Idiots Write About Sports

Went to my first in-person Giants game of the season Saturday. It’s always a bit laborious to bring two adults, a toddler, and a baby anywhere, and baseball games are no exception. Then there’s the challenge of keeping the kids entertained during the game. Ratchet up the difficulty level even more by having the weather forecast be for rain — not enough rain to cancel the game, mind you. Just enough rain to make it interesting.

We went anyway. Although the stadium was half-empty, our particular area at the outskirts of the View level was pretty full… mostly because we were the rabble who shelled out $25 a seat for single game tickets, and we damned well weren’t going to kiss that money goodbye and stay at home out of fear of a few raindrops.

Half the season ticket holders, however, were nowhere to be found.

In any event, the weather was a mixed bag of sun and cloud, but the rain never materialized, beyond a couple minutes of extremely light mist. My daughter ate an entire hot dog, bun and all, and kept herself entertained until the 6th, at which point she fell asleep, presumably dreaming of hot dogs.

The game itself was fine, although the stadium was really quiet, no surprise given the lack of fans in the stands and the long periods of heavy overcast.

After so many years of Dusty Baker, it’s taken me a couple of years to deprogram my Dusty emulator and build a new Felipe Alou emulator. But I think I’ve got it right. In the sixth inning, with two men on and two out, Felipe chose to let Brett Tomko bat. Tomko was already at 100 pitches, and it seemed to me like he had paid his dues for the day. Yes, the Giants had a three-run lead, but why piss away those two runners? Tomko already had his magical two-RBI hit for the day (or month, or season, or career).

I turned to my wife and said, “Just watch. Next inning when Tomko’s being taken out with two men on and one man out, you’ll be wondering why Felipe left him in.”

Sure enough, Tomko struck out and then went out in the seventh and stunk it up. He departed with — you guessed it — two men on and one man out.

Worse, the top of the 7th featured Alou’s worst feature as a manager: gratuitous use of relievers. Jason Christiansen induced a fortuitous ground-out that removed the baserunner at third when he broke for home — and yet Christansen was immediately removed for Jim Brower, since Alou is slavishly devoted to the righty-lefty match-up game.

The result? Browser threw four balls and was relieved by Scott Eyre, because Lyle Overbay is a lefty and we’ve got to stick with lefty-righty match-ups or the world ends. It’s just a waste. (And then Armando Benitez is asked to get five outs, presumably in part because Alou has just gone through half his bullpen in his misguided quest for match-ups.)

(Update: As Marty reminds me, I should mention Yorvit Torrealba, who went 3-for-4 with a home run and double. The fact is, every good day Torrealba has is going to make a bunch of Giants fans scream about the signing of Matheny. Matheny’s inept hitting doesn’t help matters either. One nice thing about Torrealba’s day: his first three at-bats were hits, meaning that when he came up late in the game, he was a triple away from the cycle. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone with a chance to hit for the cycle in person before.)

Finally, my sympathies to Brewers fans. Your team has stunk for so long, and it still clearly has karma to pay off. The Giants hit four different ground balls to the left side yesterday that bounced off the hands, head, gloves, or other body parts of Brewers infielders. Absolutely brutal.

Hey, at least it didn’t rain.

I'm unlucky with winning; the Giants never win the games I go to, but I actually saw Eric Byrnes hit for the cycle, so that was kind of neat.

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