BC Day
Breeder’s Cup Day. My favorite day of all the days. 9 races. Impossible to handicap. But quickly, for those interested, I will release my top longshot picks for each race. And by *longshot* I mean *the best value I could find to hit the tri or the super*. Any of them could win. Most will finish in the bottom rungs of the exotics. Or up the track. Hopefully not in a van. š š š
4th: Ria Antonia and Concave
5th: Dank to win. Emmolient and Kittens Dumpling underneath. Maybe to win.
6th: Dance to Bristol. Great Hot for 3rd or 4th. Sweet Lulu just cause the ‘Dorf doesn’t run them “just because”
7th: Jeranimo. Dimension. One of the hardest races on the card, IMO
8th: another impossible race. New Year’s Day and Medal Count. There will be others.
9th: Magician. Hate Little Mike. This bold claim ensures him a winners circle appearance.
10th: Justin Philip, Gentlemen’s Bet, Fast Bullet, Laugh track
10th: Silentio and Bright Thought. Wise Dan is a beast though.
11th: Declaration of War. Will Take Charge. Paynter.
Of course, there will be a bevy of fine steeds surrounding all these great animals on all the tickets.
Good luck to you if you’re playing.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
I like Untapable coming up next in the Juvenile Fillies. If She’s a Tiger can get a mile, then I will lose. I hoping she can’t. Frank’s laying on my form so I can’t remember all of my other picks. I do like Declaration of War as well in the Classic. He’s breed for the dirt. I’ll post my other selections in a bit. I have to go get some lunch. Mexican!
Early PK 4
Untapable
Dank, Romantica, Alterite
Book Review, Teddy’s Promise, Summer Applause, Dance to Bristol, Sweet Lulu
Reneesgotzip, Unbridled’s Note
Good Luck!
Please note that I nailed that 5 horse as one of my 2 horses in that race. 32-1. Boo yah!
A filly that’s untapable? Good luck with that one.
LQTM…. Hey, New Year’s Day charging home on the rail just made this a pretty good day….
Always go to the paddock first before the race, look at all the horses and bet on the horse that takes a dump prior to hitting the track,and bet on him/ her, guaranteed winner just a tad lighter.
Of course that was at Bay Meadows not the Breeders Cup. So I guess it’s a crap shoot.
Magician. 12-1. I’m really hoping you guys are making some dough off all these picks. That’s a 32-1, a 10-1 and now a 12-1 that I handed out this morning…..
Laugh track–16-1. I hit the super but I’m pissed, I had him on top and he lost by a fucking head. Anyway, blowing up right now……
Silencio at 32-1 for third. I should have sold these picks today. Got that super for 7/10th on the dollar
You should quit your day job, you seem to do pretty well at the track.
and thus concludes an unreal day at the track. Won’t disclose the winnings, that would be low class. But I’m actually pissed, if Laugh track or Will take charge won, the haul woulda gone nuclear.
If I recall, you called another great day at the breeders a few years back…Tonight your off the charts.
you are correct. 2 years ago.
I’m not trying to brag this out or anything but if you put your picks out there before the races, as I did, I’m gonna chirp a little bit.
All in all, a very good day.
Kind of sad- Zito and Torres are now officially ex-Giants. I’d better not send BF anymore gifts.
Az Fall League All Star game on free TV
http://wapc.mlb.com/play/?topic_id=7617858&content_id=31194447
Crick pitched the second inning. Gave up 2 runs, 1 earned. Pitched to 7 batters. One walk, couple of shots, couple of bleeders. Not the best. So far in the AFL, he’s pitched for 37 ABs, .216 BA against, given up 1 HR, 9 BBs with 16 Ks. Needs to get some control…
My deal with single A pitchers is this: I don’t give a single fuck what your K-rate is in single A. It’s a nice tease.
Everyone in single A can hit a fastball, that’s how they got there, same thing for P’s, they can sling the heat but they can’t bend the ball.The hitters (or pitchers) that move on and succeed at the next level (see Gary Brown as a guy who didn’t) are guys I start to get excited about.
To me, Crick is nothing more than currency, I hope we trade him for something usable. If we don’t and we keep him and he does something other than beat the shit out of single A hitters then I’ll celebrate wildly.
But guys like Crick are a dime a dozen at the single A level
That’s been the deal with him.
That was in response to the deal about his control… We’ll see about him but the scouting reports are maybe a wee bit better than the vast majority of minor league pitchers at any level. I understand the view of some about prospects but he’s valued more highly than any prospect in the system- if he’s traded they’d better get *real* value for him.
Fresno St. looks like they’ve got their game in control. Another win tonight and their magical season will continue….
What’s even more impressive than Crick is the quantity of highly regarded pitchers in the system. Minor league pitcher Edwin Escobar ( obtained from Texas) might be in the rotation in 2014 and Crick, Blach, and Blackburn should be in Richmond next year, although Crick may start out in San Jose- he missed a lot of innings with an oblique injury. And there’s Hembree who will probably be closing here by the end of 2014. If we do have to trade for a MLB starting pitcher (due to the dearth of top notch free agents), I doubt that Crick would be in any package, their best trade chips are still Belt and Romo- and any minor league pitcher not named Crick or Hembree.
IMO.
As a Jose State guy I can only say F-fresno and the BS bulldogs.
Total pit of a city, zero reason to go there except to watch Grizzlies maybe.
Their delusional fans have always thought they should be playing Pac-12 schools, which is fitting because the guys they get are the ones that couldn’t get into any of those schools academically, let alone graduate.
One note about college graduation rates: big time athletes are very protected by the programs in order to remain eligible. Sure Carolina guys graduate, but with degrees in basket weaving disguised as *general studies*. Their classes are handpicked by b-ball admin and coaches, and of course every school has a group of instructors known for favorable grading.
Elite players at top schools are planning for their future to play in NBA or overseas, not on Wall St. or as engineering or bio-chem majors. Do you think any of the tons of players who leave early give a flying F about their education?
I know a gal who played for Sac St, hardly a power program, who went through this (coaches telling her what classes to take). If it can happen there, think of what goes on at a big time powerhouse school.
Btw, any hopes of a King’s revival appear to be highly exaggerated. Their 5 starters went 9-36 from the floor and couldn’t defend anyone, and I doubt any of them would be more than reserves for W’s, who are still without Harrison Barnes. I like their Gs, but there aren’t enough basketballs for all of them plus Cousins.
Who held a gun to GM’s head and forced him to sign Cousins to multi year deal? At this point in his coach killing career, he is selfish, takes dumb shots outside his range and very immature. He had 3 baskets and 3 fouls in 18 minutes last night and got pushed around by Bogut. His first foul came when he was late helping defend a W driving baseline because he didn’t move his feet, dumb play dumber decision. As Barnett pointed out, you don’t want your C and prime scorer/rebounder picking up ticky tack fouls early, because those will get him in trouble late game. Turned out there was no *late* because Dubs blew them out.
Sure Dubs are gonna blow a lot of teams out at home when Curry and Thompson are shooting well, but their talent level is just light years ahead of that of Kings all the way through to 7th -8th guys in rotation. Malone junior has a tough road ahead of him. Hope he errs on the side of tough love, as his no nonsense comments about them not being ready to play right from the start on cbs site seemed to indicate last night.
Thanks for shattering my dreams of a resurgent Kings season Willie!
I got a little excited about the opening night win, but the last two games started bringing me back to earth and your post has fully snapped me back into reality. They’re getting nothing from their forwards right now–hopefully that will change soon. Pat Patterson needs to start making some shots or go back to Big Time Wrestling with The Great Mephisto.
Ah, it’s just my take after watching a half or so. They beat GS 3 times I think last year, and usually play them tough, esp the Gs. West is just tough, tho.
I also think Jenkins makes a good point that GS is gonna have a tougher time trying to get from where there are to the top. It’s one thing to shoot past mediocrity and get into playoffs, quite another to get to the top rung and consistently beat the quality teams, esp in playoffs. Fun to watch tho, and gathering strength I hope.
Cold November Wind
Dreaming of pitchers, catchers
BB of the day?
Haiku, Ewisco…..cool!
—–
S-Dawg with an awesome Great Mephisto reference.
—–
Willie with a seriously misguided take on Fresno St. football. š
As for Cousins…..he’s super-talented, but talent isn’t everything, of course. It’s also about committing to all 4 quarters of each game, and he’s not always doing that. And when coaches challenge him on that, he turns sour, and the whole cycle of behavior continues. The challenge is for the new coach to break that cycle. It’s behavior that is deeply ingrained in Cousins, and it will be hard to change that. But it’s possible. Maybe.
I agree, zum. Go Dawgs! I want to see them in a BCS bowl, and take down a “name” school, like Boise did to Oklahoma. One of the great college games ever was a few years back when the Dawgs played USC and Reggie Bush at the Coliseum in LA — Bush saved the day and won it for SC, but it was a barn burner for the ages…
Add Brad Ausmus in Detroit to the trend of hiring managers with little to no managerial experience of any kind. As I said a week or so ago, I don’t like this stiffing of lifer minor league managers from eventually getting a shot. I think it’s the huge money these players are making that is driving this. Recent players should get more respect from current players, or some such. The trend started earlier in the NBA, and is still continuing — Kidd with the Nets, for example. Looks like now if you’re a minor league manager, bench coach at the MLB level may have to be your top goal. Wotus interviewed with Seattle last week, I haven’t heard anything further on that…