Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
Journalist, photographer and pop culture icon Tabitha Soren joins us to talk about her book, Fantasy Life, a heartfelt portrait that presents a unique perspective of minor league baseball players pursuing the often elusive goal of making the Major Leagues. Plus, we chat about an upcoming Giants exhibit at City Hall in San Francisco.
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
Giants outfielder Justin Ruggiano joined us during the recent homestand.
Ruggiano talked to The Sports Virus about the Giants clubhouse: …“You’ve got to have the young kids who we get to pick on here and there and old salty vets. I guess that’s me, I’ve got to accept that role now. This is a great clubhouse. The chemistry in here is well thought out from the front office perspective. I think we’re going to gel and turn the season around.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
We make a call to the Giants bullpen and chat with valuable member Cory Gearrin about how the season is going and his appreciation of the defense Brandon Crawford plays at shortstop.
Gearrin talked to The Sports Virus about Brandon Crawford: “I really don’t think there’s anyone else like him in baseball. I think he’s the best in the world at what he does. He doesn’t get enough credit in my opinion for how good he is, the detail he puts into the work that he does…to watch him play every day you start to notice the little things that I’ve never seen before professionally or just in my life in general, what he can do, how easy he makes the game look out there. It takes a lot of pressure off the pitching staff knowing that we can allow the ball to be put in play and he’s going to make that play.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
The Giants are hosting Los Angeles for three games this week and Bill Plunkett from the Orange County Register gives us an inside look at the Dodgers.
Photos courtesy of Ryan Leong
Plunkett gave his impression of the Giants early season struggles: “It looks like a mess right now… So many injuries, so many pieces of their plan that are just not there. I think Christian Arroyo’s arrival is a big plus, but everything else you see is just minuses and subtractions. Maybe the depth is just not there in the same way as it is with the Dodgers. Blame it on the payroll or whatever you want to blame it on but they have not been able to absorb all the hits that they’re taking.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti joined us Friday before the Giants opened their series with the Dodgers in part 1 of a 2 part conversation.
Righetti talked to The Sports Virus about Matt Cain reinventing himself: …“He was going to get hit this spring (training) but I didn’t care. I didn’t want him walking people, I wanted him get used to his 2-seamer…(After Arizona spring training) where the ball won’t move at all, his stuff was going to be a little bit better once we hit San Francisco, I knew that for sure. You still need success when you’re trying something, in his mind it was new. You still want to see something positive out of it so he can build on that and he did…It’s really a different touch. A slower curveball, more separation in his speeds, movement on his fastball on both sides of the plate. He’s giving these guys a little bit different look.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
Our regular guest John Shea from the San Francisco Chronicle joins us to talk about his interview with Giants General Manager Bobby Evans in part 2 of our conversation.
Shea revealed to The Sports Virus what he learned from an interview with Bobby Evans on the recent road trip: “The answers basically came down to listen, it’s May, there’s plenty of time, we have core players in both the lineup and the rotation that got us multiple championships and the anticipation is these people who might have started slowly, their numbers are eventually going to hit their career norms and that will get them from an also-ran to a team that could get to .500 and then from there, who knows.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
SF Chronicle Columnist John Shea is our guest. In part 1 of our conversation we chat about the Giants road trip including the Wednesday win over the Mets in New York.
Shea talked to The Sports Virus about Christian Arroyo’s game-winning three-run double in the 9th inning on Wednesday that beat the Mets: …“Arroyo is the real deal. Yeah his average is low (.242 after he went 2 for 5 in Wednesday’s game), but he always seems to get the right hit at the right time…He does things that help a team win. As his teammates said, the best compliment you can give him is he’s a ballplayer. He’s a smart, intelligent, wise man of 21 going on 28. He does all the right things on the field as if he’s been playing the game at this level for a long, long time.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
NBC Sports Radio talk show host and baseball insider Seth Everett joined us Friday to talk about the state of the Giants and look ahead to their series next week in New York against the Mets.
Everett talked to The Sports Virus about Madison Bumgarner’s situation: …“He took full responsibility. I wouldn’t punish him. It’s not that he shouldn’t get paid, because that’s what they have a player’s union for. Sometimes the player’s union protects a player who did something stupid.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
SF Chronicle Columnist John Shea is our guest. In part 2 of our conversation we chat about the Giants outfield situation, replacing Madison Bumgarner and the All Giants/Dodgers team.
Shea talked to The Sports Virus about Madison Bumgarner’s prognosis: …“This is all a guess that he’ll be ok after the All Star break. A month from now maybe his shoulder will be ok, but maybe his ribs won’t. Maybe his ribs are fine, but his shoulder is still bugging him and he’ll have to be pushed back. So, you can’t really rely on him for sure in mid-July if that’s the timetable because it’s really a guess at this point.”
Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated 3 times a week on TheSportsVirus.com!
The Giants are in LA taking on the Dodgers and John Shea from the San Francisco Chronicle discusses the state of the team after game one of the series. In part 1 of a 2 part conversation we talk at length about newcomer Christian Arroyo who learned the game in a very unique way.
Shea explains to The Sports Virus how Christian Arroyo’s mother Kim Drummond taught him how to play baseball and how to hit: “…Christian said she went out and got a copy of the Ted Williams book – The Science of Hitting – and ‘read a page taught it to me, read another page, taught it to me.’ I said, who does that? He said, ‘well, my mom does.’ Super mom.”
us to talk about her book, Fantasy Life, a heartfelt portrait that presents a unique perspective of minor league baseball players pursuing the often elusive goal of making the Major Leagues. Plus, we chat about an upcoming Giants exhibit at City Hall in San Francisco.
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how to play baseball and how to hit: “…Christian said she went out and got a copy of the Ted Williams book – The 
Science of Hitting – and ‘read a page taught it to me, read another page, taught it to me.’ I said, who does that? He said, ‘well, my mom does.’ Super mom.”