Day 1

Televisions in the Bay Area are awash with Giants commercials, all of which begin: "Come to the park. And see for yourself, why it's magic inside." The commercials aren't that funny, honestly, except for the slightly creepy one in which eccentric Giants closer Brian Wilson's windup becomes slow motion and he turns to a fan and asks if he's having a good time.
Wilson: "What's up."
Fan: "Are you talking to me?"
Wilson: "yeah."
Fan: "Really?"
Wilson: "yeah, you having a good time?"
Fan: "Yeah! It's awesome!"
Wilson: "Is that your girlfriend?"
Fan: "Uh, yeah, why?"
Wilson: (smirks, and then throws 96mph fastball for strike 3)

This week, I had a brilliant idea. Why not write a blog about the Giants and send it to anyone who remotely cares? That's right! 24 days of Magic! Andy's September/October Giants Blog.

Day 1: Friday, September 10th, 1 game back in wild card, 1 game back in division
Last night was awesome. I mean, really, really awesome. For those who dont' know, the Padres have killed us this year. Well, killed is the wrong word. They've beaten us to death with a nerf hammer. They've beaten us 3-2, 1-0, 5-2, 3-2, 5-2, 1-0, 3-1, 3-2 and then finally 8-2, although I'm convinced we gave up the last 5 runs in that game on purpose just to mix things up. Going into yesterday, we'd beaten them exactly 2 times, both by 1 run in extra innings. So last night, when Andres Torres led off with a triple and we hit 4 home runs and won 7-3, it felt good...magic even. The best part was, none of the Padres goofy relievers got into the game. Luke Gregerson didn't pitch. Heath Bell didn't pitch. And for the love of all that is good, Mike Adams didn't pitch.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://roundtripper.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/mike-adams.jpg&imgrefurl=http://roundtripper.wordpress.com/2008/07/30/steeltown-usa/&usg=__7gowoq37rOgfcOuAszEOtL-NBqo=&h=2896&w=1944&sz=3921&hl=en&start=1&zoom=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=LhnipvzDGlQrKM:&tbnh=150&tbnw=101&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmike%2Badams%2Bpadres%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:*%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1
Mike Adams. I wish he was the guy on the left in this picture, but he's not.

The question on most Giants' fans' minds is: how will we blow it this year?Most of us assume that it will involve Aaron Rowand or Barry Zito, but since Rowand never gets to play anymore, it's hard to see how he will be the one. That leaves Zito, the only Giants starter to lose in the last 2 weeks. Of course, there's always the chance an unlikely Giant will step in to deal the inevitable crushing blow. In 2003, for instance, a guy who had made roughly 2 errors in his entire career dropped a fly ball in the playoffs. In 2004, we gave up a playoff-hope-ending grand slam to 65 year old Steve Finley. And in 2002, we....oh, I can't even go there.

How will the Giants blow it this year?Vote for your favorite choice!
A) Barry Zito takes 6-0 lead into 5th inning of decisive game and walks 11 people in a row.
B) Giants load bases in bottom of 9th of decisive game with no outs and hit into a rare quadruple play
C) They just generally suck for the next 23 days and finish like 5 games out
D) I don't know, but it will somehow involve David Eckstein



Tonight: Giants vs. Padres. Clayton Richard vs. Jonathan Sanchez. Win = tie for first! Loss = Clayton Richard beats us for 8th time this month.