Back in 2002, I had a few of my friends over from hundreds of miles away in the little in-law unit I used to rent in Santa Cruz. A bunch of Giants fans in a little living room, bouncing off the walls as the Giants built a 5-0 lead and looked ready to coast to their first World Series, with Barry Bonds the unanimous MVP…

.357/.586/1.024 with 4 HR! Back in the days when I was young I’m not a kid anymore but somedays I sit and wish I was a kid again…

We all know what happened in that game. If you’re from Uranus or a spambot looking to attack my site with nonsensical praise, feel free to relive our pain. And after that Game 6 ended — just like Rangers fans on Thursday night after Texas gave up five leads in their Game 6 — we tried to convince ourselves and each other that the Giants had a chance the next day in Game 7.

After a few more beers, one of us — and it very well could’ve been me — said what we all were thinking. It was over. There was no way the Giants were going to come back from that game. Like the Red Sox before us in 1986, it was just too much to take.

Sports aren’t mechanically repetitive. Maybe the Rangers can take some of that antler powder and come out tomorrow evening and follow up one of the most agonizing, the-baseball-Gods-are-taunting-us-and-we-know-it losses with a fantastic comeback of their own. With Matt Harrison playing the role of Livan Hernandez. Eek.

Late-night notes…

– Somewhere Brooks Conrad was watching this game, imagining himself in the role of David Freese.

– The forcible removal of Freese’s jersey by his teammates after his game-winning home run deserves to be in the pantheon of creepy celebrations … along with every single celebration by Bela Karolyi, ever.

– Back when I was a kid I’d watch the College World Series and see pitchers wearing sweat-stained caps and think to myself how cool that was, how that’s exactly what I would do if I were in that position. I’d NEVER change MY hat. I’d wear the same hat my entire college career, then once I was drafted out of college and was made the Giants’ No. 1 starter (bypassing the Minors, of course) I’d wear the same Giants cap throughout my 21-year Major League career.

– In a related story, Colby Lewis’ cap looks like someone poured a glass of milk on it. I’m pretty sure 12-year-old me would hate my blog right about now.

– Before we all go crazy chastising Ron Washington for walking Albert Pujols to get to Lance Berkman in the 10th, Scott Feldman’s numbers vs. lefties have always been better than what he’s done against right-handed hitters, especially this season.

– However, I couldn’t help but think at the time that Pujols was going to choke in his last at-bat as a Cardinal. I don’t know why thoughts like that pop into my head. Maybe it’s because I prefer my muscle-bound power hitters to come up to the plate at home with this bumping…