Let's Watch Some Baseball

I must apologize to those of you who use The Burrow to keep abreast of sports news. There's been a whole lot of baseball being played and I haven't told you anything at all about it.  That's probably because October is my favorite month of the year and I've been busy enjoying the sights and sounds of the great outdoors rather than hunkering down in front of a television watching other people play.

But tonight is the 5th game of the NLCS and the Giants are one game away from going to The Series.  In non-sports-talk, the Giants, San Francisco's baseball team (which, unlike the New York Giants actually plays in its eponymous city) have won 3 out of the 7 games in the National League Championship Series which means that if they beat the Philadelphia Phillies tonight they will play against either the Yankees or the Texas Rangers in the 2010 World Series.

This is a very big deal.  Like any good fair weather fan, I am enjoying jumping on the bandwagon of my once and former team now that they are winning the big games.  I make no bones about it.  I don't care enough to follow an entire season, but if the Cubbies aren't in the running I am more than happy to pick up a winning team in the Fall.  It's always more fun to have a vested interest, no matter how slight it may be.  This year there's the added bonus of having the Big Cuter in San Francisco; with a personal tie I feel marginally less cheesy.
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TBG told me that 3 old Giants fans had sung the National Anthem and "Damn, but they were good."  In fact, he liked the harmony of the last few bars so much that he rewound the dvr so that I could hear it myself.  I had to laugh - they were really really good.... if somewhat pitchy....

 

It was Phil Lesh and Bob Weir from The Grateful Dead, with Further's Jeff Pehrson, entertaining the crowd.  TBG gave himself props for recognizing good music, even if he couldn't identify the participants.  As he says, that's what he's got me for.
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With smiles on our faces we watched the Giants take a 1-0 lead after the first inning.  This was going to be a pitchers' duel, we thought.  Tim Lincecum is throwing for the Giants, and he's just about perfect.  He has a nice easy motion and pinpoint accuracy and even I can see that he's very very good.  His opponent is the kid who threw a no-hitter in his first play-off appearance in the NLDS 2 weeks ago , Roy Halladay (non-sports talk -- nobody could hit his pitches in the series before this one.... the Division).  He, too, is quite excellent.  They look like they are 12 years old, but then pretty much everyone on television does these days.
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The fans are having a really good time watching their team, despite their disturbing tendency to lag behind until the 8th or 9th inning.  As one woman's sign put it : Torture never felt so good.  I'm certainly glad that my interest is marginal at best; if I really cared I'd be having an Ativan cocktail with every game.
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The good thing about watching baseball vs football or soccer is that I can make dinner at the same time.  Adding in typing to you means a few more hand washings between tasks, but we're not missing any of the game, I promise.  The Phillies scored 3 in the 3rd but I'm trying not to worry.  Lincecum's a good pitcher and the Giants have some offensive power and they do come back when they are behind.  I'm going to make some salad and hope for better things.
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Baseball is a hard game to watch when you are eating because some players think it is acceptable to expectorate while they are working.  It is not.  That's all I am going to say on the subject.  Some of you may be eating.

But while we're thinking about men behaving badly, let me ask you this: Do you ever consider touching your private body parts when you are at work?  How about when you know that you are on national television?  Once again, we have an example of unacceptable behavior.  I really have to wonder about the concept of shame in modern society.  As my parents always told me, and as Cris Collinsworth reiterated in a totally different context, if you don't want it printed on the front page of the New York Times then don't do it.
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As the Giants come up to bat in the bottom of the 4th, there's a rainbow over PacBell Park (or whatever it is called now) there and a gorgeous full moon over the Pusch Ridge here and the sunset is classic Georgia O'Keefe and that's making it easier to believe that the gods are smiling on us since the Giants managed to score another run in the bottom of the 4th.   We're still down a run, and there's a light rain shower going on in the stadium, but TBG and I have the windows open and the breeze blowing through our dry house and life is good.  I am so glad I don't really care about the outcome of this game.
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The Giants changed pitchers a couple of times, and the Phillies scored another run and this will be the last game of the season that's played in Baghdad by the Bay unless the Giants can take one of the two remaining games in Philadelphia this weekend. 

But don't worry about me, denizens.  I won't be that sad.  I have a secret emotional weapon which is protecting my heart.  The Crayolas are intimately connected to the Phillies organization; Dad's already announced that he is going to every game if they make it to the World Series.  It's a family thing, and I like his family.  Should the Giants fold, I'll take my fair-weather-fan-self over to Philadelphia's side.  I have no shame.