A Fine Final GameToday Ceej and I went to our last baseball game of the season, and the next-to-last game the Giants will play at Candlestick Park, as they move to their new home, Pacific Bell Stadium, next year.Candlestick opened in 1960, with then-Vice President Richard Nixon and Hall-of-Famer Ty Cobb presiding at the opening ceremonies. In forty seasons it's seen about 54 million fans walk through its gates. The Giants have a resoundingly winning record at the stadium,but they have not won a World Series since moving into it, though they've played in several. For this final series at the 'Stick, the Giants' arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers (rivals since way back when both teams were in the New York area) came to town. The stadium tonight was not packed, but it was crowded. Official attendance was about 47,000, a little less than Friday's game against the Diamondbacks. The crowd was pumped, and there were enough Dodger fans in attendance to keep things interesting. CJ and I got "Croix de Candlestick" pins, which are traditionally given out to fans who stick out an extra-inning night game at the 'Stick, and which were being given out today as a special thing. (You may recall that back in July we left an extra-inning night game against the Cardinals a little early due to wimpiness in the face of the cold. So this was pretty cool.) CJ bought expensive souvenir stuff, and rooted for the home team. Me, I bought overpriced food and looked forward to some good baseball, wearing my Red Sox cap. (I thought about this briefly before the game: I think CJ has been won over enough by the Giants this season that she's really a fan of two teams. She has Giants stuff, and wears a Giants cap to Giants games. Nothing wrong with this, though if there's ever a Red Sox/Giants World Series we'll see which way she goes! Me, I'm a solid Sox fan and like to show my pride in my team even at other ballparks, although I root for the home team in non-Sox games. Except that I always root against the Hated New Yank Yorkies.) One-time Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda - who I will always appreciate for his enthusiasm for the game and for being the soul of the 1988 Dodgers who beat the Hated Athletics in the World Series that year - took a last ceremonial walk across the grass, to widespread boos from the crowd. He lifted his arms and smiled and obviously enjoyed every minute of it, as did the crowd, I think. He also led the crowd in "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" at the Seventh Inning Stretch, though more people booed than sang. He enjoyed that, too. They played a recorded version of the song afterwards for everyone to genuinely sing with. The other event of note was the brief return of the Giants' "anti-mascot" of the 1980s, Crazy Crab, who apparently was universally loathed. He gave a brief speech wishing the Dodgers luck in crushing the Giants. Later on, the Giants' current mascot, a bipedal seal who looks a little like Ken Griffey, Jr., came on the field pushing a cart labeled "Fresh Crab Parts". It was funny! The game? The game was just what we hoped for. Coming off a 5-game losing streak, the Giants sent Livan Hernandez - the young Cuban defector who played a key role in the Florida Marlins' 1997 World Series championship and whose arm has been all but torn off by the abuse of former Marlins manager Jim Leyland - to the mound against the Dodgers' ace Kevin Brown, one of the best pitchers in baseball. Brown and Hernandez pitched similar games, the difference being that Brown walked more batters, and whereas Hernandez gave up a few squib singles, Brown gave up booming doubles and home runs (almost all of them to right-center field!). Barry Bonds hit a 2-run shot in the first inning, receiving a lengthy standing ovation, and the Giants didn't look back until the 9th inning, by which point they were up 5-1 (including a Jeff Kent solo shot). In the ninth, Giants reliever Alan Embree managed to load the bases with one out. Bronswell Patrick (former Brewer!) then struck out multimillionaire Gary Sheffield and finally retired the last batter to seal the victory. A close thing; it was exciting! The final out was a long fly ball that nearly flew out of the park. Whew! CJ and I went home happy. It was a good, well-played game, with lots of fan energy, lots of heroics, and the chance to see the Giants beat a great pitcher. Plus, there was lots of (as CJ says her husband calls it) 'fauna' in the stands for me to watch. Yes, I can be a lech. Yum. What more can one ask for?
 I saw 13 baseball games in person this year, more than twice as many as I've seen in any other season, I think. Amazing! And consider all the money I spent! Yikes! Maybe I should be amazed that I've gotten my finances under control at all, given that. The final tally: Giants won 7 games, and lost 3. Red Sox beat the Athletics 2 out of 3. Overall, our teams went 9-4, which is pretty good. We didn't see a loss until after the All-Star Break. The rundown:
CJ wondered what her husband David would say if she asked him to come to Arizona with us. I replied that he'd probably say, "Do I have to go to baseball games, too?"
|
|||
