Trophy case That second-to-last line in "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" sounded poignant tonight. I had the supreme opportunity of attending tonight's 3-1 series-clinching win for the San Francisco Giants over our Texas Rangers.
Three words: Edgar fuckin' Renteria.
That son of a bitch is big time. He'll fart around and look old and bloated. He'll be an afterthought and a minor blip on the free-agent radar screen. Someone signs him. It might require a blog post on that team's home city newspaper.
Get him in the World Series and he's Frank Robinson.
Anyway, it was insanely cool to see a World Series celebration. I'd seen the last 26 or so on TV and I always wondered what it was like for the fans. Knowing that there weren't any games left. No more opportunities or seventh-inning stretches.
It wasn't as cool as I thought. Turns out, it only feels magical when it's your team.
I do feel good for the Giants. Since Barry Bonds was surgically removed from professional baseball, I've had the opportunity of liking the Giants. It's a good old club in a cool city with cool, young, exciting players.
Turns out, they're pretty good too. Cliff Lee was pretty sharp tonight. Tim Lincecum matched him and upped the ante tonight. He made the Rangers look silly.
Silly. That's a good word to use for the Rangers' hitters this series. They were shut out twice and if not for a fortunate Nellie Cruz home run in the bottom of the seventh tonight, it'd be a third time.
The Giants deserve it. Through five games they were head and shoulders better than the Rangers and I have no problem with the way it turned out. There weren't any egregious poor umpire calls, controversy, insane managerial moves or major gaffes.
I can't come here and say, "Well, if so and so had done this and that, the Rangers would have won. It would have been different." Outside of breaking Madison Bumgarner's or Matt Cain's kneecaps, the Rangers didn't have a shot. They were too good.
And it's not like you can say, "Well, this off-season the Rangers need to get them some hitters." That's a silly way of looking at this World Series. You're not going to replace Josh Hamilton, Elvis Andrus, Ian Kinsler or Nelson Cruz. You play another 162 games, work to get back to this place (November baseball in Arlington) and hope you don't see Lincecum and Cain staring you down with some of the best pitching in Series history.
I know that "hope" isn't a strategy. But it doesn't fucking hurt.
I saw Nellie Cruz record the final out for the Texas Rangers in the bottom of the ninth inning. A swinging strike. A stunned silence as the Giants mobbed each other on the field.
Then a chant of "Let's go Rangers!" Dallas-Fort Worth are not baseball towns. But we appreciate a good team full of piss, heart and vinegar when we see one.
There is a lot wrong in Dallas-Fort Worth sports. The Texas Rangers are not one of them.
