Sunday’s 9-0 loss to the Dodgers finalized another largely disappointing season of Giants baseball.

However, the direction of the team should have fans excited for things to come. And nevertheless, we cannot take anything away from the amazing, emotional, historic day Sunday was for the Giants, and for the skipper, Bruce Bochy.

The Bochy goodbye party, as is the case with all Giants parties, was spectacular. The first big ovation came when Boch was announced with the starting lineups for the final time as the manager of the San Francisco Giants. The roar of a stadium not yet full was palpable. The short tribute videos and prizes throughout the day kept the energy and spirits up, despite a fuckin’ Dodger fan winning the new car and the rout that was happening on the field. Giants fans were savvy to the fact that, being out of it for some time now and Madbum not starting, we were there for the post-game Bochy stuff.

But Bumgarner did get his chance to take the field Sunday, perhaps for the final time as a Giant. Dodger manager Dave Roberts elected to throw Clayton Kershaw for a tune up inning in the fifth, and Bochy saw the perfect opportunity to let Bum get his moment.

He hit for Crawford, and walked up to a chilling standing ovation. Catcher Will Smith took a mound meeting to really let the Giants longtime ace be acknowledged by the fans that adore him so, the first of a few classy acts from the Dodgers during this instance.

Bumgarner took his helmet and waved it all around the ballpark. As much as it pains me to say, it certainly looked like a goodbye.

Kershaw took the mound against his friend Bumgarner and threw him eight straight fastballs, as if to say, “Alright, old friend. Let’s dance one more time.”

One more time for the Giant-Dodger rivalry that we’ve headlined all these years. One more time to see if those two homers you hit against me were for real. One more time for the fans, your fans. True to form, Bumgarner was on every single one of them, and after teasing us with some balls fouled straight back, the big man lined out sharply to third.

Kershaw knew the spectacle that was going on that day, so challenging Bum and giving him one more shot at one was a great gesture.

He would outdo it, though, seconds after defeating Bumgarner, tipping his cap directly to Bruce Bochy as he left the mound. This garnered a cheer of approval from Giant and Dodger fans alike; it’s in my blood as a Giants fan to hate the Dodgers, but it doesn’t get much better than that entire sequence from the Dodger ace. Letting Bum tip his cap to the fans one last time, giving him one last old school battle (just how he likes it), and then acknowledging Bochy for a great career.

I will remember Clayton Kershaw for many things once he’s gone, but that sequence will undoubtedly stand alone.

Madison got his moment with the fans; the rest of the day now belonged to one man and one man alone. The man who ushered the franchise out of the Bonds era and into a dynastic run that saw three World Series championships, a perfect game, 4 no-hitters, and the crowning of a new home run king. The man with the oversized hat. The man that always put the game, and his players, before himself. The skipper, Bruce Bochy.

The Giants put together a star-studded cast to attend the ceremony: Boch’s family, Giants deities like Willie Mays and Juan Marichal, President and CEO Larry Baer, and a plethora of former players. Some familiar returnees included Andres Torres, Jeremy Affeldt, Ryan Vogelsong, and Barry Bonds. Some not so frequently seen guys got bigger ovations, like your sister’s favorite, Angel Pagan, your mom’s favorite, Pat Burrell, my 2010 hero, Aubrey Huff, and rain enthusiast (wink wink) Marco Scutaro.

But let me tell you folks.

Tim Lincecum…Timmy EFFING Lincecum made it. The only returnee to be introduced by his lonesome. I haven’t heard Oracle Park erupt like that since we were in the World freakin’ Series. And rightfully so. After all, Timmy embodies so many things. He’s the face of the post-Bonds era. He was full of quirks, just like our city: the long flowing hair, the unorthodox delivery, the youthful face. He had his hands on all three championship runs. And best of all, like Boch said in his speech, nobody put the fear of God in hitters like The Freak.

For someone like Lincecum, seldom seen or heard from these days, to come back to San Francisco to honor his skipper speaks volumes to what Bruce Bochy meant to his players both on and off the field. I held it together pretty well during the ceremony, but if Twitter hadn’t ruined Timmy’s attendance midway through the game, some man tears would’ve been shed.

But aside from Timmy’s return and Bumgarner’s likely goodbye, Bochy’s resonance never faltered. The day was for him, and that feeling never wavered.

After the fans got to greet the former players, it was time for speeches. Although Buster’s joke about how old some guys looked and a classic, stoic Vogey monologue, speech of the day definitely went to Jake Peavy, who told a Willie Nelson story and suggested it was time for the now retired Bochy to partake in the things he didn’t that night with Peavy and former third base coach Tim Flannery.

Absolutely fantastic.

Bochy spoke last, thanking everyone from the fans, the front office, the players, and his family for all their collective support and kindness over the years. I saw and heard it live, but you didn’t need either to feel the emotion coming from the skipper. Incredibly well-spoken and structured, and he did it all without a note or piece of paper to refer to.

Just like Boch, prepared and ready for the big stage.

He rode off, fittingly, to Tony Bennett’s, “I Left My Heart In San Francisco.”

And his heart will indeed live on here forever. For me and Giants fans everywhere, he gave us memories we will cherish for life.

The best aspects of those three World Series teams were how they were always a cast full of diverse characters reflecting our beloved city. How we were never the favored team, the most glamorous or talented, yet we embodied ‘team’ better than all the teams the fell to us in October did. Our playoff heroes, like Cody Ross, Marco Scutaro, and Travis Ishikawa, you never saw coming. You almost said to yourself, “That’s the guy? He wouldn’t even be on most teams’ rosters.”

But when you take a step back, all those themes that defined that dynasty of runs came from Bruce Bochy. He believed in his men. He was the voice that unified and ignited them. They wanted to play for him. That’s what brought them together. What allowed those misfits and outcasts to overcome the behemoths that stood in their way in the postseason, despite the odds. What brought the absolute apex of production out of unlikely sources.

For 12 seasons, Bruce Bochy pushed all the right buttons. And it’s going to push him all the way to Cooperstown.

I’ll end with one final, resounding, #ThankYouBoch.

Thanks for the good times, and the bad ones. Thanks for the memories.

And most of all, thanks for making me a Giants fan for life.