Bay Bridge Series Returns to San Francisco

Posted on June 11, 2010

Omar Vizquel of the San Francisco Giants is taken out at second base by Oakland Athletics base runner Kurt Suzuki during the game at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California on June 15, 2008. The Athletics defeated the Giants 5-3. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

 

Oh boy, the 2010 Bay Bridge Series continues tonight in San Francisco, and the Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants just hate each other. Actually, the players on both sides don’t give a shit. But the fans seem to enjoy the six games the two teams have played against each other every year since interleague play began in 1997. As a Giants fan this series always scares me because the A’s always seem to kick the Giants ass, and this year has been no different as the A’s swept the Giants in Oakland a few weeks ago.

The A’s have a 42-35 edge in the overall series, and I am shocked that it is that close. It seems like the A’s smoke the Giants every year. The A’s fans love nothing more than to beat the Giants, especially back in the day when the Giants were so easy to hate when Barry Bonds patrolled left field for the orange and black. The A’s have always been the bastard step child of the Bay Area, like the Mets are in New York and the White Sox are in Chicago. The A’s fans have a chip on their shoulder, and the hardcore A’s fans are good at invading the Giants home ballpark with their banners and drums in the bleachers. The Giants have more fans, but they tend to be more casual and boring compared to the A’s fans, and this is one of the things that makes this series so interesting.

I have attended many Bay Bridge Series games in San Francisco, both as a fan and as a photographer. I will be going tonight as a fan to sit in my season ticket box seats with Eric Olson, my catcher from Little League. Eric has always been a huge A’s fan, going back to the days when he caught me pitching for the Orioles at Fremont’s Mattos Elementary School in 1976. Eric has hung with his team through good times and bad as his job and personal life has taken him all over the world. Now he is back living in the Bay Area with his family and able to attend many A’s games in person. I am so excited to be going with him tonight, but I will be nervous about his team winning again. They always seem to beat the Giants!

After being a fan tonight I will be shooting the beginning of tomorrow night’s 6:05 game to shoot the pretty light before it disappears. Barry Zito will be starting for the Giants and the A’s usually knock the crap put of him. He is due to pitch well against his former team for the first time since he came to the Giants in 2007. Or he will give up 8 runs.

I will be happy if the Giants can win two out of three games this weekend. Anything would be better than the sweep they lost to the A’s last month at the Coliseum. It all starts tonight on Orange Friday at the ballpark. The Giants are 4-0 wearing their new orange jerseys on Friday nights. I hope they make it 5-0 behind Tim Lincecum tonight. One final thing. If I see ANYONE wearing one of those ridiculous A’s / Giants split hats this weekend I will snatch it off their head and set it on fire.