Tuesday BP: This is a Joc Pederson (and Luis González) appreciation post

Good morning, baseball fans!

If you’d told me even a year ago that I would be writing a morning post like this, I would have called you a dirty liar. Though I’ve slowly been adjusting to the amount of former Dodgers players and other folks are in the current San Francisco Giants organization, Pederson was always someone I particularly loathed (in the baseball rivalry sense, I don’t know the guy, he seems swell). Like, it wasn’t quite Justin Turner-levels of despising, but it was close. But the guy’s from the Bay Area, so I decided I’d give him a chance.

All this to say that I’m quite happy he’s a Giant right now. And his three home runs in two days deserves an appreciation post! Specifically his two-run shot in last night’s game to give the Giants their first lead of the night (which was, of course, immediately given back by Jake McGee, who does not get an appreciation post today). I was in line at a red light and could see people celebrating in cars around me. It was neat.

Luis González also deserves appreciation this morning, for hitting the go-ahead two-run home run in the ninth inning. I was still driving, but the radio call on that one was exquisite. Just superb work by Jon Miller. And of course, González himself, who got to have a really great moment. His first major league home run, to break up a tie in the ninth inning. It’s exactly the scenario kids pretend they’re hitting in in their backyards or local parks. We love to see it.

One last thing before we go, I opened up the New York Times yesterday, and wouldn’t you know, there was a whole big article about the Giants centered on the Brandons, written by Tyler Kepner. Go ahead and give it a read if you’ve got a subscription, it’s good stuff and nice to see on a national platform.

What time do the Giants play today?

The Giants welcome the Oakland A’s to Oracle Park to kick off part one of the Bay Bridge Series tonight at 6:45 pm PT.