My Complicated Relationship with Mike Zunino , by Bayram Cigerli

My Complicated Relationship with Mike Zunino , by Bayram Cigerli 

My Complicated Relationship with Mike Zunino

Several years ago our Seattle Mariners took a catcher from the University of Florida (his choice of school could have been a clue) with the #3 pick in the draft.  This catcher was going to be special; he could command a pitching staff and had RAW power.  On paper, Mike Zunino was a unicorn for the catching position, he had a glove and bat that were scouted as plus skills.  After being drafted in June, we saw our first glimpse of our top prospect by September, and it looked like Jack Z had finally hit on a high draft pick.

Mike has gone from a can't miss to a, "God I wish he'd just hit .240 and cut back on strike outs."  I began to refer to him as Mike "0-2 Count" Zunino.  It got to a point I felt like I could get him out by peppering the outside corner with my 75+ mph fastball and an 0-2 breaking ball.  He flailed at breaking balls like the 9 hitter who's parents made him play back in 7th grade summer ball.  Zunino became a disappointment and Jack Z was fired; he was on his way to bust territory, and early this year was replaced by a 38 year old catcher and a guy named Tuffy.  I wanted him run out of town and rid our organization of having to wait for him to arrive.

Zunino became the butt of a lot of jokes on my Twitter account for about a year.  He could do nothing right in the box and it was my way (and other fans as well) of dealing with our lineup's easy out.  Although I kept joking about his failures, deep down I felt a little bad.  By all accounts, Mike Zunino is a great human being; someone young athletes should look up to.  It's probably just the whole Gator look, but he reminds me of Tim Tebow; bad at his position, but an exceptional person.  Unfortunately for Mike and Tebow, in sports low level play leads to hatred from fans.  Not hate in the normal sense of the word, but hate nonetheless.  I didn't want to see Mike suffer an injury or fall out of baseball completely, I just wanted him to finish his career away from Seattle and let someone who could go the other way with a pitch take his AB's in the lineup.

Sports hate is funny.  It's something that we all have, and in tense moments it rises and causes us to yell at inanimate objects like TV's or car radios.  I hate Mike Trout.  I hate Jose Altuve.  I hate Kobe Bryant.  I hate Tome Brady.  I think hate is the wrong word; it describes the feeling, but not the intent.  I don't want Mike Trout to stop robbing homeruns, just against the Mariners.  I don't want Altuve to stop leading the league in batting average as one of the Seven Dwarves; just go 2 for 12 in his series against the M's.  I want Tom Brady to fail, but who doesn't, he's a cheater.  As a Mariner fan my pessimism and the last 16 years have brought my sports hate to our own team.  Mike Zunino took the brunt of my sports hate toward the Mariners.  It was easy, he looked lost.

As April turned to May, everything I had said about Mike Zunino, the baseball player, on Twitter and to friends was true; he had hit a career low and was headed to Tacoma.  I pondered on whether DiPoto should have just thrown him into the Taijuan and Ketel Marte deal just to free up space on the 25 man roster.  Something happened down there in Tacoma.  And no not like in 2016 when he came back from Tacoma and mashed for a month before reverting back to what we saw in April of this year.  He was laying off the outside pitches and wasn't missing fastballs when he got them.  Mike Zunino is currently hitting around .220-.230 with 15-16 HRs and had the month of Junino.  The average isn't great, and he still strikes out a bit, but if this is what we get from Zunino in the box from here on out, and mix it with his Gold Glove caliber defense, I will be happy to call Mike Zunino our catcher.  It isn't flashy; it isn't all star caliber; it isn't what he was "supposed" to be, but it's what he has become, and is serviceable for an MLB catcher these days.

My sports hate for Mike Zunino has faded recently (he's still young, there's time for it to return), and I'm left wondering who to reallocate it towards.  Another Mariner?  Double up on Odor?  That evil ginger in Anaheim, Calhoun?  Well there's still time to figure that out, but from now on Zunino has my trust, as a fan (for whatever that counts), to be the general of our defense and keep becoming consistent at the plate; even if it's .230 with occasional 2B and HRs consistent.

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Orange Friday

This week was a short and fast one, as I had Monday off. It was nice to have a four day week, especially with some of thing things that have been going on around here, but it really did make for a busy and quick week!

The high of my week was...I will say it in a photo. What an exciting week! This photo is from 2012, but today, we will have another parade. It has been a very interesting season.

Giants Parade 2012

The low of my week was...this week I didn't really have a low! I guess I would say that I am disappointed in the way that the Whitney hike went on one hand, but on the other hand I had a really good time with my brother and Dad, so it's not really that much of a low really. It was very cold and windy and my brother had a bit of sickness so the hike didn't quite go as planned.

The favorite thing I read was....Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore. What a fun and quirky book!

My favorite thing I heard was...a few episodes (podcast) of Freakanomics. I listen while I run and it is a fun way to pass the time.

The best thing I spent money on was...The trip to Whitney...gas, food, beer and lots of pastries! It was an 8 hour drive each way, but was totally worth it!

My plans this weekend include... a trip to Phoenix to pace/crew some friends of mine at the Javelina Jundered (100 miles) race! It will be a good time, as it is at a park where we will set up a tent and it is a multi loop course, so we will be able to see them a lot and to run as many loops as needed with them.

How was your week? What plans do you have this weekend? Do you know what a Javelina is?

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Wordless Monday

Did you watch the game? If not, what did you do yesterday?

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Random Rambles

Lately it's pretty much all Giants all the time around here. Sorry. In a week, we will have won and you won't have to hear about them for...5 more months. Actually there are a few other things going on in my six minute mind these days.

- (Spoiler Alert: Mom, don't read this part) Last night after work I went running out on the trails and it got dark a little earlier than I thought it would. I think it was partly due to the cloud cover and also due to the tree cover. So I was just finishing up my run up the last hill when I saw two pairs of eyes. You know how they reflect in the dark? Two pairs, maybe a foot or two off the ground, but it was hard to tell, as I was going up a hill. I clapped and shouted and made a fool of myself and at first I thought they were coming toward me (and I had a moment of "huh, what the heck am I going to do now?") but then they retreated. Up the hill. Where I needed to go. To go back around the other way, I would have had to go about 5 miles. To go up the hill, I would be back at the parking lot in about .2 miles. So I flapped my arms and clapped my hands some more and they finally went into the bushes. I took advantage of that to get the heck out of there! I could hear them in the bushes and for the entire rest of the way I kept checking behind me to make sure they weren't chasing me.

It was probably just a couple of deer.

Lesson learned. Maybe trail runs should be done a little bit earlier in the day. 

Mountain lion in Tilden Park. Photo by Jim Hale (source)

- My friend's cat died on Tuesday. I went to the animal emergency room with her and we were there until late at night. I don't really know how to deal with with grief or with emotions. I can deal with death, but I have a hard time dealing with the people who are dealing with death. I am the person who is reliable and durable and good at things that are black and white like math, but I am not really good at the grey things, the emotional things and the feelings. What do you say or do? Do you just BE there? Because that I can do, but I am not sure if it's better to talk about other things to take her mind off of it or to talk about it or to let her talk about it or...what!! I feel so inadequate. It's a problem I don't know how to fix.

- Okay I have to throw one Giants thing in here. It is just me, or does Timmy look like that kid from Dazed and Confused?

Timmy (source)

Mitch Kramer (source)

Do you think they look alike? Or not?  It'd be a lot cooler if you did (if you can name who said that you get a golden star!)

Have you ever had to frighten off a wild deer animal in the dark? How are you with grieving friends? Has anyone ever said that you look just like someone else?

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Last Week (5)

Have you ever felt like your brain only operated for a few minutes at a time? Do you know how lawyers bill in 6 minute increments? My brain lately has been billing in 6 minute increments. Once the 6 minutes is over, a new billing cycle begins and the old one is forgotten, paid, finished. You know when you walk into the kitchen to get a spoon and when you go through the doorway you just stand there for a few minutes, wondering what you came in for? That's been happening to me more and more. It happens mostly at work but has been trickling into my personal life as well. I blame technology. It seems we  rarely focus on any one thing for very long any more.

Since I can't concentrate enough to form a paragraph, I will let some photos tell my story of last week for me.

MONDAY:

I wore an appropriate outfit to work. Go Giants!

Then I went to the game, which we won. 

World Series Baby!!

Sorry Nilsa.

TUESDAY, it was unseasonably hot. 

I took a nice walk for lunch and enjoyed every minute of it. 

 

WEDNESDAY:

An evening trail run is always nice. 

It always makes me feel refreshed. 

Even when it's halfway run in the dark.

 

 THURSDAY:

I took a walk around the neighborhood to check out the decorations. 

This was my favorite. 

SATURDAY: 

I took advantage of the sun and went for a run in the headlands. 

You could see the city as clear as day.

This is not always the case.

SUNDAY:

Broski's first half marathon. 

He lived to tell the tale!

(more on that later)

 

Since our forecast was rain (which we are getting), 

it's important to harvest your veggies or they may spoil.  

This meant LOTS of peppers. 

So I dried some. And made some into this. 

It will knock your socks off.

 

 Who needs socks, anyway? 

How was your weekend? Do you decorate for Halloween? Have you ever tried canning fruits or veggies?

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Run Home Barry!

They announced it on the radio. In order to get tickets you had to go to the stadium and get a bracelet. Only 5000 people would get one. I didn't think there was a chance in you-know-where that I would get one. I was at work and luckily I had an awesome co-manager who let me leave work to go see if I could get a bracelet.

I have been a Giants fan since I was a kid. However, the last couple of years had been especially good ones. Luckily our company had seats that they didn't always use for clients and if we begged the VP we would sometimes get the left over tickets. If they didn't have tickets, we would buy them. It was only 9 dollars for a standing room only ticket and you could almost always find an unoccupied seat to borrow. In those days they didn't even check tickets. We would often go down to the third base line right near the dugout. We went whenever we could.

This is a real Polaroid! I mean, it was 1990!

The year before, Barry had broken the home runs per year record. I was at the game where he beat McGuire's record. It was great! The ball went right by me! I *almost* had 450,000 dollars (how much the ball was sold for later). It was an exciting time.

But now, the Giants were going to the WORLD SERIES! And here I was, only a few miles from where they were giving out bracelets that could put me in the middle of the action. I had to get one of those bracelets!!! My friend John and I went down to the park and it was a hive of activity. However, surprisingly, there were not as many people as we thought there would be and we both got a bracelet after all.

The next step was this: the bracelets were numbered 1- 5000. They would draw a number from a hat and whichever number they drew would be the first person in line to buy tickets. It would be announced the next day. I was number 4947. John was 4948.

Once again, I had to work and I was at work when the news came out that the numbers were announced. The first person would be.... 4899!!! And the tickets went on sale in a half an hour! I begged to get off again and ran down to the stadium as fast as I could go. Actually I had to take the train and let me tell you, it seemed to be moving REALLY slow that day. I got to the stadium and the line was outrageous. I finally found my place in line by asking everyone what their number was, only to find out that....I was too late. My number had already gone by! I was TOO late! However, I could go to the end of the line. Since I DID have a bracelet, I was entitled to my 4 tickets.

The wait that day took about 8 hours. But finally, I, the last person in line, got to buy my four standing room only tickets. For 60 bucks each. I could have turned around and sold those tickets for twice or three times their price. But I had stood in line all day and I had fought for my right to see my team! Nobody could keep me away from that game. Nobody!

Signs, Rally Caps and Face Paint! October 2002

Have you ever wanted something so bad you would stand in line all day (or all night) to get it? (I have heard of people doing this for Chick-Fil-A.)

This is a Throwback, which may or may not be a re-occurring feature.

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Baseball and Other Sports in the Town of Huntington Display

The Huntington Historical Society joins the library and the Long Island Reads program to exhibit sports that were played by local families of the early 20th century. The Huntington Historical Society has a wonderful collection of artifacts that represent the rich heritage of the Town.

The display consists of sports memorabilia that has been donated by town residents over the years. Among the items are antique baseball equipment, golf clubs and ice skates that illustrate various sports that were played throughout the community.


The Huntington Historical Society's mission is to preserve the heritage of the town. and they accomplish this through public education programs, the maintenance of two house-museums, collections of costumes and artifacts, genealogy meetings, the research center of and the preservation of five historic buildings.


Stop by the reading room on the first floor of the library to view this timely display.

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