Kurtenbach: SF Giants baseball is torture again. Bring it on

SAN FRANCISCO You can t say Giants outfielder Mike Yastrzemski doesn t know his squad Before the Giants home opener on Friday I questioned him to define what Giants baseball is Hard-nosed baseball Yaztremski commented We play until the very end You can see it in this clubhouse where every guy cares about winning more than they care about themselves And so long as we do that the results will speak for themselves It was the kind of comment that challenged me not to roll my eyes I read it as early-season ballpark bloviation the empty platitudes that every club spews in March and April when anything could theoretically happen in a season But Yaz is a soothsayer The first six games of the Giants campaign certainly fit his description But clearly the Giants were saving the really good stuff for Friday s debut at Oracle Park a -minute extra-innings affair that featured four ties six lead changes a near-game-losing wild pitch and a walk-off two-run single Yes it s early but Giants baseball is truly torturous again Related Articles Kurtenbach Can you trust the SF Giants red-hot start There s only one way to measure SF Giants success in Kurtenbach I just might believe in the SF Giants this year SF Giants Jung Hoo Lee shows off power again by homering in win over White Sox Photos SF Giants FanFest swings down to San Jose And while we all catch our breath and pour ourselves a drink to get over whatever that -inning contest was let s all admit that exhausting laborious and downright nervy is a key upgrade over boring a characteristic latest Giants teams have boasted in spades For a not-quite-sold-out crowd enjoying the first challenge of Oracle Park s th season Friday s match was one to both lament and remember It certainly wasn t an afternoon to forget The Giants celebrated a quarter-century at the corner of King and Third Friday bringing specific of the National League West winners onto the field NL MVP Jeff Kent was conspicuously absent maybe he was cleaning his truck for good measure I still call it the new ballpark manager Bob Melvin noted of Oracle Park It still feels like a new ballpark This place Baltimore they re special places He s not wrong Is there a better place to watch a baseball meeting on the planet particularly on a sunny -degree day like Friday in the city No sir And you can t convince otherwise even if a four-hour baseball match might violate protocols in the Geneva Conventions But while the day was Chamber-of-Commerce perfect and the outcome was too the Giants play on the diamond was anything but Justin Verlander mustered only seven outs in his first Oracle Park start as a Giant The -year-old s four-seam fastball his bugaboo on which opponents hit against was ineffective against a Seattle unit that sat on it It left the Giants to use seven relievers two of whom Lou Trivino and Camilo Doval were hit with blown saves in the box figure Yes two blown saves As I noted it was a wild competition And the Giants were -for- with runners in scoring position before Willy Adames playing his first home encounter as a Giant drove home two in the bottom of the th inning with second baseman Tyler Fitzgerald blowing through third-base coach Matt Williams stop sign to amount the winning run Fitzgerald s baserunning truculence will be remembered and appreciated for years to come Related Articles On Oracle Park s th birthday SF Giants ring in new era in multiple methods Adames hits walk-off in home debut as SF Giants extend winning streak The Giants are celebrating the th anniversary of their downtown waterfront ballpark here are memories starting the day it opened Buster Posey leapt to SF Giants president unlike any legend before Can he make more memories Kurtenbach Can you trust the SF Giants red-hot start The fans went home happy exhausted and seemingly sunburned Take it from someone whose kids are half-Scottish you need to reapply every two hours folks And likely much to the chagrin of commissioner of baseball Rob Manfred who given what s happening with the A s in West Sacramento is clearly on vacation in a place without access to MLB TV wait that s bulk places these days it was a full fulfilling day at the ballpark Was it torture a brand of Machiavellian baseball only the Giants seem to play Absolutely But a win is a win That s five in a row for the Giants in fact More importantly it s the first true memory of the season And as you might have heard making memories is this club s real business