You wouldn’t know it from his boring and baritone sound bites,
but Bruce Bochy is one deviously funny prankster. The Giants’
manager called individual players into his office this spring, and
after demanding their secrecy, he showed them owner Bill Neukom’s
prototype for their World Series ring.
SAN JOSE
You wouldn’t know it from his boring and baritone sound bites, but Bruce Bochy is one deviously funny prankster.
The Giants’ manager called individual players into his office this spring, and after demanding their secrecy, he showed them owner Bill Neukom’s prototype for their World Series ring.
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The reactions ranged from “Ohhh, that’s nice!” to “If that’s the ring, I quit!”
Bochy guffawed as he revealed the gag. It was an inexpensive Dominican Summer League ring — a level played by teenage prospects.
Giants players and coaches receive the real bling on Saturday. They’ll raise the first World Series banner in San Francisco Giants history in what should be a powerful ceremony before Friday’s home opener.
They can’t wait to hear that familiar ringing in their ears, too.
“That’s our family,” closer Brian Wilson said. “Opening day isn’t for me. It isn’t for the Giants. It’s for the entire community because we came together last year as a city. We won it together.
“There’s no way you can go out and win a ballgame without that kind of support — the rally towels, people going nuts. What a run we went on.”
Yes, it was quite a run. But Bochy is managing a 2-4 club with aspirations to win another NL West title. So he plans to meet with small groups of players before Friday’s game with the St. Louis Cardinals and repeat the message he sent in the first full-squad workout in February.
“We have to enjoy the moment,” Bochy said. “At the same time, you have to put your game faces on. These games are important, too, and we need to play well.”
The Giants have played extremely well at AT&T Park over the past two seasons, posting a 101-61 record. Among NL clubs, only the Colorado Rockies (103) and Atlanta Braves (102) have won more home games over that span.
It stands to reason the Giants will enjoy a greater home-field advantage than ever, now that all 27,700 season-ticket packages have sold out and they’ll play in front of tingling, teeming crowds every day.
“Oh, I think so,” general manager Brian Sabean said. “All down the stretch and during the postseason, it was a big boost. This isn’t an easy schedule, whether it’s the game times or hopscotching to one city or another. You don’t know when or how fatigue will set in. You’re going to need that boost.”
Just one week into the season, the Giants already were longing for that jolt of energy. They must play 22 of their first 31 games on the road, and their opening trip to Los Angeles and San Diego didn’t go as crisply as they hoped.
“We need this,” second baseman Freddy Sanchez said. “We need to get back home. Let’s face it: We haven’t played good baseball. It’s never easy and we’ve faced some good pitching here, but we’ve been flat in every aspect.
“I can’t wait. We’ve had two opening days, but the best one is coming up. That’s when it’ll really sink in, what we did, when we get the ring. That moment right there is what you play for.
“The atmosphere at home is unbelievable, and if we play the way we’re capable, it’s going to last all year.”
Said right-hander Matt Cain, who will start Saturday: “It’ll be just like the parade, but in the ballpark.”
The Giants will wear special, glittering uniforms for the ring ceremony, befitting their status as champions.
The hoopla won’t end with Saturday’s ring ceremony. Buster Posey will receive his NL Rookie of the Year award — the first by a Giant since 1975 — in a pre-game ceremony on Sunday. Then after the Cardinals leave town, it’ll be time to welcome postseason hero Juan Uribe and the Los Angeles Dodgers for a rivalry-fueled series.
It’s going to be a tough ticket. And that makes Wilson smile all the broader, conjuring a memory from 2009 when he was walking his miniature pinscher, Dubz, in the Marina and a Giants fan confronted him.
“He said he was so disappointed in us that he stopped his season tickets,” Wilson said. “I said, ‘I’m sorry you feel that way, but you might have just made the biggest mistake ever. Because we’ve got a nasty team.’
“I just remember laughing. Dubz was laughing. Yes, he is a dog that smirks.”
Laughter, tears, goose bumps — the Giants are bracing for all of it. They clinched all three of their postseason series on the road, and they frolicked on an infield in Texas when they became World Series champions.
“Now we’re coming home,” Wilson said. “We’re out there being presented to the world as the last team standing. It’s the moment you play baseball for.”
— Story by Andrew Baggarly, San Jose Mercury News
