I’ve been loading up on  baseball the past 2 weeks. After the last regular season game on Sunday, the Post Season starts with one more game in Pittsburgh. If the baseball gods look favorably on the Giants, we’ll be back in our seats on October 6th and 7th, depending on how the series with Washington goes. But there’s no guarantee.

So very soon, the long season of No Baseball will start. It’s one thing to be without the game and players we love, but there’s much more involved when the season ends. This weekend is a lot like the last day of a long, intense school year where there are good-byes, promises to keep in touch, reliving the memories of the season, and the thoughts of what to do now with all that freed-up time . . . being a fan can be terribly time consuming, but in a good way. Eventually, though, you have to do your laundry.

Marty Lurie shows his heart

The 2014 season has been a good one for the peripherals that go along with what’s happening on the field. Being a season ticket holder, I’m usually surrounded by the same cast of characters at games, and those other fans have become friends. We keep in touch even when we’re not at the park. We’ve talked about families, health, work, vacations, hopes and dreams. We’ve shared tips on food, where to go around the park for fun activities, and other important issues. And of course, we’ve discussed baseball – not only the Giants – from just about every angle imaginable. Every time I go to a game it’s like going to my second home, knowing that I’ll have needed support in weathering the inevitable ups and downs of a 162-game season.

With JT Snow

This year, I’ve added having breakfast with Marty Lurie on the Public House Patio before weekend games. We can’t always hear what he’s saying but he always interviews well-known baseball people, which is fun for us fans.  My friend Julia got to pat both Mike Krukow and Willie Mays on the back as they passed through the patio, and I shook JT Snow’s hand while telling him ‘hello’ for my neighbor who knows him.

Jerry, Joan and Carol on the Patio

Mostly, though, I’ve gained a whole new group of friends, the Patio People, who enjoy hanging out with Marty as he does his pre-game show. It’s usually hard to find a seat, so my technique is to find an empty couple of chairs and ask if I can sit there. ‘You don’t even have to talk to us,’ I tell people, but invariably, we end up finding something in common to share besides baseball. After talking to one couple for about an hour, we discovered that they were old friends of my cousin Frank, and I passed on his phone number so they could reconnect. Mike and Barbara are usually there on Sundays, and will make room at their table if I show up with a friend. This weekend, I met Jerry and Carol from Turlock, and look forward to seeing them again next year. And there’s always Billie, the president of Marty’s fan club, who is good for a smile.

With Billie and Julia

In addition to fellow fans, I’ve gotten to know ushers, concession stand workers, people at the elevators and escalators, and many more. Saying ‘farewell’ to them at the end of the season is always hard, because I never know who will be back, and we’ve all become a part of each other’s lives. To paraphrase Hunter Pence in his now-famous speech of 2012, “I want one more game with all my Giants friends.” Hopefully the post season will go on a little longer. If not, I’ll really start missing the baseball experience around the end of November and it just gets worse until a few weeks before Spring Training in February.

It’s been said that the Giants organization isn’t just a franchise, it’s a family. For those of us who are part of that family, we agree whole-heartedly.

It was a bad night at the ball park last Saturday. My friends and I arrived with high hopes after the Giants beat the Dodgers 9 – 0 the night before. Could we take 2 out of 3? Maybe even sweep?? We were feeling pretty good.

Then the game started. Hudson just wasn’t on his game, and gave up 4 runs in the first inning. He didn’t do much better in the second, when he was replaced by the other Tim who was also having an off night. Another 4 runs scored. Fortunately there were no more Giants pitchers named ‘Tim’ who could go into the game. But it didn’t matter.

The fans groaned. The Dodgers racked up runs. There was some well-placed swearing. Jane, who sits to my left with her husband Lincoln, let out a yell at Pagan, one of her favorite players, to “wake the *bleep* up!” when he misjudged a ball that fell in front of him and led to a run. Fortunately we weren’t reported to the ‘text-foul-if-anyone-is-being-abusive’ number.  Those around us agreed with Jane.

As LA scored more runs, we discussed the mercy rule and wondered if it would apply here. By the 4th inning, the score was 9 – 0 like the previous night, but in the other direction. When it hit 10, Lincoln and Jane packed up and departed to the Public House to drown their sorrows. Joan, who sits to my right, left soon after. I went for an ice cream to see if it would perk me up. It didn’t. My friend and I headed downstairs to seek comfort at the bar.

And there, a plot was hatched. What could we, as fans, do to help the team refocus and get back on track? We discussed doing an exorcism, but nobody knew exactly how. Other suggestions would probably give us a taste of jail cuisine, a far cry from the ballpark food we’re used to. Not a good option. What could we do?

Ah-ha! We decided to go back to our roots, to the reason we love baseball, to that feeling that ties us all together. Lincoln and Jane started a custom on the first Opening Day at Pac Bell (now AT&T) Park, and are now joined by many other fans:  We read the Field of Dreams quote at high noon to get the season started right. So we decided that’s what we needed to do the next day.

We’d meet at 12:30, with enough time to get our positive energy out to the team. I sent an email to our section. Everyone told their friends. Before the official reading, we walked around the plaza and told everyone what we were going to do. We even welcomed the family of Dodger fans who were eating there.

Jane introduced our plan: “We’re going to read the quote, just like we do on Opening Day, to remind us of why we’re here, and why we love the game of baseball. Please join us.” Of course, the crowd of mostly Giants fans were hoping the game would go our way, and we read with gusto.

I assume that all true baseball fans have seen Field of Dreams, but if you’re one of the few who hasn’t, you need to. NOW! The quote we read reaffirms what the game is all about, not just what happens on the field, but what happens in the hearts of the fans and players. For me, baseball is the heart and soul of the American experience, uniting families, friends, and fans who become friends over the long season. That’s one reason for this blog.

Unfortunately, our efforts didn’t help that day. Marty Lurie often reminds us during the season that “there’s a lot of baseball left to play” but right now, we’re running out of time. With 10 games left, 3 against the Dodgers, almost anything can happen. Remember the year the Padres were on top and went into a 10-game losing tailspin? That’s not likely for the Dodgers this year, but it could happen.

It’s time to pull out your team-support kit, including your rally caps, and hope for the best. We owe it to the team, and to each other.

I don’t understand some of the promotions that baseball teams provide for fans during the season. I’m always happy to get a new bobble head, a T-shirt, or a replica trophy — something that has to do with baseball and the team.  The recent  Star Wars game was kind of appropriate but not in a baseball way, unless you think we can trade for Darth Vader to strengthen the bullpen. But then, George Lucas is a local so we’ll give him his time.

That special day gave fans a chance to dress up as their favorite Star Wars characters and to direct some of the movie magic onto the field. It also opened up a new line of shirts with ‘May the Morse Be With You’ blazoned across them. So that’s pretty cool, relating the whole Star Wars thing back to one of the popular players on the Giants, Michael Morse.

For me, though, the Hello Kitty promotion was really puzzling.  Maybe it’s a generational thing, and apparently it skipped my generation, but I was scratching my head trying to figure out a connection to baseball. I don’t remember anytime that Hello Kitty has provided anything to the game of baseball, and now most of the focus is on discussing what his or her gender is.  At least the little doll they gave away had on a Giants hat and shirt, but other than that . . . can he/she play left field?  Does her or his presence inspire the team? If someone can explain the connection to me, please do. Maybe it was a way to get young fans — really young ones, and mostly female — into the park. But I would hope there’s enough in the game and park itself that would do that.

Other promotions are a bit of a stretch too. There’s Bruce Lee night, hopefully with his energy providing motivation to the fans and the guys on the field. But I don’t think he played Little League. Or the recent Pacquiao-Algieri Special Media Night where maybe the fighters gave Madison some tips in case he got into a tiff with one of the opposing batters. But my least favorite special promotion was Frank Sinatra Night a year or 2 ago. They gave out posters of Frank playing pool, and Photoshopped some of the current players into the poster. I actually think Frank was a Dodger fan, and with that in mind, it was one of the worst games I’ve ever been to. I think the Giants lost 12-0, or a similarly dreadful score. Bad mojo all around. I threw out the give-away poster as soon as I got home.

The Giants will keep up with those promotions — and I’m not really complaining, because I love the baseball-related bobble heads and other trinkets — but hopefully they’ll have more of a connection to the actual game and team.

In the meantime, say Farewell to Candlestick in your Father’s Day Tie while playing with your All Brandon Weekend bobble heads or growth chart and watching your Hunter Pence Scooter bobble head bobble like his head really does, and May the Morse be with you always!