Giants' Batting Stances

Must, must watch. Batting Stance Guy is spot on.

A Wild One at the Shark Tank

• First off, congratulations Sharkies! The Sharks clinched a playoff spot by sweeping the season series against the Wild 4-3 (SO).
• Curtis Brown got back on the ice for the first time since breaking his arm against Detroit in January. He notched a goal and an assist and will be a valuable presence as the regular season winds down. I like the way Yahoo Sports puts it:

  He will be key for the Sharks' late run, but not for yours.

• The game's first goal of the night was a pretty one.

  Brown led a three-on-one rush with Patrick Marleau and Jeremy Roenick and they created a picture-perfect tic-tac-toe play for the lead. Brown fed it up ice to Marleau, who dropped it back to Brown when he crossed the blue line. Then the puck moved back over to Marleau on the left and across to Roenick on the right side and he tapped it in.

  With his 507th goal, Roenick tied Jean Beliveau for 3rd for career goals.
• Scary collision: Kurtis Foster and Torrey Mitchell were racing for the puck for a touch icing call. Both of them crashed into the boards, with Foster getting the brunt of the damage. It wasn't a dirty play, but rather the result of the NHL's rule for touch icing (which Drew Remenda campaigned against while the medical team attended to Foster).

  Minnesota defenseman Kurtis Foster's broken left leg is the latest gruesome reminder of the dangers of touch-up icing in the fast-paced NHL.
  
  Foster will miss the rest of the season, including the playoffs, after crashing hard into the boards Wednesday night during a race to the puck with San Jose rookie Torrey Mitchell. Foster had surgery Thursday to repair a displaced fracture in his femur, and a stabilizing rod was put into his leg.

  I really hope he has a speedy and full recovery and can hit the ice again.
• The game went into shootout after the Wild tied 2-all on a 6-on-4 power play near the end of the 3rd period.

  After Pavelski and Burns scored on the first round of shots and Marleau and Gaborik were turned aside on their attempts, Roenick netted his shot through the glove side of Backstrom. Mikko Koivu took the final shot for Minnesota and Nabokov snatched the shot with his glove. After making the save, the winning goaltender threw the puck in the air and drop-kicked it in celebration

Welcome, Brian Campbell

Contract extension. Now.

You Dig?

Baron Davis is what one would call a renaissance man. Athlete, blogger, political activist, actor, music producer, movie producer.

This week, two of Baron’s movies will air for the public. The first one is a short from Framed, directed by Emmanuelle Chriqui and featuring the Beard himself in short shorts and roller-skates. You’ve probably already seen the trailer on Youtube, but the actual short is airing this Friday on IFC at 10:30 PM.



The second one is of Baron’s own creation and of a much more serious matter. “Made in America,” a documentary chronicling gang violence, is set to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday. Baron, as he told to USA Today, hopes that his documentary will raise awareness of the unresolved social issue and spur positive solutions and opportunities.

"It's informational," said Davis, adding that the film could be a teaching template for high schools. "That was the one thing I was nervous about, going into the project — I didn't want it to be preachy. People who really don't know much about gangs can watch the documentary and get a true understanding of the culture and history behind it. To see the trials and tribulations, the positives and negatives, of the black community. It's the rise and fall."

Well, Look Who's Back

wjw415's comment:

jordan-esque

Jordan-esque... That's the first time I've seen that adjective used to describe Mike Dunleavy or his play.

To his credit, though, Dunleavy is having himself a career season, and a good one at that: 17.1 PPG, 49.2 FG%, 42.9 3P%, 5.7 REB, 3.1 AST. Nellie and Jim O’Brien run similar up-tempo, offense-geared systems, but Dunleavy never put up those gaudy numbers. It’s amazing to see how much a change of scenery helped him out.

Tomorrow night’s game marks the eve of the one year anniversary of the Trade. After that 8-player swap, the Warriors and Pacers went on a complete role-reversal. The Warriors reeled off a torrid streak that earned them an 8 seed, landing in the playoffs for the first time in 13 years. The Pacers spiraled into an 11 game losing streak beginning in February, knocking them out of a high seed in the East to a lottery slot (that went to the Atlanta Hawks). Talk about adding insult to injury.

Strangely enough, the Pacers come in with a mirror of the Warriors’ record: 16-21 vs 21-16. Hm.

Linkage:
Parting was sweet for Dunleavy and Warriors [Janny Hu]
More self-analysis from Mike Dunleavy and Troy Murphy [Janny Hu]
Q&A: Indy Cornrows (Part 1 of 2) [Golden State of Mind]

Rivalry!

Well, the Warriors just got beat down by the Mavericks 99-121 in Big D, but so what? The Mavericks are still an unsightly 3-6 over the past two and a quarter seasons. Now that they have somewhat figured out a way to beat the Warriors, this could actually become a real rivalry. After all, it's not fun not being challenged once in a while.

Just in case you forgot:

How to Dance Shoot the Electric Slide Redux

WHEEEEE

From NYC, your 2007-08 Warriors:



I'm gonna have to try that sometime.

[Warriors PR Blog]
[Fear the Beard]

Two Game Win Streak?!

Warriors 106
Raptors 100

Apparently it was Italian Day in Canada, so if the Raptors put up at least 100 points, everyone would go home with a free pizza.

Warriors away games must be a hot commodity with the amount of fans they bring in:

Everyone wins (insert some sort of giveaway) if (insert team name) score 100 points!

Anyways, DANCE BABY!

Season Opener: Warriors vs Jazz

Redux, please:



GO WARRIORS!

Baron Davis vs Marco Belinelli

During the Las Vegas Summer League, Warriors fans became enamored with Marco Belinelli’s deadeye and lightning quick catch-and-shoot. Nellie echoed those feelings with public praises like “I’ve never seen anyone like him in the NBA” and “he’s gonna be special.” Even as a rookie, Il Tiratore has already caught on with Baron Davis during the team’s Hawaii training camp. Baron and Marco stage daily long bomb contests, shooting jumpers from 40 feet out and nailing them.


Too easy

Now That's a Bat Flip

Martin Prado shows off some serious sleight of hand skills. Keep your eyes on the bat.



[Ballhype]

I Like Rajai Davis

He makes defensive plays for the Giants.

You probably remember this running, diving, belly-sliding catch against the Pirates.

And this highway robbery of Andruw Jones.

In today's oh-so-satisfying series win over the Dodgers, 4-2, Rajai's gone and put himself right into the rivalry.

They got to see it live, in person," Davis said about the fans. "It's always good when you make a great play, but making it here, hearing the roar of the crowd, it's an amazing feeling. Honestly, I was expecting that everyone was expecting me to catch it. If I didn't, I'd let everyone down.

If he can keep up his defense and become a legit lead-off man, I see a Gold Glove in his future. Keep on doing your thing out there, man.

NBA 2k8 Trailer Released

TFRJ is getting a few superficial touches here and there. While you're looking out for those, check out the new 2k8 trailer, fresh out the production room.

PS: The Dunk.

Play of the Year

In a downright depressing season for Giants fans sans 756, there are few bright spots to look ahead to. To put it mildly, the farm system is shoddy, the "veteran" position players are old and past their primes, the bullpen is inconsistent, the offense lacks punch, blah blah blah.

The bright spots, though, come in the form of Lincecum, Cain (when he gets run support), and maybe even Rajai Davis. In 13 games with the Giants, he's batting .405/.500/.622, stolen 8 bases, and shown that he has a cannon for an arm. I know, I know, small sample size. But with little to look forward to, this is something pretty significant.

Not halfway convinced yet? Maybe this will help: