Way to Go Giants!

The Giants will be in the World Series for the 4th time since they came West in 1958. This has been the most unexpected and improbable of the lot. The other pennant winners were built around major stars. Willie Mays. Willie McCovey. Orlando Cepeda. Juan Marichal. Will Clark. Barry Bonds. Jeff Kent. All save Clark(who during his Giant days seemed headed to be one) are either Hall of Famers or destined to be. What this team has is pitching pitching pitching. They go 5 deep in their starting rotation. Have a super lefthanded specialist in Javier Lopez. The game's best closer in Brian Wilson. Never has a San Francisco Giants team had this kind of pitching. They might have gone 2 deep with Marichal and Gaylord Perry. But they in the '60's came up short several times to a Dodger team that was 4 deep in their starting rotation. So good pitching can dominate good hitting. Especially in a short series. So I like our chances. Actually I've had to throw out everything I thought I knew about baseball in following this current bunch. No one star among the regulars on field. Aubrey Huff. Juan Uribe. Of course Cody Ross(NLCS Most Valuable Player).In terms of a star for the future we are looking only at Buster Posey.

It is resilient and relentless. Time and again during the regular season and even during this year's playoffs I have given up on them. And time and time again they have proven me wrong. It is not surprising that last night's clinching victory was a one run affair. That it was decided by an unexpected lightening bolt off the bat of an unexpected hero(Juan Uribe). And that Brian Wilson made things once again all too interesting in the bottom of the ninth. But for all that torture, there was the sense that when they took the lead they would win. And the drama of that looking called third strike to end the game. Ryan Howard is this era's Bonds. What froze him so that Wilson's cutter sneaked past him on the corner? Was it a gift call from the umpire? Yet winning teams get the breaks and capitalize on the other team's mistakes. So I am in unexpected territory now. Bring on the Rangers.

In the Aikido classes we have been stressing that the "I" is not the overseer or controller. It simply goes along for the ride. As Giants fans we can attest to the fact that it has been quite a ride. If this is a train ride it has been a fun ride with some awesome scenery and there have been a couple of dark dark tunnels. But the dark has always been followed by a return to the light. And through both light and dark it has been a wonderous ride. Don Juan told Casteneda that the supreme achievement for a warrior is to balance the terror of being alive with the wonder of being alive. So for the chance to simply breathlessly follow the Giants on this magical run , thank you.

We have our annual Frite Nite Halloween Party Friday October 29th. I've put together a collage of pictures of memorable people and costumes from the past. And the background music is "Line for Lyons", a jazz standard written by Gerry Mulligan.