I just got back from Pac Bell, where Arizona won its first game in S.F. this year, thanks in large part to a horrible umpire's call on diving catch in CF by Grissom. The catch should have ended the top of the 7th inning with Arizona up 2-1, but Tim Tschida (we know where you live) ruled it a trap, which absolutely boggled everyone's mind. I could see it -- hell, my girlfriend, who asked why we weren't allowed to use video replay to reverse the call, could see it -- from our seats in the left-field bleachers. Grissom, not known for his outbursts, flung his glove to the ground after Felipe Alou came out to argue, unsuccessfully. After that, all hell broke loose (i.e., Felix came in to pitch) and the D-Backs put a total of 7 runs across to salt it away.
Of course, we in section 138 gave it to Gonzo when he came out for the bottom of the 7th ("Diamond-Lucks!", "Fourteenbacks!", "You even needed an error and a cheap-ass hit to win the World Series!").
There was a very sweet moment as the Giants were warming up one inning: Bonds finished his warm-up tosses, threw the ball to a little kid, maybe 5 or 6 years old, in the front row down the left-field line, then put out his glove to ask for the ball back. For about ten seconds, the kid was so thrilled to get the first toss from Bonds, he didn't see Barry asking to play catch. Bonds waited patiently for him to look up, and the two of them played catch for 15 seconds or so, the kid in the front row, Barry right near the foul line, until the inning started.
The Giants had two more baserunners thrown out tonight: Durham trying to steal 2nd with Snow up and no outs (it might have been a hit and run, but Snow took the pitch); and Alfonzo, trying to advance from 2nd to 3rd with 2 outs on a ball in the dirt to Durham. The latter was unconscionable. The caught stealing was, just a guess, their 4th or 5th in a row. On the year, they're 47 up, 34 down, a crappy ratio. Not only are the Giants not stealing more, as Alou said they would in spring training, but they're sucking when they try to steal.
