"There's no question," said Buster Posey, who was honored in a lavish Rookie of the Year ceremony Sunday before a 6-1 loss to St. Louis in which the young catcher didn't even play. "For me, I know, and I would think most guys would feel like that, too."
As it turned out, the Posey pageantry was as exciting as it got all day for the Giants after two ultra-dramatic victories to open the home season. Cardinals right-hander Kyle Lohse limited the Giants to five singles and a lone run over the first eight innings, and St. Louis finally broke through in a three-run sixth against San Francisco starter Barry Zito and kept adding to it to end the Giants' three-game win streak.
"There might have been a little hangover today," admitted manager Bruce Bochy. "It's been a very emotional first couple of games here."
Without a doubt, while the Giants reveled in the moment of all the ceremonies of their World Series championship, the new season is nine games old now, and several players are ready to stop talking about the past.
"You try and enjoy all this because it's something that doesn't happen very often," said Posey. "But at the same time, I think everybody's looking forward to getting down to business now and getting into the groove of the season."
"It's been a little bit difficult (with all the hoopla) because we don't have time to stretch and prepare for the game," added Pablo Sandoval, who drove in the Giants' run with a first-inning single. "Now it's going to be different."
Indeed, the Dodgers come to town tonight, and perhaps the last real order of old business will be presenting former Giant Juan Uribe his World Series ring. So there will be one last brief ceremony.
"Yeah, but not for us," said Aaron Rowand. "It'll just be for him."
For his own part, after a forgettable 2010, Rowand has become a central figure for the Giants again in 2011. He'll likely be the starting center fielder throughout the Los Angeles series with the uncertainty surrounding Andres Torres. After receiving the MRI report, Bochy said after the game that Torres has a mild left Achilles tendon strain, and the club will keep him in a walking boot until Wednesday and then re-evaluate his situation.
Rowand might have been able to minimize the damage against Zito in the sixth had he been able to haul in Skip Schumaker's deep drive to left-center with two on, one out and a run in. Rowand appeared to have a bead on the ball, but it caromed off his glove. The ball was ruled a double, and two runs scored on the play.
"I took a good angle at it, and I was outstretched, but it just caught the very tip of my glove," he said. "I thought I had it, but it was tailing away from me a little bit."
The upshot was that it resulted in the end of a disappointing day for Zito, who despite some control issues made it through five innings with the score tied 1-1. But after retiring Albert Pujols to start the sixth, he walked Matt Holliday and Allen Craig back-to-back and paid the price. David Freese doubled home one run before the Schumaker shot that broke open the game.
"Just the walks," Zito said. "All day I was battling the timing in my delivery. The ball was getting up, and that's the core of my frustration in the outing was not throwing strikes. I'd been throwing strikes all spring."
Like so many of his teammates, Zito is ready for 2010 closure.
"It's a huge deal what the San Francisco Giants accomplished last year, and it's a huge deal for the city," he said. "But the reality is we have games to win today, tomorrow, the next day. I think the ceremonies were amazing. They did them as good as they could have. But now we can just move forward and focus on the games."
