Another Win in the Desert

SF 7 AZ 0
The Giants thumped the Diamondbacks with a three-homer barrage that backed up a fine start from rookie Derek Rodriguez. Ty Blach and Cory Gearrin finished up and secured the team's tenth shutout which is tied with the Chicago Cubs for the most in all of baseball. Buster Posey and Andrew McCutchen led the way with three hits apiece and Brandon Crawford, Pablo Sandoval, and Joe Panik each added two RBI. Rodriguez faced 25 batters, throwing 102 pitches to get through 6-1/3 IP. Arizona is a tough club--they are in first place--and the youngster kept the lid on them with eight ground balls and five strikeouts. The boys have won 10 of their last 13 and notch an 18-10 record for the month of June. They are tied for second place with LA and 3-1/2 games off the pace. Derek Holland takes the hill tomorrow at 1:10 Pacific with a chance for a sweep.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

The Suarez-Slater-Smith Show

SF 2 AZ 1
The Giants bounce back from yesterday's heartbreaker with a superbly-pitched effort tonight in Arizona. Rookie Andrew Suarez allowed only one run in his six-inning start, stymieing a hot Diamondbacks lineup with a heap o'grounders (they had FIVE infield hits). Rookie Austin Slater had three great at-bats, hammering a liner each time, two went for doubles, both drove in a run. That was the offense. Rookie Reyes Moronta pitched the 7th in dominating fashion. He's been superb this season what with 42 K and 19 H in 35-2/3 IP. Tony Watson was equally brilliant with a 1-2-3 8th. He has to be the best off-season move the team made. Will Smith overpowered them in the 9th for his first career save*. So nice to have him healthy and performing at the level everyone was hoping for. A terrific win against the first-place club, especially in their yard. The Giants were 25-30 on May 29th, here on June 29th they are 43-40. Not a bad turnaround!

Five more games on the road and then they are back home for six before The Break. Derek Rodriguez starts tomorrow night (7:10 Pacific). Go Giants!

--M.C.

*turns out it was second career save, his saved a game with Milwaukee in 2014 

If You Love Pitching Duels

Watch Rockies games.  Ha ha ha ha ha, no.

The Giants battled the Rockies for 8.5 scoreless in I gs tonight.  Madison Bumgarner for the Giants, coming off of an excellent 8 inning scoreless start.  Madison threw 7 innings, struck out 8, and gave up 2 hits.  Kyle Freeland for the Rox, 25 year-old 2nd year pitcher.  He threw 7 scoreless, gave up 4 hits.  Will Smith made quick work of the Rox in the 8th, as did Reyes Moronta in the top of the 9th.  A 0 - 0 game at that point.

Something had to give and Brandon Crawford was in a giving mood.  A soaring shot to the right field arcade with 1 out gave the Giants the win.

I like that the Giants have gotten wins without dropping the first game of a series. Brandon Crawford is a stud.  1 - 0 Giants.

Gorkys Leads Giants Past Rockies

SF 3 COL 2
The Giants squeaked past the Rockies in a tense game that ended on a video review. Fortunately the cameras went our way and the call on the field (a game-ending double play) was confirmed and that sealed the win. The Giants are facing the Rockies at the halfway point in the season. Tonight was Game 80 and Madison Bumgarner will get the call for Game 81 tomorrow night. The win puts the team at 41-39 which is 4-1/2 back of leaders Arizona, 1-1/2 behind second place Los Angeles, and 2-1/2 up on Colorado.

Gorkys Hernandez continues his fine hitting with a solo shot in the 3rd to tie it and a bases-loaded walk in the 8th (off Adam Ottavino!) which drove in the eventual game-winner. He even had a hand in the tying run in the 7th, bunting over Austin Slater and Hunter Pence, and Slater scored on Andrew McCutchen's sacrifice fly. (I wouldn't bunt with Gorkys--he's hitting .284/.338/.482 with 10 homers!! But it worked out, so no complaints.)

Derek Holland had an excellent start, striking out eight in 6-2/3 and allowing only an Ian Desmond solo shot. Reyes Moronta got the last out of the 7th but Mark Melancon gave up a run with two outs in the 8th and Tony Watson had to finish the inning. Sam Dyson gave up a fluky double to start the 9th but got it done with a strikeout and the DP. Joe Panik initially booted the grounder but recovered to complete the play. This year's club has a knack for making everything extra exciting.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Pence Comes Through!

SF 3 SD 2 (11)
Hunter Pence, on a desperation 0-2 swing with one out and the bases loaded, poked a grounder past Padres first baseman Eric Hosmer for a walk-off winner, driving in the tying and winning runs. The home squad squeaked out a win against their toughest foe, San Diego. Derek Rodriguez pitched brilliantly, 99 pitches for 21 outs and only four hits and one run (a solo shot in the 1st) along with six whiffs and one walk. It's exciting to see young players emerge--let's hope he can sustain it. The more competition for spots, the better. In the top of the 11th Boch brought in Ty Blach to get a lefty-lefty matchup with two outs and a runner on third. Alas, Cory Spangenberg spoiled the strategy with a line-drive hit. But I can't fault Reyes Moronta (who'd walked speedster Manual Margot to start the inning) or Blach for that late letdown, the lineup really needed to do better in the first ten innings. Somehow they got it done against the very tough Brad Hand. It was probably a bad idea for Andy Green to walk Buster Posey after Andrew McCutchen's one-out double in the bottom of the 11th. Hand hit the next batter, Brandon Crawford, and you have to think the IBB was in his head. Why put the winning run on base for free? Not that it matters as the Giants won and that's what's up!

Off-day tomorrow, three with the Rockies at home (night-night-day) after that.

--M.C.

Giants Bounce Back

SF 5 SD 3
If anything illustrates our frustrations with the Giants this year it is these two back-to-back games they just played against the Padres. In Friday night's game the Giants got a solid start from Chris Stratton but could not score to back him up and lost. In today's game the Giants got a solid start from Andrew Suarez and scored five runs and were able to notch a win. If the young arms deliver winnable starts then by golly the team needs to win those games! At least today they managed to do that despite the scare in the 9th. The lineup had eight hits, five by the Brandons (Craw three, Belt two). The infield turned four double plays, reducing the impact of San Diego's 13 hits and three walks. I note that Austin Slater was called up (Mac Williamson is back at AAA) and he pinch-hit in the 8th and delivered a run-scoring fly ball. If Mac needs some minors time to find his stroke again, so be it. If young Austin can make the most of his chance, so be it. The team needs an infusion of youth and production in the outfield. Steven Duggar is still lurking--his .277/.355/.420 is competent but not eye-popping, we'll see if he gets a shot after the All-Star Break.

Dereck Rodriguez takes the hill tomorrow at 1:05 Pacific.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

The Way It Was Supposed To Be

Madison Bumgarner starting, giving the Giants 8 strong innings, Mark Melancon closing out the game.  At least, that was the thought in early 2017 when the Giants picked up Melancon.  Hasn't worked out that way much though.  Actually, it hasn't happened at all.

Until tonight.  Madison Bumgarner in his 4th start of the season looked like he was no longer in spring training.  He threw 8 innings, 100 pitches, walked 2 (one of whom was intentional), gave up 3 hits (including 2 doubles to Manuel Margot) and no runs.  He faced 29 batters, 21 of whom were thrown 1st pitch strikes.  Mark Melancon was brought in to finish the 9th.  He threw 14 pitches, gave up a lead-off single, then got 2 ground outs and a strike out.

The Giants scored 1 run off of San Diego's starter, Tyson Ross.  It was a sacrifice fly by (who else?) Madison Bumgarner.  Once Ross left the game to start the 8th, Alen Hanson tripled and scored on Buster Posey's single then Posey scored on a Sandoval hit and botched play by San Diego.  The final score was 3 - 0.  The bullpen was given a night off except for Melancon.  It has been used a lot, 48 1/3 innings in the last 14 games since their last off day.  Like they say in the bridge column, "Well done!"

Giants Slay Fish, Again

SF 6 MIA 5
Nail-biting? Sure. Agonizing? Of course. Frustrating? Goes without saying. But the Giants, for the second game in a row, scored six runs. Today they allowed five, and six is more than five, just like always, so that means the Fish were slain. Did they wriggle on the gaff? You bet. Did they flop on the deck? Certainly. Did the Giants finally find a way to subdue them? Yup. Reyes Moronta got his first save, bailing out Sam Dyson in the 9th. Derek Holland had another good start and that paid off. Brandon Belt had three hits and looks like he's 100%, Gorkys Hernandez had an epic 14-pitch at-bat in the critical 6th and delivered a clutch two-RBI hit, and Hunter Pence had two hits and two RBI. The fielding is still shaky (two more errors today), but the only truly important stat is the W-L line. Giants creep closer to .500 (now at 37-38) and perhaps have some momentum for the upcoming Padres series.

Madison Bumgarner get the start against Tyson Ross tomorrow night at 7:15 Pacific.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Giants Slay Fish

SF 6 MIA 3
Buster Posey launched a homer in the 1st and Gorkys Hernandez hit a two-run shot in the next inning and the Giants held on for a win against the Marlins. Derek Rodriguez logged five innings and although he allowed seven hits and three runs he struck out six against zero walks. He also plunked Lewis Brinson who not only messed with Hunter Strickland last night he apparently pissed off the rest of the team. So the rookie had to retaliate, I suppose, which resulted in the usual predictable stuff. The ump issued a warning but the Marlins plunked Buster Posey anyway and then they had to yank their pitcher, Dan Straily. He was the one who plunked Evan Longoria in Miami! The Giants kept their collective cool and the bullpen took care of the final four frames. Alen Hanson shined with both the bat and the glove and Pablo Sandoval continues to contribute.

Derek Holland gets the call tomorrow afternoon, 12:45 Pacific.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

4th inning: 10-8

1st inning: 7-11
2nd inning: 12-6
3rd inning: 6-12
4th inning: 10-8

Overall 35-37 (.486), three behind the Dodgers and four-and-a-half behind Arizona. June started off so promisingly with four straight wins only to be followed by seven losses in the next eleven games before today's win. This team is the very model of inconsistency. So far that's the only thing we can count on. At least they avoided the sweep today with a gritty victory (SF 4 LA 1). Chris Stratton showed some moxie despite early command issues (6 IP, 3 H, 1 R) and the boys managed to score more than two runs. Brandon Belt gets the Big Stick Award: he walked in front of Nick Hundley's two-run homer in the 1st and hit his own two-run homer in the 3rd. The Giants had only three hits but they had the good sense to make two-thirds of them home runs! The 'pen got the last nine outs without too much fuss (1 H, 5 K) and that sealed the win.

The Giants have an excellent team batting average, 5th in all of baseball. Unfortunately batting average does not correlate very well to run scoring. On-base percentage and slugging percentage are a little better as indicators and the Giants are mediocre there, 12th and 13th respectively. As far as actual runs go the Giants are 18th of the 30 teams. That might be good enough if the pitching was top-notch but it isn't. The Giants are 21st in runs allowed. That is, twenty teams allow fewer runs. That's why the team is in fourth place, don't you think? The Giants are relying on inexperienced and under-performing starters and the over-worked bullpen is losing its edge. (Not to mention we've seen a lot of fielding lapses this season.) They need some stability in the rotation and that depends on the front-line stars getting healthy and playing at the level they are paid to perform. Alas, the beleaguered fan can't do a damn thing--perhaps a few laps around the rosary beads--and simply has to endure.

The Giants are a tale of two teams. In 30 home games they are 19-11 and have outscored opponents 151-130. In 42 road games they are 16-26 and have been outscored 197-147. The schedule is clearly more favorable going forward what with 51 home games left compared to only 39 on the road. But what's equally clear is that they have to start winning ballgames outside of San Francisco.

I think this coming stretch of 26 games before the All-Star Interlude can make or break the season. They've got six against the Rockies, four against the Padres, and three against the Diamondbacks. The closely-bunched West is suddenly separating into the haves (LA and AZ) and have-nots (COL, SF, SD) and unless the Giants turn on the jets they could be left behind. Twenty of the games, including the next ten, will be at AT&T Park so there should be no excuses!

--M.C.

Another Losing Road Trip

4 hits for the Giants.  Again.  6 for LA.  Again.  Their hits we're loud.  Ours, not so much.  6 innings for Madison, his 2nd loss, but when you score 1 run a game, you can't expect much better.

Ty One On

SF 6 MIA 3 (16)
The Giants finally break the curse of the Fish with a 16-inning win that featured a superb long relief performance (6-2/3 scoreless innings) from Ty Blach. Hunter Strickland, pitching with a 3-2 lead in the 9th, was victimized by an error on a popup from Joe Panik and that put the tying run on second base. Two sacrifices later the Giants had blown another lead and the Marlins were thinking sweep. Fortunately the game lasted long enough for Pablo Sandoval to get his first hit of the day which drove in the first two of the winning three-run rally. Speaking of three, that's how many times Panda walked today. That's normally a month's worth of walks for the free-swinging bad-ball hitter we all know and love. It seems he's been working on new approaches at the plate and it is paying off with a respectable .271/.341/.424 slash line. Andrew McCutchen and Alen Hanson each had three hits with Cutch delivering another two-run shot (he's heating up). Hanson was in the game because Evan Longoria got hit by a pitch and fractured his pinky. Hey, let's get all the guys in on the DL-action! Such fun! The one-two hitters (Panik and Buster Posey, who caught the whole game) were 0-for-12.

A win is a welcome relief. Now it's a showdown in LA with the Dodgers who have been playing really well (9 wins in 11 games). Derek Holland, Madison Bumgarner, and Chris Stratton get the starts.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Bummed in Florida

I like it much better when the Giants win.  The Giants lost the first of 4 games to the Florida Marlins, 7 - 5.

Madison Bumgarner was the starting pitcher, making his second start of 2018.  Madison went 5 1/3, allowed 4 runs on 6 hits and 1 walk.  He struck out 3 and allowed 1 home run.  Madison threw 92 pitches, 51 of them for strikes.  That's not enough.  He had a disagreement over a good number of pitches, and wound up getting tossed when he was out of the game anyway for sassing the umpire.  But I didn't see a single one that was clearly a bad call according to the little box on the TV.  Plenty that were very close - but not necessarily wrong calls.

The Giants led 3 times in this game, and gave up the lead 3 times.  That was not just Madbum's fault, but also Moronta's and Dyson's (who got the L).  Gearrin pitched a perfect, but inconsequential, 9th).  Miami not only managed to run a bunch of guys out of the bullpen whom I have never heard of, but they stymied the Giants over and over.  The team was 3 - 9 with RISP.  McCutcheon hit a double, that was it for power.  The Marlins, on the other hand, had a lot more pop than the Giants.  The Giants hit 7 fly ball outs, the Marlins hit 3 doubles, a triple, and 2 home runs.

Also, I thought that once you use a replay review, you don't get another one until the 7th inning if you don't get it right.  Isn't that the rule?  Mattingly asked for a replay review on a ball hit deep off the wall, he thought it might have cleared the yellow line and bounced back into the field of play.  It didn't.  But then, still early in the game, he asked for a review on a play at second.  He didn't get that right either.  Do they just give him all he wants because he is a bonehead?  Really, I don't get it.  How's the honeymoon with Mac Williamson going?  He's had 7 hits in his last 31 at bats (.225) - 1 double in that time. 

Anyway, the Giants are 2 - 2 on this road trip.  Let's not play down to the Marlins level.  They are not a good team.

BCraw >> Scherzer

The Giants took 2 of 3 from the Nationals, in their stadium.  The Nats have not exactly owned their home field, they are now 15 - 16 at home.  The Giants, in contrast, are 19 - 11 at home, but not so good on the road.  Maybe that will change. 

The Nats threw Max Scherzer.  Max Scherzer is the only NL pitcher with 10 wins (Cory Kluber also has 10).  Max Scherzer has 142 strikeouts so far in 2018, the next nearest pitcher has 18 fewer (Gerit Cole) and the next strikeout leader in the NL (de Grom) has 106.   Max Scherzer has an ERA of 2.00, that is the best in the National League.  The best Giants pitcher, Derek Holland, is 32nd in the National League at 4.54.   Brandon Crawford, however, is on the Giants, not the Nationals.

In the 4th inning, Pablo Sandoval walked.  Brandon Crawford, hitting next, put a Max Scherzer cutter into the 2nd deck.  Brandon Crawford hit over .400 in May and is currently hitting .462 for June.  That was it for the Giants scoring.  Meanwhile, Derek Holland was quietly throwing 5 innings of 3 hit shutout baseball.  He struck out 4 and walked 2 in 95 pitches.  The many-headed sort-of-monstrous bullpen took over after 5, neither Melancon, Dyson, Watson or Strickland allowed a hit (1 walk from each of Melancon and Dyson).  I think that is kind of becoming the formula - get 5 out of young starters, more if they're able, but don't hesitate to go to the MH SoMB.  It's working so far.  The final score was Giants 2 - Nationals 0.

So I leave you to ponder the question as a lovely Sunday slowly sinks into the west - could this be the start of a real good road trip?

Congratulations, Golden State Warriors

An awesome, awesome team.

And a good day for the Bay Area.  The Giants won, too.  If the Warriors had not won a championship, I would have titled the post, "Giants Go On Road, Bring Bats" because, you know, that is kind of unusual.  But they did!

Steven Strasburg on the mound for the Washington Nationals.  He didn't last long, only 2 innings by which time the Giants were ahead 3 - 0, thanks to an Andrew McCutcheon home run in the 1st and rbis from Alen Hanson and Hunter Pence in the 2nd.  Andrew Suarez on the mound for the Giants, following up his best performance so far (3 hits, no runs vs Philadelphia).  He got into trouble in the 5th, but not before we got to see a Suarez - Suero matchup (Wander Suero was the 3rd Nats pitcher).  By then it was 5 - 0 Giants (2 run Hanson home run in the 4th, solo shot from Gorkys in the 5th).  By the time Suarez was pulled, Washington had scored 4.  Moronta finished the 5th, Melancon gave up 1 in the 6th to make it 6 - 5 Giants, and the Giants tacked on 3 in the 7th to for a final score of 9 - 5. 

The 7th inning saw a bunch of hits.  Panik doubled, Posey singled, Crawford HBP, Sandoval singled for an rbi, Longoria sac flied for an rbi and Pence picked up his second rbi with a single.  That is the kind of hitting that can turn into a good road trip.  Suarez pitched fairly well, without the stellar result of his last outing - he gave up some ground balls that could have been outs on another day.   The Giants many-headed sort-of-monstrous relievers did their job (Moronta / Melancon / Watson / Dyson / Smith).  The Nats used 7 pitchers, maybe that will help the Giants tomorrow or Sunday.

Giants Bite Back

SF 5 AZ 4 (10)
The Giants snatched victory from the jaws of defeat this afternoon in San Francisco with three runs in the final two frames. Trailing 4-2 in the 9th with one out Mac Williamson drew a walk. With two outs and down to his final strike pinch-hitter Alen Hanson blasted a game-tying homer to right field. That was some big-time last-gasp heroics! It almost didn't work: Hunter Strickland walked the first batter in the top of the 10th and wild-pitched him to third base (and walked another batter) before wriggling out of the jam. That set the stage for Andrew McCutchen who blasted what looked like the winning homer with two out in the bottom half only to see it stay in the park for a double. He probably should have had a triple with that one but he jogged out of the box before accelerating to second. Centerfielder Jarrod Dyson might have misplayed it, perhaps losing it in the sun, or was victimized by a gust of wind, but it mattered not. Next batter Brandon Crawford ripped a single to right to plate Cutch and the Giants had a sensational win.

The 31-31 Giants are off tomorrow and then hit the road for three in D.C., four in Miami, and three in LA. Let's hope they play better ball on this trip. Andrew Suarez faces off with Stephen Strasburg on Friday at 4:05 Pacific. GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

The Bum is Back, But Snakebit

Madison Bumgarner made his first start of the 2018 season this evening in San Francisco.  Unfortunately, the Giants were punk against the dbacks' Patrick Corbin, so Madison's very good debut in which he gave up 2 runs resulted in a loss.

Madbum gave us 6 innings, 82 pitches and 8 hits, mostly in the early innings.  He gave up 2 runs, both earned, and struck out 3.  He looked a bit out of touch early, but then looked very sharp as he got a few innings under his belt.  To no avail.  The Giants had a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the 5th, with Crawford having already plated Williamson for the Giants first run, but 3 strikeouts by Corbin (who was given an immense strike zone to throw his slider in) ended that threat.  Madbum also got a big zone.  Melancon pitched a scoreless frame, as did Dyson, but Strickland allowed a run in the 9th.  The Giants got 1 back, on a Buster Posey single to score Alen Hanson, for a final score of 3 - 2.   The Giants had plenty of chances, including another bases loaded situation in the 7th as a result of 3 walks.  They couldn't capitalize on that one, either.   The dbacks out-hit the Giants, both teams could have, should have scored more runs, but Madbum's debut results in an L.  So the Giants slide 1 game under .500, the smogsuckers leapfrog over the Giants into 3rd with a win.  Colorado also picked up a W.

Yet, it's good to have the big man back.  The Giants' young pitchers (without Smardjy and Cueto) have looked great lately, but you need a stud like Madbum.  He looked pretty good, too, with that smooth delivery after the first couple of innings, considering that he had 2 rehab starts and that has been it for him since March.  As long as his finger doesn't bother him, he can only help the Giants.  Tomorrow's game is apparently on Facebook.  I don't believe I'll watch because watching a baseball game on Facebook sounds pretty stupid.  I don't know if that means it is on radio or not. 

Number Two and .500*

The Giants selected Georgia Tech catcher Joey Bart as their first pick (second overall) in the draft. Here's the MLB profile on him. His "comp" is Matt Wieters. Wieters was a first-rounder (fifth overall) in 2007. The Giants drafted Madison Bumgarner that year with the tenth pick. Baseball America lists Bart as the best catcher in the draft. The buzz on this guy besides his size and power is that unlike most amateur catchers he calls his own games. I'll leave all the analysis and prognosticating to the experts--I think the Giants know what they are doing. First-rounders have a pretty good chance of long-term ML success so I'm hoping for good things. It is interesting that they took a college catcher who might only be 3-4 years away (he's 21) from the bigs and in fact could get his shot sooner. Buster Posey is signed through 2021 and there's a team option for 2022, so you get where this is going. Bart will be groomed as the heir-apparent I expect.

One never knows how these things will turn out but I'm excited to have a new ballplayer in the system (assuming he signs). Welcome to the club, lad. Go Giants!

--M.C.


update: The Giants had the second pick of the second round (45th overall) and selected Sean Hjelle (pronounced like 'jelly'), a 6'11" right-handed pitcher from the University of Kentucky. I suppose the Giants grabbed a real giant, if he makes the bigs he'd match Jon Rauch as the tallest ballplayer all-time. Their next pick is #80 in the third round tomorrow.

*update: The Giants clobber the D-Backs 10-3 behind a four-homer, three-double barrage. Boch pinch-hit Alan Hanson for Derek Holland in the bottom of the 4th and his bases-loaded double broke a 2-2 tie and the rout was on. Reyes Moronta (1), Pierce Johnson (2), Cory Gearrin (1), and Ty Blach (1) finished up and only Gearrin allowed a run. The Giants are back to .500 and MadBum pitches tomorrow!

Philistines Sent Packing

Less than one month ago, the Philadelphia Phillies scored 32 runs against the Giants in 4 games in Philly, completely humiliating them and making our season look dismal.  Today, the Giants gave up the only run in the visit by Philadelphia, sweeping them in a 3 game series by a final score of 6 - 1.

Dereck Rodriguez, son of Pudge Rodriguez, started for the Giants.  He looks really very good.  I know it is a small sample size, but he looks like he is poised on the mound, mixes pitches extremely well and doesn't look like the kind of guy you would want to charge the mound against.  He threw 85 pitches to get through 6 innings, struck out 6, gave up 1 on a home run and walked 2.  Kudos on the offensive side to Joe Panik (2 for 4 with the tying rbi), Buster Posey (2 for 4 with 2 rbi including a solo shot for the 6th run), Andrew McCutcheon (2 for 4 with a 3-run blast to right to significantly alter the Giants probability of a win) and Brandon Crawford (2 for 4).  Mark Melancon pitched for an inning, striking out 3 guys in balls that were not close to the strike zone.

Did I mention that we swept the Filthies?  We allowed 1 run on the weekend.  We move up 3 games this weekend on the 1st place Roxies, who lost 3 to LA.  The smog-suckers are neck-and-neck with us.  We have used young talent that looks like real talent.  Stratton, Suarez, and Rodriguez.  Feel free to discuss what a stud Rodriguez is in the comments.

Another Shutout!

SF 2 PHI 0
The Giants pulled the little-ball arrow from the quiver tonight and eked past the Phillies in a taut, well-played game. Joe Panik and Andrew McCutchen had a nifty hit-&-productive out combo to get one in the 6th and did it again for one more in the 8th and that was enough. Credit has to go to Andrew Suarez for his best start (7 IP, 3 H, 0 W, 5 K) so far in the bigs in this his rookie season. The Phillies are a good club and clobbered the Giants last month in Philadelphia. They look like they have a lot of young talent like their starter Vince Velasquez who struck out nine in his 6-1/3. But Suarez was up to the challenge and faced only 24 batters and dispatched them on a mere 86 pitches. Tony Watson and Hunter Strickland got the last six outs on 17 pitches.

Joe Panik on the radio post-game called his slick slide in the 6th to score the Giants first run a "hook" and commented that with his thumb injury there was no way he was going head first. Flemm called it a "fadeaway" but the point is it was nice execution at a critical time. It's good to have Panik back! Another highlight was Cutch's catch in the 3rd which saved a run, Flemm called it "his best play as a Giant."

The Giants are a different team at home (16-10) than on the road (12-20). Tomorrow afternoon (1:05 p.m.) it is Dereck Rodriguez getting his first career start. He's matched up with Jake Arrieta who will be making his 202nd career start.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Shutout!

SF 4 PHI 0
Chris Stratton and three relievers (Tony Watson, Sam Dyson, Hunter Strickland) combine to blank the Phillies to open the month of June. Giants hurlers allowed six singles and a walk while whiffing thirteen. It was a crisp and efficient win featuring the return of Joe Panik who was on base four times at the leadoff spot in his return from the DL. But the real story was a strong start from Stratton, a bounce back for him after an ugly month of May (19 runs in 25-2/3 innings). For the Giants to be competitive they have to get consistent starts so they can use their excellent bullpen effectively without burning them out. Brandon Crawford had two hits and is now slashing .311/.352/.474 to go along with his outstanding glove work. Brandon Belt left the game after two innings which was reported on the broadcast as stomach pain, a tweet from Baggs says he's getting checked for appendicitis. Let's hope he and his .950 OPS are back soon.

Andy Suarez takes the hill tomorrow night (7:05 p.m.). Go Giants!

--M.C.