NLCS Game 5 Aftermath

NLCS Game 5 Aftermath

The offday after the Game 5 loss……Gameball and Joker?....Well really not feeling it, and not really feeling the relevance the day after the Giants were dealt a big blow to their World Series aspirations. The Euphoria was building through the week and was just building into game time yesterday….. About noon yesterday I got a call from a friend that had front row on 3rd base…. now I already had my front row bleachers which I paid a pretty penny for…. but these were seats that some people consider once in a lifetime seats…… I have sat there many a time, but not for what could be a once in a lifetime game……so here I am, with two sets of tickets charged with the task of trying to recover as much cash as I can from the first pair, finish everything I needed to do at work in order to leave early, manage to dump my car at a BART station instead of driving in which is my norm, and getting to the game on time…..lets just say it was a mad scramble of a day…..finally get out of work a little later than I hoped, jumped out of the car and into the BART Train…….once we got to the city I realize I have lost my mitt that dates back to when I actually played baseball…..whatever…..maybe I left it in the car…….

Make it to the park with 20 minutes to game time and get into the MASSIVE Will Call line…….fuck……not going to make first pitch…….rain starts, but I could give a fuck, just need to get into the park……the line moves quickly (thank you Giants employees) and get the tickets without issue…..into the line at the front of the park……THAT moves quickly as well……rush through the park and into the seats just in time for first pitch……fucking awesome……gonna be a great goddamn day…….they might just put this away and I get to be in the middle of a supernova of euphoria…..and without a car, I can do whatever the fuck I want without worrying about traffic or a garage closing or anything……

Now these are sweet fucking seats….. I won't go into detail, but those that know me know where these seats are, and when I am bellowing from this distance I am hard to miss….so I lay into Halladay, but after about an inning I soon realize my voice peaked a couple days back….. still got the volume, but cannot sustain it for more than a few minutes without resting the voice a little…..good thing I some backup…(thx JK and Monkey)…….. heckling alternates from reading back radar guns readings back to Halladay and questioning his velocity, and chanting Cry Baby every time he starts flashing looks at the Ump….. the rain starts……but I could really give a shit……no cap, no jacket, short sleeves, doing my best to yell my ass off ….rain dripping off me, shirt soaked….still clapping and yelling best I can……

Man, they fucking HAD this game…Halladay was on fumes (now we find out injured)…...but a couple gaffe's from Pablo and Huff really open the door, but the Giants are keeping it close and they still got a shot to pull it out,…..yelling until the last out…..and reality set in…..there will be no storybook celebration at home with the streets surrounding 3rd and King pulsing with a euphoric mass of humanity…..no, nothing but a long couple packed train rides home to lick our wounds and return the next day to normality…….some 20 year old kid on the train decided he was the man, and had to impress the females….so he is leading the sardine train in a cheer when he guarantees a World Series…..the crowd responds……honestly, wanted to burst his ignorant bubble…..and this was a distinct possibility as I am NOT shy….and I AM loud (and again, those that know me…..)…..but hey, I am also NOT an asshole….so whatever, let him have his stupid fucking moment, and let the people pretend to rally……but the reality of the whole thing is….its a fucking game…..a goddamn fucking game……and I mean that, not to diminish its importance, but to illustrate that either team can win any night……the bounce of the ball here, a slip of a cleat there, a hard hit ball finding a glove, a bloop falling in, a couple calls by an ump and everything can change…….thats just the way it is……

So what's the point of all this, well…..my bubble has been popped and I have come to terms with the 2010 season…. the Giants hit the road still holding a 3-2 lead…..but based on past history of 1987 and 2002 I have been conditioned to expect the worst……so a part of me has already mourned this season and prepared for the end……Belief? Faith? No, sorry I don't believe in that shit no more…..and you know what…that's all OK……perfectly fine, because I don't play professional baseball for the San Francisco Giants Baseball Club….but I do know a group of 25 people that do, and I know that they could give a shit about Faith and Belief in anything but their abilities……

So tomorrow, we pick up the series in Philadelphia in what is NOT a must win game……yes, for the first time since October 1st, the Giants enter a game that is not a worn out cliché' ……yes, the Giants would do themselves a big favor by ending this tomorrow……but even if they DO lose, they are a team that has faced bone crushing losses all season, without any lasting effects…….this is NOT the 1987 Giants or the 2002 Giants who seemed to fold when the chips were down at the end…..this is the 2010 Giants who have suffered big losses only to bounce back the next day……and just to illustrate the resiliency of the team, think about Game 3 of the NLDS……with a 1 run lead in the 8th, the Giants give up a seeming game winner to Hinske…….but with two down in the 9th, the Giants come up with back to back hits to tie the game…….now I am not saying the Giants are always going to come back….but I tell you what, they are going to fight for every inning, every out, every pitch like professionals…….and as long as they can keep doing that, they just might actually be playing baseball in San Francisco next week……because baseball is just a fucking game, and anything can happen…….

Go Giants!
merkin

PS if you find a beaten old Black Mizuno Fastback Infielders Glove on BART, let me know