With a heavy heart, I must say: I’m not sure I can continue being a San Francisco Giants fan.Yes, they look like contenders again. Sure, they have an intriguing, exciting roster of players. And yes, they’re winning lots of games.
But therein lies the problem – how are they winning those games? Unfortunately, the Giants seem to be under the impression that they can just score a bunch of runs, and then score even more runs later in the game, with absolutely no regard for the feelings of the opposing team.
Is that really the kind of team we want to root for? Shouldn’t we be fans of a team that tries to win the right way?
This past weekend’s series against the Washington Nationals provided a perfect example of the kind of team the Giants have unfortunately become. On Friday night, with a clearly insurmountable six-run lead in the ninth inning, Thairo Estrada had the unfettered audacity to try to steal second base and score on a base hit. Thankfully, he was thrown out at home before he could embarrass the Nationals any further, but what was he thinking? Would the Nationals really have scored seven runs in the ninth to win the game? Sure, the Giants scored seven runs in an inning earlier in the same game, but would it really have happened twice? No, statistically impossible.
Estrada’s actions rightfully drew the ire of Washington manager Dave Martinez, who called out Giants manager Gabe Kapler and his team for intentionally ignoring the delicate sensibilities of the Nationals players. But did the Giants learn their lesson? No.
On Sunday, after scoring five runs, the Giants — greedy as ever — simply couldn’t help themselves and went for more. Joc Pederson was at the plate in the seventh inning, having already homered earlier in the game. Decorum called for him to simply stand at the plate and not swing, since doing so would risk further humiliation for the Nationals; instead, he swung the bat and hit another home run.
Is that conduct becoming of a gentleman? I would venture to say it is the complete opposite. The rest of the Giants unfortunately decided to follow Pederson’s lead, adding on even more runs to win by a score of 12-3.
Obviously, the Giants haven’t stopped to consider just how scoring all of these runs might affect the feelings of their opponents. The Nationals, like the Padres a few weeks earlier, only wanted to come out and play a fun game of baseball, maybe have a few laughs, and then head home for the night. They didn’t expect to be thoroughly humiliated by a team that simply refused to stop playing hard after taking the lead. The Giants’ opponents are highly skilled, highly paid, grown adults. It’s high time Kapler and his players started to take that into account – by not trying, of course.
If the arrogant Giants aren’t going to stop competing for nine full innings, Major League Baseball should step in. It’s time to give other teams the option to forfeit a game once a deficit becomes too big to overcome. Let these teams save face, and save their bullpens, by allowing them to raise a white flag from the top step of their dugout. That way, they can avoid the embarrassment that comes from an opponent continuing to play the game of baseball.
For instance, how much better would Martinez and the Nationals have felt if they had been allowed to raise the white flag after the Giants scored their insurmountable fifth run on Sunday? Sure, the game wouldn’t have even lasted five full innings, but that's not the point. The point is the Nationals could’ve lost with dignity by losing more quickly. They’d have lower ERAs on their pitching staff, and they wouldn’t have had to suffer the indignity of watching Pederson’s home run trot a second time. It’s only fair.
Regrettably, baseball is too set in its ways to ever embrace this kind of radical change. So it’s going to be up to teams like the Giants to police themselves, adhere to the unwritten rules, and stop playing so damn hard all the time.
But it may be too late for me, and thousands of Giants fans like me, who can’t in good conscience continue to root for a team that refuses to take the feelings of the opposition into account. Please, Giants, I’m begging you: play the game the right way. The unwritten rules are there for a reason. Let’s start being gentlemanly and adhere to them.
And if Dave Martinez happens to be reading this, I profoundly apologize on behalf of all San Francisco fans for the utterly disgusting way the Giants swept your team. I can’t imagine what you’re going through. Stay strong.
Dave Tobener (@gggiants on Twitter) is a lifelong Giants fan whose family has had season tickets for over 30 years. He’s been lucky enough to never miss a World Series game in the City in his lifetime, still isn’t completely over 2002 and lives and dies with the Giants every year.
― Bee OK, Wednesday, 27 April 2022 23:42 (one year ago) link