Oracle Park, California, United States
Went in to San Francisco this morning to meet another long-time friend, this one from my days as a resident in International House at Berkeley--1980-82. I've seen Don from time to time over the years, but Tim (who also lived in I-House--that's where we met) probably hasn't seen him since our wedding. We met at the San Francisco Center and had a great visit. Don retired from a career in accounting a few years back, and has been running marathons, earning an MFA and writing short stories and a novel, and teaching at SF State. I suggested that he's busier now than he was when he was working, and he had to allow as how that might be true. We got caught up on his family and some old friends and ate a good lunch of Korean BBQ while we were at it. It was great to see him.
After lunch, Tim and I walked over to Fisherman's Wharf and Ghirardelli Square. We didn't want to pay the $8 it now costs to ride the cable car--a ride we've taken several times in the past, when it cost about a buck. (If we were first-time tourists to SF, we would certainly have shelled out the $8, but under the circumstances, and since we had several hours to kill before the game, we walked.
) Walking all the way up that huge hill on Powell Street is not all that fun, but we took it slow. That was definitely the most strenuous exercise I've had since I got sick, and it was a real push, but I made it. Down the other side is easier.
When we got to Ghirardelli Square, I had one of their "World Famous" hot fudge sundaes. I don't know about world famous, but it was really good. They put enough hot fudge in it that there is still some left when you get to the bottom. We still had a couple of hours before the game, so we decided that instead of getting a bus or tram over to Oracle Park, we'd walk. That turned out to be a good bit further than we expected, but it was a nice walk along the Piers and the bay, and we got to the park in plenty of time for the game.
I've got some nice photos of lots of SF landmarks, as our perambulations took us past a wide variety.
I wasn't hungry after that ice cream, but Tim got a hot dog and a pretzel. That and two bottles of water cost $30. We have found that things in California are REALLY expensive.
We expected things to be more expensive than at home, but the difference is really startling. We have spent $35-$40 for lunch every day. Crazy. We have to buy gas today, and it's going to be $5.10, but we have seen it over $6 a gallon. (That seems less surprising than the price of food, actually.) A side note: there is a Ghirardelli booth at the park, and I could have gotten my sundae there, but it would have cost me about 20% more than I paid (which was already a fortune!)
The game was in some ways a case study in why we don't like major league baseball any more; it's in thrall to statistics to a ridiculous degree. There were 19 strikeouts and 10 full counts. It seemed like more than that, because there were also a number of batters who fouled off several pitches, so there were a lot of 6,7,8,9-pitch at-bats. Everyone waiting for the homerun ball. (Interestingly, this was the first MLB game in a good while where we saw no homeruns. Atlanta in particular was using a really bizarre shift--they were sending the third baseman out to play short right on many right-handed hitters.
In what sense is that guy playing third base? There were several plays from both teams on which a batter got a hit because the ball went right through the spot where the fielder would have been playing had he been playing in the usual position. To be fair, there were a few plays where the shifted player was right in position to make the play, but I don't think that the odds broke better than even.
I used to get really enraged over the bizarre shifts I was seeing, and then one day I realized that there's no good argument for why teams shouldn't use a shift if they want to. I think it's stupid, but if you want to be stupid, go right ahead. If I were a manager, I'd make sure that my hitters learned to hit to the opposite field. If they're going to shift against you, make 'em pay.
We were rooting (not very hard) for the Giants, as Atlanta is challenging the Mets for first place as the season winds down, and if we have any interest in MLB, it's a mild one in the Mets. The Mets are busy trying to blow it; a few weeks ago they were 6 games up, then they were swept by Atlanta, and it's been neck-and-neck ever since.
The Mets lost to the Cubs last night, so they needed the Giants to win in order to hold on to their 1.5 game lead.
The Giants took a 3-0 lead into the 8th, but the manager, playing the Sabermetrics game, put a relief pitcher in to start the inning, despite the fact that the starting pitcher was pitching a 7-strikeout, 4-hit shutout. The relief pitcher promptly gave up a double and a walk, and the next thing you know, the bases were loaded with nobody out. This had the significantly negative effect of waking up the Atlanta fans, who were legion, much to my surprise, and they launched into that truly offensive Tomahawk Chop chant. There are no fans more obnoxious than Atlanta fans--not even Yankee fans. Atlanta scored two fast runs, and the Giants got out of trouble only with a lucky double-play.
The Giants ran themselves out of a potential insurance run in the bottom of the 8th (runner on first broke for second while the pitcher was still holding the ball and was tagged out by a mile at second), and we went to the 9th waiting to see whether Atlanta would finish the job.
First guy up hit a long single, but then after that, we got three democratic ground ball outs (as opposed to fascist strikeouts, in the words of Crash Davis from baseball's best movie, Bull Durham), and the game ended.
Getting back to Oakland after the game was more trouble than it should have been. No problem at the ballpark: SF Muni had trams ready and waiting to take fans to the Embarcadero BART station, and we got on the first tram--or at least the tram that was waiting as we approached the platform. When we got to BART, however, it turned out that one of the tracks was out of service, so our train would come in on the westbound track. That would have been fine, but they weren't showing the train schedules for the east bay on the annunciator board. Then there was an announcement that trains were not running on the line we wanted; we would have to get on the Dublin train, which would have also been fine, as that train would have gone through the station we wanted. HOWEVER: there was no announcement about when the Dublin train would arrive.
Could be 5 minutes, could be 90 (which is what someone peering into his phone said). We thought we had better get the first east bay train and get to Oakland where we would have options. The first train through was to Antioch, so we took it and got off at 19th street, where it transpired, we would have to wait 25 minutes for the train to the Coliseum stop. At Coliseum, we would still have to order a Lyft to the hotel, so we just ordered a Lyft from 19th street and were back in the hotel before we could have gotten on the train.
Honestly: I get it that train service is reduced after 8 p.m. or whatever, but you'd think BART could either have trains ready to go through Embarcadero to the East Bay after a game (HUNDREDS of people waiting there) OR they could make sure to clearly announce the train arrival times so we could make good decisions about what train to get on! They are celebrating their 50-year anniversary this year (how's that for making you feel old? I remember very well when BART opened); you'd think they'd have worked out these kinks by now!
We walked 9.5 miles in total, and I was very happy to get into bed and sleep!
2025-05-22