What a difference some entries make.
When the San Diego Padres led the San Francisco Giants 6-3 in the eighth inning, I started writing this recap. This was my opening prayer:
This game was stupid in many ways, because once the San Diego Padres took a four-run lead, it felt like a fait accompli that the San Francisco Giants would lose.
And now, two innings later, all I can think of is how fun and invincible this squad of Giants is.
Okay, so maybe I’m exaggerating (I’m definitely exaggerating). That hyperbole aside, that was a sensational game, beautiful and very memorable, that we will remember during the season, which is both very long and very short.
So how do we get there, with “there” being a place where I’m asked to profess my love for Mike Yastrzemski and Donovan Solano in the headline? Well, let’s skip that part, because it’s not that fun. I only know that the Padres once again hit a couple of disastrously loud home runs that made you think “damn, I wish the Giants made a dinner.”
To be fair, the giants did. They had solo shots from Yastrzemski in the third inning and Alex Dickerson in the sixth, and thus the team had doubled its home run production for the year.
But because the rest of the offense was largely useless, those two home runs were only worth a combined total of two runs, even though the Padres had five runs on their own.
So fast forward to the eighth inning. The Giants are 6-3. A Dickerson walk sandwiched between outs gives the Giants one inside, but two outside. Brandon Crawford finds the right field grass for a bachelor, and his pessimistic mind thinks, “Great, of course they are going to take the streak to the plate, just to play with me when we all know they will fail.”
It is knowing that part of what will change will fail. Once you think you know what is happening, it is no longer true. This is how they catch you.
And by “them” I mean “Donovan Solano”.
I screeched. I’m not ashamed to admit it.
On the ninth we go, and Tyler Rogers had his best inning of the year, making up for a walk by making Tommy Pham jump on a double play.
And so we headed to the end of the ninth, with the Giants only having one path to victory: a tiebreaker.
Yastrzemski led things, and let me start all of this by saying that Yastrzemski entered the game as the best Giant this young season. And when he came in the ninth he was already 2-4 with a home run.
And on the sixth pitch at bat, a high fastball and from a left-handed pitcher, Yastrzemski shot absolutely one.
One of the most interesting stories of the year was whether Yastrzemski could sustain the stellar work that brought the Giants a year ago. Even in this era, players not only suddenly break down in their late 20s and make it sustainable.
We are only six games away, but he continued where he left off, and more. He’s the only giant to start each game, and he’s hitting .409 / .500 / .773.
He can hit.
If you’ve been watching NBC Sports Bay Area broadcasts, you may have noticed a new sponsored segment. This happens every year, as companies want to give broadcast stations money to try to pretend that a consumer product perfectly reflects a niche baseball game.
You know the guy: “This goofy single-game double play is brought to you by dietary Twizzlers, the perfect snack to nearly accomplish a double play” and “Now is the time for our warning hint to quit the game, presented by the used Fiat dealer in Cupertino. ” That kind of thing.
The flavor of the year 2020 is the Roman split screen, where a work is shown from multiple angles at the same time, with a giant Roman logo. Roman is a men’s health brand, which means he is a viagra seller who adds some hair growth products to make them look good.
Still, the Roman split screen was a repeat of Dickerson’s home run, the man who prompts a phallic chant on the bench every time he hits a home run.
To be fair, he got some wood on that ball. He really stroked him over the center field wall, which is a difficult place to hit a home run.
Tyler Anderson chose two runners in one inning, which is not something he can remember happening.
Not only did he choose two runners, but the second, Fernando Tatis Jr., was nearly eliminated one shot earlier, prompting broadcasters to say “Anderson would have had it with a better shot.”
And then he had a better pitch.
If you’re a fan of the Padres, you probably thought they were both balks, which, blah, blah, blah, tell someone who cares.
They were definitely balks, just … tell someone who cares.
