Chad Pinder led off the game with a home run and that was all she wrote. Both teams got excellent pitching after that point and the Giants were shut out for the first time this season. Jakob Junis was superb once again with five scoreless frames and striking out six. The Giants are off today. The Nationals come to San Francisco for a three-game set. Alex Wood gets the ball Friday at 7:15 Pacific.
Go Giants!
--M.C.
The Giants got two three-run homers, one in the 3rd from Wilmer Flores and one in the 7th from Austin Slater, and with another big start (6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 9 K) from Carlos Rodón the A's were roundly defeated. The Giants move into first place by percentage points as the Dodgers lose in Arizona. Only the 14-5 Mets have a better record in MLB.
The team's slash line (.238/.312/.392) doesn't look like much but an OPS of .704 is well above MLB's .675 average. Yes, it's a slow year for offense. There's some suggestion that the new ball with its looser windings, designed to suppress homers, is working a little too well. Also all the teams are required to have humidors now and there's an idea that the balls shrink a bit in transit from the factory and then swell up again when moistened. The swelling isn't uniform and it raises the seams which helps pitchers. That's all speculation at this point. Maybe it's just the colder weather. Regardless, offense is way down across the game.
The Giants make the most of their attack and lead MLB with 91 runs scored. That's 5.06 rpg, just behind the Dodgers at 5.24 (they've played one less game). The Giants have allowed only 46 runs or 2.56 rpg. That's again second to LA (43R, 2.53 rpg). If you score twice as many runs as you allow, or perhaps it is better to say if you allow only half as many runs as you score, you are doing something right.
In nine "innings" of baseball last season the Giants went 13-5 only once and that was in the "ninth" or final 18-game stretch of the year. They have literally "picked up where they left off" in 2021!
I continue to be astonished by this team.
Sam Long is once again listed as the opener for tonight's game.
Go Giants!
--M.C.
Rookie Luis González hit his first big league home run--a towering two-run blast--and that powered a dramatic late-inning victory over the Brewers in Milwaukee. Corbin Burnes was as good as advertised, allowing only two hits and whiffing eleven in his 6-2/3 innings of work. The Giants were patient against him despite the lack of results and pushed up the pitch count and forced Craig Counsell to go to his bullpen. Trevor Gott gave up a two-run homer to Joc Pederson in the 8th to turn the game around in the Giants favor but Jake McGee gave up a solo shot to Willy Adames in the bottom half and the Brewers tied it back up. That gave Lu-Gone a chance to be a hero in the 9th and he launched his winner off Jake Cousins. I suppose the Giants were fortunate to miss closer Josh Hader and set-up man Devin Williams who had both worked the previous two games for Milwaukee.
Speaking of bullpens the Giants relief corps delivered another tremendous effort. Sam Long opened and put up a zero in the 1st. He was followed by Dominic Leone who unfortunately sandwiched a bad pickoff throw between two infield singles and the Brewers took a 1-0 lead in the 2nd. It looked like that would be enough but the Giants kept battling. John Brebbia took the 3rd and 4th, Zack Littell the 5th, José Álvarez the 6th, and Yunior Marte had a sterling eight-pitch 7th. McGee couldn't hold the lead in the 8th but Camilo Doval saved it in the 9th. Overall the 'pen allowed five hits and two runs with only one walk and nine strikeouts. Both Brandon Crawford and Thairo Estrada made big plays up the middle to help their guys out. Once again we saw a total team effort. That's four wins in a row, an 8-3 road trip, and a 12-5 (.706) record.
The A's come to San Francisco tomorrow and Carlos Rodón takes the hill at 6:45 Pacific.
Go Giants!
--M.C.
Joc Pederson has 16 hits so far this season and five of them are homers. He hit two big ones today and finished with a 3 3 3 3 line. In typical Giants fashion he was pulled for a pinch-hitter in the 9th to get the platoon advantage--Austin Slater vs. LHP--as well as a better OF glove for the end of the game. Only in San Francisco do you rack up ten total bases and then sit down! But the method works and the players all buy in to it. Slater got two ABs in the nutty, six-run final frame including a two-RBI hit. Wilmer Flores had three RBI-singles and I wanted to say that he showed his usual brio, or panache, but he's so placid and stoic that neither word applies. I guess I'll stick with "clutch."
Logan Webb was a little off-kilter early but left with a 6-3 lead in the 7th. The Nats still had a chance but José Álvarez got Juan Soto to ground out to end the inning and the remarkable Tyler Rogers put up a zero in the 8th. You just have to keep marveling at Rogers. He made Soto look bad in yesterday's game and that's no mean feat. Giants pitchers really kept a lid on the young superstar over the course of the series.
The Giants are 11-5 and still have a lot of guys hitting below their weight. It was nice to see Jason Vosler rap out a couple of hits. Mike Yastrzemski tested positive for COVID and will be unavailable for an indefinite period so the team will need Vos' LH stick.
Last year's Cy Young Award recipient Corbin Burnes gets the start in Milwaukee tomorrow in that weird one-game schedule quirk. It's at 3:10 Pacific. Giants have yet to announce a starter/opener. Burnes is a beast so it will be a tough challenge. The team comes home for two against the A's followed by an off-day Thursday. This is the longest road trip of the season--eleven games. They've won seven of the first ten.
Go Giants!
--M.C.
Alex Wood was cruising along until two outs in the 5th when he gave up two runs and had to face Juan Soto with a man on. He whiffed the young star and saved his start. The Giants bullpen took over and shut down the Nationals, allowing only three hits and striking out four over the last four frames. It was another big inning--a four-run top of the 5th--that made the difference. Austin Slater had a hit, a walk, and run scored. He also made another great play in the outfield. He didn't start but came in for Mike Yastrzemski as part of a platoon matchup. That's the Giants way. Everyone in the starting lineup had a hit except for Darin Ruf (who walked and scored and got an RBI on an out) and Brandon Belt. The Captain seems a bit out-of-sorts. Luis González got his first RBI (on a sac fly) for his new club. The 26-year old former White Sox prospect was a big hit in the pre-season and the injury to Steven Duggar gave him an opening. He's from México and played college ball at the University of New Mexico.
Another day game tomorrow, 10:35 a.m. Pacific, and Logan Webb gets the start.
Go Giants!
--M.C.
The Giants batted around in the 2nd inning against Patrick Corbin, plating seven runs and giving the relief corps a big cushion to work with. Sam Long started opened and faced eight batters in his two scoreless frames and he was followed by FNG Jakob Junis who made his SF debut. The veteran righty has a load of starting experience on his résumé and he delivered five scoreless, working quickly and efficiently allowing three hits and whiffing four. The Giants have two starters on the IL (Alex Cobb and Anthony DeSclafani) and will need a lot of arms to patch the holes. The bats have been a little thin lately so it was great to see some well-struck balls from Mike Yastrzemski, Darin Ruf, Brandon Crawford, Thairo Estrada, and Austin Slater. Maikel Franco hit a homer off Yunior Marte for Washington's lone run.
All of that was very exciting but my favorite moment in the game was Mauricio Dubón gunning down super-stud Juan Soto at third base to end the 3rd inning. Soto blasted one to RF that was probably a homer that got slowed up by the wind and it hit the top of the fence and bounded away from Yaz. Dubón was trailing the play and picked up the loose ball and made a perfect one hop throw to Wilmer Flores. The Nats challenged of course but truth and justice (finally) prevailed. Believe it or not but that was Soto's 500th career hit. He's 23.
The Giants, as is their wont, played hard, aggressive baseball until the final out and that pissed off SS Alcides Escobar and a few of his mates and they chirped and chirped at the visiting dugout. Good lord, do we really have to listen to that crap? THERE ARE NEVER ENOUGH RUNS. You don't take your foot off the gas! "Mercy rules" are for amateur ball! I've seen plenty of teams come back from seemingly insurmountable deficits. This is big-boy baseball. No one likes to lose, especially professionals, but expecting teams to "back off" with big leads is thoroughly unprofessional. It takes all 27 outs to end the game and the best players in the world should not expect other players to "go easy." To their credit the Giants did not take the bait and kept their collective cool.
Alex Wood tomorrow in a day game (10:05 a.m. Pacific).
Go Giants!
--M.C.
The Giants had a chance for a split in the getaway game today but the mismatch between a dominant Carlos Carrasco and a still-struggling Anthony DeSclafani resulted in a 6-2 loss. The team cruised into NYC for a four-game showdown with the Mets on the heels of a six-game win streak but could not conjure up any road magic. Rain cancelled Monday's game and the Giants took an early lead behind Alex Cobb in the first game of Tuesday's doubleheader. Alas, some weird stuff happened--an out taken away on a replay review, a couple of ground ball extra-base hits, a freaky injury--and the Mets clawed back to take the game 5-4 in extras. The Giants were denied a run on replay review in the top of the 10th and Francisco Lindor hit the game-winner in the bottom half. Cobb goes on the 10-day IL with an adductor strain. He had been pitching well up to that point. The nightcap's matchup between Logan Webb and Max Scherzer was a dud as Webb had his worst start in many months and Scherzer took a perfect game into the 6th. The final was 3-1. Fortunately Carlos Rodón and the bullpen were excellent on Wednesday and led the Giants to a 5-2 victory. It was Brandon Belt's birthday and The Captain hit a towering homer (his fourth) and Mike Yastrzemski and Joc Pederson had two hits apiece.
The Mets are a strong club and it was going to be tough to get wins in Citi Field but the 8-5 Giants could have come away with a better showing. As it is they have some struggling hitters (Darin Ruf, Wilmer Flores, Brandon Crawford, for example) and aren't firing on all cylinders. The pitching has been very good overall and that fueled the surge but it can't carry the whole load. The team goes to D.C. for three with the Nationals and then have one game with the Brewers in Milwaukee before coming home to face the A's for two. Their next off-day is Thursday the 28th. I'm assuming the goofy one-game series is an artifact of the delayed start to the season. They play a four-game set with the Brewers at home right before the All-Star Break.
It will likely be a "bullpen game" tomorrow. It starts at 4:05 Pacific.
Go Giants!
--M.C.
I'm home after a trip to the Big Island of Hawai'i. It was my first time in the Aloha State. The city of Hilo is one of the rainiest places in the USA, averaging over 150 inches annually. I traveled with my friends Kevin and Kelly and we went to see some baseball. Their son Eamon plays for the University of Hawai'i-Hilo Vulcans. They are an NCAA Division II school in the Pacwest Conference. Here's what you see a lot of in Hilo:
The ballplayers do this so regularly they are actually pretty good at it. Our Friday night game was cancelled. A doubleheader was scheduled for both Saturday and Sunday but only three games were played. Saturday's second game was suspended and resumed on Sunday and went into extras so they only played one more game. Of the five we expected we saw three, but they were all exciting back-and-forth contests. The Vulcans won all of them against their Oahu rivals the Hawai'i Pacific University Sharks.
We were lucky enough to see Eamon pitch as he got an inning of relief in Saturday's 10-7 win. He gave up a run on a couple of ground balls but struck out the last batter to end his outing with a flourish. Dad and I agreed that he looked good and just got BABIP'd a bit. Eamon's best buddy Jake pitched four impressive shutout frames in relief in Sunday's 8-4 win so that was a lot of fun. Here they are:
They are a study in contrasts. Eamon is poised and has a relaxed, compact motion on the mound. He saunters on and off the field, whipping his cap off and hopping over the third base line in imitation of Johnny Cueto. Jake is extra-intense and stomps around like a bronco just released from the pen. He looks like he's going to run the ball to home plate rather than throw it. He actually reminded me a bit of Giants southpaw Alex Wood.
There was a Giants connection: slugging OF/1B/DH Joseph Gallagher is from the Sacramento area and knew Logan Webb from youth baseball, had played on a senior-level team with Sammy Long, and had also played against Mauricio Dubón! He bashed a homer in the 1st inning on Saturday. Kelly ran around meeting all the other Moms in the stands and we visited with Joe's mother Susan. She was from Massachusetts. My parents are from Boston so I'm tuned to hear that accent. I've been "Mahk" all my life! Susan was clearly Irish with her red hair, blue eyes, and freckles. We talked and it turned out that her father's family was from Sligo which is where my Dad's family is from. We joked that we were long-lost cousins. Speaking of Mom and Dad, here are the Velardes:
Kevin is also 6'5" and he played baseball in high school and has always loved the game. He keeps his hand in things by being an assistant coach with the Yreka High Miners varsity squad. Kelly was the real athlete of the two however, playing both basketball and softball in high school. She's a middle school teacher and it was Easter Week so we traveled on her Spring Break. Kevin is recently retired from an administrative job with the high school--we were colleagues for 20+ years before that. As you can see Wong Stadium in Hilo is a big place and has covered grandstands. It's college ball so there were lots of parents and local supporters. On Saturday they served a deep-fried whole fish on a bed of rice for ten bucks! A very Hawai'ian kind of ballpark food experience.
The baseball team also has a field on campus and it was right next to the new softball complex and the teams share the batting cages. We ran into a couple of softball players on our walking tour and they spotted Kevin and Kelly straight away and knew they were Eamon's parents. One of them, RHP #17 Tehani Seto quipped "come for the baseball, stay for the softball." I told her to put that on a T-shirt! There's a lot of mutual support and respect between the baseball and softball players. Here are the lads rooting for the lasses:
The Vulcans are batting and wearing black, their opponents are the Urban Knights from San Francisco's Academy of Art. That's Hilo Bay in the background. They had to play two rain-shortened games (winning both by big margins) but had two games cancelled. The women can do the tarp drill just as well as the men! I kept saying "boys" and "girls" because I was a high school teacher for 30 years but they of course say "men" and "women" at the college level. Fast-pitch is a great game that emphasizes speed and defense. Quick ball transfers and accurate relay throws play a big part. We saw lots of steals, bunts, and slash hitting, but also a couple of big dingers. Good stuff all around. The rain ultimately chased us away. We socialized with Tehani and her teammate OF #9 Kaia Bradford and both were personable, funny, and super-smart. They call Kaia "Wade" because her lefty batting stance is reminiscent of Wade Boggs. Who'd have thought that the ballplayers knew about some old guy from the 80s and 90s? It was great being with parents because I got to meet lots of Eamon's fellow students. If you ever get concerned about the future--I know I do--I can say that hanging around those youngsters was most inspiring. They move at 78 rpm all the time but I like their attitudes and their enthusiasm is infectious. I think the world will be in good hands.
Baseball is a big circle. I learned to love the game because my Mom always had KSFO AM-560 on the radio when I was a kid. Lon Simmons' rumbling baritone is a big part of my youth. He did play-by-play for both the Giants and 49ers. Mom grew up near Fenway Park and watched the Red Sox teams of the 1940s and 50s with Ted Williams in LF, Dominic DiMaggio in CF, Johnny Pesky at SS, and Bobby Doerr at 2B. In high school Eamon played in the Bobby Doerr Baseball Classic in Junction City, Oregon, where Doerr is from, and even got to meet the Red Sox legend (Doerr died in 2017). David Halberstam has a book (The Teammates) about those four fellows.
Kevin tells me he gets stopped all the time by people who see his "Y" ball cap from Yreka HS and his "FRC" shirt from Feather River College in Quincy (where Eamon played before transferring to Hilo). I believe it now. One of the flight attendants on our our trip out asked if we were from Yreka because of the hat and inquired if we knew a friend of hers. It turned out to be one of my former students! We had a long layover in Seattle and were accidentally at the wrong gate when another passenger started a conversation with us. Turns out he was from Etna (also in Siskiyou County), had played baseball in Ashland, Oregon with their state championship squad, and went to the College World Series with Oregon State. He'd also been an assistant coach with Feather River (before Eamon's time) and at the University of Michigan. He was now a minor-league hitting coordinator with the Detroit Tigers after several years with Driveline Baseball. His name was Max Gordon and he's the subject of a book by Jacob and Dylan Kornhauser as he was in a horrible accident that almost killed him (and did kill his brother) yet recovered to stay in the game. Naturally he knew a lot of the same people (other coaches and former HS ballplayers) that both Kevin and Kelly knew. Baseball really is a small world.
It was a great trip despite the rain. It rains all the time of course but even the locals, who normally have a placid take on everything, remarked on the intensity of the downpours. We got to visit Volcanoes National Park where we saw tropicbirds and shearwaters as well as flowing lava, and we did a jungle hike, three miles in to a secluded beach where we swam with the sea turtles. I bought a couple of groovy 100% rayon Hawai'i-made aloha shirts as well as some orange-and-black board shorts. We drank a lot of Hilo and Kona beers and visited the two microbreweries in Hilo. We saw waterfalls aplenty and clambered over rocks that were less than ten years old out to some spectacular ocean vistas.
The Giants have been kicking ass so I want to say "good job" to all my loyal readers. Thank you! But no more bitching about the ugly City Connect uniforms--we covered that last season. Besides, ugly unis are part of our formative years as fans. Remember the White Sox in black short pants and the Pirates in head-to-toe canary yellow? Sheesh! These are nothing compared to those 70s skin-tight double-knits in pastel blue and whatnot. Anyway I hope I don't jinx the Giants winning ways by coming home.
I'll resume posting about the team after this four-game set in New York is over. There's a double-header today after the rainout last night and a day game on Thursday, so I'll do a write-up after that.
--M.C.
The Giants have not set their final roster but word is that Tyler Beede will make the cut. He's going to be an interesting story. Keep an eye on Roster Resource, that's the best place to get updates.
Leave lots of comments below. GO GIANTS!!
--M.C.
I'm going to be AWOL starting Thursday. That's Absent With Out Laptop. I'm going to Hawai'i for ten days and I'm going to miss the start of the season. People tell me that they have TV and the internet and all that mainland stuff over there but I'm skeptical. I thought Hawai'i was all about un-plugging and being chill and "single-tasking!" I guess I'll find out.
Anyway I'll be on the Big Island. Hilo, in particular. I know a young fellow (RHP) who plays for the University of Hawai'i Hilo baseball squad. Go Vulcans! I'm traveling with his Mom and Dad. The Vulcans play five games (Friday night, twi-night DH on Saturday, DH Sunday) against their arch-rivals from Oahu, the Hawaii Pacific University Sharks. It's Pacwest Conference (NCAA Div. II) action at its best! After the weekend of baseball we will stay the following week and come home Easter Sunday.
It's going to be a lot of fun. I've never been to the Aloha State. I'm a relaxed, spontaneous traveler. When I'm in a place I've never been I don't have an agenda. I don't care if I miss one of those "can't-miss" experiences. I like to leave reasons to go back to a place! I really enjoy just doing something ordinary somewhere extraordinary.
The furthest south I've ever been is Oaxaca City, Mexico. Got to see professional baseball there--the Guerreros. That was great, for a lot of reasons, among them the spectacular geographic setting. The Oaxaca Valley and the surrounding highlands are amazing. Hilo is a wee bit north of Oaxaca, and it's amateur baseball, but it's in the middle of the Pacific Ocean! On the windward slope of the biggest mountain in the world! I think that's pretty cool. I'll be missing the Giants but still enjoying the great game of baseball. And other stuff, too.
I'll put up an "Opening Day--Open Thread" post before I leave so everyone can chime in on the comments section. And I expect you to chime in! Never mind that I'll be gobbling sashimi and slurping micros, you've got a job to do!! Y'all have to pick up the slack while I'm shopping for board shorts.
Aloha!
--M.C.
It's always nice to win against the Dodgers, even if it is an exhibition game, and win they did by a big 10-2 score. Clayton Kershaw was great but the rest of the LA 'pen was meh, including newly-acquired Craig Kimbrel, and the Giants evened their Spring record to 7-7. Joey Bart was 3-for-3 with a homer. I hope I type that a lot this season.
The 2022 season kicks off for real on Thursday, April 7th, but the Giants play their first game the following day, Friday the 8th (1:30 PDT against the Marlins) in San Francisco. That's the first home game to open a season in a long time. There are two more exhibitions, both against the A's, on Monday and Tuesday.
Teams can carry 28 players (29 for doubleheaders) until May 1st. And there is no limit on the number of pitchers (normally capped at 13) in the same span. The 10-day IL is also in effect and changes to 15 days on May 2nd. The best and most complete look at the roster is probably Roster Resource. They say the lineup against RHP is Yaz, La Stella, BCraw, Belt, Ruf, Pederson, Flores, Duggar, and Bart. The bench is Casali, Dubon, Estrada, Vosler, and Slater.
The rotation looks like Logan Webb, Carlos Rodon, Anthony DeSclafani, Alex Wood, and Alex Cobb. The 'pen is McGee, Doval, Rogers, Leone, Garcia, Littell, Alvarez, Junis, and Beede. We'll see how it really shakes out in the next few days. Maybe there will be a surprise or two, but I think we have a pretty good picture.
I'll have another update soon.
--M.C.
