fling93 loves fishies

Went to a Giants Game

Well, I went to my first Giants game of the season last Saturday against the Marlins. No regrets on not renewing our season tix. Seems like all the reasons I named are still valid. But I certainly missed going to the games, to our seats. Even if they were pretty high up, they were still in the infield in section 310, with a good view of the game and real convenient access to the escalator and the restrooms. Plus it was cool to pretend like we owned the place, going around wearing the 2002 World Series lanyards with our pretty tickets with the player pictures on them (gawd, I can be such an elitist).

And we had worked out a great setup, with a neat stadium bag that fits over the seat to become a seat cushion. And in it, we’d bring munchies, drinks, a portable radio to listen to the broadcast (much improved with Dave Fleming instead of Joe Angel), and most importantly, my clipboard with my scorecards and printouts of the rosters. Yes, I love scoring the games. I’ll get into more details on scoring and scorecards in a later post. One of the nice benefits is that I get a much more complete picture of the game than you can see in a boxscore. And this game was a pretty exciting one.

Schmidt had a rocky start, giving up two runs in the first inning, one on a passed ball by Pierzynski, another on a RBI ground-rule double by stud third baseman (and so far the most productive member of my fantasy baseball team — which incidentally has improved a bit up to 5th place), Mike Lowell, which of course, I had mixed feelings about (I kinda hate how fantasy sports really screw with your allegiances). I thought it was going to be another long day, but Schmidt settled down after that, shutting the Marlins down for the next three innings.

Meanwhile, the Giants got a run back in the third on an RBI groundout by Grissom, scoring Tucker. They then tied the game in the fourth after the struggling Pierzynski (who had also been the subject of some clubhouse controversies) led off with a triple and was singled home by Brian Dallimore (who, in the previous game, had his first major league hit — a grand slam!).

However, Schmidt gave the lead back in the fifth on, of all things, a home run by the opposing pitcher, Carl Pavano, his first career home run. Things were looking grim as the Giants didn’t really threaten until the 7th inning. With two outs and Snow on first, they intentionally walked Barry Bonds (one of his four intentional walks of the game) to get to my guy, struggling Edgardo Alfonzo. The veteran third baseman masterfully worked a walk to load the bases, setting the stage for Pierzynski, who immediately stroked a 2-run single to left to give the Giants the lead and earning him some measure of redemption (he was getting quite a few boos during the game). Grissom tacked on two more insurance runs in the 8th, and then Herges got the final four outs for the save. Seemed almost like last year.

They would win again on Sunday to take three of four from the defending champs and give the fans some hope that the slow start was just an aberration. But alas, after suffering a three-game sweep by the less-than-Amazin’ Mets, the Giants are back in the NL West cellar.

Certainly, I think if Pierzynski and Alfonzo return to form, and if Schmidt and Williams can pitch us deeper into games to get the bullpen rested again, this team will get better. Maybe it can reach .500, which is pretty much where I pegged this team before the season started (one of the reasons we didn’t renew). However, unlike in previous years, I wouldn’t count on Sabean pulling any blockbuster deadline trades to shore up its weaknesses for one last run. We don’t have any prize prospects left for trade bait (Torcato? Linden? Minor? Ellison?). We don’t have a logjam at starting pitching, but a shortage (and I’m doubtful that Foppert coming back next year will help all that much). Indeed, we don’t even have any veterans with reasonable contracts. So who do we have that any other team would want?

Realistically, we already had the one last run, and it was last year. I’m pretty annoyed that management is pretending otherwise and refusing to admit it. More details in a future post.