Russo Rant from 2003

Giants fans, I don't know if you remember this from 2003:



Hey Russo. We won one.

Missing the Point

As a teacher I e-mail the parents of my students on regular basis to keep them abreast on what is happening in my classroom and at the school in general. Overall, the parents are very appreciative of this communication. Last year at the end of the year I wrote them one final e-mail. I said playfully in the e-mail:

I’m sure a few of you are wondering how to nominate me for teacher of the year or something. I don’t have an answer. I have no idea how any of that stuff works. However, if you want the principal’s e-mail address let me know and I will e-mail it to you so you can send her a note. (Hopefully, only to say positive things about me.)

One parent decided to take me up on my offer. She wrote a nice response to me thanking me for my hard work and dedication to the students. She sent the e-mail to both the principal and me.

But she included my initial e-mail at the bottom.

2010 Giants

Part I: A reason to believe:

I had the week off work so I was out taking care of some errands. It was midweek (Wed 8/25/10) and the Giants were trailing 10-1 in the fifth against the Reds so I turned off the game. I had some work done on my car and flipped the radio back on for the drive home. Now the Giants were trailing just 10-8 and threatening. With runners on 1^st and 2^nd and nobody out Boche once again did not bunt the runners over. I was furious, that is until Andres Torres doubled. The Giants took an 11-10 lead into the ninth, and for a brief moment I thought to myself, “This is magic. This is going to be our year.” But instead of finishing the biggest comeback in franchise history the Giants gave up one in the ninth and lost the game in the 12^th. Torture.

On August 29^th in a state of disappointment I e-mailed my faithful Giants friends and said:

“I don’t think the Giants are going to make the postseason. I did. For a moment on Wed. When their pitching is dominant I think not only we could make the postseason, but win it all. Dominant pitching wins in October, right? But now I don’t even know what three starters we would go with in a 5-game set. The Giants have lost Tim’s (Lincecum) last five starts.

I’d like a reason to believe again.”

Lincecum’s next start he pitched 8 innings in a victory over Colorado and he went on to go 5-1 in September with an ERA of 1.94. While I was writing the e-mail the Padres were finally faltering, and in the midst of a 10-game skid. I found my reasons.

Colorado stayed right with the Giants and Padres, and in early September it looked like they had all the momentum. They were unable to keep the pace and when we went into Colorado 9/24 they hoped for a sweep, but needed at least two of three. We took the first one Friday. After a devastating (and quirky) Saturday loss we virtually knocked them out of it on Sunday. It went down to the final weekend series a two-team race with San Diego.

The Giants were just one victory away from making the playoffs. In typical Giants torture we lost the first two, and didn’t clinch the division until the final game of the season. With the win on Sunday the Giants secured the west, and knocked the Padres out of wild-card contention.

The anguish continued in the first two games against the Braves. In game one Lincecum had one of the most brilliant pitching performances in history, but yet the fans had no time to relax as the Giants only put one run on the board. Game 2 the Braves evened the series in an extra-inning thriller.

Then on 10/10/10 we watched one of the greatest games of our lives. My friends and I returned to the local sports bar. As Andres Torres led off with a base-hit to center the crowd went nuts. The televisions were loud, the crowd was loud, the space was small, but it was a group of real fans watching the game with us.

After a triple by Fontenot in the 2^nd the Giants scored their first run on a popup to right that Braves 2^nd baseman Brooks Conrad could not come up with. The way Jonathon Sanchez was pitching you got the feeling that maybe the one run would be enough. The Giants held on to the 1-0 lead until the 8^th. Alex Gonzalez led off the bottom of the 8^th with a base hit. Conrad was unable to bunt him over. With one out the Braves pinch hit with Troy Glaus. The Giants countered with Sergio Romo. Glaus was removed without seeing a pitch in favor of left-handed hitting Erik Hinske. (Major league rules state a pitcher coming into a game must face at least one batter.) Hinske homered off Romo and the Giants went down 2-1. All of our enthusiasm was wiped away.

We sat there stunned. Depressed. Anxious. Bummed. The Braves brought in rookie Craig Kimbel, who not only dominated the Giants earlier in the series, but has been dominant since being called up to the big leagues. Ross popped out. Ishikwa walked. Torres struck out. Then Sanchez looked completely over-matched by the young right-hander. The Giants were just a strike away from losing the game. Sanchez singled to center. They brought in a lefty to face Huff who dumped one in to right. Game tied.

We cheered, screamed, chanted, gave high fives. The mood turned to elation. Then Posey hit a ball up the middle and Conrad booted it for his third error of the game.

Wilson closed the ninth to seal the victory. Giants baseball… torture. That was one of the greatest games I have seen, most excruciating, took years off my life, and in the end the Giants came out victorious.

That game represented the Giants of 2010, and reminded all of us why we love this game and love this team.




Part II: Giants World Series Baseball... Not Torture

Against the Phillies and Braves six of the seven Giants wins came by only one run. Giants fans had come to expect nothing less. So we geared up for another tough series against a Texas team that just dominated the Yankees and boasted a pitcher (Cliff Lee) so good in the postseason that he would be favored over any of our magnificent starters.

This was set to be a close back-and-forth nail-biting series.

That’s not what happened.

Game 1: The Giants got hits in each of the first three innings and put two runs across in the third. Cliff Lee looked far from invincible. Then in the 5^th inning they knocked Lee out and busted the game wide open. They tacked on three more in the eight and took an 11-4 lead into the ninth. Ramirez and Affeldt helped make it interesting in the ninth, but Wilson shut the door without allowing the tying run to ever reach the plate. Giants coast to victory in the opener.

Game2: Cain pitched 7 and 2/3 scoreless innings in a close game. However, in the 8^th with two outs the Giants started to hit. They didn’t stop hitting until seven runs crossed the plate. An inning that went from intense, to fun, to laughable helped the Giants coast to an easy 9-0 victory.

Game 3: The Giants fell behind early 4-0. Despite a couple of solo homeruns to make it closer they never really mounted a legitimate threat to take the lead. Even with a closer final score the game never matched the intensity we saw during the first two rounds of the playoffs.

Doubt still crept into my mind up 2-1 in the series I thought to myself, “What if we lose game four? And game 5? Would Sanchez pitch if it went to seven? I hope it doesn’t go to seven.” Surely the Giants would lose game 4 to make it interesting.

Game 4: The Giants scored two in the third, one in the seventh, and one in the eight. The Rangers had zero runs and only five base runners as they managed few good swings off the Giants rookie Madison Bumgarner. Giants calmly took the game 4-0.

That’s it. We’re up three games to one and still haven’t experienced the torture in the World Series.

Game 5: Even game five brought a relaxed vibe. The worst thing that could happen is we could lose and still go back home with a 3-2 lead. Despite being a better game it wasn’t nerve-wracking like the rest of the season. With Lincecum dominating as soon as Renteria hit the 3-run homer it just felt like the game was over.

Wilson closed it the ninth. Even Wilson decided to make it easy. He didn’t even let the tying run get to the plate as he held on to the 3-1 lead. Giants win the championship in just five games.

Giants World Series Baseball… not torture.

Personal Necessity

After I chose "religious observation" for my reason for going to the Giants parade. I texted Gio to tell him that is what I selected. He said that he had done the same thing two days earlier.

...

Last Night:


Tonight:

Text Message

So I sent the following text messages on 10/11/10:

My schedule has been pretty busy lately...

So I might have to wait till there is a break in the playoffs till I ask you out.

I actually had this thought:

Last night (the day after we became World Series champions) I was walking the streets of downtown Sacramento wearing my full Giants paraphernalia.

I felt like I was a celebrity that nobody recognized.