Fluid Flow

I am not sure why. Perhaps it’s because I am approaching 50 (in a year or so), perhaps it’s because I am reading Farley Mowat’s “final” memoir, I am not sure.

It certainly isn’t because I have something to write. I have never had a desire to write. Prose and poetry do not leap from my keyboard. The only time that my writing has achieved passing marks is in journalism, geology, and one composition class at UCSB, where the teaching assistant did not mind my simple and direct approach.

It isn’t much to hang your hat on.

But I do like telling stories and I have lived long enough to have a few.

So I have started an outline. The two top headings are “Timeline” and “Themes”. I don’t know where this is going to go, but it seems worthy of exploration.

Bob Mariano is still employed by the SF Giants?

The Giants can’t hit and that apparently starts in the minors. Otherwise why would they go outside the organization to find hitters?

Mariano has been a roving hitting instructor in the minors for years and now appears to be a fixture in the Giants dugout. The Giants still can’t hit.

It must kill the Giants pitchers to limit the opposing team to a run and get a loss or no decision because the batters can’t muster a run or two.

Mariano has worked with most of these kids for four to five years. Yet they can’t still can’t produce more than a run or two in nine innings.

Perhaps it is all Bochy’s and Langsford’s fault. But I don’t think so. They can only work with what is given to them. The Giants minor league system isn’t producing hitters.

The kids aren’t getting the job done. Maybe it is time to look at the teacher. Mariano, you need to go.

SJ Giants win the Cal League, 2007

My friend Dan Mitchell pointed to an exhaustive article on shooting baseball games. I responded in a comment, but thought that I would expand here.

I am going to start out by saying that the reason you go to a baseball game is to have fun. So, don’t worry about anything that I say or any one else says about shooting a game. You are there to have fun. Don’t forget that.

Now, I think that the best way to learn is by experience. So treat what I say as suggestions, thoughts that I have picked up through seasons of shooting ballgames, nothing hard and fast.

Start at College or Minor League Games, these will give you great baseball with better access than you will find higher up. It is also easier to get press/media passes. Like everyone else, you need to move up through the ranks.

Tim Lincecum, 2006

If you want to shoot the players, find where they are captive, the dugout, the bullpen, pitchers mound, the batters box. Learn their names and numbers and faces. Tim Lincecum was number 49 as a San Jose Giant.

Get to know the players so they are comfortable with you around. Reading this sounds a lot like shooting birds, but it is easier than shooting birds, because you can talk to the players.

Always be aware of those around you and be courteous. If you are getting in front of a fan to take a shoot ask if it is ok. No one has ever said no. But don’t abuse the privilege, take a few shots and move on.

For your safety, always use both eyes. Pay attention to the game and know what is happening out side the view finder. You will also get better pictures.

Adam Gardner, 2006

Most of the action happens at first base. The ball almost always goes there. I like being down the 1st base line to see a baserunner as he strives to make it. You can almost be guaranteed a good shot if you camp out there.

The toughest plays to catch are pitchers fielding the ball. The plays are not common and the reaction time for you and the pitcher is so small that you have to be lucky. If you get a shot, feel blessed.

If you want to shoot outfielders, you need a big lens, 400-500 mm at least. You can get by shooting the right or left fielder from the out field bleachers with a 300 mm lens, but you are never going to get a good shot of the center fielder.

In most cases, you will be wanting to shoot with a fast shutter speed. If you want to freeze the ball in flight, shoot at around 1/2000th. The available light will be a limiting factor. At some night games you will be lucky to get 1/100th.

I also always shoot in burst mode, it leads to a few more images to look through, but I am more likely to catch the instant I want shooting at 5 frames a second.

Guillermo Rodriguez and son, 2005

There are lots of situational shots that you can get if you are paying attention. Stolen bases, pick offs, home run trots, and double play take outs fall into this category.

The key is paying attention to what is going on in the game and not focusing on what is going on in the stands. Of course this is a big mistake. Because there are lots of great shots waiting there.

There are also great shots before the game as the players are warming up. One of my favorite shots of Tim Lincecum was of him playing hackey sack before a game. It was a subtle reminder that the players are still kids.

Jake Wald, 2005

I think that may be why I enjoy shooting baseball games so much. It is always a game. And while you can worry about the outcome, or whether enough people come through the turnstiles, or whether you capture the perfect image, it is still a game.

So, go out to the ballpark and do everything to perfection. Be in the right spot, have your focus and shutter speed nailed. And if you screw up, remember its only a game.

There is always tomorrow.

World Series resumption: Wednesday at earliest: “The World Series won’t resume until Wednesday night at the earliest.”

(Via ESPN.com - MLB.)

I find it interesting that the commissioner stated that there was no way that the World Series would end in a called game last night. I imagine that was the reason that they started play in the top of the sixth inning, to give Tampa Bay a chance to tie the score, so that the game would be undecided when it was called.

While the players agreed that it was better to complete the game than win the Series in a rain called game. The commissioner should have stated up front that the World Series would be played under different rules than other baseball games. That way they could have stopped the game in the bottom of the fifth and resumed it when the weather got better. As it was, the players risked injury, the fans were giving a poor product, and the rest of us had to listen to Tim McCarver and Joe Buck for a half inning longer than we should have.

I wonder what people will be saying if Tampa Bay goes on to win the Series.

You may have noticed the ad in the navigation bar. It points out that the 2008 SJ Giants Fans Season Calendar is available for order. As some of you know, I created the SJ Giants Fans Site in 2004 and for the last couple of years have been creating calendars featuring photos taken during the previous season. I am not sure if anyone who reads this blog would be interested, but who knows.

The Calendar runs from April 2008 to March 2009, features 90 photos from the 2007 season, and includes the full SJ Giants Schedule, as well as, the birthdays of recent SJ Giant players.

Anyway the ad is there.

So the Mitchell report was released today. Guess what, ballplayers used steriods and human growth hormone in the 1990s and 2000’s. Both batters and pitchers were juiced. Barry Bonds is mentioned more times than Roger Clemens, but the case against Clemens seems stronger thant the case against Bonds. Basically there is no new evidence against Bonds. This probably just means that Barry was smarter than Roger, but we already knew that.

So we had juiced batters facing juiced pitchers. How is this different then when everyone was amped on uppers or even today when everyone (including Barry) is getting a nicotene high during the game. Maybe it is the level of performance is higher, but all ball players through all ages have sought an edge.

If you want, put asterisks on every record from 1990 to 2007. It won’t change anything.

The records are still there, the performances were still achieved. If everyone is cheating, then how can you single out any individual.

Just some thoughts on my birthday.

Two nights ago, the San Jose Giants won the California League Championship for the second time in three years. They did it by once again coming back from a 0-2 deficit and winning thee games in San Jose.

The Mercury News actually put the story on page one of the sports section above the fold. And that was it for coverage. The City website did not mention it. San Jose Inside did not mention it. I doubt that it even registered in City Hall.

But I am standing in line a Save Mart at Story and McLaughlin and the clerk asked me about my San Jose Giants shirt. The person in line in front of me says, “Yes, they won the Championship the other night.” The clerk says, “You mean right down here (pointing towards Muni)?”

This is the disconnect in San Jose. The movers and shakers are so busy trying to promote the city as “Big League” that they have forgotten that most of us aren’t big league. Most of us live in lesser neighborhoods and can’t afford big league. But we know where our SJ Giants play and we know when they win the Championship!

SJ Giants vs Stockton Ports
Originally uploaded by Tom Clifton.

Every season, one of my goals is to get shots of pitchers fielding. I get thousands of shots of them pitching, but somehow forget that they field as well.

I think that I just have to forget about the pitch and focus on what happens afterward.

Occasionally I get a shot, usually a slow chopper that gives me time to realize that a play is happening in front of me. This shot from yesterday is my favorite from the season (so far).

Nathan Pendley launched himself off the mound to get to this ball, only to come up inches short. The second baseman came in an made the play as Nathan slid by.

High School Top 50: May 14: “Katy (Texas) High takes over the top spot.”

(Via Baseball America.)

Wow, Mom and Dad left Texas too early.

An evening at PAL Stadium
Originally uploaded by Tom Clifton.

I went to shoot a little league game this evening. It was amazing.

The kids have no skills.

Recognize, however, that I am used to shooting professional baseball players. I am used to good baseball. The kids aren’t there and most never will be.

But for a photographer, it was wonderful. I had two hours of kids trying their hardest to play a tough game. I didn’t catch any great plays or big hits. But I caught lots of little things. And that is what the game is about.