More Classless Behavior from San Francisco Fans

These have been a painful few days of watching Dodger baseball.  It has been tough to take these games, realizing that this team is so hampered by injury and that everything just seems to be going wrong.  Baseball seasons have those periods when everything goes wrong and I’m hoping that the past few weeks just happen to be the lows of this season and that there are many great moments to come.  I have to say though that I simply can’t get past an incident from Friday night’s game that resonates in my mind.

On Friday night at AT&T Park as Hanley Ramirez emerged from third base grasping the back of his left leg in pain, it was obvious that he had just suffered a hamstring pull that would set him back for weeks if not months of playing time.  As Ramirez limped his way off the field with help from Sue Falsone and Trey Hillman we witnessed something that showed the epitome of poor sportsmanship and a lack of class.

Following the inevitable cheers from the Giant fan faithful that occurred after Ramirez was thrown out at third, (which was perfectly understandable), there started a swell of noise that rose from the bowels of the stadium.  It elevated to a crescendo of applause and then reality hit me.  These morons were standing and cheering the fact that Hanley Ramirez had just injured himself.

Giant fans stand and applaud as Hanley Ramirez limps off the field with a pulled Hamstring on Friday night.  (Photo capture, Comcast SportsNet Bay Area)

I can’t tell you how much I can’t stand these so called fans.  They don’t deserve a championship team.  There just seems something wrong with the entire scenario.  Rivalries are rivalries but these people take things too far.  The San Francisco Giant fan base is a pathetic lot.  They are classless and brainless.

I'm not alone in my assessment of what happened on Friday.  Here's what Dodger analyst Steve Lyons had to say in yesterday's pre-game show when talking about the Ramirez injury and the Giants fan reaction:

(photo capture: Fox Sports, Prime Ticket)

"I'm pretty mad about what happened last night.  The thing I'm most disappointed in was the fan reaction to Hanley's injury.   They basically gave him a standing ovation when he was coming off the field and it wasn't because they were happy about him trying to stretch into third base.  They were happy because he was injured.  Now we know that there's history between these two teams.  There have been some ugly incidents.  We all know about the Bryan Stowe incident...but that doesn't mean that this kind of stuff has to continue to move on.  I think last night's fans should be embarrassed.  It was really despicable what happened.  ...they were clapping because they made the out at third at first, then when they all realized that Hanley was hurt, they stood and continued to clap.  That was ugly."

I have written about these louts a number of times over the years and just when I think I’ve seen it all, they prove to be worse than ever.

Stuck watching the Giants broadcast as they blackout Dodger feeds up here in Northern California, to no surprise the Giants broadcasters on the Giants feed completely ignored the deplorable actions of their fans.  Jon Miller and Mike Krukow said nothing about it.   Over the years Krukow has been quite vocal with regard to praising Giant fans and applauding their baseball knowledge.  This would have been an ample time for him to stand up and say, “Hey, this is wrong, this fan base should be embarrassed.”  Instead, we got crickets.  Not a word was said.

I understand the rivalry and I understand that Giants fans not only loath the Dodgers, but you can throw in the Lakers, USC, UCLA, Disneyland, the L.A. Kings, Universal Studios, the Kodak Theatre, the Rose Parade, the Watts Towers and Olvera Street too.  Anything SoCal to them is disdained.  But there comes a time when you don’t cross a line.  An injured player is that.  I was in attendance at the World Baseball Classic in San Francisco and I watched Hanley Ramirez get booed every time he stepped to the plate.  I understand that.  No problem.  He’s a Dodger and they hate that.  That’s part of the game, but cheering for an injured player of the opposing team?  That’s about as bad as having an image of Marichal clubbing Roseboro with a bat as a screen saver.  Oh, I forgot, I’ve seen that here too.

(photo capture Comcast SportsNet bay Area)

Stay classless San Francisco.