Entries Tagged 'Giants' ↓

The only way to truly understand how the seemingly lame LA Dodgers, champions of the worst division in baseball, are steamrolling the seemingly unstoppable Chicago Cubs, the best team in baseball this year, is to be a student of baseball curses. And I’m not just talking about the curse that’s afflicted the Cubs for the past century.

I’m talking about the theories that the San Francisco Giants have been somehow cursed since they moved to California 50 years ago. Think about it: During that half century, the original cursed team — the Brooklyn Dodgers — became the LA Dodgers, winning five World Series titles (1959, 1963, 1965, 1981, 1988). The Giants have won — zero.

Now, with the two teams marking their 50th anniversary, the Giants announced that one of their most prominent connections to New York — owner Peter Magowan, a native New Yorker, a boyhood denizen of the Polo Grounds — is retiring. And the Dodgers import native New Yorker Joe Torre, who brought Yankee mojo, and Yankee legend Don Mattingly to LA. And in the heat of the pennant race, they acquired another native New Yorker, Manny Ramirez. If baseball abandoned its AL/NL MVP voting for an MLB MVP (like every other major sports league), it would have to be Manny, whose gaudy stats (.332 avg., 37 HRs, 121 RBIs, .430 on base pct., .601 slugging pct.) led two teams to the playoffs.

I don’t care how many goats the Cubs’ sacrificed, this playoff series isn’t about them. It’s Old New York, cursing the Giants by rewarding the Dodgers again.

(Illustration is from the talented John Mavroudis, www.zenpop.com)

I’m at the ballpark right now, where as my friend Mike Shapiro just put it, it’s a Super Bowl feeling: The commercials are better than the game.

In this case, the Giants on the field are playing the pathetic baseball that has them in last place, but between innings, the fans are treated to highlight after highlight of Barry Bonds’ wondrous 15 years in San Francisco.

 The tributes and adulation are an example of the Giants doing everything right, but why then does it feel so wrong? It’s because of the complicated love-hate relationship between San Francisco and Barry Bonds. The Giants feel it too.

On the one hand: The Giants hand out cards for fans to wave saying “Thanks Barry,” with his picture and his highlights, and they celebrate him like royalty between innings.

 On the other hand: The Giants are saying, in effect, thanks - and don’t let the door hit you on the way out. You were great, but when you’re only in it for yourself, don’t expect us to knock ourselves out when your mortality proves you to be just another ballplayer.

Tonight is Barry’s last game as a Giant at AT&T Park. I’ll be there. The Road to History signs around the ballpark resonate deeply for me, as everything Barry has done in this decade feels historic, including his departure.

I expect he’ll be showered with adulation, and that he’ll give the fans something to remember. The adulation, however, will be nothing like that felt in San Diego toward Tony Gwynn, or in Baltimore toward Cal Ripken Jr. It’s more along the lines of appreciating this man’s tremendous talents, and the privilege we all felt at watching him perform.

But did we love him? Did he love us? No way. It was a purely mercenary arrangement. He was in it for himself — as were we. We all got something out of it.

That makes it a little easier to say goodbye to Barry than it was, say, to bid farewell when other legends — Willie Mays, Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, my own boyhood hero Walt Frazier — left their lifelong uniforms to play out their careers.

For some, the San Francisco Giants‘ last homestand of 2007 is a sad affair. The team is closing out the season in last place, and many of the players won’t be back.

For me, though, I’m having the time of my life. I have an assignment from San Francisco magazine to write a story for next spring on the Giants’ 50th anniversary in The City.

I went to AT&T Park yesterday and had a chance to talk to some players, including Dave Roberts and Omar Vizquel, who couldn’t have been nicer. Barry Bonds appeared relaxed, but we did not connect; given his connection to Giants’ history, I would love to talk to him, but given that I’m a total stranger and he is fairly wary of the press, I’m not setting my hopes too high.

The Giants disappointed on the field, losing 4-2 to the Cincinnati Reds. Once again, they let down the great Matt Cain, who pitched well enough to win, yet lost. But once again, they showed signs that next year could be exciting, particularly with all of the good young players they have. I had my first taste of watching second baseman Eugenio Velez, and I was dazzled - he just flies around the bases, and even when he made an error, he did so by ranging well into right field, hustling constantly. I could live with a lineup of Velez, Rajai Davis and Nate Schierholtz joining veterans like Vizquel, Bengie Molina and Randy Winn and a pitching rotation that is the envy of the league.

And I’d like to offer one more morsel of food for thought: What if I suggested that what the Giants need is a player who can hit about .280, slug about 28 home runs (in only 337 at bats), and lead the league in on-base percentage? Of course, the Giants already have that player, but it sure seems that the sentiment is to let him go; and after getting our thrills watching all of his milestones, we’re ready to abandon him when he needs 65 more hits for 3,000. I’m not on board that bandwagon just yet.