Settling the score.

So, we're two days into the MLB season and the league showed off a brand new Los Angeles Dodgers team by leading off their season with their west coast rivals, the San Francisco Giants. The young Clayton Kershaw, often touted as the next Sandy Koufax, was the grand opening. The 2011 Cy Young award winner has been considered a golden goose for the boys in blue as they have struggled over the last couple of years amidst ownership and team turnover.

The golden goose didn't disappoint, giving the Dodgers their first win of the season. A first win that meant more than just a 1-0 standing. A win that proves this team has really had this all along, but just hasn't been nurtured properly. Hopefully that is all changing this year with the new wind beneath their wings, and a payroll that rivals that of the New York Yankees.

The Dodgers went on to be defeated in their second game, but not without a fight. So, we're 1-1. We have 160 games to go in the regular season, and the third game in the season, the third game of this series, is really the one that I'm watching.

The always-dreaded Giants starter, Tim Linsecum, returns to the Dodgers mound tonight, and fans from Northern and Southern California will be paying close attention. Although Linsecum had a shoddy 2012 season with just 10 wins and a 5.18 ERA, the kid still shut out super star slugger, Matt Kemp. Kemp went 0-8 against Linsecum with four strikeouts. He was pretty much the only pitcher he couldn't get a hit off of.

With a shoulder injury in the not so distant past, and a slow start in the first two games, Kemp may show Linsecum what he's been saving his energy for. A true blue Dodgers fan can only hope that he comes out of the clubhouse swinging for the fences, but this time actually makes a connection with the ball.

We've got about an hour before we find out...

(image courtesy of baseballanimals.com)

Let's talk about football.

With the close of the NFL season comes a good party, tons of calories, and another week closer to baseball season.

I will be honest in saying that I paid much more attention to football this year than last. Although the Jets struggled to barely make it through their regular season games, I found some fun in post-season football without them. With New York out of the running, I paired up with some of my Seattle mates to watch the Seahawks. The games were neck and neck. Full on nail biters. Right until the heartbreaking end.

From there, I had to turn south. To San Francisco. The 49ers fought their way through some tough teams. First, they tore through Green Bay. For me, it was like watching my first live football game all over again (see post in years past regarding my first game, many, many moons ago). Only this time, they took the win. I still think there was a lot of luck involved.

Next, they took on the Atlanta Falcons. Watching the first quarter of this game was pretty abysmal. From the way they were playing, there was no way they were going to make it past these birds. Somehow, they managed to recover, and the game remained tight until the last couple of minutes. I wasn't even sure they had the win at the 2:00 warning.

But they did.

And then I got to thinking. How much of this is rigged? How badly did the NFL want to see the Harbaugh brothers battle it out against each other? What a great marketing tool! What a great story for the books! I'm sure their parents are so proud! Which one will root for which team?

I'll be honest, I think the Ravens fought the good fight to earn their place in Super Bowl XLVII. But I really thought the game was going to be bird on bird. A fight for the south and the east. As much as the 49ers played hard, they made critical mistakes that were magically erased by many strokes of good luck in the divisional and conference games.

That being said, I'm turning my back on my third-string team and rooting for the Baltimore Ravens next Sunday. I look good in purple anyway.

So, let's play ball...and figure out the menu....may the best team win.

Linsecum has a huge reason to party hard this weekend.

Just minutes before two time Cy Young award winner Tim Linsecum's arbitration hearing, the San Francisco Giants camp changed their tune a bit and the parties came clean with a $23 million, two year deal. Timmy gets $8 million this year, $13 million in the 2011 season, and $2 million in bonuses paid out in between.

Known to make records, Linsecum's deal is the largest ever signed by a player eligible for arbitration for the first time.

With that settled, Linsecum is said to be back at camp, focusing on his A-game. Hopefully he's not smoking any of that money up just yet. If you know what I mean.

Some not so shocking news.

I grew up around sports. A lot of baseball, but sports.

When I was in middle school, I realized how much I liked sports. This had nothing to do with the fact that I was a cheerleader. I'm still not sure how that part of my life came to be. Actually, I didn't just like sports. I loved sports. I loved sports so much that I stole the sports page from my parents' papers and cut out all of the numbers and stats I was interested in to tape them into these little notebooks. I think my mom still has these little notebooks somewhere in her garage. I should resurrect them sometime.

Anyway, this love for sports developed on Sundays, soon adding Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Soon enough, there was something I wanted to watch every day. The notebooks were filling up, and I had officially tapped myself to be a sports aficionado. I think I was 12.

One of my best friend's dad knew about my passion for sports. At that time it was mainly football. Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers to be exact. He came home one evening with tickets to the 98-99 NFC wildcard game. The Green Bay Packers against the San Francisco 49ers. Suited up in our puffy NFL team jackets and jerseys, we headed to the San Francisco bay on a cold January day to watch a live football game.

I jammed my finger playing catch during our tailgate party, but I was so excited that I didn't tell anyone until after the game. I didn't want anyone to drag me off to a doctor or anything. I wore a brace on my finger for two weeks after that day.

The Packers lost that game, and I came home with a swollen and bruised middle finger, but that was one of the best days of my life.

I watched Favre evolve over the years, retire, change teams, retire, change teams and now...probably retire again. For real this time.

After a heartbreaking loss to the New Orleans Saints yesterday, Brett Favre says he is heading home for a few days to think it over, but a return to the NFL is unlikely. As unsurprising as those words are to me, they are a little sad this time because I think they are true.

But I wonder if he will still do commercials? I really like those Sears commercials he's been in lately. Seriously. Not even kidding.

Bye bye to the Big Unit

San Francisco Giant's (no pun intended) pitcher Randy Johnson announced his retirement yesterday, ending a 22 year long career in the MLB.

Again, aside from being on a bunch of teams I never liked and having a mullet that would leave you to believe he was lying when he said he was born in California, Johnson was a kick ass pitcher. Not only was he a five time Cy Young award winner, but he also closely trails the late and great Nolan Ryan with the second most strikeouts in the game. Pretty fancy, if I must say so myself.

From us to Randy - thanks for giving us a good laugh when you pelted that bird with a 95 mph fastball, and for that one time you were on The Simpsons.

I guess Randy leaves the mound to my personal fave of my biggest rival team, Tim Linsecum. Hot.

Another man down!

New York Mets 'hot stove' David Wright also suffered a concussion when gunned in the head by a 94-mph fastball from San Francisco Giants Matt Cain. Wright's CT scans came up negative, but he remained in the hospital overnight.

The Giants went on to beat the Mets 5-4 in ten innings. San Francisco needs to get a grip. Eat some granola or something.

The Giant Panda...turned pansy?

(image courtesy of the Associated Press 8/12/09)

Todays game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants couldn't have been more reminiscent of a 1980s daytime soap opera. Managers were getting tossed, the benches cleared, players' tempers flared galore, and teams ran out of position players.

The spotlight should have been on the young lord of the bullpen, Tim Linsecum. At the start of today's game, the freak owns up to a 2.20 ERA and 198 strikeouts. I'm sure he looks even better [on paper] now.

Let's go two innings of a 0-0 standoff when Giants manager Bruce Bochy starts talking mad verb regarding an unsuccessful pickoff of The Great [and sometimes overrated] Manny Ramirez to get himself ejected from the game by the first base umpire.

Three innings later, Pablo Sandoval gets knicked by a pitch from Dodgers relieving pitcher James McDonald, and starts antagonizing and pointing fingers at the young pitcher. Words exchange between Sandoval and Dodgers catcher Russell Martin, and next thing you know, the benches are clearing. Unfortunately, no blood was shed, and everyone returned to their seats and bases.

Sandoval later walked his bitchy ass to first base to "calm down." Those were his words. No lie.

Play ball. Now Giants bench coach/acting manager Ron Wotus is ejected for talking some unnecessary guff.

The Giants busted our balls enough to score 2 runs in the 5th, forcing us to bust out all the stops, and every pitcher in our bullpen. As Linsecum continued to bend our bullpen over, we started puppeteering our players all over the field, having relieving catcher Sexy Brad Ausmus at home, moving Martin to 3rd base. There were other moves, but that one was most notable as Torre quickly realized there was no one else to play with.

We managed to score a run off the freak boy in the sixth, and another in the 9th, in an attempt to save our asses. It was only then that Linsecum was denied his 5th complete game, and pulled from the mound.

I really thought we had it there as we went into extra innings, but I was sorely mistaken.

The Dodgers went down 4-2 in the 10th by a 2 run walk off homer by Juan Uribe.

As disappointing as the loss is, that was one of the best displays of great baseball rivalry that I have ever seen.

Kudos, gentlemen!