Canha enjoys a ‘special moment’ after his heroic performance in the Giants’ victory Originally appeared in NBC Bay Area Sports
SAN FRANCISCO — Arriving home around midnight after a game that included a rain delay and extra innings to cap a weeklong road trip across the country, Mark Canha felt the hairs on his arms rise as he looked around at the place he went to as a boy fan, wearing the same orange-and-black hat and T-shirt he can now call his work attire. All the lights were out at Oracle Park, bringing a new sense of serenity, followed by a sentimental chill for the Bay Area native.
“It means a lot to me, it’s a special place,” Canha said on Friday night in his locker room with a smile that couldn’t have stretched any wider. “It’s a special stadium… This stadium is very dear to me.
“It’s amazing. I’m proud to be a part of all this.”
Canha, in his first home game as a Giant, enjoyed it to the fullest. Memories of Barry Bonds sending balls into orbit and falling into McCovey Cove ran through his head as he walked around the dugout and headed to the plate. Hours later, Canha played the role of walk-off hero on a night when the Giants couldn’t get a hit through the first six innings, launching a deep sacrifice fly to the left-field warning track that fell just feet short of a grand slam for a 1-0 win over the Giants. 3-2 comeback victory against the Detroit Tigers.
If it weren’t for the Tigers, this new lifelong memory wouldn’t even have come true for Canha. It’s been just 10 days since the The Giants acquired Canha From the Tigers. Animosity wasn’t even an idea.
Gratitude and joy overwhelmed any other emotions I could have felt.
“It was amazing,” Canha said. “It was a very special moment for me, just amazing. An incredible feeling.”
San Francisco manager Bob Melvin was choosing between Canha and Jerar Encarnacion to be the team’s designated hitter against a Tigers team that was using a bullpen game between four pitchers. Encarnacion has hit .280 with a 53 percent hard-hit percentage in seven games since being called up, but Canha has been on fire since then. Joining his hometown teamHe hit .467 (7-for-15) in four games as a Giant and was 4-for-6 with a double and two RBIs Thursday in their win over the Washington Nationals.
Melvin also has a history with Canha and understands what it would mean for him to play in this ballpark for the first time with the Giants. The San Francisco manager also managed Canha with the Oakland Athletics for his first seven years in the majors. Their player-coach relationship went a long way in turning Canha into a Giant, and Melvin never had any doubts when Canha was up against the wall with the bases loaded.
“He probably goes up there looking for certain pitches, and then with two strikes he just goes into battle mode,” Melvin said.
Canha quickly got into trouble when facing Tigers reliever Shelby Miller, and immediately fell behind 0-2. He then fouled off an outside fastball and spit two sliders into the dirt. Miller made the ultimate mistake of throwing a 2-2 fastball into Canha’s strike zone, and made him pay for it.
His mentality was to attack and make contact. The result eclipsed anything Canha could have imagined.
This is home. Canha starred in high school at Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, the same high school attended by Giants hitting coach Pat Burrell. He then starred at Cal before being drafted by the Miami Marlins in 2010.
Melvin is his manager again, Matt Chapman is manning the hot corner at third base as his teammate again and Canha’s family was in the stands Friday night to watch what he dreamed of in his backyard, celebrating on the same field he idolized as a kid.
Incredible. Stunning. Special. Canha couldn’t have said truer words to describe a swing that took 35 years to make.
