{"id":793,"date":"2013-07-27T13:50:38","date_gmt":"2013-07-27T17:50:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ldbaseballtour\/?p=793"},"modified":"2013-07-27T20:56:26","modified_gmt":"2013-07-28T00:56:26","slug":"a-giant-error","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ldbaseballtour\/2013\/07\/27\/a-giant-error\/","title":{"rendered":"Giant Errors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Game 22: AT&T Park, San Francisco, CA<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Chicago Cubs vs San Francisco Giants – Friday, July 26, 2o13<\/span><\/p>\n

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After two wonderful days in LA, made possible entirely by the extraordinary hospitality of Jamie and his family, it was time for us to say our goodbyes and head to our next stop. Jamie drove us to the airport yesterday morning and we took a short flight that brought us into Oakland before noon. We checked into our hotel, worked on our blog, and were on our way to San Francisco by 2 PM. About a half hour later, we were walking down the Embarcadero by the ocean en route to Fisherman\u2019s Wharf. Along the way, we saw the site of America\u2019s Cup and the tour boats taking people to Alcatraz. We also had a terrific view of the Bay Bridge (unfortunately, the Golden Gate Bridge was on the other side and we did not have the time to make it over there). We had lunch at San Francisco\u2019s Hard Rock Caf\u00e9 at the Wharf and then took in the Wax Museum (going to be taken over by Merlin Entertainment next month) and Ripley\u2019s Believe It Or Not Museum, both of which were nearby. Afterward, we took a trolley to the train station and took a MUNI from there to AT&T Park, We arrived about twenty minutes before game time but decided to walk around the ballpark first before going in. After all, this is the home of the current World Series Champions (and they also won it all in 2010)!<\/p>\n

There is really only one way to describe the ballpark. STUNNING! Sitting by the edge of the ocean, this is easily the most aesthetic ballpark we have been to yet and we can see why so many people rave about it. It\u2019s easy to get there by road, rail, and there is even a ferry that brings people to the game from across the bay!<\/p>\n

The view from inside the ballpark was just as FANTASTIC. We had seats up in the View Box right above home plate. We sat across from the large centerfield scoreboard and there was a magnificent backdrop of the ocean all the way from behind right field to well past center. There were many sailboats and other watercraft around, which only added to the lovely scenery. To top it all off, the game was sold out (217th<\/sup> consecutive sell-out) and the atmosphere was electric!<\/p>\n

The game, too, was white-knuckler all the way through. Starting for the home team was Matt \u201cBig Sugar\u201d Cain and he pitched his heart out. So did Edwin Jackson, the Cubs\u2019 star starter. The first run did not score until the sixth inning as the Cubbies went up 1-0 when Nate \u201cThe Great\u201d Schierholtz doubled and scored on a grounder up the middle by Starlin Castro. The Giants wrested the lead by posting two runs in the seventh, but the highlight of the inning was a huge base running blunder that would come back to haunt them later. Pablo \u201cKung Fu Panda\u201d Sandoval drew a one-out walk and the next hitter, Hunter Pence, doubled to put runners on second and third. Then, Jackson intentionally walked Brandon Belt (not sure why) to load the bases with just one out. That brought up the struggling Jeff Francoeur who has had a terrible season so far (he was led go by KC earlier this season), but he blooped a hit to right that scored Sandoval and Spence. However, when the throw from Schierholz in right field passed the catcher, Belt tried to score. Unfortunately for him and the Giants, the ball bounced straight to Jackson who was backing up and he caught Belt in a run down and tagged him out. James Russell, who relieved Jackson after that play, walked Brandon Crawford but struck out Andres Torres to end the frame. Still, the Giants were up 2-1 and the home crowd was really into it.<\/p>\n

Then came the shocker!<\/p>\n

In the top of the ninth, Giants closer Sergio Romo gave up a lead-off single to pinch-hitter Julio Borbon and then walked Dioner Navarro to put two men on with nobody out. The crowd began to get restless. Romo gave them some hope by striking out David DeJesus and getting Junior Lake to ground into a force out. The Giants were one out away from winning, but it didn\u2019t happen! The next hitter, Anthony Rizzo, sent a screamer to first that completely ate up Belt as it went between his legs, past his glove, and into right field. Two runs scored on the play and just like that the Cubs were up 3-2 and the crowd became eerily silent. Belt, who is usually a solid defender, was charged with the costly error and combined with his base running gaffe, the poor guy had a miserable day. The Giants did try to make a game of it in the bottom of the ninth. Sandoval led off with a single but Pence and Belt flied out to center. Belt\u2019s fly ball looked like it might leave the yard, but it was caught at the warning track. There would be no redemption for him in this one. Finally, Francoeur lined out to left to end the game. What a contest!<\/p>\n

During the game we walked around the ballpark, taking pictures, and enjoying the view from different angles. We saw kayakers lurking in the bay presumably waiting to pounce on home run balls but there were none in this one. It was really chilly though, especially with the strong ocean breeze, and it felt like a fall day in Maine.<\/p>\n

We also got to hang out with Claire Herbig \u201913, a former Thamattoor student, who was at the game with her grandfather. Although we were in different sections, they were close together and we spent the late innings watching the game with the two of them. They actually came to the game on the ferry. Cool!<\/p>\n

After the game, we walked around the ballpark some more and took pictures of the statues of Willie \u201cThe Say Hey Kid\u201d Mays, Willie \u201cStretch\u201d McCovey, Juan Marichal, Orlando \u201cPeruchin\u201d Cepeda, and a seal that honored the former Minor League team, the San Francisco Seals. We then made our way back to Oakland via the MUNI and BART and got home well after midnight. After downloading the pictures, we went to bed.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s another game coming up tomorrow. See you then!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Game 22: AT&T Park, San Francisco, CA Chicago Cubs vs San Francisco Giants – Friday, July 26, 2o13   After two wonderful days in LA, made possible entirely by the extraordinary hospitality of Jamie and his family, it was time … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":428,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ldbaseballtour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ldbaseballtour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ldbaseballtour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ldbaseballtour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/428"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ldbaseballtour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ldbaseballtour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":795,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ldbaseballtour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793\/revisions\/795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ldbaseballtour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ldbaseballtour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/ldbaseballtour\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}