Sigh of Relief

The Giants pulled one out.  They beat those tough, tough Oakland Athletics in the final of their 4 game, home-and-away 2016 series by a score of 12 - 6.

Madison Bumgarner on the hill.  He also hit, which, as it was in an American League ballpark, says a lot about the tattered state of the Giants right now.  When this game started, my first thought was "OMG, our hopes lie with Ruben Tejada?"  but then my second thought was "Madison better damn well not get himself hurt."  Even that Pena guy is banged up.  The Giants also brought up a River Cat named Grant Greene.  So, 2 newbies and a rook for the G's.

Madison was not sharp.  Fortunately, the Giants decided to do some offense tonight - they seem to do that about every other game and tonight there was enough so that the mighty A's couldn't overwhelm them.  Madbum went 6 1/3 innings, threw 104 pitches, walked no one and struck out 4.  He also gave up 4 runs, all earned, on 7 hits.  The first of those came in the 1st inning, a solo shot to Marcus Semien (his 16th, so at least he is a legit hitter).  The Giants came roaring back in the 3rd, initiated by Madbum's lead-off double.  Then, a walk to Span, a single by Pagan and a ground rule double over the center field wall by Belt gave the Giants 2 runs.  A homer by Posey made it 5 - 1 and a solo shot by Crawford made it 6 - 1.  The Giants tacked on 2 in the 4th, rbi's by Pagan and Crawford.  They seemed to know better than to think the bullpen could hold a 5 run lead.  Good thing, too, as the swingin' A's scored 1 in the bottom of the 4th, then homered for 2 more in the 7th, the end of Madbum's night.

The Giants tacked on 4 more in the 9th on a Crawford single, 5 walks and a Belt single.  The A's added 2 in the bottom of the 9th off of Derek Law, who is still very much a work in progress.  So a sloppy game, again, but a victory this time.  9 more games against Arizona and Colorado before the All Star break.  Arizona's been good to the Giants so far, maybe that can continue.  They'll need the remaining core: Span, Angel, Posey, Belt and Craw, to continue to hit.  The Giants have gone 3 - 4 in the last 7 games.  Amazingly, LA in that time has picked up exactly 0 games (heh, heh).

Giants get clobbered again

13-11 loss at home
No do-overs in this game, I suppose. Giants bullpen fell apart completely last night and the A's scored eight runs in the last two innings to grab another win. Those are the first back-to-back losses for San Francisco since they lost three straight June 4-7. In between they were 14-3, so I can't get too upset. The team will have its ups and downs. Speaking of downs, it seems Joe Panik may have a concussion from the beaning he took in Tampa Bay ten days ago and will likely go on the DL.

Giants have eight more games left on this twenty-game stretch without a break. Their first off-day is Thursday, July 7th. Then it's three more and the All-Star Break. Bit of a grind for the lads, I imagine. Let's see if they can make a good run of it.

Jake Peavy in Oakland tonight. GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Giants Get Spanked

8-3 loss in SF
Dr. Jeff and Mr. Samardzija have been battling it out lately for control of number 29. The Dr. has good stuff and uses it effectively to rack up quality innings and lead the team to wins. The other guy serves up BP and gets whiplash watching screaming liners and soaring bombs fly off bats. Sometimes both guys play in the same game. You can guess who mostly showed up tonight. The Giants couldn't get much going off Oakland starter Daniel Mengden and the A's had a lopsided win. It's been a couple of weeks since the Giants got handed their hats like that. Let's hope that's the trend for the rest of the season--lots of wins bunched around occasional losses!

Three more games with the A's: Suarez tomorrow night in SF, then Peavy and Bumgarner in Oakland the next two nights.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Vlog #18 "Who Were Those Frigging Guys?"

8-7 win vs. Phi 

The Giants just barely scraped out a series win against the lowly Phillies AND JohnnyC didn't really do much to help. Three one run games that took everything we got and made both our aces look very human.  Just shows you that any team can be tough any day.  Luckily our beloved Giants are tough almost everyday.

Win #49. Best in baseball.  Kershaw lost!  We be up by EIGHT!  Check out another Vlog of joy below:


Vlog #18 "Who Are Those Frigging Guys?"

Bum Luck

Giants lost today, 3 - 2.  Madison Bumgarner got little run support, again.  Madison gave up 0 runs and only 2 hits in his first 6 innings, but got shakey in the 7th.  A few more hits, including a home run.  Couple that with an offense that didn't come through, and the Gints could not  pull out a win

  
Is Madison becoming 2016's hard luck pitcher?  He's 8 - 4, and really should probably have 11 wins.  But the Giants retain their lead over LA.

Giants Pull Out Another One

5-4 win at home
It only took 22 pitches from closer Santiago Casilla to get the final two outs. That was spread out over five batters, mind you. And the final out required a replay review (he was clearly out). This was after a three-reliever 8th in which seven batters saw 31 pitches and scored two runs to make a 5-2 game into a 5-4 nail-biter. Just another ho-hum Giants squeaker. Brandon Belt gets the hitting star honors with a 3-run double in the 7th to overcome a 2-1 deficit--it was a home run anywhere but San Francisco. That man is hitting the cover off the ball: his current line is .305/.410/.537 which is good for a .947 OPS and third-best among first basemen behind only Anthony Rizzo and Paul Goldschmidt. (His 2.2 WAR ties him for fourth-best with Miguel Cabrera.)

Jake Peavy had another solid effort on the hill. When a team can get that kind of performance from the bottom end of the rotation that's very encouraging. The lads trailed most of the game but staged a four-run rally off the Phillies bullpen to win it. That's 12 of the last 14 and 15 of 21 in the month of June. Giants have 48 wins, tied for the most in the majors.

Madison Bumgarner tomorrow night.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.


p.s. Giants are 31-9 in their last 40 games, their best stretch of 40 games since 1954.

Comeback

7-6 win in Pittsburgh
Giants starter Jeff Samardzija followed up his most impressive start (CG 4-hitter) of the season with his least impressive (3 IP, 3 HR, 6 R) but the Giants clawed their way back from the early deficit and pulled out a win. The mercurial righty has three starts this month, other than the gem, with a combined 12-2/3 and 14 runs allowed. He's seems to be a very on-off character, alternating between ass-kicking beast and gopher-ball machine. I reckon over the long haul he'll deliver more positives than negatives and we'll get lots of quality innings, but last night was ugly, his shortest outing so far.

Ramiro Peña, he of the who-dat club, clubbed two big hits to get the comeback going. BCraw added two hits, as did D-Span, and Joe Panik had a big two-RBI double. The 'pen (Law-Strickland-Osich-Gearrin-Casilla) delivered six scoreless on a mere four hits punctuated by nine whiffs. It's take a village sometimes!

Peña is a 30-year old utilityman from Monterrey, Mexico whose last stint in the bigs was two years ago in Atlanta. Last season he made two stops: one in El Paso with the PCL Chihuahuas (San Diego) and another in Culiacán with the Tomateros of the Mexican Pacific League. That's right, they are the Tomato Growers. Check out their logo:

That's awesome. The "minor" leagues have the best team names. Welcome back to the bigs, Ramiro, and keep slugging .692!

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

4th inning: 12-6

The Giants have played 72 games (winning 45) and have 90 remaining. They have completed 4/9 (about 44%) of their season. Here's the tally so far:

1st inning: 8-10
2nd inning: 10-8
3rd inning: 15-3
4th inning: 12-6

You have to like 27-9 (.750) over the last two innings! Overall the club has the third-best record in baseball behind the Cubs and the Rangers. Their 5-1/2 game lead is also the third-best.

The Giants are scoring 4.57 runs per game, that's 11th of 30 teams and a few nicks above the 4.40 league-wide average. The Giants are allowing 3.71 runs per game which is fifth-best behind the Cubs, Mets, Dodgers, and Nationals. Those five teams have the best records in the NL--big surprise. If the Giants can continue to pitch well they should be in good shape for the rest of the season.

FanGraphs projects the Giants to finish 93-69 and gives them a 62% chance to win the division, just in case you were interested.

--M.C.

Vlog #17 "Wedding Present Win"

15-4 win at Pit 

Today was the truly beautiful occasion of Stephani and Matt's wedding.  The glowing couple are dear friends of many of us here at RMC. So what do you get such a nice couple?   How about another JohnnyC (11-1) win and an explosive offense (22 hits!).

Vlog 17 "Wedding Present Win"

Giants Win Streak Pirated

Madison Bumgarner threw a typical Madison Bumgarner type game today:  8 IP, 105 pitches, 8 K, 5 hits, 1 run and 2 BB.  He was as strong in the last inning as he was in the first.  The only problem was, to win a game, you have to score at least 1 run.  The Giants could not.  The Pirates broke the Giants' win streak with a 1 - 0 victory.

Jeff Locke does not have nearly the gaudy numbers that Madbum does, but you'd have to say that he outpitched him.  In 6 2/3 innings, he gave up 5 hits, but no runs.  No walks, 3 K.  No more than 1 Giant was on the bases at any time.  Relievers were adequate to hold the line at 0, Brandon Belt got a hit in the 9th off of the Pirates' closer Mark Melancon, but he was erased on a double play because he assumed Buster Posey's shot to the corner was a hit when it was run down by Gregory Polanco.

It was nearly a scoreless game into the 9th.  The Pirates solo run came in the 5th when Eric Kratz hit a fly ball near the left field line.  Angel Pagan lept, snagged the ball over the fence and then dropped it as he came down.  The guys on tv seemed to imply that the play was about Angel dropping the ball, I think that it would have been an absolutely stunning play for him to pull it back for an out.  But still, it's not like the Giants scored.   Jon may have jinxed it. 

Make that Eight

5-1 win in Tampa Bay
And an 11-5 record for the month! Jake Peavy and the Giants looked like clowns in the opening frames then seemed to find their groove and that kept things close and eventually they prevailed with a four-run rally in the 8th inning. That's eight straight wins for the second time this season! Here's a tidbit from Baggs:

It is the best 35-game stretch in the franchise’s San Francisco era.

(Emphasis mine.) Wow. Who knew? That's crazy! 27-8 is a .771 win percentage. I thought there would have been an .800 streak (28 wins) in there at some point, even over 35 games, but apparently not. Regardless, that's a hell of a thing. Way to go, Giants!

Madison Bumgarner takes on the slumping Pirates tomorrow at PNC Park, 4:10 Pacific.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Seven in a row

6-4 win at the Trop'
Joe Panik smashed a two-out three-run homer in the 9th to break a 3-3 tie and the Giants prevailed in Tampa Bay. The Rays hit four solo shots--including one in the 9th--but the Giants, undaunted, kept chipping away and finally got the big blow. Matt Duffy had his own solo shot to start the Giants scoring and they added a single run in the 5th and another in the 8th to tie it and that set the stage for Panik's blast. The Rays clubbed the ball off Hunter Strickland in the bottom of the 8th but could not plate a run, echoing a similar frustration by the Giants who were 3-14 with runners in scoring position and seemed unable to get a game-breaking hit. Albert Suarez had a tough time and did not get out of the 4th, but five Giants relievers got it done. The team is now 10-5 for the month of June.

Of note to Giants fans, Tim Lincecum pitched effectively over in Oakland and helped the Angels win in his return to the majors. He looks weird in red.

Jake Peavy gets his turn in the getaway game tomorrow, 10:10 Pacific.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Samardzija!

5-1 win in Tampa Bay
After a run of five scintillating starts--six runs allowed in 38-1/3 innings--Jeff Samardzija put up a trio of stinkers--thirteen runs allowed in 14-2/3 innings--and cast a bit of doubt about what was to come. But tonight the man they call The Shark sank his teeth into the Tampa Bay Rays and finished them off with a complete game four-hitter that seemed destined to be a shutout. Such hopes were cruelly dashed by a two-out two-strike homer by Brad Miller. It takes nothing away from the effort by the big righty. A complete game is a rare and special thing these days, something to savor. The shutout, even rarer, was tantalizingly close. I think we all felt kicked in the gut--Samardzija included--when that ball cleared the fence. Nice work, Jeff!

Giants keep the good vibes going with their 42nd win.

Albert Suarez gets the ball tomorrow, not Jake Peavy. Ol' Jake tweaked his neck, it seems. Santiago Casilla is on paternity leave, Steven Okert takes his spot. The game is at 1:10 Pacific.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Vlog 16 "Coastal Cueto"

10-1 win vs Mil 

I am on a lovely vacation but that has not stopped our determined boys From ripping off another 5 game win streak.  Life is tough.

Vlog 16 "Coastal Cueto"

Cold Brewed

Giants win a squeaker, 3 - 2.

Madison Bumgarner on the hill.  Maddy had not given up as many as 2 runs in his last 6 starts.  The Brewers are a team of sluggers, though, and managed to chalk up 2 runs on only 4 hits.

Quite the contrast to the Giants, who managed to run up only 3 runs on 12 hits, and left 12 men in scoring position for the game.  They also drew 4 walks.  On a percentage efficiency basis, you might say the Brewers prevailed, but fortunately for the Giants, you win based on run totals.  So it was a 3 - 2 victory.  Much of the game did not seem nearly that close.  The Giants kept banging out hits, and you kind of knew that they would start piling up runs like they did last night, except that really didn't happen much.

Buster Posey was on base 4 times, all singles.  His bat is heating up.  He scored once, as did Joe Panik and Angel Pagan.  Angel also had a hit and an rbi to mark his return from rehabbing an injured hamstring.  Gregor Blanco got himself on the hits board with 2 (and he needed them) and might have had a chance at another had he not been prematurely rung up on a ball that he foul tipped.  You could hear the tip on tv, but apparently the umpire couldn't, and you can't appeal that call.

Madbum picked up his 8th victory in 113 pitches in 8 innings.  Maddy gave up the 2 runs, 4 hits, one of which was a home run to Jonathan Lukroy.  He struck out 8 and walked 1, and got 1 hit, a single.  Santiago Casilla picked up a save.  He blew through the first 2 batters, until Ryan Braun gave him a battle that ended in a strikeout on the 11th pitch. 

The Giants pick up their 4th win in a row and their 5th out of their last 6.  Pretty good for a team that has seemingly been struggling and dealing with bad news.  Here is some more.  Belt left the game, but is probably OK.  A lot of discussion lately about the bullpen, so I thought I would look up some stats.  Going back to a little before the beginning of June, at the start of the Atlanta series, the bullpen has thrown 41 innings and given up 15 runs.  That is a 3.29 era.  Not lights out, but not too bad.  In that time period, the Giants have won 8 and lost 6.  3 of those losses were due to the team falling behind while the starter was on the mound, 3 were the fault of the pen.  2 were Casilla and 1 was a combo of Law and Casilla.  Casilla looked good tonight, though.

Johnny C on the mound tomorrow afternoon, then a day off before taking on the Tampa Bay Rays.

Giants Batter Brewers

11-5 win at home
Denard Span opened the scoring with a booming homer that hit the water and he laid down a perfect bunt single in his next at bat that went perhaps fifty feet. It was a nice display of versatility by the veteran lefty leadoff man. The Giants went on to score a bunch and that was good as Matt Cain struggled in his return from the DL. The big righty had trouble throwing strikes (he walked in two runs) but otherwise looked healthy and moved around well. The hammy is fine it seems, now it's time to conquer the mechanical issues and find that old pitching rhythm. All the Giants starters had at least one hit and either an RBI or run scored except Jarrett Parker who walked twice. The youngster had some scary moments in left field but hung in there and made some plays as well. He's really slumping (.189/.283/.396) lately, but a platoon role is tough, perhaps with time he'll find his stroke.

Angel Pagan should be back this week. Maybe that will dispel the rumors of the Giants going after Ryan Braun. He has supposedly been linked to all the teams the Brewers have played lately! I don't see the Giants making a big move for a marquee player unless they really slump and the race tightens. With LA losing last night it's now a six-game lead. Infielder Ruben Tejada, Chase Utley's slide victim in last year's post-season, just signed a minor-league deal with the team.

MadBum gets the ball tonight as Giants go for their 40th win.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Peavy, Belt Lead Giants

2-1 win at home
Dodgers young southpaw Julio Urias showed some impressive stuff (7 K) in his 5-1/3 but he also gave up a two-run homer to Giants lefty stud Brandon Belt and that was the difference in the game. Giants take the finale and get two of three from the Dodgers over the weekend series, losing only to a Clayton Kershaw start. Pretty impressive for a banged up lineup and a shaky bullpen, wouldn't you say?

Starter Jake Peavy had arguably his second-best outing of the season and he could not have timed it better. Giants improve to 5-5 for the month of June and serve notice that they shan't be swooning any time soon. At least that's what we hope. Notable today was the homer yielded by Hunter Strickland to make a 2-0 game 2-1 in the 7th, but he finished the inning without another blemish. That's his first long ball allowed for 2016. We had a Felipean 8th, with three relievers (Kontos-Osich-Gearrin) needed for the three outs, but they kept it together, and Lopez and Casilla had a blemish-free 9th and that was that. Also notable was Peavy's diving attempt at a putout at first base on a grounder to the right side in the 6th. Utley was safe, but it was a damn impressive effort, especially for an old fart. Way to give your all for the team, man.

Matt Cain goes tomorrow.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Buster!

5-4 win in 10 at home
Buster Posey played hero this afternoon and belted a single on an 0-1 pitch from Kenley Jansen with one out in the 10th to score Joe Panik and give the Giants a dramatic walk-off win. It was looking bleak for the home squad who endured another shaky Shark start, but this one at least was close, tied 2-2 after five. It took EIGHT more pitchers, including five in the fateful 7th to give up the tying run after the Giants had edged ahead 3-2. Rookie Chris Stratton, last man, gave up what seemed at the time the homer of doom to give LA a 4-3 lead in the 10th. But in the bottom half the Giants strung four hits together (Span, Panik, Belt, Posey) off the Dodgers über-closer to score two and get a much-needed win.

Did I say how much the team needed this win? The Giants go to 4-5 for June meaning the needle hasn't dipped to Swoon yet, still hovering between Swoonish and Swoon-like. Plenty of time to turn it around. Man, that's three incredible games in a row! Did you see this comeback coming? I sure didn't. What a great, cathartic win for the club and equally for the fans. I think we needed this one, eh lads?

Let's see if they can make it two out of three tomorrow. It's at 5:30 Pacific and we'll get to see their teen phenom, Julio Urias. Jake Peavy goes for the good guys.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Vlog #15 A Waste of Johnny

3-2 loss to LA

The Giants got another gem from JohnnyC but it came at a tough time. By that I mean at the end of an era of great SF Giants bullpens. Can we no longer count on quality relief?  Is it time to do something?

Vlog #15 A Waste of Johnny

Anemic, but Enough for Tonight

Normally, there is a lot to say about Madison Bumgarner when he pitches.  Tonight, there was a story and he was not the headliner.  Mac Williamson was the hero, and almost the goat in the same game.  In the 8th, he hit a go-ahead solo home run with the game tied at 1 each to give the Giants a 2 - 1 lead, and then, in left, had a ball clang off of his glove for an error, putting HanRam (or whatever they call him now) on 2nd to start off the 9th.  That was his first major league home run!

Not that Madbum didn't play a part and pitch well.  Well, although maybe not as well as he had been throwing lately.  Effective, although not efficient.  Madison was matched up against David Price for the Botox, ace against ace.  Madison matched Price, although it took him some effort, like a 30+ pitch 4th inning that limited his night to 6 innings.  In those 6, he threw 101 pitches, struck out 5, walked 1 and gave up 4 hits.  David Price went 8, threw 107 pitches, struck out 7 Giants, walked 2 and only allowed 3 hits.

Price was the only pitcher for Boston.  The Giants, after Bumgarner, used Derek Law for the 7th (1 hit), Cory Gearrin for the 8th (0 hits), and three pitchers to get through the 9th, Casilla, Lopez (1 BB) in a reprise of the Big Papi showdown from last night, and Strickland.  Phew!  Did I mention that the Giants won this one, 2 - 1?  All the scoring was from home runs with the bases empty.  Madbum gave up one to Chris Young in the 4th, and Price gave up one to Brandon Belt in the bottom of the 4th.  Honorable mention to the only other Giant to get a hit on the night, Matt Duffy.

Brandon Belt looked better than I have seen him for awhile.   He looked like he had a clue at the plate and was hitting the ball with authority.  That's necessary, with Pence and Pagan out.

That was, in spite of the fact that Madbum gave us only 6 innings, a beautiful pitching duel.   And you know what makes it even better?  The doggers lost 1 - 0 behind Maeda.  The Giants get a day off before Kershaw and Cueto face off Friday night.

Giants Blow Lead Again

5-3 loss in SF
A fine effort by Emergency Man™ Albert Suárez was wasted and the Giants lost their third straight game in which they held the lead. I think he gets the 2016 Yusmeiro Petit Award. Premature, I know, but I'm felling it. It's a bit worrisome, this bullpen thing, and equally bad is this lack of the killer blow, the coup de grâce as it were. The Giants had, three times now, their opponent down and ready to be finished off, and each time they surrendered their lead and lost the game. Yes, the Sox are a good team. But this was one that got away. Nice to see Jarrett Parker get another homer as well as a clutch hit off Craig Kimbrel to try to start a rally in the 10th. Giants are in a bit of a funk and need to kick some ass.

Madison Bumgarner goes tomorrow night. That ought to help.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Big Homestand

 

The punchless Giants not only gave up leads but could not mount any sort of comeback threat in St. Louis and lost the final two games of their ten-game road trip to finish 5-5. They get two much-needed off days this week but in the midst of that have to play two very good teams. The Boston Red Sox lead the universe in offense, averaging almost six runs per game. The under-performing Los Angeles Dodgers have won 10 of their last 14 and are the only threat to the Giants in the West as Colorado, Arizona, and San Diego are all playing sub-.500 ball. Even the Milwaukee Brewers can't be taken lightly--the Giants lost two games to the woeful Atlanta Braves, after all.

After a ferocious May the Giants find themselves a little flat to start the month of June. One-third of the season is over and things are starting to shake out in the pennant races. As expected both the New York Mets and Washington Nationals are leaders in the East, but the upstart Miami Marlins are also making some noise. In the Central the Chicago Cubs are still playing .700 ball and leading by a lot, but both the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals are, as expected, still in the hunt. The usual suspects--LA and SF--are the powers to contend with in the West. That's eight teams with 30 or more wins, the weakest at .526 or an 85-win pace. That's not a dogfight, that's a battle royal. We'll see who holds up over the next one-third of the season.

The Dodgers have crept back to within 3-1/2 games so this weekend's series should have more than the usual intensity. FanGraphs has a "projected standings" feature and they list the Giants right now to win the West with a 91-71 record the Dodgers to finish second at 90-72! We've know all along that the West race was going to be a long, hard grind. Well, this is grind-it-out time. Giants need to gird their loins for the big homestand that starts tomorrow night. Let's hope we see a little more pop from the lineup and a little better execution from the bullpen. Otherwise, we got 'em right where we want 'em.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Special Report from St. Louis

I was in St. Louis last week, for a cousin's wedding over the Memorial Day weekend, and when I was booking plane tickets, I thought I might just look at the Cardinals' schedule and see if they were in town, and sure enough, they were!  And playing the Giants no less!  I have seen the Cardinals in 2 other stadia in St. Louis (I am old enough to remember seeing Stan Musial rove left field in Sportsman's Park), but had not seen a game in the new Busch stadium.  And here it is from the south:

The Cardinals have won 11 World Series Championships, more than any other team except the Yankees.  But 11 is do-able for the Giants, don't you think?  Friday, June 3 was overcast and there were slight sprinkles throughout the day, but in St. Louis in the summertime, that is not a bad thing.  It was a perfect 75 degrees at game time, and did not cool off more than a few degrees by midnight.   The ballpark is right downtown as was the big, round, 1966 Busch Memorial Stadium.  In fact, they had to tear down that stadium to finish this one for the 2006 season.  The out of town scoreboard from the last game at Busch Memorial is on display in the concourse.  Here we are with Stan the Man Musial and my cousin Kelly:

They have a bunch of little statues, too.  As you may be able to tell from my posts, I love pitching.  And here I am with Bob Gibson:

And here is Akemi with George Sisler, a St. Louis guy with the hits record that was broken by Ichiro Suzuki:

In the background, you can see Ball Park Village.  They have a bunch of bars, which all seem to serve Anheuser-Busch products, and restaurants.  It is a hoppin' place.  For fun, you can stand on the balcony overlooking the central room and pick out the Giants' fans.

Our seats turned out to be pretty good, and they didn't seem as expensive as at the Phone.  Maybe resellers just aren't as greedy as in San Francisco.

The stadium is bigger than ours, and much more spacious (as are almost all stadiums).  It seats 46,000, and there were a good number of empty seats.  I did not sense the energy that is in ATT at every game.  The Cardinals have had a rough start this year, the cubs are 9.5 games up on them (in 2nd place) this morning and my cousins characterize this year's club as "beating the bad teams and losing to the good teams."  Still, you look at their line-up and see a bunch of good, powerful hitters.  Their pitching has not been as good as they would like.  Adam Wainwright is their #1, and he has struggled, although he looked pretty good last night.  Wainwright struck out 6 Giants, mostly fooled by his big loopy curve.  Cardinals fans are NOT fond of Johnny Cueto.  Here's why.  Still, the booing was pretty unimpressive as he was introduced, a bit better when he took his first at-bat.  And here is his first pitch:

Great seats, and the Redbird Club, right behind us has the best food in the stadium (which is not saying much compared to the Phone's offerings.  The seats are cushiony, and we were right under the announcers!  I could lean forward and see Flem's head!   Here is a picture of our view at twilight, as I sat there perfectly comfortable in my 2012 Championship T-shirt:

And finally, the best picture of all, just after the final out:

Vlog #14 "Grinder Johnny"

5-1 win in StL 

Just when you were getting bored with another Johnny Cueto victory, he figured out a NEW WAY to win.  Which means I actually had to make a new vlog....I considered the idea of just submitting a rerun to see if anyone would notice,  check it out below:

Vlog 14 "Grinder Johnny"

Pence Out, Madbum On

Hunter Pence was placed on the Disabled List before today's game, but Madison Bumgarner feels like he "found the delivery he has been missing for a year and a half" accrding to Charles Odum at AP.  Maddy's line:  7 2/3 innings, 11 K, 4 hits, 2 walks, and 0 runs.  And... a 2-run shot to help in the 6 - 0 Giants victory.

Hunter Strickland and Chris Stratton fimished the game and Joe Panik and Buster Posey each hit 2-run home runs.  Witout Hunter, we need Buster, and now is a great time for him to get hot.  The Cardinals have been feeling their oats lately.