The Popcorn Stand: You have to be a giant fan to be a Giant fan

The San Francisco Giants were 27-46 heading into Wednesday’s baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, so to say it has been a trying year for this Giants fan would be an understatement. Even my friends who are Los Angeles Dodger fans don’t have fun any more making fun of the Giants because they’re so bad. Dodger fans now have about as much fun making fun of the Giants as they do making fun of the Florida Marlins.

But I remain an eternal optimist. For much of the first half of the season I’ve been saying “if the Giants get to .500 by the All-Star break” they can still get back in the playoff race. I’m now saying “if the Giants get to .500 by Labor Day and then get on a hot streak where they win like 28 out of 30 in September, who knows.”

I’ve also been quoting the Cleveland Indians manager in “Major League II” a lot when he says, “I’ve got a feeling things are going to turn around for us.” I first made that statement early in the season when I thought the Giants were going to make a major comeback for a win. They didn’t.

I made that statement for about the 10th time on Sunday when Hunter Pence hit a two-run home run and Brandon Crawford hit an RBI double to give the Giants a 5-3 lead in the ninth inning against the Colorado Rockies. Only to watch Mark Melancon give up four runs and the game in the bottom of the ninth.

For the 11th time I said “I’ve got a feeling things are going to turn around for us” on Tuesday when the Giants scored five runs in the eighth to take a 5-2 lead against the Braves. Only to see the Giants bullpen once again look like they were going to have another meltdown.

I was ready to write the headline “Giants bullpen fails against fill in the blank” again, but fortunately the Giants won to break a 7-game losing streak. So now I’ve really “got a feeling things are going to turn around for us.”

And when the opposing team gets a hit I always say “nobody hurt, nobody hurt.” After about the 12th hit and the Giants have fallen behind 8-1 I’m still saying “nobody hurt, nobody hurt.”

This season, it’s all part of being a Giants fan.

— Charles Whisnand