For once, I just want to be an irrational fanboy. Do you know how annoying it is to write "Well, Player X had a good game, but it was just one game, hurr durr hurr"? Probably as annoying as it is for you to read it. So tonight, I'm going to go commando in the post-game thread. Let the breeze take me where it will. It isn't a game for math and history. You open that yapper again, measured thoughts, and I'll give you another taste of the back o' me hand.
Brandon Belt will be an All-Star in 2012. He'll be an All-Star in 2013, 2014, 2015, and so on for the rest of the decade. He'll stand on the first-base line with Joey Votto and Prince Fielder during pre-game introdctions, and when Ryan Howard calls all of them to see what they're up to, they'll all send him to voicemail. He'll totally know because of how the ring cuts off. They won't care. They'll laugh and laugh and laugh, and then Votto and Fielder will invite Belt to the Peach Pit after the All-Star Game for shakes and fries.
Madison Bumgarner will be an All-Star for the next 20 years. When I drop those cute little Play Index links in my Madison Bumgarner posts, what I'm really saying is "Hey. Pay attention. There are two Hall-of-Famers on that list. And there's also Madison Bumgarner. He will go into the Hall of Fame." He'll be like Tom Glavine, but more accomplished. He'll do it all in a Giants uniform. He'll be old and gray and still FFFFFFF'n when he throws a pitch. He'll throw 87 mph then, and we'll laugh at how that's how he came up to the majors. The irony.
They'll be complemented with the other homegrown players. Cain and Lincecum aren't going anywhere. Posey and Sandoval will be a stout middle of the order, and Belt will slot in quite nicely. This will be the team for years, and we're just getting a peek. This is the beginning of a saga -- a young kid whining about power converters, an elf handing out gifts to the travelers, and Tackleberry showing us all that he really likes guns for the first time. We're going to get to watch something amazing.
Belt Belt Belt Belt Belt Belt Belt.
Bumgarner!
Belt Belt Belt Belt Belt Belt Belt.
Let's see what the lineup was on 7/19/2008, shall we?
Fred Lewis - LF
Eugenio Velez - 2B
Randy Winn - RF
Bengie Molina - C
Aaron Rowand - CF
John Bowker - 1B
Jose Castillo - 3B
Omar Vizquel - SS
40-57. Eight games back. Gee, that's a surprise.
That gag never gets old. That was three years ago. Not a single player is starting in the majors now. They played the Brewers that day, and five of the eight guys they had are still starting around the league.
And look at us now. All fat and chortling after a World Series win with homegrown, beloved players spilling out of our pockets, taking over the lineup and rotation. The Giants have beaten the Dodgers six times in a row, something they haven't done in a long, long time.
Belt. Bumgarner. Oh, and Pablo is good again, both offensively and defensively. I'll wake up tomorrow in a recycling bin behind the IHOP, forgetting the homegrown-player pixie dust that screwed me all up. But right now, it feels good just to roll in it.