Latest news with #MattWilliams
BBC News
5 days ago
- Automotive
- BBC News
Cartoon 'buddies' tackling Cornwall school parking issues
A scheme in Cornwall is aiming to tackle congestion and safety issues during the school coloured cartoon "Parking Buddies" signs have been placed outside primary schools in the county to stop motorists pulling up and stopping at the Council said the signs had been loaned out to schools for either a term or until the end of the academic year as part of a trial in a bid to encourage "behavioural change" from Williams, head teacher at Trenance Learning Academy, in Newquay - which is one of the schools piloting the project - said the signs had worked well for them. Mr Williams said mornings were usually very busy outside the school but the buddies had made it "a much safer place".He added: "More pedestrians are using the crossing because they can see where traffic is coming from."Parents enjoy them, the children enjoy them and I enjoy them." Along with Trenance, the signs are currently outside Sandy Hill Academy in St Austell and Stithians Community Primary council said the signs had also been used previously at Lostwithiel School and St Mewan Rogerson, the council's cabinet member for transport, said the project had been able to reach multiple schools across the Lib Dem councillor said: "The cost implication is quite low and the lasting benefit that we have seen is that it really does effect driving behaviour."
CTV News
09-07-2025
- General
- CTV News
Bowker Creek contamination under investigation
There are booms and absorption pads along the waterway to contain the contaminant, which is leaving an oily sheen on the water's surface. (CTV News) The District of Oak Bay has dispatched crews to clean up and investigate the appearance of a spill in Bowker Creek. There are booms and absorption pads along the waterway to contain the contaminant, which is leaving an oily sheen on the water's surface. A spokesperson for the municipality says the substance hasn't been tested yet, so staff are unable to confirm what it is. Crews responded to the spill starting Tuesday, July 8, around Cadboro Bay Road and Bee Street – near the Oak Bay Recreation Centre. 'We have not found the source, but have traced its origin from outside the Oak Bay border,' says the district's communications coordinator, Matt Williams. Staff have notified the Ministry of Environment and Capital Regional District of the situation.
San Francisco Chronicle
02-07-2025
- Sport
- San Francisco Chronicle
Are you blaming Matt Williams for Giants' baserunning woes? Former coach won't have it
The thought was to discuss the art of coaching third base with a past master of that art. It is a relevant topic, with San Francisco Giants third-base coach Matt Williams in hot water with many fans and critics over several recent, ill-fated stay-or-go decisions. I should have known that seeking the wisdom of Tim Flannery would lead down a strange and mystical path, with a few side trips for laughs. Flannery was the Giants' third-base coach under manager Bruce Bochy from 2007 to '14. Flannery's rep: Fearless, but not reckless. Scientific, but soulful. His style? Enthusiastic. He would windmill a runner around third, then chase him home like the guy owed Flan money. Was he good? Three fat diamond rings don't lie. So, the right guy to talk to. But not easy to reach. When he's not on tour with his band, the Lunatic Fringe, Flannery and his wife Donna spend much of their time in a cabin overlooking the Pacific Ocean, in the rugged wilderness an hour's drive North of Santa Barbara. Power is by solar and propane, water is from a well, phone service is limited to texting. Flannery texts a video taken from his porch, of a friendly scuffle between a wildcat and a huge wild pig. Caption: 'Kids will be kids.' He says he is off the grid. 'We got guns and food and beans and surfboards.' I ask by text, Can we talk? His text: 'I can drive to the top of a mountain and call you at 3 o'clock, if that works.' It does, if you don't mind the wind whistling in the background. Or is it the sound of wandering souls? Flannery's cabin is in the wilds near Pt. Conception, the Western-most point in the continental U.S. 'The Chumash call this point the Gateway of the Souls, where all life enters and exits,' Flannery says. 'It's a sacred place. My favorite place in the world.' I look it up later. The Chumash name for Pt. Conception was 'Humqaq,' which means 'The raven comes.' In Chumash mythology, this point of land was the portal for dead souls to enter paradise, but in order for them to find their way, the souls had to discard their earthly eyes and receive their 'celestial eyes' from the ravens. Is it merely a wild coincidence that the most respectful denizen of this sacred place is a man who once directed lost souls towards their heavenly destination by being their celestial eyes? 'Hunter Pence would take off on a stolen base, he would never look, never know where the ball was,' says Flannery, sounding peeved. 'I would beg runners like him, 'Look, if you don't know where the ball is, you gotta promise me that as soon as you hear contact, you look at me, because you've brought me into the equation, let me try to get both of us out of this thing.' ' It was a tough job, coaching third for the Giants, as Flannery quickly learned. Halfway through his first spring training, the team attended a civic season-kickoff banquet. 'I had a couple glasses of wine and I had to go to the bathroom,' Flannery recalls. 'I went in and there was (then team owner) Peter Magowan, and he said, 'Well, you got another guy thrown out today.' And I kind of snapped on him, I said, 'Hey, if you wanted safety-first, you should have hired a school crossing guard.' ' When Flannery signed on with the Giants, he was already a seasoned third-base coach, but he studied hard under Giants legends Joey Amalfitano and Jim Davenport. He learned to play the Giants' quirky ballpark. 'Visiting players came in there, and they're dealing with the cold and the wind,' Flannery says, 'they're dealing with things they're not used to in places like Arizona and Houston, comfort areas, climate-controlled. You can sometimes take radical chances here, because you've done your homework.' Behind every green light or red light was a ton of that homework. If the Giants were in a heavy schedule with no days off and a short bullpen, Flannery would throw a couple extra ounces of caution to the wind to avoid extra innings, which would deplete the bullpen and compromise the team for days to come. Flannery watches the Giants on his solar-powered satellite TV, from his Lay-Z-Boy recliner, and he can feel the heat on Williams. It pisses him off, so recently, via social media, he engaged some of that infamous lunatic fringe of folks angry for the sake of being angry on those apps to join in the spirited debate over Matt Williams. 'I'd had enough, and I explained a few things to people, why you make decisions,' Flannery says. 'What I said to these people online was, 'For the last 15 years, this time of year, you all went on vacations, you all had picnics at the park. Matt Williams has been coaching third while you were going on your picnics, he's coached 15 years, he's probably got a pretty good idea why he sent the runner.' I can have conversation with people about this, but the only ones that really understand are former third-base coaches.' Remembering back, Flannery gets emotional, speaking loudly over the whistling wind. 'You line up nine coaches and you say, 'Who wants to coach third?' and eight guys are taking a step back. Unless you really dig it. There's times it's terrible, it's brutal. My daughter came up to San Francisco (from San Diego), it was her birthday, we were all going to go out to dinner. I couldn't go out, because I screwed up a game and I knew I screwed it up, and they were killing me on radio and TV. I told them, 'I just can't go, I can't go out in public and take this from people tonight. I'm not gonna discuss it with a plumber.' ' So Flannery sympathizes with Williams, who he says is a great third-base coach. He points out that the job is even harder now than when he coached, because pitchers don't hit, and because of the overwhelming presence of gambling, with big stakes riding on every run, even in a lopsided game. Last Sunday, heading to a music gig near Oracle Park, Flannery felt the old tension flooding back, in a good way. 'I loved it, I loved it,' he says. 'I still get, when guys make decisions, when they are in the right place to make the call, and they wait til the right moment, I get off on it. It is such an art.' For Flannery, it was also a physically-demanding job. He says he learned as a paperboy that you run faster when you're chased by an angry dog. So to make sure his baserunner knew the dog was angry, the old dog would chase him home, yelling. From his mountaintop perch on Hamqaq, Flannery screams into his phone: 'YOU'VE GOTTA F----G GOOOO!' I wonder if the crows circling nearby are listening to this strange being, and saying to one another, 'Well, that's one way to get 'em to heaven.'
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Giants exercise contract option on manager Bob Melvin for the 2026 season
San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin has words with home plate umpire Quinn Wolcott (81) after getting ejected from the game in the ninth inning during a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Monday, June 30, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri) San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin, right, watches Mike Yastrzemski, left, during the first inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox in Chicago, Sunday, June 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh) San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin looks to the field before a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox in Chicago, Sunday, June 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh) San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin, left, takes the ball from relief pitcher pitcher Erik Miller during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox in Chicago, Sunday, June 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh) San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin, right, talks with third base coach Matt Williams, left, before a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox in Chicago, Sunday, June 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh) San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin, right, talks with third base coach Matt Williams, left, before a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox in Chicago, Sunday, June 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh) San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin has words with home plate umpire Quinn Wolcott (81) after getting ejected from the game in the ninth inning during a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Monday, June 30, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri) San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin, right, watches Mike Yastrzemski, left, during the first inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox in Chicago, Sunday, June 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh) San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin looks to the field before a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox in Chicago, Sunday, June 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh) San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin, left, takes the ball from relief pitcher pitcher Erik Miller during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox in Chicago, Sunday, June 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh) San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin, right, talks with third base coach Matt Williams, left, before a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox in Chicago, Sunday, June 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh) SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The San Francisco Giants showed their confidence in manager Bob Melvin on Tuesday, exercising his contract option for the 2026 season. San Francisco was 45-40 and in third place in the NL West heading into the second game of a four-game set at Arizona on Tuesday night. Advertisement The 63-year-old Melvin left the San Diego Padres to return home to the Bay Area and manage the Giants last year for the job he always dreamed of doing as a former catcher with the organization. This is his 22nd year as a major league manager. 'Having the chance to work alongside Bob every day, we're really fortunate to have such an experienced leader and one of the most well-respected managers in baseball,' Giants President of Baseball Operations Buster Posey said in a statement. 'His leadership, preparation, and connection with our players have been invaluable, and we believe he's the right person to continue guiding this team forward.' Melvin, a three-time Manager of the Year who has won the award in both leagues, has a career regular-season record of 1,642-1,547 with eight postseason appearances while guiding Arizona, Seattle, Oakland, San Diego and now the Giants. The club went 80-82 in his first season last year. Advertisement 'I'm grateful for the opportunity to continue leading this group,' Melvin said. 'I believe in what we're building here, and I appreciate the confidence that the Giants ownership group, Greg, Buster, Larry (Baer), Zack (Minasian) and the rest of the Giants' organization have shown in me and our staff. We have a lot of unfinished business this year, and I'm looking forward to the work ahead.' Melvin is a native of nearby Palo Alto, California. He attended the University of California-Berkeley and played for his hometown Giants from 1986-88. He replaced Gabe Kapler, who was fired with three days remaining in the 2023 season. The Giants haven't made the playoffs nor had a winning record since finishing with a franchise-record 107 victories to edge the 106-win Dodgers for the NL West title in 2021. In other Giants news, the team placed infielder Christian Koss on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain and recalled outfielder Luis Matos from Triple-A Sacramento. ___ AP MLB:
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Rafael Devers hits first home run for Giants against former team Red Sox
San Francisco Giants' Rafael Devers, right, is congratulated by third base coach Matt Williams after hitting a two-run home run during the third inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox in San Francisco, Saturday, June 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) San Francisco Giants' Rafael Devers hits a two-run home run against the Boston Red Sox during the third inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Saturday, June 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) San Francisco Giants' Rafael Devers, middle right, circles the bases after hitting a two-run home run off of Boston Red Sox pitcher Brayan Bello, left, during the third inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Saturday, June 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) San Francisco Giants' Rafael Devers, middle right, circles the bases after hitting a two-run home run off of Boston Red Sox pitcher Brayan Bello, left, during the third inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Saturday, June 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) San Francisco Giants' Rafael Devers, right, is congratulated by third base coach Matt Williams after hitting a two-run home run during the third inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox in San Francisco, Saturday, June 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) San Francisco Giants' Rafael Devers hits a two-run home run against the Boston Red Sox during the third inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Saturday, June 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) San Francisco Giants' Rafael Devers, middle right, circles the bases after hitting a two-run home run off of Boston Red Sox pitcher Brayan Bello, left, during the third inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Saturday, June 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Rafael Devers hit his first home run for the Giants, connecting against his former Boston Red Sox team just six days after being traded to San Francisco. Devers began his first series against the Red Sox by going 0 for 5 on Friday night and grounding out in his first at-bat Saturday. He then delivered just what his new team had been expecting when he hit an opposite-field drive off Brayan Bello over the left-field fence for a two-run homer in the third inning. Advertisement Devers got loud cheers from the big crowd in San Francisco as he rounded the bases for his 216th career home run that just happened to be caught by a fan in a Red Sox T-shirt. Devers was traded by Boston less than two years into a 10-year, $313.5 million contract extension that he signed in 2023. Devers' relationship with the Red Sox began to deteriorate when the team signed Gold Glove third baseman Alex Bregman during spring training and asked Devers to move to DH; he balked before agreeing to the switch. When first baseman Triston Casas sustained a season-ending knee injury, the Red Sox approached Devers about playing the field and he declined, saying the front office 'should do their jobs' and look for another player. A day after Devers' comments to the media about playing first, Red Sox owner John Henry, team president Sam Kennedy and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow flew to Kansas City to meet with Devers and manager Alex Cora. Advertisement Devers' stance didn't change and he was eventually traded to San Francisco where he is practicing at first base to play there later this season. Devers said Friday that he wouldn't have done anything differently in his time in Boston, adding that he was as happy as he has been in years after joining the Giants. ___ AP MLB:
