Kings for a Day

I haven't written about baseball for a while, so I guess I'm due. For one thing, I wasn't going to a lot of games for a while there; too many other things going on. But last week afforded an opportunity to catch several in a row, so I jumped at the chance.

It helps that we've been having fabulous weather. Got a bit too hot for my taste over the weekend, but we coped. So heading to the ballpark Wednesday afternoon, Thursday evening, and again Friday evening was great. Shorts, t-shirt, sunglasses. Don't even think about a jacket. Don't need one. Beautiful.

Oh, and for a change, the Giants are winning. Wednesday, an exciting come-from-behind in the bottom of the ninth inning. Thursday and Friday, lopsided wins against the first-place Padres. The team suddenly has its longest winning streak of the season (a modest five games), and for less than 24 hours they even skootched into first place before dropping back again on Sunday.

Amazing how the attitudes around me were changing. Where things had been awfully gloomy, suddenly people were excited. It's always more fun to go to the park when the home team is playing well, because the people are more fun to be around.

Feel-good story of the week (if not longer) came when a journeyman minor-league first baseman named Chad Santos was called up to play a few games with the big club. A bunch of his family showed up to cheer for him (the friends-and-family section is right next to where I sit, which is always fun), and Chad responded with several big hits, including a home run. Sadly, he was sent back down to Fresno (adding insult to injury: Fresno) over the weekend because the Giants acquired a new first baseman in a trade. But even if that was the totality of Chad's major-league career, he has some great memories.

Summer. Baseball. Good stuff.