The Padres hadn’t scored in 87 innings. They just dropped three out of four at home to the Cubs. They had to feel pressure. They walked into a raucous, sold-out park and had to watch Mike Felder participate in a pre-game ceremony that made grown men tear up. Mike Felder.
The Giants have been playing amazing baseball. They took a series in Coors Field, came home, and swept a team they needed to sweep. Their team ERA for the month of September was 1.78.
The top-half of the first ended with a Padre getting thrown out at home. The bottom-half started with a ten-pitch walk.
So it was on October 1st, 2010, that the myth of momentum died. Seriously. It doesn’t exist. Momentum is just a three-run home run away from becoming someone else’s. The Padres had the momentum after Adrian Gonzalez hit a three-run bomb. The wind was out of the crowd. The Padres had the momentum.
Then the Giants had double-secret momentum after Aaron Rowand hit a home run! They had triple-secret momentum when Cody Ross doubled, and a MOMENTUM VOLCANO was about to ERUPT when Andres Torres hit a swinging bunt to bring the Giants within two runs!
Momentum. Pfffft. Momentum is a right fielder playing on the damned warning track in the ninth inning. What kind of mad-professor nonsense was that? No matter.
Win a game, Giants. You have two more chances. Three, if you want to be a lawyer about it. There is no momentum. There is only baseball, and it’s a weird little game. Win one more game.