Questions

Man post-post season is ridiculously boring, isn’t it?  Even Jane Heller has been reduced to move reviewing.  There could be news if someone would actually do something, but so far there’s just unanswered questions, like…

1) Will Aubrey Huff and Juan Uribe like their offers and come back next year?

2) Will Jonathan Sanchez, Andres Torres, Cody Ross, Mike Fontenot, Ramon Ramirez, Santiago Casilla, Javier Lopez and Chris Ray come to arbitration agreements?  

3) Will Zito learn to pitch again or will they downgrade him to an 8 bazillion dollar bench warmer?  

4 Will Pablo Sandoval be playing next season or will he eat himself out of baseball during the break?  

5)  Will Mark DeRosa…do…um…anything?  

Heck, I’m so bored I’m even watching to see what happens to Jeter and Werth!  I think they should come to the Giants.  Yeah right.

2010 Cy Young

Congrats to Roy Halladay for winning the 2010 Cy Young Award. 

With a perfect game, a post-season no hitter, a 21-10 win-loss record and an overall 2.44 ERA, all in one season, who else could have won this thing, really?  As awesome as Giants starters were this season, I didn’t expect any of them to snag it, as none of them had those kind of stats.  It was nice to see three on the list though, including Matt Cain and Brian Wilson, the latter who scored more points than Lincecum.  Crazy.

So again congrats to Roy Halladay.   I love pitching and you were certainly impressive this year. BTW, Cody Ross says “hi.”

2010 TYIB Awards

Pitching won the World Series and yet not a single Giants starter is amongst the nominees for MLB’s This Year In Baseball Awards.  Who comes up with the nominees?   It almost seems too silly to participate in the voting, but of course I did.  If you’d like to vote party, here’s a handy-dandy cheat sheet.  Remember you can vote more than once in each category, so make sure you tag every Giant!

STARS

Rookie – Buster Posey

Closer – Brian Wilson

X-Factor – Pat Burrell

Executive – Brian Sabean

Manager – Bruce Bochy

Postseason MVP – Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Cody Ross, Brian Wilson

MUST C

Postseason – Tim Lincecum, Buster Posey, Edgar Renteria, Juan Uribe, Brian Wilson

And there you have it.  Apparently there was nothing to see from the Giants until they hit the postseason.  Awesome.  

The Torture is Over

I’m supposed to be preparing for my trip to Seattle.  I have tons to wrap up at work, I have packing to do, but I can’t concentrate.  How the heck am I suppose to accomplish anything after last night?  

I started by listening to it on the radio on my way home from work.  Cliff Lee was back.  Uh oh.  This is going to be tough.  Sounds like we’re coming back to San Francisco and I’m going to miss it.  Damn.

But no, Lincecum is in full force too!  Three up, three down.  The Freak is on the mound and he’s taking no prisoners.  He saw Cain and Bumgarner’s shut outs and he wants a taste.  This is going to be a tight race.  

For seven innings they battled, neither giving up a run.  This is what everyone wanted in the first game.  This is what everyone wanted when Lincecum faced Halladay.  This is a pitcher’s duel.  

VS

Then in the 7th, the first slip.  Ross and Uribe hit singles to center field.  Could this be the opportunity?  Huff bunts…BUNTS a sacrifice and the two men on gain a base.  Ross is so close to putting a run on this board.  I couldn’t sit, I couldn’t watch, I HAD to watch.  Burrell up.  Oh no, why is he still playing?  Maybe this will be his time to make up for his post-season.  Sacrifice fly?  Get someone home?  C’mon Burrell!  Strike out.  Ack.  So much for drama.  Edgar Renteria up. Now would be a good time for a home run, I really said that. He hits it out of the park.  Where there were no runs scored by either team, now there are three and they are Giants runs.  

OMG!  And it’s the 7th.  We can hold them until the end.  We do it all the time.  This is our thing.  We have it!  

Lincecum gets excited and Nelson Cruz knocks one out of the park.  Whoops!  Okay so the lead is getting tighter, we can still do it.  Ian Kinsler walks. Oh no, Lincecum is losing it.  The Rangers are going to issue out some payback now.  

Nope!

Lincecum reigns it in and adds two more strikeouts to his belt, ending the inning before more damage is done.  He also takes care of the 8th.  I’m thinking, much like Bumgarner the night before, he probably could have knocked out the 9th too, but Bochy sticks with tradition and brings in Wilson to finish it off.  

No champagne, no jumping up and down, I just sat there on the couch soaking in the surreality of the moment.  I watched all the post-game coverage, I watched the awards given out in the Rangers hidecloset, I did some dishes and listened to Jewel, which has nothing to do with baseball but somehow helped satiate the excitement that was consuming me.  

I dreamed about baseball. I woke up thinking about baseball.  I’m not going to get anything done.  I’m going to be in Seattle with no underwear.

But who cares?  THE GIANTS WON THE FREAKIN’ WORLD SERIES!!!!!

Watching the World Series last year, when my baseball obsession was starting to blossom, I thought and wrote the following:

I got home in time to see the Yankees win it and watch the post-game hoopla and I got to wondering what it would feel like to have a team you had an investment with in a game like this, win or lose.

Who the heck could have thought that it would happen the very next World Series?  I can’t even believe.  I still don’t believe it.  I’m not sure it’s sunk in completely. I have no idea how to even communicate my thoughts on all this.  I feel like I could write an entire book on these guys in one sitting, while at the same time I’m struggling just to put a coherent sentence together.  

I love this team.  I love everything about them that everyone is now latching on to. I love the misfits, the team made up of rookies and players nobody wanted.  I love the beards and ‘fros and pandas and freaks.  I love that every person on the team contributed in some way.  When someone was slumping, someone else rose to the occasion.  They’re all superstars.  I’ve followed them from Spring Training to the top of the world.  I never want this band to break up. 

In some ways this might be a horrible season for me to have started caring.  It can only be downhill from here.  It’s not like this can happen every year, right?

“Why not?” ~ Buster Posey

Giants-Rangers Game 2: Cake Walks

I am completely confused as to what’s going on.  This is not Giants baseball as I have come to know it.  20 runs in two games?  Not that I’m complaining, mind you, it’s kind of nice actually.  Is this what games are like for other fans?  Lots of runs, great defense, no torture?  I could get used to it, but on the other hand, the pessimist in me is waiting for the other shoe to drop.  

It started out like a normal Giants game.  No runs for the first four innings, both Cain and Wilson (C.J. Wilson, now our Wilson) shutting out the competition.  Then Edgar Renteria decides to relive his past World Series experience and knocks one out of the park. 1-0, still a normal Giants game.  That run ultimately won the game BTW, but let’s keep going.

Bottom of the 7th, Juan Uribe, the other “old guy” on the team with post-season experience, knocks a single into right field and Cody Ross scores.  2-0 Giants.  Okay now, from past experience, the goal now is to keep those measly two runs and prevent the other guys from catching up by using our awesome bullpen to shut them down, sealing the deal with Brian Wilson.

But then the 8th happened.  Like this:

• O’Day now pitching, strikes out Torres.  One out.
• Freddy Sanchez up, strikes out.  Two out.
• Buster Posey, single to second base.  Still two out.
• O’Day replaced by Derek Holland. Nate Schierholtz walks.  Buster to 2B.  Still two out.
• Cody Ross walks, Posey to 3B, Scheirholtz to 2B.  Bases loaded.  Still two out.
• Aubrey Huff WALKS.  Posey scores.  Scheirholtz to 3B.  Ross to 2B.  Still two out.  SFG: 3, TEX: 0.
• Holland out, Lowe in.  Walks Juan Uribe.  Scheriholtz scores.  Ross to 3B. Huff to 2B.  Still two out.  SFG: 4, TEX: 0.
• Renteria singles to LF, Ross and Huff score.  Still two out.  SFG: 6, TEX: 0.  
• Lowe out, Kirkman in.  Aaron Rowand triples to RF, Uribe and Renteria score.  Still two out.  SFG: 8, TEX: 0.
• Andres Torres doubles to LF, Rowand scores. Still two out.  SFG: 9, TEX: 0.
• Freddy Sanchez strikes out swinging.  Three out.

The Texas bullpen just died or something.  Giants score 7 runs in one inning, two from walks.  It was like one of those cake walks at the community fair, where everyone is just walking around in circles waiting for the music to stop.  It finally stopped after 7 runs.  Of course, as I said above, only 1 run was needed to win this game, so the 8th inning was just icing, but an icing that certainly boosted confidence and hopefully sucked some life out of Texas.  I guarantee you there will be a pitchers meeting before Game 3.  

Fear the ‘Fro again, people!  Matt Cain performed another shut out, keeping his post-season 0.00 ERA intact.  I’m so glad the world gets to see how awesome this guy is.  (Well, the world that’s watching, because y’know.. the Yankees and Red Sox aren’t in it this year.)   Ian Kinsler almost knocked one out of the park in the 5th, but he was about 10 cents short and the Ranger remained scoreless.  

	Series	Date	Tm		Opp	Rslt	Inngs	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
2010	NLDS g2	Oct 8	SFG		ATL	L,4-5	GS-7	6.2	7	1	0	2	6	0	0.00
2010	NLCS g3	Oct 19	SFG		PHI	W,3-0	GS-7	7.0	2	0	0	3	5	0	0.00
2010	WS g2	Oct 28	SFG		TEX	W,9-0	GS-8	7.2	4	0	0	2	2	0	0.00
								21.1	13	1	0	7	13	0	0.00

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/29/2010.

Matt Cain everyone!

Speaking of awesome pitching, and I don’t think I ever have spoken about this guy, but how sick is Javier Lopez?  His crazy pitching style had me from the beginning, but I always overlook him in my posts because he generally only pitches for one or two at-bats.  But they’re always smoking.  He takes out left handers like a freakin’ ninja with Chinese throwing stars.  His sideways looking bullet eliminated Hamilton’s last chance to get something going in the 8th.  It was a beautiful thing.

So the Giants are 2-0 so far.  Everyone around here is getting all cocky again, just like they did in the NLCS. I hate that, personally. I guess I’m too negative to celebrate before anything is official.  Of course, all the premature back patters were right about the NLCS, so maybe they’ll be right about the World Series too.  I heard on the way to work this morning that a 2-0 lead has happened 51 times in World Series history, and of those 51 2-0 teams, forty have gone on to win the title.  Pretty good odds, but how much you want to bet the Giants were one of those 9 teams who didn’t make it?

Not to be negative though.  Be positive. But not too positive.  Everyone keep wearing the same hats, sweaters, lucky socks; whatever you’re doing keep it going.  Don’t change your routine now.  We’re in Texas now.  Enemy territory.  Don’t look ahead, focus on the next game.  Keep your cool, your determination, look for those lucky breaks to feed on.  Wait…who am I talking to?

GO GIANTS

WORLD SERIES WIN COUNTER

Giants-Rangers Game 1: First Down

The Giants add another pitcher’s pelt to their wall next to Jimenez, Latos, Halladay, Oswalt and Hamels.  Here’s Cliff Lee’s new post-season stats:

Rk		Series	Date	Tm		Opp	Rslt	H	R	BB	SO	HR
1	2009	NLDS g1	Oct 7	PHI		COL	W,5-1	6	1	0	5	0
2	2009	NLDS g4	Oct 12	PHI	@	COL	W,5-4	5	3	3	5	0
3	2009	NLCS g3	Oct 18	PHI		LAD	W,11-0	3	0	0	10	0
4	2009	WS g1	Oct 28	PHI	@	NYY	W,6-1	6	1	0	10	0
5	2009	WS g5	Nov 2	PHI		NYY	W,8-6	7	5	3	3	0
2010 Postseason			Series	Tm		Opp	Rslt	H	R	BB	SO	HR
6	2010	ALDS g1	Oct 6	TEX	@	TBR	W,5-1	5	1	0	10	1
7	2010	ALDS g5	Oct 12	TEX	@	TBR	W,5-1	6	1	0	11	0
8	2010	ALCS g3	Oct 18	TEX	@	NYY	W,8-0	2	0	1	13	0
9	2010	WS g1	Oct 27	TEX	@	SFG	L,7-11	8	7	1	7	0
								48	19	8	74	1

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 10/28/2010.

That “L” on the last row? That’s the Giants.  Not only does nobody think the Giants are going to win this series, absolutely nobody saw them defeating Lee, especially in an 11-7 game.  The Giants don’t have offense, what was that about?

Even I’m somewhat baffled.  I’m not sure what any of it means.  I would have preferred that the Giants kept the 8-2 score they had in the 5th, that makes more sense to me.  The Giants strength all season has been their ability to keep runs at bay.  So it concerns me that after Lincecum leaves the game the bullpen gives up 5 more runs in 4 innings.  Yes, the Giants scored 11 runs and took the win, but can they do that all the time?  Are they going to have to?  They’ve only scored double digits fourteen times this season. 

On the other hand, I’ve heard the Rangers are pretty good about not giving up runs too, especially Cliff “third greatest post-season pitcher of all time” Lee, and yet they gave up 11.  So I really have no idea what to make of this game.  Maybe it was a fluke for both teams. 

I would like to think that the Rangers 3 runs in the 9th were mostly because Bochy didn’t put in Wilson right away, per usual, and I would like to think that the reason he did that was because the Giants were far enough ahead that he wanted to save Wilson and give other closers a chance to see some action.  Of course, it didn’t work out for Ramirez or Affeldt and Wilson ended up coming in anyway, but maybe those last 3 runs were “freebies” or something.  

Another “battle of the great pitchers of all time” hype that didn’t live up to itself.  Despite giving up more runs, Lee tied Lincecum in the hits department, dominated him in strikeouts and ultimately ended up with a slightly better ERA, even though he pitched one less inning.  But obviously, given the amount of runs in the game, neither star pitcher gave his best performance and the media was once again sad.

The tack-on offense was just amazing last night.  Consider that the Rangers had 8 hits off Lincecum but only generated 4 runs, while the Giants had 8 hits off Lee and generated 7 runs.  The singles and double just kept coming, and it always seem like it was when there were two outs.  Freddie Sanchez made World Series history by hitting three doubles in one game, generating three RBIs.  Posey, Schierholtz, Ross, Huff and Ishikawa all got to contribute RBIs and Juan UUUU-Ribe once again batted one out of the park with two on base.  God I love that guy.  He doesn’t always hit, but when he hits it’s always good.

Aside from the lame Fox announcers, two things I hated about last night’s presentation: 1) They completely skipped the opening pitch by Giants hall-of-famers in favor of focusing on two igits in the press box who, by their own admission later in the game, don’t know what they’re talking about.  How come I had to watch them instead of watching Orlando Cepeda, Gaylord Perry, Juan Marichal and Willie McCovey?  I don’t even know what they said.  Who cares what they said!  2) Didn’t get to see whether or not the crowd cheered when they announced Bengie Molina.  That was a discussion around the bay area all week, as to whether that would happen.  I heard on the radio this morning that they did in fact cheer his name, and I’m glad for it. I love the Bengie, even if he’s in the wrong colors.  

Speaking of Bengie, his latest blog entry is full of warm-hearted goodness.  My favorite bit:

The first time I was up, I wished Posey luck and he wished me luck. Then I looked out at Lincecum and touched the bill of my cap, and he touched his in response.

 

I had as special a relationship with Timmy as I have had with any pitcher. Maybe because he was so young when I began catching him and I became a mentor to him. We have texted since I was traded but I had not seen him or talked to him in person until the game yesterday. I had heard he had said really nice things about me to the press.

 

When he came up to bat for the first time, I stood and told him, “I want you to know that hits or no hits, win or lose, you’re my boy.”

“Hey, Be-Mo, I love you.”

Then we both got to work.

Awesome.  

Game 1 is in the bag.  Cliff Lee defeated.  The Giants are 1-0.  We’re still making the media scratch their heads in bewilderment.  Keep it up!  

GO GIANTS!

WORLD SERIES WIN COUNTER

Giants-Phillies Game 6: Onward

I painted all day Saturday. 
The wife and I just bought a new house, so my weekends have been
replaced by manual labor in an effort to make the house her own.  Labor makes me tired and I almost forgot that
Game 6 was even happening that day, but I managed to wake up and tune in to see
the Phillies score 2 runs off Sanchez in the 1^st. 

Off to Game 7, eh? 
God damn it. 

I was tired, it had already been a long day, and the idea of
three hours of torture to cap off my evening did not appeal to me at all.  I turned on Star Trek.  This will be easier.  Captain Kirk always wins, even when he’s in
Philadelphia. 

It started off good. 
I managed to sit back, relax and enjoy watching the exploits from where
no man has gone before.  But then the
back of my brain started scratching. 
“Hey, what if something awesome is happening right now?  What if the Giants have hit eight home runs
in a row or something?  You’re missing
it!”  I brushed it off and kept watching,
but “what if…?”

I cave and flip to the game, “just briefly” I tell myself,
and it’s tied up 2-2.  I convince myself
that a tie is worse than losing, and it will probably go 12 innings now just to
get to Game 7 anyway.  I flip back to
Trek.  Captain Kirk isn’t doing so well
but I’m confident he’ll come through. 

I start switching back more frequently.  Every time there’s the briefest lull in Trek
action, I use it as an excuse to “let’s just quickly see how it’s going.”  Still 2-2. 
Over and over again, it’s still 2-2. 
Every time I switch back, there’s a new pitcher; Sanchez, Affeldt,
Bumgarner (BUMGARNER?) and it continues to remain 2-2.  

By the 8^th inning, I’m watching more baseball
than Trek.  It was more torturous to not
know what was going on than it was to just watch the torture.  UUUU-Ribe hits a home run.  Captain Kirk will have to go on without
me.  Game 7 gets farther away.  Can we hold them? 

Lincecum is brought in to try.   Lincecum! 
One day of rest and coming in to help close?  Ridiculously unusual, and I’m not sure if it’s
a great idea, but I’m glad to see him anyway. 
He strikes out Werth.  But then
Victorino and Ibanez get on base.  Oh
no.  Then they call in Wilson.  Oh no again. 
This is too early for him isn’t it? 
It’s only the 8^th. 
They should only bring him in when there’s three outs left, not
five!  Double play-YES! 

Three more outs and the World Series. 

Wilson’s back. Good, it has to be Wilson.  Ross Gload grounds out, two more to go.  Jimmy Rollins walks, oh no.  That’s okay, Wilson always has to have a
little drama, it’s part of his charm.  Palanco
grounds out.  ONE MORE TO GO.  Utley walks. 
OH NO.  There’s drama and then
there’s drama, Wilson.  Ryan Howard steps
up.  The crappy Fox announcers talk about
how he hasn’t done anything for the Phillies all post-season.  “Thanks for the jinx”, I think to myself, wondering
if this will be the moment where he decides to snap out of his funk and hit one
out of the park to keep his team in the game. 

Strikeout!  Giants win
the NLCS!  World Series bound! 

The Giants come rushing off the bench and everyone jumps up
and down as the quietest stadium I’ve ever seen in my life watches their
victory.  My wife and mother-in-law were
all watching at this point, and even they commented that it seemed a shame no
one else was celebrating.  Were there no
Giants fans there?  Probably but
considering the massive sea of red, they must have been few and far between.  I didn’t expect fireworks or even applause
really, but man was that moment quiet. 
It’s a real shame they couldn’t have won it in San Francisco. 

Nothing against the Rangers, but they weren’t officially in
it until the other day and haven’t really been on my radar.  The Phillies have been the team to beat since
the Giants made it into the post-season. 
They’ve been to the World Series the last two years and have clinched
their division consecutively since 2007 and they were number one in the
National League this year.  They were the
hurdle the Giants had to get past as soon as the regular season was done.  Hats off to you Phillies, MUCH respect.  You didn’t make it easy.

Off to the World Series. 
Giants vs Rangers.  Posey vs
Molina.  “Haven’t won a World Series
since NY” vs “Haven’t won a World Series ever.” 
I know little about the Rangers, other than Molina’s been hitting and
Cliff Lee is full of win.  I’ll look into
them later.  Right now let’s just bask in
the joy of winning the NLCS. 
Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh….

P.S.

Congrats to Cody Ross for being selected MVP of the
NLCS.  You da man!

Giants-Phillies Game 3: Home Sweet Home

I love day games because I get to watch them. Digitally anyway, as I hide MLB’s Game Day amongst my many open work windows. You would think watching a pixelated baseball game wouldn’t be very exciting but I’ve found that it’s just as interesting as listening to a game on the radio or watching it on TV. Well maybe not “just as….” but pretty close. 

Yesterday’s game was a good example of how the Giants have been doing it all year; stellar pitching, a sprinkling of offense and the game is won. The only difference between yesterday’s game and your average win of the season was that it was completely free of torture. Other than a very brief nail biter in the 7th inning, the game was very straight forward. Even Brian Wilson didn’t load the bases before getting his three outs. Weird! 

The Bochy Shuffle seems to be working as Matt Cain, who swapped starting positions with Sanchez, threw a three-hit shutout. Renteria moved to first and got the first hit of the game in the 5th. Cody Ross was bumped to fifth and drove Renteria home with a single to left field. In the same inning, Huff, who was bumped to sixth, drove home Burrell with a single to second base. Aaron Rowand was added to the line-up and gets on base in the 6th with a double to left field, and Freddie Sanchez, who’s probably the only guy who kept his same position, runs in Rowand with another single to second base.

Huff and Sanchez should thank Utley for doing his best Brooks Conrad impression.

Yesterday I posted a comparison chart between Hamels and Cain:

Here’s how they compared yesterday:

Other than the bases on ball, pretty much the same thing, eh?  I love it when a stat comes together!  Matt Cain is not an undersized, two time Cy Young winner with a wild pitching style.  He’s doesn’t have a shoe polished beard.  He has no drama, so no one talks about him.  But he’s Mister Giant in terms of tenure, and he’s a constant, which may not be interesting for the media to talk about, but I think he rocks anyway.  Check it:

Bad start in April and a mild dip in June, but otherwise the guy is a flat line.  Certainly more consistent then his fellow starting pitchers.  Not better or worse, but right down the middle.  

Anyway, two more to go.  It would be great if they could clinch it in San Francisco, but that’s probably asking too much.  It would be great if they could clinch it period.  Let’s stick with that.  

Giants-Phillies Game 2: One Off

Yesterday was weird.  

We were supposed to go to the local pumpkin patch around the time of the game.  But then it started raining so we didn’t go.  Serendipitously I had gotten around to cleaning the rain gutters and cleaning out the side yard the day before.  

My wife decided to go shopping earlier that afternoon and took her daughter, leaving me alone with the baby for the first time in his existence.  It was a fairly lackluster event as he slept through the whole thing, but I didn’t shower or get dressed thinking at any minute he would wake up.  

In lieu of going to the pumpkin patch, my wife invited her mother and nieces over to hang at our house.  So the game is about to start, it’s raining outside, I haven’t got ready for the day, and there’s three little girls running around screaming and a baby boy whining and pulling on my arm while the wife and mother-in-law intelligently hide in the kitchen. 

Off to a good start (sarcasm).

Game starts and the Phillies score a run in the first inning.  I use the term “run” loosely as no running was necessary.  Sanchez loaded the bases and then walked somebody home.  Granted the scoring pitch should have been strike 3, but that doesn’t matter because A) the same botched call happened to the Phillies in game 1 and that’s what karma is all about and B) Fontenot’s error throwing to 1st base combined with Sanchez’s pension for walking people is what got them to having such a tight margin of error.  

Off to a good start (sarcasm).

Then in the 4th, three Giants stand around looking like morons as a pop fly falls at their feet in front of home plate.  Fontenot was again credited with an error, but I think Sanchez should have had that one.  He was there already, and he didn’t even look like he was saying anything.  COMMUNICATION people!  

At this point I’m about as interested in watching this game as the Giants are in playing it.

But then in the 5th, Cody Ross gets up to bat.  At this point, the annoying announcers (that are so lame, my wife at one point shouted from the safety of her hiding place and asked me if I was watching football – yes it sounded like I was watching football because they are that lame) started talking to some elderly Phillies gentleman, who was probably the manager but maybe the pitching coach or something, asking him about what they were putting in place to counter Cody Ross and they show Cody Ross hitting a home run.  But it wasn’t a home run from Game 1 like I thought, it was a home run happening NOW.  I think the announcers thought it was a clip too, because mid question they finally said, “Oh hey, he hit a home run!” It was awesome.  Cody Ross is like Kryptonite for Philadelphia.  

So now it’s tied up. Much better.  The kids aren’t as annoying anymore.  

But it didn’t last because in answer the Phillies scored another one in the same inning.  Yippee.

During the 6th, dinner comes and goes and so do the visitors.  I wait for the wife to straighten up a little bit and then I pass the baby off to her with the excuse that I need to do the dishes.  I tell her the TV is hers but I feel done with this game.  I’m tired, I’m smelly, I’m dying for some piece and quiet and I just wasn’t in the mood to watch the game anymore, even though it was still close and could have gone either way at that point.

So I go do the dishes, as promised, slapping on my head phones and listening to Why Is This News? as they break down the LCS and explain to me why the Phillies and Yankees will be going to the World Series again.  After dishes, I decide to go take a shower and while stripping down in my room (picture it!) I flip on the game again, only to see that now it is no longer any man’s game, as some how 4 runs were scored off the Giants’ bullpen in the 7th.  

Perfect end really. Whatever.

I shower and go to bed.  The baby, who normally sleeps until at least 5am, decides to get up at 1am, 3am and 6am and for some reason I couldn’t get back to sleep after his initial 1am outburst.  I could blame it on me mulling over the loss, but really I wasn’t thinking about baseball. I have no idea what was keeping me up.  I watched Near Dark again.  Good flick, could be better.

So now I’m tired and we’re 1-1.  I’m not especially worried.  It seemed unlikely the Giants would get the first 2 right off the bat. I’m glad they got at least one game in Philadelphia and now they’re coming home. Hopefully that gives the offense and pitching staff a boost.  That’s how home field advantage works, right?  

Giants-Phillies Game 1: Phillies Lose

Giants didn’t win, but Phillies lost.  Doesn’t that seem like how it is?  I’m not saying I feel that way, but for some reason it feels like everyone else outside the Bay Area feels that way.  In fact I don’t feel anyone thinks the Giants are even supposed to be here, like they just lucked their way to the top somehow.  

The announcers seemed especially annoying.  They were not our usual Kruk and Kuip or Jon Miller.  I don’t know what their names were, but they must have been ex-Phillies players or something, because none of them seemed to predict anything good from the Giants.  To paraphrase:

Announcer #1 = Man that Roy Halladay is the greatest pitcher of all time, isn’t he?

Announcer #1 = You said it A1!

A1 = I mean I guess I’d go see a Lincecum game.  Y’know, if I got a free ticket or something.  And Roy Holladay wasn’t pitching.  And I didn’t have to mow my lawn.

A2 = Yeah Lincecum’s pretty good.

A1 = Yeah…Hey did I ever tell you I made out with a gal who dated Halladay once?

A2 = You…are…SO…lucky!

The Phillies only lost because the umpire had rotating strike zone, never mind that he was umpiring when Lincecum was pitching too, and Lincecum ended up with a better ERA and more strikeouts.  It was definitely the umpire.  Because a “hippy with bad teeth” can’t out-pitch Doc Halladay, right?  

So Harry Halladay didn’t get a shutout and the Phillies lose and the game is disappointing.  Well I’m sorry but I enjoyed it.  I would have enjoyed it more if the Giants had kept their 3-1 lead, mind you, but hey sitting on the edge of my seat for three innings was fun too.  

I don’t know what the future is for this series, how many games, who’s going to take it, blah blah blah, but the Giants did something the Reds couldn’t and our star pitcher beat the Phillies star pitcher.  That alone gives me enough happy to fuel my week.  The media can suck it.  We’re here and, win or lose, we’re bringing torture to Philadelphia!  

P.S.

Did you know this was the first post-season to have two pitchers facing each other both with the middle name LeRoy?  

P.P.S.

Did you know that Cody Ross spelled backwards is “Ssory Doc?”