The final game of the series, and my final game in San Francisco this year. Clayton Kershaw was a late scratch for the Dodgers so it was two ex-Athletics facing each together as Joe Blanton for the Dodgers squared off against the Giants' Barry Zito.
The time of this game was changed a couple of weeks ago to move it to 5pm so that I could be ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball game, which always starts at 8pm Eastern Time. This always causes an issue for West coast games due to the lighting: the sun is neither fully up nor fully set, so you get half the field in the shade and half in the light for the first few innings, as you can see in the photograph. It takes until the 6th inning before the light clears the batters' eye in centre. However, it was useful for me, as it meant I could have most of Sunday to do things before going to the early evening game, which would still finish around 8pm or so, so not be too late, as I have to pack to leave early tomorrow morning after the game.
I was in the section just in front of the ESPN studio where they did the pre-game and post-game, with their commentary position in the next booth along. The three amigos in the booth are, left-to-right: Orel Hershiser (former MLB pitcher and pitching coach), Terry Francona (former hitter and former recent Red Sox manager) and Dan Shulman (ESPN commentator) Unfortunately, they had their backs to us for the post-game, but I did notice that Orel spent a lot of time fixing his hair - whereas Terry & Dan don't have so many worries in that department!
The Giants got off to a storming start, with Hunter Pence finally delivering something in this series with a 2-run scoring hit in the bottom of the 1st inning. This started the BEAT L.A. chant off, which would be repeated from time to time throughout the game, as is usual. Zito was pitching well, but not very economically with his pitches, whereas Blanton, after a 30-pitch 1st, economised well until he was taken out after 90 pitches or so as the Dodgers were just falling too far behind.
Zito left after 6 and one third to be replaced by Casilla who managed to load the bases but get out of the jam for the 7th inning stretch by geting Victorino to fly out to left field. Being a Sunday, it was "God Bless America" time before we could sing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame". After that it was a curious game, as a procession of pitchers came and went after getting one batter out, particularly on the Giants side as Bruce Bochy wore a new path to the mound, until he let Romo pitch all of the 9th inning to complete the 4-0 shut-out which gave the Giants a 2-1 series win and extended their lead atop the NL West standings to 5.5 games.
On the Los Angeles side, they did nothing in the batter's box, but the stand out performance on the defensive end was from Shane Victorino in centre field. He made two spectacular diving catches to rob the Giants of runs, and a couple more good defensive plays too. He couldn't do anything about Buster Posey's 410ft home run that sailed over his head and the fence, though!
Strangely, the crowd wasn't as boisterous leaving the ballpark tonight as it was after the game on Friday night. I couldn't really work out why it was so subdued tonight, although I shared that sentiment as I am a little sad now as I've seen the Giants for the last time this year. I have to leave San Francisco early on Monday morning to fly to Dallas. Next series is Indians @ Rangers for 3 games, starting on Tuesday - bound to have lots of ceremony pre-game as it'll be 11th September. Tomorrow, I should arrive at my hotel just in time for the Monday Night Football double-header!
The final game of the series, and my final game in San Francisco this year. Clayton Kershaw was a late scratch for the Dodgers so it was two ex-Athletics facing each together as Joe Blanton for the Dodgers squared off against the Giants' Barry Zito.
The time of this game was changed a couple of weeks ago to move it to 5pm so that I could be ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball game, which always starts at 8pm Eastern Time. This always causes an issue for West coast games due to the lighting: the sun is neither fully up nor fully set, so you get half the field in the shade and half in the light for the first few innings, as you can see in the photograph. It takes until the 6th inning before the light clears the batters' eye in centre. However, it was useful for me, as it meant I could have most of Sunday to do things before going to the early evening game, which would still finish around 8pm or so, so not be too late, as I have to pack to leave early tomorrow morning after the game.
I was in the section just in front of the ESPN studio where they did the pre-game and post-game, with their commentary position in the next booth along. The three amigos in the booth are, left-to-right: Orel Hershiser (former MLB pitcher and pitching coach), Terry Francona (former hitter and former recent Red Sox manager) and Dan Shulman (ESPN commentator) Unfortunately, they had their backs to us for the post-game, but I did notice that Orel spent a lot of time fixing his hair - whereas Terry & Dan don't have so many worries in that department!
The Giants got off to a storming start, with Hunter Pence finally delivering something in this series with a 2-run scoring hit in the bottom of the 1st inning. This started the BEAT L.A. chant off, which would be repeated from time to time throughout the game, as is usual. Zito was pitching well, but not very economically with his pitches, whereas Blanton, after a 30-pitch 1st, economised well until he was taken out after 90 pitches or so as the Dodgers were just falling too far behind.
Zito left after 6 and one third to be replaced by Casilla who managed to load the bases but get out of the jam for the 7th inning stretch by geting Victorino to fly out to left field. Being a Sunday, it was "God Bless America" time before we could sing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame". After that it was a curious game, as a procession of pitchers came and went after getting one batter out, particularly on the Giants side as Bruce Bochy wore a new path to the mound, until he let Romo pitch all of the 9th inning to complete the 4-0 shut-out which gave the Giants a 2-1 series win and extended their lead atop the NL West standings to 5.5 games.
On the Los Angeles side, they did nothing in the batter's box, but the stand out performance on the defensive end was from Shane Victorino in centre field. He made two spectacular diving catches to rob the Giants of runs, and a couple more good defensive plays too. He couldn't do anything about Buster Posey's 410ft home run that sailed over his head and the fence, though!
Strangely, the crowd wasn't as boisterous leaving the ballpark tonight as it was after the game on Friday night. I couldn't really work out why it was so subdued tonight, although I shared that sentiment as I am a little sad now as I've seen the Giants for the last time this year. I have to leave San Francisco early on Monday morning to fly to Dallas. Next series is Indians @ Rangers for 3 games, starting on Tuesday - bound to have lots of ceremony pre-game as it'll be 11th September. Tomorrow, I should arrive at my hotel just in time for the Monday Night Football double-header!
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