So far, the Oakland A’s new relief pitcher Pat Venditte, who can quite amazingly throw effectively either as a right-hander or a left-hander, “has been great” according to Manager Bob Melvin.  Making his debut less than two weeks ago, in his first five and 2/3rds innings of work in four games he gave up just one hit, two walks, and no earned runs.  That is a good record!  The A’s have been careful about protecting a sore shoulder, and put Venditte briefly on the disabled list earlier this week.

But even opposing teams, let alone baseball fans, are eager to see Venditte in action.  “He can pitch underwater!” Angels catcher Chris Iannetta recently joked to reporters. “It’s definitely hard enough to pitch in the major leagues with one arm. It’s pretty impressive to do it with both.”  Under new rules established specifically for him, Venditte must declare which arm he is going to throw with before an at-bat.  But if a team brings in a pinch-hitter, Venditte can switch arms because a new hitter has entered the game.  The idea of a switch-arm pitcher facing a switch pinch-hitter is mind boggling from a baseball strategy perspective but it is really going to make watching the Oakland A’s in later innings when the relief pitchers are called in a very interesting time for baseball fans!

Lon Simmons, best known as the voice of the San Francisco Giants, but also a broadcaster for the Oakland A’s and 49ers, has passed away at age 91.  Simmons, whose influence on northern California professional sports is considered by some to be similar to Vin Scully’s in southern California, moved west with the Giants in 1958 to be on their first broadcasting team in San Francisco, along with Russ Hodges, and called many historic games and plays of the likes of Willie Mays, Willie McCovery, the great right-handed pitcher Juan Marichal who in a rage once clobbered Dodger catcher John Roseboro with a baseball bat, and 49ers quarterback Joe Montana.

An excellent obituary appears here in http://www.sfgate.com/sports/shea/article/Lon-Simmons-Bay-Area-broadcasting-legend-dead-6180395.php.

Lon Simmons, Rest in Peace.

 

Players for California’s five Major League Baseball teams are in the process of reporting to their Spring Training camps all located in Arizona, where inter-league pre-season games for about four weeks will get under way starting March 3.  Catcher Buster Posey returns to the World Champion San Francisco Giants camp in Scottsdale, Arizona as the only returning starting position player to have participated in all three recent World Champion teams.  Though several of the Giant’s pitching staff have rings from all three of those World Series wins, free agency and trades have seen the departures of great regular position players like third baseman Pablo Sandoval, who has gone to work for the Boston Red Sox.  The Giant’s pitching staff remains very strong, with a great five man rotation that includes not only MVP Madison Bumgarner, but also Matt Cain and now again Tim Lincecum as the fifth starter.  Lincecum, a former Cy Young winner who has had trouble the last few years, has been working hard off season to get his pitches back.   But the Giants had a little scare when Manager Bruce Bochy was admitted to a hospital in Scottsdale for a heart ailment and had two stints implanted.  Bochy is expected to recover very quickly and be at the stadium this next week.

The Los Angeles Dodgers open their pre-season on March 4 with a game in Glendale, Arizona against the Chicago White Sox.  The Dodgers added catcher Yasmani Grandal as a back-up to A.J. Ellis in a trade with the San Diego Padres that gained the Padres slugger Matt Kemp.  Ellis caught for Clayton Kershaw all the way to his Cy Young Award last year, the first pitcher to win both that award and be the MVP for a National League team since 1968 (Bob Gibson).  Though Grandal can swing the bat, this observer believes the Padres got the better end of the deal, and just what they need, a really, really good hitter for the third or fourth spot.  Outfielder Kemp is apparently eager to play for the Padres, reporting early to camp in Peoria, Arizona, where the Padres play in a lovely little stadium and where you can almost always get a pretty good seat in the shade.  Kemp should be the star of the team in 2015.

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim train in Tempe, Arizona.  But news of the Angel’s spring training was dominated at the first press conference of the season by owner Arte Moreno’s complaints about the lack of progress in negotiating a new stadium lease with the City of Anaheim.  The Angels have a four year window from 2016-2019 to opt out of their lease, and if they don’t, they must stay in the current 50 year-old stadium until 2029.  All the news of possible NFL teams moving to the Los Angeles area and new stadiums being built is very much in Moreno’s mind.  The Angels failed to land free agent pitcher James Shields in the off season and Home Run Derby winner Josh Hamilton has had problems with injuries.

Rounding out the California teams, the Oakland A’s players are in Mesa, Arizona, where they will also return to play at historic HoHoKam Park, most recently the home of the Chicago Cubs, but a familiar former base for the A’s fans, where the A’s played in the late 1970s.  A very interesting development is the potential addition and return of left-hander and former San Francisco Giant Barry Zito, who rejoins the A’s on a minor league contract.  The 36-year-old, who won the 2002 AL Cy Young Award, left the A’s to sign a $126 million, seven-year contract with San Francisco before the 2007 season.  Zito was spotty during his entire term with the Giants until 2012, when he featured in three playoff victories, going 2-0 with a 1.69 ERA that helped propel the Giants into the World Championship.  And he won Game 1 of that World Series.  He became a favorite in San Francisco because of those key victories, and received a standing ovation when he left the field in 2013 after striking out Mark Kotsay of the Padres in relief in Zito’s last game as a Giant.  The Giant’s subsequently declined Zito’s 2014 option and bought it out for $7 million.  Zito sat out that season but now appears to be working hard to get back into baseball and on the A’s roster.

The A’s ace pitchers, right-handers Jarrod Parker and A.J. Griffin, are both coming off “Tommy John” surgery, Parker for the second time.  (No wonder the A’s are tinkering with the idea of left-hander Zito making a come-back!)

March will be pre-season month and then play will begin on Easter Sunday, April 5, when the St. Louis Cardinals play the Chicago Cubs, with opening day for the rest of the teams on Monday, April 6.

 

Pete Carroll might have been the only football coach in history to have won two Superbowls and two national collegiate championships, and after a spectacular Jermaine Kearse juggling catch in the red zone into a last minute march to the goal-line, it looked like it was going to happen for Seattle, who trailed the Patriots by 28-24.  Marshawn Lynch, Seattle’s crack running back, was a cinch to run the final score into the end-zone and win the game for the Seahawks, but instead, Quarterback Russell Wilson threw an interception to the Pat’s defender Malcolm Butler and the game ended, after a little player rumble, with Quarterback Tom Brady’s Patriots as the winners.  Pete Carroll’s hopes were dashed at least this year.

There were plenty of happy Patriot fans, but perhaps the happiest would have been Steve Stevens of VIP Sports Betting in Las Vegas.  Stevens, who was featured last year on a CNBC series on sports betting, had tweeted and Facebooked before the game start that he had personally bet $500,000 on the Patriots.  He was probably the happiest person in America when the Patriots sealed their victory with just 20 seconds left in the game.

Seahawk’s coach Pete Caroll is one win away from making football history!  If the Seahawks win the Superbowl, he will be the only football coach in history to have won two Superbowls and two collegiate football national championships.  And those college championships were as head coach of our state’s University of Southern California Trojans.

There is indeed a California connection to Pete Caroll, and Trojan fans fondly remember him for bringing vitality and strength back into the USC football program after several years of misfires.  Sadly, some of Pete’s achievement at USC was marred by recruiting violations.  But that doesn’t change the fact of the football wins, any more than the “deflategate” scandal has disqualified the New England Patriots from their chance to battle the Seahawks in football’s biggest game.  Regardless, we wish both Pete Caroll and Bill Belichick and their teams good luck in the Super Bowl on Sunday, and Trojan fans especially will know who they are rooting for!

 

 

 

Christmas Tree at California Adventure, Disneyland.

 

 

Christmas Tree at Fashion Island, Newport Beach, credit Kevin Labianco, Flickr Creative Commons.

 

 

Christmas Tree in front of State Capitol Building, Sacramento.

 

 

Christmas Tree at Fairmont Hotel lobby, San Francisco.

 

 

 

 

 

Merry Christmas!

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For the third time in five years, the San Francisco Giants have won the World Series.  Hooray for them and hooray for Major League Baseball in California!  A Dynasty is reborn!

The San Francisco Giants won a marathon 18 inning game, the longest ever play-off game in Major League Baseball history, on Brandon Belt’s top-of-the-18th home run over this weekend off the Washington Nationals in the National League Playoff series, to take a 2-0 lead, with just one win in the three games left necessary to lift the Giants into the National League pennant battle and a chance for a birth in the World Series.  In the meantime, the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are split 1-1 with the St. Louis Cardinals, are moving to St. Louis for the next two games, and have a chance to get into the National League pennant play-off but only by beating the Cardinals at home, which will be a tall order.  California’s third team in the playoffs, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, honored their fans by making the playoffs but were swept out of contention this weekend by losing three games in a row to the Kansas City Royals.

Nevertheless, October has been a pretty good baseball month for California and we all can agree that a Giants/Dodgers National league pennant series would be awesome!

California Political Review wishes to offer a word about Robin Williams.  Monday August 11 we learned the sad news of his death at age 63.  Born in Chicago, his early years were spent in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan where his father was an executive with Ford Motor Company.  California became his home for much of his life though, and he attended Redwood High School in Marin County, and Claremont College in southern California.

Williams went on to study acting at the Juilliard School in New York City and his acting and comedy genius was recognized there, including in an advanced program with famous actor John Houseman.  Williams was often seen in the early stages of his career at comedy clubs in southern California and in San Francisco where he honed his skills, and got his first big break early in life being cast as the alien “Mork” in some episodes of the “Happy Days” television series which lead to his own successful comedy series in “Mork and Mindy”.  His film achievements, indeed his many life achievements, are too much to detail here, and are well known, including his Oscar-winning performance in the movie “Good Will Hunting” with a young Matt Damon.  He was generous in work with charities such as St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Williams was a most interesting person.  He seemed always coiled up and on edge, and it came through in his humor, yet he was capable of quiet and intense dramatic roles as well.  A distant grandfather had been a Senator in Mississippi.  He was an Episcopalian, which he described in his comedy act as “Catholic Lite – same rituals, half the guilt.”  He entertained us in so many ways, made positive contributions to society, and will be missed.

My eyes were opened on French wine labels and tastes during my recent summer trip to Paris.  I have enjoyed the well-known French wines, but I have considered them impractical as too expensive, and the labels too confusing, to really try to enjoy them much.

But even as a boorish booster of California wines, I had the pleasure of attending a wine-tasting luncheon at an interesting local establishment called “ÔChateau” housed in the former residence of Madame de Pompadour.  The Madame, Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, was “the official chief mistress” of French King Louis XV, and as such had actual duties, such as arranging the King’s schedule while at the same time trying to not alienate the Queen.  That was in the late 1700s.  Today her former residence is a bustling wine bar set in the heart of Paris that offers several different types of introductions to French wines each day, through fun activities such as wine-tasting lunches and dinners, cruises, and outings to some of France’s best wine regions, including the Champagne region around Reims.

My French wine guide was Pierre, who grew up near Strasbourg, a city in France near the famous Alsace wine region, where many light and sweet French wines are made.  Our lunch at ÔChateau included tastes of five different French wines, all from different regions, paired with five different cheeses and lots of other luncheon goodies including French breads.  The wines tasted were all middle-priced and included a Champagne, Chenin Blanc, Gamay Beaujolais, Haut Medoc Bordeaux, and a Semillon.  The cost was 75 euros (about $100) but well worth it for both the lovely food and wine, but also the wine education, lasting almost two hours, in a beautiful private wine cellar.

My biggest takeaway was understanding from Pierre how the French think of wine labels and choosing a wine, which is quite different from my experience in California.  Here, I have come to think of selecting a wine by thinking of what food I want to pair it with, selecting a grape, such as a Cabernet Sauvignon, and then considering vintners, such as Caymus from Napa Valley.  Pierre, who has spent his lifetime in the wine industry (but actually did some studies at our own UC Davis!) says this is not how the French, with so many potential wine choices (some reference guides say there are 27,000 wineries in France) chose their wine.  Instead of thinking of a grape and vintage to match their meal, the French consider matching a meal to a wine from a “terroir” of the country.  Thus, a selection becomes very much more about the region that the wine is from, and not the reputation of the vintners’ label.  Where in California I might consider that a Caymus is a synch to match a juicy steak dinner, a French wine lover would more likely consider a region, such as the Medoc region pictured in the graphic attached to this article, rather than a particular vintner.

The Médoc region is known for its good red wines, usually Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon blends.  Médoc is in Bordeaux to the west of France and separated by a river.  According to Pierre, the wines north of the river are known to the French to produce red wines based mostly on Merlot.  But to the south of the river, the blends are based mostly on Cabernet.  And at the northern tip of the district south of the river, the Cabernet-dominated wine blends have especially well-known characteristics.  These wines are labelled as “Haut Médoc”, a description I have seen many times but never really understood.  They are from the “high Medoc” terrior and are just excellent.  Due to tight controls on how the wines are made, their taste all pretty equally reflect the unique “terrior” from which they originate – soil, climate conditions, pollination and methods all pretty much being the same for the dozens of wineries in a particular terrior.  The “Haut Médoc” we tasted at ÔChateau was not expensive, either.  It was a Château Belgrave and it retails in France for just 21 euros ($28.22).  It was paired with a true roquefort cheese and the two together were amazing!  A few days later as I was leaving France, I bought a bottle of Chateau le Legune Haut Médoc at the duty free at Charles de Gaulle airport for 31 euros ($41.66), tried it, and am very impressed.  It is available and retails at $69.99 at www.klwines.com here in California.  That is not cheap, but it is Grand Cru Classé (meaning it is made to top standards) but a heck of a value compared to the more well-known French wines we see on the lists at our better restaurants that bear both incomprehensible and inapproachable pricing.

Pierre’s message was that one should not get too frustrated with learning all the wineries in France, and you don’t have to pay top dollar.  All one really has to learn is about the French wine regions – just seven of them – to get a decent handle on French wine appreciation and reduce mistakes in choosing a bottle.  It is surely a little different from the way some of us have looked at it in California, but increasingly California also is developing a wine industry that reflects a “terrior” palate rather than a common homoginized taste.  “Rutherford dust” is a distinct taste that many California cabernet fans understand is present in such wines as “BV” from the Rutherford district of Napa Valley.  Monterey county chardonnay fans often mention a crisp “pinneapple” taste they get from local wines in that region of California, distinct from other areas.  In California, our wine industry has had only perhaps 100 years of development and much is still new.  In France, dozens of generations have been growing grapes and making wine at the same locations.  It is perhaps no wonder that French wines can be distinguished more by “terrior” than vintner, because they have worked at it for centuries and have maintained standards that have created unique, but common local flavors.  In any event, I am glad to have learned something useful to my own hobby of wine appreciation and to understand that there are great, affordable French wines out there – but I won’t abandon California wines anytime soon!