Saturday featured one of my favorite annual events at AT&T Park, the Giants’ Dog Days of Summer. More than 700 dogs got to come to the yard, participate in a pregame parade and costume contest and then watch the game from a special dog zone section in the bleachers.

For the second time that I can remember, the costume contest was won by a great big ol’ dog wearing some kind of frilly thing. This time, it was Clouseau, sporting a festive color and cuffs that flung bits into the air when he gave a good shake. In the photo at right, his proud parents are celebrating his victory.

Check out my photo gallery for more shots from this fun event. Take special note of Thing 1 and Thing 2 in one of the photos — those two kept getting pushed together by their mom and dad for photos, but they did NOT want to be that close to each other and made that quite clear with plenty of snarling and nipping. Ah, siblings.

On Sunday, the ballpark will be invaded early by two other wild packs — participants in the Plate to Plate 5K Run/Walk to benefit Project Open Hand (with Matt Cain serving as the race’s official starter at 9 a.m.) and more than 4,000 Junior Giants as part of Junior Giants Day. All fans are asked to donate just one dollar to help the 15,000 kids who participate in the wonderful Junior Giants program, which will receive a prestigious honor before Sunday’s game as well.