G-men subdue M's

SF 6  SEA 5 

The Giants had to take on a team much like themselves and it turned out to be an epic battle. The Mariners, like the Giants, didn't move the needle on anyone's meter this pre-season and both teams were laughably--all too predictably--bad in the early going. But both teams hit a hot streak when all seemed lost and fought back to respectability. In Seattle's case, it was passing two teams to claim third place. For the local lads, it was getting to a .500 record.

Luis Basabe made his Giants debut tonight and made a great catch, just what he was supposed to do. I've been curious about this fellow since we picked him up so let's get some more Basabe-ball! Speaking of doing things to the ball, the Giants hit three homers to claw back from a big deficit and put a hurt on Seattle's winning vibe. Alex Dickerson, Darin Ruf, and Mauricio Dubon (!) were the dinger dudes tonight, but a nice one-two combo by Donovan Solano and Brandon Belt also accounted for some big runs.

Logan Webb gave up five runs in the first three innings but managed to last two more and put up zeros in each. The bullpen then had to deliver and they put up four scoreless to seal the deal. This time it was Caleb Baragar (6th), Tyler Rogers (7th), Jarlin Garcia (8th), and Tony Watson (9th). It was another fine all-around effort! The Giants continue to play better in the field as well and that makes for a winning formula. It would be nice to see them knock a half-run or so off the team ERA, but it is also nice to see them make do with what they have. This team is competitive and puts up a fight in every game and you have to like that.

They are now 22-21 (.512) and in third place in the NL West. Tyler Anderson tomorrow at 6:45 PDT.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Giants Win Slugfest

 SF 10  LA 8  (11)

The San Francisco Giants have four wins against the Los Angeles Dodgers, a team that has lost only nine games. Last night the 3-4-5 hitters, Evan Longoria, Brandon Belt, and Donovan Solano, went 9-16 with 7 runs scored and 8 RBI while the rest of the lineup went 5-for-30 (three by Brandon Crawford) with 11 whiffs. The team was 3-for-22 with runners in scoring position! It was a crazy game: Giants used nine relievers after Johnny Cueto went four innings and overall the ten pitchers threw 199 pitches (122 strikes)!

It was more like a heavyweight boxing match with the Giants as the upstart contender and the Dodgers as the veteran champion. In fact, last night was merely the opening rounds of what promises to be a great three-game fight. In the opening frame, Max Muncy blasted a 3-run homer on a 3-0 pitch (I wonder if pitchers will stop grooving 3-0 pitches now that batters swing at them) but the Giants counter-punched with a 3-run homer of their own in the bottom half. That was the first of two for Brandon Belt, the other was a solo shot off Kenley Jansen that tied the game in the 9th! The Giants trailed in the 9th, 10th, and 11th but still won the game. Donovan Solano had just one hit but it was the game-winning two-run homer, only his second home run of the season.

Seven wins is a row. Kevin Gausman and Clayton Kershaw tonight at 6:45 p.m. PDT.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Giants Blast Past Padres

SF 7  SD 6
I was so wrong about this team! They CAN come back! They CAN hit the big home run! Wow, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around tonight's game. Let's see if we can hit the highlights: Johnny Cueto got hammered. Not much of a highlight--he threw 87 pitches to get 11 outs. Trailing 6-2 after four innings, the Giants used Tyler-power (Anderson and Rogers) to put up zeros from the 5th through the 9th. Meanwhile Alex Dickerson hit a solo homer in the 6th and Donovan Solano hit a three-run game-tying bomb in the 8th to set up Mike Yastrzemski to be the hero. Yaz had homered in the 3rd inning and he wasted no time in launching the game-winner leading off the bottom of the 9th. I did not think this team was capable of such a power surge and I did not think this team could fight back from an early deficit. It is especially gratifying to win a game in which the putative ace of the staff got knocked around. (Let's hope JohnnyC finds his mojo!) Not to mention the Padres threw their ace and he only lasted five innings.

What a great win! It was nice to see Brandon Crawford break out with three hits. He kept the rally going in the 8th before Solano's homer. That blast is the clutch-iest clutch hit of the young season. What a great win. Did I say that already?

The Giants have not announced a starter for tomorrow. The Padres are going with RH Dinelson Lamet who won his last start with five strong innings against the D-Backs on Saturday.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.


update: AmyG says Kevin Gausman is starting tomorrow.

6th inning: 13-5

SF 5  PHI 1
Do you remember the third seasonal inning? Good, you shouldn't. It was a bleak time, the month of May. There was a goddamn seven-game losing streak, for example. Here's a review of the season so far:

1st inning: 8-10
2nd inning: 8-10
3rd inning: 5-13
4th inning: 10-8
5th inning: 11-7 

Here's what I said after the 5th inning:

That brings the team to 42-48, still in last place, but certainly in a better place than before.

And they are in an even better place now. How about 19-6 (.760) in July?

6th inning: 13-5

I remember thinking after that 5-13 stinker that it would be OK if they Giants could pull off a 13-5 inning. And I thought the odds of that were vanishingly small, so small they were no different than zero.

Shows you what I know. They are now 55-53, with 54 left to play.

Tonight in Philadelphia the mostly still-together Giants kicked ass. Jeff Samardzija had another strong outing (6 IP, 3 H, zero runs, 5 K) and the lineup exploded for five runs in the 6th and that was enough. Here's how it went: Yaz walk, Buster homer, pitching change, Panda homer, BCraw single, Pillar homer. That's a Giants half inning for you!

Tony Watson gave up a run in the 7th. Reyes Moronta became the new Sam Dyson and pitched a scoreless 8th. Will Smith handled the 9th despite the four-run lead.

The Giants see Jake Arrieta tomorrow at 10:05 a.m. PDT. The website says TBA for the Giants starter but they just recalled both Dereck Rodriguez and Andrew Suarez, so I'm guessing it will be D-Rod. RHP Jendel Gustave also got called up, I was mistaken about Melvin Adon, he was promoted to AA.

As far as all the trades and other moves, I feel like the Giants threaded the needle. They got some new talent without compromising the core of the team. They even got some salary relief. If this team is truly a "contender" then they are still a contender and yet they improved the roster for the future. And they managed a "rental" second baseman, Scooter Gennett, who was a 4-WAR player last year! If he is healthy he could be a really nice pickup for the stretch run.

I just want the Giants to play winning ball. If they do that, opportunities may emerge. For now, just keep grinding out the wins. And avoid the losing streaks. One series at a time.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.


p.s. I note that the already-formidable Astros got Zack Greinke. That cost them four players! I wonder if the price for MadBum was that high. It doesn't matter, I'm happy the team held on to him.

Two in a row!

3-1 win in SF
Giants beat the Reds and win two in a row for only the second time all season!! The Giants hit TWO HOMERS and they also conjured up a run with small ball to give the bullpen a two-run cushion. For the Giants, that's huge. Now if they could only hit homers with men on base  . . . but I'm not complaining, the Giants won the goddamn game. Nice to see Matt Moore deliver a strong start. Jeff Samardzija tomorrow.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

7 4 1 1 2 3 ND

SF 2  KC 1 (11)
The Giants won an agonizing extra-inning torture-fest in Kansas City. That's a big story, the wins have been a little sparse lately. But the real story was a brilliant effort by Giants starter Matt Cain. He gave up a couple of hard-hit balls early but quickly found his repertoire and other than a solo shot by rookie Whit Merrifield in the 5th he was in command and got stronger as he went on. He got pulled after seven and 86 pitches. What a superb job on the road against a tough lineup! The team's failure to support him with runs was a familiar old tale. Matt Cain pitched well--that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

It was a painful game as the Giants blew multiple chances to open things up. This lineup has a tough time getting big hits, and could use an occasional homer. They ultimately broke through with two outs on no one on in the 11th when Nick Hundley's double was followed by Joe Panik's single. There have not been many chances so far to give the ball to the closer, but he got the call in the bottom half. Mark Melancon gave up two hits but got the job done with three strikeouts and the Giants had a huge win. All the relievers made it difficult; the Royals had eight baserunners in the final four frames.

Bruce Bochy had a medical procedure and was not in the house, he'll join the team Friday. Ron Wotus had managing duties.

Madison Bumgarner tomorrow. GO GIANTS!

--M.C.


p.s. I neglected to mention that Buster Posey was in the lineup as the DH and got three hits. That's good news!

The Trevor Brown Story

7-2 win in Colorado
Jeff Samardzija has to get at least an aside here: he pitched a damn fine game. And he struck out Rockies rookie phenom Trevor Story three times! But this is The Trevor Brown Story. The young catcher got a start because Buster Posey had a bruised foot and he made the most of it, blasting two* 2-run homers to lead the attack. His first off starter Tyler Chatwood in the 6th made a 3-2 lead a 5-2 lead. His second off reliever Jason Gurka in the 8th made it 7-2. The backup backstop is a 10th-round pick from the 2012 June draft. He played college ball, like Brandon Crawford, at UCLA. He made his debut last September. Hunter Pence was the other lineup beast, also hitting a 2-run homer and notching 3 RBI.

Giants starter Jeff Samardzija probably should have come away with only one run allowed as Angel Pagan missed a pop fly to left that fell for a single. He called off BCraw but then could not make the play. The other run came in on a double play. The Shark retired the final nine on 24 pitches. The tally was 31 batters faced over 8 innings (111 pitches), 6 hits, 2 walks, 5 whiffs. That's what we like to see. Once again he couldn't rely on his splitter/forkball much but he had great command of his heater. He was popping 95 on the gun and locating it nicely. George Kontos finished up. Winning on the road is always good, winning in Denver is even better. Goofy stuff happens to the Giants in Coors Field. And the damn place chews up pitching staffs, so tonight's win was a great way to start the road trip.

Jake Peavy tomorrow at 5:40 Pacific and Matt Cain Thursday at 12:10.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

p.s. Who, you ask, leads the team in dingers? Why, rookie catcher Trevor Brown does, with *three!

p.p.s. Just when you thought there would be no more photos, here's another (the last, I promise):