Sunday, May 22, 2016

Zerrbi

Wait.  Breathe.  Slow down.  That's zero runs and a run batted in for a 1 - 0 Giants victory.  Madison Bumgarner took the hill in the rubber match against the 29 - 12 Chicago Cuddlies this afternoon.  After Matt Cain's victory yesterday in which he allowed only 1 run in 6, Madison faced off against Kyle Hendricks.  Madison got himself into trouble right away, loading the bases in the 1st inning on a hbp, single and walk after getting the first 2 batters out before striking out Addison Russell.  But into trouble with no damage done.  Maddy then gave up one hit in the 2nd, then proceeded to retire the everyone until that consonant guy singled in the 7th.  In the 8th Maddy walked Anthony Rizzo after inducing 2 outs, 115 pitches in.  Cory Gearrin replaced him to get the final out in the 8th and Santiago Casilla got the save in the 9th.  Ben Zobrist sent one to the center field wall, but it was a long out.

Maddy's line: 7 2/3 innings, 115 pitches, 3 hits, 0 runs, 2 BB, 6 K, 0 runs and 0 runs.  That's 2 runs in his last 3 games (23.1 innings) and 8 earned runs in his last 7 games (50.1 innings).  Hendricks pitched well, holding the Giants to 1 run.

So, yeah, pitching.  But hitting, too.  In the 5th, Gregor Blanco walked.  Madison hit him home with a booming double to the base of the left field wall.  The Giants only had 4 hits, and another 4 walks, but they weren't bunched enough to affect the scoreboard.  Joe Panik had 2 hits, Matt Duffy had 1.

The Giants win the series against the team with the best record in baseball to follow their 7 - 0 road trip.  They are playing like champions.  The game was on ESPN Sunday night baseball.  And speaking of which, that was one of the worst broadcasts that I have ever seen.  ESPN wanted to show anything but the game.  They showed replays instead of plays, kept graphics on too long, and showed their idiotic announcers eating an Ike's sandwich named for Madison Bumgarner, which is totally appropriate, but not available at AT&T park.   And I didn't even listen to the audio.  Remember when this channel was about sports?  God, that was a long time ago.

The Giants are 9 for their last 10 (and 10 for 11).  San Diego comes to town tomorrow, having just played 17 innings against LA.

4 comments:

M.C. O'Connor said...

Does Madison lead the team in Zerrbis?

What a great weekend for the Giants!!

nomisnala said...

A key would be to get to Pomerantz early. What San Diego wants is to rest their bullpen
and get a long outing from their starter. If the giants can smartly find a way to get to their starter early, or make him throw a lot of pitches, it could bode well for the series. On the other hand, if they get a long outing from their starter, it could mean a highly competitive series. Their starter does not give up many hits, but he does have a tendency to walk a bunch of guys.

M.C. O'Connor said...

You have to wonder if Cueto can keep mastering the Padres. At some point you figure they might start to hit him! I'd like to see the lineup score more runs. It's been an amazing stretch with 10 of 11 wins and only scoring 36 runs. The pitching has obviously been fantastic but it would be nice to see the offense find itself again.

campanari said...

11 of 12 and only 37 runs.