The San Francisco Giants shut out the San Diego Padres, Madison Bumgarner close to perfecto

By Toni Cecchetti |

Jun 23, 2015; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner (40) throws a pitch against the San Diego Padres during the first inning at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports

The San Francisco Giants needed to follow Friday night’s win with another win. On Saturday night that’s exactly what they did.

Madison Bumgarner was on the hill for the Giants. You can’t ask for better than that. Turns out you can get better though, because Bumgarner gave us better. All the way through seven and ⅔, he was flirting with a perfect game. He had two down in the eighth inning when the pinch hitter for the Padres pitcher got a base hit. Perfect game gone. He pitched a one-hit shut-out instead.

Right about the fifth inning, I started to feel anxious and my nerves were raw when Jon Miller started flapping his gums about “no Padres have had a hit” and “no Padres baserunners” or the big hint after six of “18 up, 18 down”. In case you didn’t know it, I’m super-superstitious.

But then the broadcasters stopped being coy and started throwing the ‘P’ (for perfect) word around like it wouldn’t make a difference. The hit in the eighth, as far as I’m concerned, that’s on them–broadcaster’s jinx.

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In addition to my nervousness about Bumgarner’s perfect game, I was keeping an eye on the game in the desert between Arizona and the dreaded Dodgers. The final score of that game was: Arizona 5, Dodgers 9. That is so not helpful.

Tonight’s runs were scored Giants-style with a couple of long balls mixed in for good measure. They didn’t put any runs on the board until the fourth. The inning started off with two quick outs, then Buster Posey drew a walk and Brandon Belt was given a free pass following Buster. Marlon Byrd hit a double scoring both. Kelby Tomlinson hit a triple scoring Byrd and Ehire Adrianza brought Kelby home with a base hit.

In the fifth inning, Angel Pagan led-off the inning with a solo home run and Alejandro De Aza followed up with a triple. Buster drew another walk, Belt followed this time by hitting into a force out, reaching first while Buster was thrown out at second and De Aza scored. On a throwing error, Belt advanced to second, then scored when Byrd hit a single. Belt finished up the scoring with a solo dinger in the seventh. The final score was: Giants 8, Padres 0

I know I’m a little crazy with the magic wandoo stuff, the orange-hair troll dolls and sacrificing buckets of chicken. It becomes a whole new brand of chock full o’ nuts when I let my superstitious mind take over. I can’t help it. It’s how I was drawn.

I may be the poster child for coats with no sleeves and rubber-padded walls, but you cannot and you will not, ever convince me that this team is done. There’s still some fight left in our jumbled mix of rookies, veterans and the walking wounded.

So to those who think the Giants season is over, my response is the same as it is for the little kid who, when going on a long trip, jumps in the car and immediately asks “are we there yet?” the answer is no, we’re not there yet, we just got started.

Sit back and enjoy the ride.

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