Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports
It ended with ceremony. It ended with a packed Oracle Park saluting his every move. It ended with pitching changes, with notable pinch-hitters, with faces from the Giants future peering into faces from the Giants past, with Tim Lincecum and Brian Wilson reappearing, with Willie Mays on the scoreboard, with Clayton Kershaw on the mound.
Perhaps most fittingly, it ended with a final umpire confrontation, LA catcher Will Smith saying he got hit in the foot by a Sam Selman pitch in the third and Bruce Bochy striding out to ensure his pitcher is defended. The crowd started chanting his name, and perhaps the only shame was Bochy did not go out through an ejection.
In the end, it ended. Bochy managed a baseball game, No. 162 for 2019, No. 4,032 for the manager’s MLB career. If he is to be believed, that career is now over after the Giants’ 9-0 loss to the Dodgers on Sunday at Oracle Park, a game that was less competition than ceremony, a platform for goodbye.
And a sellout, 41,909 crowd showed up to see how special that goodbye would be.
There were moments from the start, the game’s most important pitch coming immediately. Once again Bochy gave the ball to his son, with Brett Bochy throwing the ceremonial first pitch and the old man, appropriately wearing sunglasses to hide his eyes, being his catcher.
“I think the kids are saying to you, can you stay another year,” Willie Mays said in a recorded message between innings. “That means, if you have another year, you’re going to have to stay two or three years. So I say to you, Boch: Enjoy your retirement as well as you can.”
Bochy’s farewell comes with an asterisk, as it’s always so difficult for a baseball lifer to actually detach himself from the game. Already there are whispers about the Padres’ job, about whether this retirement will take.
Madison Bumgarner’s farewell comes with an asterisk because neither the Giants (77-85) nor their longtime ace knows what’s next. He’s a free agent in an era when the Giants no longer are run by loyalty alone. He was supposed to be the star of Bochy’s goodbye before the Giants decided to rest him. In Bochy’s last gift to Bumgarner, he gave him a more moment. Once more, he tried to upstage Kershaw and the Dodgers.
Madison Bumgarner just came in to pinch hit against Clayton Kershaw in what might be his final appearance in a #SFGiants uniform.
He took a moment to address the crowd and received a huge standing ovation. pic.twitter.com/ufWGTrro8O
— KNBR (@KNBR) September 29, 2019
Kershaw entered in the fifth inning for a Dodgers team arranging its rotation for the playoffs. After two quick outs, there was no one else for Bochy to turn to.
Bumgarner never bothered for the on-deck circle, pinch-hitting for Brandon Crawford straight from the dugout. As he strided to the plate, Oracle Park arose and showered him in cheers.
The Dodgers played their part perfectly. Catcher Will Smith walked to talk to Kershaw to give Bumgarner more time to breathe in the applause. The big man removed his helmet, faced the crowds and waved it, a final (?) salute from a three-time World Series champ.
And Kershaw played his part perfectly, too: He threw seven four-seamers to Bumgarner, whose first swing would have propelled the ball 600 feet if he made contact. But his last swing, on a 3-2 count, was a liner to third base.
He tipped his helmet to the fans again and walked into the dugout to hugs from teammates. If Bumgarner were looking for leverage to convince the Giants he cannot be low-balled, he’ll have it; it seemed as if he were saying goodbye, too, and he won’t be giving any free-agent discounts.
For one last time, Bruce Bochy takes the field pic.twitter.com/9eRV6nw7dw
— KNBR (@KNBR) September 29, 2019
On the field? Lots went wrong, a first-inning Buster Posey single the Giants’ only hit until Jaylin Davis’ base hit in the eighth. The batters ended the season as they lived it: barely breathing.
Off the field, the only whiff on the day was the car giveaway on Fan Appreciation Day – which went to a woman wearing a Dodgers jersey, to great outrage around the park. Eh, Bochy had his share of losses, too.
He finishes 1,052-1,054 – so close – with San Francisco and 2,003-2,029 total. He finishes with three World Series titles. If he’s not stepping into another managerial job, his next baseball step will be into Cooperstown.