SF 9 ATL 4
The Giants get the road trip started in style with a big win over the Braves. I was at our local watering hole and had my back to the TV and by the time I turned around it was two-zip Atlanta. I had little to worry about though as our boys responded with a six-spot. Yep, they sent ten men up to bat and plated six of them. I like those kinds of innings. Which brings me to a technical point. What does "batting around" mean to you? Is it nine men sent to the plate with the tenth, the first batter of the inning, in the on-deck circle? After all, the home team sent their entire lineup up to bat. That's batting around, isn't it? Or, do you think it requires ten plate appearances, that is, the first batter of the inning has to be in the box? (What if there is the third out on a pickoff before a pitch is thrown to the tenth man?) A semantic quibble, to be sure.
What I am sure about is that this Giants team is putting together a nice run. After stumbling to twelve losses in the first twenty games the club is 9-3 for a sizzling .750 and an overall 17-15 clip. You do that five times and you're at 85 wins. I think this team is capable of a better finish than that. It's going to depend a lot on the injuries, of course, and the young arms like Stratton, Blach, Suarez, and someone from the Moronta-Johnson-Snelten nexus. Or so it seems. The main thing is that the Giants kicked ass on the road tonight, and you have to like that.
--M.C.
5 comments:
In answer to your question, yes.
I was wondering why Will Smith's run was earned. An error in center enabled the runner to take second base on a single. then on a fly to right the runner advanced to third. Would not have advanced to third without the error. Then On a fly ball, was sacrifice flied home. All this set up by an error. No error, no run. Does not seem fair that this goes against Smith, especially when the error was already charged.
The box score on Gameday shows the run correctly as unearned. Where did you see it listed wrongly as earned?
Whether earned or un-earned the runs still get added to the tally! Right now the Giants are at 135 RA or 12th in MLB (9th in NL). Just about smack-dab "average." Take out some of those lopsided losses and they look a little better. We'll see if the youngsters can hold it together. I did not expect to see the team so dependent on inexperienced starters, but maybe this emergency youth movement will turn out to be good. Veterans Watson and Smith are both adding some potency to the 'pen, Smith finally getting to do his thing and Watson a really nice surprise pickup (not sure why LA let him go).
Seems as if the giants left the Planet Krypton, and flew across the continent in their space ship, and now have super hitting powers with exposure to the Atlanta Sun. I guess the heavy gravity of Pac Bell has kept the giants hitting down, and now when they land in a place where they have their powers back, they can hit once again as if it were Spring Training in Scottsdale. Their powers however have taken away some of the finesse in the field, as errors are abounding, but a good time to make some errors when the offense is playing with super powers. Giants, agents of Shield.
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