Jane stressing out

I was all set to write about the marathon of games we’ve been through this post-season, explaining the twists and turns of each and describing some of the things that happened along the way. They’ve been very exciting, but extremely stressful to watch both from home and in the stadium. The fans who sit near me have endured frustration, ecstasy, stressful innings, joyous innings and now, complete fatigue. We’ve discussed having oxygen, a defibrillator, sedatives, and adult beverages nearby, along with our very own paramedic to monitor our hearts and stress levels. We’ve kept in touch via text and email when the team was out of town, and reminded each other to ‘stay calm and breathe’. During home games we’ve monitored each other’s breathing, worried looks, and ability to stay upright.

Rally cap time!

We’re all exhausted, and we weren’t the ones running around on the field. The guys probably have it much easier than us – they have some control over what’s happening, while all we can do is watch and wait, and hope they perform like we know they can.

But all of that just went away around 9 pm Wednesday. Game 7 was a game for the ages, going down to the last out in the ninth inning and with a number of twists along the way, most notably regarding the pitching. The starting pitchers all had short leashes, and both were gone by the top of the fourth. The ace of the Giants staff, starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner, entered the game in the fifth and stayed until the end even though he threw a 117 pitch shutout only 3 days ago. As they say, you don’t manage in the post season like you do during the 162 games of the regular season, and both managers demonstarted that.

In the end, it’s the Giants who are bringing home their third World Series trophy in 5 years, and farm-boy Madison Bumgarner, as the MVP of the series, goes home with a new Chevy truck. The team worked hard to win this trophy, but so did the fans. We’re all going back to our ‘normal’ lives in the morning, totally spent from those last few weeks of extra baseball games, but extremely happy that Orange October is ours once again.

When Baseball Season starts, I often go to 4 or 5 of the first 6 games. It’s crazy, but after a long No Baseball Season, I can’t wait to get back to the park. During the season I’ll sometimes make it to 3 games in a week, which is a grind while working full time and having to drive more than an hour to get to games.

So I figured, what could be that hard about 3 playoff games in a row? I didn’t know how much longer baseball would last so like a bear eating for hibernation, I was going to every game possible. It can be a long winter with No Baseball.

What I didn’t figure on was the intensity, exhilaration, frustration, joy, stress, exhaustion and utter joy from seeing my team progress through the post-season. After three of these games in 3 days, I was so tired I had to take a nap on my office floor on Friday. It helped.

I sit with a dedicated bunch of fans who have grown close over the last couple of years. We know the game and players well and we moan, cry, laugh and cheer together. We encourage other fans to put on their rally caps, instruct the usher-of-the-day that their job is to high-five us at the right time, and make sure we know who will be at the next game. We keep in touch between games, especially the important ones.

Lincoln and Jane

It’s a motley group. To my left are Lincoln and Jane, originally from Chicago but die-hard Giants fans who keep score at every game and are not afraid to express their feelings or opinions. Lincoln worries a lot, and at times has looked like he was going to pass out. Jane gets just as emotional with an occasional expletive, appropriately placed.

To my right sits Joan, retired, originally from New York who was a fan before the team moved West. She worries as much as Lincoln, but gets quiet and has to remember to keep breathing while she chews on her rally rag.  She also does a lot of praying. Juanita and Lorraine sit in front of Joan — they appear to be sweet and innocent but have led Joan astray more than once with after-game martinis. I have a core group of friends who come to games with me, starting with Bob who has shared tickets with me since Candlestick.  Like all of us, he suffers through torturous games.

Bob went to Game 2 of the National League Championship in my seats while I sat elsewhere, and started this series of emails before Game 4:

Bob:  Really missed my place between you guys last night – what a game, even if the weirdness remains. Take care of business for us tonight, OK? Go GIANTS!!

Joan: It was beyond crazy. We’ll do our best tonight. Go Giants!

Carolyn: Who’s bringing the defibrillator? We may need it again.

Jane & Lincoln:  I will, with sedatives and oxygen.

Joan: Don’t forget the beer!

Bob: I thought it was martinis? [a reference to Joan's after-game escapades with Juanita and Lorraine]

Carolyn: So we’ve got oxygen, sedatives, a defibrillator, beer, martinis, prayers and as those guys behind us last night were saying, “Let Pablo Eat” - there’s ball park food! I also made more ‘YES!’ hands. Bob, get yourself a standing room only ticket and come stand behind us. 314 is apparently where all the fun will happen tonight.

Joan:  Yeah Bob. I’ll let you sit in my seat on and off too. Do it! It’s too much fun to miss. Heck. A bunch of the cooks came out and stood behind us last night.

Bob:  Sighhh… work commitment.

Carolyn: You can always get another job.

Then after the game . . .

Bob: Whose got it better than us? NOBODY!!!!!!    Whoo hoo!!! Thanks guys – perfect game. Hope you’re out doing something with all the stuff you had on hand.

Joan: Heading home. I’d have loved to party a bit, but folks have to work tomorrow and we’re flat exhausted from the last few days. Extra innings, come from behind victories, bottom of the ninth heroics. I’m going to sleep in tomorrow. See you at the Series.

Yes indeed. See you all at the Series! We’ll be ready.

Without a doubt, a Giants fan’s favorite holiday is Halloween. It’s the perfect time to stock up on all thing orange and black: cupcake liners to hold treats at games and parties, balloons for the next Opening Day, gift bags for your favorite fan, decorative bows for your hair, beads and colored twine for making bracelets and earrings that you may or may not ever get around to making, and my favorite — orange and black striped socks. Bonus points if you can find these items on sale after Halloween.

But October isn’t just for getting bargains in team colors. If you’re lucky — and that seems to be the case this year — the team will be in the post season. There’s something about playoff games that make a team respond differently than they do in the regular season. it could be that since the season of 162 game is so long, losing a few here or there doesn’t seem to be such a big deal while working your way through them. The ups and downs hopefully even out, and the end result is more wins than losses and more wins than your competitors.

Then the post season begins. This year, the 4 wild card teams had one game to prove their worthiness to proceed to the next level. In that win-or-go-home game, everything was on the line, and the teams played their hearts out. The Giants came out victorious against the scary Pirates. The other wildcard was between the A’s, a spunky team that had been on top during most of the season but fell apart at the end, and the Royals who hadn’t been in the playoffs for 29 years.  It was a close game, but the baseball gods didn’t smile favorably on the A’s, and they cleaned out their lockers the following day.

So far, the post season has had a number of surprises. Kansas City rolled over the Angels, known as the best team in baseball this year, in three games.  The Orioles overcame the perpetually strong Tigers.  The Dodgers are not running away with their series against the Cardinals, and we’ll have to wait to see how it goes in the next few days.  I’m rooting for the Cards. And the Giants are once again showing that they’re a different team when the playoffs hit — they’ve taken the first 2 out of 3 games from the Nationals, a team that many thought would take it all. That may or may not happen, but at least they can tell their grandchildren that they made history with a post season double header game that was really only one — game 2 of the NLDS that lasted 18 innings. Watching that game was exhausting and I was starving part way through, especially after a friend sent me a text that she had finished off a can of pork and beans. When I asked if it was heated or cold, she said ‘room temperature.’ Oh, what we do for our team . . .

A few observations from the playoffs so far:

• All 4 California teams made the post season
• Both Missouri teams are playing
• The 2 teams from the Washington DC area are in the playoffs
• Of the 10 teams vying for the trophy, 5 have members of the coaching staff with links to the Giants: (1) A’s Manager Bob Melvin, former Giants catcher. (2) Cardinals Manager Mike Matheny, former Giants catcher. (3) Nationals Manager Matt Williams, former Giants third baseman. (4) VP of Medical Services Stan Conte and General Manager Nick Coletti of the Dodgers. (5) Detroit first base coach Omar Visquel, former Giants short stop. And there are probably more.

The Giants have an affinity for winning it all in even numbered years. I’ve had to get a new phone in 2010 and 2012, and happily I got new cases to go with each. Not knowing any techno-savvy 14 year olds, I couldn’t figure out how to take a picture of my current phone with my phone, so just imagine that you’re looking at a case with the 2012 championship logo on it. I’m due for a phone upgrade again, and would love to add to my collection of championship cases.

Depending on who makes to to the World Series, here’s what could happen:

• An all blue game, with Dodgers and Royals – that would be boring.  Update 10/7/14: there will NOT be an all blue World Series in 2014
• A  red, white and blue series with the Royals vs Cardinals or Nationals.  Update 10/7/14:  The Nationals will not be participating this year
• An all black and orange series with the Orioles and Giants.   Update 10/7/14: this continues to be a possibiility

Of course, you know which one I’m rooting for. Come on guys, I need a new phone and I have a lot of socks to wear.