The Giants like to hit on the road, Felix Hernandez notwithstanding, and tonight in Seattle they clogged up the basepaths and pounded out seven runs. Ryan Vogelsong labored a bit in the first four innings with long counts and a lot of balls out of the zone but bailed himself out every time with a sizzling fastball that hit 94 on the gun. In the fifth and sixth he briskly overpowered the Mariners and got the first two outs in the 7th without breaking a sweat. Then they strung a few hits together and that was it, Javier Lopez came in to get the 21st out. Damn fine effort I say. Hunter Strickland and Jeremy Affeldt finished up. The Giants get a much-needed win: they are 6-10 in June. And they head south for a big weekend set with the Dodgers, who won tonight on a walk-off balk.
GO GIANTS!
--M.C.
p.s. That's the 11th team shutout which leads the majors.
p.p.s. Everyone in the lineup got a hit except Buster Posey who walked twice and scored a run and Brandon Belt who walked twice and scored two runs. Six different guys scored and five different guys drove in runs. Only two guys (Angel Pagan and Justin Maxwell) struck out.
4 comments:
This beats PEDs all to hell. I'm tellin' ya, baseball espionage is big stuff. Makes "deflategate" into a joke, that's for sure (it really WAS a non-scandal). Makes Bill Belichik's videotaping opponent practices look like a junior high prank. No, this is a REAL sports scandal. Anyone can take drugs, even HS kids do that. But stealing proprietary intellectual information from your corporate rivals is big-time, big-kid stuff. Alas, no one gives a shit, and there will be no fallout other than a few low-level St. Louis employees getting the boot or maybe a pay cut (and not for stealing, but for blowing it and getting caught). But if people want to get excited about sports scandals, here's one to get excited about.
Meanwhile, Beat the Fecking Dodgers!
Eli Whiteside can't throw anymore & may have cost me my Giants jacket. More on that in an upcoming off - day post.
Other than that, after so much offensive ineptitude, what a relief it was to see the Giants rake in that 2nd inning! Those were the first runs I had seen the Giants score in-person since Susana & I saw the good guys beat the Cubs in a thrilling game at Wrigley Field on September 1, 2012. We changed seats to join Jeff & Edna & Edna's Parents just in time for that pressure - relieving 8th inning rally. Yay, Giants!
Vogelsong channeled 2011/2012 Vogie - he looked amazing! Not as precise as MadBum on Wednesday, but amazing nonetheless. Lopez did his usual 'get the guy on the 3-2 pitch', & then, well, I was glad to have the extra 4 runs, because Strickland & Affeldt are still not inspiring utmost trust. That said, they got it done, with Affeldt finishing it off with a flourish.
We looked sharp in the field, with Arias making some nice short hop grabs. We banged some line drives, & Buster even scored from 1st Base on the Duffy hit (probably because he was DH & had some extra wind)!
After several previous attempts, Leon finally got to see a 'W' (Graduation present?)! It was great to see Jeff & Edna, & it was a thoroughly enjoyable game.
Then, Eli Whiteside & his crappy arm.
I think Vogelsong's performance was even better than the stats,
as he could not get a strike on a pitch over the outside corner
to righties or the inside corner to lefties. He pitched through
the tight zone effectively but it probably cost him at least an
inning or more in pitch count. If that Vogey shows up more often
he should stay in the rotation. I am thinking that unless there
is a strategic reason to pitch Hudson vs a specific team, that
he may be the man out of the rotation when Cain comes back. Hudson
needs to get back more bite on his sinker. It is floating or hanging
too often.
!!!"....the Cardinals had accessed the Astros' network as early as 2012"!!!!
This makes perfect sense, considering that the Astros had the worst record in the major leagues in 2012. Who wouldn't want to steal those secrets?
http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2012-standings.shtml
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