1Winning with 8: The Giants prevail 8-7 in San Diego, and the A’s knock off Cleveland 8-5.
The mood in the Giants’ clubhouse after Wednesday’s loss to the Nationals was somewhere between morose and morbid.
That morning, Major League Baseball had suspended left fielder Melky Cabrera for the rest of the regular season, saying he’d tested positive for the illegal substance testosterone. The Giants’ once-promising season was now tainted. The team’s once-solid reputation had been tarnished with steroids … again.
Tim Lincecum sat in the corner, barely audible, explaining another difficult outing. Bruce Bochy was in his office, having just explained his reaction to losing his leading hitter for the rest of the year. Most of the team’s mainstays had cleared out. Longtime equipment manager
Mike Murphy milled around the middle of the room, prepping the team to travel for the millionth time in his long career.
I suppose the timing of this trip couldn’t have been better for the Giants. After a humiliating decree that exposed Cabrera as a cheat, the team lost the deciding game of a high-profile series. The Giants’ two-time Cy Young Award winner had been hit hard again. And the sum of their success this season had been thrown into a bin of suspicion.
The Giants were headed to Southern California for six games against the Padres and Dodgers. It’s not a long flight, but it was clear that anywhere was better than AT&T Park on that inglorious afternoon.
Outside the clubhouse, where there is usually a line of fans clamoring for autographs and waiting for the players to emerge, not a single soul stood behind the ropes.
Nobody.
Cup pointers: After nearly two years of hoopla and promise, many of the competitors in next year’s America’s Cup will take to the bay this week and show off what they can do.
The party will go Wednesday through Sunday on San Francisco’s north shore, with 11 boats from eight teams competing in the America’s Cup World Series, a tournament of regattas held around the world that will help the teams prepare for next year’s race.
For many of us, this will be our first exposure to world-class yachting. And that means we won’t be sure what we’re seeing. Like any good race, the first one to the finish line wins. But what should we be watching?
I asked Tom Ehman, vice commodore of the Golden Gate Yacht Club and head of external affairs for the America’s Cup, for his tips. Here are five things he told us:
First of all, you’re looking for which boat is consistently a click or two faster than its competitor when racing side by side on the straightaways. Seems like a pretty self-evident point, but it should lead your
eyes to the likely winner. 1When it comes to the big turns, you’re looking for whose maneuvers are quicker and more fluid. Watch the sails, as they turn from one direction to another. The boat that slows the least and accelerates smoothly is operating best. Like any play in sports, it requires teamwork. You have five people controlling a high-tech vehicle. They all have to do their jobs in concert and sequence, or the boat goes slower.
Figure out who can sail the boat “on the knife’s edge” most consistently. That means, you’re looking for the boat sailing with the windward hull just out of the water, maybe just a foot or two. If you can get the one pontoon of the catamaran out of the water just a little bit, you’re sailing with half the resistance. But once you start sailing on one hull, if you start tipping too much, you minimize the sail exposure and you could capsize. Many of the teams have capsized in practice.
The start in these races is all-important. In a running start, getting across the start line first is hugely important. If you cross the line too soon, you are penalized severely. Oracle Racing’s skipper Jimmy Spithill is a master at timing the start. Teams want to hit the start line a fraction of a second after the start, just a click faster than their opponent. (See Tom FitzGerald’s fine article on this subject in the America’s Cup special section.)
If you really can’t follow the action, there will be play-by-play announcing of the races at the Marina Green. Ehman promised me the announcers will avoid sailing jargon so the rest of us can understand it. Harbaugh’s quips: Jim Harbaugh is impressed with Randy Moss, and his love for the game.
If anyone can relate, it would be Harbaugh. No one loves football like Harbaugh loves football.
When asked how Moss was doing in training camp this past week, Harbaugh stressed the much-maligned receiver’s love for the sport.
“He’s always talking about football,” said Harbaugh, regarding the receiver’s practice demeanor. “(I have) never come up on him when he’s in one of those loud, gregarious moods, where he’s not talking about football. Trying to catch him in one of those moments, but have not been successful yet. Which is a great sign. He really enjoys it, he really loves football.”
But what if you don’t throw him the ball? Mayoral approval: The Pac-12 Network’s launch was highlighted by a packed and star-studded launch party at the network’s SoMa headquarters this past week.
Making the rounds among the well-heeled crowd was Mayor Ed Lee, who played a role in getting a ton of building permits approved quickly so the conference could build up its operation between January and August.
“We expedited all the permits,” Lee said. “It needed attention, and we got pretty instant approval.” Lee was excited by the 120 jobs the Pac-12 Network is bringing to town.
“I had my team here working on it,” the mayor said. “And the Pac-12 appreciated it.”
I’d say. Good to have friends in high places.