SF 3 LA 1
What's the collective noun for pitchers? A platoon of pitchers? A plethora? A plenitude? Whatever it is, the Giants used a whole passel o'pitchers tonight in Los Angeles and shut down that vaunted lineup and eked out a win. There were seven in that heap o'hurlers: Drew Smyly (3-1/3 IP, 1 R), Shaun Anderson (1 IP, 2 K), Wandy Peralta (1 IP, 1 K), Rico Garcia (2/3 IP, 1 K), Sam Coonrod (1 IP, 1 K), Tyler Rogers (1 IP), and Trevor Gott (1 IP, 1 K). Rogers loaded the bases in the 8th but wriggled out of it, and Gott put two on in the 9th but survived to notch the save. The three hits by the Dodgers in those last two innings were the only ones allowed by the bullpen. The four pitchers after Smyly gave up only two walks in their 3-2/3. Smyly, the starter/opener, threw 64 pitches to 15 batters, yielding four hits, a walk, and fanning two.
If you like old school small ball it was your night. The Giants collected nine singles! Darin Ruf pulled off a lovely sequence in the 7th with the team up 2-1, walking with one out, stealing second, and scoring with two outs on a single by Donovan Solano. Mauricio Dubon had a two-out RBI single in the 6th, and Ruf started the scoring by driving in Dubon (who reached on a squibber) in the 3rd. Man, what I would give for a two-run homer!
The Giants went into LA with a very high probability of getting thumped, and it sure looked bad after the first two games. Yesterday they showed quite a bit of improvement in their nail-biting win and today all the strings Kapler pulled seemed to pay off. The matchups worked and the Dodgers couldn't get anything going. It was another nail-biter, but it was a win, a big win. The Giants come home after grinding out a split against the consensus best team in the NL. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday!
Off-day tomorrow. The Padres come to town for three starting Tuesday at 6:45 p.m. PDT.
GO GIANTS!
--M.C.
p.s. Jeff Samardzija gets the first start at home.
p.p.s. I forgot to mention Ruf made a catch in LF in the 6th and crashed through the bullpen gate! He made the out, of course. It was a good night for him.
14 comments:
Orioles at Marlins tonight (FLA Home Opener) was cancelled due to a COVID-19 breakout. Eight Marlins players and two coaches tested positive.
No 3-0 starts. Every team has at least one loss.
As usual, the rocks sink to the bottom of the jar. This Country is pathetic. Every other Country that has started up a sports league has managed to pull it off w/ more testing & diminishing cases - in England, during the final week of the Premier League re-start, there were -0- positive tests among Players & Staff. In this Country, where selfishness rules the day, we're 4 days in, & already having to cancel a Game. I'm sure that the stories will start emerging about people on one or both of those Teams leaving their 'bubbles'.
Tomorrow, I will be working at my Office at UCSF - I go in on Tuesdays now. That place is, rightfully, pretty deserted - I run into 2 or 3 people during the course of a day, at an Office where several hundred used to work. However, we have multiple construction projects up & running, w/ very strict protocols in-place, including bio-checks, physical distancing (which includes designation of up & down staircases, to avoid cross-traffic), limiting the # of passengers in personnel lifts to 3 (where, under normal conditions, at least 15 people used to ride together), 100% mask requirements, no carpooling allowed (unless among people who live together), additional personnel on-site for constant cleaning of high touch surfaces, like handrails on staircases, etc., sanitizing of all tools at the beginning & end of each shift, & (here's the key) strict enforcement - you comply, or you go home. So far, w/ tens of thousands of craft hours worked on a few dozen projects, we've had about 5 (asymptomatic) positive tests, & -0- hospitalizations. And, obviously, of the 5 positives, there's no way to know where they got infected.
So, it can be done, but, not if entitled dufuses need to go party at South Beach, & not if dumbasses (one of whom I saw in a Giants' uniform on TV the other day), 'half' wear their masks.
Cancel the 2020 Season; Elect a real Leader in November, who understands National leadership & collective sacrifice; then, if people can get their shit together, try MLB again in 2021.
#2020SeasonisaJoke
We'll see if MLB is up to the task. Everyone was wondering "what happens if the positive tests spike?" and now they get to find out.
I watched a bit of Saturday's game, and was thinking, from a glance at the social-distancing in the dugouts, that COVID could go though a team like wildfire. The Chronicle today reports 12 positive cases among the Marlins' players and coaches.
What Zo said ... ridiculous to see such lackadaisical behavior.
The last Team to play the Marlins was the Phillies. Now, their next Game (against NYY) has been postponed, too.
#2020SeasonisaJoke
How about that NBA guy who was at the strip club? Yikes! Young men with money and fame and too much free time . . .
You'd have to run a league like the Army or something. Everyone in a goddamn dorm with goddamn sergeant blocking the door. I don't know what they are doing in Germany or Korea or whatnot that's different. I assume it is working. I suppose the devil is in the details and I have not paid much attention to those things. I assumed (silly me) that grown men would work those things out.
It would certainly help to have some--only a little, really--leadership at the top, if just to see more co-ordination. Everything has been so ad hoc, everyone has such different priorities, it's been really weird. And disappointing. And a national disgrace. That Guy in the White House is more like fucking Mussolini every day. In fact that's what I'm calling him from now on--fucking Mussolini.
I hope I'm wrong and MLB gets its shit together and this is just a blip.
We'll see.
New English stud fast bowler, Jofra Archer, violated the isolation rules in-between the 1st & 2nd Test Matches against the West Indies. He was immediately dropped, & sent to train in isolation. He did so for 2 weeks, missed the 2nd Test Match, & was allowed to return for the 3rd Test. There are similar stories from the re-start of the Premier League - people who took liberties were immediately reprimanded. It's back to asking people to care about their fellow human beings, instead of being selfish. Some people respond to a reasonable request. Some people grab sub-machine guns & occupy the Michigan Legislature. We need 100% reasonable - 99% won't even get it done.
#2020SeasonisaJoke
Our countries federal government is in control by people who do not understand science or who do choose to not utilize it. When a two year old falls, his/her parents tell him/her that the booboo will go away. Our federal government seemed to have taken the two year old's position on the Covid-19 Pandemic, basically saying that this booboo will just go away. Pathetic. Go Giants.
"If the facts get in the way, get new facts" seems to be fucking Mussolini's method. I like your two-year old and boo-boo analogy. Sad!!
I note that the Marlins "protocol" for deciding if they should play was a "team text message vote." My god, are there no grownups in MLB?
I am up at UCSF Mission Bay Campus on Tuesdays. If I gave a shit, I could stay late after work, walk down the street about a mile, peer through the fence, & watch a ML batting practice & Game. If I gave a shit.
#2020SeasonisaJoke
Sorry Ron but you must have missed the news that they filled in the fence area so folks would not gather close to each other. It is supposedly also causing different wind and air stuff to happen on the field.
I heard something about the Giants closing that off so people wouldn't congregate there. If you gave a shit, you might check that out! :-)
I don't give a shit, so, I missed that news - but, thanks for the info.
#2020SeasonisaJoke
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