30 Innings of Misery

As Kattobase Barnetto so eloquently chronicled, waiting out an extra inning loss is one of the most frustrating experiences a fan can have. However, Kattobase had an even more frustrating experience in 2001, when he worked as an intern at Pac Bell Park. At the end of May, he got to experience two consecutive extra-inning losses to the Diamondbacks. The first game went twelve innings, and the second lasted eighteen. In those thirty innings, the Giants scored one single run.

Kattobase was stuck at the stadium for the duration, while I watched all thirty innings from the couch. I was with him in spirit, though my corporeal body spent time checking email, drinking beer, and speculating as to Kattobase's mental state when he returned home. If the Giants won, it was an epic classic. If they lost, it was the worst cock tease of Kattobase's sports fan existence.

Henry Schulman called it, "one of the greatest games in San Francisco Giants history" and "certainly one of the most maddening." Armando Rios said, "It's like someone who swims all the way from the ocean, swimming and swimming and swimming, then gets to the shore and dies."

Marvin Benard went 0-for-9. Armando Rios was 1-for-13, with four strikeouts. When h wasn't getting walked, Barry Bonds was 0-for-9. Only Rich Aurilia acquitted himself well at the plate, reaching base in half of his plate appearances.

Here's how the misery went down:

First game

6th inning: The Giants turn three singles into zero runs.

10th: Felipe Crespo ties the game with the first-ever, non-Bonds home run into McCovey Cove. Russ Davis strikes out with runners on second and third.

12th: Mark Grace homers into the cove. Zerbe gets out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam with no one else scoring. Giants lose.

Second game

1st inning: Marvin Benard gets picked off first base, but advances to third on a wild throw. He then tries to score on a not-so-wild pitch, and is tagged out easily.

3rd: Aurilia doubles, Bonds gets walked intentionally, and Kent flies out.

8th: With a man on second, Bonds is walked intentionally ahead of Kent, who strikes out.

11th: With runners on first and second, Armando Rios strikes out while Aurilia is thrown out trying to steal third.

13th: Aurilia walks, and when the Diamondbacks shift their infielders, Bonds hits into a 6-5-3 double play.

14th: With two men on, Martinez lines into a double play.

17th: Rios doubles, and Santiago sacrifices him to third. After an intentional walk, Rios is thrown out at home on a grounder to first.

18th: Ryan Vogelsong gives up the first run of the game in the top of the inning. Having exhausted their bullpen in the previous thirty innings, the Giants let Vogelsong hit for himself. He responded with a double, his first major league hit. The Giants eventually loaded the bases with one out, but Sonny Jackson, the worst third base coach in history, decided not to send Vogelsong on a potential game-tying sacrifice fly to center.

Postscript: Russ Davis was released three weeks later. Rios and Vogelsong were traded for Jason Schmidt two months later. Kattobase did some anguished drinking once he got home, but returned to work the very next night, when the Giants lost by one run once again.