Five!

He actually also got a parking pass from the guy who gave him the tickets (a season ticket holder), so we drove up. I managed to brow-beat him into driving (I didn't feel too guilty since I drove most of the time to Ultimate games over the winter).

Walking from the lot to the ballpark, Subrata asked me how many home runs I thought we'd see hit tonight. Without really thinking about it, I said, "Five!" Subrata, being this kind of guy, was instantly skeptical, ready to pillory whatever number I came up with. But I pointed out that the pitchers were Livan Hernandez and Pat Hentgen, and the more we thought about it, the more reasonable five seemed to be.

Unlike last month, this was a beautiful night, perhaps just a tad on the cold side, but no rain in sight. I found our seats, which were 24 rows back on the third base side, very close to home plate. Terrific seats! Especially for free! The ballpark was sold out as it has been since it opened at the beginning of the year, so it was a crowded and hopping place.

I brought my digital camera and took some photos:

	A shot of the field from our seats. The Giants are at bat against Pat Hentgen, I think this was in the second inning. The facing wall divides the ballpark from San Francisco Bay. Barry Bonds has hit one home run over that wall into the water beyond. The wall has a few seats atop it, but is mostly a pedestrian walkway. What's neat about this is it means that anyone in the ballpark can wander over for an inning or two and have a chance of catching a home run.
	A shot of left field from our seats. It turns out that the giant Coke bottle has tubing inside it through which people can crawl. That's Barry Bonds in left field, and Marvin Benard in center.
	During the seventh inning Subrata and I walked around the park. I took a few photos of the area surrounding the park, including the Bay Bridge and the small, older bridge over an inlet right next to the park. (There aren't shown here because they came out too dark.) These three photos are the view of the field from, respectively, atop the wall in extreme right field, center field, and left field. We walked from left to right (i.e., clockwise), so these photos are in reverse order.

It was quite a good game. Giants catcher Bobby Estalella hit a three-run home run to the left field bleachers in the second inning, almost exactly at the point he'd have to hit the first home run to be on pace for my prediction. Mark McGwire hot a tremendous blast about ten rows up in the deepest part of center field later on - my first Mark McGwire home run!

But Livan Hernandez pitched a very good game, throwing a little over 100 pitches and keeping the Cardinals - who lead the Majors in home runs - in check. Eventually, the Cardinals started chipping away, as a pinch hitter hit a home run, and JD Drew hit a rocket to the top of the right field wall, by which time the score was 5-4. It was getting tight.

So, it was the bottom of the eighth inning, and Estalella is at the plate again, and he hits a second home run, deep to left field, for the fifth home run of the game. Robb Nen comes in in the ninth, gets the first out, hits the next batter, and then Fernando Vina hits a bullet to second base which Jeff Kent jumps and grabs, and throws to first for the double play, end of game. Giants win, 6-4, and have won 13 of their last 15 games, to move into second place in their division. Hurrah!

On the way out of the park I turn to Subrata and say, "Five!" He laughed and said, "Right, next time we go to Vegas first."

Yeah, like I'll ever be that correct again. On the other hand, given the paces these two teams have been hitting home runs, it turns out we should have expected them to hit an average of 5.2 home runs in any given head-to-head match. So my guess was a good one, even if I didn't know it.

CJ and I play the "What did I see today that I haven't seen in a game before?" game. Well, I've seen two home runs by a single player in a game before (Jose Canseco did it in Boston while he was with the Rangers), but never by a member of the home team, and never by a catcher. And I've never seen that brand of double play before. But I guess the memorable moment was seeing a high popup fall between three Giants fielders early in the game, apparently being blown around by the wind. It was kind of funny, if sad as well.

Oh, and we also saw Marvin Benard stretch a long double into the left field Gap into a triple, simply by legging it out. Nice play, Marvin! Marvin's fun to watch because he has the speed to "make things happen" and he just looks fast when he takes off. He has that extra something which actually makes it look like he has abilities no one else on the field has.

Pacific Bell Park is a cool ballpark. It reminds me of Wrigley Field, as I think I've mentioned, and it's just a pleasant place to be. The Garlic Fries are as good as they were at the 'Stick, even if the wings are not. I wish it weren't sold out all the time, but that's life. Now if only they could put together a more solid team, they'd be all set...