Pablo Sandoval made Oracle Park care on a Sept. 1, when the Giants’ season doesn’t matter anymore.
Pablo Sandoval made the Giants’ locker room a special one on a day that featured another loss.
Pablo Sandoval made one more memory, perhaps for a final time.
After the Panda’s seventh-inning at-bat, which featured neither a strikeout nor his right arm detaching itself from the rest of his body — making it a full-blown success — his manager and teammates remembered him, as he heads to Los Angeles for Tommy John surgery and into a future that may not involve the Giants and may not involve Major League Baseball, depending on how the 33-year-old recovers.
“Great player. Great teammate. A winner,” were the simple, if effective, words from Madison Bumgarner. “I’ve enjoyed all the time that I’ve had with him. Hopefully it’s not over.”
Jeff Samardzija, too, spoke as if he wants to see the to-be free agent in San Francisco again.
“Everything he’s done for this organization is unbelievable — how clutch he’s been,” Samardzija said after starting the Giants’ 8-4 loss to the Padres on Sunday. “Just the personality he’s been, that keeps a baseball season going and makes you excited to come here every day. Pablo’s a top-notch guy, great teammate, wish the best for him in the future. Maybe we’ll bring him back.”
The fans saluted Sandoval before he even stepped to the plate, erupting once he left the dugout with his helmet on. He did not provide the home run moment that seems appropriate for his tenure with the Giants, but he was content with his ground out to shortstop — “at least I didn’t strike out.”
His lockermate this season has been Kevin Pillar, who revealed Sandoval requested to share that space with him. It meant something to Pillar, too, just another one in San Francisco whom Sandoval touched — and another Giant who wants to see him return.
“Hopefully [Sandoval gets] an opportunity to come into spring training with someone and [gets] an opportunity to make a team,” Pillar said. “Hopefully it’s this team. If it’s not, I’ve made a friend in this game.”
Sandoval is usually the one trying to find the bright side; trying to pick teammates up. The roles were reversed.
“You got nothing to be disappointed about,” Pillar told Sandoval after the bounce-out. “That was an amazing moment. Something hopefully he’ll cherish for a long time. But I know how much hard work he’s put in behind the scenes since getting that diagnosis to put himself in a position where he felt comfortable going up there.”
“Comfortable” being a relative term for a player who couldn’t bat righty, who said his elbow hurt daily. After the moment was through, he jogged back to the dugout, where his manager of nine seasons was waiting for him.
“It’s been a joy,” Bruce Bochy told one of his all-time favorites.
Sandoval did it for Bochy, for the team, for the fans. The fans were here for Sandoval.
“I think he saw how much he’s loved here with the crowd,” Bochy said. “What a great ovation they gave him.”
Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports
