Giants fans delight in seeing L.A. get beat
First playoff meeting between longtime rivals a treat for San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO—It was black and orange and cold.
The music was dark, the booing was thick, and the familiarly harsh lyrics were muscled into the ballyard by two former football stars.
Steve Young, standing near home plate wearing a San Francisco Giants jersey and holding a microphone, started it.
Jerry Rice, standing next to him, picked it up.
Soon everyone in cramped and cloaked Oracle Park was rhythmically waving orange flags and chanting it.
“Beat L.A. … Beat L.A. … Beat L.A.”
For the rest of a thumping Friday night, the words swept through this crowded edge of San Francisco Bay, the siren of an ancient passion, the soundtrack of an enduring history.
“Beat L.A. … Beat L.A . ... Beat L.A.”
And so they did. They overpowered L.A. They overwhelmed L.A. They beat L.A.
In the first post-season meeting between the Dodgers and their legendary rival Giants since the two franchises began competing against each other 131 years ago, the Giants and their thirsty fans claimed a 4-0 victory in the opener of the best-of-five National League division series.
From the first jeer to the sweeping cheers to the final taunt, it was clear that this was about more than just a night in October. This was about a 2,536-game grudge. And, for one night anyway, the Dodgers were crushed by it.
“It was crazy here,” the Dodgers’ Walker Buehler said.
Crazy loud. Crazy intimidating. Crazy outcome for a team that was supposed to be immune to it all.
An offence that pulled off a dramatic win in a wild-card game against the St. Louis Cardinals just two days earlier could summon no such magic, twisting itself into knots against a crafty kid pitcher named Logan Webb. In his first playoff start, he struck out 10 and walked none and allowed just five worthless hits.
“We didn’t make adjustments … we chased a lot more than we should have,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
Then there was their biggame pitcher who usually shines in this moment, but this time he occasionally was swallowed by it, Buehler beaten by two soaring home runs and pulled from the mound to a sea of bouncing and laughing jeers.
“Obviously it’s on me to try and create some momentum and I kind of sucked that out of our dugout,” Buehler said.
Finally, as if the night wasn’t uncomfortable enough for the visitors, halfway through the game the 41,934 fans gave a curtain call to an old Dodgers nemesis who wasn’t even in uniform. Yes, Barry Bonds still shows up here. And, yes, there he was, recognized on the giant video board, at which point fans chanted, “Bar-ry, Bar-ry!” until he stood and waved.
All told, it was pretty awful, the quick and brutal shindig best summed up in two words that surely rang all night through the stunned Dodgers’ psyche.
“Beat L.A. … Beat L.A. … Beat L.A.”