Madison Bumgarner is scheduled to start in Kannapolis, NC, on Thursday, 8/21, and I'm gonna be there, rockin' the SF cap and screaming for Angel Villalona, Nick Noonan, the Mad Bum, and the rest. Anyone else willing and able to show up and hang out?

Bonus number 1: The Intimidators (yes, named after Dale Earnhardt) have Gordon Beckham, eighth pick overall this year, playing SS for them.

Bonus number 2: I think it's Thirsty Thursday, which would mean cups of beer for $1. Gotta love minor league ball.

Pictures forthcoming. Thursday night, when I get home, hopefully. Friday at the latest.

=== (Friday evening...) ===

And now that I've uploaded the pictures I took last night, here they are. Larger versions linked below.

Bumgarner warming up.

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In the bullpen. These next few pics are from different pitches, but show different stages of the motion. He kicks...

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Strides...

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And follows through. (It's not letting me post more. Argh.)

Medium Size

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Another view showing his crossover step.

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The scouts in attendance.

Pitching to Gordon Beckham (large version is really wide)

Mowing down some poor batter.

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Finally, two non-Bumgarner pics. First, David Mixon knows how to wear stirrups.

And Angel Villalona swinging. Hard to believe he's still only 18.

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To celebrate that Pitchers and Molinas is now on the horizon, I dug through my old music files and found a song I'd recorded on a lark about a year ago, but never actually finished. I really wish the team would use the original recording in a more prominent, official role. Enjoy.

David Arnott -- Bye Bye Baby

It was either this, or "The boys are back, back on 2, and that's where they're gonna staaaaay!"

I was six years old. I was in the back seat of a yellow Volkswagen Rabbit. My dad was driving, we had two family friends with us, and we were going down a hill on our way to Candlestick. I looked out the window and thought it was kind of unusual to see a parked pickup truck bouncing in the air. My dad says he thought a wheel was coming off the car when he saw the telephone poles swaying. My dad stopped the car, and it was over... we thought. We ended up going to the stadium, but I knew something was horribly wrong from how quiet it was outside. I started crying as we walked near Bret Harte. In the parking lot, someone with a portable TV showed us the Bay Bridge. My dad was in denial, asking if it was actually the Carquinez. We saw the crowds coming down the escalators. At that point, we realized there'd be no game, and we'd better contact my mom and brother.

Given that you think next season is a lost cause competition-wise, and that it's all about improving for a run in 2009 and beyond, then our team oughta be thinking about a bunch of 1-year contracts for 2008 so that we don't block anyone who might have a shred of potential. I'll throw out some guys, and I hope y'all have some ideas. We've got Bengie, Roberts, and Winn through 2009, and others are (hopefully) gone (Pedro). All contract info informed by mlb4u.

Aurilia: ours.
Durham: ours.
Kline: ours.
Matt Stairs: Still mashes. Plays 1B. Has vaguely cool facial hair.
Mike Mussina: Might not cost that much after this year.
Russell Branyan: Strikes out more than Adam Dunn. Shouldn't be allowed to play anywhere other than 1B. Might be one of the few guys who has enough power that Mays Field wouldn't affect him.
Matt Clement: Relief reclamation project?
Geoff Jenkins: The poor man's late-career Moises? (minus the pee hands)
Jose Valentin: Shockingly not terrible for the Mets at 2B. Has played SS, 3B, and CF in his career (not that he ever did it well).
Brad Wilkerson: He's not that old. He'll never be cheaper. He can play all three OF spots and 1B.
Craig Wilson: Rotate him from RF to LF to 1B to 3B to C and then a day off. Brilliant!

It's that time of year again when Tom Tango (aka Tangotiger) asks the fans to help him compile a Fans' Scouting Report. Instead of doing a play-by-play analysis of defensive contributions, Tango asks a large group of baseball fans who have watched a good deal of baseball to provide their insights, following a "wisdom of crowds" type approach.

Keep in mind that he's asking for a specific type of analysis: rating a player's skills without regard to his position. In other words, he seeks to find our opinion on how Bob Melvin's individual defensive component skills compare with Jose Uribe's defensive component skills with Candy Maldonado's, all on the same scale. I certainly think it's a worthwhile endeavor, and I hope you'll all offer your insights. Read the instructions carefully, and have fun!

MAIN PAGE: http://www.tangotiger.net/scouting/
2006 RESULTS: http://www.tangotiger.net/scouting/scoutResults2006.html

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2003783037_webichiro10.html

I'm disappointed. For the love of all that's holy, Sabes, DO NOT PURSUE ANDRUW.

Life is funny. One day, you're living in San Francisco, working part time for a tiny radio station in the East Bay. Then you land a full time job that you think is in New York City. It turns out, however, that the company is moving to Charlotte, North Carolina. You still accept the job; health care is nothing to sneeze at. So, you find yourself driving through eleven states on your way to Manhattan, where you're working for a couple weeks before moving to Carolina ("On The Road", as read by Matt Dillon, is unbearable--the ipod saves your sanity). Before you know it, you're in a friend's apartment in Chelsea, her two cats looking over your shoulder, as you reach out to your favorite online baseball community, hoping to connect with fellow Giants fans in the Carolinas. You hope that as you embark on this adventure, you'll find either other transplants who can offer friendship and reminiscence of California, or perhaps just fellow young-at-heart folk who like making new friends.

(You also hope that those in the community who have moved far from home might offer stories and general advice.)