Giants Midnight Replay

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. 

Brutal, Brutal, Brutal.

Giants finally lose to the Braves 7-2

Screenshot of the game

Eli Whiteside Striking out looking in the 2nd (not a strike)

Eli Whiteside AGAIN in the 4th bases loaded strikes out looking (not a strike)

In the 6th, bases loaded, Eli Whiteside has to protect that outside pitch that ump has been calling all day and rolls one over to short. 

Upon further review of the game (I was cursing the name of Whiteside all the way home) Whiteside was victimized by a terrible strike zone. The home plate umpire was calling shit all night, but of course I could not see that because I sat in section 321. 

1 out of 5 Neukoms

WHAT THE FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCKING, FUCKER, FUCK ASS! 

They don’t even deserve one Neukom. Neukom is rolling in his grave….. oh wait he isn’t dead yet, but he might be after this disaster. 

It’s not like I thought they would go undefeated, I knew this was coming. But did it have to be my first live game of the year? And did we have to be soooo ugly. Here are some sad stats from today’s lose. 

2 Double Plays

9 people left on base (and that’s with 9 walks)

6 walks issued

4 wild pitches

1 Hit By Pitch

2 (could have been 4) Errors

And a Balk just for good measure

The Optimus Prime Award (hero) goes to Uribe for going 1 for 1 with THREE walks. Not bad for such a bad game. 

The Megatron Award (villan) goes to Eli Whiteside for going 0-3 in 2 consecutive bases loaded situations and 0-1 with runners on the corners stranding a grand total of 8 runners. Letting two balls get by him and noodle-arming it to 2nd base on a stolen base.

Other factors that made this night a miserable/interesting/slightly amusing night all around. 

1. Diaz’s swing in the 4th inning.

2. A missed call at first base that eventually scored

3. Two missed Double Play opportunities. 

4. A ball going off Wellemeyer’s leg

5. The weather being FUCKING FREEZING.

6. Jason Heyward getting hit in the butt by a BP fly ball when talking to the crowd before the game.

When you’re sliding into first and you feel a juicy burst…… it’s a walk-off, it’s a walk-off

Giants beat the Braves 5-4 in 13 innings

Screenshot of the game. 

3 out of 5 Neukoms

This game was pretty ugly at points, the Affeldt pick-off throw that was wide of first sloppy. We got some pretty important bunts down when we needed them and scraping out a run in the 13th. But there were some ABs like Ishikawa’s in the 12th when he “cricket-hit” the ball to first base, in a situation where a long fly ball woud have ended it, that were pretty frustrating to watch. 

The Spider-Man Award (hero) goes to Renteria, and Romo. Renteria for giving me a heart attack, and Romo for saving Weezy’s ass. 

The Doctor Octopus Award (villan) goes to, Tim Hudson, Actually give credit where it is deserved, this guy dealt today. 

Some fun screenshots

Huff running down the 3rd baseline after a pop up. Then realizing that he was going the wrong direction and turning back. hahaha

Ooooooops