That was fun to write. The Giants got their post-ASB season rolling in Miami with a big win behind Madison Bumgarner. A quick check of the standings after the Dodgers lost in St. Louis shows the good guys in first place by .001! MadBum gave up a monster shot to Giancarlo Stanton after it was already 9-0, but was otherwise back to his usual ace-like self with six strong innings. That will be increasingly important heading into August and September as the news from Camp Cain is not so good. According to Baggs Matty has a "cranky elbow" from bone chips and/or other loose bodies. He is supposed to make his pushed-back start on Tuesday. I'm a bit surprised the Giants didn't push him to get surgery in the off-season, especially after his struggles last season. Apparently they knew about his situation after an MRI in 2010! I'm also surprised Cain himself didn't consider arthroscopy, but the big fella is not much of a talker and we'll all just have to keep guessing.
Regardless, the lineup came to life with big flies from B-Craw and the Panda, and three hits apiece from Buster and Mike Morse. The team was 6-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Man, keep that going! Hunter Pence got on twice and scored twice and made another one of his spectacular running catches. That guy is incredibly valuable--I can't imagine where the club would be without him.
Did you see the Braves released Dan Uggla? Think the Giants will take a run at him? He's not the hitter he once was, and his glove is suspect, but if Scutaro is iffy and Panik can't carry the whole load, he might be a useful piece, and could be a big stick coming off the bench as well. I'm not arguing for Mr. Biceps, just curious what you think. And thinking that the Giants are going to make some moves in the next two weeks, so I'm keeping my eye on MLBTR.
Hudson tonight. GO GIANTS!
--M.C.
1 comment:
Apparently Bumgarner's consecutive starts were the first for a Giants pitcher since Johnny Antonelli did this in 1956. The reason that year was a tropical storm which caused rainouts 3 days in a row.
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