The fog rolled in about 3 pm today in my neighborhood, then got heavier and heavier until it was a drizzle. By game time, it had let up enough, but was hardly dry. The park looked the same, until the fog rolled back in again late in the game.
No matter, the ball seemed to jump from time to time. The Giants scored in the bottom of the 4th, Brandon Crawford singled home FNG Austin Tyler for 1 run, and then scored himself along with Brandon Belt, Yangervis Solarte and the batter, Kevin Pillar, on a grand slam home run. That will net you some fans at the new team. It was the first grand slam the Giants have hit in 2 years and 1 day. That, I think, is the result less of a paucity of home runs (although there's that, too) and more of a failure to put men on base - they haven't had many 3 run home runs or 2 run home runs either. After a good 4th inning, the Giants followed up with - nothing. A few chances wasted, but they were stuck on 5 and that was not good enough to win tonight. Padres 6, Giants 5.
Madison Bumgarner on the mound, and the Giants got him 5 runs to work with after he had held the Padres hitless through 4. Not runner-less, though, as he put Fernando Tatis Jr. on via a HBP. That was the guy who came back in the 5th and hit a 2 run shot. The kind of electric talent that we only wish we had. Madbum gave up a solo shot to Wil Myers on a pitch after he thought he had struck Myers out, but according the the little box on the screen, it was clearly a ball. Madbum pitched into the 7th, when he put Tatis Jr on again by the HBP. He scored on a ground out after Francisco Meija (another youngster) doubled and he went to 3rd. That made it Padres 4 and brought in Reyes Moronta. With Meija on, Moronta gave up a no-doubter to Franmil Reyes (23 years old, like Meija) for the 5th and 6th runs. For Madbum: 6 IP, 3 K, 4 hits, 1 BB, 5 runs and 2 HBP. Moronta got the loss.
I like the new 6:45 start time, but am curious as to what the Giants think they'll accomplish. If baseball has a "demographics" problem with its audience, an earlier start time is a move to attract seniors, like me. You know, the kind that take advantage of the 4 pm dinner specials. Punks, they're fine with being up late. Sparse crowd, tough weather, and no win tonight.
7 comments:
Worst loss of the young season, that's for sure. I was shocked by the number of hard-hit balls. The Padres beat the Giants two best pitchers with a simple "just clobber it" approach. It's hard to get MORE discouraged when expectations are so low already, but . . . damn!
It depends on how you look at it, I guess. After the Giants' 6 run outburst Saturday, in which the announcers praised them for doing all the right things; moving runners over, hitting with RISP, hitting with 2 outs, etc, they turn in a game with 2 total hits and 0 energy. That could be seen as more discouraging (and reminded me a lot of last year).
Other notes: Madbum threw a couple of pitches that were fat, fat, fat. The Rays did not miss them, just as Pillar did not miss the grand slam pitch. Longoria picked up 4 hits his first 3 games of the season. Since then, he has had 3 in 30 at bats.
14 H allowed in 19 IP, but 7 of those are XBH (4 HR, 3 2B). I know it is early and SSS and all that, but the loud contact is disturbing.
I was surprised that Myers ball was fare. I would love to have another look at it. A grand slam was nice, but the giants are too altruistic and just hate to add on. Nice guys finish out of the playoffs. Perhaps he took Austin out of the game too soon. Any news on Parra?
Supposedly Parra is OK, nothing serious.
He's in LF tonight!
Good to see Parra is already back. I hope some of these guys can muster up some hot streaks. Posey on a zero RBI pace for the season. I just say that hoping he turns it around and get over 100. But if he continues to not be an "RBI man" his batting order position should eventually be reconsidered.
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