If Bob Melvin and the Giants were allowed to sit down this past Friday morning and map out exactly how they’d like this weekend to go around the National League West, it would have looked exactly like how the results actually played out. The Giants, of course, swept the Oaklamento Athletics at Oracle Park. The Padres were shockingly swept at home by the Mariners, while the Dodgers were more shockingly swept by the Angels at Dodger Stadium. Four games out of a first place spot on Friday, the Giants woke up Monday morning just a game back.
It was a memorable weekend at 3rd & King for many reasons. First and foremost, it was the first series played between the Giants and an A’s team not based in Oakland in decades. Emotions of spurned A’s fans were palpable. And the host Giants’ interesting efforts to beckon them into an awkward, sympathetic side hug with signage and Oakland based guests created a weird vibe. This unique NorCal partnership, however brief it may be, will take some getting used to.
On the field, it was all about Wilmer Flores. On Friday night, the Giants’ most clutch hitter hit not one, not two, but THREE home runs in a 9-1 trouncing of the A’s. He became the first Giants right handed hitter to pull off the feat at Oracle Park, and the first righty overall since Kevin Mitchell.
Here’s how all three of his bombs sounded on KNBR:
And we can’t leave you without Jon Miller’s sweet serenade on KNBR when Flores hit a historic third bomb.
Despite the heroics on the field, Flores’s most impactful moment of the night may have come in the postgame. He was reminded by a reporter that the A’s aren’t based in Oakland. Flores corrected himself to some chuckles, then turned and seemed to reject the notion that the iconic East Bay ballclub is anything but Oakland.
Flores was the hero again on Saturday, but in much different fashion. He took a heroic at bat in the bottom of the 10th inning, with the A’s and Giants knotted in a 0-0 tie. A’s manager Mark Kotsay quizzically elected to intentionally walk Mike Yastrzemski to load the bases. Hard-throwing all star closer Mason Miller then gave Flores all he could handle. But in the end, it was the disciplined eye of the 10-year veteran that won out. Flores watched a 103 mph fastball low for ball four, forcing in the winning run and giving the Giants yet another walkoff win.
It was a weekend of Wilmer, but above all else, it was flat out weird for these two franchises to be facing off in anything other than the battle of the bay.