Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
–Dylan Thomas
The San Francisco Giants’ even-year championship dynasty is coming to an end. It may seem premature to write their epitaph with two weeks left in the season, but those who hold out hope for another glorious October ride are kidding themselves. The 2014 champions had their flaws and a similar regular season record at this point, but they also had a rock-solid bullpen that reliably held leads late in games. The 2016 Giants bullpen, on the other hand, is in full historic collapse. Their closer, Santiago Casilla, has given up runs in four of his last six appearances, three of which resulted in losses, and no one else on the Giants’ relief staff has demonstrated any ability to take his place. Consequently, the Giants have endured many excruciating losses in recent weeks, the most recent on Saturday night. With no lead safe for them and their confidence shot, a visit to the playoffs would be a short formality.
The Giants were good enough, though, to rage against the dying of their light when we attended on Friday, which happened to be Star Trek Night. The St. Louis Cardinals started a recent call-up on the mound, and for the first two innings he looked up to the task. As often happens with young pitchers, however, the Giants figured out his repertoire and belted him for six runs in the third. Despite following that with a Buster Posey homer in the fourth (his first in two months), the Giants threatened to let the Cardinals back in the game as Matt Moore, the Giants’ starter, twice got into mechanical problems and couldn’t find the plate. He barely finished the minimum five innings required to get the win on his record, and the bullpen was able to finish the final four innings without incident, for once, except for the fan who ran out onto the field in the eighth. Hope he enjoyed his night in jail.
One other item of note. Took the ferry into San Francisco from Vallejo and back after the game. The trip cost about the same as city parking and tolls and was much less stressful than Bay Bridge traffic. And for those who are interested, the walk along the Embarcadero from the Ferry Building to AT&T Park is a prime hunting ground for Pokemons.
