Orange October Contines... to November

THE SPORTS BOTTOM - October 25, 2010

To borrow a phrase from the late, great Jack Buck, “Go crazy, Folks! Go crazy!”

And that’s exactly what happened this past Saturday evening, at approximately 8 PM local time, here in San Francisco. Brian Wilson, of Fear-the-Beard fame, pitched the final five outs against the Philadelphia Phillies and got Ryan Howard looking for strike three to clinch the National League Pennant for the San Francisco Giants.

The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!

What a series. Simply unreal. Do the Giants have the best pitching staff ever? Maybe. Maybe not. But the rotation of Timmy Lincecum, Matty (Ralph Malph) Cain, Jonathan Sanchez and Madison “Mad Dog” Bumgarner is pretty tough to beat. Throw in a bullpen that’s getting stronger and stronger as it gets colder an wetter outside, and Brian “Beard” Wilson closing things out, and the Giants pitching is rock solid.

I was fortunate to go to Game Four of the N.L.C.S. at AT&T Park, the 6-5 Giants win on a “walk off” sacrifice fly. Unreal. The electricity in the stadium that evening, I’ve never seen anything like it before. The crowd roared on every pitch.

We had “standing room only” tickets, which were great, about 10 feet to the left of the right field fair pole. We stood in front of McCovey Cove. The view was amazing, until something happened and everyone in front of us stood up. Couldn’t see a gawd-damn thing. Did I or my buddy Jenny (if you ever get a chance to go to a game with Jenny, playoffs or regular season, DO IT!) mind or complain? Oh hell no. 

I (and Jenny also, as it turned out) had never been to a major league playoff game before. It was mind-blowingly exciting. Every pitch. Every out. Every baserunner. I hugged everyone standing around us at least five times. The crowd was jovial. We were all just happy to be there, screaming and yelling, sweating and bleeding our beloved Giants to victory. 

And it worked. Giants won 6-5. Led the series 3-1. Timmy pitching Game Five at home. How could we lose? Clinching the pennant in front of the home fans. Yes.

Except that the Giants played probably their worst game of the post season. Errors, bad umpire calls, mostly errors and lack of clutch hitting, and the Phillies survived to play another day, winning Game Five 4-2.

Off to Philly for Games Six and Seven, if needed. The Giants’ history in clinching playoff series’ on the road was not good. 1987, lost the final two games in St. Louis to lose the pennant. 2002, lost the final two games to Anaheim on the road to lose the World Series, blowing a five run lead in Game Six late in the game. Uh oh. There were/are reasons the Giants have yet to win a World Series title since moving to San Francisco. Oh dear...

Saturday rolled around. Personally I was torn because my beloved Mizzou Tigers were playing the then-B.C.S. number one ranked Oklahoma Sooners on national TV at the exact time the Giants were playing. I chose to support my beloved Giants, as the World Series was on the line.

Got my business done on Saturday and met up with “the gang”, my group of buddies and friends that I’ve watched most of the Giants’ playoff games with this autumn. Went to the Stray Bar in Bernal Heights (cheap plug, yeah, your welcome, Karen) for cheap beer and couches. 

Could the Giants win it in Six and avoid anything having to do with a Game Seven in Philadelphia? Could they? Could we? Giants fall behind by two. Sanchez is struggling. My buddy Brad is pleading with Bochy to pull him. 

Giants rally to tie the game. Sanchez is pulled in bottom of the third. Just have to say one thing about that inning: totally weak on Chase Utley’s part, throwing the ball back to Sanchez after getting hit. Yeah you got hit. Was it intentional? Are you freaking serious? Of course not. Very immature and unprofessional on your part. That was what was “such bullshit”, as you couldn’t seem to figure out after it happened.

Anyway, back to the game. Could the Giants bullpen hold up for basically seven innings? Oh geez. That’s a long time.

Back and forth. Giants don’t score. Phillies don’t score. Eighth inning. Who would step up? Who’d be the hero?

U-RIBE!!! UUUUU-RIIIIIBE!!! Juan Uribe hits a solo homer in the top of the eighth. Giants up 3-2. Six outs away from the pennant.

Timmy Lincecum comes in to pitch in relief. First guy, OUT! Next two get base hits. Oh no. Five more outs needed. Timmy was struggling.

Bochy emerged and in came Beard Wilson. 

Five outs to go. 

Wilson got the final two outs in the eighth. Giants go down in the top of the ninth. 

Three outs to go.

Wilson got the first out. Drama building. Folks in the bar, myself included, screaming and howling at the top of our lungs. Wilson got the second out. Are we gonna do it? Is this really happening. 

Howard’s up. No homers and no RBI for the series. Surely he’d do something here. STRIKE THREE CALLED! THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!

Folks in Bernal Heights took to the streets, high-fiving total strangers and hugging people as they walked by. Cars were honking. People were shooting off fireworks. I rode in a cab down Mission from Bernal Heights to the Excelsior. It was a madhouse. Giants fans literally pouring into the streets. Flags waving. Pom poms waving. People hugging and cheering. Me hanging out the cab window waving my Rally Rag. What a scene. Haven’t seen a city reaction to a baseball game like that since the Running Redbirds days of the St. Louis Cardinals during the 1980s.

Game One of the World Series begins Wednesday. Beat Texas! Less Texas in America! Can the Giants win it all? Can they bring the World Series trophy to San Francisco? Finally? Why the hell not? 

The last two world weeks have been incredible. Why stop now? Why not wave Aubrey’s red thong and profess our communal love for Cody Ross down Market Street during a championship parade? 

Why not? The torture continues.

Fear the Beard!

Giants Fever, Catch It!

THE SPORTS BOTTOM - October 16, 2010

I see ORANGE people.

Fear the Beard!

F*CK YEAH!

San Francisco definitely has Giants Fever! Our beloved Orange and Black start the National League Championship Series today in Philadelphia against the Phillies. ¡Vamos Gigantes!

Nobody expected the Giants to do much this year. Sure, they had great pitching. But the offense was supposed to be so “offensive” that the team would have been overachieving if it finished at .500.

But look what happened. The National League West was a two-team race in the end. Yeah the Rockies tried to get back into it and were in it until the last two weeks. But it was mano a mano, or is that equipo a equipo, between the Giants and the San Diego Padres.

The Padres? How can you hate the Padres? San Diego is beautiful. You can even go into the water in San Diego without worrying (too much) about sharks, riptides and hypothermia. And, they are NOT the Dodgers.

But as the season wore on and the Pad’s huge lead in the West started to dwindle and get smaller and smaller, San Franciscans realized, “Hey, we can win this thing.” Suddenly we all took notice of the standings because Giants’ games were becoming and event again at AT&T Park.

Once the Rockies fell off the pace (and you had to worry about them, seeing as how they won, what, 13 out of 14 to win the wild card in 2007, or something crazy like that) the battle was on between the Giants and the Padres. NorCal versus SoCal. Bring it on.

The battle for the West raged on. Giants up by three games with three to play, all three against the Padres. Pads win the first. Pads win the second. Suddenly it’s the last game of the regular season and the Giants are clinging to a one game lead. The City was ready for a showdown.

Final game. Giants win. Off to the playoffs. The team made a victory lap around AT&T Park after clinching the West, and all of the Bay Area rejoiced. Champagne glasses were raised. Beer glasses were toasted. Joints were lit up. Los Gigantes were off to the playoffs.

Everyone rallied around the Giants in the first round against the Braves. Young and old, gay and straight, hipsters and yuppies. It was awesome to be a part of. Giants win a thrilling series.

But now things get ever more serious. Four wins away from the World Series. Four wins against the two-time defending National League Champions. Timmy Lincecum opens the series for the Giants. Awesome, no problem, right? The Phillies counter with Doc Halladay. All he did was pitch the second no-hitter in post-season history in the Phillies’ first series. Damn, that’s pretty awesome.

So it’s on. Love your cheese steaks, Philly, but that’s about it. San Francisco is ready to rally around our local nine again. 

Rally rags? Check. Orange pompoms? Check. Bright orange shirt? Check. See you at the bar, Giants fans.

Settle Down, Giants Fans

THE SPORTS BOTTOM - October 9, 2010

Playoff baseball is upon us. Wow, what an exciting time of the year! Sure, baseball can be kind of boring to watch, more of a social event at the stadium rather than a sporting event. At least in San Francisco, anyways.

But lo and behold baseball has The City in its claws right now because San Francisco’s beloved Giants shocked the world and won the National League West Division. 

One thing you have to understand is that San Francisco isn’t the best sports city in the country. There’s just too many other things to do here and it’s a very transient community within The City. I wasn’t living here when the 49ers were winning their five Super Bowls. I’m sure The City rallied behind them because their games became events.

San Francisco loves an event. Bring the eyes of the nation to one particular place and San Francisco will be there en masse, roaring with approval and being seen where it’s cool to be seen. Right now that scene-to-be-seen is at the ball park. San Francisco is very proud of it’s “new” ball park, and AT&T Park, situated right along San Francisco Bay, while not being cheap, is a GREAT place to see a ball game.

The City was flying high with Giants Fever as Game Two approached in SF. And why not? The Giants seemed invincible after Game One. Sure we have no offense and our bullpen can be suspect, but damn, no one can touch our starting pitching. I mean, we kept Barry Freakin’ Zito off the playoff roster because our rotation was already so strong!

And Timmy Lincecum did not disappoint in Game One. A two-hit shutout, 14 strikeouts. FOURTEEN! It was incredible to watch. The kid was en fuego. The City roared it’s approval every time an Atlanta Brave struck out. And after the Giants scored a run we all knew the game was over. Timmy was not going to disappoint.

And he didn’t. The Giants took Game One 1-0 and all of San Francisco seemed to be screaming and hollering and toasting our victorious Giants. There seemed no way in hell the Braves had a chance against our Orange and Black. No way in hell.

Matty Cain was pitching Game Two, and since he bears a striking resemblance to Ralph Malph from Happy Days, we were ready to holler, “I still got it!” after all of his strike outs.

Bottom of the first inning, Pat Burrell cranks a three-run home run, Giants up 3-0. The score eventually gets to 4-0 and Cain is happily rolling along, even hitting an RBI single himself to boot. The Giants couldn’t fail. The City was already making plans on where to watch the clinching game on Sunday while still being able to see the Blue Angels perform (another event taking place the same weekend).

Braves get a run. Isn’t that cute. Cain keeps rolling along.

Suddenly Cain started to falter. Suddenly the Braves started getting base runners. Suddenly we didn’t seem so invincible. Cain got yanked and suddenly our “suspect bullpen” was in the game. Uh oh. 

Giants closer Brian Wilson came into the game in the eighth inning. Uh oh. Braves rallied to tie the score in the top of the ninth. Uh oh. Giants couldn’t rally and the Braves got a home run in the eleventh inning to win the game. Oh shit.

Wait a minute. What just happened? I barely had time to step out on the patio for a smoke and get a beer at the bar and now we lost? This wasn’t supposed to happen. This isn’t physically possible.

Game Three is in Atlanta on Sunday. Now our beloved Giants need to win Sunday or face elimination the next day. 

Over-confidence can be a bad thing. While we were deliriously waving our Rally Rags and orange pompoms and deciding where we were gonna watch the next game, somebody forgot to tell the Braves to Fear the Beard. See you in Atlanta.