The Lunatic Fringe

Well, that was historic.

Too many people are going to cut this game in half in retrospect, and focus all their talk about Matt Williams taking out Jordan Zimmerman with two out in the 9th.  I’m not going to deny that it was big.  It was huge.  But it’s unfair to drop this game down to one managing decision.

The 9 innings afterwards might be boring to some…but it was anything but to the people watching.  The tired legs of all the players belied a desire to keep grinding.  Two strong bullpens held up.  Buster Posey is not wrong in saying that the performance Yusmeiro Petit “unbelievable”.  And it may get lost in the aftermath.  It’s just another way that Petit will be one of the greatest underrated Giants for his performances the last two years.

Brandon Belt has been fighting all season the way players fought this game.  Especially the last month, fighting through his concussion and getting back onto the field.  People will remember the home run, obviously.  What they’ll forget is that all game, strong players hit long fly balls, causing and announcers to scream like babies, and they all fell to the warning track.  After the game, commentators went on about how, if the weather hadn’t been so cold, this would’ve been high-scoring or over much sooner.

Brandon Belt, however, powered the home run into the second deck.  It wasn’t just a game-winner, it was monstrous, and even more so in comparison.

And, of course, Tim Hudson.  Hudson is the worst nightmare of Washington.  He’s their Scott Hairston.  He makes them shudder.  He was the second-best starter on the mound in the game, possibly the third-best pitcher.  But it wasn’t a big difference.  Through whatever troubles he’s had late in the season, he fought through it, and was a few inches away from keeping the Nationals off the board entirely.  He commented about what teams have between their legs, whether mischaracterized or not.  He had them, just with the rest of his team.

Most of the nation will focus on one curious decision that allowed an amazing game to happen.

Giants fans are lucky…we get to appreciate the amazing game instead.