagine that their quiet, confident demeanors, steady emotions, and workmanlike attitudes rub off on their teammates-- and I'm not talking about only the young ones.

They act as though they've been there a million times, although neither has. I tell you, if all hell broke loose, you'd want those two guys around... and not just because they're both country boys who could probably get a seized up motor running and tie a clean Carolina rig onto 10 lb. test mono-filament line. They basically set the example of what a big league ballplayer is supposed to be. Truly remarkable considering their ages.

-- Edgar Renteria on Cain's performance: “CAIN IS UNBELIEVABLE. WHEN I SAW HIM IN THE FIRST INNING, I KNEW IT WAS GOING TO BE A BIG GAME FOR US. JUST TRY TO SCORE ANY RUNS.”

-- And how good has Javier Lopez been? Silent Assasin? I like it.

Game 4

-- Madison Bumgarner again looked solid. His 6 strikeouts seemed to be par for his course lately. He battled, but didn't have his best stuff. Hey, he was better than Philly's 4th starter, Joe Blanton.

-- Santiago Casilla can be extremely erratic at times. He's been pretty solid up until this series. He worries me a bit. Some of these bullpen guys look like they're "leaking oil".

-- Cody Ross--- excuse me, Cody "Boss" had another huge hit. Remember when all you jerks were mad at him for that error he made in RF a month ago? I told you he was a good player. He is simply on a hot streak that not even he can comprehend. As good as our pitching has been, Mr. Rosstober has been equally important... and I don't see this stopping anytime soon.

-- Sandoval got a huge double. Nice to see. It gave us the lead, and it gave him a boost of confidence.

-- Sandoval immediately took this boost of confidence, and grounded into a double play with the bases loaded and one out. In case you were wondering, that was double play #26 on the season.

All Pablo needed to do was hit the ball into the outfield for a sac fly. He is a continuing liability at the plate, and I will continue to dislike him until he becomes a smarter baseball player.

And look how important that run was! WE NEEDED THAT RUN! Because...

-- Bochy doesn't get it. He still doesn't friggin get it. SERGIO ROMO CANNOT BE TRUSTED! I don't care that he rebounded after that run-scoring hit he allowed. This is the playoffs and he obviously is not pitching well enough. I know Bochy is a player's manager and he LOVES "sticking with his guys", but if there are two guys that cannot be trusted to get out of tight, inherited jams, it's Romo, and to a lesser extent, Casilla.

And back to that Sandoval GIDP... NOW DO YOU SEE, YOU MORON ZOO ANIMAL PANDA! GET THE RUN HOME!

-- Andres Torres has probably earned himself a start after showing signs of life in the past two games.

-- Nate Schierholtz is now an automatic out. He is officially approaching Rowand territory in hitting uselessness, and I honestly think he should start laying down a bunt up the 3rd base line ever time he hits until they start playing him in.

I met him once. He's a good guy, and I don't like disparaging good guys, but he is just not a good hitter, and is at a career crossroads. Right now, he's looking like a career 4th or 5th OF and defensive replacement. I know it's extremely difficult to produce without consistent at bats, but this is getting ridiculous.

Stretching back into the regular season, Schierholtz is 5-29, a .174 avg.

-- Ryan Howard and Chase Utley look lost for the most part.

-- Buster Posey was 4-4 after appearing tired and "slumpy" in the past couple games. I think the last time I said he was tired he hit a huge home run against San Diego.

And my God, what a play at home plate today. On a crazy/great throw by Rowand, Posey kept the game from getting out of hand with an amazing play at the plate. This guy is incredible.

-- Pat Burrell has a great eye. That is all.

-- Home Plate umpire Wally Bell was horribly inconsistent. This crew has been a disaster overall. Ted Barrett in Game 3 was the only guy worth his salt. Cousins, Iassogna and Bell were just not good. While Cousins and Iassogna don't know the difference between a ball and a strike, Bell just can't seem to remember whether he or not he's going to maintain a zone or just start anew each batter.

-- Charlie Manuel made a couple questionable decisions. Firstly, why leave a young Antonio "Diabeto" Bastardo to face Posey after he was brought in to face Huff, a lefty on lefty matchup? After all, Bastardo doesn't have much experience and righties like Posey hit .300 off of the bastard in '10. Why not bring in Madson right there?

-- The whole Oswalt thing was bizarre. I know he's awesome and everything, but why not bring in Lidge for the 9th? I know it wasn't a save situation, but if you're down to the bottom of the barrel, do you think it's wise to use a guy going on 2.5 days rest? And oh yeah, It was more like 4 hours rest, because Oswalt threw a scheduled side session before the game.

And this move came from the guy who didn't want to start Roy Halladay on three days rest, leaving Blanton available for long relief work. Philly fans want Manuel's head on a platter right now. And they may get it.

-- I just checked the comment feed on the Philly.com game story. HILARIOUS. I just wish I could get Sylvester Stallone to read them all in his Rocky voice. Here is my favorite:

"Can we keep the Phillies biggest annual October choker Rollins nailed to the bench. He got picked off in the 2nd. He ended both the 4th and 5th innings by striking out with runners on. In the 7th he booted a tailor made double play that could have lost the game. In the 8th he comes up with a runner on 2nd, no outs and pops up. The next time someone calls this career .224 October hitter a big game player, they should be put in jail."

Philly fans are so much more entertaining when they're losing... hahaha

-- How huge was Juan Uribe? He comes into the game cold, and immediately makes a helluva play to nail Ross Gload at first. Say what you will about his range, but he is an above average shortstop and I want him back in 2011.

-- Oh yeah, and he also hit a sac fly to win the game. See Pablo, that's how you do it. What an exhilarating moment for Giants fans. Juan Uribe became only the 4th player in Giants history to hit a walkoff RBI. Wild.

Did anyone have success with the radio delay?

Say no to Buck & McCarver: Delay Radio

If you've read any of my stuff before, you know how much I appreciate good announcing. As Giants fans, we are especially spoiled by the likes of Mike Krukow & Duane Kuiper on TV with Dave Flemming and Hall of Famer Jon Miller on the KNBR 680 side.

The worst part about your team on national television is the lack of your home announcers. They guide you along throughout the season, experiencing the same highs and lows that you do. The goal in every sport is to make the playoffs, but don't you feel cheated once you get there because your guys aren't there to experience it with you?

In the 2010 playoffs, the San Francisco Giants have suffered through four games of Dick Stockton and Bob Brenly on TBS, and have now graduated to the worst of the worst: Joe Buck and Tim McCarver for the NLCS on FOX.

People can say what they will about the rambling nonsensical tangents of Joe Morgan, but Tim McCarver is simply the worst analyst in the country. How did I put it a couple posts ago? Oh yeah:

"Joe Buck and Tim McCarver: Ruining baseball since 1996".

Buck sounds like a depressed, blase, out of work actor with a trust fund and McCarver sounds like a senile old drunk. Fox is the worst. It wouldn't be so bad, but the KNBR feed is even further off live TV for Fox than it was for TBS. I'm talking 12 or 13 seconds ahead. I find myself only watching the TV for replays. It's truly unbelievable that in today's society with all this technology, we have to deal with this kind of mind-numbing and frustrating commentary. I swear to God I would do a better job sitting at home in my underwear doing play by play with my dog Rosie as the color commentator.

And whether or not you or your fellow fans care to admit it, I know that each and every one of you would jump at the chance to listen to your own guys, whether it is Philly fans following on WPHT 1210, Giants fans tuning into KNBR 680, or anything in between. Thanks to my desperate pleas on Twitter, I now have a solution to our problems. This may take $10 bucks and a half hour to get right, but this will improve your sports experience whenever your boys are on national TV.

---> FIRST OF ALL, YOU WILL NEED THIS PROGRAM <----

It's a small, free program that enables you to delay radio. This is the most important part. It is clean, and I assure you it is safe.

There are a number of scenarios in which you can do this. Here is the most simple one in steps:

Necessary Equipment:





-- PC, preferably a laptop for ease of use (Not sure about Mac program equivalent, sorry)

-- Physical radio tuner with headphone jack (this can be a handheld walkman/mp3 type, a clock radio, or large, Dolby Digital style receiver. As long as it has a headphone out jack and good reception of your favorite sports station, you're golden.

-- Simple "mp3 style" audio cable. You know? One of those that plugs into your iPod, then plugs into the headphone/auxiliary input in your car? The more technical term is 3.5mm stereo "mini-phone" cable.

If you have any doubts about whether you know what I'm talking about, go to Radio Shack, and read them the description. Anyone attempting this already has a clue. Something like this.

-- Speakers of some kind. These can be anything from your headphones, to your internal laptop speakers, external computer speakers, or TV soundbar. Any sort of audio component capable of receiving and then amplifying sound will do.

The rest is easy my friends.

What I did

I took a Windows laptop, an old Sony CD/Walkman with radio, then ran the audio cable from the Walkman to the computer's microphone jack-- just as you would connect an iPod to that AUX jack in your car.

Next, with the Delay program installed, you should begin to hear the radio through your computer's speakers.

Start to fool around with the delay so it will sync up properly with the TV. Unfortunately you can't really do this until the game starts, so here's a head start. For Game 2 of the 2010 NLCS, my DirecTV feed of FOX was approximately 15.4 seconds BEHIND the radio feed on KNBR. That is far too significant not to delay it.

If I were you, I'd start around there, and adjust it until you've got it down.


You may need to go into sound control to adjust your volume and "line in" level. Also, I recommend turning down your radio source to a moderate level. It is better to turn it up on the speakers you use.

That is basically it for the simple version. This will also work if you have the MLB "At Bat" App with audio. Here's where it gets really cool. Although I don't have the app, I've seen it in action. This is a viable option as well.

Take your Droid/iPhone, etc, and use it as the audio source instead of the radio and run the same process with the Delay program. Fiddle around until it's right on. There ya go.

Also, this works with home XM/Sirius radio receivers. As long as you've got a stereo 3.5mm cable that can reach from your source, to your computer, and some speakers connected to said computer, you're good to go.

This is where most of the information I used came from, and if you have any trouble with this, you can click here, and you can view the info I used. You can comment below with any questions and I'll give you a hand.

Also, if you have a more complicated scenario, you can visit the link mentioned in the last paragraph. I am merely a sleazy messenger, not a genius. Do not worship me, worship this Bote guy who put together this radio site. Although I do not require worship, I require reverence instead. I also require stories of how this has improved your quality of life during sporting events.

Just say no to Buck & McCarver!

Game 2 Observations, Game 3 Looksee

You can't win them all. This fact of life we know far too well. Most of us are also fans of the 49ers... and Warriors... so yeah. We know that we're not going to win them all.

That being said, our Giants are still in good shape and headed back to their homeland. A homeland that is a very far cry from the puking, whistling masses of the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware urban trash that represents Philadelphia sports.

If you run into any Phillies fans at Games 3-5 at AT&T, tell them to "GO BACK TO JERSEY!". They absolutely hate it, because even if it's not true, New Jersey is like across the river from Philly. It's like if we all got accused of being from the East Bay.

Observations:

-- Sanchez wasn't horrible, but he wasn't great either. He kept the game close enough, but we all know we aren't winning any slugfests against the Phillies, especially with Oswalt's A-Game going full force.

-- Mike Fontenot is not doing well at 3B or at the plate. Bad defense and retarded plate appearances notwithstanding, Pablo Sandoval needs to start against Hamels, even if he's turned around to hit righty. You never know...

-- Andres Torres either needs to ride the pine for a game, or hit 8th. He took home a Golden Sombrero from The Bank on Broad last night, and for a leadoff hitter, that is totally unacceptable.

-- Dan Iassogna was horrendous behind the plate, a night after his homie Derryl Cousins stank up the joint. He was not the reason for the loss, but come on Major League Baseball! I saw two of the worst umpiring performances in the playoffs back to back in my lifetime. This is the NLCS, not the Mexican league, not the Arizona league, not AA Connecticut, and not Mill Valley Senior Minors. I'm against machines calling baseball games, but the more I see these ruh-tards screwing up calls left and right, the more the idea of artificial intelligence intrigues me.

-- With Uribe's jammed wrist a potential problem heading into Tuesday's Game 3 against the lefty Cole Hamels, here's MY lineup, assuming Juan can't go:

Renteria SS (R)
Sanchez 2B (R)
Huff 1B (L)
Posey C (R)
Ross RF (R)
Burrell LF (R)
Sandoval 3B (S)
Torres CF (S)

Renteria has above average speed (contrary to popular belief). He is a veteran clutch hitter whose nerves are not affected by the playoffs and has a decent eye. He is a smart player whose physical skills have eroded, but is still capable of a single, a bunt, and a walk.

Torres has only 3 hits in 6 playoff games thus far, and he would get a day off if this wasn't the NLCS. Unfortunately, I have no faith in Aaron Rowand being any kind of an upgrade over Andres, either at the plate, on the basepaths, or in CF.

Burrell hit the ball hard in Game 1, but Ross has been a monster. He is no longer a surprise to the Phillies after homering thrice in two games. He officially needs some protection in the form of Pat Burrell. Will Bochy do this? No. He can't think that fast.

And despite the fact that hitting right-handed are both Torres and Sandoval's weaker side, there are no real better options on the bench. I expect both to play.

Hamels vs. Cain


-- In two starts against the Giants in 2010 (home/home split), Hamels was 0-1. Check the stats, brochachos. We hit .348 off the guy and he had an ERA above 7. Dig the matchup.

11.0 IP, 16 Hits, 9ER, 5BB, 7.36 ERA, 1.91 WHIP, .348 BAA

Hamels also has a career 4.67 ERA against the Giants in 54 career innings.

As for HurriCAIN Matt, he was a tough luck loser against the Phils this year in one start. He lasted 6 innings and gave up 2 earnies.

PS: Guess who figured out how to delay KNBR and listen to it while watching the FOX feed? THIS GUY. Stay tuned for a post on how to improve your quality of life.