Worth Every Penny

A couple of weeks ago, I got a bee in my bonnet about the potential of the Giants making the playoffs. There was significant potential that they were going to make it, but "Torture" has been the theme of their year, this year. It was hard to tell.

They were selling tickets for the playoffs long before there was any certainty. And not knowing any better, we didn't enter the lottery to buy tickets. Instead, I asked Daddy to get online the minute they went on sale and see if he couldn't get us a few at something less than a fortune. I figured our chances of getting tickets were about as good as the chances of the Giants making the playoffs.

But Daddy got tickets, even though they sold out in seconds...and they were not at the wife-approved price. They would be refunded when the Giants didn't have any playoff games to play and I'd feel that much richer, I figured.

We didn't tell Smunch. I figured it'd be a fun surprise if it actually happened. And, of course, we couldn't quite choose what day we bought tickets for. We had tickets for their first home game of the playoffs. I carefully calculated that assuming they didn't get home field advantage, that should be on a Sunday...perfect.

After the win on Thursday, the Giants were three games ahead of the second-place San Diego Padres, with only one win needed to clinch the National League West and go to the playoffs. How could they fail? But wait, this is the team with torture as a tagline.

The final series of the season arrived on Friday...against the Padres. The Giants put one of their ace pitchers, Matt Cain, on the mound to wrap things up... It was his 26th birthday. He got pasted by the Padres, giving up 6 runs in only five innings. A fizzling rally near the end made the final score 6-4.

Arguably the Giants' worst pitcher was on the mound on Saturday...proving yet again, that he's arguably the Giants' worst pitcher. The Giants lost again 4-2.

Today is Sunday and we watched the entirety of the Giants' 162nd game of the season. If they won, it would be their last. If they lost, they'd be tied, not only with the Padres, but also with the Atlanta Braves who had been in the lead for the NL Wildcard. And if they were tied, they'd have to play a tiebreaker in San Diego tomorrow. If they lost that, they'd have to play another tiebreaker in Atlanta to try and qualify for the playoffs as the Wildcard team.

Today, Jonathan Sanchez was on the mound. He's done well against the Padres, although he's a little inconsistent on the whole. Today, however, he was excellent. He even hit a triple...and scored when the other Sanchez, Freddy, made a tidy little base hit. Aubrey Huff even got in on the action, scoring Freddy Sanchez with a double. The game was fun and the end was exciting ...although thankfully not as "exciting" as Brian Wilson is often capable of making things. Brian "Fear the Beard" Wilson even tied a franchise record for saves with 48 for the season.

And later, Daddy printed out some papers, which he asked Smuch to recycle: (Note: NLDS=National League Division Series)

The Giants' have home field advantage against the Atlanta Braves for the NLDS...on Thursday, a school night. And, yes, I'll be the bad mommy who takes my son to the game anyway.