In praise of Gregor Blanco...and PRACTICE

I know Allen Iverson believes practice is silly but, let's just say that today I'm glad that Gregor Blanco and Marco Scutaro and Madison Bumgarner and Buster Posey do not believe the same (see articles below).

I mean, excuse me Mr. Iverson, but we're talking about Buster Poster here, man.
We're talking about the franchise here, man.

We're talking about the Giants franchise player, putting in practice time for the game he loves.
AFTER he has put HIS body on the line for his team, man.
And even he, Buster Posey, can dignify himself -- to PRACTICE.

and look what happens.....other guys on the team follow suit.

IT'S CALLED LEADERSHIP, MAN!!!

So while you thought we were talking about PRACTICE, in reality, all along we were discussing LEADERSHIP -- or lack thereof.

from Mercurynews.com
POSTGAME NOTES: Giants deliver another punch; Blanco defies AT&T Park | Giants Extra:

Allow me to take you back to February. Gregor Blanco, a little-known non-roster invitee, spent every morning practicing his bunting. It was repetitive, it looked boring — and it led to the perfect bunt at the perfect time.

 Madison Bumgarner, a well-known pitcher, was impressing teammates with his work ethic. “He’s always in front of a mirror, working on his mechanics,” one said. Eventually Bumgarner spent too much time on those mechanics, throwing himself out of whack as the Giants approached the postseason.

On Thursday he kept it simple and he was dominant. In two career World Series starts, Bumgarner has pitched 15 scoreless innings and given up just five hits. Only Christy Mathewson has started his World Series career with similar numbers as a Giant. Mathewson is in the Hall of Fame. Bumgarner is 23.

This all started in February, with bunting, side work and tedious drills like the one where you practice your relay throws home. The Giants do it over and over again, and have been doing it in recent months, too. In the biggest moment, they came up with a perfect play. Blanco to Scutaro to Posey. Prince Fielder was out, a rally was thwarted and the Giants were on their way to a win.

'via Blog this'

from Mercurynews.com
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/giants/2012/10/26/world-series-notes-posey-plays-it-perfectly-casilla-romo-shutting-it-down/

From the first day of Spring Training, Posey worked on swipe tags and was told adamantly not to put himself in a position where he might get hit again. It cost the Giants a couple of runs this season, but that’s worth it 100 times out of 100. In one of the biggest moments of the season, Posey got the swipe down perfectly. It’s exactly how his teammates want him to keep playing.

“I still believe the same thing, we’ve got to keep our guy in there,” Bumgarner said. “You see how good we are with him in the lineup.