SAN FRANCISCO -- For the third time in five years, the San Francisco Giants will raise a World Series championship banner at AT&T Park. This after going title-less from 1958, the year they moved to California from New York, through 2009.
So yeah, there's, shall we say, a cautious sense of entitlement here on the shores of McCovey Cove these days.
So much so that Giants manager Bruce Bochy had a special message for his team before Monday's home opener against the Colorado Rockies.
"Take time to sit back, reflect on what they accomplished and then get to work," Bochy said. "Take it in. Savor it. But at the same time, remind yourself that you do have a game to get ready for.
"This is going to have its own special meaning."
New closer for Colorado: Rockies right-hander LaTroy Hawkins, who made his big league debut on April 29, 1995, and gave up a leadoff triple to Brady Anderson and lost a decision to Kevin Brown, has seen a lot in the game the past 20 years.
One thing he won't be seeing any time soon, though, is the ninth inning, with the Rockies leading.
After blowing a pair of save opportunities in the first week of the season, Hawkins, 42, is getting a "short-term breather" from the closer's role, Rockies manager Walt Weiss said.
As such, the Rockies will be going to a closer-by-committee situation, though Rafael Betancourt will come on for the save situation Monday, should the Rockies lead in the ninth, Weiss said.
"He's thrown well, and he's done it a lot," Weiss said.
Indeed, 47 of Betancourt's career 74 saves came in 2012 and 2013.
"We have some pieces we can use late," Weiss said. "Mix and match."
The Rockies are without right-handed reliever John Axford, who went on the family medical emergency list Sunday to be with his 2-year-old son Jameson as he continues his recovery after being bitten by a rattlesnake in Arizona during spring training.
More notes: At 3-4, the Giants have a losing record for the first time since the end of the 2013 season. ... Bochy said right fielder Hunter Pence, who suffered a fractured left forearm after being hit by a pitch in a Cactus League game, was scheduled to see a doctor Monday for an update and evaluation. … Third baseman Casey McGehee is day-to-day with a left knee strain, though Bochy said he would be available to pinch hit. ... Giants right-hander Chris Heston will be the second rookie to start a home opener in San Francisco history, joining Alan Fowlkes, who did it in 1982.