There’s no boring baseball when these two archrivals get together
Whatever is wrong with baseball had the night off at the Giants’ ballyard Friday night.
It may be hard for some to remember what a playoff atmosphere felt like here, but it had to be a lot like this.
The place was packed, or close to it, and the chilly, foggy air felt like October. Then there was the matter of the Giants’ opponents, a team from Los Angeles that has been nipping at the Giants’ heels all summer long.
In the second inning at Oracle Park on Friday night, as news of the A’s jaw-dropping collapse swept through the press box, it was clear that this was going to end up as either a stupendous win for the
Giants or the worst day in Bay Area baseball history in which an earthquake was not involved.
Whatever is wrong with baseball had the night off. The game figured to go about five hours, considering two highpowered lineups and the Dodgers going with a bullpen game, necessitating use of 15 or so pitchers.
Giants fans didn’t care. Their team has brought joy back to baseball, and is hanging onto that joy for dear life.
Manager Gabe Kapler said before the game that his team was taking an even-keeled approach to this series. If so, good trick. After years of the team floundering, after a season ruined by a pandemic, after playing in front of small crowds, after shocking the baseball world by manufacturing great baseball out of garage-sale ballplayers — if the Giants weren’t geeked going into this weekend, they might be clinical zombies.
This is their chance to prove that they are not the Smoke & Mirrors All-Stars. It will be a hard sell. Outside of a few fantasy leagues, perhaps nobody outside the 49 square miles of San Francisco has been hanging on the deeds of Anthony DeSclafani or Thairo Estrada. Or as Giants fans refer to him, My Favorite Thairo.
Estrada led off the fourth against reliever Brusdar Graterol, stared down sinkers of 99 and 98 mph, then lined a 99 mph sinker for a double. Even-keeled Thairo. Guess he’s seen a lot of triple-figure gas.
Fans outside of S.F. are familiar with some of the Giants’ names, but probably assume that Posey, Belt and Crawford must be related to the stars who led the Giants to World Series glory in some distant past decade.
The Dodgers are feared and respected. The Giants are ... well, nobody knows exactly what they are, or how they should be viewed. But they’ve bid to deliver baseball’s best record almost all year, they seem to believe in themselves, and they seem determined to prove something. Friday night, they were not ready to bow to the mighty Dodgers.
With the Giants’ rotation whittled down to three able arms, DeSclafani started and
shut out the mighty Dodgers for six innings. And he scored the only run of the game through six innings, after walking in the third.
Austin Slater, another whodat All-Star, drove DeSclafani home with a pinch-hit single, making Kapler a genius, although that’s not a lifetime title. Pinch-hitting in the third inning for a hot hitter, LaMonte Wade Jr.? If it works, it works.
The fans, by the way, told Kapler, in essence, “We’ve got your even keel right here.” The fans were on their feet in the third inning when DeSclafani and Darin Ruf led off with walks. They didn’t seem disappointed when their Giants were able to eke only one run in the inning after loading the bases with nobody out.
No easy runs in this one, for either team. Brandon Crawford led off the eighth with a
double to left-center, but a tag-team of two Dodgers pitchers
stranded him there. There will be no free lunch in this series.
The fans, including the sizable contingent of Dodgers fans, hung on every pitch. Oh, yeah, it’s ON.
Not incidentally, the game was played out with some off-field drama as a backdrop. The Giants’ ballpark food-anddrink vendors are fed up and will vote Saturday on whether to authorize a strike. One wonders what the mood of the ballpark might be Sunday if a strike happens that soon. Will the fans be angry at being starved and parched?
Let’s hope we don’t have to find out, that the Giants and concession company Bon Appetit show the working stiffs a little love — and keep the good vibes flowing.