Rockin' it with the Giants

 Janice, JoElyn (with Buster Posey bobblehead doll) and George

Today is the annual Major League Baseball All-Star Game and because I have a work-related meeting to attend this evening, chances are I'll miss seeing all or most of the action. But that's OK because it feels like I've just come from my own All-Star Game.

On Sunday, after making a hurried exit from the first annual Flores Family Reunion (more to come on that later this week), I drove up to Fremont, dropped off my mom and sister, and headed for the BART station to take the light-rail train into San Francisco for a nationally televised 5 p.m. game between the New York Mets and the Giants.

Make that the 2010 World Series Champion Giants because that's all you see anywhere and everywhere on merchandise sold in the stadium and on nearby streets leading to AT&T Park. But, hey, the fans deserve their extended celebration after 55 years of waiting for a championship.

I attended the game with two high school classmates, JoElyn and Janice. Though we knew of each other in high school, we didn't hang out together. So it was a happy coincidence that we just happened to sit at the same table at our 40th class reunion last fall and discovered that we all love baseball. (See previous post "The Big Cuarenta.")

"Baseball" shoes

Janice favors the Oakland A's, as do I, and JoElyn is a hard-core Giants fan, as evidenced by her Giants jacket, game jersey, orange rally towel and baseball-themed socks and shoes. We had a great view from the third base line and I sat between them with a big honkin' pile of Gilroy garlic fries on my lap.

Between bites, we talked about baseball and travel and life in our respective hometowns. I was impressed with their knowledge of the game and its history and their familiarity with the players and their current statistics. They move easily between conversations about the all-time greats (Mays, McCovey, Marichal and Cepeda) and the current cluster of All-Stars (Lincecum, Cain, Wilson and Sandoval).

If their travels ever bring them up this way, it would be nice to attend a Mariners game. Speaking of the Mariners, I'm due to go up to Seattle next weekend to see them play the Texas Rangers. Ironically, they're the team that the Giants defeated to win the World Series.

As for Sunday's game, I nearly forgot to mention...the Giants beat the Mets, 4 to 2, before a sellout crowd of more than 42,000 fans. During the seventh-inning stretch, the crowd sang "God Bless America" and that old chestnut "Take Me Out To The Ball Game." During the eighth inning, the fans tore it up singing "Lights" by Journey, the '80s band from San Francisco that wrote a song about the city by the bay. I include a YouTube clip here for your viewing pleasure so you can relive the magic of last year's World Series.



Following each home victory, it's also a tradition to play Tony Bennett's "I Left My Heart in San Francisco." I'll let you sing that one on your own.

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A quick note about the All-Star game. Since it marks the halfway point of the season, I'm happy to note my favorite team, the Detroit Tigers, are back in first place in the Central Division of the American League. Would love to see them make it to the World Series.

The punchless A's have lost four games in a row and are mired in last place in the American League West.

And my latest adopted team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, are just one game behind the co-leaders, Milwaukee and St. Louis, in the National League Central. Nice to see that franchise turn it around after18 consecutive losing seasons. Hope to see them next year at PNC Park.