I’m supposed to be preparing for my trip to Seattle. I have tons to wrap up at work, I have packing to do, but I can’t concentrate. How the heck am I suppose to accomplish anything after last night?
I started by listening to it on the radio on my way home from work. Cliff Lee was back. Uh oh. This is going to be tough. Sounds like we’re coming back to San Francisco and I’m going to miss it. Damn.
But no, Lincecum is in full force too! Three up, three down. The Freak is on the mound and he’s taking no prisoners. He saw Cain and Bumgarner’s shut outs and he wants a taste. This is going to be a tight race.
For seven innings they battled, neither giving up a run. This is what everyone wanted in the first game. This is what everyone wanted when Lincecum faced Halladay. This is a pitcher’s duel.
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Then in the 7th, the first slip. Ross and Uribe hit singles to center field. Could this be the opportunity? Huff bunts…BUNTS a sacrifice and the two men on gain a base. Ross is so close to putting a run on this board. I couldn’t sit, I couldn’t watch, I HAD to watch. Burrell up. Oh no, why is he still playing? Maybe this will be his time to make up for his post-season. Sacrifice fly? Get someone home? C’mon Burrell! Strike out. Ack. So much for drama. Edgar Renteria up. Now would be a good time for a home run, I really said that. He hits it out of the park. Where there were no runs scored by either team, now there are three and they are Giants runs.
OMG! And it’s the 7th. We can hold them until the end. We do it all the time. This is our thing. We have it!
Lincecum gets excited and Nelson Cruz knocks one out of the park. Whoops! Okay so the lead is getting tighter, we can still do it. Ian Kinsler walks. Oh no, Lincecum is losing it. The Rangers are going to issue out some payback now.
Nope!
Lincecum reigns it in and adds two more strikeouts to his belt, ending the inning before more damage is done. He also takes care of the 8th. I’m thinking, much like Bumgarner the night before, he probably could have knocked out the 9th too, but Bochy sticks with tradition and brings in Wilson to finish it off.
No champagne, no jumping up and down, I just sat there on the couch soaking in the surreality of the moment. I watched all the post-game coverage, I watched the awards given out in the Rangers hidecloset, I did some dishes and listened to Jewel, which has nothing to do with baseball but somehow helped satiate the excitement that was consuming me.
I dreamed about baseball. I woke up thinking about baseball. I’m not going to get anything done. I’m going to be in Seattle with no underwear.
But who cares? THE GIANTS WON THE FREAKIN’ WORLD SERIES!!!!!
Watching the World Series last year, when my baseball obsession was starting to blossom, I
thought and wrote the following:
I got home in time to see the Yankees win it and watch the post-game hoopla and I got to wondering what it would feel like to have a team you had an investment with in a game like this, win or lose.
Who the heck could have thought that it would happen the very next World Series? I can’t even believe. I still don’t believe it. I’m not sure it’s sunk in completely. I have no idea how to even communicate my thoughts on all this. I feel like I could write an entire book on these guys in one sitting, while at the same time I’m struggling just to put a coherent sentence together.
I love this team. I love everything about them that everyone is now latching on to. I love the misfits, the team made up of rookies and players nobody wanted. I love the beards and ‘fros and pandas and freaks. I love that every person on the team contributed in some way. When someone was slumping, someone else rose to the occasion. They’re all superstars. I’ve followed them from Spring Training to the top of the world. I never want this band to break up.
In some ways this might be a horrible season for me to have started caring. It can only be downhill from here. It’s not like this can happen every year, right?
“Why not?” ~ Buster Posey
