Last night Jonathan Sanchez pitched a no-hitter, the least likely member of the Giants' pitching staff to do so. This was the first no-hitter by a Giant's pitcher since John Montefusco in 1976, the first at home since Ed Halicki in 1975 and the first by a Giant's left-hander since Carl Hubbell in 1929! The 33 years since the last Giants no-hitter was the longest streak going, not counting the New York Mets and (sorry, Tom) the San Diego Padres, neither which has pitched a no-hitter yet. The Padres were no-hit by Tim Lincecum for 6 + innings the night before. Wow, how would you like to be a Padres fan today?
I remember a game Tom and I attended at Candlestick Park back in the 1980s when Scott Garrelts of the Giants threw 8 2/3 no-hit innings only to give up a hit to Paul O'Neill of the Reds in the ninth inning. We were sitting in the upper deck and were out of our seats the minute the ball hit the ground trying to beat the crowd out to the parking lot. Getting out of the 'Stick in those days was very tough to do if you insisted on waiting until the end of the game.
Other interesting baseball moments I recall in person include:
Mark McGwire taking batting practice at Candlestick around the time he was making his run at 70 homers - out of 25 pitches he saw during his session he hit 15 or 16 over the fence in left ...
Will Clark driving a double down the line in right, driving in his 5th, 6th and 7th runs of the game in the bottom of the ninth to beat (ugh, sorry again, TW) the Padres ... the 13 runs scored in one inning in San Diego by SF ... catching a batting practice homer in the left field stands in San Diego ... watching a fan sitting a couple of rows in front of us in Cincinnati completely misjudge a foul ball and see the ball hit him flush in the eye socket ... the tough-looking tattooed biker dude in San Diego, who after spending almost three full innings heckling Willie McGee, began to sob softly (real tears!) after someone sitting around him complained to an usher who told him to knock it off.
One thing I haven't yet experienced at a baseball game is catch a foul ball. I have been to
almost 100 games and never even had a foul come close enough to touch. The closest I have come was a game at AT&T a few years back when I was sitting in a lower box behind the first base dugout about half way up the section. A foul ball came back over my head towards the upper deck where it appeared to get ready to bounce off of the scoreboard. I had read the angle and thought this was going to be it - the one! Except the ball stuck in one of the light sockets that make up the old-style scoreboards! The socket was barely big enough to fit a ball into - and yet there it was ... it never came out.
