Yes, I know what you’re thinking… the season started yesterday and I’m blogging about Sunday’s exhibition game between the two Bay Area teams. What?

Well, thanks to the generosity of Google and Microsoft, I was in San Francisco for the weekend at the CRA-W Grad Cohort for Women. And being who I am, I stuck around an extra day to drag some people to a baseball game. As it turns out, the weather wasn’t the greatest and as such, I spent much of the game hunched over my scorebook, trying not to get it wet. (We tried to use reverse psychology on the weather — “Gee, we really love the rain” — to no avail.) But overall, the company was pleasant and the game itself was pretty good.

The game was held at AT&T Park in San Francisco (known last season as SBC Park, but then SBC got bought out — just another reason I hate stadiums named after corporations). I was there last year, but didn’t get a chance to see most of the stadium. This year we went a little early and checked out the Coca Cola slide (which was sadly under construction) and the “Little Giants Field” behind left field, as well as the outfield deck overlooking the bay. I ranked this stadium third last season — having now seen what it actually has to offer, I think it might actually be ahead of Comerica. I’ve got pictures, but unfortunately the batteries in my camera are dead, so they’re stuck there for a little while.

Being in a national league park, I was a little confused to see Barry Bonds (and Frank Thomas) playing DH — and I still don’t know why. Bonds, as was probably to be expected, got a mixed reaction from the fans. Those wearing orange (Giants fans) cheered wildly, while those wearing green (and Breath) booed and heckled him. (“You’re killing your father, Barry!” For those who haven’t seen him in a while, Breath is still a dork.) Still, he managed to get a single and an RBI sac fly during his two at bats — and apparently he got his juice from Anand’s parents’ neighbor. It’s a small world, after all.

As for the rest of the game, the A’s scored first in the 3rd and then broke away with a four run 4th to go up 5-0. After that, they only managed one hit for the rest of the game. (But it was an exhibition game, so most of the starters were gone after the sixth — scorecards get complicated with that many substitutions!) The Giants managed to “leak in” a few “points” by performing well in the “hitting box,”* but it wasn’t enough to overcome the A’s initial lead. The game ended on a 3U-6 double play, and we all went back to Breath’s place, just in time for the rain to really start coming down.

* Look, at least I managed to get these goons to the game. Can I really expect them to know the correct terminology? At least they seemed to be enjoying annoying me.