Welcome to the INSIDE CHINA BASIN Baseball Podcast
Updated once a week and celebrating its 12th season on TheSportsVirus.com!
Steve Bitker from KCBS radio in San Francisco tells stories from his 30+ year career as he nears retirement and gives his thoughts on the 2021 Giants. Will Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt still be in San Francisco in 2022? Do the Giants have a chance to make some noise this season? It’s all discussed on this week’s Inside China Basin.
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Former Giants reliever George Kontos won two World Series rings with San Francisco. Now he’s an analyst for NBC Sports Bay Area and he will help us dissect the Giants on a regular basis this season. Our first 2021 podcast took place on Thursday before the Giants home opener against the Rockies.
when to take a starter out of the game: 
Welcome to CATCH IT! — Joe Castellano’s personal observations about what’s going on in the world of sports outside of The Sports Virus Podcasts
I had the privilege of spending five seasons working alongside Joe in the radio booth covering the Rochester Red Wings (1998-2002). He was a kind soul with an easy going personality. Everyone loved Alto.
days managing the San Francisco Giants. I loved to reminisce about my hometown Giants with Joe, asking him what it was like to manage Jack Clark (my favorite player when I was in high school) or about his memories of Mike Ivie’s grand slam against the Dodgers in 1978. He had the Giants in first place for a while that season.
proud of playing him every inning of every game during his record playing streak.
another title with Alto in that booth. We won the Governor’s Cup in 1997, the year before he started broadcasting with me. Then the team fell flat in the years when we were together. But, that doesn’t diminish the joy we had and the cherished memories I have of that special time in my life.
Former KNBR talk show host Ray Woodson joins Inside China Basin to give his thoughts on the Giants outlook for the post season with six games to go in the regular season. We also discuss MLB’s plans to have fans in the stands at the NLCS and World Series.
cobble it all together with the bullpen because it really is all hands on deck now. You’re going to have to manage like it’s a playoff game and I think you’ll see that reflected in how Gabe Kapler gives starting pitchers a much shorter leash.”
Seattle Mariners television play-by-play announcer Dave Sims joins Inside China Basin to talk about the mid-week series against the Giants which was moved from Seattle to San Francisco due to unhealthy air quality in the Pacific Northwest. He gives tells us a bit about new Giant and former Mariner Justin Smoak and reminisces about Hall of Famers Tom Seaver and Lou Brock who recently passed away.
big man he’s got good hands and good feet around first base…His deal is power. He’s going to swing and miss and he’s not going to hit for much of an average (career .229 batting average), but he can run into some fastballs.”
that when he makes contact that it is loud contact to all fields. He’s got impressive power…It’s just going to take some time. He’s a smart player. He’s definitely coachable. You’ve got to have him go out there and learn the hard way.”
USA Today columnist Bob Nightengale joins the Inside China Basin podcast to share his reaction to Giants manager Gabe Kapler and some players kneeling during the national anthem before the exhibition game Monday against the A’s. As we approach the regular season opener Thursday, he gives his thoughts on the Giants chances in a short season without All Star catcher Buster Posey.
who made headlines on Monday when he knelt during the national anthem: 
Bob on the Giants chances to contend in a 60-game season: 
Ray reacts to the news that Buster Posey has chosen to opt out of the Giants season. We discuss the impact on Posey’s legacy and how Major League Baseball might be effected as it attempts to play through a pandemic.
his priority is and I think it’s a message to all of us of what’s most important here, it’s safety and especially those who are more vulnerable in our population. Care about them first, we can deal with others later on, but first you have to live to fight another day…That statement he made yesterday is the most important as far as the Giants season, but also the most important as far as his career because he’s 
setting an example. The stuff he’s done on the field of course has made millions of people happy over the years…Those games were great moments in a lot of people’s lives, but in the end it’s about saving lives and Buster is making a strong statement about that. I think that’s something that will resonate as part of his legacy a long time after his playing days are over.
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.
George Kontos joins the SF Giants