Leslie comes to a Giants game, she says, about once every ten years. She has been to the park more often than that, though, having been her occasionally for other reasons. This time, she is expecting some things she’s not going to get – when I posted looking for someone to take the ticket (I had a couple of last-minute cancellations this week), I mentioned that there was going to be a special season-ticket-holders’ party in with food and drinks in Triples Alley, and also that it was Filipino Heritage Night, which arrived in Leslie’s head as “There will be a special party with Filipino food!” There is no Filipino food to be had here, nor any vegan food, which she says she mostly eats. We have hot dogs, cookies, and popcorn in Triples Alley today, so accommodations are going to have to be made. There’s the Garden restaurant in center, there’s the lumpia place near 119, and a few other places, but ballparks in general are not really outposts of vegan culture.

At one point early on, Leslie asks me why I love baseball so much; it’s a topic I’ve talked a lot about, although to be fair, that is rarely because anyone asked me. It’s a subject that is easy to wander into for me, even when I’m not planning on it, which is about half the time. The short answer is that I think baseball has the best stories of any major sport, or at least any of the ones we play here. I do not give Leslie the short answer, though, and after three or four minutes of talking about why I think baseball has the best stories, when I have skidded to a halt, she says “So…where are you moving to?” which is as clear an indication as any I’ve ever had that that was not a productive conversational stub.

Fortunately, after we have left the Triples Alley party and gotten up to my seats, after a trip around the park (during which it becomes clear that Leslie is very soon going to be done walking around), there is a baseball game. Even more fortunately, Jeff, Erin and Angela, who are animated and interesting in a non-baseball-centric kind of way. You may remember Jeff from his turn as guest writer on August 11, and from a couple of other visits. He is the Jeff whose podcast I hope to end up on.

Their arrival is fortunate in a few different ways: for one, Leslie strikes an immediate bond with Erin about something I didn’t catch, and also, Angela agrees to come to a game with me in late September, which reduces the number of games I have still to give away to a mere five (assuming the Giants don’t end up in the postseason). Things are going great for both of us now, given that Leslie has just found out that there is cheese pizza to be had. The pizza here is good, although I think the cheese pizza is probably the least appetizing of the available kinds. While Leslie is getting what turns out to be a slice of cheese-and-wooden-splinter pizza (a topping which reduces her enjoyment of it only by a very small fraction) I run up to 334 to get the Filipino Heritage T-shirt, which looks pretty cool.

Leslie has a lot of good questions about the game, some of which are worth the long answer and some are not – I would be happy to explain every nuance I know, but I can tell that the details of why you might bunt with a runner on second and no outs, a runner on first with one out, or not bunt at all with two outs, are not necessary, while talking about what the base coaches do is fun and interesting. Another fun thing to talk about is all the rookies – Bailey, Schmitt, Meckler, Matos, and now Harrison – and how the farm system works. Harrison’s start tonight is a memorable one – eleven strikeouts in just over six innings, which performance is matched by enough decent hitting that we come away with a win, and not a cheap one.

We spend the last couple of innings in the 415, listening to a drunk guy hoarsely shouting what he thinks is smart baseball talk at an inch of Lexan. There i some conversation amongst ourselves, too, but the drunk guy keeps rearing his head. At the end, when Meckler puts away a fly ball to center for the last out, the guy tries to high-five everyone in the 415, and when he gets to me, I am so annoyed by his last half hour that I don’t even respond, and he says “Bro! Nothing for me?” and I say “Nope,” and he says “Why not?” and I say “Because you’re an obnoxious drunk and I don’t want to high five you,” about which I immediately feel petty and terrible. Now, hours later, I still feel petty and terrible, but also resentful that I feel petty and terrible. It’s a complicated world.

What Did You Think of the Evening, Leslie?

“I actually just really enjoyed myself which I didn’t think I would because I don’t really know or like baseball. I enjoyed your narrative Justin, because it was really helpful for me in understanding the game. I really enjoyed the people that I met, and it felt more like being in community than I could have imagined. I surprised myself by staying till the end of the game, and I didn’t even know it ended. I would say that’s a win.“

• 1 October: Farewells and Almosts
• 30 September: For the Love of God, Max Muncy
• 29 September: Flower Mary Child Lavender Blossom
• 27 September: Junk Time
• 26 September: Mathematically