The Lunatic Fringe

I don’t think I’ve known a single guy in the last few years who hasn’t felt this way at least once.  A few girls in the same boat, too.  I’m not sure what’s worse, though, whether the girl/guy you would like to date or be in love with is just a casual fan of you…or if the girl/guy you’re dating is the one who’s just a casual fan.

Anyway, if you want some baseball-related talk with this emo moment, here you go:

• My thought on the big Miami/Toronto trade?  Only that South Florida is a hotbed of baseball talent, at least in the amateur sense, and that it deserves a better professional presence than this ownership, which is by far the worst in sports.  Hank Schulman even pointed out that the Marlins are the only team that charges the visiting press for parking.  It’s a small thing, sure, but the small things are what are most telling about men like Loria.

• Manager of the Year?  I’m not upset that Bochy didn’t win.  I’m a little surprised he didn’t get second place.  But I voted for Davey Johnson myself.  He did well with a volatile situation in Washington, and as strong as the Giants were down the stretch, he made sure the Nationals hung onto the top seed just as well.

• The most interesting thing about the recent few days?  This comment from Hank Schulman, buried in his write-up about the Manager of the Year:

…how Bochy handled the Cold War between Posey and Tim Lincecum…

It was a brush-off comment, to be sure, but to my memory it’s the first acknowledgement by anyone who could be remotely familiar with the situation that there is something going on between Posey and Lincecum.  And he even added his own emphasis by capitalizing it.  Journalists don’t break the general rules of capitalization for just anything.

Don’t think this won’t escape the attention of the Lunatic Fringe.  In a season that will be spent defending a world championship, that will have Brian Wilson trying to return from Tommy John surgery in a free agent year, and that will have a focus on some cheap position players to start coming up to replace a veritable free agent exodus that could happen after next year, the Cold War/Spat/Thing between Posey and Lincecum (the biggest free agent of all) should be the biggest and most important topic on the minds of Giants fans.

But there’s time in the offseason.  The offseason’s for a lot of self-reflection, even non-baseball related.  Jamie’s story will find its way into things over the coming weeks as well.