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The San Francisco Giants defeated Clayton Kershaw for the first time since August 1, 2010. A numerological analysis of how they were able to accomplish a seemingly impossible task reveals a curious, persistent link to the number two...
Clayton Kershaw (#22) lost for only the second time in his career to the Giants.
The Giants saw two pitches in the second inning and put up two runs. Brett Pill hit a 2-run homerun to give them a 2-0 lead. Brett Pill – two double-letter sets in his name – also struck out twice in hilarious fashion.
The Dodgers managed to get one run off of Ryan Vogelsong (#32) thanks to two doubles in the bottom of the second inning.
Dee Gordon weighs two pounds. He also had two infield hits.
The Giants hit into two double plays.
The Giants defense, which has really hurt them this season and was Double Impact-bad last night, turned a fantastic double play in the seventh inning to kill a Dodgers’ rally that was started by Buster Posey (the catcher, 2 on the score sheet).
Javier Lopez (who, according to the Giants, weighs 220 pounds) comes in and gets Andre Ethier to hit into his second double play in the bottom of the 8th to help the Giants cling to a 2-1 lead.
The Giants won 10 games scoring only 2 runs last season. They’ve won their second such game this season.
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All this to say that a deuce is always in the background with these Giants… like the smell of fertilizer wafting into the house during an elegant dinner party; sometimes it can be ignored, and sometimes, right when someone’s in the middle of having a good time, they drop everything and say, "That is a terrible smell! It makes me very angry! I no longer wish to smell this nauseating odor!" But they can’t stop smelling it unless they decide to leave the party.
Fans can’t leave this Giants party. We just have to hope like hell that the wind blows the smell away from our discerning noses sometimes. Tonight was a night where the wind changed direction for a bit and we got to see the bloom on Ryan Vogelsong, the beautiful stonework of Brandon Belt, the interesting bird fountain that is Brandon Crawford, and the unnecessarily expensive top-of-the-line Weber barbecue grill in Javier Lopez. It’s easy forget the things we like about this team when we’re repulsed by their stink lines.
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One more quick note: Brandon Belt looked much, much better tonight. That called strike two curveball in the seventh looked like a bad call, but I’m not going to bother to consult a data source to confirm this because Belt wound up driving the ball to centerfield. The power seems to be coming along. I was just really impressed.