Bedlam in Santa Rosa bars as Giants win championship

Frank Ergas shouted at a big-screen TV Wednesday along with about 100 other noisy Giants fans as the World Series played out in a downtown Santa Rosa tavern.

When the last out came, Ergas screamed as loud as he could and hugged a buddy standing next to him at the bar.

Pandemonium broke out all around him. Fans clad in orange and black jumped up and down as bartenders sprayed the crowd with champagne.

“Whoa!” the South San Francisco native yelled over the ear-splitting noise at Ausiello’s 5th Street Grill. “We are the champions!”

Outside, cheers echoed from neighboring night spots. Two men in a parking lot fired a volley of skyrockets high into the warm night air.

People honked car horns and revved engines as they cruised past on Mendocino Avenue.

“I knew it!” yelled Kaitlyn Fitzgerald of Santa Rosa as she celebrated after the game. “I felt it the whole day! I knew we were going to win!”

The party started a few hours earlier when the Giants jumped to an early lead.

At Sprenger’s Tap Room, also in downtown Santa Rosa, fans sitting before a dozen big screens and quaffing pints of beer were optimistic their team could rally after Tuesday’s 10-0 rout.

As the Giants went up 2-0 in the second inning, Talis Noel joined chants of “Let’s go Giants!”

“I’m feeling good,” Noel said. “Once we get to this point, we don’t stop.”

Santa Rosa musician Taylor Stecker, who sat at the bar wearing a lucky Giants T-shirt he’d worn for every playoff game since the wild card game, agreed.

“I’ve got faith,” he said. “They always do this to us. They make us sweat, and they come through.”

But there wasn’t too much to sweat after all. The game was knotted briefly at 2 before the Giants scored a third run, taking the lead for good.

Ruben Lopez and his daughter, 13-year-old Rylie, watched from a table at Sprenger’s in Giants gear. Lopez said he’s been to every opening game since 1985. He and his daughter were at Sunday’s Game 5 in San Francisco.

“It’s nerve-wracking,” Lopez said. “Very stressful.”

His daughter, who had Buster Posey’s No. 28 stenciled on her cheek, was optimistic. She said she looked forward to hearing the bar’s traditional playing of the Journey song, “Don’t Stop Believing” when the Giants win.

“This is awesome,” she said. “It’s so amazing.”

Back at Ausiello’s, fans pounded the wooden bar and worked themselves to a frenzy, shouting “Bo-chy!” for Giants manager Bruce Bochy and “Three more outs!” as pitching ace Madison Bumgarner silenced the Royals’ bats.

Owner Armand Ausiello stood outside in a white Giants cap, watching over things.

As the game came to its deafening conclusion, his bartenders, including some family members, sprayed the crowd with champagne. Ausiello then cued up “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”

“We played our game,” Ausiello said. “Bumgarner was unbelievable. He was in their heads. Once he got through that first inning, that was it.”

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com.