It Has Been Awhile for Us All

The day has come.  For those of you that know me well, you might know what I am talking about.  Many friends and family back from my hometown will know about the events that transpired today which would cause me to make this post, but for you all, my new friends, you probably do not realize the outstanding mood that I am in.

I have been a baseball fan since childhood.  Not only a baseball fan, but a National League baseball fan, and on top of that, first and foremost a San Francisco Giants fan.  Every summer since adulthood has been spent religiously watching and listening to my Giants play the game.  In that time, my heart has been consistently broken by the end of our season.  In 2002 my G-Men made it all way to game 7 of the World Series, only to lose to the Anaheim Angels.  In 2003, we were expected to take it all only to end our season in the first round of the playoffs.  In 2004 my friends and I watched Steve Finley of the Dodgers break our hearts with a Grand Slam on the second to last game of the year.  Since that point in time, hope had diminished and October baseball in the Bay Area had been little more than a distant memory connected to a thousand pains, each pain connected to sight, a sound, a call, and a pitch.

Today was the last day of the regular season.  For the Giants this year has been a roller coaster of ups and downs, trades and acquisitions, and a fitting motto to our style: "Giants Baseball...TORTURE!"  I had almost forgotten until that final regular season pitch today just how good torture can feel.

On the 59th anniversary of the famed "Shot Heard 'Round the World" the Giants fought and clawed their way back into October baseball with a 3-0 win over our division rivals the San Diego Padres.  When Brian Wilson through a high fastball, when Will Venable swung at that pitch and missed, the roar was amazing.  The payoff was worth it.  Not one player on the Giants had been to the postseason as a Giant.  A couple of long-time great players have finally made it to the postseason for the first time in their careers. 

We clinched.

Not only did we clinch our spot and chance to make history, but we are taking the second best record in the National League with us.  We are taking the best pitching staff in baseball with us.  We are taking some of the best fans with us. 

San Francisco is a town that has never had a World Series title.  It is a town that loves their teams greatly, and the Giants most of all.  It has been through the ups and downs of having amazing teams that just cannot get the final job done.  It is a town that seems to always been the bridesmaid, but never the bride.  In the late 80s baseball wept with the great city after an earthquake ravaged the town and put the World Series on hold.  In the early 90s when it seemed all but certain that our beloved team was going to be moved to Tampa Bay, fans stepped in.  When the Giants traded the great Matt Williams for a bunch of "random players," we trusted in the move only to have it lead to some of the greatest Giants years and some of the greatest members of the Giants family.  San Fran always shows up to the games.  After years of trying to live up to the hype, when Zito put together a string of great starts, San Fran stepped up to chant "Barry! Barry!"  Only this time it was not the Home Run king they were rooting for, but a southpaw with the best hook in the game.  After two consecutive Cy Young Awards, our ace Tim Lincecum will get to feel what it is like to have that wonderful, loving, and forgiving city cheer for him as he starts his first career playoff game.

It was a season of pain and glory.  The Buster Posey era began, Molina started the season but did not last much longer in our uniform, Aubrey Huff proved that he was a winner, Andres Torres fought hard to show that he was more than a bench player but the leader of a team, Pat Burrell thrust himself into the Giants-Dodgers rivalry with a two run shot in the eighth, and Brian Wilson took a share of the team saves record with one of the best to play the game.

I respect the Padres game this season.  They played very well, but in the end they were the Mudville Nine and we were left with more games to play. 

Sometimes I turn off the game when I do not want to watch the outcome.  Sometimes I let a hard loss get to me and get depressed the rest of the day.  Sometimes I forgot when I care so much for this game and this team, but when we work hard for 180 days and earn our place, I am reminded of the simple beauty inherent to the sport.  It is a game of subtlety and thought.  A lot of Americans find baseball boring to watch, but those are people that think that nothing is going on between swings.  It is a far more cerebral game and I think that is what turns them away.  They do not give it enough of a chance to sit back and learn that it is a game where when it seems like nothing is going on, there is actually everything going on.  It is a game of strategy and tactics as well as execution.  It is a give and take, cat and mouse game where those slight contributions can turn out to be the plays that turn everything around, from an at-bat to a season.

I have had many girlfriends, friends, and lovers over the years and almost all of them cannot understand why I want to watch every game.  They give me the "...but you watch it every day" or the "can't we listen to music now" speeches and occasionally I am persuaded to skip it for the night, but even my wife was smiling as my boys earned their contracts today and reminded us all why San Francisco, the Giants, and Baseball are parts of the heart and soul of the American culture.