Fans chant ‘Beat LA.’ Somehow Giants did

The Dodgers are the better team. They have to be. With all that high-price talent, the MVPs, the Cy Young Award winners, the seemingly endless streak of division championships

 But the Giants have the better record.  Against the rest of baseball. Against  L.A. Or at least that’s how it stood before Monday, when each team was to play an afternoon game on Labor Day, the traditional end of summer but also the traditional start of panic time.

 It was a telling weekend for the Giants, who in taking two of three from the Dodgers, including a somewhat nerve-wracking, 6-2 ,win Sunday evening in an ESPN special, showed they are more than merely the sum of their parts.

  This was what we had waited for in the town called Frisco—apologies, Herb Caen-- a roaring, dramatic matchup in spectacular weather and with historical tension.

  When someone said rivalry, this is what they meant, two clubs who have been going at it for decades, from one end of America  to the other.

  The glamour, wealth and—yes, arrogance—of Hollywood against the schizophrenia of Nor Cal. In L.A. the Giants are just another team. In the Bay Area, the Dodgers are an obsession, the enemy.

  The chant in Francisco isn’t “Go Giants” Rather it’s a rhythmic “Beat L.A.”

  And twice in three games that were packed with great hitting, erratic fielding—and every time Max Muncy or Justin Turner or Will Smith came to bat deep breaths—the Giants did just that,  beat L.A.

 One way or another now, the Giants will get to the post-season, if they retain the slim edge over the Dodgers as division champs; if not as a wild card.

 But beating L.A., the World Series champs and still right to this very moment the betting favorite to repeat, was an emotional triumph as well as an actual one.

  Maybe the Dodgers didn’t think so, but the Giants did. Look at Sunday’s pitchers. The Dodgers started Walker Buehler, who may win the National League Cy Young Award. The Giants tried almost everybody who could throw a baseball.

 It was a mismatch.  It was a surprise. It was baseball.

  Was it Yogi Berra who once said, “In baseball  you don’t know nothing”? The grammar isn’t as important as the message.

 The Giants, who were to play at Denver, Monday, where their one-game lead may be stolen, were as enthralled with the series against the Dodgers as their fans at Oracle Park.

  “This is what we’re used to over the years.,” said All-Star shortstop Brandon Crawford, “winning and big crowds. “

  And turning what had been a laughter—the Giants were ahead, 6-2 going into the top of the ninth—into an all-too-typical hang on victory.  

  Albert Pujols hit a two-run homer, the next batter singled and, well, the Giants survived.

  “I thought it was appropriate,” said Giants manager Gabe Kapler, able to speak freely after the final out. “Baseball is theater. These fans (some 40,000-of them) appreciate an exciting moment.”

  What they don’t appreciate is blowing a game.

But with good old, (relatively speaking) Brandon Belt homering,  Steven Duggar tripling and Crawford and LaMonte Wade Jr. getting doubles, they didn’t lose.
  Now the rest of the season.

 “Looking at things on paper, you know you have your work cut out for you,” said Kapler

   “Getting through this game and seeing we’re tough enough to manage a situation like that (numerous pitchers) will give us confidence — not just for the next time we play the Dodgers, whenever that time comes, but also for the Colorado and Chicago series coming up.”

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