Being a little too musically obsessed for my own good, a flood of tunes — ranging from the awesome to the downright shameful — flooded my head as a I tried to wrap my brain around the Giants most recent road trip.
The playlist ranges from “You Wreck Me” by Tom Petty to “Hailing from the Edge” by Apparat.
Heck, I can’t be the only person in the Bay Area that’s wanted to throw on Backstreet Boys’ “Quit Playing Games With My Heart” when the Giants come so close to a victory and drop the a ballgame by one run.
It was another wild roadie characteristic of the Giants 2013 season, with the Orange & Black going 3-3.
So close to being pushed over the edge into oblivion in Washington D.C. before mounting a comeback, winning three straight, then falling just short of a series sweep in Miami.
And when I say “falls just short,” yes, I’m talking about their late-game 6-5 loss to the Marlins and the many lead changes in that game.
The bizarre play is bound to continue this week as interleague play returns to McCovey Cove. The Boston Red Sox (73-52) visit AT&T Park for a triplet followed by a four-gamer against the Pittsburgh Pirates (72-51).
Neither series is going to be a cake walk. Here are a few tunes that I am currently humming when I think about the home team:
“Where Do We Go From Here?” by Charles Bradley: After Sunday’s game, the Giants have 68 losses on the season, the total number of losses they had for the whole 2012 season.
There is still, roughly, a month-and-a-half of regular season ball left.
If San Francisco wants to clamber back to .500, they’ll need to go 26-13, at the very least. Which means a consistently solid starting rotation — which has been competitive, take away Chad Gaudin’s lackluster performance in Saturday’s 14-10 victory — and fighting for those timely hits.
And while we’re on the subject of hits …
“The Kids Are Alright” by The Who: Looking for a silver lining, San Francisco’s offense got hot on the road, and nobody worked harder in the batters box than the Brandons.
Brandon Crawford came alive in the second spot of the batting order, hitting with the same zeal that Marco Scutaro did when he batted behind Angel Pagan in 2012.
Crawford made contact 11 times in the past 10 games, raising his average back towards .300 on the road trip.
Brandon Belt is a whole other story. The 25-year-old first baseman has raised his average from .266 to .341 after tallying 14 hits and scoring 13 runs with 9 RBIs over the last 10 games.
Critics be damned, the kid is on a roll.
Stats like those have to keep coming in order to keep from leaving 11 runners on base during a game, like the Giants did on Sunday.
“Anything Could Happen” by Ellie Goulding: When talking baseball with my Dad this past season, he continues to remind me:
“You know, that’s the great thing about baseball, it always gives you another chance.”
But that’s also followed by how cheap tickets and beer were at Candlestick in 1985 — the season the Giants lost 100 games.
The point, though, is that despite having the bizarre season that they have had, the Giants continue to keep fans interested by finding ways to pull out wins when we least expect them to.
The odds are stacked against the Giants this week, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they won’t put up a fight. Anything can … well, you get the idea.
San Francisco Giants baseball returns to AT&T Park Monday night, with Tim Lincecum taking the mound against Dustin Pedroia and the visiting Boston Red Sox. First pitch is scheduled for 7:15 p.m.
Follow @SFBay and @ChelenaGoldman on Twitter and at SFBay.ca for full coverage of the San Francisco Giants.
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