Loud crowd gets huge bump from L.A.

The ballpark at 24 Willie Mays Plaza feels a bit like a time machine this weekend.

Packed and crackling with energy for meaningful September baseball, it hasn’t been this way since the park was rechristened “Oracle.” Maybe not since 2016. Back when life seemed a bit simpler and half the crowd wasn’t wearing masks.

And back when half the crowd wasn’t wearing Dodger blue.

That half of the crowd left happy Saturday night, as the Dodgers jumped on the Giants early and didn’t let up, winning 6-1 to pull back into a tie for first place atop the NL West.

The cool scene at Oracle — which will get

a national showcase on ESPN on Sunday evening — was a reminder of the past for those who experienced the glory days at the ballpark. And a lesson for what kind of baseball atmosphere is possible in this market for those who didn’t.

“I’ve heard folks say, ‘It was like a playoff atmosphere’ about eight times so far this year,’ ” manager Gabe Kapler said before the game. “And I’ve always been like ‘kinda?’

“But last night it was. It was that energy.”

If you closed your eyes, you might have felt you had traveled back in time. But only if you closed your ears as well. Back in the World Series era, the Giants were so consistently sold out that there was little opportunity for opposing fans to invade en masse and make every opposing play a cause for loud celebration.

That has changed in recent years, and if a fan base plans ahead — a fan base, that, say, expects its team to be contending for another title — it can make a major impact on the atmosphere. Giants fans didn’t think they’d be buying tickets for a first-place team in September.

Saturday night was the one game of this holiday weekend that was a sellout (41,146) before the series started. And that sellout was clearly Dodgers-influenced. There were significantly more fans in blue than on Friday — word had it from ticket services that more than 4,000 Dodgers boosters made the trip north. Pantone 294, a Dodgers fan group named after the team’s famous color, claimed to have grabbed about 1,500 seats in the bleachers — and the blue in the crowd was much more widespread than the night before.

But the vibe was friendly and fun. This wasn’t Fight Night at Candlestick. The blue and the black traded cheers and seemed well-behaved. There was even a cross-rivalry proposal on the video board.

Some were wondering if the Giants fans were actually outnumbered in their own park. I don’t think so — it’s just that the Giants fans didn’t have nearly as much to make noise about.

The Giants knew they were in for an interesting final two days of the series as their rotation is a hot mess. Johnny Cueto is out with an elbow injury and Alex Wood is still very sick from COVID, battling chills and fevers. No one knows when either will be back and the Giants’ two rotation stalwarts, Kevin Gausman and Logan Webb, pitched against Milwaukee in the previous series and weren’t available.

This is going to be an ongoing issue during this critical final stretch. The Dodgers have Max Scherzer in the fold and Clayton Kershaw is about to start a rehab assignment and should be back soon. Meanwhile, the Giants, who failed to get starting pitching help at the deadline, are getting out a giant roll of duct tape.

That’s why winning the first game of the series was a huge accomplishment. The Giants assured themselves of being no more than one game back by the time they fly to Denver on Sunday night. The odds of surviving bullpen games while the Dodgers were trotting out Julio Urias and Walker Buehler wasn’t great.

Saturday’s was a bullpen game with a capital “Bull” and the concept bit the Giants early. The Dodgers jumped on opener Jay Jackson immediately.

Before the game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was asked how he thought Trea Turner would respond. Turner had made the error to let Buster Posey get on base and force in the winning run on Friday night. Roberts said he expected Turner to “be ready to help us win the ballgame.”

Chalk one up for Roberts in the “correct” column. Turner hit a leadoff home run off Jackson. Jackson lasted 56 pitches and four batters before giving way to Jarlin Garcia, who gave up a double that allowed two more runs to score.

Dodgers fans were very loud in the first. And they stayed that way.

The Giants got one back off Urias in the first but that was it. They continue to miss out on the timely hit and the big inning. After stranding 15 on Friday, the Giants left nine more on base Saturday. Urias went 52⁄3 innings and threw 96 pitches before turning the ball over to the bullpen, which kept the Giants in check.

One more game against the Dodgers, in the regular season, at a ballpark that seems ready for postseason play. The Giants will be either a game up or a game back when they leave town Sunday night. They’ll be packing their roll of duct tape.