Giants Fans Hit A High Note With Team Songs
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS/AP) - Roy Oswalt pitched eight dominant innings and Jimmy Rollins drove in four runs as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Francisco Giants 6-1 Sunday night to even the National League Championship Series at one game apiece.
A day after Tim Lincecum outdueled Roy Halladay in a marquee matchup of aces, Oswalt beat Jonathan Sanchez.
KCBS' Mike Sugerman reports from his travels, About the Bay:
For diehard Bay Area baseball fans, it wasn't just the series that was tied. A healthy debate stretched from the East Coast to the Bay Area over team songs.
The stakes were high, to be sure: which team had a better fan anthem?
San Francisco and Philadelphia both developed reputations as great baseball towns, not to mention great music towns. In fact, both cities inspired plenty of songs.
Those rich musical traditions found their way into the baseball stadiums. In San Francisco, fans sang "Bye Bye Baby." Phillies fans crooned about their "fever."
Photo Gallery: San Francisco Giants 2010 Playoff Run
Those anthems carried fans through the '60s, '70s and beyond, but new beats recently made their way into the game.
A musician known simply as Ashkon rewrote Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'," tailoring his lyrics to a Giants-friendly audience.
"Just a loyal fan, trying to do the best I can. But these last three, four years have made it hard," he sang to the well known melody.
"But I had faith and I had hope, and thankfully the Padres choked."
"I racked my brain, had a few ideas, I remembered seeing Steve Perry out at the ballpark against the Padres, in the Padres series," Ashkon explained his attraction to the Journey tune. "So I kept coming back to that song."
"Brian Wilson in the niiiiiiinth," the song continued. "Fear the beard," he sang ahead of the well known guitar rift.
Ashkon's YouTube clip garnered hundreds of thousands of hits in a matter of days.
Baseball Project composed another catchy Giants fan song, aptly titled Panda and the Freak, a nod to the nicknames bestowed on Pablo Sandoval and Tim Lincecum.
"I was very excited to have these characters on the team and I wrote the song earlier this season not knowing what would happen, of course." said Baseball Project's Scott McCoy, a loyal Giants fan and respected musician in Portland. "It's meant to be on our next record, which comes out in February but we wanted to sort of get it out there now since the team is pretty exciting and making their way through the playoffs so far."
To be fair, Phillies fans deserved some recognition for their ditties.
"The game is comin' on, the Phillies goin' all the way. Noddin' my head like yeah, movin' my hips like yeah," one Philadelphia fan sang to the tune of a recent Miley Cyrus chart topper.
"Dancing in the street 'cause we're the Phillies, we know we can't be beat," got other Philadelphia fans moving and grooving. "So come on baby, won't you get on down?"
"Singing sweet home Philadelphia all series long," crooned yet another Philadelphia fan-turned-musician, to the tune of Lynyrd Skynyrd's Sweet Home Alabama. "Philadelphia, get outta your seats! Go Phillies, go Phillies, go! Go Phillies, go Phillies, go! Go Phillies, go Phillies, go! Go, go, go, go!"
Game 3 of the series was slated for Tuesday afternoon. Matt Cain was expected to face Philadelphia's Cole Hamels, the 2008 World Series MVP.
With any luck, Giants fans would have the last note.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
