Author: jeremy2878

By Jeremy Harness

The Giants had Madison Bumgarner on the hill Wednesday night, and the left-hander responded with a very nice performance and gave his team a chance to win.

However, the opposing pitcher was a tad more dominant and rendered Bumgarner’s outing an afterthought.

Both went eight innings, but the difference came in a sixth inning that saw the Seattle Mariners drop a two-spot on the lefty that carried the Giants to last year’s World Series title. In that inning, Austin Jackson and Robinson Cano tagged Bumgarner for RBI extra-base hits to give all the run support that Felix Hernandez needed in a 2-0 Giants loss at Safeco Field.

Hernandez gave up only four hits in shutting out the Giants, walking two and striking out five batters. Meanwhile, Bumgarner also gave up four hits and walked just one batter against nine strikeouts, but Cano and Jackson combined to do him in on Wednesday.

The Giants never got any real momentum against Hernandez, and the closest they came to getting on track was in the top of the seventh inning, just after Seattle grabbed the two-run lead. Brandon Crawford reached base on a throwing error by Cano, and then two batters later, Casey McGehee worked the count full before drawing a walk to advance Crawford in scoring
position.

However, as they have frequently experienced at home this year, the Giants could not come up with the big hit to change the momentum of the game. The next batter, Justin Maxwell grounded out to third to end the threat and let Hernandez off the hook.

The Giants only got one more batter on base the rest of the way, and they will return to Safeco Field Thursday afternoon in the hopes of taking the finale to split the four-game home-and-home series.

By Jeremy Harness

The Giants could not complete the three-game sweep at City Field on Thursday, but at least they earned a valuable series win, particularly one on the road against a team with a winning record.

The sweep was taken away in the bottom of the ninth, when Michael Cuddyer’s single off reliever Sergio Romo brought in Curtis Granderson to hand the Giants a 5-4 loss to the New York Mets.

Tim Lincecum didn’t pitch terribly, but he ended up using too many pitches in a short period of time, which made his numbers look worse than they actually were. He gave up a pair of earned runs (three total) on only four hits, walking three and striking out five while keeping the Giants in the game.

However, he was only able to go 4 2/3 innings, due in large part to the fact that he used 102 pitches in the process.

He rolled through the first three innings without surrendering a run but ran into a little trouble in the fourth, as Travis d’Arnaud singled in a run to cut the Giants’ lead to a single run. In the next inning, Lincecum saw his lead evaporate and found his team trailing by one after a sac fly followed by a double by Cuddyer gave the Mets a 3-2 lead.

After that hit, Lincecum was pulled for Yusmeiro Petit, who got the Giants out of that inning without any further damage.

Brandon Crawford blasted the Giants back into the lead with a two-run homer in the sixth inning with two outs. However, Granderson responded in the next frame with an RBI single to tie things up off reliever Hunter Strickland to set up Cuddyer’s walk-off to send the Giants home on a sour note.

Regardless, the Giants will now head home – after a successful road trip – for a three-game series against Arizona that starts Friday before the Seattle Mainers come into town for a two-gamer at AT&T Park. The Giants and Mariners will then head north to Seattle for a two-game set at Safeco Field.

By Jeremy Harness

Joe Panik apparently really likes playing in New York.

Just one day after hitting a home run in helping the Giants take the series opener against the Metsat Citi Field, Panik, a native of the New York area, got the Giants on the right foot again with a two-run homer off Mets fireballer Matt Harvey in another win for the visiting team Wednesday night.

With the fact that rookie Chris Heston fired a no-hitter at the Mets Tuesday night, Wednesday starter Tim Hudson obviously had a tough act to follow.

Hudson lost his own no-hot bid right away, as he gave up a single to outfielder Curtis Granderson to lead off the game. He struggled to get out of the first inning, and Wilmer Flores eventually tied the game with a two-run single.

The Mets scored a run in both the fourth and fifth innings to give themselves a two-run lead, but the Giants teed off on Harvey in the sixth.

Panik led off the inning with a single before Angel Pagan worked the count full against Harvey before drawing a big walk. The next batter, Buster Posey, responded with a double that scored both players. Brandon Belt then launched a two-run homer that gave the Giants the lead, and right fielder Justin Maxwell would add a solo homer to cap a monster five-run inning that catapulted the Giants into the lead for good.

That was enough to give Hudson, who pitched five innings and actually left the game trailing 4-2, his fourth win of the season. From that point, the Giants used five different relievers to hold off the Mets and take the second game of this three-game series.

Meanwhile, the Giants are inching themselves closer to the National League West lead. However, the division-leading Dodgers held off the Arizona Diamondbacks to remain a game in front of the second-place Giants.

By Jeremy Harness

Looking on the bright side for the Giants this week, at least they made their way to the White House to be honored by President Obama.

Other than that, there wasn’t a lot to smile about if you’re a Giants fan. After briefly grabbing the National League West lead from the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Giants fell back down to earth with a thud this week as the Pittsburgh Pirates paid a visit to AT&T Park.

All the Pirates did was sweep the Giants in a three-game series and send the home team to a five-game losing streak to undo a five-game winning streak that saw the Giants catapult into the division lead.

Thankfully for the Giants, they get a change of scenery, with their road trip starting against a struggling opponent.

The Philadelphia Phillies, who have fallen on hard times since losing to the Giants in the 2010 National League Championship Series in six games, await the Giants’ arrival for a three-game series that starts Friday at Citizens Bank Park.

Tim Lincecum, who has had a nice season thus far with a 5-3 record and a 3.00 earned-run average, will take the hill in the series opener against former Giant Jerome Williams (3-5, 5.49 ERA), who has certainly had his ups and downs this year.

The Giants will then bring Madison Bumgarner, who has followed up a dominant season during which he willed the Giants to another World Series title with a 6-2 record an ERA of 3.12, front and center on Saturday opposite Philadelphia’s Severino Gonzalez.

Ryan Vogelsong (4-3, 4.26 ERA) will try to get things back on track in the series finale on Sunday against Philly’s Sean O’Sullivan (1-4, 5.03 ERA).

If the Giants are going to brings things back together, the best opportunity would be this weekend.

By Jeremy Harness

The Giants rebounded very nicely from two ugly losses in Colorado with a dominant effort in Milwaukee for three straight games, finishing off a sweep of the Brewers with a 3-1 win at Miller Park Wednesday afternoon.

Ryan Vogelsong has had a real resurgence this month, and it continued on Wednesday with a superior effort. He went six strong innings and allowed only one run on six hits en route to winning his third straight start and boosting his record to 4-2 for the year.

After surrendering an RBI single in the fourth, Vogelsong kept grinding away and got the led he was looking for when Joe Panik hit a two-run homer off Milwaukee starter Mike Fiers.

In the top of the ninth, Gregor Blanco gave closer Santiago Casilla just enough cushion when his sac fly brought in Angel Pagan to give the Giants a 3-1 lead. Casilla responded with a one-two-three ninth to secure the Giants’ fifth win on this seven-game road trip.

The Giants will now head back home in time for a four-game series that starts Thursday night against the Atlanta Braves, a team that is basically treading water in the National League Central, a place that they are rather unfamiliar with, and sit with a 22-23 record at press time.

As for the Giants, they sit in second place in the National League West, but due to this surge, which includes another recent three-game sweep of the division-leading Dodgers, they are now only 1 ½ games out of the top spot.

They have a real chance to take over first place in the division, since the Dodgers will now head to St. Louis to face a Cardinals team that owns the best record in the majors at 31-16, and to make things worse for the Dodgers, it is a place where they have historically had trouble winning, particularly in the postseason.

By Jeremy Harness

SAN FRANCISCO – Tim Lincecum’s evolution from a Cy Young Award-winning thrower into a crafty veteran pitcher was on full display Wednesday night.

Coming off an underwhelming outing, the right-hander turned in a masterful performance against an always-tough Los Angeles Dodgers lineup Wednesday night, tossing seven shutout innings and giving up only three hits to lead the Giants to a 4-0 win at AT&T Park.

Lincecum now has not allowed a single run in the past 22 innings at home, and in the process, by striking out four batters on Wednesday, he surpassed Carl Hubbell to take fourth place on the all-time Giants strikeouts list.

In the meantime, the Giants continued a remarkable turnaround. After spending much of the first month of the season at the bottom of the National League West, they have slowly crept their way back into the thick of things to the point that they now only sit 2½ games back of the division-leading Dodgers.

“He’s got a lot of confidence going, and it shows,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “He’s in a good rhythm, too. You look at his delivery, and it’s really consistent, especially here at home. He’s throwing strikes, he’s using his fastball well, going up and down with it, and he’s got really nice secondary pitches he can throw at any time.”

The contest started off as a nice duel between Lincecum (4-2) and Dodgers lefty Brett Anderson, who himself entered Wednesday with a respectable 3.50 earned-run average, as the two hurlers threw zeroes at each other all the way into the sixth inning.

Lincecum’s trek did not go without some trials, however. He did get into some trouble to start the fifth, as catcher Yasmani Grandal led off the inning with a double into the gap in right-center. He didn’t exactly help himself by uncorking a wild pitch to allow Grandal to get to third, but he rebounded very nicely.

He got Andre Ethier to ground out and Juan Uribe to pop out while keeping Grandal at third, and after surrendering a walk to his pitching counterpart, Brett Anderson, he coaxed a weak grounder to first out of Joc Pederson to keep the Dodgers off the scoreboard.

The Giants got a leadoff double of their own in the sixth, courtesy of Buster Posey, and for a moment, it didn’t look like they would get a run across, either. Hunter Pence got Posey to third with a soft grounder to second, but Justin Maxwell grounded out sharply to keep Posey at third with two out.

Andrew Susac drew a walk to keep the inning alive, and Brandon Crawford singled to left just in front of a diving Alex Guerrero to bring Posey in and give the Giants a 1-0 lead.

Angel Pagan kept that lead intact by making a leaping catch at the center-field wall to take at least an extra-base hit from Grandal in the seventh.

“We’re doing a really nice job of catching the ball, and that has made a difference, too,” Bochy said. “The defense has been really good recently.”

Then the Giants teed off on the Dodgers’ pitching in the bottom half, an inning that was capped off when Posey lined one just over the wall in left-center off reliever Yimi Garcia for a two-run homer that boosted their lead to 4-0.

Posey’s work wasn’t done just yet, however. Playing first base to give Susac some time behind the plate, he tracked down a pop-up from Pederson in the eighth that was headed into the visiting dugout and plucked the ball in front of the Dodgers’ bench.

By Jeremy Harness

Not too long ago, the Houston Astros were thought of as the laughingstock of the majors. This year, on the other hand, not so much.

The Astros are the most surprising team in baseball this young season, leading the competitive American League West with a roster full of up-and-coming players that are hungry to prove themselves on the big stage.

One of those budding stars is outfielder George Springer, who unleashed a solo home run off left-handed reliever Jeremy Affeldt to break a tie in the eighth inning and led the Astros past the Giants on Wednesday, 4-3, at Minute Maid Park.

The ball is known to fly out of this small ballpark – particularly in one of the shortest left fields in the majors – and there were certainly no shortages of longballs on Wednesday.

Buster Posey gave the Giants a 3-1 lead in the fifth inning with a two-run homer into the short porch in left field. In the bottom half, however, the Astros narrowed it when Jason Castro’s blast sailed over the center-field wall.

Houston tied things up in the sixth inning when Luis Valbuena belted one into the right-field seats to set up Springer’s heroics two innings later.

After losing more than 100 games last season, the Astros are now 4 ½ games in front of the Angels in the AL West with a 21-13 record. Meanwhile, the Giants, after making a resurgence after falling way behind in the National League West, fell back to .500 and are currently 5 ½ games behind the division-leading Dodgers.

After getting the split in Houston, the Giants will now head to Cincinnati to start a four-game series that begins on Thursday before hosting the Dodgers, whom they swept in their previous home series last month, for a three-gamer that starts Tuesday night at AT&T Park

By Jeremy Harness

Rory McIlroy has a very detailed and intense workout regimen, and after a prolonged last couple of days, that really paid off for him.

After his quarterfinal match with Paul Casey was suspended due to darkness Saturday night after 20 holes, he had to tee off at 6:45am PST Sunday to finish that match before moving on to the semifinal.

He came back to finally finish off Casey early Sunday morning and had another dramatic comeback in his satchel against Jim Furyk in the semis before holding off long-hitter Gary Woodland, 4-and-2, to claim his first-ever Cadillac Match Play championship at San Francisco’s TPC Harding Park.

“It’s been a great week to play,” McIlroy said. “What is it, seven matches, having to sleep on one as well. Sort of trying to beat three players in one day today.

“I played some great golf this week and got the job done, which was the most important thing, and (it was ) great to get the first win state-side this year.”

Against Woodland in the title match, McIlroy to a four-hole advantage, which he earned on the front nine and carried to the 11th hole while Woodland struggled to find his rhythm.

However, the world’s top player had a pair of slip-ups in the next pair of holes, and Woodland used that as a catalyst to win those two holes and give himself a realistic chance of a comeback. It could have been a tighter match, but after a brilliant bunker shot, Woodland missed a three-footer for par at the 13th after McIlroy was already in for bogey.

After getting that big break, McIlroy tightened things back up and proceeded to turn the lights out on Woodland, who was forced to concede at the 16th after going from one greenside bunker to another.

“The putt on 13 killed me,” Woodland said. “(If) my putt drops on 13, and I get to one down, and it’s a different ballgame. But I missed that one, and he was like a shark, smelled blood, and it was game over quickly.

“Losing sucks.”

Furyk will likely second that, especially after the way he fell to McIlroy in the morning semifinal. He had the Northern Ireland native a hole down going into the 16th hole, which he birdied. McIlroy responded quickly with a birdie and then followed that right up with another birdie to square it up.

McIlroy then made the putt of the tournament, rolling one in from more than 43 feet away for an eagle to take the match in the most dramatic fashion possible.

“I played solid today,” Furyk said. “(But) I tip my hat to him. It was a good match, back and forth. It was just disappointing.”

For Furyk, the disappointment continued into the consolation round, which got an eye-roll from him when asked about the significance of that match after his win over Louis Oosthuizen in the Saturday quarterfinal.

He had been known for coming on strong on the back nine, but he simply ran out of gas against Danny Willett and saw the Englishman take him down, 3 and 2.

By Jeremy Harness

SAN FRANCISCO – Rory McIlroy said after Friday’s round that he is not giving away any holes. But he ended up throwing away some good money Saturday night.

His quarterfinal match with Paul Casey went into extra holes, and he had a clear advantage at the 20th hole when Casey drove it way right behind a tree. Casey could not get up and down, and when McIlroy missed a six-footer to win it, play was suspended at 8:03pm PST with the match remaining all square.

The two will resume play again at 6:45am PST Sunday morning.

This wouldn’t normally be a big issue, but that McIlroy had planned to be ringside for the mega-fight between Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas later that night, which, due to this prolonged match, he was unable to make it, meaning that he was unable to occupy a seat that cost him about $10,000.

“(The match) was good; it was back and forth,” McIlroy said. “I made a couple key up-and-downs when I needed to coming down the stretch. (But I) had a couple of opportunities to close it out, (and I) couldn’t quite convert.

“But we’ll come back tomorrow morning and do it all over again.”

Jim Furyk had a pair of convincing wins on Saturday, as the technician dispatched grip-it-and-rip-it long-hitter J.B Holmes by a 5-and-3 count in the morning and then taking care of Louis Oosthuizen, 4 and 2, in the afternoon quarterfinal round to make it to the semifinal round of this event for the first time.

After Holmes took the first lead of the match at the fourth hole, Furyk

“I think early on in my career, I was probably more worried about every swing and every shot, and everything being perfect and trying to play the perfect round of golf,” Furyk said about his previous approach to match play. “You realize at the end of the day, you make a bad swing and lose the hole, it doesn’t matter if you make 5 or 12, it’s just a hole.

“You move on and play.”

Meanwhile, 60-seed John Senden kept trucking into the semis, rallying to knock off former Hunter Mahan, who won this event three years ago, in the morning round, but his time ran out in the afternoon, as he was blitzed on the front nine and simply could not recover in a 5-and-3 defeat at the hands of Gary Woodland.

Woodland shot out to a five-hole lead on the front nine before Senden could really get on track. The Australian fought back and won holes 10 and 12, but Woodland also won two more holes on the back nine, and Woodland was able to hold him off until Senden ran out of holes.

Danny Willett moved onto the semis with his Saturday afternoon win over Tommy Fleetwood, 4 and 3, in a match that Willett was never really threatened throughout the course of the match, eventually closing out the match after both made par at the 15th.

The best match of the round of 16 was the battle between Oosthuizen – who himself went extra holes to dispatch Bubba Watson, who had beaten him in a playoff to win the 2012 Masters – and Rickie Fowler.

Oosthuizen got out to a three-hole lead after 10 holes, but Fowler battled back by birdieing three of the next four holes to square things up. It remained that way heading into the 18th, and it looked like Fowler would complete the comeback as his tee shot found the fairway while Oosthuizen’s was significantly right of the short grass.

But his miss was acceptable – as he was able to hit a great second shot that found the green in two while Fowler’s second was far right of the green and into foot-high grass. Fowler took two shots to get it in the green, and when his par attempt missed, Oosthuizen was on to the quarterfinals.