American League (MLB)

Insecurity: The Boston Bombings Create a Revival of Security Theater in S.F.

Baseball Players and Dinosaurs Don't Mix

Earlier this week we reported on former Oakland slugger Jose Canseco's ruminations on the evolution of gravity and earth scientists' ruminations on the evolution of Canseco. The former outfielder -- who demonstrated gravity Newton-style when a fly ball dropped onto his head -- tweeted on Monday: "My ... More >>

Jose Canseco Theorizes on Evolution of Gravity. Scientists Amused.

Over the weekend, former steroidal ballplayer, steroidal whistleblower, and (likely steroidal) all-around bizarre guy Jose Canseco titillated his Twitter followers. "More thoughts on gravity tomorrow," wrote the former Oakland A's Bash Brother on Sunday. It's not every day that a onetime budding Hal ... More >>

Top 12 Moments of The Year of the Bay Area Sports Renaissance

With the New Year just hours away, we can finally say it without fear of a buzzer-beating jinx: 2012 marks The Year of the Bay Area Sports Renaissance. These things tend to come in cycles. The Bay's Age of Terrible Sports was a long, cold winter. Game Six in '02 was the first snow, and the blizzar ... More >>

World Series: Everything We Ever Wanted -- And More

Sergio Romo's slider frisbeed into Buster Posey's mitt for strike three. Sit down, Triple Crown -- and everyone was dancing on top of the tables. A Caltrain engineer leaned hard on his horn and the fans swarming the streets answered in kind. Thousands of orange-clad revelers descended upon Fourth an ... More >>

Bryan Stow, Beaten Giants Fan, Watched the Giants Kick Ass Last Night

It's great news the Giants won game two of the World Series -- what's even better news is that Bryan Stow was there to witness it. The Santa Cruz paramedic and father of two was reportedly the Giants' guest at Game two where the team crushed the Detroit Tigers -- again. Stow, who suffered sever ... More >>

World Series: For the Giants, It's the Illusion of Magic

Ah, the old "ball hits the base and bounces away from the defense" trick. It's been a dependable offensive weapon for the Giants this postseason. They pulled it out last night, just like they did in Barry Zito's previous start, in game five against the Cardinals. With two outs, nobody on, and the ... More >>

10 Ways to Prove You Are a Real Giants Fan

Mayor Ed Lee has officially declared it San Francisco Giants Pride Week, which means starting today he wants this city to be all orange and black all the time -- or at least until the end of the World Series. The mayor doled out a few ideas for Giants fans to show they're excited to kick Detroit's a ... More >>

Five Songs About Baseball to Make You Joyful Before the Playoffs

Alright, Bay Area baseball fanatics -- this is your moment. Because yes, the Oakland A's have made it to the playoffs for the first time in six years. And yes, AT&T Park is hosting playoff games for the Giants on both Saturday and Sunday this week. This is that magical period where anything coul ... More >>

Melky Cabrera Suspended: The Sorrow and the Pity

After eight members of the Chicago White Sox were indicted by a grand jury for fixing the 1919 World Series, the Chicago Herald and Examiner reported that "one little urchin" latched onto Shoeless Joe Jackson's sleeve and asked him "It ain't true, is it?" History will always remember this quest ... More >>

Giants Facebook Page Hacked, Calls Chick-fil-A President "Asshole"

We can only imagine how delighted San Franciscans were yesterday when they learned their hometown baseball team had weighed in on the whole Chick-fil-A flap with this pointed post:Although we wouldn't put it past the Giants to pop off in defense of gays, this Facebook message, which, by the way got ... More >>

2013 World Baseball Classic to Call AT&T Park Home

It's official. San Francisco will host the semifinals of the 2013 World Baseball Classic, calling AT&T Park home for the first time when more than two dozen teams from around the globe compete against each other next spring.This marks the third anniversary of the international baseball tournamen ... More >>

Matt Cain to Start All-Star Game. May He Have Better Luck than Giants Predecessors.

Some controversy has erupted over the selection of Giants ace Matt Cain to start tonight's All-Star Game over New York Mets knuckleballer R.A. Dickey. This is a transcendentally stupid matter to get worked up over. If this game was meaningful and important, it wouldn't be held in Kansas City.Major L ... More >>

Live Review, 6/23/12: New Edition Reunites With Bobby Brown at Oracle Arena

New Edition Tony! Toni! Toné! Saturday, June 23, 2012 Oracle Arena Better than: Smacking it up, flipping it, or rubbing it down. New Edition's "Road to 30" tour celebrates 29 years since the band found international recording success. But its origins actually stretch back to 1978, when producer M ... More >>

Matt Cain's Perfect Game: Individual, Different, and Timeless

In Monty Python's Life of Brian, a moment of hilarity is achieved when a massive crowd chants, in unison, "We are all individuals. We are all different."This has always been a favorite comedic theme. But, watching Matt Cain putting the finishing touches on a perfect game last night, it suddenly didn ... More >>

Prison Break: Realignment Inmates Enter Rehabilitation in S.F.

V-Nasty Cancels Upcoming Tour Dates Due to Probation Issues

If anyone still thinks that Kreayshawn associate, Gucci Mane collaborator, and Oakland A's fan V-Nasty was just fronting about her rough-and-tumble background and years spent in and out of juvie and jail, this should shut them up: V-Nasty just canceled her S.F. show at Slim's next week, and indeed a ... More >>

Arthouse Movie Listings January 4-10

Bowling For Chumps: How the Bowl System Robs U.S. Schools

Baseball by the Numbers

What Do You Do If Your Kid Doesn't Like Kiss?

Parents are continually influencing various aspects of their child's character development. You know, important things, like the growth of social competence and self-esteem, as well as how frequently a kid says "please" and "thank you," and doesn't hang up on telemarketers. Then there's the slightly ... More >>

MC Hammer, Brian Wilson, Other Non-San Francisco Voters Shill for Ed Lee

By now you may already be recovering from watching the Ed Lee music video featuring MC Hammer, Brian Wilson, Ashkon, Willie Brown and others. The video was funded in large part by Hammer's good pal and right-wing piñata du jour Ron Conway, as well as Sean Parker (who you may recall having paranoid ... More >>

Get Hungry: Pictures from the Bay Area BBQ Championship

Luis Chong​The Bay Area BBQ Championship went down Saturday, with 32 competitors throwing down their best 'cue in the parking lot at the Oakland Coliseum before an A's-Angels doubleheader. The big winners? Big B's Down N Dirty of Pacifica was named Grand Champion, while Slap Yo Daddy of Diam ... More >>

Madison Bumgarner -- It Gets Better!

Keep smiling, champ​With Thursday's loss to the Cincinnati Reds, Giants starter Madison Bumgarner entered into the running for a most undesirable laurel. Is he the greatest 2-8 pitcher in Major League history? Despite the 21-year-old's lopsided record, his earned-run average just keeps getting low ... More >>

Giants Release "It Gets Better" Video

SF Weekly first reported that the San Francisco Giants would become the first professional sports team to produce an iconic "It Gets Better" video. Today, the World Series champs released a short video aimed to curb LGBT bullying and teen suicides. The roughly 60-second clip begins with Giants pitch ... More >>

The Franchise Recap: The Boys Are Back

AuntJuli/Flickr​Last night, Showtime aired the first installment of The Franchise: A Season with the San Francisco Giants, a look inside the lives and clubhouse of our defending World Series champions. The 30-minute premiere acted as preview for the series, which doesn't technically start until Ju ... More >>

Call It Love

Brian Wilson Challenged to Brawl by Local Idiot

Brian Wilson knows what's best in life: To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women​The ascendancy of the San Francisco Giants has created an unexpected quandary. How much Brian Wilson is too much Brian Wilson? For one local dim bulb, that question ... More >>

Giants' Run-Scoring -- Or Lack Thereof -- Benefits Schools

You don't need runs to win...​The San Francisco Giants -- a team whose inability to score runs lead to the popular comparison of the squad's play to torture -- improbably managed to win the World Series. That said, establishing an educational fund based on how many runs this team scored -- that, t ... More >>

BART Hits Record Numbers, Thanks to Giants World Series Parade

Joe EskenaziPublic transit-riders, unite! ​As SF Weekly wrote during the throes of the World Series, Arlington, Texas, the home of the Rangers, is the largest city in America without public transportation. So if you ever wanted to find yet another contrast between the Bay Area and the Metroplex, h ... More >>

Please Don't Hurt 'Em: Hammer Beefs With Jay-Z

Now that we've made short work of Texas, it's apparently time to revive that age-old rap rivalry between the East and the West. So who's bringing the vitriol for the Left Coast? The Game? Ice Cube? Lil B? 2Pac's stepbrother Mopreme? Nope! It's Oakland rapper, dancer, entrepreneur, reality TV star, ... More >>

Arlington, Home of the Rangers, Largest City in U.S. Without Public Transit. Blame the Rangers.

You won't be riding this to a Rangers game​As precarious as riding Muni to Giants games can be, it'll always beat taking public transit to Texas Rangers contests. Because you can't. Wikipedia readers and others have been bandying about the claim that Arlington -- home to the Rangers, Dallas Cowboy ... More >>

World Series: Let's Hope Fans Give Bengie Molina Ovation He Deserves

​Bengie Molina is a winner. And he's got the hardware to prove it. Whether the Rangers or Giants capture the World Series, Molina is walking away with a World Series ring. And then he'll retire. Hopefully, the home fans will give him the recognition he deserves today. Molina was a great Giant -- a ... More >>

Will President Bush Dare Come To the San Francisco World Series Games?

I heart Texas Rangers.​Is Dubya coming to the World Series? Today's Examiner said it's "rumored" that George W. Bush is headed to either Games 1 or 2 in San Francisco to root for the Texas Rangers, the team which he used to partly own. (There's a good little bit of trivia to get you sports-apathet ... More >>

World Series Specials? Most Places Near the Ballpark Just Want to Survive

chuck l./YelpPublic House is the rare place offering World Series food specials ― some of them geared toward Rangers fans.​With AT&T Park in the national spotlight Wednesday for Game One of the World Series, you'd think South Beach restaurants would be busting out specials oozing with Fear t ... More >>

East Coast Bias, Baseball Ruining SF Workers' Productivity

Their generation didn't get anything done either​The San Francisco Giants' playoff push is a good thing for area baseball fans, which in turn is not-so-great for the Bay Area businesses which employ them, according to a report issued Wednesday."Workers in San Francisco will likely accomplish less ... More >>

Giants Offense Goes Berserk, Team Back in First

Uribe's the Juan​We've finally found an apt metaphor for the San Francisco Giants' offense (or lack thereof). The Giants score runs like a snake eats. The team's run total for the past dozen games: 1, 0, 6, 0, 2, 10, 0, 1, 9, 1, 0, 13. That baker's dozen came yesterday in a barrage at Chicago, vau ... More >>

Padres Fans' Tortured Memories

We all have something to hide...​As the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres face off in Game 2 of The Big Series tonight, one could be excused for confusing the M.O. of the two teams. Both feature pitching that ranges from above average to stellar and, on the offensive side, a lineup full of ... More >>

Barry Bonds to Blame for Fan's Smashed Face in New York, Lawsuit Argues

Barry Bonds is blamed for inspiring a trend that led to a fan's face being smashed in New York​Just when you thought alleged perjurer Barry "Better Living Through Chemistry" Bonds couldn't be vilified any more, a lawsuit claims he's responsible for a trend that led to a man having his throat slash ... More >>

Team Spirits: Spooked Giants players check out of haunted hotel

Giants Can't Quit Bengie Molina

​Bengie Molina, the best Giants catcher fans ever bitched incessantly about, is gone. Really he is. Last month, he was bundled off to Texas for a relief pitcher and a minor-leaguer, bringing about the dawn of the Buster Posey era. But, fittingly for a man who is arguably the slowest in the game, M ... More >>

Eric Byrnes: Softball God

We recently wrote a pair of articles about how former Oakland A's fan favorite Eric Byrnes is now being paid $11 million to sell sofas and play beer-league softball on the Peninsula. After the wheels came off the 34-year-old's Major League career in Seattle, we were hoping Giants general manager Bri ... More >>

Eric Byrnes: Softball God

We recently wrote a pair of articles about how former Oakland A's fan favorite Eric Byrnes is now being paid $11 million to sell sofas and play beer-league softball on the Peninsula. After the wheels came off the 34-year-old's Major League career in Seattle, we were hoping Giants general manager Bri ... More >>

Follow Pavement's Example and Support Stockton

Marcus RothStockton boys Pavement in 1999​Pavement, the beloved slacker indie rock band, recently added a show in its hometown of Stockton to this year's headline-grabbing reunion tour. Stephen Malkmus, Scott "Spiral Stairs" Kannberg, and co. will play the Bob Hope Theatre on Thursday, June 24, th ... More >>

Dallas Braden's Perfect Game Is Perfect Story: Sweetness and Schadenfreude

​Yesterday, Oakland Athletics starter Dallas Braden tossed a perfect game -- retiring every opposing batter and allowing nary a one to reach first base. For the non-sports fans out there this, to borrow Vice President Joe Biden's lexicon, is a big fu**ing deal. In many ways, Braden's perfect game ... More >>

Eric Byrnes' Next Gig After Baseball: Selling Sofas

This morning, we reported that former Oakland A's fan favorite Eric Byrnes, just days after being cut off the Seattle Mariners, was playing beer-league softball here in the Bay Area. But it hasn't been all play and no work for the young retiree. Byrnes was spotted hawking houseware at a San Carlos s ... More >>

Pretzels and Cheddar Goldfish: The cosmos' quarry

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