Giant Monday!

So there was a small happy hour thing after work where I got to see a couple of friends I haven’t seen in a long while and eat some tasty appetizers. It was at a place I’d never visited, so that was an added plus. The onion rings were very tasty, the deep-fried cheese ravioli and the jalapeno cheese curds were pretty good, and the wings weren’t bad.

Then I got a speeding ticket on the way home. Had me dead to rights, so I can’t complain. Gonna be expensive, but such is life. Considering I’d had a couple of beers, it could have gotten sticky, so I’m really not complaining. Two beers, lots of food and three hours, so I’m very sure I was fully sober and legal, but the cop could have made it ugly.

Then there was some sort of political debate thingy on TV I felt compelled to watch before I could turn to what I really wanted to watch… The Giants winning the NLCS!

It’s been pretty amazing! The St. Louis Cardinals looked like a sure bet, but now (in the eighth inning) it looks like the San Francisco Giants are going to the World Series! And that’s quite an upset for the Cardinals.

They came into the playoffs as the lesser wildcard team and took the Atlanta Braves in a single game. They went on to take the Washington Nationals in a Division Series that went to all five games. And as I wrote about recently, they managed to win that last game in the last inning, the sneaky bastards!

Meanwhile the Giants won their Division Series, also in five games. Which all made for some exciting baseball.

In the Championship Series, the Cards took the first game, the Giants took the second, and then the red birds took the next two. With three wins and only one loss, it sure looked like the Cardinals were going all the way.

And then the Giants shut them out in the fifth game, 5-0 (and in the Cardinals’ own ballpark, no less)! A day off, and a hopeful Giants team wins the sixth game at home 6-1. Now it’s three all, and the next game is the tie-breaker!

Tonight’s game.

Do you have any idea how hard it was being a good citizen and watching the debates first? (And, yes, I did turn to the game a few times when Romney was talking. I so don’t care what the man has to say.)

Finally I could turn to the game, and lo and behold, it’s the bottom of the sixth inning, and the Giants… are shutting out the Cardinals 7-0!

During the seventh inning stretch, I sat down to start banging out this post. In the bottom of the seventh, the Giants get another run, making it 8-0.

In the bottom of the eighth, they get yet another run, and now it’s 9-0.  The Cards have a reputation for coming from behind at the last moment, but making up nine runs is a challenge (it’s been done, though).

And now it’s top of the ninth, there’s one out, a runner on first (who was walked), and the Giants are two outs away from going to the World Series! Also, it’s started to rain. In fact, it’s really coming down, but no one minds. There’s no way anyone’s quitting now!

Giants pitcher Javier Lopez strikes out the third batter, but he walks the next. Now there are men on first and second. (This is how games are lost in the last inning!)

The rain is really coming down, and a new pitcher, Sergio Romo, comes to the mound (and the grounds keepers are raking water away from home plate—it’s raining pretty hard).

And then, Cardinals batter Matt  Holliday pops up out to second baseman Marco Scutaro, and that’s game.

THE GIANTS ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!

And I get my big wish! My two big wishes!! The Detroit Tigers took the New York Yankees in four straight games (wha-hoo!), and now the Giants put away the Cardinals.

Someone open the champagne!