Think about all of the excitement that built up over the last weekend. The Giants swept the Dodgers, in case you hadn’t heard. Now take that excitement and wrap it around the goodwill created by the last road trip, when the Giants went 6-1. Take that excitement and goodwill, and coat it with a healthy amount of the cheer brought when the Giants swept the Mets. Yes, I wrote swept. Don’t be a lawyer about it. Now take the excitement, goodwill, and cheer, and put it between two slices of the pleasant surprise that came when the Giants entered the All-Star break after winning six out of seven road games.
Got all that? Looks good, doesn’t it? It’s been a good month or so to be a Giants fan. Wearing a Giants hat in public around the Bay Area will probably get you into a conversation with a stranger about baseball because it’s just so danged fun to talk about the Giants. Happy times. Now watch this:
Coors Field.
Whoops! Did I do that? It’s a fortunate thing that the window was open, otherwise the glass might have shattered when all of those good feelings tried to escape. It kind of looked like when the Nazis opened the Ark of the Covenant. Yep. Feelin’ good, and then this:
Coors Field
Dang, I did it again. I can’t help it. I don’t want to be the Eeyore around here, but it’s worth noting that no matter how well the Giants are doing – no matter how well they’re pitching or hitting – Coors Field because Coors Field is just Coors Field the corner. The Giants are winning games they should win, and they’re winning games they should lose. They’re surprising everyone, maybe even themselves, but Coors Field. It’s fun to watch this team right now, and the chemistry is infectious, but Coors Field.
This isn’t to say that the Giants can’t keep going on this fantastical run in a park that’s been historically tough on them, it’s just to say but Coors Field. I hate everything about the place. From the acreage in the outfield, where Rockie bloops meet and procreate in some awful perversion of the cycle of life, to the thin air, where Rockie pop-ups drift out of the park ever so gently. I hate the mascot, I hate the stupid rocks out in center field, and I hate John Elway just because.
So when the Giants are rolling along like they are, it’s just a wee bit discouraging to see Coors Field show up on the schedule. You know the Rockies are going to pull some special reserve balls from the humidor for this one. Mmmm, this ball has nice spicy sweetness, with a bit of a leather aftertaste, and it smells like a Seth Smith double. Oh, oh, this one has an oak finish with hints of cinnamon, and the aftertaste is reminiscent of a hanging curveball served up to Carlos Gonzalez. Just awesome.
Coors Field. I’ll hate the place until it’s torn down, even if the arena football scores are gone for the most part. Because Coors Field, that’s why.
Hitter to watch:
And, hey, I’m not too fond of Billy Beane, either. I’d appreciate it if he could stop playing Johnny Appleseed with good, young outfielders in our division. First he traded away Andre Ethier, and then he dumped Carlos Gonzalez for Matt Holliday for Brett Wallace for Michael Taylor, who will stink in AAA until he’s traded to the Padres for pennies on the dollar. Gonzalez is scary good now, and imagine how good he’ll be when he learns some plate discipline. I wrote "when" not "if" because Gonzalez is a) part of a team that annoys the Giants and b) part of the Billy Beane legacy of annoying the Giants. So he’ll just keep getting better. Gonzalez, not Beane. I'm pretty sure Beane's just getting worse.
Pitcher to watch:
Aaron Cook is not Ubaldo Jimenez, so I’m looking forward to watching Not Ubaldo Jimenez. I know Jimenez has been struggling a little bit lately, but c’mon. Dude’s still scary to face.
Prediction:
After the two-game series, not a single one of you will think, "Gee, I’ll miss that place." Because Coors Field.