Ace isn’t open to this idea
If the San Francisco Giants have any thoughts of stealing the “opener” idea from the Tampa Bay Rays, they may want to think again.
Last season, the Rays would often use a reliever to start a game, going through the opposing lineup once before bringing in a pitcher who usually starts to pitch the middle innings.
At the Giants’ FanFest, new team President Farhan Zaidi said it is possible the Giants would do that this season.
On Saturday, Giants manager Bruce Bochy told NBC in the Bay Area that Giants ace Madison Bumgarner heard Zaidi’s comments and texted Bochy the following:
“If you use an opener in my game, I’m walking right out of the ballpark.”
Best sports movie
Our quest to have readers pick the best sports movie of all time continues with the results of the baseball polls.
We asked you to vote for your seven best baseball movies, and after receiving 18,494 ballots, these are the seven movies that will advance to the final round of voting:
“Field of Dreams,” named on 80% of ballots
“Bull Durham,” 79.2%
“The Natural,” 66.5%
“A League of Their Own,” 65.4%
“Major League,” 44.2%
“Moneyball,” 37.3%
“The Pride of the Yankees,” 36.1%
Just missed
“Eight Men Out,” 35.8%
“The Sandlot,” 35.5%
“The Bad News Bears” (1976), 33.7%
“42,” 29.1% 8“Bang the Drum Slowly,” 22.8%
“Damn Yankees,” 18.6%
“For Love of the Game,” 14.3%
“The Rookie,” 10.1%
And the rest
Others receiving votes, in order of most votes:
“61*,” “The Jackie Robinson Story,” “Trouble With the Curve,” “Bad News Bears” (2005), “The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings,” “Fear Strikes Out,” “Fever Pitch,” “Angels in the Outfield” (1994), “It Happens Every Spring,” “Angels in the Outfield” (1951), “Rookie of the Year,” “Cobb,” “The Babe,” “Sugar,” “The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg,” “The Pride of St. Louis,” “The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training,” “Mr. Baseball,” “Mr. 3000,” “Major League II,” “Million Dollar Arm,” “The Stratton Story,” “The Benchwarmers,” “Hardball,” “Summer Catch.”
Write-in votes: “Little Big League,” “Mickey,” “Rhubarb,” “The Scout,” “Soul of the Game,” “Talent for the Game,” “The Winning Team.”
Up next: Hockey
Vote for the three best hockey movies of all time.
Vote by typing in a URL, https://poll.fm/10237011, or by emailing me at houston. mitchell@latimes.com.
The nominees for best hockey movie:
“D2: The Mighty Ducks” (1994), starring Emilio Estevez
“D3: The Mighty Ducks” (1996), starring Emilio Estevez
“Goon” (2011), starring Seann William Scott
“Idol of the Crowds” (1937), starring John Wayne
“The Last Gladiators” (2013), documentary
“Les Boys” (1997), starring Marc Messier
“The Love Guru” (2008), starring Mike Myers
“The Mighty Ducks” (1992), starring Emilio Estevez
“Miracle” (2004), starring Kurt Russell
“MVP: Most Valuable Primate” (2000), starring Russell Ferrier
“Mystery, Alaska” (1999), starring Russell Crowe
“Pond Hockey” (2008), documentary 8“Red Army” (2015), documentary
“Slap Shot” (1977), starring Paul Newman 8Slap Shot 2” (2002), starring Stephen Baldwin
“Sudden Death” (1995), starring Jean-Claude Van Damme
“Tooth Fairy” (2010), starring Dwayne Johnson
“Youngblood” (1986), starring Rob Lowe