Two Blown Chances

Despite the loss, last night's game was the best game I'd been to all season. It was rather quiet through the first half, the Padres hitting home runs of off birthday-boy Matt Cain. I'd pity him and all, but the only person I'm pitying right now is myself -- trust me I need it.

Last night, Andres Torres walked away with the 2010 Willie Mac award, and he definitely deserved it. He plays amazingly, offensively, and defensively. He can run, he can steal, and I've heard he works crazy hard, so congrats to Torres.  

My distance perception must have been off last night, probably something to do with the fog because I couldn't tell at all how far the ball went. It was nearly impossible to tell whether a foul had been hit, or it was a pop up.

Our offense was quiet for most of the night. I was worried that we would just roll over and die. For a large part of the foggy evening, I was FREEZING and whining about Cody Ross not being in the line-up. I kept LOUDLY proclaiming that Ross' presence in the game would turn the whole thing around. I got one heck of a gut feeling. People around me thought I was crazy. Believe it or not, in the fifth inning, my friend pointed out into right field and said, "Becca, who's that?!" and I screamed...
"CODY!!!!!!!!...I think..."

Did I mention that I'm actually pretty blind...meaning my vision SUCKS.
But the announcer confirmed that it was him.

I lit up like a Christmas tree. The guys in front of me hella laughed, but they weren't laughing for all that long.

Cody Ross started to turn that game around.

...and all of a sudden, what I had been saying, wasn't so funny. It was however, shocking, even for me.

Cody doubled and got to second base smiling. There was hope again, and the stands started standing up and cheering, waving out their orange rally rags in the air like they did the moment the game started.

Freddy Sanchez, who had a shaky night in terms of defense (and base running) came up to bat. Freddy had been making contact last night, however, all his hits were directed right at the outfielders, but he came through for us, knocking in the first Giants run of the game. The throw to home was off, and Ross came home to an enthusiastic crowd.

Cody Ross' hit sparked a somewhat rally, and our offense woke up.

In the 6th, Pat Burrell got on base.

Aaron Rowand came up for a pinch hit. Yes, Aaron Rowand, I could have sworn the entire bleachers section groaned. While I was busy whining about Bochy's awful decisions, I heard audible bat and ball contact, it literally echoed throughout the entire stadium.  I looked up and the ball flew straight into the left field bleachers. The crowd just ROARED.

I swear the adrenaline swallowed my whole freezing body.

We were standing on top of the bleachers, and there was just this moment where nothing could go wrong, even if we were losing. We were hugging each other and jumping up on the down, belting out the lyrics to songs, high-fiving. All that matters in those moments is that game -- or not even, just that play, that hit, that crack of the bat that sent the ball sailing. It brought the place to life. My face was BURNING from yelling. I swear the whole placed warmed up, but it was probably just all the jumping. We were fighting! We fought! We fought! We fought! We weren't going to roll over and die!! Thanks Cody!

Cody came up to bat three times, and got on base...three times. Twice, he hit doubles. Do you believe in weird coincidences like that? Weird. Weird. Weird.

I've just got a kick ass gut feeling.

We lost that game, but last night, I came home happy, with Giants pride. Pride that we fought. Even if the defense was sloppy, and Freddy ran to second when he shouldn't have and caused a double play in the bottom of the ninth....

When I woke up this morning, my throat was killing me, but I was still really happy. I got this feeling that we're going to make it to the play-offs somehow, knock on wood.

We got what it takes to do it -- to win.

So screw the haters,

and we've always got tomorrow, right?

Wrong.

Bruce Bochy finally decided to put Cody Ross in, but it didn't fix everything. Though I think he finally came to some senses, because Guillen (grr...) was 1 for 18 in his last at-bats. I don't get why Bochy keeps him in the line-up. I mean the numbers clearly say that Ross can do better in the game...and he plays a mean right field, too. He's a good candidate for a starter, but apparently, he hadn't earned the right to start until last night. Offensively speaking, he didn't really help much today, and I feel like we'll be seeing a lot more of Scheirholtz soon, but nevertheless, he should get something of a second chance, because he can hit, and he can field much better than Guillen can.

Barry Zito.

Oh Zito, what hapenned?

I had to close my eyes when you walked the pitcher!

As most people know, I'm notoriously defensive of Zito usually, but in this case, Barry Zito, was Barry Zipo. Doesn't that mean I don't have faith in him. I've stuck with Zito through the fails, the epic fails, the success and the epic successes. I know he has what it takes to blow every batter away, but he JUST ISN'T BRINGING IT. I guess the rest of the team didn't really "bring it" today either.

Uribe hit a home run, and Bochy got ejected for arguing a third strike during Buster Posey's at-bat. In the end, we left the tying runs stranded, 4-2, as Guillen came up for a pinch hit after Pablo Sandoval (the Panda, by the way, is back). Guillen...kept to his recent crappy record and grounded into a double play to end the game. Heath Bell recorded his 47th save and literally skipped off the mound.

I hope Huff is back on his feet tomorrow, and Posey, too. I hate to sound...dependent, but we can't do it without them. I love those guys.

What happens tomorrow determines whether or not things get complicated. If we lose, there's another game on Monday, and then there's a tie breaker with the Braves for the wild-card. Then winner of that goes to play the Phillies. Boo-yah.

Oh a completely different subject, Mat Latos, who do you think you are?

"'Baseball works in funny ways,' Latos told CBSSports.com. 'The only way I could honestly put it is, we could be like the Giants and go and change our whole lineup, put guys with 'San Francisco Giants' across their jerseys. We didn't.'"

Ross replied with,

"'It's asinine to say. We're a close-knit group and this is our team,' Ross told the San Francisco Chronicle."

-latos dick comment here-

First off, I had to find a dictionary to look up the word, "asinine," turns out it means stupid, and ass-like. Couldn't have just said stupid, had to make our brains work.

Mat Latos will pitch tomorrow. Hopefully, he gets what's coming.

No one knows what's going to happen tomorrow.

You know what really pisses me off? People who have already thrown in the towel, literally. The Giants are a great team. They can do great things, but giving up on them means nothing. Giving up means that you're a coward. Screw them.

Briefly, let me just say, the Red Sox and Yankees have played TWO extra innings game, one's actually still going. Holy mackerel, that's like 9-straight hours of baseball.

It's cheesy, but tomorrow is a new day. So let's just sleep through what's left of today, wake up tomorrow with the intention to win.

The Giants have been criticized by fans for not, "wanting it."

I know they want it. Who doesn't want it?

Tomorrow, we'll wake up, put Sanchez on the mound and Posey and his colorful mask behind the plate, and do it again, only this time, we'll do it better.