Monday night was the 144th game of the season for the San Francisco Giants, and at no point this year have I been more curious to see what the vibes would be. The vibes were atrocious through the summer as the Giants inexplicably became the worst team in baseball, seemingly incapable of doing anything well on the diamond. The vibes were impeccable through the end of August and start of September, when they were shockingly the best team in baseball, rattled off 11 wins in 12 games, and emerged on the periphery
of the postseason race behind a historic cascade of dingers.
And then came the weekend. The Giants took a 2-0 lead into the ninth inning on Saturday, but lost. They stumbled on Sunday, not looking sharp in a one-run loss. Paired with some losses by the free-falling New York Mets, and the Giants had a chance against a sub-.500 team to sweep — or at least win their fifth consecutive series — and get into dangerously close territory. Instead, they lost in the type of way that was instantly reminiscent of the Summer We Shall Not Mention.
So I was curious today. It could have gone either way away against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The winning streak vibes could have returned with a vengeance, or the feckless, it-ain’t-happening vibes could dig their heels in even further. I really didn’t know what would happen.
Early returns offered us a glimmer and folks, let me tell you: it was not encouraging. In the bottom of the first, the Giants came up to bat against NL West journeyman Nabil Crismatt, who is attempting the reliever-to-starter transition, and who, while sporting a strong ERA, is not exactly a strikeout artist.
Heliot Ramos struck out. Then Rafael Devers struck out, and looked about as bad doing it as we’ve seen from him since he donned the orange and black. Willy Adames, to his credit, then doubled, but it was all for naught.
And then, the top of the second, which Logan Webb — with all of five walks allowed in his last six starts — opened by issuing a free pass to Gabriel Moreno. After recording two outs, Webb issued a second walk, this time to Alek Thomas.
As he so often does, Webb induced the ground ball he was looking for, as Ildemaro Vargas rolled the ball gently to second base. Christian Koss, getting his weekly start there, kicked it. Plum kicked it, as one occasionally does. And instead of ending the inning, it loaded the bases.
When the vibes were sky high, these things rarely happened. Players rarely deviated from their (positive) norms; control artists like Webb didn’t walk multiple batters in the same inning, while sure-handed glove-first infielders didn’t boot routine ground balls. And on the rare occasion that these sorts of things did happen, the recovery was swift. A seldomly-used rookie makes a potentially game-breaking error? No worries, the All-Star veteran on the mound will make sure it doesn’t hurt.
Just two pitches later, Jake McCarthy hit one where even Gregor Blanco would have been helpless, and when the crime scene cleared, McCarthy was standing on third, and all three baserunners had scored.
Bad vibes. Our question had been answered, I feared. And if that question was answered with a negative response, then we might as well break out the typewriter and write the season obituary tonight. A loss on Monday would not in and of itself end the season. But the return of the dreaded vibes? That most certainly would.
But any credentialed Vibesologist will preach to you the Inverse Vibes Paradox, which states that bad vibes are never as clearly on display as when good vibes are present, and good vibes are never as proudly presented as when bad vibes are around. You want to know if a team really has good vibes? Douse them in some bad vibes like a twisted Nickelodeon slime machine and see what happens.
The Giants, trailing 3-0, needed just three pitches in the bottom of the second to start a rally, with Matt Chapman — the David Hasselhoff of saving drowning vibes — fighting off an 0-2 pitch for a single. Two batters later, and Jung Hoo Lee put forth the type of swing we have rarely seen this side of Pablo Sandoval, doing his best Phil Mickelson impression at a pitch above the dirt.
He flew it to right field where it carried … and carried … and carried some more, offering some early insight into how the park was playing. It carried so far, that it put the wall behind it, and earned Lee a trot around the bases as the score tightened to 3-2.
The vibes were trending in the right direction, but nothing was set. Koss had a redemption single, and the vibes took another step in the right direction. Ramos roped what looked off the bat to be a two-out double, but it was stunningly plucked out of the ether by the villain McCarthy, and the vibes took a leap backwards. And in the top of the third, Webb allowed a no-out single, a one-out single, and a two-out single, laboring through his second inning in a row as the D-Backs added a run to the tally. It was 4-2 and the vibes were scaring you again.
But in the bottom of the third, Devers opened the frame with a walk, and the vibes peaked their heads over the blankets. Two batters later, and Dominic Smith destroyed a baseball and everything it ever stood for.
As long as we’re dissecting vibes, allow me to mention this: one of the best ways to identify the status of a vibe in the wild is by the sensation that accompanies tying a game. Are you filled with hesitation and trepidation, as though you fear the good thing will not be here to stay? Bad vibes. Do you feel as though your team has the lead simply because they tied it, as if by mere virtue of equalizing they’ve been granted an insurmountable advantage? Good vibes.
The latter was the case as Smith had his helmet removed by Drew Gilbert and ducked his way through the homer tunnel. The Giants had tied the game but I kept forgetting that, because it sure felt like they were winning. The Giants looked like they were winning. Just as importantly, the Diamondbacks looked like they were losing.
From there, the teams calmed down and battled it out silently for a handful of innings. Webb, despite needing 31 pitches in the second inning and 24 more in the third, cruised through six innings, allowing just one baserunner in his final three frames. The Giants went down quietly in the fourth and the fifth.
And then came the bottom of the sixth, and with it, three more identifiers of Good Vibes. The first identifier is when a team is able to play the reverse Uno card. They take their own issue that they overcame, and tempt their opponent with it, until it becomes an issue that the other team has, but cannot overcome. The inning began when Chapman chopped a grounder at the defensively delightful Geraldo Perdomo, who committed an error.
The Giants, as you may recall from many paragraphs ago, had experienced their own infield error, and it had been costly. But they had, as you may recall from more recent paragraphs, overcome that obstacle to tie the game. Now the cleat was on the other foot.
Bob Melvin, managing like a team that suddenly has playoff aspirations again, went to his bench, swapping one youngster (Gilbert) out and another youngster (Luis Matos) in against a lefty reliever, Brandyn Garcia.
The correct button was pressed, and Matos drew a walk.
Lee, who (as long as you’re recalling things) you may recall hit a ball over the fence earlier in the game, went the opposite route this time up, dropping down a perfect bunt that was in no way sacrificial. Instead, it loaded the bases with no outs.
The second identifier is revenge. Cold, sweet, finger-lickin’-good revenge. Koss, egg only recently removed from his face, stood in the batter’s box, and stared out at the bases loaded with no outs, and the game tied. There are really only two things that a player who has erred earlier in the game can do in such a situation. They can inject bad vibes into the stadium with a strikeout, a double play, or in very special occasions, even a triple play. Or they can whack a hit so monumental that you’re left with no choice but to acknowledge the goodness of the vibes.
Koss wisely chose the latter, ripping the ball down the first base line to score the go-ahead run and the insurance run, while putting the second insurance run on third base.
Revenge. Vengeance. Justice. Call it whatever you want, but our banned book-reading king ensured that the vibes were good, and good only.
It took one pitch for Patrick Bailey to secure the third run of the inning on a sacrifice fly. It took two more pitches for Ramos to cap a flawless frame with a majestic home run.
The third identifier is when so many good things happen that you can find good luck charms anywhere you look. I only watched the sixth inning with half an eye on the game. My other one-and-a-half eyes were on my phone, where I was FaceTiming my parents, who were celebrating their 52nd wedding anniversary.
San Francisco scored five runs that inning, and before I hung up Matt Chapman had hit a home run in the next inning, and the route was firmly on.
My parents, obviously, are good luck charms. They should celebrate their anniversary more often. Or I should call them more often.
And when you find yourself connecting the success of a team hundreds of miles away to your own personal life, that’s when you’re left with only one conclusion to make: the vibes are, unquestionably and exquisitely, good.
From there it was fun times and smooth sailing. Patrirck Bailey launched an eighth-inning home run, the fifth of the day for the Giants and their third off of former teammate Anthony DeSclafani.
Joey Lucchesi pitched a clean seventh and Tristan Beck handled the final two frames, ceding a dinger to Moreno but only when it didn’t matter.
The Giants won 11-5. The Mets lost, though the Dodgers and Padres won. And the good vibes returned. Oh, did the good vibes return.
