It’s a nice day for a ballgame. It’s neither too cold nor too windy. I bought my repast and refreshments before getting on the ferry to the city. Outside the ballpark, I had a leisurely lunch reading the new issue of the USA Sports Weekly and listening to “The Razor and Mr. T” on the local sports radio station. I learned from Manny Pacquiao‘s trainer that Manny will probably knock out Ricky Hutton before the ninth round next Saturday. We shall see.

      

The gates opened to the public at 5:15 p.m. and I went in to watch the Dodgers take batting practice. Standing at the outfield wall with his young son was this middle aged white-bearded white guy wearing a Dodgers uniform and artificial Mannyesque dreadlocks under his blue batting helmet. He shouted at Matt Kemp to throw him up a souvenir baseball but Matt just laughed at him and threw the baseball up towards another group of fans. As the faux Manny father took his son and walked back up the bleachers, I seriously considered whether it was my civic duty to report this man to Protective Child Services so that they could rescue that poor little boy and put him safely away in a foster home for mercy’s sake.

Tonight was the first time Boy Wonder (Tim Lincecum) would pitch against Bat—-Crazy Man (Manny Ramirez). Adding to the zaniness was Dodgers manager Joe Torre‘s decision to bat his pitcher Eric Stults eighth in batter order before Juan Pierre. Not since Dodgers manager Walter Alston batted hall of fame pitcher Don Drysdale seventh against the Pittsburgh Pirates had any Dodgers pitcher ever begun a game batting higher than ninth in the order. And Don Drysdale went on to hit seven home runs, a triple, and nineteen RBIs in 1965. Eric Stults has only has nine hits and two RBIs in his four years in the majors. (And not only did Don Drysdale not get a hit in that game but he ended up getting charged with the 4-2 loss.) I suspect Joe Torre is pulling a gimmick trying to get inside young Tim Lincecum’s head.

      

The mercurial Rafael Furcal came up and shot Lincecum’s first pitch of the game to the opposite side of the diamond where third baseman Pablo Sandoval snagged it out of the air on its way to left field. Them the methodical Orlando Hudson looked at a pitch but then clubbed a grounder down the first base line where Rich Aurilia short-hopped it before it could continue to the outfield corner and stepped on first for the second out. And finally, the mysterious Manny Ramirez also looked at a pitch before he stroked the next offering to the opposite field where rookie Nate Schierholtz rushed in to catch the sinking liner below the knees with two hands for the third out. Five pitches for three outs was a good omen to start off a game.

The Giants soon amplified that positive portent when Edgar Renteria hit a single to right field with one out and Pablo Sandoval followed suit with a single to left field. And then Bengie Molina cashed them all in with a deep fly ball to centerfield that bounced high off the wall and past Juan Pierre for a triple. Bengie Molina has only hit five triples in his twelve-year career. That is not to say that Bengie is a slow runner but this fly ball was a true thing of beauty to behold. And so was the Giants’ 2-0 lead after the first inning.

      

Over the next six innings, Tim Lincecum struck out seven swinging Dodgers (six on slow 85 mph change ups) and gave up no runs on three hits and two bases on balls. Meanwhile, the Giants battered Eric Stults for five runs in the initial three innings on more hits by Edgar Renteria, Aaron Rowand, Nate Schierholtz, and Emmanuel Burriss. When Fred Lewis walked with two outs in the sixth inning and came around to score the Giants’ sixth run on Edgar Renteria‘s double to centerfield in the sixth inning, the Giants fans couldn’t have been happier and the Dodgers fans couldn’t have been quieter. And then Bengie Molina led off the seventh inning with a home run into the bleachers and all was right with the world.

        

But then the world began to spin off its axel and the center was unable to hold. The Dodgers led off the eighth inning with three straight hits scoring Juan Pierre for their first run. Then Lincecum walked Ramirez on five pitches to load the bases and the 2008 Cy Young winner’s night was finished. In came lefty Jeremy Affeldt and, on his very first pitch, induced the ever-dangerous Andre Ethier to hit a sharp grounder to substitute third baseman Juan Uribe who stepped on the bag and threw to first base in time for a double play. Although substitute Dodgers catcher Brad Ausmus drove in Manny Ramirez with the second run with a single, Affeldt won his six pitch battle with Casey Blake when Juan Uribe leaned over the railing at the stand and caught his foul ball for the last out of the eighth inning.

However, the Dodgers fans began to get very vocal through all this. And the Giants fans began to get very demonstrative in their response. And the policemen were running up and down the bleacher stands with ballpark security personnel in tow leading miscreants and misfeasors by the dozens down the stands, through the exits and out of the stadium in their individual walk of shame as the pictures below detail.

      

But the Giants righted the listing ship in the bottom of the eighth inning primarily on the strength of htting by Edgar Renteria, Juan Uribe, Bengie Molina, and Aaron Rowand inability to duck out of the way of a Guillermo Mota shoulder high hard slider. The picture below shows Emmanuel Burriss up with the bases loaded before he eventually struck out on a 93 mph Mota fastball. So even when Brian Wilson drew out the drama in the ninth inning with a run on a couple of hits, the Dodgers finally succumbed at 10:15 p.m. to a score of 9 -3. I slept well last night. The Giants were able to end April with an even 10-10 record and I was able to witness six of those victories in person at AT&T Park. I think May will be even more interesting to watch.