Category: San Francisco Giants

Barry Bonds’ No. 25 is now officially retired

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By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — Barry Bonds may not be in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, but he received the biggest honor from the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park on Saturday night.

Prior to the third game of the four-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the team that drafted Bonds with the seventh pick of the 1985 Amateur Draft out of Arizona State, the Giants honored Bonds with the retirement of his number 25, which is now in between his godfather Willie Mays’ number 24, and Juan Marichal’s number 27 on the Club Level at AT&T Park.

”I am overwhelmed with emotions as the reality of this day sets in,” Bonds said. ”This may come as a surprise to a lot of people but as a child I didn’t even want to play baseball. I wanted to play all sports – basketball, football, ride my bike, all the things that kids do. But once my mom signed me up … I got my first taste of what would be my lifelong passion.”

In the ceremony that lasted over an hour was attended by Bonds’ family, including mother Pat, brother Ricky and adopted sister Carol, along with his three children, Aisha, Nikolai and Shikari.

Former Bonds teammates such as Bobby Bonilla, Will Clark, Ray Durham, Shawon Dunston, Kirk Rueter, Rob Nen made appearances and there was a surprise appearance by former Los Angeles Dodgers closer Eric Gagne.

“That’s great,” said Bonds.

Three of Bonds’ former managers were also in attendance, as Jim Leyland, Dusty Baker and Bruce Bochy were also in attendance.

Orlando Cepeda, Marichal, Mays, Willie McCovey and Gaylord Perry were all in attendance to welcome Bonds to the fraternity of having their numbers retired with the Giants.

Mays took the mic, and spoke to the sold-out crowd about where Bonds rightful place should be in baseball history and that is the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

”When people talk about, ‘Oh, who’s the best ballplayer in the world?’ I don’t care,” Mays said. ”I played my 20 years, 22 years, whatever it might be. Give somebody honor that deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame is a type of fraternity that, when you get there, you’ll say, ‘Man, how did I get here?’ And I want him to have that honor be something that happens to him.”

”Vote this guy in!” Mays added.

The ceremony came four days after the 11th anniversary of Bonds breaking Hank Aaron’s home run record.

Bonds, who is now a special assistant with the organization does not want to return to the dugout, a place he was for one year as hitting coach of the Miami Marlins.

The 54-year old Bonds enjoys coming to AT&T Park, as it is reminder to him that he built this park.

“I built this park, Willie never played here, Willie McCovey never played here,” said Bonds.

Pirates storm back, but Giants hold on for 13-10 win on Orange Friday

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By: Ana Kieu

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — In a nutshell, the San Francisco Giants got on the board with a three-run first inning, the Pittsburgh Pirates stormed back in an attempt to tie the ballgame, but the Orange and Black held on for the 13-10 win at AT&T Park on an Orange Friday type of night.

The Giants didn’t waste any time in the bottom of the first inning. Andrew McCutchen homered to right field for his 13th home run of the season and a 1-0 lead. Austin Slater’s RBI single made it a 2-0 game. Alec Hanson drove in Brandon Crawford for a 3-0 lead.

The Pirates finally got on the board in the top of the second inning as Jordy Mercer hit a line drive single to score David Freese. The score, 3-1, was still in favor of the Giants.

The Giants certainly came on down in the bottom of the third inning. McCutchen’s bases-loaded walk scored Slater, who got his team ahead 4-1. Buster Posey and Evan Longoria added line drive singles. The score was 7-1 Giants after three innings.

Mercer scored the Pirates’ second run of the game, a line drive double that scored Steven Duggar, but the Giants still led 7-2 in the top of the fourth inning.

Not only that, San Francisco continued to pour in the runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Steven Duggar went down the line for a two-run double and Posey got an RBI single. The Giants were up 10-2 after four innings. A lot of fans thought the Pirates were done for the night, but that wasn’t the case tonight.

Freese singled on a sharp line drive to bring the Pirates within seven–a 10-3 lead–in the top of the fifth inning. But, the Giants weren’t too nervous, as Alec Hanson brought home Crawford to up San Francisco’s score to 11-3 over Pittsburgh in the bottom of the fifth inning.

It was all good vibes for the Giants until the Pirates’ Francisco Cervelli hit a grand slam to left center field to pull his team within five in the bottom of the seventh inning. The score was 12-7 Giants after seven innings.

The Pirates got even closer in the top of the eighth inning when Colin Moran tripled on a sharp line drive to score Jordan Luplow. Also, Cervelli’s line drive single, and in the top of the ninth inning, Adeiny Hechavarria’s fly ball homer–his fourth of the season–capped off the scoring for Pittsburgh.

Meanwhile, San Francisco’s last run of the night came from Slater, who hit a line drive single to score McCutchen in the bottom of the eighth inning. That was arguably an insurance run, but the Giants had the game regardless.

The Giants held on for the 13-10 win over the Pirates in game one of the series.

Notes

Up Next
The Giants and Pirates will meet again Saturday night at 6:05 pm PDT.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: Giants injuries, errors, lack of offense mounting drop third straight home game

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USA Today file photo: Pittsburgh Pirates starter Trevor Williams hands his father a signed ball as Williams starts against the Giants tonight at AT&T Park in game two of the four game series this weekend

On the Giants podcast with Michael:

The San Francisco Giants who got dumped by the Houston Astros got a taste of what the Pittsburgh Pirates were all about on Thursday night in a five run 10-5 loss. The loss drops SF to seven games below in the Wild Card and the NL West. The Giants starter Andrew Saurez got rocked in the second inning surrendering two consecutive homers.

For Saurez’ pitching line, three runs, two homers, five innnings, seven hits, three earned runs, for his eighth loss. The defense Saurez didn’t help much committing three errors by Joe Panik, Evan Longoria, and Hunter Pence. The Giants will try it all over again tonight at AT&T Park Trevor Williams gets the call 9-8 and for the Giants Derek Holland 5-8.

Michael does the Giants podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Pirates provide the pop, Giants’ offense shows up late in 10-5 home loss

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO — All the warts associated with the Giants’ offense were there to see on Thursday night.

No offense early? With Pirates’ starter Ivan Nova’s fastball darting around the strike zone, the Giants’ bats were over a hour late arriving at the ballpark. Their first hit didn’t materialize until the fifth inning. Clutch hits with runners aboard? Forget about it. Power game with home run pop? In the dense air and damp weather, San Francisco hitters would have been fortunate to sniff the warning track let alone clear the outfield wall.

But the Pirates’ hitters did. Three times. And Josh Bell, Elias Diaz and David Freese aren’t guys you normally associate with home runs. On Thursday, the Pittsburgh trio surprised themselves.

“I haven’t pulled a ball like that virtually all year,” Bell said of his solo shot, one of two back-to-back homers in the second inning that put Giants’ starter Andrew Suarez in an early hole. “It’s definitely a good sign I’m heading in the right direction.”

When early became not early in the fifth, the Giants finally got cooking. Austin Slater picked up the Giants’ first hit, then Alan Hanson tripled home Slater. Later in the inning Steven Duggar singled in Hanson.

But as quickly as the offense commenced it concluded. Gorkys Hernandez and Andrew McCutchen failed in opportunities to tie the game ending the fifth. And Nova finished his evening by stopping the Giants in the sixth.

We digress here: the Giants had dropped seven of eight at home coming in, then, we pause, they went the first eight innings Thursday trying to subsist on three hits.

That was a recipe for disaster before Mark Melancon’s seventh inning relief stint was marred by Joe Panik’s exchange error and Evan Longoria’s throwing error on consecutive plays. Run scoring hits of Melancon preceded a three-run homer by David Freese off Derek Law, and the Pirates extended their one-run lead to 8-2.

Freese’s home run was the 100th of his career, and the only space vessel to leave the yard after the second inning. No small feat given the air grew heavier as the evening wore on, and Freese doesn’t resonate as a power source.

“It’s a good feeling, I won’t lie. … For a guy that pounds the ball on the ground, not too bad,” Freese said of the home run and the milestone.

The Giants have scored 22 runs in their last eight home games, which qualifies Thursday’s ninth inning as a breakout. Panik doubled home a pair of runs, and Steven Duggar doubled home Panik. But the game ended with Hunter Pence’s groundout.

Derek Holland will get the start Friday when they attempt to break the 0-3 streak on the homestand.

Bonds gets highest team honor with No. 25 being retired

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Photo credit: @YawkeyWayReport

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — Barry Bonds will someday become a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, but in the meantime, he will receive an honor reserved for Hall of Famers with the New York/San Francisco Giants.

This Saturday Night, prior to the Giants game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the team that Bonds was drafted by with the 7thpick in the 1985 Amateur Draft, the Giants will retire Bonds’ number 25.

Bonds will be the first member to have his number retired that is not a member of the Hall of Fame.

The power-hitting left fielder, who hit a Major League record 762 home runs in his career from 1986-2007 will join 10 others with their numbers retired, and another four honored by the team, as they did not have uniform numbers.

Bonds’ godfather Willie Mays was the first player to have his number retired by the team, as his number 24 was retired in 1972 after he was traded to the New York Mets.

After he retired as a member of the rival Los Angeles Dodgers in 1975, Juan Marichal received the highest honor from the Giants, as is number 27 was retired that same year, 1975.

Playing in his last season in the majors, Willie McCovey was honored with his number 44 being retired on September 20, 1980.

Just one day later, the Giants honored two of their heroes from their days in New York, as they retired 4 in honor of Mel Ott and number 11 for Carl Hubbell on September 21.

New York Giants first baseman/manager Bill Terry was honored with his number 3 being retired on April 5, 1983.

Two of the greatest New York Giants were honored on August 17, 1986, as both Manager John McGraw and Christy Mathewson were honored by the team with the letters NY, as neither wore a number while a member of the Giants.

Despite the fact that he never played for the Giants, Brooklyn Dodgers player Jackie Robinson number 42 was retired by all major-league teams on April 15, 1997. Robinson retired in 1956 after just 10 years in the major leagues, as he was traded to the Giants from the Dodgers for Dick Littlefield, but he went to work for Chock Full O’nuts as a Vice President instead of joining the Giants.

Orlando Cepeda received the greatest honor from the organization, as his number 30 was placed on the wall at Candlestick Park in its final season on July 11, 1999.

Gaylord Perry became the first player to get his number retired at AT&T Park, as his number 36 revealed on the Club Level on July 23, 2005.

That same season, the broadcasting duo of Russ Hodges and Lon Simmons were honored with microphones on the Club Level.

Monte Irvin was the last player to get his number 20 honored, as his number was unveiled on June 26, 2010.

The next retired number after Bonds’ is up in the air, but it could be Will Clark’s number 22 and current players Madison Bumgarner and his number 40 and Buster Posey with his number 28.

Giants and Pirates to face off in crucial weekend series starting Thursday night

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By Daniel Dullum

The San Francisco Giants had Wednesday off following their brief interleague series with the Houston Astros, which saw them drop both games and fall below the .500 mark as they struggle to stay in the NL West race.

Up next is the Giants’ four-game series at AT&T Park, hosting the Pirates. Back in May, San Francisco (57-58) dropped two of three to Pittsburgh. The Giants haven’t fared much better at home against the Bucs, dropping 12 of their last 17 games to Pittsburgh.

The Pirates (59-56) come in needed these games as much as the Giants and do so after a 4-3 win Wednesday at Colorado. A hot streak around the All-Star break put Pittsburgh on the fringe of the NL playoff chase, along with Atlanta, Arizona, Colorado, St. Louis, and Washington.

Thursday’s pitching matchup has the Giants’ left-hander Andrew Suarez (4-7) facing Pittsburgh right-hander Ivan Nova (6-6). On Friday, lefty Derek Holland (5-8) goes for San Francisco against the Pirates’ righty Trevor Williams (9-8).

While righty Joe Musgrove is slated to start for Pittsburgh on Saturday, the Giants haven’t announced a probable starter. Dereck Rodriguez is expected to start for the Black and Orange on Sunday.

Saturday’s starter won’t be Jeff Samardzija, who could begin a rehab assignment next week. He’s been on the DL since July 15 with right shoulder inflammation. Johnny Cueto, of course, is out for the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery on August 2. This is worth noting, as both were counted on at the start of the season to avoid this dilemma.

One glaring area the Giants must improve upon, and manager Bruce Bochy has addressed it more than once–clutch hitting. The Giants are hitting .204 with runners in scoring position and two outs this season, lowest in the NL and third-lowest in the Majors, trailing Texas (.189) and Baltimore (.191).

Another area is simply playing better at home. The Giants have won seven of their last eight games at AT&T Park.

Good news is that Evan Longoria continues to swing a hot bat, hitting .359 over a nine-game stretch with six extra-base hits. Andrew McCutchen’s bat has heated up as well of late, hitting .387 with a double, two homers and three RBIs in the eight games going into Tuesday.

Despite taking a precautionary day off (suspected concussion symptoms–passed all testing), Buster Posey is hitting .452 over an eight-game stretch, and .343 over 17 games.

While both teams have a slim shot at the postseason, whoever loses this series is likely out of the 2018 playoff picture for good.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Marko Ukalovic: After running into brick wall Astros, Giants hope to win series with Bucs

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On the Giants podcast with Marko:

The San Francisco Giants know after winning two out of four in Arizona. They’d have their work cut out for them with the Astros dropping in and the Giants got swept in a two-game series losing 2-1 on Tuesday. The Giants’ reliever Will Smith on Monday night gave up a three-run homer to Marwin Gonzalez and Giants reliever Ray Black gave up a home run to the Astros their back to give the Astros a one-run lead.

The Astros own the Giants the sweep on Monday and Tuesday makes it four in a row as Houston beat San Francisco back in May at Minute Maid Park. The Giants’ Chase d’Arnaud got the Giants only run with a single in the second inning to score Brandon Crawford.

The Giants open a four game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Starting pitchers for Thursday night at AT&T Park for the Pirates Ivan Nova (6-6) and for the Giants Andrew Saurez (4-7).

Marko Ukalovic does the Giants podcasts each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Giants experience another close finish in 2-1 loss to Astros

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By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — It seems that the San Francisco Giants starters have been snake bitten over the past two games versus the Houston Astros at AT&T Park.

Giants’ closer Will Smith was unable to hold on to a 1-0 lead on Monday night, and then Ray Black did the same in the series finale.

Black gave up his first hit since July 8 to Monday’s hero Marwin Gonzalez and then after striking out Yuli Gurriel, Tyler White hit a Black pitch into the left field seats and the Astros came back for the second straight day to defeat the Giants 2-1 before a sellout crowd of 41,613 at AT&T Park on Tuesday.

The win by the Astros gave them the season sweep four games to zero, as they also swept the Giants in May at Minute Maid Park.

This was the seventh loss in the last eight home games for the Giants, who are now 32-24 at AT&T Park this season.

One pitch prior to the White home run, Black threw a 96-mph high and tight, but then White hit the next pitch clocked at 99-mph into the seats.

Madison Bumgarner went seven innings, allowing zero runs on five hits, while walking three and striking out seven.

Chase d’Arnaud supplied the only offense that Bumgarner would get, as he lashed an opposite field single to right field to score Brandon Crawford from second base in the bottom of the second inning. Crawford led off the inning with a long double, and was able to score the early run, as he made a great headfirst slide around Astros catcher Max Stassi.

The day did not end well for d’Arnaud, as he was forced to leave the game in the bottom of the fourth inning, as he took a foul ball off the knee. d’Arnaud attempted to stay in the game, but the pain in his left leg was too painful, and Alen Hanson came to bat for d’Arnaud and struck out; however, the at-bat was charged to d’Arnaud instead of Hanson.

d’Arnaud suffered a left knee contusion on the foul ball, and Hanson eventually replaced d’Arnaud at second base.

Dallas Keuchel went six innings, allowing just one run on three hits, walked two and struck out five, as he did not fare in the decision.

The defensive plays of the game came in the top of the sixth inning, as White tripled to lead off the inning, but then on a ground ball hit by Josh Reddick down to Buster Posey at first base, Posey threw home to get White at the plate for the first out of the inning.

With Max Stassi at the plate, Reddick went to second on a Bumgarner wild pitch and then stole third base and then the bigger play than the force out at home came when Bumgarner’s pitch got away from Nick Hundley, but he was able to regroup and throw to Bumgarner, who tagged Reddick for the third out of the inning.

NOTES: Despite the fact that the Giants are one game under the .500 mark, they have spent 67 days either one game below .500, even at .500, or one game over .500, the most by any team in the major leagues this season. This is the third most days by the team since they moved to San Francisco in 1958, this according to STATS, LLC., and it is the most by the team since they spent 81 days hovering around that mark in 2006.

White’s home run was the 106th allowed by Giants’ pitchers, the second fewest of any team this season, with 44 coming at AT&T Park. The Cardinals’ pitching staff have allowed the fewest with 102 home runs.

The Giants’ first-round pick in the 2018 Amateur Draft, Joey Bart was named the Northwest League Player of the Month for July, as he hit .333 and led the NWL with nine home runs and 24 RBIs. Bart also picked up 18 extra base hits, 65 total bases, a slugging percentage of .747, an on-base percentage of 1.126 and also added a 10-game hitting streak from July 8-19.

This was the first time that the Giants lost consecutive games to the Astros since May 14 and 15, 2008.

Bumgarner allowed two triples for the first time in his career. Josh Reddick was the first left-handed batter to get a triple off of Bumgarner since Ender Inciarte of the Atlanta Braves on August 28, 2016.

UP NEXT: After a much-needed day off on Wednesday, the Giants begin a four-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates, as Giants’ Andrew Suarez will take the mound in the opener and the Pirates will send Ivan Nova to the hill. Game one is set for Thursday at 7:15 pm PDT.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast: A’s proving to be buyers, getting Kelly and Fiers; Halos’ Trout out day-to-day with wrist injury; Willie Mac takes the plunge at 80

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On That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary:

#1 The Oakland A’s are loading up proving that their buyers and they’re trying to seal the deal for the post season as they acquired pitchers from the Washington Nationals, Sean Kelly, and from the Detroit Tigers, Mike Fiers, this past week.

#2 The Los Angeles Angels’ outfielder Mike Trout is suffering from a right wrist contusion after an awkward slide last Wednesday to avoid a tag from the Tampa Bay Rays’ third baseman Matt Duffy. Trout will be day-to-day, according to Angels’ manager Mike Scioscia.

#3 Former San Francisco Giant first baseman and Hall of Fame legend Willie McCovey got married for the second time–his first marriage in the 1960s–with his longtime girlfriend Estela last week. McCovey had a great career and he was the other fence buster with his former teammate Willie Mays during the great ’60s.

#4 The Chicago Cubs’ Javier Baez hit a curve ball in the sixth inning in Monday night’s game against the Kansas City Royals for his 25th home run of the season. Baez now has three home runs in his last four games.

#5 The Houston Astros are on pace to win 100 games as they came back in the top of the ninth down 1-0 and got a three-run home run from Marwin Gonzalez for the 3-1 win at AT&T Park over the San Francisco Giants. There are three teams in MLB on the 100-win pace: the Boston Red Sox (113 wins), the New York Yankees (100 wins), and the Astros (101 wins).

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Oakland A’s Spanish play-by-play announcer, the vice president of the MLB Hispanic Heritage Museum Hall of Fame, and does News and Commentary each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

One Bad Pitch: Giants come within one out of big win over World Champion Astros only to lose heartbreaker 3-1

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–Big league baseball comes with the caveat that there can be some major league disappointments. The Giants, closer Will Smith and rookie starter Dereck Rodriguez suffered through an especially tough outcome on Monday night.

With the Giants and Rodriguez one out away from a wholely satisfying 1-0 victory, Smith surrendered a three-run home run to Houston’s Marwin Gonzalez that sent the Giants to a 3-1 loss. The Giants fell back to .500 (57-57) for the 21st time, and failed to close the gap between themselves and the division-leading Diamondbacks and Dodgers.

Rodriguez put the Giants in an advantageous spot, pitching seven innings of shutout baseball without the benefit of his best stuff. Backed by Brandon Crawford’s two-strike, two-out home run in the sixth, and Reyes Moronta’s perfect eighth inning, the Giants were in line for a fourth, 1-0 win of the season.

Rodriguez, the minor league free agent who signed with the Giants in November only to propel himself to be MLB’s top rookie starting pitcher this season, kept the Astros scoreless by relying heavily on his cutter and two-seam fastball in the absence of his good blazer, he said. Rodriguez threw seven innings, his second, consecutive start of that length, allowing three hits, no runs while striking out seven.

“When I’m out there it’s just me, Buster (Posey) and the hitter, whoever’s hitting, so I think that’s what’s helped me get to the point where I’m at, my concentration when I’m in the game,” he said.

But while Rodriguez cruised, the Giants’ hitters had their hands full with Charlie Morton, a pitcher with a decade of experience facing San Francisco hitters, and a trio of dominating performances, including two at AT&T Park.

Morton went seven innings, struck out eight, and was only dented by an off-speed pitch to Crawford that was off the plate, but waist high.

Morton controlled the rest of the Giants’ lineup, allowing harmless base hits to Evan Longoria and Joe Panik.

Smith fell into trouble prior to allowing the home run to Gonzalez, walking Alex Bregman, and Yuli Gurriel. There’s no security blanket for closers, and Smith probably needed one when facing Gonzalez.

“I felt fine,” Smith said. “Just lost control of the fastball tonight.”

Houston overcame the absence of sluggers Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa and George Springer, and Brian McCann in the win. They welcomed Roberto Osuna, the flamethrower acquired in a trade with the Blue Jays despite his pending charges regarding domestic violence. Osuna pitched a perfect, eighth inning.

The Astros and Giants conclude their brief series Tuesday afternoon with Dallas Kuechel facing Madison Bumgarner at 12:45pm.