It’s Easy To Cheer For a Champion
Reaching the top of the shit pile is nice once in a while, it affords you the perspective to look back down the hill your team climbed and the emotional journey you took with them. So in tribute to myself and fans like me. I am going to take a look back to the “not-so-Championship-year” of 2008.
I have a nice wad of tickets in my dresser, sometimes I like to look back at them and then go back to see what the game was like. Back in 2008 I remember going to a game that just had the worst of the worst lineup. It was an early afternoon game, the Giants were playing the Braves. And while Braves fielded a decent lineup as they are want to do, the Giants served up a hot steaming pile of crap. Watching Ivan Ochoa and Jose Castillo take their place on the left side of the infield from my view reserve seat, while not cheer worthy did not ruin the game. I feel like we eventually got down to field level and snuck into better seats for the later innings.
Interesting to see that 3 of the starting 9 players they threw out there, were part of the last years World Series crew. And only Lincecum is the only starter in the bunch, Rowand and Burriss were benched for most of the year.
The other part of this box score that I love (and unfortunately you can only see in this version) is that Giants were 0-8 with RISP, and wonderboy Aaron Rowand got all 3 RBI.
Here is a bit of nostalgia for those who have been there over the last 54 years.
Game Played on Wednesday, August 6, 2008 at AT&T Park
ATL N 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 - 2 5 1 SF N 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 x - 3 11 0
BATTING
Atlanta Braves AB R H RBI BB SO PO A Blanco lf 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 Escobar ss 4 0 0 1 0 0 1 4 Kotchman 1b 3 0 0 0 1 1 9 0 McCann c 4 1 3 0 0 1 6 2 Infante 3b 4 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 Kotsay cf 3 0 0 1 1 1 2 0 Johnson 2b 4 0 0 0 0 1 3 3 Francoeur rf 3 0 0 0 1 1 2 1 James p 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Gotay ph 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Carlyle p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Norton ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Tavarez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Ohman p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 30 2 5 2 4 8 24 11
FIELDING -
DP: 3. Escobar-Johnson-Kotchman, Francoeur-McCann, Escobar-Johnson-Kotchman.
E: Escobar (11).
BATTING -
2B: Gotay (3,off Lincecum); McCann (29,off Lincecum).
SH: Blanco (2,off Lincecum).
Team LOB: 6.
San Francisco Giants AB R H RBI BB SO PO A
Winn rf 4 2 4 0 0 0 2 0
Ochoa ss 2 0 0 0 0 2 1 5
Rowand cf 2 1 2 3 1 0 3 0
Molina c 4 0 1 0 0 0 8 1
Lewis lf 4 0 2 0 0 0 2 1
Aurilia 1b 4 0 0 0 0 1 9 1
Castillo 3b 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Burriss 2b 3 0 1 0 1 0 2 3
Lincecum p 3 0 0 0 0 3 0 0
Wilson p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals 30 3 11 3 2 6 27 11
BATTING -
2B: Lewis (23,off Ohman).
3B: Lewis (10,off Carlyle).
HR: Rowand (10,1st inning off James 1 on 1 out).
SH: Ochoa 2 (2,off James,off Tavarez).
SF: Rowand (3,off James).
GDP: Molina 2 (16,off Carlyle,off Tavarez).
IBB: Rowand (5,by Tavarez).
Team LOB: 8.
PITCHING
Atlanta Braves IP H R ER BB SO HR BFP
James L(2-5) 4 5 3 3 0 3 1 18
Carlyle 2 4 0 0 1 2 0 9
Tavarez 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 4
Ohman 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 4
Totals 8 11 3 3 2 6 1 35
BK: James (1).
IBB: Tavarez (2,Rowand).
San Francisco Giants IP H R ER BB SO HR BFP
Lincecum W(12-3) 8 5 2 2 4 8 0 32
Wilson SV(32) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
Totals 9 5 2 2 4 8 0 35
WP: Lincecum (12).
Umpires: HP - Derryl Cousins, 1B - Kerwin Danley, 2B - Angel Hernandez, 3B - Eric Cooper
Time of Game: 2:14 Attendance: 39955
Starting Lineups:
Atlanta Braves San Francisco Giants
1. Blanco lf Winn rf
2. Escobar ss Ochoa ss
3. Kotchman 1b Rowand cf
4. McCann c Molina c
5. Infante 3b Lewis lf
6. Kotsay cf Aurilia 1b
7. Johnson 2b Castillo 3b
8. Francoeur rf Burriss 2b
9. James p Lincecum p
Thanks to Retrosheet who I stole this from.
