Rewind: Giants, Ishikawa suspend belief in pennant-clinching victory

SAN FRANCISCO – When it comes to walk-off, wet-eyed, ear splitting, mad dashing, euphoria inducing, history making and, oh yes, pennant-clinching home runs, you are obligated to begin at the end.

So, then, it would have counted the same no matter who touched a baseball up into the stars, through immortality and on to a World Series Thursday night. The fact it was Travis Ishikawa, who came home when he least expected it this summer, who gave serious thought to retirement in April and who truly inspires sentences that begin with “It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy…” elevated this Shot Heard by a new generation of Giants fans into an even more monumental happening at Third and King.

The Giants did more than win a baseball game. They did more, even, than claim an NL-record 20th pennant. They gave the city a moment it could wrap its arms around. They inspired a 43,000-strong group hug. They set car horns blaring hours after Ishikawa’s three-run home run clanked the green roof of the right field arcade in the bottom of the ninth, a closing crescendo to an unforgettable, 6-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series.

They suspended belief and stopped hearts, and isn’t that what made this so much fun in 2010 and ’12?

http://www.csnbayarea.com/giants/rewind-giants-ishikawa-suspend-belief-pennant-clinching-victory