And now I have finally been to a Giants game where I could cheer for them.
Except that I forget that the image I always had about California being hot and sunny is a myth when talking about San Francisco. I didn’t bring a sweatshirt and my t-shirt wearing self started to get cold in about the 6th inning. “It’s not so bad,” I told myself, “There’s only a few innings left.”
Except that the Giants tied it up in the 8th which led to extra innings — late night extra innings in San Francisco without a sweater, with the wind whipping off the Bay into the bleachers. When Nate Schierholtz managed to get to third base in the 12th with only one out, I was sure it was going to end.
Except that pinch hitter Cody Ross struck out followed by another pinch hitter, Pat Burrell, popping out. On to the unlucky 13th we went and that’s about when I really thought about leaving a game early for the first time in my life. My scorebook was already kind of screwed up since I ran out of room after the 12th and had to do some creative cramming and arrow drawing to indicate which at bat actually happened when. But I stuck it out… all the way through the 14th. Since 14 is twice 7, they did a 14th inning stretch and we sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”… again.
Nate Schierholtz, who nearly ended my pain in the 12th, had another chance in the 14th against former Twin and Minnesota native Pat Neshek. I couldn’t root against a Minnesotan, could I? As I struggled with this dilemma, Schierholtz made the decision for me by hitting a home run that plunked into the right field seats. Upon getting swept up in the cheers of the crowd — and realizing that I could run home and get warm — I decided that, yeah, I can be a Giants fan when the Twins aren’t here, even against former Twins.

I should subtitle this entry “How to get a ball during batting practice.”
Despite having been to dozens* of baseball games, before tonight I had never caught a ball. However, that doesn’t stop me from still going early to catch batting practice, when the number of balls that get hit or thrown into the stands is greatest. And tonight, I met the master of batting practice ball retrieval…

The man brought a fishing net attached to a fishing pole to batting practice. When a ball rolls to the fence, out of reach of fans in the bleachers and far away from any fielders who might either kindly toss it into the stands or throw it back to the infield, he drops his net and fishes up the ball.
I told him I was going to have to try that some time.
However, it turns out there is another way to get a ball during batting practice. Wear the away team’s jersey and bring a glove. When one of the bullpen pitchers hanging around in the outfield decides who to throw it to, he’ll pick you because you’re wearing the same colors. Well, okay, I have done this many times before without success, but tonight…

… it worked! Thanks, Matt Capps!
And then there was a baseball game… the Twins lost. It’s not really worth recapping. They’ll try again tomorrow and I will be there.
* I wonder what my life time total actually is. I have no way of knowing this.

Today I finally took advantage of the fact that I now live mere blocks from AT&T Park and walked over after work to see the Twins, on a 7 game winning streak, take on the Giants, on a 4 game losing streak.
And holy cow… most fun first inning ever! The Twins had 8 consecutive hits to start the ballgame. Giants fans were booing the pitcher, Madison Bumgarner, by about the 7th hit. Only the pitcher, Carl Pavano, broke the streak… who knows what would have happened if this had been in an AL park with a DH. When Ben Revere followed Pavano’s strikeout with his second hit of the inning, a double scoring two runs to put the Twins up 8-0 with still only one out, Bumgarner was yanked. His ERA for the game was 216. No, there are no decimal points in there.
Apparently the last time an American League team started the game with 8 hits was the Yankees in 1990.
People born in 1990 can legally drink now. (That’s kind of depressing, actually.)
The rest of the game was fairly mild by comparison — Pavano was on his game, pitching six shutout innings before giving up a solo homer in the 7th and another run in the 8th. Guillermo Moto, who came in to replace Bumgarner, probably should have been the starter as he only gave up 3 hits and no runs. In the 9th, just to rub the blowout in, Alexi Casilla hit his second homerun in as many games to bring the final score to 9-2.
Wait back up… because this is probably going to get lost in the wake of the first inning massacre… Alexi Casilla, who prior to Sunday hadn’t hit a homerun all year, has hit one in back to back games. Really? Savor the moment, Alexi.
As for me, despite the fears of one my co-workers, I was not harassed in the slightest. The very nice gay couple next to me made a compelling case for making the Giants my National League team and the woman in front of me was “born and raised a Twins fan” and claimed that despite her Giants hat tonight, she’d be wearing a Twins jersey tomorrow. She seconded the motion that I should cheer for the Giants when it’s not an interleague game against the Twins.
I may have to consider the offer…
Edit: In what might be the best example of how crazy baseball stats can be, tonight was only the third time a pitcher gave up 8 runs on 25 pitches or less.

I’ve been watching the Twins-Rangers game on MLB.tv with the Twins website in the background as I putter around my room. After the 7th inning, the main headline on the website became the following:

Come on, Twins website staff, don’t you know about jinxes and not mentioning the no-no while it’s in progress? Sure enough, Adrian Beltre, the first batter of the 8th inning, laced a hit to centerfield… and just scored on a Yorvit Torrealba single.
I’m pretty sure the website jinxed him.

This past Saturday, May 21, was supposed to be the rapture, according to some people who have too much to spend on billboards. I didn’t give the prediction too much credence, but to play it safe, I figured that if the end of the world was coming, I might as well be at a ballpark. So, I made plans to be at the Twins game on Saturday, even if that meant flying to another state to do so.
Okay, actually, I made these plans as part of my Christmas present from my uncle Mark, my mom’s older brother who lives in Phoenix. A ballgame seemed a good way to bond with relatives I didn’t know well… plus, Saturday was Diamondbacks Garden Gnome giveaway so how could I not?
While the rapture didn’t come, I think the end of days is nigh for the Twins playoff chances. After taking a 6-3 lead on homeruns by Danny Valencia and Jason Kubel, Matt Capps blew his save chance and the game by giving up 6 runs in the 8th, including a grand slam. (I just finished watching a similar meltdown in tonight’s game against Seattle, and it felt like deja vu. Really, this team is not as bad as their record except, well… parts of them are.)
But on the plus side, I got to spend a weekend mostly lounging by or in my uncle’s pool in 80-90 degree weather. (And it was dry heat — what makes midwest and east coast summers so brutal is the humidity, and Arizona doesn’t have it.) The home cooked meals were delicious, the Scrabble games were plentiful, and I only got a little bit sunburned. Even if the game wasn’t so great, the weekend was worth it.
Plus, now I have a little garden gnome.

That was pretty awesome.
I went in to work today, told Dave that I was probably going to leave at 11:30 to take an extra long lunch in Oakland to see the second Twins game. Then I hopped on the BART, bought a $35 ticket right behind home plate, and had the best lunch break ever — lunch was even free thanks to the friendliest couple of Twins fans I’ve ever encountered. They bought me hot dog and a soda as a “Welcome to the Bay Area” gift. So far, I love California.
And then the game itself — it was like watching the Twins of last season. Not only was Nick Blackburn on fire on the mound, but the offense stepped it up too. Cuddyer had three hits, Justin Morneau had three hits, including a double and a homerun, Trevor Plouffe (in the running for my favorite player, but not there yet) went deep with a three run homerun in the 8th, and Rene Rivera — the backup catcher to Drew Butera — launched a homer to left in his first at bat.
I think I know why he did it too. An A’s fan behind me starting jeering him incessantly as soon as he came to bat: “You’re average is .069! Go back to the minor leagues! MINOR LEAGUER!”… etc. Remember, we were sitting just behind home plate, so I think Rivera could hear him. He was mid-jeer when Rivera’s hit went for the fences, which made it all the more satisfying.
I turned around and asked if he wouldn’t mind heckling Alexi Casilla next, since he could use the help too. “Uh, no,” he said, “I think I’m done for this game.”
Just for the record, after going 2-4 today, Rivera’s average is now a massive .158 — more than double than it was going into the game. Casilla was the only Twins player not to get a hit.

At some point last October, my sister e-mailed me out of the blue asking me who my favorite Twin of all time was and who my favorite current Twin was. I facetiously wrote back “Dave Hollins and Trevor Plouffe.” (I added an addendum that the real answers were Kirby Puckett and either Mauer or Morneau.) It turns out that she was asking because she had decided to get me a Twins jersey for Christmas… and apparently I was this close to getting a Trevor Plouffe jersey because of my facetiousness.
I bring this up because tonight I attended my first Twins game of the year in Oakland and Trevor Plouffe was the hero of the game, driving in the winning run in the 10th inning. It would have been fitting if I was actually wearing a Plouffe jersey instead of Michael Cuddyer.*
Trevor freaking Plouffe.
That’s the thing about the Twins this season — half the starting line-up is on or has been on the disabled list: Mauer, Thome, Nishioka, Delmon Young, and even Plouffe himself… not to mention that Morneau still doesn’t seem quite like himself post-concussion. As a result, the Twins line-up is full of guys who are just barely Major Leaguers — Plouffe, Ben Revere, Alexi Casilla, Rene Rivera, Drew Butera (okay, I have a soft spot for Drew and he’s a legit back-up catcher, just not an everyday starter). As a result, they have the worst record in baseball — oh, the memories of the late 90s. (An A’s fan behind me at the game tonight yelled “I can’t believe we’re losing to this team — they suck!” Until that moment, I had forgotten what it was like to cheer for the butt of all baseball jokes.) But while some of these guys are probably heading back to Rochester just as soon as the disabled list gets emptied, Trevor Plouffe has proven to not suck. Maybe one day he will be my favorite Twin.
On another note, after snapping a nine game losing streak, the Twins are 2-0 since legendary slugger Harmon Killebrew passed away yesterday morning. They’re hanging his number 3 in the dugout, even at away games. I’d like to think he’s haunting their bats and helping them win. I’m going to Phoenix this weekend to visit my uncle and go see the Twins play the Diamondbacks — apparently I will be missing Killebrew’s funeral by about 12 hours on Friday. I hope they do something to honor him when I’m there on Saturday.

* She got me a Michael Cuddyer jersey because “everyone has a Mauer, Morneau, or Puckett jersey.” I can’t argue with her logic on that one. However, having a Harmon Killebrew jersey would perhaps be a bit more fitting this season.

Bert Blyleven was finally inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame today. Congrats, Bert, even if you didn’t circle me in Baltimore. In honor, here’s one of my favorite Bert moments (the key moment is at about 0:49):

My blog post is one of the three finalists over at Twinkie Town.
Go vote for me!