Palo Alto High School students express their excitement for the San Francisco Giants’ third World Series win in five years by attending the rain-soaked streets of San Francisco for a parade on Friday.
“It was just magical the way everything came together to get them into the World Series,” said junior Nikhil Rajaram, who was not able to attend the parade. “It’s just great to be able to grow up in a time where we have as great a local baseball team as we do.”
The parade that began on Market Street and ended at the Civic Center celebrated the Giants’ season and their championship. In the victory game on Thursday, which was led by the pitcher and World Series Most Valuable Player Madison Bumgarner, the Giants took Game seven of the 2014 World Series on the road against the Kansas City Royals by a score of 3-2.
The Giants now have established what many consider a dynasty: three World Series wins in five seasons: 2010, 2012 and 2014. Although he did not attend the parade, senior Galen Byrd is excited about the Giants being able to win so many World Series championships in such a small period of time.
“It is just exciting to be watching history unfold in front of our eyes,” Byrd said. “I think a lot of kids don’t understand how rare it is to win a championship in any major league sport, so to have won three in five years is just crazy.”
Senior Priscilla Bell, a passionate Giants fan, attended the rainy and confetti-filled parade in 2010, 2012 and 2014.
“There were so many people, and we all kept cheering,” Bell said. “All the players were on top of double-decked buses and waving.”
Despite the rain, Bell managed to have a great time.
“It [the parade] was just about embracing being there and [being] around everyone else who is a massive Giants fan, and [I was] so happy to be there,” Bell said.
The parade celebrated the legendary game that had Tim Hudson as the starting pitcher, the oldest pitcher ever to start a Game seven in the World Series. He ran into trouble in the second inning after an RBI [runs batted in] double and a sacrifice fly. This forced manager Bruce Bochy to bring in left-handed reliever Jeremy Affeldt to take his place. Affeldt responded by pitching 2.1 scoreless innings of relief, setting the stage for Bumgarner in the fifth inning with the Giants leading 3-2.
Bumgarner was named the MVP of the series after setting an Major League Baseball record for most innings pitched in a single postseason. His relief appearance in Game seven, five shutout innings, came just three days after he threw 117 pitches while throwing a complete-game shutout in Game 5 on Sunday.
“I’ve been a Giants fan since I can remember, and it’s always nice to see a Bay Area team win something so amazing,” junior Maddy Atwater said.