I already knew that… and then I experienced an exclamation point.
I am 72 years old. I have attended many Major League Baseball games in person and watched them on TV.
I am a traditionalist when it comes to baseball. I’m a National League fan who has never liked the DH in the American League and groaned when the National League adopted it. I don’t even like the pitch clock, though I have to admit it speeds up the game. I don’t like that MLB has outlawed defensive shifts. And I hate the man on second base to start extra innings.
I grew up in New Jersey and have been a New York Mets fan since their inception in 1962. In 1980, I moved to San Francisco and also became a Giants fan. So those are my two favorite teams–the Mets and Giants–and I am hard pressed to know who to root for when they face each other. I usually lean toward the Mets.
Even though I live in the San Francisco Bay Area now, I don’t get out to the ballpark very often. However, my nephew had club-level seats through his company for Tuesday night’s game, and he, his brother, his dad, his uncle, my daughter, and I enjoyed the great view of the field from down the third-base line. There’s nothing like being there and soaking up the atmosphere and sounds of the crowd, especially at beautiful Oracle Park.
That brings me to the game itself. I have never seen an ending to a game like the one between the Phillies and the Giants on Tuesday, July 8, at San Francisco’s Oracle Park.
Let me set the stage. The Giants entered the game in second place, six games behind our mortal enemy, the Dodgers. The Mets were playing in Baltimore and were one game behind the Phillies, the Giants’ opponent that night. So if the Giants won and the Dodgers lost, San Francisco would cut LA’s lead to five games, and if the Mets won, they would tie the Phillies for first place.
The game in Baltimore was already underway as we settled into our seats for the Phillies-Giants game. As I watched the scoreboard, I saw that the Orioles led 6-2 after seven innings. But then, as I followed along in the MLB app, Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonzo hit two-run homers in the eighth inning to tie the score. Then in the tenth, Juan Soto, who has hit .356 with 10 homers and 21 RBIs since June 6, singled in the go-ahead run in the tenth, and the Mets held off the Orioles in the bottom of the frame to win 7-6.
The Dodgers lost, too (to the Brewers). So if the Giants could topple the Phils, the Mets would tie Philadelphia for first place, and the Giants would gain a game on the Dodgers.
Things looked hopeful at Oracle Park when left-handed batting Dominic Smith punched a single down the third base line to score Mike Yastrzemski and stake the Giants’ All-Star pitcher Robbie Ray to a 1-0 lead. We hoped that one run by the offensively-challenged Giants might be enough for Ray, who is generally lights out. In the sixth, the Phils’ Otto Kemp doubled with two outs to drive in a run and knock Ray out of the box. Spencer Bivens came on to get the third out and end the rally.
Schwarber celebrates after he slugged a homer Tuesday night (photo courtesy Hazelton Standard Speaker)
But in the seventh, Kyle Schwarber, the Phil’s ultimate strikeout, walk, or hit a homer guy, connected for his 28th round tripper, a two-run blast off Bivens over the right field wall into McCovey Cove to give the Phils a 3-1 lead.
As we headed into the ninth inning, the woman sitting behind us, accompanied by her two young boys, asked me if I thought the Giants could win, trying to give her boys some hope. I told her that, honestly, I doubted it. They had their chance in the eighth inning when the top of the order got the first two men on, then went down one-two-three. So we would be depending on the bottom of the order in the ninth.
She responded, “But there is a chance, right?” And my daughter said, “Yes, there is always a chance.”
Facing a tough pitcher in hard-throwing right-hander Jordan Romano, Casey Schmitt led off with a double down the left field line. After Jung Hoo Lee popped out, Wilmer Flores lined a single up the middle that almost took Romano’s head off, putting men on first and third.
Up came Patrick Bailey, a fine defensive catcher who was batting under .200 as he stepped to the plate. A switch hitter batting left, Bailey blasted the first pitch to deep right-center field. As the 40,000+ fans in the sellout crowd rose to their feet, it looked like the ball would carry over the high brick wall. Instead, the ball caromed off the very top of the wall and took a crazy carom back toward left field, rolling on and on along the warning track. Center fielder Brandon Marsh pursued it for a good fifty yards and then hit the cutoff man, who wheeled and threw wildly home to no avail. Bailey had easily circled the bases for a walk-off inside-the-park home run!
Here’s the view I saw in person.
The 414-foot shot would have cleared the fences at every other Major League ballpark,
Patrick Bailey: Off the bat, I just knew I got it well. And then, I saw it was heading towards Triples Alley. I was like, ‘Oh, I’ve got to go. I’ve got to at least get to third here.’ And then once I saw the bounce, I was like, ‘All right, just don’t fall over.’
“You could play 100 more years here, and I don’t think a ball hits right there on that spot,” said Marsh.
As we celebrated, the woman behind me beamed, “I told you there was a chance!” As Yogi Berra said, “It ain’t over till it’s over.”
And that’s why baseball is still the greatest game.
Great take on the game Matt. Glad to have been part of this great night with You.