The other day I thought I ruined baseball for my two-year-old son forever. Greyson wanted to pitch the wiffle ball to me in the back yard and watch me hit it. He threw one of the balls way outside, so I just swatted at it — and it smoked him right in the leg. Hard. It’s a plastic ball, but you could just hear the smack. He immediately just started screaming and holding his leg. I felt terrible. I hugged on him and told him I was so sorry. I was like, “This kid is never going to want to play baseball again.’’

Ten minutes later he wanted to go back out and play. That’s my kid.

When I arrived at the park Wednesday there was a huge walking stick waiting for me in my locker. At the top was a carved giraffe with its legs and arms dangling, kind of like a wooden puppet. I knew Greyson would love it. He has pretty big collection of giraffes now.

But his favorite is Jerry.

It’s a stuffed giraffe that was given to us by Six Flags Discovery Kingdom when they named a baby giraffe after me in 2011. We gave it Greyson when he was a baby, not knowing he was going to latch onto it the way he did.

Jerry goes with him everywhere. Jerry sleeps with him. Jerry’s been chewed up by the dog. Dragged through dirt. Soaked with spilled milk. It’s missing an eye. The stuffing’s come out and had to be sewn back in. It’s been washed plenty of times but still just looks nasty.

We have two backup Jerrys because we lost one when he was younger and Greyson didn’t take it that well. Recently we left Jerry at the ballpark and gave him one of the backups at bedtime, and he didn’t want any part of it. For Greyson, it’s the real Jerry or nothing at all. I admire his loyalty.

On to baseball . . . I saw Craw’s blog the other day about routines and how much they matter day to day, especially when the team is scuffling. That’s so true. It’s not just about making sure you’re prepared every single day no matter what, though that’s the main reason for having a routine.

But for me it’s also about staying relaxed, which is super important when you’re struggling and feel yourself starting to press. Craw and I always have fun playing catch together. Watch us some time if you’re out at the game. We’re always laughing, trying to trick each other into dropping the ball. It just lightens the mood. When you’re playing catch with your catch partner you’re also reminded that this is a team game and you’re not out there by yourself.

On to movies . . . There’s not much in the theaters right now, but I love going, mostly for the popcorn. There’s no popcorn better than movie popcorn. So the other night I brought the theater experience to my house.

Chad Chop, who’s one of our batting practice pitchers and the video replay analyst with Shawon Dunston, is living with us this season. His wife and four boys are back home in Tucson and Chad was living here by himself. We have plenty of room, so Haylee and I invited him to stay with us. He’s a good dude. He was a fight-fighter and an EMT, so if we ever need a baby sitter he’s a good guy to have around.

Anyway, he had never seen “Wanderlust.’’ I love “Wanderlust.’’ Probably one of the most underrated movies of all time. It’s with Paul Rudd and Jennifer Anniston. Hilarious.

So we drove to the movie theater in Walnut Creek, and we went up to ticket taker in the lobby without tickets.

“Hey, we’re just coming in to get popcorn,’’ Chad says. “You’ll see us leave.’’

The kid looks at Chad, kind of dead-eyed. “Sir, I don’t care,’’ he says and waves us through.

We bought popcorn, candy and Cokes, drove home, popped “Wanderlust’’ on the big screen and laughed our butt off. Haylee fell asleep so I got most of the popcorn.

Be assured we’re working hard to get the season back on track. Obviously these are the times that test who you are as a team and as an individual. We’re sticking together as we always have. That’s the only way we dig ourselves out of this.

Thanks for reading and for always showing up. You guys keep us going.

Jerry the Giraffe (and other stories) — Brandon Belt was originally published in Brandon and Brandon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Nothing else changes. Just where you can find our posts for you guys. It is important to us to bring you guys the best #SFGiants blogs and now you can find them all in one place.

As always, thanks for reading! We will see you over at Splash Hits.

-Brandon and Brandon

#BrandonsAreAwesome

We’re Joining the SFGiants Splash Hits Blog! — Brandon and Brandon was originally published in Brandon and Brandon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

But really here’s the biggest thing he missed and can never get back: Being able to watch the WBC. I’m serious. It was the first time in a really long time we got to just sit back and be fans of baseball. We got to go home at the end of the day and watch some games on TV and be real fans. Like, cheering-on-the-couch fans.

Because think about it. There’s no team in baseball we’d ever cheer for except our own. And we’re on the field. So even during the post-season, as exciting as it can get sometimes, you’re not a fan. You’re kind of just watching somebody else work.

Yes, I root for football. But it’s not the same. Growing up, all of us were huge fans of baseball. We each had our teams. And that goes away once you’re in the big leagues.

But the WBC gave us a team to root for. I loved the Adam Jones catch. I loved that Craw made big plays and got big hits. I loved watching Buster manage the pitching staff. I loved the two games against the Dominican — losing the first one and then getting redemption in the second. Part of the fun of watching was seeing the fire in their eyes. You could see how much they wanted to win it. And of course they did.

I admit I was also cheering for Bam-Bam’s team. It would have been cool to see the Netherlands and the US in the finals.

So Craw missed all that. I think he was OK with it. He and Buster were telling us how much fun it was. I’d love to play if I ever got the chance.

Having said all that, Buster was telling me how much fun it was. It would be pretty sweet to represent your country in the game you love. If I ever got that opportunity one day, I’d definitely do it.

The only actually fun thing we’ve done down here recently was a bunch of us went to a comedy club. But we went before Craw left for the WBC so he didn’t miss it. Actually I think Jalynne and Crawford organized it. It was me, Craw, Law, Mac, Jarret Parker, Beede, and maybe a couple of others and our wives. It was really fun. Always good to get a group together.

He did miss all our NCAA tournament challenges. Kontos has taken over for Javy in organizing it. I’d give Kontos about a C- so far. He’s stumbled a bit. I got into the Elite 8. Our teams are assigned randomly. I got Kansas. The favorite. I hate getting the favorite. Sure enough, they lost. So I’m out.

A couple quick movie reviews:

Kong: Skull Island: I enjoyed it. If someone asked me if they should go see it, I’d say yes. I didn’t see any of the other King Kongs, so I can’t compare it. These scientists go to this island to study what’s on it. They get there and Kong’s there and they find out he’s actually good guy and he helps fight these other monsters. All the while, the people on the island have to get to north side of the island. That’s their only chance to get off the island. If they’re not there, the boat’s leaving and they’ll never be able to leave. There are challenges along the way. It’s pretty good.

Grade: B.

The Belko Experiment: It was described as a Rated R Hunger Games. I get why they said that. Basically these guys work for Belco Industries based in Colombia. Well, somebody shuts them in and they cannot get out. Only way they can get out is to listen to the guy on the intercom and do what he tells them. Like, “You got to kill this many people in 20 minutes or I’m going to kill twice that many.’’ So it’s all about survival. It’s pretty crazy. But I thought the ending was stupid. The actor who plays the president on Scandal is in it. (I don’t watch Scandal but my wife does. Actually I sat down and watched it once and I kind of liked it. But I don’t like Kerry Washington. Let me tell you who else I don’t like. Paul Giamatti. I think he so overdoes it.

Grade: C-. Don’t go.

(You might be wondering what it takes to get an F if I give a C- to a movie I’m telling you not to go to. If I walk out of a movie, it gets an F.)

I’m getting Grayson into movies, sort of. We took him to see Storks this off-season. He lasted about an hour then wanted to go play. But I’m stilling thinking about taking him to LEGO-Batman. He’s more patient watching movies at home. He loves Pinocchio. He loves Aladdin. I’m showing him movies I grew up on. He likes the old-timey movies. I’m glad because I don’t want to have to watch Frozen.

We’re heading back to San Francisco tomorrow. Hallelujah. You get to the point where you’re ready for the season. I’m ready, we’re all ready, to get to AT&T Park and get this thing started!

See you there.

Here’s What You Missed, Craw — Brandon Belt was originally published in Brandon and Brandon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

During a two-hour layover in Atlanta, we all went and got something to eat and hung out. Lucroy is totally different from how he is on the field. On the field he never drops his game face. He is 100 percent serious. No talking at all to opposing players. But he’s not like that at all off the field. He’s funny and easy-going. We were joking in the clubhouse about each other’s flare. I never would have taken him for a guy who’d have star-spangled cleats.

One of the guys I’m really happy about playing with is Nolan Arenado. He’s not just the best third-basemen in baseball but one of the best players period. I knew him a little because we have the same agent and of course I’ve played against him a bunch of times. I’d always seen how competitive he is on the field. But he has that intensity even in practice. He’s swinging so hard in the batting cage you think he’s trying to hit holes through the net. He takes ground balls in batting practice as if it’s a game, with the same game speed and focus. I do the same thing. It’s been really great playing next to him and getting to know him.

People had told me about the atmosphere of the WBC, but until you’re in the middle of it you can’t describe it. it’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced. Even during batting practice, fans from Colombia and the Dominican were banging drums, playing instruments, singing. They were so loud they drowned out the music we were playing over the loudspeakers. Then it gets even louder when the game starts.

When Machado hit that home run in the sixth for the Dominican Republic’s first run of the game, the crowd exploded like it was a walk-off. We looked at the scoreboard to make sure we were still winning by four runs.

Then Nelson Cruz hits his three-run homer in the eighth to go ahead 6–5, followed by Starling Marte’s solo homer, and the crowd lost their minds. It’s pretty amazing to be in the middle of all that. It’s what I imagine a soccer game in Brazil is like.

I’m disappointed we lost, of course. But we have to remind ourselves that as much as it feels like a playoff atmosphere, like a big pressure situation, it’s the middle of March. Andrew Miller isn’t throwing 95 mph in March. He’s throwing 92. The four runs he gave up against the DR is as many runs as he gave up in September and October combined last year.

So fans need to remember we’re not going to be in mid-season form. I’ve gotten lucky to be 5-for-11 so far in the tournament. But I had all of two hits this spring before this. I was hitting something like .115. My swing and my timing are feeling better right now, but I’m not in mid-season form. Nobody really is. (Except, clearly, Jeurys Familia. He was throwing 100 mph sinkers at us on Saturday.)

All four teams — Colombia, Dominican, Canada and us — stayed at the same hotel in Miami. The lobby every day was like a big party. Tons of family and friends of players from the different countries. I was in the lobby talking to my agent after we beat Colombia and a few people wearing Colombian shirts asked to take a photo with me. It turned out one of them was the girlfriend or wife of one of their players. It kind of shows the attitude of the event: they’re out here having fun. It’s not like “Oh I hate you because you guys beat us.’’

As for my flare . . . A few weeks before the WBC, I’d seen photos of Francisco Lindor and Carlos Correa on social media with their new custom Rawlings gloves for Team Puerto Rico. I’m a Rawlings guy, too, so when I saw the rep in Arizona, I said, “How about making one of those for an American guy?’’

They did an awesome job, even adding some gold stitching, too. I love it. They made it from a different type of leather that breaks in more easily, so I was able to use in our first game against Colombia on Friday. I think I’m going to get all my gloves with this leather from now on.

You might be wondering why I’m wearing number 26 and Eric Hosmer has 35. The way it works: the player with the most time in the big leagues gets first choice on a uniform number. Before the tournament, I looked up his playing time: He has 886 games. I have 809. So Jalynne said to see if Number 26 was available. Her birthday is December 26. We were married November 26. And I was called up on May 26. A lot of 26’s.

Tonight we play Venezuela then Puerto Rico on Friday.

For the middle of spring training, this is pretty awesome.

Baseball’s March Madness — Brandon Crawford was originally published in Brandon and Brandon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

We loved our guide so much we invited him to visit our family and Janelle’s family in July. He’s bringing his wife and two kids. None of them have ever been on a plane. We’re looking forward to showing them everything from Disneyland to AT&T Park. I wonder if America will be as much of an eye-opening experience for them as South Africa was for us.

We also went to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for a week over New Year’s Eve, staying at the same house we did in 2015. Janelle and Jason brought their son, who is 1 ½, and Chad Chop and his wife, Debby, brought their three boys (Debby gave birth to their fourth son soon afterward). We brought our two girls. Braxton, who is 13 months and starting to walk, stayed with Jalynne’s parents.

It was a lot of fun. Tons of snow. Board games or cards at night. Chad and Debby did a lot of the cooking (I was on the clean-up crew). I’m not sure I was ever so cold in my life, though. Our last night there, the thermometer at the house registered 20 below zero.

AND . . . as if those two trips weren’t enough, we went to Disneyland twice during the off-season. You can never have too much Disneyland.

It was great to get back on the field for the first game of spring training yesterday. I picked up my first grounder cleanly, so that’s out of the way.

I can’t really ease into spring because I’ve got to get myself ready for the World Baseball Classic. Posey and I go to Miami to join Team USA on March 6. We could be in the tournament until March 22 if we go all the way. (Johnny Cueto is supposed to play for the Dominican team.)

After I got the call asking me to play, I got a text from Nolan Arenado, the Rockies’ third baseman. He said, “C’mon, man, I want to play on the left side with you.’’ I knew I wanted to play as soon as I was asked, but I had to make sure my shoulder would be ready. The last two springs, I could throw at full strength until a week or 10 days into camp. As awesome as it would be to win the WBC and represent my country and all that, my goal is to win the World Series with the Giants. I didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize that.

But in December the shoulder already was good to go. The last two Decembers that definitely was not the case.

I’ve always loved playing on All-Star teams — like Team USA in college — and that’s what the WBC team is. Arenado, Carpenter, Goldschmidt, AJ Ellis, Murphy, Stanton, McCutchen. The list goes on. Jim Leyland is the manager. He said in an article that I was one of his favorite players in the game today, something he told me in person at the 2014 World Series. That’s pretty cool because he’s managed a lot of good players. It will be fun to play for him.

One of the highlights of spring so far was the moment Bochy handed me a sheet of paper calendar of the spring training games. “Mark which games you want to play,’’ he said. There are a few signs in baseball that indicate you have arrived. Opting out of trips to Goodyear or Surprise is one.

Hope you can come down and watch a game. If not, listen in to Affeldt on radio and maybe TV. I think he made his debut yesterday. How’d he do?

Thanks for reading.

And, as always, Disneyland — Brandon Crawford was originally published in Brandon and Brandon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

First, in spring training reporters always ask players if they have personal goals for the season. My goal is always the same. But this is the first time I’m saying it publicly: My goal this year is to be the best first-baseman in league. To be totally honest, it’s to be the best player in baseball. Will it happen? I don’t know. But I’m hungrier for it than I’ve ever been.

There are two reasons. I feel more confident than ever (which I’ll get to in a second), and confidence makes you feel that nothing is out of reach. The second reason: I want to win. Simple as that. Winning is the only result that matters, not just to me but every guy in the clubhouse. So the better I am as an individual player, the better chance I give my team to win. From the first day of spring training, that’s what you’re working toward.

No matter how much money you make or how many World Series rings you have, you can’t ever feel like you’ve made it. You have to always want to get better. For me this off-season, that meant changing my training regimen. I began going to a facility in Tyler, Texas, that I’d been hearing about for a while. It focuses specifically on baseball. A lot of pro players from East Texas, like Indians pitcher Josh Tomlin, train there.

But it’s about 90 minutes away from my house. As you might know, I’m not a morning person. But three or four days a week during the whole off-season, I got up at 7 and drove the 90 minutes (75 if I’m really cruising). (The days I wasn’t there, I did my regular workout near my home.)

This place did all the conditioning and strength-building but we also worked on things like explosive running. We did a lot of stretching to help prevent injuries. We did different kinds of movement to get you more in touch with your body. I know that sounds kind of weird. But I’m better able to recognize if something’s not right and be able to address it more quickly and get back to where I know I need to be.

Overall, I pushed myself in ways I hadn’t done before, and I’m a better athlete now than I was when the season ended last year. For one thing, my sprints are faster. I want to steal more bases this year. I know that’s kind of crazy because I stole zero last year. (The first series of the season last year I kind of went nuts and got thrown out three times in three attempts. And the coaches were like, “Hey, you need to calm down on the base-stealing.’’)

It’s something I’m going to work on in spring training, and today we had Vince Coleman out there teaching us. Who better? He talked about anticipating when the pitcher’s going to go home, noticing when he’s not paying attention to you, understanding the game situation and what counts to go on. I look at Paul Goldschmidt, who stole 33 last year for the Diamondbacks. Think how much that helps the team. You’re now in scoring position for the guys behind you. I think that would make me a better all-around player if I could do that, It’s something I’ll be talking about to Phil Nevin, our new third base coach.

And it’s not just about stealing bases but being quicker on the base paths overall. Going first to third. Second to home. Getting myself 90 feet closer to scoring.

We’re all happy to see Javi Lopez here as a coach. He’s such a great person and was one of the best teammates any of us will ever have. He’s one of those pitchers who didn’t just hang with the pitchers. He talked with everybody. He could just spew knowledge on guys. We’re missing Sergio and Casilla, too. I’ve played with those three guys every season I’ve been in the big leagues.

You always hate losing your buddies, but it’s part of the game and there are always new guys who come in and bring something different to the team.

Hope you can get down here. Weather’s getting better. Thanks for reading.

Don’t Ever Think You’ve Made It — Brandon Belt was originally published in Brandon and Brandon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The 18-wheeler got into an accident with another 18-wheeler in El Paso. Our cars, including the dream car (Ferrari) I had gotten just three months earlier, were totaled.

We had stuffed each car with clothes we wanted transported, too, and for weeks we were shaking tiny shards of glass out of T-shirts and jeans.

I didn’t go to Joe Panik’s wedding in December but I had a good excuse: same weekend as my anniversary. I was surprising Hayley with a trip to Vegas to see George Strait, her favorite. I had set it up three months earlier, and it was very hard to keep that secret. I kept thinking, “Oh, she’s going to love this.’’ Multiple times she talked about finding out when George Strait might be doing a pop-up concert in East Texas. The whole time I’m telling her we’re spending the day in Houston and we’d be doing something she’s really going to like. I was building it up and driving her crazy.

So the day arrives to drive to Houston and I tell her not to forget her license. About a mile from the airport exit, she says, “You’re not going to airport or anything, are you?’’

“No, that’s dumb.’’

Then I pull off to the airport exit, and now she thinks I’m playing around. We park, and I tell her everything. She’s pumped, though she is definitely not a fan of Vegas. We had a blast. The concert was awesome, Hayley loved it, and at dinner I had a Japanese wagyu steak that might be the best thing I have ever eaten in my entire life. The fat was spider-webbed through the whole steak. It tasted like it was injected with butter. You could cut it with a fork. I’m still thinking about it.

When we got back home, the backyard pond we built (about an acre in area and 20 feet deep) was full of water. Grayson loves it. I’m going to stock it with perch and catfish so I go down there with Grayson and fish. We have a big plot of land in another part of Texas where I’m putting in a 15-acre pond that I can stock with bass. I’m not a big fisherman but I like doing it because Grayson does.

He’s two years old now and kind of a little turd-head sometimes. But his personality is so great. He’s the best, man. He walks around and tries to look goofy, like pulling the back of his shirt on top of his head like a hood and walking around like a Minion. We spent so much time together that now it’s not just mommy, mommy, mommy. He wants to come to me. Nothing better.

It’s great to be in camp and hang with the guys again. Everybody is super-excited to see everybody again. When we all met up in San Francisco for FanFest, it was a little like the first day of school. You kind of ease in. You’re not fully messing with everybody yet. Now that we’re back in uniform and spending all day together, it’s back to normal. Which is awesome.

Thanks for making FanFest so much fun. You can kind of forget during the off-season how amazing our fans are. You guys make us feel like rock stars. You have the best questions, too. All we did all day was laugh, mostly at each other. Which is continuing here in Scottsdale. We’re working hard, too. I feel I’m in the best shape of my life. I’ll tell you why in the next post.

Thanks for reading. Can’t wait for Opening Day!

-Brandon Belt

So Let’s Catch Up was originally published in Brandon and Brandon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The World Series starts tonight. I won’t be watching.

I had no interest in the NLCS, either, though it was on at a restaurant one night and I couldn’t avoid it. Another night Jalynne’s brother and his friend wanted to watch, so we did.

I don’t want to watch because I want to be playing in it. We could have been there. After that awful loss to the Cubs, I was as down as I can remember being. I felt partially responsible, of course, for the throwing error that put the go-ahead run on second.

But no matter how you lose and who’s responsible, a loss like that stings. And it stings for a while. I’ve avoided SportsCenter and MLB network because I’m afraid I’ll happen upon clips of that game. Who knows how far we could have gone had we held on?

Having said all that, it’s been really nice to immerse myself back into life with Jalynne and the kids. When the season ended, we hung around the Bay Area for a few days with friends and family, then drove to LA to hang with Jalynne’s parents. We went to Disneyland with Jalynne’s sisters and their kids plus Jalynne’s brother’s daughter. (We left Braxton, who’s nine months old, with Jalynne’s parents. Still too young.)

We visited my sister Amy and her fiancé Gerrit Cole at their home in Newport Beach. Then it was on to Westwood to take my youngest sister, Jenna, to lunch. She’s a freshman softball player at UCLA. Then we drove to our home in Arizona.

I don’t think I told you that in June, while we were in the Bay Area, a pipe burst and flooded half the house in Arizona. So, for the past four months, workers have been ripping up carpet and tile, tearing out sheetrock in the walls, refinishing hardwood floors. We’ve had to replace a bunch of furniture. But it’s fine now. Somehow the pool table — which we keep in the living room — emerged unscathed.

We’ll relax here for a few weeks then the schedule gets busy. Fun busy, but busy.

I go up to San Francisco to present the annual Wells Fargo Step-up to the Plate for Education grants. From there it’s to Southern California for Amy and Gerrit’s wedding. We go back to Arizona until heading to the Bay Area for Thanksgiving and Hunter Pence’s wedding. Back home for a few days then to New York for Joe Panik’s wedding.

From there Jalynne and I are flying to . . . South Africa.

It’s the biggest trip we’ve ever made. Jalynne’s twin sister Janelle went there for her honeymoon and wanted to go back. So we’re going with them, Janelle’s in-laws, Jalynne’s brother and his fiancé, and our friends former Giants outfielder Gary Brown and his wife.

We’ll be in Arizona for Christmas with Jalynne’s family, and for New Year’s we’ll be staying with friends, as we did last year, in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Really looking forward to all of it. AND really looking forward to staying close to home for the whole month of January.

I’ll soon start working out at the Giants facility in Scottsdale, preparing for next year. I’m excited about having the whole infield and starting rotation back. We had a very good team this year, and I think it will be even better next year.

By spring training maybe I’ll be rid of this bad taste in my mouth. But probably not. This was the first time a lot of us had ever lost in the postseason. We never want to feel this way again.

Thanks for reading these blogs, as intermittent as they might be. I really like reading your comments. Stay in touch, and I’ll see you at FanFest in February.

I Won’t Be Watching — Brandon Crawford was originally published in Brandon and Brandon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Everyone knows about Hunter’s speeches in the clubhouse. But when he crashed into the bullpen fence face-first to save a run in Arizona, there’s nothing that gets your teammates more fired up than that. You see what the guy’s willing to do, and everybody’s energy is suddenly ramped to the next level.

Oh, and he went 4-for-5 with a walk and scored four runs in the 12-inning win. A big reason we’re winning is having a healthy Hunter who’s on a hot streak. He’s making plays on defense. Scoring runs. Driving in runs.

And he’s doing his clubhouse thing, too. Even after we were shut out in Colorado that first day, he’s still smiling and happy in the clubhouse. That’s pretty amazing. Personally, I’m so ticked off after we lose there’s no way I can smile. An hour or so later, I can wipe the loss away and think about the next game. But right afterward? Not a chance.

But Hunter is ALWAYS positive. No one’s ever seen anything like it. In the clubhouse before the game, he’s dancing and getting fired up and yelling something weird. I don’t know if he’s psyching himself up or trying to get other guys up. Probably both. After the game, when we win, he has started to kind of make it like a party. He got these special mugs for guys and does toasts and celebrates.

Especially through the rough times, you need someone like Hunter who reminds you how much you love the game and how good we are when we play as a team.

We were happy, of course, to gain ground on the Dodgers and the Wild Card in Arizona but what mattered most was that we played good team baseball. Good defense. Hit well. Pitched well. Do that, and the wins will come.

I was pretty pumped about nailing a runner at home for the first time this season. It’s one of my favorite things to do, especially when the third-base coach thinks you can’t. It’s funny because before the game my arm was feeling particularly weary, as everybody’s arms and legs start to feel toward the end of the season. I said to our strength coach Carl Kochan, “Just watch. This will be the day I get an opportunity to throw home from deep in the gap.’’ Sure enough.

When it happened, I thought, “I’m just going to throw this as hard as I can and as far as I can.’’ You’re told either to throw a long hop to the catcher or get it to him without a hop. Of course it ended up being a short hop, but Buster made a great pick on it and kept the game tied.

Another way we come together as a team and try to have fun with our fantasy football league. We booked a room in the hotel restaurant while we were in Colorado, and we set up a draft board with all the stuff from a kit you can buy online that has magnetic name plates for the 300 top NFL players.

We have 12 teams this year: Javy and me. Romo. Dave Groeschner, our trainer. Gearrin and Brad Grems, our clubhouse coordinator. Derek Law and Tony Reale, our physical therapist. Parker and Kontos. Flemming and Kuiper. Belt. Samardzija. Dr. Akizuki, our orthopedist. Blanco (who was rehabbing in Arizona and made his picks online). And Joe Panik and Matt Duffy. (Duffy Facetimed on Joe’s laptop. It was great to see him.)

Here’s my team with Javy:

The team is a little unusual in that three of our first six picks weren’t in our starting lineup this weekend. Two guys are suspended and another is not a starter yet.We still won Week 1.

How’d your fantasy team do?

The Reverend Abides — Brandon Crawford was originally published in Brandon and Brandon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I’ve finally gotten out to see a few movies lately. I went to two over the weekend with Haylee and saw two on the last road trip.

Bad Moms: Haylee and I got to the theater late and had to sit in the front row. So already it wasn’t great. But the movie was freaking hilarious. It’s about the moms’ jobs and their interactions with the kids and trying to overcome the judgment from other moms. It was pretty crude at times. They basically had these moms talking like you’d expect from a group of guys. One of the actresses — I can’t remember her name but she’s in Stepbrothers, a red-headed woman, Catherine something — she was absolutely hilarious. I laughed my butt off pretty much the entire movie. Haylee liked it a lot, too. The best part was the woman in the theater who you could hear laughing like every five seconds. She thought this was the funniest thing she had ever seen her entire life. And that made it even funnier for me.

Rating: B-plus. It’s the funniest female comedy I’ve seen. Better even than Bridesmaids. Actually maybe it’s an A.

Sausage Party: Haylee didn’t want to go see it, and I talked her into going. She’s like, “It’s a cartoon and it’s probably going to be stupid.’’ I said, “Yeah, probably, but stupid can be funny.’’ It’s from the guys who made Superbad and all those movies. Seth Rogan, Jonah Hill, Danny McBride. Kristen Wiig was in it. I was kind of excited to see it, but it was brutal. As in terrible. Awful. But all they did was make a bunch of cartoon food cuss a lot. It’s set in a grocery store and the food wants to get out because they think they’re going to heaven when they’re picked and taken out of the grocery store. They call it the Great Beyond. When they get picked, they go out there and learn they’re getting eaten by people and getting slaughtered and basically going to hell. It’s kind of a funny premise. Like there are German bratwursts who want to kill all the juice. Kristen Wiig is a bun, and she has a boyfriend who’s a wiener. But we walked out after an hour. I didn’t laugh hardly at all, and I love comedies.

Rating: F. This might be my first F, though I might have given The Jungle Book an F, I can’t remember.

Jason Bourne. I saw it on the road with Kontos, Osich and Chad Chop. It’s the only Jason Bourne movie I’ve ever seen. I didn’t care for it too much. I like the Mission Impossible movies better. Not much else to say.

Rating: C.

Suicide Squad. Cain and I went when we were in Washington. The story’s about these villains who form a super-hero type group to defeat bigger evils. It’s a Marvel comic and it’s set in the same place as Batman and Superman. It’s really cheesy. Very corny dialogue. It was supposed to be a Guardians of the Galaxy type movie, and it wasn’t even close to that. Guardians of the Galaxy is way better. It had a good cast — Will Smith, Margot Robbie, the guy from Jack Reacher. A lot of guys I’ve seen before. And Jared Leto was the Joker. He was a good Joker, but I heard he was weird during the filming, that he stayed in character even when they weren’t shooting. Cain thought it was pretty stupid.

Rating: C-. Maybe D actually.

That’s it for now. Thanks for reading. Let me know what movies I should see next. And let me know if you think Haylee will like it.

Also wanted to give a shout out to Dillon O’Leary and his family from Pleasanton who I met yesterday before the game. Keep battling.

We Got Movie Reviews! — Brandon Belt was originally published in Brandon and Brandon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.