San Fran: Monday 7 May

Well possums, in alluding to my earlier post from this morning, today was a scorcher of a day heat wise. This is very unlike San Fran at this time of the year. Received numerous testimonies from locals to attest this point. They are fiercely proud of their cool weather in the cool season.

This weather prompted an executive decision by myself to have the “day off” - like what am I “on” for - from being a tourist seeing sites. Took the walk to Market street to do some window shopping at Nerdstrom - oops, Nordstrom. Just another freaking big shopping centre. this one is quasi cool as it has half-spiral escalators. Not sure of what purpose it serves, but it is an oddly interesting experience.

Purchased a couple of CDs and decided to take in Spider-Man 3 for the afternoon. Reviews of this film have not been great. Reviews on the wayside, this film sucked for most part. Nowhere near the fantastic standard of its predecessors. There really was too much being covered in this film, the dialogue at times was truly embarrassing, and the storyline at the end regarding The Sandman was cringe worthy and a real let down. On the plus side, the alien substance that becomes the Black Spiderman suit, was the real star as it turned Spidey and Peter Parker (whenever he wore it), into a mean bastard. FINALLY!!! Little Mr Goody Two Shoes gets bad. Loved it. Wanted more.

Quick walk back to the hotel, then off to AT&T Park (don’t you just love corporate ownership) to catch the baseball. Was the first match (in the four match series) between the San Francisco Giants and the New York Mets. I have been wanting to go to a game since getting here last week and missed the series against the Phillies.

Got a great seat (Club Level Infield area) and settled in for the match. Bless my seat number being 9 rather than 7, as prior to the start of the game, someone in the stands above my seat dropped their beer. It crashed down and showered people up to three rows in front of me. Had I been two seats across - I would’ve taken the brunt! Thank you to the guardian angel who looks over me.

The match started slowly and took until the third inning for someone to get a base hit. At the end of the fourth, I thought I was at the soccer as there was still no score. Was quite over it at this point and thought I would try “doing a Suzanne”. This terminology came about when Suzanne and I went to the Australia vs England cricket final in February. Almost every time she sent a text, a wicket fell. When she went to the ladies room, she missed the most spectacular catch (not only of the match, but the entire summer of cricket).

So back to “doing a Suzanne”….I sent Suzanne a text to say how boring it was and that I thought I was at the soccer. Lo and behold, within minutes the Mets ran in the first home run to lead 1-0. Then came the fun and floodgates. San Fran came in to bat and tied the game at 1-1; followed soon after by a homer that brought in a second player - now 3-1.

A few minutes later, a second homer hit (i.e. ball belted out of the playing field, not just a score) and the score to 5-1. Moved on to 6-1 with a few single hits (mind you, San Fran had two of three players out for majority of this period). Finally, the pearler. Players on first and third. Batter up puts another ball out of the field. Crowd erupts yet again. Thanks Suzanne for bringing out yet another stellar performance.

Three homers in a single inning. Nuts. Season ticket holders were remarking about how they had never seen this before during a Giants home game. Atmosphere was really pumped now. So after four scoreless innings, inning five brought in 10 runs and a 9-1 lead to San Fran. The final score ended up at 9-4.

Made match buddies with the folks on either side of me. A shout-out goes out to Lincoln and his mate Dave, who taught me a fair bit about the Giants and their history in the most knowledgeable and excited manner. Lincoln particularly is passionate about the game overall and the Giants - much like I am with tennis, Sampras and Federer. We also talked politics, living in the US, travel and Sydney as Dave (formerly a United flight attendant until he became a father), had been there four times previously.

A great night and a great day overall. Loved it thoroughly. Many times I crave an extra person to share this travel with as two makes it much more fun and way less lonely. Only another few days now before the “real” fun begins when Susan and I hook up again for some more madcap antics - this time on her turf.

Stay tuned for the next bat-chapter, on the same bat-blog. Até Logo amigos.