Say Hey! Giants Beat the Rockies (and I Love Freddy Sanchez)

A day that started with the celebration of Willie Mays 80th birthday ended with another kind of celebration. The Giants returned to AT&T park yesterday, and after a mostly dreadful road trip, gave Giants fans something to smile about–a come from behind win over the Rockies and Ubalddo Jimenez.

Is it just me, or is anyone else tired of the Giants having a celebration before every home game? No. Okay then, let’s move along.

Let’s skip straight to the really good stuff. Bottom the 9th, Cody Ross, as a pinch hitter, doubled to right field. Rowand popped out and Freddy Sanchez stepped up to bat. This is where the real magic began. The crowd started chanting “FRE-DY, FRED-DY, FRED-DY!” I’ve never heard a Freddy chant at AT&T Park. I don’t think Freddy Sanchez had either. So just like in the movies that are written about these moments, Freddy Sanchez hit a single…just enough to get Cody Ross home and end the game. FREDDY, FREDDY, FREDDY!

Here is a video showing the chants and the hit: Freddy Chants. If you want the MLB better quality version of the hit, minus the preceding FREDDY chants, you can check that out here.

As for the rest of the game,

Cain pitched well last night, giving up 3 earned runs in 7 innings. Ubaldo pitched well too. In fact, none of our batters got more than 1 hit off him, but everyone except Rowand and Burris (PH) did get at least 1 hit, so we’ll take that. Burrell also drew 3 walks which I like much better than the “swing for the wall during every at-bat” of last season (particularly post-season). Colorado struck early and had 3 runs on the board by the middle of the 3rd inning. However, Cain, Affeldlt and Wilson shut them down after that, with a bit of struggling from Affeldt. Wilson got the win after the Giants knocked in the last run they needed in the bottom of the 9th.

Schierholtz and Sanchez had the big hits of the night. Schierholtz had the big hit that tied the game in the 8th after Posey singled and Burrell hit a double, leaving Posey on 3rd and Ford on 2nd (Pinch running for Burrell). Nate hit a double down the 3rd baseline, driving in Posey and Ford to tie the game. However Schierholtz was left stranded and the Giants were forced to keep the Rockies from scoring in the top of the 9th. Enter Brian Wilson who accomplished that in 7 pitches.

And well, you already know what happened in the bottom of the 9th.