What to enjoy in a game when the Giants are exceptionally bad

Welcome to episode three of So The Giants Are A Dumb Garbage Team But You Should Go To Their Games Anyway, sponsored by StubHub! This time, we will again discuss why the 2017 Giants, who are a dumb garbage team, are still worthy of your time if you go to a game in person.

The last time the Giants had a bad season, though obviously it wasn’t as bad as this, was 2013. By July of 2013 they were out of the playoff race, everyone agreed they should have sold their veterans, they didn’t, and that all worked out nicely. But that’s not what I’m here to talk about. Because also in July of 2013, I went to this game, which was an 8-3 loss to the Reds, in which future Giant superstar Mike Leake out-pitched Chad Gaudin. On the surface, that seems like not that great a game to go to. But look at all the cool things that happened in that, a stupid loss in a stupid season:

• Jeff Francoeur got a hit! You might think that’s a bad memory because Giants Outfielder Jeff Francoeur was a bad idea executed badly in Badtown, but actually it’s hilarious. Jeff Francoeur! He singled up the middle! In a Giants uniform! It was his only hit in a 1-for-5 night, which is very Late Career Frenchy. He also reached base on an error at one point, which if you think about it, is even more Late Career Frenchy.
• Hunter Pence went 5-for-5 and didn’t score a run. That was the 5th time in San Francisco Giants history and the 8th time in Giants history a Giant had 5 hits without scoring a run. That’s history!
• The Giants had 15 hits and only scored 3 runs. It was the 9th time in San Francisco history and the 15th time in overall Giants history they’d done that. That makes this kind of game rarer than a no hitter, rarer than a cycle. In any given year, the Giants are more likely to have an MVP winner than a game where they score 3 or fewer runs off of 15 hits. And I was at one! I should really brag to all my friends more.
• Kensuke Tanaka pinch hit! You had totally forgotten about him right up until you read this bullet point, hadn’t you? Maybe you still don’t remember him. That’s okay. He was the counterpart to Francoeur back in 2013, and I mean that very literally.

Yeah, that’s the stuff right there.

Also, I sat in View Box seats and watched boats and stuff when the Giants were being bad, and that’s always a good thing.

You might think that these are bad baseball events and that it’s nuts to enjoy them in retrospect. Nonsense! If you can’t look back and laugh out of genuine enjoyment of your team intentionally platooning Jeff Francoeur and Kensuke Tanaka, and experiencing historic offensive futility the year before they won the World Series, then man, I don’t know how you handle the downs in baseball. This is the fun stuff in lost years, a little bit in the present (“I can’t believe they’re doing this,” he chuckled ruefully), and even more in retrospect (“I can’t believe they did that!”).

So what does that all add up to? Even in a crap game during a crap year, the Giants still did a bunch of memorable things that I’m happy I saw, and there is no way I would have any memory of that game if I hadn’t been there. Going to baseball games is good, people. You should do it.

Whether you’re a baseball junkie or casual fan, games are better at the ballpark. Grab seats from our partner StubHub and be part of the action at AT&T Park. And, download the StubHub app to choose the perfect seats with 360° views from your section.