Baseball at its best

Cardinals 6, Giants 5

The Giants have plenty of issues. Their starting rotation is a jigsaw puzzle missing its corner pieces. The lineup is a bunch of .220-something hitters with .600-something OPSs. Michael Conforto is 4 for 51 (.078) this month.

But for one game, those issues sat on ice. Last night it felt as if the whole season sat on ice, paused for a three-hour celebration of the sport. Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama shined for nine innings.

The TV broadcast did, too. Good for FOX and MLB leaning in hard, especially in the fifth inning, presenting the game like a vintage broadcast. Black and white, only a few camera angles, and no score bug. Even Joe Davis' audio was slightly muffled. Brilliant.

The only thing I'd change about last night? The ending.

Up next: The Giants are off today as they travel to St. Louis. Tomorrow it’ll be Jordan Hicks (4-2, 2.82 ERA) facing his old team and Miles Mikolas (5-6, 4.59 ERA). First pitch at 11:15 a.m.