World Tenpin Bowling - now on Twitter

image source: WTBA

With the new season of league and professional bowling starting in the next few weeks, the international arm of professional bowling, the World Tenpin Bowling Association (WTBA) established a Twitter account (@WorldBowling).

The organization has 112 member federations and is divided into 3 zones: American Zone (Pan-American Bowling Confederation), Asian Zone (Asian Bowling Federation), and European Zone (European Tenpin Bowling Federation). The PBA is among the member federations most familiar to bowlers and fans of bowling.

For me, the WTBA is a great resource on bowling around the world. The past season included stops in Japan, Finland, South Korea and Qatar. Many of the bowling match videos I've posted on previous blog entries are part of the World Bowling Tour/WTBA.

Looking forward to a new season.

Anatomy of a Post-Season, in Tweets - SF Giants 2012

image source: MLB.com

Series conclusion, San Francisco Giants - 2012. While they aren't as detailed as they were in the regular season (too focused on the games to be coherent), here are the tweets I wrote during their post-season run:

National League Division Series versus Cincinnati Reds:
October 7:
(1) would be nice if some of the 45 points Niners got today could be given to the Giants. Big fat goose egg after 4 1/3 innings.
(2) my, that was painful. Big kudos to "Red Sweatshirt" Dude Bronson Arroyo for an awesome pitching outing.

October 9: no broom today. Giants 2, Reds 1. Kept up hope, slim as it may be. Great pitching effort by Ryan Vogelsong to keep Giants in the game.

October 10: as Tug McGraw put it so eloquently, "ya gotta believe." Giants 8, Reds 3. Another great pitching outing from "reliever" Tim Lincecum.

October 11:
(1) Cheering for that 1st Giants run just now was painful. especially for the ears to hear.
(2) BUSTER POSEY! GRAND SLAM! OH MY!
(3) WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! Way to go Giants! First NL team to overcome 0-2 deficit to move to NLCS.

October 12:
(1) keep watching over and over Buster Posey's grand slam, especially where Reds' catcher Ryan Hanigan looks away after Buster smacks it out..
(2) pack your bags Giants! Time to come home to the City by the Bay. Congrats to Mike Matheny and the St. Louis Cardinals for a great comeback.

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National League Championship Series versus St. Louis Cardinals:
October 16: Stayed up into the wee hours watching video of last night's NLCS game. Scutaro and Vogelsong: quiet, stoic and tougher than nails.

October 17: Holliday-Scutaro collision discussion needs to stop. We all agree it was a late slide. Focus on Game 3, as I'm sure Marco and Matt are.

October 18: Red and Gold score and no longer trail. Black and Orange deficit grows larger. Rally cap time for Giants.

October 19:
(1) agree with Laskey* (Bill Laskey, former Giants pitcher), the throwing error to 2nd base by Cards pitcher Lance Lynn was the pivotal turn for today's Giants win.
(2) did you ever have deja-deja-deja-deja vu? Clutch win SF Giants! Best pitching effort I've seen from Zito as a Giant.

October 21:
(1) and it's Game 7 for tomorrow! Ryan Vogelsong - wow wow wow wow wow wow. Sets new career high (9) in K's.
(2) now on MLB TV for at least the next 2 hours. Can't get enough of Giants win and praise from Mitch Williams (remember '89 NLCS?).

October 22:
(1) rain starting to fall again. It's less than 2 hours before game time! Rain needed but NOT NOW. Go away. Quickly. Please. Pretty please.
(2) In the pouring rain, the Giants win their 6th elimination game to go to the World Series! So happy Vogey and Scoots are in their 1st WS.

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World Series versus Detroit Tigers:
October 24:
(1) World Series begins tonight. Words to consider from the esteemed Tigers skipper, Jim Leyland, "It's not who you play but when you play 'em."
(2) 2nd night of terrible bowling, but it also resulted in another Giants blowout. A fair tradeoff ;)
(3) LOVE love Giants starting pitchers have RBI's in 4 consecutive games. See if the mighty Tigers starters can do the same.

October 25: Pitching duel to the end. Way to play small ball, G-men. Mighty Tigers manage only 2 hits. Giants 2, Tigers 0.

October 26:
(1) Vogey, WOW. Again. Bases loaded, 1 out. Then 2 pop flies* to end the inning. As I said about him before, tougher than nails. (correction, one of the outs was a strikeout).
(2) GREAT pitching (Vogey, Romo, Timmy) and defense (Crawford, Blanco), part VIII. Giants win 2-0 vs. Tigers. Now 3-0 lead in World Series.

October 27:
(1) gonna be a battle in the "driving mist" tonight. Reformed nail biters may fall off their wagons. Giants 3, Tigers 3, bottom 6.
(2) throat now cleared, cue music, fat lady is in her slow walk up to the stage...
(3) Tweet # 4100 - Sergio Romo strikes out AL Triple Crown King Miguel Cabrera! Giants 4, Tigers 3, in 10. SWEEP!!!! 2012 WORLD SERIES CHAMPS.
(4) so much respect for Detroit Tigers' skipper Jim Leyland. He said, "Congrats to the San Francisco Giants, This wasn't a fluke."

What a season. Thank you San Francisco Giants, for making 2012 another World Series never to be forgotten. I've never been prouder to be a Giants fan.

Anatomy of a Season, in Tweets - SF Giants 2012

image source: MLB.com

Last night, the San Francisco Giants won their seventh consecutive post game to sweep the Detroit Tigers in the 2012 World Series. As Giants fans like me never tire of hearing, this is the second World Series the Giants have won in 3 years, capturing their first title in San Francisco in 2010.

A typical baseball season is long and difficult. Probably the 2 biggest setbacks of 2012 - the season-ending injury to closing relief pitcher Brian Wilson, and the drug suspension of left fielder Melky Cabrera seemed to make the Giants resolve to play well only stronger.

I set up my Twitter updates to appear on this blog and Facebook. What astounds me is many of these tweets describe what the Giants did amazingly well throughout post-season. Here's the 2012 regular season (taken from my Facebook timeline), in tweets:

April 13:
(1) awesomely, stupendously, masterful, dominating 1-hit, 11K shutout by Giants opening day pitcher Matt Cain.
(2) watching encore presentation of SF Giants home opener. Face hurts from non-stop smiling of 1962 team escorted by current Giants players.

April 16: what should've been caught in right centerfield turns into a double. Top of 1st not even over and Phillies have 4-0 lead over Giants.

April 17: didn't start out well, but Giants pull it out with a 4-2 win over the Phillies. Nice D to end the game, Brandon Crawford.

April 21:
(1) Buster Posey shoots down 2 Mets runners in bottom of 8th inning. Giants just need to score some runs, down 4-1 going into 9th inning.
(2) full count, 2 outs in top 9th, Brandon Belt hits high fly ball in centerfield falls for double. Game tied! Giants 4, Mets 4 ***(final score Mets 5, Giants 4).

April 25: congrats to Pablo Sandoval for tying the Giants franchise record for consecutive hits at 18 games. Vamos Papi!

April 28: bottom 7th inning: Brandon Belt doubles to hit in Melky Cabrera and Nate Schierholtz to get Timmy L & SF Giants win, 2-1 vs. Padres.

May 8:
(1) top 2nd inning. 2 pitches, 2 hits, 2 runs. And off Clayton Kershaw. SF 2, LA 0.
(2) unlike last night, great pitching and defense to a get a big 2-1 V for Ryan Vogelsong 2-1 and BEAT LA.

May 12: Matt Cain, star of the game: 2 hits, 2 RBI's, takes out the D'backs shortstop as a baserunner, pitches 6 innings for a 5-2 W vs. D'backs.

May 24: Giants 12, Marlins 3, top 8th. So glad to see Ryan Vogelsong get run support long overdue for his awesome pitching.

May 25: Melky Cabrera's 41st hit (HR) for the month of May is only 8 hits from tying club record of 49 held by Willie Mays.

May 27: SF Giants Melky Cabrera now has 45 hits in May, tying Matt Williams. Needs 4 hits in 4 days left to break club record by Willie Mays.

May 29: another awesome outing by SF Giants pitcher Ryan Vogelsong: 7 IP, 6 hits, 3 BB's, 8 K's. Shame that it's another no decision.

June 3: Speed, pitching and defense. Giants now only 3 games back and nipping at the heels of the Dodgers.

June 4: Cubs' shortstop Starlin Castro brain fart, another Vogel-strong effort and defense gets the Giants a win 3-2 and series sweep.

June 7: Giants overcome 4 errors and take 2 of 3 from Padres to win 8-3. Next up, Texas Rangers.

June 13: MATT CAIN - WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PERFECT GAME! Giants beat Astros 10-0. CONGRATULATIONS!

June 14: encore showing of Matt Cain's perfect game now on. Only saw final 3 innings last night.

June 19: another pathetic effort by the 76th highest paid athlete as listed by Forbes. Not even 2 innings and Angels have a 5-1 lead.

June 22: Timmy redeems himself with a no-decision with a come from behind win for the Giants in top of 9th vs A's to win 5-4.

June 27:
(1) Timmy L so far: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, and best of all, 6 K's. Looking more like Vogey's chat in Oakland helped. Giants 2, Dodgers 0.
(2) SFGiants SWEEP Dodgers with 3-0 win today & tie for NL West lead. Dodgers score ZERO runs in series. Zito, Vogey, & Timmy!

June 28: FOUR CONSECUTIVE SHUTOUTS! SF Giants' Madison Bumgarner pitches 1-hit shutout to defeat Cincinnati Reds 5-0.

July 10:
‎(1) 2 SF Giants (Cabrera and Sandoval), 2 hits, 5 runs. NL 5, AL 0 after 1st inning.
(2) The Melkman Cometh, part II. Top of 4th inning, 2-run HR.

July 14: "There's the beer truck, Mikey..." - Duane Kuiper. Referring to Pablo Sandoval's run home to win in 12th inning vs. Astros.

July 17: Giants get 18th shutout of the season and win 9-0 versus the Braves.

July 20: Freak's mojo is back, got his 2nd consecutive win. Giants 7, Phillies, 2.

July 24: awesome Angel Pagan catch to double up Padres to end their inning sparks SF Giants to a walk-off win 3-2.

July 30: Giants have to play catch up again. Mets retake lead in top of 10th inning. Relievers aren't relieving very well.

July 31: Hunter Pence, newest SF Giant. Best of luck to Nate Schierholtz.

August 15: Man, this sucks beyond belief. IMO, Gregor Blanco in left field. Sandoval bats 3rd.

August 18: missed 3 innings of Giants-Padres game. Turn on TV, score is 1-1, Zito pitching. Hang up laundry, Padres now up 4-1. Figures.

August 22: Melky Cabrera, Bartolo Colon. As Yogi Berra once said, "it's deja vu all over again".

August 28: LA Dodgers lose, SF Giants win - now 3 game up in NL West.

September 3: magnifico Marco! Walk off single earns SF Giants 4 come from behind in last 6 wins. Vamos Gigantes!

September 7: Marco and an Angel in the outfield. Giants 5, Dodgers 2. SF Giants now 5.5 game lead in NL West. Sweet.

September 8: Oh Pablo. As the 3 hitter on a team that hits few HR's, take a few pitches. DP's you hit into stat may exceed your RBI total.

September 9: wow, miracles do happen. Pablo Sandoval just walked. He must have read my tweet from yesterday :)

September 11:
(1) tonight, Madison Bumgarner, struggling Giants pitcher and sometime power hitter. Swats a 3-run HR to tie Rockies 4-4, bottom 4th inning.
(2) SF Giants overcome 4-0 deficit to win 9-8 against Rockies. Dodgers lose. Giants now 6 game lead in NL West. Magic number - 16.

September 15: D'backs look like Rockies tonight. And congrats to Angel Pagan for breaking Giants club record for triples.

September 20: Nats 4, Dodgers 1, top 7. Subliminally whispering through the TV, "numero tres numero tres numero tres".

September 21: Vamos Papi! Vamos!

September 22:
(1) SF Giants magic # is now 1 and now lead Padres 5-1. Maintain lead for 3 more innings and G-men become 2012 NL West champs.
(2) even my web browser (Chrome) knows. Typed in "S" and the 1st website to show up is sfgiants.com.

Tweets on Giants post-season up next.