Anyone who takes public transportation to work every day has a specific routine they like to follow. Catching the same train, boarding the same car, sitting in the same seat, buying a newspaper from the same newsstand (if anyone bought newspapers). Oftentimes you end up seeing the same people too.
The best part of my public transportation routine is walking by a man who sits at the Embarcadero Bart/Munio station with a tenor saxophone and a sign. Anyone who passes through that station in the mornings knows who I'm talking about.
He sits there with his sax, howls out a few notes, and displays a sign on a music stand with a new message every morning. This man has become my page-a-day calender. Every morning bears a news message that I just have to get a look at.
Most of the time they're awesome. They're pieces of advice about life, family, God, attitude. My all time favorite: "Rise and remember, there is none greater than the Elephant. And you are the elephant."
Now you may be saying, what does this have to do with the Giants?
Nothing really. But his message on this fine Friday morning reminded me a lot of baseball and the toll being a fan takes, particularly in these last four games. It read:
"Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm."
Baseball is a frustrating game, filled with ups and downs. You win some and you lose some, and you can only hope that the some you win are greater than the some you lose. But the key is to never lose enthusiasm, to never lose sight that win or lose, it's great following this team.
Now, I am a royal hypocrite. After the Giants' two losses in Colorado and blowing/nearly blowing leads in LA, I was as pissy as a cat forced to drink sour milk.
But these last four Giants games have been on another level. I'm not sure if I can remember the Giants being this gut-wrenching in four consecutive games. It seems like they usually mix a comfortable win or blowout loss somewhere in there for good measure.
On Monday in the Humidor, they blew a 4-2 lead in the 6th after Lincecum booted a gimmie double-play. It always hurts twice as much when Lincecum loses.
On Tuesday, after SanCHEZ finally looked to be on track, they blew another 2-run lead even later in the game. A 4-spot in the 8th turned a 3-1 victory into a 5-3 loss.
On Wednesday, I followed the game from my $2 seat at the Oakland Coliseum. And in the time it took me to get from my seat at the Coliseum to my seat on Bart, the Giants managed to let a 5-2 lead in the 8th morph to a 5-5 tie ballgame. Were it not for Cody Ross and an affinity for the hanging curve ball, the Giants very well could have made it three devastating losses in a row.
And then last night, easily the granddaddy of them all. Watching every pitch from my living room, I was amazed at how little drama the Giants put us through in the first 8 innings. A couple of nice 2 out hits and a lights out performance from Bumgarner and we were 1 out away from a relatively relaxing win.
And then the Baseball Gods woke up, realized they overslept and unleashed their hellish fury just in time.
One out away from his first career complete game shutout, Mad Bum gave up a base hit to Rod Barajas. Then a double from Sands. Brian "Rabbi" Wilson came in for the final out. 25% of the folks watching turned the game off at that point, assuming he'd nail it down no problem. Another 25% turned, assuming he'd blow the game and didn't want to watch it happen. And the rest of us 50% just watched.
Walk. "No."
Walk. "Why."
With the bases loaded, a base hit now ties the game and flushes Bumgarner's first win down a toilet at Dodger Stadium. Any extra base hit likely ends the game. With the reptilian-faced Jamey Carrol at the plate, I was 51% sure he'd slap a base hit up the middle.
As it turned out, it was even worse. He blooped what was surely a game-tying base hit into shallow right field. As Nate Shierholtz came in and made it clear he was diving to catch it, 3 options presented themselves:
1. He doesn't catch it, but keeps ball in front of him -- game tied, Mad Bum spews an obscenity-laden Boomhower rant, then punches cow he bought for wife. World ends Saturday at 6pm.
2. He doesn't catch it, ball gets behind him -- game over, Dodgers win, Mad Bum spews an obscenity-laden Boomhower rant, sells cow he bought for wife. World ends Saturday at 6am.
3. He catches the ball -- Giants win, Mad Bum buy additional cow for wife. God hits snooze until May 2012.
Wouldn't you know, it all worked out.
The Giants have had some exciting finishes of late. Wilson's near collapse against the Diamondbacks last Wednesday was eerily similar, with Torres making a bases loaded grab in deep left-center to end the game. But Shierholtz's catch was easily, for me, the most exciting play of the year. What a grab.
So the Giants have certainly kept things interesting. The offense is still anemic -- they've scored more than 4 runs only 3 times in the last 23 games. But they did average 4 runs per game on this road trip, which is something. The most encouraging thing, perhaps, has been the starting pitching. While Tim clearly was not right in Denver, Sanchez, Cain, Bumgarner and Vogelsong all pitched extremely well in their turns on the road trip.
The Giants and drama are like William and Kate. They were made for each other. Close, low-scoring games is something they will endure almost every night. It makes sense then, that given the peculiar bounces and twists of fate in baseball, that we're going to see a lot of excruciating losses and a lot of unbelievable wins.
I've said it before and I'll say it again -- buckle up. It's only May. We thought we'd seen it all, and then last night happened. And as much as I wish it wasn't the case, we ain't seen nothing yet.
Song of the Week:
The Good: Freddy Sanchez
While it says more about the rest of the Giants' lineup than it does about Sanchez, Freddy has been the most consistent offensive force on the team. He hit safely in 4 of the 5 games he played on the trip and it hitting .350 over his last seven games. Despite a few lingering injuries, he continues to play lock-down second base, and as evidenced by his first-pitch Sac Fly last night in LA, he just gets the job done more often than not.
The Bad: Brian Wilson
I'm not sure fans are quite at the end of the rope with Brian Wilson and his shticks, but if he continues to come in, walk guys and allow runs to score, it's going to get old fast. I've already heard grumblings from fans for him to give it up and get back to baseball. Fans love that he's become a rock-star, but at the end of the day WHIP, ERA and Saves trump Beards, Machines and Cheetahs. I'm not saying shave it off, but get the clippers ready just in case.
The Sad: Mark DeRosa
Everyone knows how bad DeRosa was struggling since coming off his most recent stint on the DL. But to see a man go through what he went through last year, finally come back and then re-injure the same wrist is sad. It's part of the game, but that doesn't make it any less of a bummer. DeRosa can play. He hit near .300 and 20+ home runs as recently as 2008 and 2009. He knows what he's capable of, it's just a pitty that it hasn't worked out. Who knows what the result of this latest injury will be. Regardless, I hope he knows and fans know what a huge role he played in last year's chemistry. Even if he can't be in the field yet again, I hope he sticks around as something of a player-bench coach.
Play of the Trip:
Nate Saves Mad Bum, Wilson and the World:
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=14983583
Trip on the Play:
Lincecum's botched DP. It's like seeing Jesus litter:
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=14875639
On Deck:
The Giants welcome their neighbors from the Easy Bay to the City for a three game installment of the Bay Bridge series. I really hope at least 10,000 A's fans make it out, only because it will prove that more A's fans would rather watch them as Visitors in San Francisco than pay $1 to see them play in their own 1998 Bowling Alley of a stadium.
As much as we can criticize the A's for the industrial waste land they play their home games in, or the fact that Kettle Korn vendors outnumber paying fans 3-1, they have a very dangerous team. Their offense, like the Giants, is paltry, but their starting rotation is as good as any in the league. While they don't have the same track record, one could argue it's better than the Gaints'.
A rain delay in Chicago washed away the dream match up of Lincecum v. Cahill for Friday night, but it could end being for the best. Had Cahill won, I wouldn't have wanted to listen to the dozens of A's fans out there boast that their guy is better. Regardless, Timmy will have his hands full with Bret Anderson on Saturday as will Sanchy with Gio Gonzalez on Sunday.
Assuming there is a Sunday, that is. Should the world end Saturday, rumor is it will happen around 6pm local time. Considering Saturday's game is a 4pm start, it's not out of the realm of possibility that Tim Lincecum will be on the mound during the Apocalypse. In that scenario it's hard to imagine Lincecum not rising into the sky like a golden, winged stallion and escorting us all the safety. But in any event, if Lincecum's splitter is the last thing we see, you have to figure we came out ahead.
God speed, friends.
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