A winning season

The regular baseball season is over for the Giants, who—surprisingly, improbably—were in the hunt up until the 158th game. They ended up with 88 wins, 74 losses, some of those wins spectacular, some of the losses crushing, all of them entertaining.

I had a winning season, too. I'll remember the 2009 season as the one in which I went from being an interested and engaged fan to becoming a passionate and more knowledgeable one. So, in no particular order, here's my season wrap-up:

I went to 10 home games, almost three times as many as I've ever gone to in one season. I began with Opening Day (a win against the Brewers) and ended with the last home game of the season (a win against the D'backs). In between, I saw the Giants win four other games and lose four, giving me a .600 season—definitely a winner!

I got to see those games with lots of old friends (Gishi, Wayne, Liese, Alison, Allan, Phil) and one new one (Heather). Thanks, guys; there's nothing like the company of friends at the ballyard, having a beer and a cha-cha bowl, talking baseball.

Opening Day in the bleachers, April 7, 2009

Gishi, Liese, Wayne and me

Heather and me, Jon Miller Bobblehead Night
Giants v. Cincinnati Reds, August 7, 2009

I learned to (more or less) keep score. Printed out scorecards for myself and scored the games as I watched them on TV. Doing this helped me to believe I wasn't just sitting lumplike in front of the TV, and it also gave me something to do with my hands other than tear my hair when the Giants once again hit a weak grounder into a double play. I still have trouble figuring out what to do with double-switches and pinch runners, and I almost never toted up the final results, but I'll work on that next year.

I figure I watched or listened to nearly every one of the 162 games the Giants played. I paid attention, I learned stuff I didn't know before, I got better at seeing a curve ball or a slider (though I'm still baffled most of the time at how the guys in the broadcast booth can tell a two-seam fastball from a four-seam fastball).

I collected five more bobbleheads to add to my small-but-growing collection . . .


Four of them I got on Bobblehead Days—Tim Lincecum on May 17 (a win vs. the Mets), Brian Wilson on July 12 (a loss to the Padres), Jon Miller on Aug. 7 (a loss to the Reds), and Randy Johnson on Aug. 30 (a HUGE win over the Rockies!)—and the fifth, Matt Cain, I got as a "mystery gift" for making a contribution to the Jr. Giants on Opening Day . . .


Thanks to "Watching Baseball Smarter," I learned that pitchers, when they're throwing their warm-up pitches, tell the catcher what's coming by signaling with their glove! Wow. I started watching for this, and I felt like I'd discovered a secret code that let me in to an exclusive "in the know" group. No doubt lots of regular fans know this, but it was news to me, who's been watching baseball since the age of 4. It took me a while to remember which gesture indicates which pitch, but I think I've got it now (I cemented it into my brain by actually practicing the gestures myself). It's interesting to see how different pitchers execute it; some are really subtle, others much more emphatic. Way, way, WAY cool, and possibly the most exciting thing I discovered this year.

I discovered Andy Baggerly's blog on the Giants, "Extra Baggs." Baggerly writes for the San Jose Mercury News, and I found his writing and his observations to be the best of those who write regularly about the Gnats. Good stuff; I hope he keeps it going next year.

Making good on an idea we'd had for a couple of years, Liese, Wayne, Gishi and I went to a San Jose Giants game, and I'm here to tell you, it was way, way more fun than any RiverCats game I've ever been to. Here's how good it was: If I ever found myself in the god-awful position of having to move to the San Jose area, the horror would be tempered, perhaps even alleviated, by the knowledge that I could go to SJ Giants games a lot more often. I could even be a host family to a young player (does a family of one count as a family?). Anyway, I hope to go to a few more of those games next year.

Mostly, I just learned a lot, absorbed a lot, read a lot, talked a lot about baseball. I discovered I could talk knowledgeably about my team, the players, back up my opinions with something other than, "well, I just like the guy!" comments. One big thing I learned is that I have a lot more left to learn. I'm not good at remembering stuff; things like batting averages, ERAs, who we were playing when such-and-such happened, seem to float into my head and out, whereas things about the players, themselves, sticks more readily and stays around longer. But I think my 2009 season may have sharpened my skills a bit. We'll see next year.

And speaking of next year . . . I think it's time for another visit to Scottsdale and a Spring Training trip. Last one was in 2005, and I want to go again. As for now, I'll watch the playoffs and the World Series, then refresh my skills at some neglected things—reading, listening to NPR rather than KNBR (THE sports leader!), inviting friends for dinner, getting myself to the gym. The end of the season is always bittersweet, but pitchers and catchers report to Scottsdale in February, and it's nearly the middle of October already. I can hardly wait. Yet as Tony Bennett always reminds us after every Giants home game win . . .

"I left my heart in San Francisco . . ."