Waiting

I'm late...15 hours late...

My Giants played Game 3 of the National League Championship Series at Busch Stadium in St Louis this afternoon.

I tuned in the radio at noon for the Giant's pre-game show on KNBR. The first pitch was at 1:07PM PDT (3:07 CDT in STL)

In the 7th inning, the forecast rains came and a Severe Thunderstorm Watch was issued by the local NWS Office...

What followed was a 3 hour and 28 minute Rain Delay...and some hilarious Time-Sucking via Twitter...@MLBJesus was comedy gold as he tweeted:

"Let all Fans confess for my Rain shall wash away thy sins."

Hours of LOL-ing ensued...alas, SF Giants' fan's prayers went unanswered and the Giants lost 3-1

While I was enjoying hours of puerile hijinx, @TahoeWeather tweeted his latest Weather Blog. Monday he posted Sitting In Neutral.... where he said there could be some high altitude snowfall in the Tahoe Basin next week depending on how deeply the trough digs.

Today he's updated Monday's theory: High Elevation Snow Event On the Way? Still too early to tell what might transpire Tuesday.

Looking deeper, I checked out September 20th's 90 Climate Outlook from the Climate Prediction Center. We are currently ENSO Neutral, that is neither El Niño or La Niña. Their October Outlook publishes Thursday 10/18.

I'm thinking it's gonna be another tough year on the forecasters...

It's mid-October and I took a gander at the Europe/Asia Snow Cover Page, and there's not much to see...you may remember when I wrote about discovering these data sets and how they might be a new prediction tool for North American seasonal snowfall based on October snow cover over Northern Europe and West Asia.

Not much to see there. My Citizens Of The World post from December 1, 2011 shows the Europe/Asia Snow Cover from Nov 30, 2010 preceding our last big Winter...yes, these images are six weeks deeper into Fall, but I'm not seeing much on the horizon...most metrics are on the down low now...time will tell...

Yin and Yang

Night and Day

Beauty and Sadness

Give and Take

Many synonyms for balance or conflict. Depending on which side you're on, last night's NLDS Game 5 was really something. Though I'm just a San Francisco Giants fan, I couldn't pull myself away from the last hour of the St Louis Cardinals at the Washington Nationals long enough to make a quick dinner.

The score was Washington 7-St Louis 5 at the top of the ninth. Nationals' reliever Drew Storen came in to close the game for the win. The first batter he faced, Carlos Beltran quickly hit a double. Storen retired the next two batters, bam, bam.

Five times in the 9th Storen and the Nationals were one strike from winning a berth in the National League Championship Series. He walked catcher Yadier Molina (yes, ex-Giant catcher Bengie Molina's brother)

Storen walked the next batter, third baseman David Freese...bases loaded, two outs.

The next batter, second baseman Daniel Descalso hits the first pitch sharply to shortstop scoring Beltran and Adron Chambers pinch running for Molina. Game tied 7-7 still 2 outs!

Once again Storen takes the batter Pete Kozma to 2 strikes. This is familiar territory to Giants' fans...we named it "Torture" in 2012.


On the fifth pitch,  Kozma singles in Freese and Descalso. Cards 9-7

What a roller coaster ride in Nationals Park. Extreme highs to extreme lows in the same inning. I still feel it twelve hours later...and I'm not a fan of either team.

As a result, my Giants have the home field advantage. The last two World Series Champions will battle for the National League Championship and a World Series berth beginning Sunday at AT&T Park.

One Pitcher's Park...AT&T Park, One Hitter's Park...Busch Stadium. I think I see torture on the horizon.

Go Giants

Well they did it! The San Francisco Giants pulled it off. They went to Cincinnati down two games to none and had to win three straight to continue to the National League Championship Series. The Reds haven't lost three in a row at home all season...

Say hello to the 2012 Giants.

It's Income Tax Weekend at the Ancestral Digs, so I'll be on the down low until Sunday.

In Los Angeles, they're moving the Space Shuttle the final twelve miles to it's new California Science Center Home. It's going to take both Saturday and Sunday to complete the journey.

Amazing!

Baseball can be wonderful come playoff time.

Today I watched the San Francisco Giant's explode offensively to beat the Cincinnati Reds at their house, 8-4 after a Barry Zito start that lasted but 2.2 innings!

The Giants' bullpen performed masterfully and the Giants' hitters ripped the Reds pitching. Tim Lincecum, who had  a pretty raw September, came out of the bullpen in the 4th with two outs and runners on 1st and 2nd, and struck out Reds' left fielder, Ryan Ludwick swinging in five pitches.

Lincecum took the win, throwing 55 pitches (42 strikes) in 4.1 innings, gave up 2 hits, 1 run, struck out 6 and issued zero walks. He looked like the two-time Cy Young Award Winner we all remember. It was an electric performance. All his pitches were working...snappy late-breaking stuff and his dialed-in fastball helped with the swing and a miss strikeouts.

The Giants lead off with a home run! Center fielder Angel Pagan went long with the second pitch of the game. Left fielder Gregor Blanco hit a 2 run homer in the 2nd, and Pablo Sandoval went long in the 7th for another 2 run shot.

Somewhere during the game the ballpark became as quiet as a church on a mid-week morning.

During the evening game in Oakland it only got quiet for an inning as the rowdy crowd  watched the A's trail 3-1 in the 9th. The noise picked back up when the A's took to the batter's box.

Leadoff batter right fielder, Josh Reddick got a single, next up, 3rd baseman, Josh Donaldson doubles, putting men on 2nd and 3rd. DH Seth Smith doubles in Reddick and Donaldson, game tied!

Everybody is on their feet, the noise level deafening. I wondered how many blocks away you could hear the crowd. I'm sure you could hear it from the San Francisco shoreline across the Bay provided there wasn't a lot of wind.

After pinch hitter, George Kottaras pops out, and 2nd baseman, Cliff Pennington strikes out looking, Coco Crisp gets the walk-off base hit that scores Seth Smith and we're going to game 5 Thursday!

I don't think there's a better baseball name than Coco Crisp today. If the A's go all the way...and Coco Crisp becomes the latest Mr. October and World Series MVP...how's that gonna work out when it's time to put his picture on millions of General Mills' Wheaties™ boxes. Coco Crisp sounds a lot like Kellogg's Cocoa Krispies...and thay say advertizing is boring...

Jeez! It's 2AM and I'm still amped...I gotta get to bed...Giants vs Reds starts at 10AM PDT

You know, since the All-Star Break, the Giants have been slugging like World beaters on the road...at AT&T Park...not so much...I like our chances Thursday morning. Go Giants!

Crud

God I hate colds. You're not sick enough that you want to just go to bed and sleep, but you can't do all the things you'd like to do because you're Typhoid Mary.

My fever broke this morning...but my nose is still running a marathon...to be fair, it wasn't much of a fever...

I didn't do nothing exactly while fighting this thing...there was October baseball. Both Bay Area teams lost the first two games of their best three of five Division Series. Both teams won game three Tuesday. The A's are home for the last three, the Giants on the road for their last three. Do or Die time...

The Formula One race from Suzuka, Japan was great. Kamui Kobayashi was the first Japanese driver to stand on the podium at the Japanese round of the F1 Championship, much to the delight of the enthusiastic Japanese fans. Kobayashi finished third on the strength of his performance on the track...it was fun to see. Tears of joy in the packed grandstands is something you don't see every day.

The America's Cup World Series was incredible! Next year's America's Cup Regatta will be contested in the new 72 ft catamarans. Up 'till now all the racing has been in 45 foot versions of the AC catamarans. The 72s are gonna be wicked fast and should make for spectacular racing just off the San Francisco shoreline.

Tough Duty

Not a great Saturday for Bay Area baseball fans...the Oakland A's lost to the Detroit Tigers, and my San Francisco Giants lost to the Cincinnati Reds. There was barely a half an hour between the end of the Giants' game and the beginning of the Japanese Grand Prix.

A very enjoyable race with Championship implications.

It's also when I first noticed I was getting a runny nose and a bit of a scratchy throat.

Wow! I watched the America's Cup racing too...it's wildly exciting compared to the staid old days of the 12 meter boats, khakis and captain's caps. Today's America's Cup sailors wear helmets...for good reason.

Looks like I'll be laying about all day makin' sure I get plenty of fluids...there's the two baseball games and the America's Cup Finale is on NBC from 1:30-3PM LIVE

Me? I feel a nap coming on...

Signs

I'm trying to keep my driving to a minimum...what with the gas prices up in the Hope Diamond range here in the Golden State...still, when I am out and about I'm remembering to bring my little digicam.

Here's some signs that have caught my fancy:

In the window of Truckee's satellite Post Office

'Tis the Season

Douchebag Country

Happy dog storefront

"Red White and Blue" by thetenssf.com

An extra million humans are expected in San Francisco this weekend! There's quite a list of events. NFL football, MLB Baseball playoffs, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park, America's Cup World Series racing on San Francisco Bay while Fleet Week has a parade of ships with the Blue Angels taking to the skies overhead Friday, Saturday and Sunday...oh, there's an Italian Festival with parade and the Castro Street Fair.

It's a good bet I won't be crossing any bridges this weekend...