Sunday, September 11, 2005

Nice.

Brett Tomko's pitching well again, just to take another step towards muddying the waters concerning the Giants starting rotation next season.

He's only allowed three hits through five innings, walking one and striking out five. It's just too bad that two of the three hits have been a homer and a triple, providing the Cubs with an insurmountable lead of one run.

Seriously, does anybody ever feel that the Giants can score runs? Sure, it happens sometimes, but it's always a mild surprise to me when they do. It seems like Ray Durham, Moises Alou, and Randy Winn are the only three guys that can actually hit.

On another note, the reason why I entitled this "Nice", is not because of the Giants or Brett Tomko.

It's because of the 49ers, baby!

I briefly entertained the notion of starting a football blog, but decided I'm not certain enough that I'll be able to see enough games to do it well. But, at this extremely early juncture, I'm very pleasantly surprised.

After a slow start and some defensive stands to hold the Rams to two field goals, the team looks very exciting. Granted, I'm not sure how good the Rams really are anymore -- it seems that they're offense is due a regression to the mean (personnel changes and their always-present turnover problems), and their defense has almost always been an afterthought after Lovie Smith departed.

But nevertheless, the 9ers have pulled off a trick play pass by Arnaz Battle, a punt return for a touchdown by Otis Amey (a punt return for a touchdown! the 49ers?), actually had Battle underneath center for a play, and even got a couple of passes completed to wiley veteran Johnny Morton, who had some good years with the Detroit Lions.

And they just tacked on a touchdown pass to Battle to make it 21-6. Wow.

I've predicted the 49ers to win about five or six games this season. The way they're looking against the Rams right now, perhaps they can win seven or eight. I still have doubts about the offense, but the defense seems to be ready to step up to that next level that has eluded them for years now.

Game isn't over yet, of course, and the Rams are always a danger to just pop a five play, all-pass drive off at any time (if fact, they just completed a long bomb to Tory Holt for about 45 yards or so), but it looks pretty good at this point.

Oh, and if I haven't mentioned it, I will be starting a Golden State Warriors blog sometime in October. The template is already up over at this address. It's called Way of the Warriors...not to be confused with Way of the Warrior, which apparently is a martial arts blog. I probably should have checked out that potentially confusing similarity before naming the site, but I guess the thought just didn't occur to me that a fairly common expression like that would have already been used in some capacity.

Moron.

Sidenote: The Giants went ahead and tied it up, 2-2. Although the Giants have seven hits to the Cubs three, the Cubs have that triple and home run, while the Giants have a double by extra-base-hit-machine Randy Winn, and a bunch of singles. They tied it up on a wild pitch.

My kingdom for some power! Oh,wait...power is coming tomorrow in the form of Barry Bonds, I forgot.

Update: Stupid effing Neifi, and LaTroy Hawkins still has some Cubs demons to excorsize, obviously. Cubs up 3-2, with batting beast Derrick Lee up at the plate, and Neifi gloating in glee on 2nd base. Perhaps they should've went ahead and activated Barry today...

2 comments:

Kevin said...

We got the 'Niners/Rams tilt in our market here in Springfield too. I've liked Tim Rattay for awhile, and he did nothing to dissuade that opinion by averaging 10 yards per passing attempt yesterday. Honestly, you've gotta wonder what the difference between Rattay and my team's quarterback, Trent Green, really is.

Daniel said...

Rattay needs protection, because he is a pocket passer. The 9ers gave him no protection last season, then assumed he was a horrible quarterback and drafted Alex Smith.

Not that Rattay is a better long-term option than Smith, but Smith isn't a lock, either. Personally, I wish they had drafted heavy on the offensive line and waited until this year -- they could re-evaluate Rattay after giving him better pass protection, and then if the team is still that bad...

...why, draft Matt Leinart.