SF Examiner: Giants pitcher Matt Cain swings away at Pebble Beach

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

It was just like pitching. Rhythm and motion. Except there wasn’t a guy holding a bat 60 feet, 6 inches away from Matt Cain, there was a pin maybe 240 yards away. Or a cup 10 feet away.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: Are the Giants ready for Showtime?

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

Buster Posey on the cover of ESPN The Magazine? A special issue of Sports Illustrated dedicated to the Giants? A decision by Showtime to turn the club into a reality show?

This ain’t Hollywood, baby. If we wanted TV stars, we’d live in Beverly Hills, not the Oakland Hills or on Nob Hill.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: No Weeping for Feller, a Man of His Time

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

An era is almost closed. Stan Musial remains, thankfully, a link to our past. But Joe DiMaggio is gone. Ted Williams is gone. Now Bob Feller is gone. Most of the greats I knew as a kid, if only through sports pages and radio, have taken their leave.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

SF Examiner: Uribe's departure just part of game

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

There’s no crying in baseball. No permanence either. Wonder if those Dodger fans will get the hang of saying “Ooo-reebay”? Wonder if there’s any sort of chant that can be created out of “Tay-ha-dah”?

We blinked, and it’s all changed.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: Things are looking up in NorCal

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner


John Cook, who won the Charles Schwab Cup Championship on Sunday at Harding Park, was saying as a kid who grew up in Southern California — or “SoCal,” as he phrased it — how much he reveled in beating people and teams from Northern California.

Read the full story here.

C0pyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Old-School Sparky Was One of a Kind

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

In later years, the school was one of the more dangerous in Los Angeles, a place of guns and occasional gang wars. Football games had to be cancelled. Police had to be called.

It wasn't always that way at Dorsey High, in another era recognized for its diversity long before the word became a meaningful part of the social vocabulary.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

SF Examiner: Couples caught up in Giants fever

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

He’s a Dodger fan. Or was, because in truth Fred Couples was a Joe Torre fan, and for three years, Torre managed the Dodgers. But most of all, Couples is a baseball fan, a sports fan, and like so many others, he was mesmerized by the Giants.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: At Last, Giants Fans Take to the Streets

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- They're taking over the streets today. Classic San Francisco. Not for gay rights, however. Or to legalize marijuana - that measure on the California ballot failed to pass Tuesday night.

Or to get the troops out of Afghanistan.

It's to celebrate the Giants' first World Series triumph in San Francisco. It's to celebrate success.


© RealClearSports 2010

SF Examiner: Momentum, maybe fate, with Giants

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

So close now. So near the impossible dream. So hard not to believe in the possibility. So difficult to make yourself think the Giants can’t win the World Series.

No, they’re not there yet. They still need one victory. One magic victory that sits up there like a pop fly waiting to be grabbed.

“We have baseball left,” cautioned Bruce Bochy. “We still have work to do.”

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: Rangers inject doubt into Giants

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

One game, but one game too many. One game to emphasize the Giants’ vulnerabilities. One game to realize that in their own park with a designated hitter, the Texas Rangers are a different team.

One game to make us understand the direction of the 2010 World Series has made a turn — in the land of former Rangers president George W. Bush, a right turn of course.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: All the stars are aligning for Giants

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

It doesn’t get any better than this. Any more one-sided. Any louder. Any more entertaining. Any more unbelievable.

“When the lights go down in The City ...” That’s Journey’s song, which was sweeping through AT&T Park on Thursday night. That’s San Francisco’s song. And quite possibly, the way this World Series is blasting along, this is San Francisco’s time.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Giants Glad to Shout 'Oooh-Ree-Bay'

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- No scoreboard advisory is required. No message saying "Louder'' or "Make Noise.'' The chant is from the heart and in a way self-perpetuating. Also, to San Francisco Giants fans, historic.

Juan Uribe steps to the plate, and the cheer rolls through AT&T Park. "Oooh,'' they yell, and then after a pause, "Ree-Bay.'' Again and again. "Oooh-Ree-Bay. Oooh-Ree-Bay.''

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

SF Examiner: A surprising offensive outburst on a magical night

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

SAN FRANCISCO — Those were the Giants? That was Cliff Lee? One thing’s for certain, that was a fifth inning, as wild and exhilarating as imaginable.

This wasn’t a game, it was a statement. It was a revelation. It was enough to make you think San Francisco’s time finally is about to arrive.



Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Cool San Francisco Warm to Giants

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- Sure we're different. The great Rudyard Kipling, he of the road to Mandalay, he who declared "a woman is only a woman but a good cigar is a smoke," stopped by the city in the 19th Century and said all San Franciscans were mad.

And that was before the creation of the Exotic Erotic Ball on Halloween.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

Glendale (Calif.) News-Press: Sanchez' perseverance paying back

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By Art Spander
Special to the News-Press

SAN FRANCISCO — He knew what he could do. But Freddy Sanchez wondered in the difficult times — when his body was slow in healing, when the fans and media were slow in acceptance — would there be a chance to do it?

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 Glendale News-Press

SF Examiner: Can Giants get out of the on-deck circle?

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

SAN FRANCISCO — Maybe this time. Maybe this group. Maybe the Giants, the San Francisco Giants, finally win a World Series.

Maybe we stop talking about Willie Mac’s line drive to Bobby Richardson. About how an earthquake took over. About that 5-0 lead against the Anaheim Angels in the seventh inning.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Reluctant Giants Return to Philly

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- The bats were being banged together in the clubhouse as they went into travel bags to be sent to Philadelphia. It wasn't the sound the San Francisco Giants wanted to hear. It wasn't the trip the Giants wanted to make.

This was the night fireworks were to explode. The night sparkling wine was to be sprayed.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010

SF Examiner: How sweet the torture is

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

SAN FRANCISCO — Sweet torture, indeed. Sweet success. Sweet joy.

They had allowed the lead to slip. And all you could think of was how close the Giants came. How they they were six outs away. How the dream had vanished.

And then against Roy Oswalt in the bottom of the ninth, the dream came true.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company