Emotional, beloved Sandoval takes final swing for Bochy.
‘It’s been a joy,’ skipper tells him — surgery next
Pablo Sandoval was driving home Saturday night and his brain was running at hyperspeed. Same when he came to the ballpark Sunday morning.
“I’m trying to calm myself right now,” Sandoval said hours before his final game for a manager he calls his second father, and maybe his last for the Giants and the fans of San Francisco.
They loved him, then scorned him when he left on bad terms, then loved him again in a second chance that few get in life, much less baseball.
Sandoval worked his tail off in the days after his diagnosis to repay Bochy and the fans one more time before Wednesday’s scheduled Tommy John surgery. Instead, the fans repaid Sandoval with a thunderous ovation when he stepped to the plate in the seventh inning of an 84 loss to the Padres.
In his final swing for Bochy, and maybe his second Giants swan song, Sandoval grounded out. When he returned to the dugout to another ovation, Bochy paid him the ultimate compliment with words that nearly made the Panda cry.
“It’s been a joy,” Bochy told him.
Realistically, Sandoval had little chance of getting a hit off Luis Perdomo with a torn elbow and no atbats in more than three weeks. After Brandon Crawford singled, Sandoval stepped in as nervous as he was for his first atbat in 2008.
The roar from a crowd that included his family would have lasted a lot longer than 30 seconds had he not stopped it by getting into the box.
“It was great, the ovation from the fans,” Sandoval said. “It’s one of those moments you don’t want to forget. I didn’t get the result I wanted, but I got the best result, the love from the fans.”
That moment was the definition of “bittersweet,” the joy of the ovation swirled with the sadness of an ending and anxiety of the days ahead.
“It’s kind of a somber day for Pablo,” losing pitcher Jeff Samardzija said. “He just wishes he was healthy enough to finish the season.”
It ended with a .268 batting average and .820 OPS — his highest since 2011 — 14 home runs and 18 pinch hits, which tied Ken Oberkfell (1989) for the most by a San Francisco batter in 45 years. What he provided inside a clubhouse that looked more like a bus station at times was incalculable.
Sunday was Sandoval's last chance to hit. The Giants activated from the injured list as rosters expanded and decided he would not fly to St. Louis for another game ahead of his operation in Los Angeles.
In a pregame conversation with reporters, Sandoval opened an emotional vein talking about this day, the excruciating pain he has endured and his uncertain future.
“I don’t feel great,” Sandoval said. “I wish I could pinch myself from a dream and wake up and not have” his injury.
Sandoval has ached a lot in his career but rarely complained. Now, he had to be honest.
“I’m not a crybaby,” he said. “I know how to deal with pain. This one is different.”
Sandoval will become a free agent for the second time when the Red Sox decline his 2020 option and pay the $5 million buyout on a fiveyear, $95 million contract they gave him after he caught the final out of the 2014 World Series.
Sandoval, who turned 33 in August, reiterated his desire to finish his career with the Giants. Envisioning him elsewhere now is difficult. He fits here like a bespoke suit.
But the Giants have new leadership and a different plan for 2020 and beyond. Whether that includes a soontobe35 backup in 2021 is unclear.
The Giants could create a contract similar to others given to Tommy John patients, a twoyear deal that pays Sandoval the minimum next year and includes lowbase, highincentive numbers for 2021. But there is no indication anything like that is in the works.
That is for the future. Sunday was about saying a goodbye.
“It means a lot,” he said, “one more time for Boch.”
Sunday happened to be Opening Day for a September of Bochy celebration. Between halves of the second inning, the Giants unveiled a placard on the leftfield fence depicting Bochy tipping his cap with the words, “Thank you, Boch!”
The Giants flew in former Padres Greg Vaughn and Trevor Hoffman, and the executive who made him a manager, Randy Smith, for Bochy’s final game against his old team. (The Giants won the season series against the Padres, 109.)
Bochy has tried to steer his mind away from retirement and toward winning as many games he as he can, but ignoring the calendar is harder now.
The placard unveiling and the ovation that followed “is another reminder that this is my last month,” Bochy said.
“I’m not going to lie. It probably hits me a little bit more when something like that happens.”