The End of the Season

I haven't written in quite a while, and I'm sure both of you are furious with me.

No excuse, got caught up in the possible end-0f-the-season miracle. You know, the one we blew away in the span of 8 batters on a fateful Saturday in Los Angeles?

Truth? I was at the game.

I'm still recovering.

My father-in-law (Red Sox fan) was in town so the two of us headed out last minute, got pretty bad seats way up the 1B line, and watched history unfold.

Soon as we sit down, he tells me that, based on a lifetime of seat-jumping at Fenway, we'll be able to move up to better seats by the 4th or 5th. It is a surprising testimony to Dodger fans that we never moved as much as one row closer. There were no seats to be had.

Sweetest moment? Bottom the 8th. 2 on, 2 out. Beltre up. The entire place chanting "MVP! MVP!" Beltre grounds out. I stand up and chant "MVP! MVP!" I still can't believe I did something like that, but enough people appreciated the irony of it, that I wasn't hated.

Luckily for Giants fans everywhere, baseball is an 8-inning game. Can you imagine if we had to try to go out there and get another 3 outs? We wouldn't be where we are now, headed back to Atlanta for game 5, with Lowry going to the mound to continue his rookie miracle season...

Humor me. I live in denial.

91 wins sounds like a lot. And it is. Unless it takes 92 to make the playoffs. Then you go through the 71 losses and pick a handful that we plum blew. Turns out there are lots of culprits, aside from the heartbreaker in BlueLand.

Whenever the Giants blow an April or May game that they should have won, it irks me to know end to hear players, managers, anyone talk about how "It's OK, it's only peril. The game doesn't mean as much..."

Dudes!! It's a loss! One less "Oops, did we lose that game?" in April would have given us 92 wins and then who knows. How about getting swept at home by Pittsburgh? How about 4 straight 1-run losses at home to LA? How about games where we blew 5-run leads against Colorado? Boston? Anyone?

Uhg.

So now I root for Boston. Partly because I have to, by the laws of marriage. But also partly so there will be one less team that has waited as long as we have for a championship. Kids, it's been 50 years. If the Red Sox win, then it's down to us and the Cubs and maybe a couple others I'm not thinking of at the moment. (White Sox?)

Eventually, even the Cubs will win, and then it'll just be the Giants. Suffering for 50+ years. With some of the best players ever to suit up. (Mays. McCovey. Bonds. Marichal.) And no championships. That's my dream.

On the other hand, 2005 might just be our year.

You think?