Ruminations on the San Francisco Giants and the game of baseball, written by someone who knows both
29 July 2010
102 down. 60 to go.
This is a game of signs and symbols, and Wednesday's tilt was no different. After blowing a 7-run lead with three to play, the Orange and Black had two paths in front of them, like a kid reading a Choose Your Own Adventure book: 1. Blow the game completely; 2. Win. Championship teams take the latter path. Teams that plan on golfing in October take the former. But it's not a conscious choice. You're either a championship-caliber team, or you're not. You're either a deep, resilient, hardscrabble team, or you're a pocket full of posies — no offense to the one we call "Buster". So while it burns me to no end that "Dirty" Sanchez, Denny "Don't Call Me Lenny" Bautista, and Brian "Torture" Wilson blew a laugher, I can't be that upset, because when I look in the standings this morning, it goes down as a W. Doesn't matter how we got there. In sports, the end result is all that counts. It's important to remember lessons like that when you're pulling your hair out after "His Name Is" Dan Uggla brings his one-man wrecking crew to bear for the umpteenth time in this series. BTW: I linked you to some Shoe-gate copy yesterday, and I don't want to get too deep into it today. Suffice it to say that, no, I don't think Weezy's footwear and the surrounding "controversy" had anything to do with him blowing the save. Did he let his ego get the better of him when he chucked a 3-2 fastball into Uggla's happy zone? Maybe, but should we really be surprised? This guy goes balls-to-the-wall at all times. Doesn't matter what shoes he's wearing or what opposing managers whose names are hardly household material have to say about them. It's always a crap shoot with the Weez, but 91% percent of the time, he's on the mound for the final out of the game. A couple other notes: Buster keeps marching on. With Strasburg headed to the DL and BP now getting national attention from ESPN and others, the path to ROY honors is set. But honestly, I don't give a mess about awards. I love this kid because he makes us a contender. Without him, we'd be floundering around .500 with the Rocks and Doyers. Oh yeah, and if you follow my Twitter thingie, you may have noticed I got into it with Marlins rookie Logan Morrison (@LoMoMarlins), who called out Giants fans in a tweet before the game. The kid had a good game despite my incessant taunts, but I hope MadBum keeps him winless for his career today. He's batting second again, so I'll have ample opportunities to jib and jab. That is all.
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