Month: May 2016

Pitching, pitching: Hill and Jimenez prove baffling in A’s, Orioles doubleheader split

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Schoop-ed

By Morris Phillips

Ubaldo Jimenez was as good in the nightcap, as Rich Hill was terrific in the opener of a doubleheader in Baltimore on Saturday.

For the A’s that meant a full day at the ballpark, and half the desired result, with their 8-1 win in the opener behind Hill, and a 5-2 loss in the nightcap in which Jimenez pitched a season-best eight innings, allowing just one walk.

In the Orioles’ win, Jimenez frustrated the A’s by spreading the eight singles and one double he allowed across the full breadth of his eight innings of work. Half of those singles came off the bat of Josh Reddick, who had seven hits in the doubleheader and saw his batting average leap from .260 to .301.

But with Reddick aboard each time, Jimenez stopped Oakland’s 4-5-6 hitters–Khris Davis, Chris Coghlan and Billy Butler–with all three going 0 for 4 for the afternoon. Manager Bob Melvin inserted Coghlan and Butler into his lineup for the second game to rest Stephen Vogt and Danny Valencia, but saw his decision to bat the pair in the middle of his lineup backfire with Jimenez methodically playing damage control.

While Coghlan (.148) and Butler (.195) saw their averages dip below .200, Khris Davis had an even more frustrating day at the park, going 0 for 9 while hitting fourth in both games, right behind the red hot Reddick.

The Orioles already led 5-0 when Jimenez allowed a leadoff double to Yonder Alonso in the fifth. Josh Phegley knocked in Alonso, and later scored from third on Reddick’s infield hit. But those would be the only two runs the A’s would manage as Jimenez put up three more zeros, before giving way to closer Zach Britton in the ninth, who earned his seventh save.

“He was solid, obviously,” manager Buck Showalter said of Jimenez. “How many walks did he have, one?  He dialed up something we needed.”

The 32-year old veteran hadn’t been nearly as effective in his four previous starts as he was against the A’s. Jimenez allowed 15 earned runs, while issuing 15 walks in his previous four starts, losing three. But on Saturday night, he worked smart, starting 23 of 32 batters with a strike and needing just 104 pitches to get through eight.

“The walks hurt,” Jimenez said. “Every time I walk a guy, it seems like they find a way to score.”

A’s leadoff batter Billy Burns had a rough go in the nightcap as well, getting caught stealing in the third, and grounding into an inning-ending double play in the seventh.

In the makeup of Friday’s rainout, played in front of a sparse crowd of fewer than 15,000, Rich Hill continued his renaissance, holding the Orioles to one hit over the first five innings to earn the win. Hill ran into trouble in the sixth, but Baltimore managed just one run on the journeyman pitcher, and reliever Ryan Dull.

Dull relieved Hill with a run in and pair of runners aboard, and dangerously walked Nolan Reimold to load the bases.  But Dull recovered by striking out Jonathan Schoop to end the inning.

Hill confounded his former team with his signature curve, surviving three walks and a hit batter, by striking out five, and allowing just two hits. The 36-year old Hill found himself in familiar surroundings, having pitched for Baltimore in 2009, and having shut out the Orioles in September, his revelatory month for the Red Sox that earned him a two-year deal with the A’s.

After the game, Showalter offered a detailed description of Hill’s 12-6 curve that robbed the Orioles’ hitters of their aggressiveness despite knowing exactly what to expect from the big right hander.

“It’s one of those that comes out the hand… I don’t want to say loopy, but he’s got real late finish,” the manager said. “We knew what he was going to do. I think he was fourth or fifth in baseball in strikeouts per nine innings, which is hard to do in the American League.”

The A’s backed Hill with a dink and dunk attack that produced 15 hits, including nine singles against a frustrated Mike Wright, who took the loss. Oakland tallied single runs in the second, third and fifth, before putting up three in the sixth.

In that frame, Dylan Bundy relieved Wright, and he and catcher Matt Wieters got crossed up on a passed ball that allowed Coco Crisp to score from third, while two other Oakland baserunners advanced. After Bundy retired Burns, Jed Lowrie’s single plated Alonso and Marcus Semien.

Semien capped the A’s scoring in the eighth with a two-run homer, his eighth.

The A’s conclude their series in Baltimore on Sunday with Kendall Graveman facing Baltimore’s Chris Tillman at 10:35am PST.

Morris gets through over Wondo

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~ PC: San Jose Earthquakes

~ By Pearl Allison Lo

~ In a game with a lot of close chances, the Seattle Sounders won over San Jose 2-0 Saturday.

Both Jordan Morris and Chris Wondolowski had three close chances, but the one that went through put the game away.

As a rookie, Morris tied a MLS record with his fourth goal in as many games.   Silva first MLS start

The Quakes lost to Seattle for the first time since May 17, 2014 and went scoreless for the first time in 23 straight matches.

Sounders goalie Stefan Frei faced his least number of shots and saves since October 25th, 2015.

San Jose goalie’s six saves was the most he had since July 5, 2015.

Morris led with four shots, two of them were saved and one hit the post.

Clint Dempsey broke the deadlock in the 26th minute, aided by Erik Friberg and Morris. It was his first goal since April 2. It was Morris’ first assist.

Wondolowski lost his footing right in front of Frei in the 37th minute.

The Quakes’ Simon Dawkins hit the crossbar in the 59th minute.

Wondolowski had a high header in the 80th minute.

He then missed a rare penalty in the 84th minute. Wondolowski’s shot hit the post, just his second miss since 2014 and second miss in his last 12 penalties. He has now gone two straight games without a goal for the first time this season.

After two shots being saved and hitting the post throughout the game, Morris put the game away in the 89th minute, helped by Osvaldo Alonso. With a lot of players before Morris, he shot as defenders closed in from 25 yards out.  It was his first two point game and his most shots in a game (three).

There were four minutes of stoppage time. The last chance for San Jose came in the 91st minute, when Adam Jahn missed right with a header.

Game notes: The Quakes’ Matheus Silva made his first MLS start and had one shot. San Jose next plays the Houston Dynamo Wednesday at 7:30pm.

Sharks Thump Preds 5-1

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By Mary Walsh

AP photo: San Jose Sharks Joe Pavelski and teammates enjoy the jubilation after Pavelski’s goal against the Nashville Predators in game five at SAP Center Saturday night

SAN JOSE–The San Jose Sharks roundly defeated the Nashville Predators by a score of 5-1 on Saturday. Most of the games in this series, including the triple overtime Game 4, have been much closer than that. On Saturday, it certainly seemed that the Sharks had no interest in any more overtime. They kept playing right up to the final horn.

Two goals came from Joe Pavelski, one from Melker Karlsson, one from Logan Couture and one from Patrick Marleau. Joonas Donskoi and Justin Braun each had two assists and Maetin Jones made 24 saves on 25 shots. The lone Nashville goal was scored by Mike Fisher, while Pekka Rinne made 23 saves on 27 shots.

Game 5 of the series is one the Sharks won and the Predators lost against their respective first round opponents. For them to repeat the pattern in the second round allows for tempting parallels. Nashville’s head coach Peter Laviolette was asked about how that first round experience can apply to this second round.

I think any time you’re in playoff hockey, experiences that you gain, good and bad, you learn from them. Just because we did something last round…. we gotta put the work in and make sure that we’re playing the game with the attitude that we need to be successful. So, yeah, we can take things from that but we’ve got to change our mindset here.

Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer made a few changes to his lineup before the fifth game of their series against the Nashville Predators. He replaced forward Tommy Wingels with Dainius Zubrus, and recomposed the fourth line to include Zubrus, Melker Karlsson and Nick Spaling. Patrick Marleau moved to the second line with Logan Couture and Joonas Donskoi, and Joel Ward played with Chris Tierney and Matt Nieto.

Of the changes to the second line, DeBoer said after the game: “I thought it was Patty’s best game of the series and that line was excellent all night. Some changes work, and tonight that change worked.”

DeBoer also explained the other changes to his lines, which hinged somewhat on the performance of Chris Tierney:

I think there was a couple of things. I think the play of Tierney, I think he has been playing well. I felt he could jump into that third line role. Spaling’s naturally a center, that allowed him to get back into position. But we’re not comfortable making that move unless Tierney’s playing well and he has been playing well.

The end result of all this was a 5-1 win, giving the Sharks a 3-2 series lead over the Nashville Predators. The Predators were in this same spot against the Anaheim Ducks in the first round. They came back to win games six and seven. After Saturday’s game, Predators head coach Peter Laviolette talked about what a team can learn from that sort of comeback:

The first few minutes of the game looked like a Predators penalty kill, the Sharks spent that much time in the offensive zone. After six inutesm the shots were 7-1 Sharks. By the ten minute mark, the Predators had closed the gap to 8-3 Sharks. The Sharks were shooting a lot in the first period.

That new line scored the first goal. Donskoi got control of the puck in the left corner, and danced around with it a bit, finally heading behind the net. The Predators didn’t quite buy it but they bit enough and started to follow him. He made a quick backhand reverse pass in the direction of Logan Couture, who was below the faceoff circle. Patrick Marleau was also closing on that spot and as the puck came between two defenders, Marleau put it in the net. It was Marleau’s third goal of the post season, and Donskoi’s third assist.

The Predators tied it at 15:40 after Colin Wilson’s pass from behind the net found James Neal on the inside edge of the faceoff circle. Neal had to reach for the puck so his pass was not very hard, but it got to Mike Fisher by the blue paint. Fisher had an open net with Jones high in the crease.

The Sharks took the lead back at 17:21 with a goal from Joe Pavelski. The Sharks circled the net with passes, from Thornton to Burns, to a wide shot collected by Hertl to the left of the net and passed back around the boards to Thornton. They repeated the same cycle a couple of times, with any strays cleaned up by Marc-Edouard Vlasic at the other point. After this routine had time to hypnotize everyone, Thornton changed it up and sent the pass to Pavelski, who was hanging out in the slot. His one timer went home for his seventh goal of the post season, with assists to Thornton and Vlasic.

At the end of the first, the shots were 13-11 Sharks.

35 seconds into the second period, Logan Couture took advantage of a Predators turnover in the neutral zone, and skated in all alone. He made a few quick moves with the puck and, when Rinne came out to meet him a little bt, he went for a back hand that went through the five hole. It was Couture’s fifth goal of the playoffs, with assist to Donskoi and Justin Braun.

The Sharks took the first penalty of the game when Brenden Dillon was called for interference.

Jones stopped a shot from the blue line in the first few seconds. Spaling cleared 30 seconds in, and the Sharks changed penalty killers. Around 1 minute in, the Sharks cleared it again. A few seconds after the next faceoff, the Sharks cleared it again, and a few seconds later, again. Then they knocked it down into the Nashville zone while still in the neutral zone. Almost as soon as the penalty ended, the Sharks were back on the attack in Nashville territory.

The Sharks got their first power play of the game when Roman Josi went to the box for interference on Logan Couture. The penalty came with just 46 seconds left in the period. The Sharks did not need that much time. Joe Pavelski scored just nine seconds into the penalty, off a pass that came from Patrick Marleau behind the net. It was Pavelski’s second of the game.

Ryan Johansen did not like any of that so he tried to bait Paul Martin. Martin did not respond, and eventually Johansen’a antics got him an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty with just 12.5 seconds left in the period.

The Sharks did not start the third on a power play, because with 2.1 seconds left in the second, Joel Ward received a 4 minute minor for high sticking. So the Predators started most of two minutes with the man advantage almost two minutes into the third. The Sharks killed it off, but near the end of it Logan couture blocked a shot that seemed to sting.

He was back out for his next shift.

The Predators finally caught the Sharks on the shot clock with 5:41 left in the game, when the teams were tied at 23. The Sharks did not let up either, and continued to launch serious attacks on the Nashville net.

With 3:59 left in the game, the teams played four on four for just under a minute before the Sharks had a four on three power play.

Ryan Johansen went off for unsportsmanlike conduct, for two minutes and a ten minute misconduct. Also gone for ten minutes was Mike Ribeiro. Joe Thornton went to the box for two minutes for slashing. 57 seconds into the four on four, Nashville’s Anthony Bitetto went to the box for tripping.

That left just over one minute for the teams to play at even strength. The Sharks scored again with 49.7 seconds remaining in the game. Carter Hutton, now in goal for Nashville, was a little late getting back to his net after playing the puck behind the net. Melker Karlsson took a quick shot as he to the crease. Assists went to Chris Tierney and Justin Braun.

Final score: 5-1 Sharks. Game Six will be in Nashville on Monday at 6:00 PT.

Portland take Game 3 thanks to Lillard’s 40 points

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By Joe Hawkes-Beamon
Sports Columnist

AP photo: Rip City Portland Trailblazers Damian Lillard scores 40 on the Golden State Warriors in game three in Portland on Saturday

PORTLAND, OR — So much for the Portland Trail Blazers wilting under pressure.

Damian Lillard poured in a career-high 40 points added 10 assists, igniting Portland to a 120-108 victory Saturday night in Game 3 of the their Western Conference semifinal series.

With the win, Portland becomes just the second team to beat Golden State twice this season while trimming the Warriors’ lead, 2-1 in their best-of-7 series.

“I was really happy about the way we played tonight,” Lillard, who shot 14-of-27 from the field, including 8-0f-13 on 3s, said postgame. “We were the more aggressive team down the stretch.”

The Trail Blazers led 58-46 at halftime, and even saw their lead balloon to as much as 2o points in the fourth quarter.

Al Farouq-Aminu added 23 points and 10 rebounds while starting the game shooting 7-of-7 before finishing 8-of-9 from the floor. Aminu was even deadly from behind the three-point line, knocking down 4-of-5 shots from behind the arc.

C.J. McCollum, who started off the game 1-of-7, finished the game with 22 points on 8-0f-18 shooting.

Draymond Green scored a career-high 37 points, including 8-of-12 on 3s (also a career-high for any game). Green drained five 3s en route to a 19 point third quarter, but took responsibility for Golden State’s loss.

“That team [Portland], they had doubt. I could tell they had doubt,” said Green. “And we didn’t take advantage of it…And that’s on me.”

Golden State’s defense looked erratic at best at times.

As a team, Portland shot the lights out the ball from deep, converting 17-of-30 on 3s. The Trail Blazers shot 46-percent from the floor (40-of-86).

But the heartbeat of the Warriors has already gone on record that Golden State will make the necessary adjustments to win Game 4.

“We’ll be better there [defensively],” Green added. “I’ll be better. We’ll win.”

Klay Thompson scored 18 of his 35 points in the first quarter. Thompson was blistering hot in the first quarter, making 7-of-12 shots, including 4-of-5 on 3s. It was the second time this series that Thompson scored 18 points in the opening period, accomplishing the feet in Game 1.

There is the possibility of Stephen Curry  suiting up for Game 4 on Monday in Portland. The MVP played two-on-two Saturday before Game 3 and participated in additional drills, but no word has been given regarding Curry’s availability.

Golden State could use Curry’s scoring, especially tonight.

Outside of the huge performances from Green and Thompson, and Leandro Barbosa’s 10 points off the bench, Golden State didn’t have any other players in double-figures.

Harrison Barnes (2-of-8) and Andre Iguodala (0-for-5) combined for 8 points, while Shaun Livingston finished with just 2 points.

 

 

 

San Francisco Giants Saturday game wrap: Duffy wins it

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By Jeremy Kahn

AP photo: San Francisco Giants Matt Duffy 5 who doubled in the game winning run celebrates with Denard Span 2 in the 13th inning at AT&T Park on Saturday

SAN FRANCISCO-Matt Duffy put an end to the San Francisco Giants longest game of the season with one swing of the bat.

Duffy doubled over the head of Gerardo Parra in the bottom of the 13th inning, as the Giants came back to defeat the Colorado Rockies 2-1 before a crowd of 41,590, the 425th consecutive sellout at AT&T Park.

Conor Gillaspie scored the winning run after he walked while batting for winning pitcher Derek Law, went to second when Denard Span walked and after Joe Panik struck out for the second out, Duffy’s send the sellout crowd happy.

Panik came up with the play of the game in the top of the 13th inning, as he flipped the ball over his head from his stomach to Brandon Crawford to get Nolan Arenado. Originally, Arenado was called safe, but Bruce Bochy challenged the call was reversed.

Ryan Wolters gave the Rockies the lead, as he doubled just underneath the glove of Brandon Belt at first base and down the line in the top of the 10th inning. DJ LeMahieu scored the only run for the Rockies, as he tripled with one out.

Brandon Belt tripled to leadoff the bottom of the 10th inning, and then scored the tying run when Brandon Crawford singled with one out; however Rockies closer Jake McGee was able to get out of the inning by getting Gregor Blanco to ground into a force out and then Mac Williamson ended the inning by grounding out to DJ LeMahieu at second base.

Cueto pitched 8.1 innings of scoreless baseball, allowing eight hits, walking one and striking out three; however he did not fare in the decision.

Like Cueto, Gray was outstanding for the Rockies, as he pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing just one hit, while walking two and striking out five.

Gray looked amazing, as he did not allow a hit to the Giants until Denard Span led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a single. That would be the only hit that the Giants would manage off of the right-hander.

The only other Giants hits until Belt’s triple against Rockies pitching came off the bat of Brandon Crawford in the bottom of the eighth inning, and Kelby Tomlinson to leadoff the bottom of the ninth. Matt Duffy walked with two outs, but Buster Posey was unable to get the Giants the win, as he grounded into a force play to end the inning and the threat.

MLB Podcast with Matt Harrington: Tommy John surgery epidemic; Cubs Zobrist swinging the bats

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On the MLB podcast with Matt Harrington the Los Angeles Angels Garrett Richards is preparing for Tommy John surgery for repairs to his ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, also on Friday A’s pitcher Chris Bassitt underwent Tommy John surgery on Friday and will be out for the rest of the season. Bassitt had similar work done on the right elbow like Richards and will also miss the rest of the season.

The Chicago Cubs Ben Zobrist is having an offensive fest with two home runs on Friday night and helped notched the Cubbies to a 22-6 record. Zobrist two homers give him five home runs for the season, also Zobrist has 20 runs scored and 24 RBIs. Zobrist has good company there five hitters ahead of him with a better average than Zobrist. That’s some offense.

Matt also talks Giants and A’s and big league ball click below to hear the podcast at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

After Rainout, A’s Open Series With Orioles with Saturday Double Header

Published on by Matthew HarringtonLeave a comment

By Matthew T.F. Harrington

photo credit AP: The tarp was out at Camden Yards on Friday night as the field was covered as the game between Oakland and Baltimore was called due to rain

The Oakland Athletics chance to snap a four-game skid was delayed Friday, with a road tilt against the Baltimore Orioles being washed out. Instead, the two teams will play a traditional day-night double-header Saturday. Opening Day starter Rich Hill will take the mound for the A’s in game one while Jesse Hahn takes the bump in game two. It is Hahn’s second start since being recalled from Triple A Nashville. He pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings against the Houston Astros in his 2016 debut. Mike Wright will start game one for the O’s, with ace Ubaldo Jimenez throwing the pill in game 2.

Not all news was bad for the A’s, as the team learned that starting pitcher Chris Bassitt successfully underwent Tommy John surgery. He’ll miss the rest of the season and beyond. Returning to Oakland’s roster is Danny Valencia, who was out for 15 days with a strained left hamstring. Tyler Ladendorf was sent down to Triple A to make room for Valencia.

On a team loaded with power, the Orioles home run leader is a surprise. Mark Trumbo (8) leads the team in dingers, one ahead of Chris Davis and Manny Machado. Machado (.342 average) and Trumbo (.324) are part of the 2nd best offensive lineup in the American League, with the AL East leading O’s just hitting .264 as a team on the year. The A’s rank 11th in the league and sit 4 games back of division leaders Seattle, a team that just swept the A’s as part of their 3 city, 9-game road trip.

San Francisco Giants Friday game wrap up: Big come from behind win

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By Jeremy Kahn

photo credit AP: San Francisco Giants Brandon Crawford dives for a fly but misses hit by the  Colorado Rockies Mark Reynolds in the sixth inning at AT&T Park Friday night

SAN FRANCISCO-After the first inning and half, things looked bleak for the San Francisco Giants, but then the Giants offense took off.

Brandon Crawford hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the second inning, and in the bottom of the fifth inning, Denard Span reached on a bunt single, then Matt Duffy tripled him in.

After a Buster Posey ground out, Brandon Belt walked, then Hunter Pence hit a single to score Duffy and the Giants would go on to defeat the Colorado Rockies 6-4 before a crowd of 41,358, the 424th consecutive sellout at AT&T Park.

This was the third come-from-behind win of the season when trailing by four or more runs. With the last one coming on April 10 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, when then trailed 5-0 and came back to win 9-6.

The Rockies jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the second inning, Nolan Arenado doubled to lead off the inning, then Mark Reynolds singled him in. Following the Reynolds single, then Ryan Raburn singled and then Gerardo Parra hit what looked like a simple ground ball to Joe Panik, but his throw went into left to allow Reynolds to score and Raburn to go to third.

Dustin Garneau then hit a sacrifice fly to Pence to score Raburn, and then following the Garneau sacrifice fly, Chad Bettis then helped out his own cause, a he reached on a sacrifice bunt to score Parra to give the Rockies a 4-0 lead one day after scoring 17 runs in their 17-7 victory over the Giants.

Despite the four runs he allowed in the fourth inning, Madison Bumgarner settled down, as he went 7.1 innings, allowing those four runs on seven hits, while walking just one and striking out a season high 10.

It was the 26th time in Bumgarner’s career that he hit double figures in strikeouts, and the first in 2016. The last time Bumgarner topped the double plateau in strikeouts came on August 27, 2015 versus the Chicago Cubs at AT&T Park.

Pence went 3-for-4 at the plate, while Brandon Belt went 1-for-2 with a run scored and a run batted in. Belt has now reached base in his last 14 games either via a hit or walk and in his last 11 games, Belt has walked 14 times.

Pettis went six innings, allowing five runs on eight hits, walking three and striking out four.

Arenado picked up two hits in four at-bats, as he now batting .368 (14-for-38) with 14 runs scored, seven home runs and 17 runs batted in his last 10 games at AT&T Park.

Reynolds also continues to tee off against Giants pitching, as he went 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI and is now hitting .533 (8-for-15) with five runs, three doubles and six runs batted in during the four games he has played against the Giants this season.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Jeremy Kahn: It’s a long season Giants pitching will settle down; however concern for Cain & Peavy

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photo by USA Today: San Francisco Giants pitcher Jake Peavy

On the Giants podcast with Jeremy Kahn the Giants took two out of three from the Colorado Rockies the last time the two teams met back on April 12-14. The Rockies got some timely hitting from Nolan Arenado whose hitting .307 against the Giants this season. The Rockies are playing good ball right now tied with the Dodgers and Giants for first in the National League West. The Dodgers and Giants are playing .500 ball.

Jeremy says there should be no concern regarding the recent pitching struggles of the Giants staff that it’s a long season and they should settle down. Johnny Cueto pitched  a fine ball game despite giving up six runs in Cincinnati last Monday and the Giants won the ball game. For Matt Cain and Jake Peavy it was a struggle. On Thursday against the Rockies Cain got rocked in his start dropping his fourth game in four innings, ten hits, eight runs, six of them earned. Reliever Vic Mazzaro was sent down on Friday in relief he got lit up on Thursday after Cain going one third, six hits, nine runs, seven earned. Peavy in Cincinnati on Wednesday in his start coughed up eight hits and seven runs in six innings.

Join Jeremy each week for insight into Giants baseball at http://www.sportsradioservie.com take a listen to Jeremy’s podcast below

 

Game Notes: Mays On Hand For 85th Birthday As Giants Take On Rockies

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By Ben Leonard

//

photo by sfgate.com: The Muni Cable Car system dedicated Car #24 to Willie Mays on his 85th birthday on Fri 5-6-16
SAN FRANCISCO — You know it’s an eventful night at the yard when Tim Lincecum had a showcase, and he wasn’t even the first topic of discussion. There’s a special energy in the ballpark tonight — some guy named Willie Mays was in the clubhouse for his eighty-fifth birthday. 

For the occasion, the city of San Francisco honored their legendary centerfielder in typical San Francisco fashion earlier on Friday, adorning cable car #24 with a Mays-themed plaque in a ceremony.

“A lot of people have done a lot of good things for me,” Mays said to the San Francisco Chronicle’s John Shea.

His birthday will be celebrated at AT&T Park on Friday for the fans, but wasn’t immediately available for comments with the media Friday.

Having the Hall of Famer and 24-time All-Star in the clubhouse still excites Bruce Bochy, long-time big league manager and Giants’ legend in his own right.

“It really [does],” Bochy said. “It’s an honor. It’s a privilege to have one of the greatest, if not the greatest player of all time hanging with us in the clubhouse in spring training and here during the season. He loves these guys and he watches them and cares about them.”

For Bochy, talent wasn’t the only thing that set Mays, a 12-time Gold Glove winner that hit 660 home runs, apart — it was his love of the game.

“It shows when he talks about baseball,” Bochy said Friday.” You see his love for the game and the passion for the game. You kind of get why he had such an unbelievable career. The talent was there, but still when you play the game for as long as he did, it’s all about how much you love playing the game….If you love what you do, you’ll be really good at it. That’s what you see from him — here he is, on his birthday, celebrating in the clubhouse.”

Even 65 years after he made his major league debut, Mays still hasn’t really sat down and thought about his career.

“I started at 19 with the Giants, and now I’m 85,” he said to Shea. “I never really stopped and thought about all this stuff because I’m trying to keep going, keep my body together.”

The Giants’ organization certainly has reflected about arguably the greatest all-around player of all-time, retiring his number and giving him his own day — May 24th — in the city.

Notes —

Lincecum Showcase a Success

Another former Giants’ great, Tim Lincecum, had a long-awaited showcase in front of MLB scouts at Scottsdale Stadium in Arizona. Lincecum had originally scheduled the event for January but had to push it back to be fully ready.

The lanky right-hander threw 41 pitches with dozens of radar guns from pointed at him, and rode in the 88-91 MPH range.

“He looked healthy and athletic, but it’s hard to tell from our view of him,” Bochy said Friday of his former ace.

One reporter asked Bochy if he has faith in a healthy Lincecum to rebound, and Bochy expressed confidence in his old horse. “Yeah, if he’s healthy and he has no issues, that’s fair to say with Timmy,” Bochy said. “But I think he’ll tell you, he hasn’t faced hitters [in a while], so he has some work to do to get ready.”

Kontos On Track For Rehab

Reliever George Kontos, who had been shelved with a right flexor strain, had a “good” bullpen session Friday, Bochy reported. He’ll start a rehab assignment on Sunday with the Sacramento Grizzlies.

Kontos’ return is long awaited — the bullpen has been scuffling to start the season, ranking 24th in the majors in ERA.

Suarez Called Up For ‘Pen Depth

After Vin Mizarro was tagged on Thursday for nine runs (7 ER) and six hits in just .1 innings, the Giants called up pitcher Albert Suarez to serve as the long reliever, designated Mizzaro for assignment in a corresponding move.  Suarez, a 6’3″, 235 pound right-hander hailing from San Felix, Venezuela had posted a 2.88 ERA in 25 innings for Triple-A Sacramento, striking out 15 while walking 7.

“We need some help in the bullpen right now, and he’s been throwing the ball well down there. He’s earned this. He’s stretched out and ready to go.”

Suarez has had three days of rest and is armed with four pitches, with a fastball ranging from 91-95 MPH. He features a fairly standard offspeed repertoire, including a curveball, changeup, and slider.

Suarez is now the third long reliever to audition for the job this season, after Chris Heston and Mizarro got shellacked out of their spots. He didn’t have a shot to make the roster coming out of Spring Training, so Bochy didn’t see him much, but when he did, he was impressed by his “good stuff.”

Bumgarner vs. Rockies

Madison Bumgarner (3-2, 3.03) will toe the rubber for the Giants on Friday, taking on the Rockies’ Chad Bettis (3-1, 3.89). Bumgarner has won his last two starts, giving up just two runs in 12.2 innings. He has dominated the Rockies at 24 Willie Mays Plaza over the years, posting a 2.14 ERA in ten career starts at the venue.

Despite his success this season, the Giants have gone just 3-3 this year when Bumgarner has started. Rockies’ slugging outfielder Carlos Gonzalez has owned Bumgarner throughout his career, hitting .348 (16-46) with five long balls.

Panik Returns to Lineup

After missing six games with a mild groin strain, Giants’ second baseman Joe Panik is back in the number two hole in the lineup for the Giants:

 

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