Giants 6, Rockies 5 - What a Game!

I woke up early and went into work for an hour and a half. Then I drove to meet her in Palo Alto at Danger, her new company. It's a small startup run by some friends of hers, and I got to see the cubicle-less main room (everyone's in one room, but no cube walls!) and the darkroom setup in the bathroom. I actually thought that this sort of environment (for a small company) seems more agreeable than cubicles, since it gives you that student-like feel of "everyone's really in this together". (I still prefer offices, though.)

We took CalTrain up, and after chatting for a while we each lapsed into reading instead. CJ is reading Neil Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, which has gotten very good reviews and which she's enjoying a lot. (By the time you read this she may have finished it, given how she consumes books!) I was reading Robert A. Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, which I finished on the ride home. (I'm reading it for this month's Keplers speculative fiction book discussion.)

The game was fantastic! We met CJ's friend Scott at the seats, and grabbed some food. (My breakfast of champions: Garlic fries, a soft pretzel, and lemonade.)

The Giants had won all three games in the series against the Rockies to this week, including the double-header sweep on Independence Day, and were going for the complete sweep today. Giants starter Russ Ortiz did his best to give the game away, giving up three runs in the first inning, and a fourth run later. (To be fair to Russ, his arm has been horribly abused by Giants manager Dusty Baker, who overworks most of his pitchers, but especially his starters.)

The Giants finally came back against Rockies starter Rolando Arrojo to tie up the game in the 7th inning. The inning was exciting, with the Giants collecting a bunch of hits, and cementing the tie with Felipe Crespo's long bomb over the right field wall. It wasn't quite a "splash hit", as it bounced off the pavement on the walkway outside before landing in the waters of McCovey Cove, but it was still impressive!

The 8th inning saw the Rockies put up a run, and the Giants matching them in the bottom of the inning. Exciting! A late comeback and a tie game! Rockies manager Buddy Bell really didn't want to get swept, and the last two innings featured five Rockies pitching changes.

Giants closer Robb Nen handled all three men he faced in the top of the ninth, and then the Giants batted in the bottom. Bill Mueller walked to lead off, then JT Snow botched a bunt, and first baseman Todd Helton threw to second to start the double-play. Mysteriously, then somehow Snow and pitcher Mike Myers collided along the first base line, and the umpire ruled pitcher's interference and awarded Snow first base. I didn't see what happened (I was watching the double play), and replays on TV also didn't quite catch the event. So Snow was on first.

Stan Belinda relieved Myers, and All-Star Jeff Kent hit his very first pitch off the left field wall (about 40 feet from our seats, we could hear it go "thunk!") to score Snow and give the Giants a dramatic 6-5 victory and the sweep.

We were all very excited and glad to be going home winners. It's the best game I've seen in quite a while (since last year), and was well worth the trip.

I went back to work after the game, and worked until a little after 11 pm. I wanted to avoid burning a vacation day for the game, you see, if I could. (I get 12 days a year, which is basically not quite enough.)