Giants Game 5 win comes with heavy heart, especially for Juan Perez
Rest in peace, Oscar Taveras. (USATSI)SAN FRANCISCO - The San Francisco Giants beat the Kansas City Royals in Game 5 of the 2014 World Series, 5-0, taking a three to two lead in the best-of-seven Fall Classic. And yet, it was quite a somber locker room afterward, relative to the occasion. The reason obviously being that the baseball world lost a 22-year-old in Oscar Taveras on Sunday.
Though combatants between the lines, players from opposing teams are often friendly. They've played against each other in the minors or winter leagues, maybe even been teammates before. Just this series, I've personally witnessed things like David Ortiz (working for Fox) hugging Salvador Perez during batting practice, or Nick Swisher (same as Ortiz) palling around with several Royals players. Many Giants and Royals players alike consort with one another during batting practice. This isn't unique to these two teams, either. Though some might prefer players on opposing teams all dislike each other, generally they don't. They are a fraternity and for the most part, generally respect and like each other.
'It's a sad thing,' said Giants reliever Jeremy Affeldt. 'I saw that kid last week and he hit a pretty big homer for them. Any time you see a kid that's just getting started in his career and you see an unfortunate thing like that, the whole baseball family feels that. We might be opponents on the field and we're trying to do a job against each other, but we're a family. It's a rough deal. My heart goes out to his family and his girlfriend's family and the Cardinals organization. It's a tough scenario.'
As such, losing a youngster like Taveras was a tragedy that overshadowed the game; made it seem petty on some level, even.
'It's a sad baseball day,' Pablo Sandoval said, rather succinctly summing it up.
'It just breaks your heart,' said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. 'It's a shame that this has happened. The kid had a bright future ahead of him. He hit a big home run against us. It's a loss for his family, the Cardinals and baseball because this kid was a special talent. I know Juan Perez was good friends with him and I guess he heard during the game.'
This is true. A former winter ball teammate of Taveras, Juan Perez -- who has been friends with Taveras since 2009 -- learned of the news in the dugout during the game and began to cry. In fact, some Giants coaches said they found Perez in the clubhouse during the game in tears. He later entered the game and ended up with a two-RBI double late, giving the Giants what was an insurmountable 4-0 lead with the way Madison Bumgarner was dealing.
After the game, Perez kept his composure when discussing the passing of his friend, though the sadness was evident.
'It was tough,' Perez said. 'We were very close friends. My heart goes out to his family and to the Cardinals organization. I had a few innings to try and get over it and focus and do my job. I just had to try and put everything away and concentrate on the game.'
And he did so with a little help from fellow Dominican (as was Taveras) Joaquin Arias.
'During the game, when I found out, at first I think I was thinking too much about it,' recounted Perez. 'Arias came over and said 'stay strong, keep your mind strong and we can win this game.''
The players will go on with their business as this series shifts back to Kansas City for Game 6. They are professionals and this is their job. It's the pinnacle of their profession, of course, and as such these games are very important on a job level. It's just that on this day, the degree of importance felt diminished in light of the preciousness that is life.
'Life can be fleeting,' Affeldt said. 'You never know.'
We don't, unfortunately, and we just got another reminder.
Rest in peace, Oscar. You will be missed.
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