There’s no logical reason for September 1st feeling different from August 31st. It just doesn’t make sense. This is a world with physical laws, dangit, not a swirling maelstrom of superstition and hocus-pocus.
But I felt it. I didn’t have those August Lincecum jitters at any point throughout the day. It was September. Which shouldn’t make a difference. But it did. Which kind of annoys me and comforts me at the same time.
Someone peeled the monkey off Tim Lincecum’s back, took him to the bar, and just got him ripped on banana daquiris. The Giants turned a leadoff walk into a run through some honest-to-goodness small ball. Brian Wilson spared us the drama. And Freddy Sanchez made one of the most bizarre, unorthodox, and ridiculously awesome catches you’ll ever see. There’s no reason to think that because a Pope in the 1500s decided to put a arbitrary gap between the months, the Giants are suddenly a different team.
But they are. Baseball gods help me, they are. Well, they were tonight, at least. If there is anything to momentum in baseball, anything at all, the Giants have it.
Even Bruce Bochy was sneezing magic. With the expanded rosters, it was a smart move to pinch-run Darren Ford. And while a "player’s manager" might have felt some sort of sentimental tug to let Lincecum finish the game, Bochy put Wilson in, which was the right move.
It was just one game. But, man, what a game. What a relief. With the Padres running out of pixie dust and centaur urine, and the Rockies charging back into the race, the Giants didn’t need to make a statement. Technically, there’s a whole month left, and one loss isn’t going to eliminate them just yet. It was just a really, really, really, really good idea.
Also, Tim Lincecum.