San Francisco Giants lose the series to the Cardinals after Friday’s walk off victory and Marlon Byrd’s grand slam

The Good (il buono)

So many good things happened in the series it’s hard to name all of them, but I’m going to name a few. If I forget something important, don’t hesitate to leave it as a comment. Sometimes it takes a village.

I’ll start with the biggest one: Marlon Byrd’s grand slam home run in game one of the series. They just don’t get much better. It was a record-setter for starters. It broke the New York/San Francisco Giants record of seven grand slams in a single season (which was tied up Thursday night by rookie Kelby Tomlinson). It happened on orange Friday, and it happened at home. The only thing that would have made it better would have to be this: hit by a rookie as his first big league dinger‒oh, that’s right, like I just said, that’s what Kelby did that Thursday night against the Cubs. Who has it better than us?

Speaking of Kelby, and speaking of the good, how about the fact that after the Cardinals tied up the game Friday, Kelby came along in the ninth and with the bases loaded, roped a line drive to center field, scoring Brandon Belt and the walk‒off win. His first walk‒off win in his big league career. It was a great week of amazing firsts for the rookie. Refer to the previous paragraph, about Kelby’s first dinger in the bigs. The grand slam. It bears repeating.

Gregor Blanco is good. He made an amazing catch to save a home run on Sunday after the Cardinals got a three-run start in the first, the Giants center fielder caught their second inning attempt to add on with a tough catch at the wall. It’s just one of many amazing catches by our part-time outfielder.

Sunday was Pixar Day at the yard‒remember the sea gulls in Finding Nemo? “mine. mine. mine. mine.” Those sea gulls probably came from AT&T Park.

Happy Birthday Marlon Byrd! Sunday was the slugger’s 38th birthday, and to celebrate he kicked off his first plate appearance with a little two out thunder‒a two RBI double. He added an RBI double in the sixth and an RBI triple in the eighth. Not bad for the grand old man of the lineup.

Next: The Bad