Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated once a week and celebrating its 11th season on TheSportsVirus.com!
NBC Sports Bay Area Emmy Award winning reporter Amy Gutierrez joins the Inside China Basin podcast to talk about the San Francisco Giants and Major League Baseball returning during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Amy G is heading into her 13th season covering San Francisco Giants games. This season, of course, will be very different than the previous 12. We chat about adjustments that will be made by players and the NBC crew as they try to stay safe during Covid-19. We also get her thoughts on new manager Gabe Kapler and get to hear about her favorite moments at the ballpark.
Amy G on the decision to play baseball during a pandemic:
“Is it worth it? If one person got it and died from it, was it worth it to play the baseball season? That’s an extremely hard question to answer because, of course not, and then you deal with this need to get back to normalcy and people have to do their jobs and support their families. So, it’s a really difficult question to pose and to try and answer.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated once a week and celebrating its 11th season on TheSportsVirus.com!
Giants post season hero Travis Ishikawa joins us to reminisce about his game-winning home run in game 5 of the 2014 NLCS that sent San Francisco to the World Series.
“It was just one of those moments where I was able to tune everything out, kind of like Kevin Costner in that “For Love Of The Game” movie where he was able to silence it…When I first hit it, just looking at the trajectory of the ball I said dang it, I hit it good but it’s going to be right at him (the right fielder). I can still remember that moment like it’s in slow motion. I can remember the crowd getting louder and louder. They knew it was game over.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated once a week and celebrating its 11th season on TheSportsVirus.com!
San Francisco Chronicle columnist Ann Killion joins Inside China Basin to talk about Major League Baseball getting set to return, the Giants relationship with Aubrey Huff and her 30-year career covering sports.
Killion is not optimistic about games this fall in the face of Covid-19:
“I don’t think that sports is going to come back this fall. I’ve been a skeptic especially ever since I’ve talked to a ton of experts…I can see it trying to and then stopping. That’s the debate. What’s worse, to start and stop and then maybe start again and have to stop again, or to just kind of have to wait it out and suck it up and get to a point where people feel safe and there is possibly a vaccine on the horizon?”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated once a week and celebrating its 11th season on TheSportsVirus.com!
CBS Sports Director Bob Fishman, who is a Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer, joins Inside China Basin to talk about his illustrious career which includes directing 2 World Series. His resume is highlighted by 37 NCAA Final Fours, 27 US Open tennis championships, 20 Daytona 500s, 3 Olympic Winter Games and numerous NFL, NBA playoffs and college football games. A diehard Dodgers fan, Bob tells great stories about his time in network television including opportunities to develop friendships with childhood idols Sandy Koufax and Vin Scully.
Fishman on why baseball is the hardest sport to direct:
“Every other major sport is played left to right or right to left. So, basically you are on one camera to document the play…Baseball is the only sport where you are making internal camera cuts in the middle of the play…You may have five or six cuts within a single play. ”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated once a week and celebrating its 11th season on TheSportsVirus.com!
Former Major Leaguer, now Spectrum Sports Net LA analyst Jerry Hairston, Jr. joins us to cover a variety of topics including his experience in the Giants/Dodgers rivalry.
Jerry on racial prejudice he experienced early in his career in the minor leagues:
“I had some run-ins playing in Winston-Salem I was called a lot of things. Playing in Vegas in a tournament I was called a couple of names. I understood that it’s nothing like what Jackie Robinson (and others) had to go through…or what my grandfather (Sam, who played in the Negro Leagues and the Major Leagues) had to go through. I was able to handle it because my father (Jerry, Sr. who also played in the Majors) prepared me for that. ”
On MLB not having an agreement yet to start the season:
“I think baseball is missing a huge opportunity. I thought we’d be playing by July 4th. I’m just shocked the owners haven’t been able to come to an agreement. The players have proven that they want to play.”
On former Giants manager Dusty Baker being the Astros manager after the cheating scandal:
“I was hoping he wouldn’t get that job because Dusty really deserves better. Dusty is probably the best manager I ever played for, the most prepared manager I ever played for and probably the best communicator…He’s going to handle (the aftermath of the Astros issues) because he’s a people person and he’s going to be able to kind of shield his players the best he can.”
We also chat with Annie Maciel, the manager of the Facebook group SF Giants Gamer Babes to get a fan perspective on missing Major League Baseball.
Even in a shortened season, it’s shaping up to be a long year for the Giants. Every site reviewed on My Top Sportsbookswith divisional futures on offer has San Francisco with the longest odds to win the NL West, ranging from +5000 (2% chance) to +8000 (1.2% chance). FanGraphs projections had them finishing 20 games below .500 in a full season, six games behind the next-worst team in the division (Colorado).
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated once a week and celebrating its 11th season on TheSportsVirus.com!
Today we revisit a March conversation we had with Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt on the Inside China Basin podcast. He was asked if Barry Bonds should go in the Hall:
“Accomplishments on the field, absolutely. The whole steroid thing, we all have our opinions and the only opinions that matter are the sportswriters that do the voting. We don’t know, all we know is what we see. We look at somebody and how big they are and wonder sometimes how someone could get that big just by working out…I know he had a great deal of respect for me. We talked a lot when we played against each other. I would hope that some day it all gets ironed out and he and Roger (Clemens) and all of the people in the Hall of Fame can come together and give them their just reward.”
Now in early June, MLB players and owners are negotiating proposals to have a 2020 season. Former KNBR Talk Show host Ray Woodson give his thoughts on that and makes a statement about the current situation in the United States with protests occurring all over the country:
“This is a tipping point in our history…White people have to do some of the work now, maybe most of the work to bridge gaps.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated once a week and celebrating its 11th season on TheSportsVirus.com!
Today we revisit a March conversation we had with former Giants LHP Jeremy Affeldt on the Inside China Basin podcast. He talked about the Giants not being favorites when they were winning World Series titles in 2010, 2012 and 2014:
“People look at power and the home runs they have. I would always laugh. Good pitching will break down good hitting any day of the week.”
Now in late May, MLB players are reviewing a proposal to have a 2020 season. KCBS radio sports anchor Steve Bitker isn’t on board:
“I’m a big sports fans, I love watching games, but I would prefer it if MLB, the NBA, the NFL and the NHL didn’t return this year at all. I just think it’s way too early.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated once a week and celebrating its 11th season on TheSportsVirus.com!
Giants 1B/OF Chris Shaw joins the SF Giants Inside China Basin podcast. He’s put up big numbers in the minor leagues, but has yet to prove himself in the bigs. Here’s his message to fans wondering about his future:
“STAY TUNED. I’M NOT DONE AND I’M NOT GOING TO QUIT.I CAN’T EVER PICTURE MYSELF GETTING TO A POINT WHERE I’M WILLING TO WALK AWAY HAVING LEFT A STONE UNTURNED. I JUST WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO LIVE WITH MYSELF IF I DIDN’T GIVE IT EVERYTHING I HAD. THAT’S KIND OF HOW I’VE BEEN MY ENTIRE LIFE. I HAVE BEEN AGAINST ODDS FOR A GOOD AMOUNT OF MY LIFE BASEBALL-WISE AND I’VE ALWAYS REALLY LOVED THE CHALLENGE OF GOING OUT AND BEING ABLE TO PROVE EVERYBODY WRONG.”
Former Giants reliever Scott Eyre talked about the team’s reaction to the 2002 World Series game 6 loss to the Angels:
“I THINK WE WERE IN AWE OF WHAT HAPPENED. IT WAS LIKE A 12-PITCH AT BAT TO (SCOTT) SPIEZIO THAT FINALLY PUT THE NAIL WITH THE HOME RUN…I THINK A LOT OF US SUNK. THERE WAS NOT A WORD SPOKEN IN THE CLUBHOUSE AFTER THE GAME. I DON’T REMEMBER EATING FOOD AFTER THE GAME. THE NEXT DAY WHEN WE GOT TO THE FIELD ALL I EVER HEARD FROM ANYBODY IN THE CLUBHOUSE WAS POSITIVITY. WE HAD THIS, WE WERE GOING TO WIN AND THEN WE GOT SHUT DOWN BY JOHN LACKEY. CRAP HAPPENS.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated once a week and celebrating its 11th season on TheSportsVirus.com!
George Kontos joins the SF Giants Inside China Basin podcast to talk about his 8-year Major League career which has included 300 appearances over 6 years with the Giants. His journey is a story of perseverance which includes Tommy John surgery and surprisingly getting selected on waivers by the Pirates. In this podcast, Kontos talks about the thrill of being a 2-time World Series champion and the emotions of playing against his favorite childhood team, the Chicago Cubs.
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated once a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
Today we catch up with former NBC Sports Bay Area Giants pre-game/post-game host Ahmed Fareed, who is currently with NBC Sports Network. We talk about his career and his San Francisco memories. “I really miss” covering the Giants, says Fareed.
Our next guest is former Giants reliever George Kontos. This podcast will be the first Inside China Basin podcast available on the Bleav Podcast Network!
Check out our other Podcasts all year long. INSIDE CHINA BASIN is also available on ITUNES.
NBC Sports Bay Area Emmy Award winning reporter Amy Gutierrez joins the Inside China Basin podcast to talk about the San Francisco Giants and Major League Baseball returning during the Coronavirus pandemic.
season, of course, will be very different than the previous 12. We chat about adjustments that will be made by players and the NBC crew as they try to stay safe during Covid-19. We also get her thoughts on new manager Gabe Kapler and get to hear about her favorite moments at the ballpark.
“Is it worth it? If one person got it and died from it, was it worth it to play the baseball season? That’s an extremely hard question to answer because, of course not, and then you deal with this need to get back to normalcy and people have to do their jobs and support their families. So, it’s a really difficult question to pose and to try and answer.”
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Giants post season hero Travis Ishikawa joins us to reminisce about his game-winning home run in game 5 of the 2014 NLCS that sent San Francisco to the World Series.
to tune everything out, kind of like Kevin Costner in that “For Love Of The Game” movie where he was able to silence it…When I first hit it, just looking at the trajectory of the ball I said dang it, I hit it good but it’s going to be right at him (the right fielder). I can still remember that moment like it’s in slow motion. I can remember the crowd getting louder and louder. They knew it was game over.
San Francisco Chronicle columnist Ann Killion joins 
CBS Sports Director Bob Fishman, who is a Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer, joins 
Fishman on why baseball is the hardest sport to direct: 
Jerry on racial prejudice he experienced early in his career in the minor leagues: 
start the season: 
On former Giants manager Dusty Baker being the Astros manager after the cheating scandal:
We also chat with Annie Maciel, the manager of the Facebook group SF Giants Gamer Babes to get a fan perspective on missing Major League Baseball.
Today we revisit a March conversation we had with Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt on the 
how big they are and wonder sometimes how someone could get that big just by working out…I know he had a great deal of respect for me. We talked a lot when we played against each other
Now in early June, MLB players and owners are negotiating proposals to have a 2020 season. Former KNBR Talk Show host Ray Woodson give his thoughts on that and makes a statement about the current situation in the United States with protests occurring all over the country:
Today we revisit a March conversation we had with former Giants LHP Jeremy Affeldt on the 
a proposal to have a 2020 season. KCBS radio sports anchor Steve Bitker isn’t on board:
Giants 1B/OF Chris Shaw joins the SF Giants 
QUIT.
“I THINK WE WERE IN AWE OF WHAT HAPPENED. IT WAS LIKE A 12-PITCH AT BAT TO (SCOTT) SPIEZIO THAT FINALLY PUT THE NAIL WITH THE HOME RUN…I THINK A LOT OF US SUNK. THERE WAS NOT A WORD SPOKEN IN THE CLUBHOUSE AFTER THE GAME. I DON’T REMEMBER EATING FOOD AFTER THE GAME. THE NEXT DAY WHEN WE GOT TO THE FIELD ALL I EVER HEARD FROM ANYBODY IN THE CLUBHOUSE WAS POSITIVITY. WE HAD THIS, WE WERE GOING TO WIN AND THEN WE GOT SHUT DOWN BY JOHN LACKEY. CRAP HAPPENS.”
George Kontos joins the SF Giants 
Today we catch up with former NBC Sports Bay Area Giants pre-game/post-game host Ahmed Fareed, who is currently with NBC Sports Network. We talk about his career and his San Francisco memories. “I really miss” covering the Giants, says Fareed. 