Tag: giants

Giant Turnaround: Sweep of the Dodgers has Giants moving in the right direction

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Giant sweep

By Morris Phillips

Could a season’s turning point actually take place in late April?

The Giants would like to think so, and they certainly battled the hated Dodgers this week as if it were a modern-day Custer’s last stand.

“They rose to the occasion,” manager Bruce Bochy said after the Giants struck last in a 3-2 win over the Dodgers Thursday afternoon.  “I said we had to play our best ball against these guys.  They came in hot.  And we did.  We pitched well, our bats were better and they kept fighting.”

How unexpected was this sweep of the Dodgers, the first for the Giants over their rival at home since 2013?

Despite the Giants being the current kings of October with rings to match, the Dodgers are the overwhelming favorite to win the NL West in 2015, and they came to Pac Bell Park this week sporting a seven-game win streak.  On the other hand, the Giants simply weren’t giving their home crowd any bang for their buck.  They opened the home schedule with six losses in seven games, and fans on the view level reportedly couldn’t tell if Giants’ batters were swinging bats or toothpicks.

On top of that, the Giants were missing too many faces.  Injuries to Hunter Pence, Matt Cain and Travis Ishikawa had the Giants minus a few difference-makers, not a good look for a team already six games out of first place and scuffling.

But once put face-to-face with the Dodgers, the reinforcements stood up.  Justin Maxwell came up with the game-winning hit on Thursday, Ryan Vogelsong got the start and pitched effectively through six innings and the Giants overcame an early 2-0 deficit with a game-extending run in the ninth, then the game-winner in the tenth.

The Dodgers entered the series scoring better than five runs a game, but were held to two runs in each game as Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgarner, Vogelsong and the entirety of the bullpen had encouraging outings.

Angel Pagan got things going in the tenth with a base hit, then after Buster Posey was retired, Pagan stole second.  Manager Don Mattingly then elected to walk Brandon Belt ahead of Maxwell’s game-winner.

“I was ready to hit,” Maxwell said.  “I can’t wait to get on the plane and celebrate with the team.”

Maxwell came close to giving the Giants a lead in the eighth when he sent a liner up the middle with the bases loaded and two outs.  But second baseman Howie Kendrick’s diving catch ended the threat and preserved the Dodgers’ 2-1 lead.

In the ninth, the Giants did get even when Brandon Crawford tripled, scoring pinch-runner Matt Duffy from first.

Santiago Casilla pitched a scoreless tenth and picked up the win for the second straight day.

The Giants open a three-game series in Denver against the Rockies on Friday with rookies Chris Heston of the Giants and Colorado’s Eddie Butler reprising their matchup from the Giants’ home opener.

Giants return to AT&T Park but don’t do anything to stop the questions

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moundtrouble

By Morris Phillips

Thursday night’s lid lifter at the Yard was supposed to be just an exhibition, a friendly meeting of the A’s and Giants before things get serious on Monday, Opening Day for both teams.

But with Jake Peavy on the mound—lathered up, grimacing and cursing, grinding—it was hard to tell if this was an exhibition or not.

Brush backs, changing signs, a balk, controlling baserunners, and fooling ‘em occasionally with the out pitches slightly off the plate, Peavy did it all for 3 1/3 innings, a drama in 79 pitches including some high points but mostly lows in the Giants 8-2 loss.

So the books are closed on the 33-year old starter’s spring, and like much of the Giants’ opening day roster, the questions loom. Peavy allowed a whopping 21 earned runs in 23 2/3 innings over eight spring appearances—six of those earned runs allowed on Thursday—but he’s slated to take his turn in the rotation, either Thursday or Friday of next week in San Diego.

“I certainly don’t want my last dress rehearsal to be like it was tonight, but that being said, it doesn’t count,” Peavy said.

Along with Peavy, the Giants are concerned about Matt Cain, but to what degree would be speculation. After a fast start to his spring, Cain has dealt with soreness and command issues in recent weeks. But like Peavy, he’s a member of the rotation, scheduled to make his first start since July 9 next week in Arizona.

Given the Giants’ tried and true formula depends heavily on starting pitching, it would be fair to say the season could crumble if the trends and concerns continue unabated. But even that’s nothing new: in their miraculous 2014 season that ended with the Giants hoisting a third World Series trophy, they played sub-.500 ball for the final 98 games of the regular season.

So if nothing else, Giants’ fans need to be patient and see how it plays out.

NOTES: The high point for the Giants? Angel Pagan homered into the left field gap in the fourth, a fairly majestic shot that gave the home team fans something to cheer after the A’s put up seven unanswered runs to start the game.   Brandon Belt also went deep off reliever Pat Venditte in the ninth. The Giants had failed rallies in the second and eighth innings, and did very little against A’s starter Scott Kazmir who went six frames, only allowing the homer to Pagan. The Giants 1-2 hitters Nori Aoki and Joe Panik went a combined 0 for 6.

Ryan Vogelsong–bearded but otherwise recognizable by his normal, dead-serious demeanor—threw three innings of relief allowing one hit and striking out three. Vogey assumes a new role this season as the Giants’ long reliever. Jeremy Affeldt and Santiago Casilla also got in an inning of work each. In the absence of Hunter Pence, Justin Maxwell appears likely to get significant playing time in the outfield, but he’ll need to get familiar with the right field arcade. Sam Fuld’s blast high off the bricks bounced back past Maxwell and had to be played by Pagan rushing over from center. When Pagan misplayed the pickup, Fuld turned a triple into full trip around the bases with Pagan getting a one-base error.

On Friday night, Cain will start for the Giants with Kendall Gravemen going for the A’s at 7:15pm.

Giants Thump Padres 9-3 In Season Finale, Offense Tunes Up For Wild Card Showdown

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By Matthew T.F. Harrington

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – With a playoff berth in hand, the San Francisco Giants wrapped game 162 up with an offensive display sure to comfort fans heading into a do-or-die contest. The Giants wrapped 13 hits in a 9-3 victory over the San Diego Padres Sunday Afternoon at AT&T Park.

Buster Posey and pinch-hitter Adam Duvall each homered for San Francisco (87-74), while seven different Giants knocked in a run. The Padres (77-85) received RBIs from Cory Spangenberg, Seth Smith and Yasmani Grandal.

“Ultimately, I think the guys who have been through this know this,” said Posey “It’s going to come down to pitching well and playing good defense. I think we have the offense that can get hot and carry that hotness, sustain that hotness for a few weeks.”

Before the Giants even took the field for the regular season finale against the San Diego Padres, they knew their playoff fate. With a Pittsburgh Pirates 4-1 loss in Cincinnati earlier in the day, the Giants will head to the Steel City for Wednesday’s one-game Wild Card playoff. The Pirates opened the day one game back of the St. Louis Cardinals for the National League Central crown.

“That’s a good club,” said Giants Manager Bruce Bochy of Wednesday’s foe. “They really have been firing this month, almost winning their division. It’s going to be a tough game.”

For San Francisco, Rookie pitcher Chris Heston made his first Major League start after two relief appearances this season. In his 2014 Triple-A Fresno campaign Heston went 12-9 with a 3.38 earned run average, the second lowest mark in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He was twice named a MiLB Organizational All-Star for the Giants and this year lead all PCL starters in innings pitched (173) and starts (28).

The 2009 San Francisco 12th round draft pick opened the game precariously, allowing four-straight hits to the Padres before finally recording his first out on a Seth Smith sacrifice fly. The 26-year-old retired the next two batters, including inducing an inning-ending grounder up the middle that he deflected to a diving shortstop Brandon Crawford. Crawford flipped the ball out of his glove to second basemen Joe Panik to end the inning with the Giants only trailing 2-0.

“He threw the ball very well,” said Posey of his batterymate. “I think there were some nerves to start with but he settled in for innings two, three and four.”

“There were some nerves to be out there for start one,” admitted Heston. “But once I threw strike one, it settled down. A lot happened pretty quickly. Crawford made a crazy good play to get me out of it. It was pretty fun.”

The deficit would be short-lived following a Buster Posey’s 22nd home run of the year off Padres starter Robbie Erlin. Posey tied the game after taking a belt-high fastball to left-center, scoring Gregor Blanco for the backstop’s 88th and 89th RBIs of the season. Posey underwent an MRI Friday to check on damage to his balky bat.

“(Buster) told me in the morning he wanted to play,” said Bochy. “I was a little concerned that he was healthy, but he showed me with his swing. We were planning to give him a couple at-bats, but Buster felt fine in them all. It seemed encouraging that he’s over his issue.”

The Giants cracked open the game in the bottom of the second inning, scoring four runs to chase the eventual losing pitcher Erlin (4-5, 4.99 ERA) from the game. San Francisco loaded the bases with no outs for Heston. He struck out looking for the first out, but leadoff man Blanco lofted a sacrifice fly to center and Panik singled down the line at first for a 4-2 lead. Padres manager Bud Black went to his bullpen, calling on Tim Stauffer to replace Erlin after his 1 1/3 innings of work and four runs allowed. Stauffer struck out Posey to end the second.

The Friars fired back with a run of their own off Heston in the top of the third after a Yasmani Grandal RBI single. It’d be the last run the Padres would score off Heston in his four innings of work. He’d be lifted for pinch-hitter Adam Duvall in the bottom of the fourth. Duvall took a 91 mile per hour Stauffer offering deep for his third home run of the season.

Heston failed to qualify for his first career win despite exiting the game with a 5-3 lead, missing the five-inning cutoff. He walked a pair of struck out a pair in his outing, but the honors instead went to Tim Lincecum (12-9, 4.74). “The Freak” pitched a pair of scoreless innings in the fifth and sixth, surrendering a lone hit, to vulture the win.

“I thought Heston did a good job,” said Bochy. “He’s pitched a lot. It’s not an easy job taking him out in the fourth with the lead but with him not getting a lot of work we didn’t want to overtax him. Timmy came in and got another win so he’s excited about that. It was a well-played game.”

San Francisco put the game out of reach with a three-run eighth inning following an run-scoring hits by birthday boy Gary Brown, Joaquin Arias and pinch-hitter Matt Duffy. Arias’ hit, a double off reliever Nick Vincent, plated two runs. Erik Cordier and Brett Bochy pitched a scoreless inning apiece to close out the win for the Black and Orange on Fan Appreciation Day.

“It’s very special for him to be out there,” said the elder Bochy on utilizing his son for the final three outs. “It’s a moment I won’t forget. I told the kids ‘hey, you’ve got the end here’ because we weren’t going to use (Santiago) Casilla, (Hunter) Strickland or (Sergio) Romo.”

“It was a very proud moment for me,” he added. “This is one line-up card I’ll save.”

What the fans would truly appreciate is a third Giants World Series title in six years. With that in mind Bochy has already announced his scheduled starter for Wednesday’s playoff contest. 2014 all-star Madison Bumgarner takes his 18-10 record and 2.98 ERA to the bump against the Bucs in an attempt to advance the Giants to the Division Series and a date with the NL wins leaders, the Washington Nationals.

“Madison was our Opening Day starter,” said Bochy. “He made the All-star team. This is the way you hope it will pan out.”

Pittsburgh won the season series 4-2. Pirates manager Clint Hurdle has hinted that Edison Volquez (3.04 ERA) will get the nod after his 13-win season.

“It’s going to be one of the better atmospheres that we get to play in,” said Posey “We all look forward to the challenge”

“We’re playing in their park where they’ve really done a good job,” added Bochy. “We’re facing a tough pitcher. I expect to see a great ballgame. We’ll do all we can to get back here.”

Bumgarner’s Gem Ruined in Late Innings as Giants Drop Another Game at Home

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Photo Credit: SF Gate
Photo Credit: SF Gate

By: Joe Lami

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF.–The struggles for the Giants continue as they were defeated Friday night 5-3 in ten innings by the slumping Philadelphia Phillies. The Giants entered the night looking to get two consecutive wins at home for the first time since they went on a five-game winning streak to begin June. San Francisco has lost six of their last seven and 14 of their last 20 games, while Philadelphia was coming into the contest losing five of their last six.

The Giants had high hopes early on, as Madison Bumgarner started the game hot, striking out four of the first six batters. Bumgarner had a perfect game into the fourth inning, until Jimmy Rollins broke it up with a bloop single right over the head of Joe Panik, whose diving attempt wasn’t good enough, as it tipped off of his glove. Bumgarner would be able to get out of the inning fairly quickly after a controversial call at 3rd when Rollins broke for 3rd, but Bumgarner picked him off. Review would confirm the call.

Cole Hamels was the starting pitcher on the other side, and he came into the contest being one of the hottest pitchers in all of baseball, coming into the contest throwing 7 or more innings while only giving up one earned run over his last five starts. He gave up three hits in the first three innings, but the Giants weren’t able to do anything about it.

It wasn’t until the fourth inning when the Giants got on the scoreboard. Buster Posey started off the inning with a single. He would be moved to third when Pablo Sandoval hit a ground rule double to left-center field. This would bring up Michael Morse, who in his first at-bat stroke one 400 ft to right, but it was to the deepest part of the ballpark. Morse would get a hold of another one, as he sent a moon shot to left that landed ten rows up the bleachers over the 382 mark. Giants’ Manager, Bruce Bochy praised Morse “He had some great At-Bats for us tonight”. The Giants were up 3-0 at the end of the 4th.

Bumgarner’s only hiccup out his outing came in the fifth inning, when the very first batter, Maron Byrd, would get one back for the Phillies on a solo shot to left field bringing the Giants’ lead to 3-1. It was Byrd’s 23rd home run of the year, leading the Phillies and is third in the National League. Bumgarner would buckle down not allowing another run the rest of his outing. Bumgarner had a line of seven innings pitched, surrendering one run on four hits while striking out nine. Eight of the nine strikeouts were earned from swinging strikes. He earned just his third quality start of the season at home and the first since June 10. “It feels nice to throw good at home, it’s been a while,” commented Bumgarner. Bochy added “Bum, what a great job”.

The Giants had a couple of chances to add to their lead, their most promising was in the sixth inning, when Brandon Crawford was up with Gregor Blanco on third. San Francisco tried to play a safety squeeze that went wrong. A bad bunt from Crawford plus bad base running from Blanco took away their chance. Blanco read the play wrong and tried to break for the plate, when he relalized that he wouldn’t make it, he tried to get back to third where he was thrown out by Hamel. “ There needs to be a fine line between being aggressive and being smart,” said Bochy.

 

The Phillies took advantage of the two-time all star leaving the game, as they tied the game up in the eighth inning. Jeremy Affeldt gave up a base hit to Darin Ruf to start the inning, and Cody Asche followed up by hitting his first home run of his career at AT&T Park driving it just over the right field wall to the first row of the arcade. Bumgarner mentioned that “It looked like his foot slipped on that pitch”, to which he added “it would have affected me”. For Affeldt, it was the first home run he’s given up in over a calendar year (June 28, 2013 vs. San Diego) and the first one to a left-handed batter since April 24, 2011.

 

The score was tied heading into the eighth where the Giants had yet another chance. This time with two outs and Sandoval on second base. Panik lined one to right field for the base hit, but the Giants took the chance to bring home Sandoval, where he was embarrassingly thrown out by ten feet. “We haven’t been scoring that much lately, so we took the chance, and he (Byrd) made a perfect throw,” added Bochy.

 

The Giants wouldn’t receive another great scoring chance, as the Phillies took the lead in the tenth inning when Chase Utley was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to give the Phillies the lead. Ryan Howard would extend the lead to 5-3 on a sacrifice fly that went to the warning track in left field.

 

The Giants hope to turn this terrible streak at home around, where they have gone 8-23 in the last 31 home games. This compares to their 22-9 record at home for their first 31 game at home. Even with Friday night’s loss the Giants didn’t lose any ground in the playoff race, as both the Dodgers (5.5 back of NL West) and Pirates (0.5 back of 2nd Wild Card) lost.

 

Tomorrow the Giants will try to get revenge on the Phillies in the second game of the three game set, where Tim Hudson will take the bump facing off against Kyle Kendrick.

 

 

A Pitcher in the Home Run Derby? Why Madison Bumgarner Should Have Been Considered

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By Matthew Harrington

Monday night, the annual tradition of launching baseballs into the atmosphere like NASA satellites will commence once again, as the MLB’s greatest current sluggers converge at Target Field in Minnesota for the 2014 Home Run Derby, a rocket launch to the 2014 All-Star Game Festivities in the Twin Cities.

Sure, Jose Bautista, Giancarlo Stanton and Yoenis Cespedes are going to put on a show, launch tape measure bombs and make Chris Berman yell “Back, back, back!” more times than a construction foreman guiding a reversing dump truck. Absolutely the field is filled with deserving candidates worthy of the honor to compete for the superfluous, superlative title of home run champion. The only problem is, National League captain missed a great opportunity to invite an unexpected participant; San Francisco Giants 2014 All-Star Madison Bumgarner.

With Bumgarner having pitched in Sunday’s first-half finale, he won’t be available to perform his duties in the Mid-Summer Classic Tuesday night, he’ll instead be replaced by teammate Tim Hudson. It’d certainly free him up for Monday Night’s fireworks display though, and here’s why he should be included.

Consider this blind sample:

Batter A – 13.33 at-bats per home run
Batter B – 16.81 at-bats per home run
Batter C – 27.46 at-bats per home run
Batter D – 14.76 at-bats per home run
Batter E – 19.05 at-bats per home run
Batter F – 28.58 at-bats per home run

The figures for batters B though F are this year’s National League Entrants in the home run derby Giancarlo Stanton, Justin Morneau, Troy Tulowitzki, Todd Frazier and Yasiel Puig in that order. Subject A, the leader in long ball frequency amongst the above sample group, is Bumgarner. Over 40 at-bats this season, he has exited the park three times.

There are no doubts that Tulowitzki, NL leader in home runs (21, tied with Stanton) selected an entertaining senior circuit squad. Justin Morneau represents the veteran savvy, having won the 2008 Derby at Yankee Stadium after hitting four balls out of AT&T Park in the previous iteration. While other players were still adjusting to another season on April fourth, Stanton already showed his penchant for the tape-measure poke, launching the longest NL home run of the season an astounding 484 feet. Puig brings the flair, ranking fourth in the Majors in average distance per homer (417.3 feet) while Frazier brings the backstory. Tulowitzki selected Frazier based off a leadoff home run the Reds third basemen hit…for New Jersey in the Little League World Series. Surely, the Colorado shortstop couldn’t be accused of not bringing the best to Minneapolis.

That being said, Despite playing in the very homer-unfriendly AT&T Park (ranked 6th in the NL in home runs hit this season), Bumgarner has excelled at the big fly at home in 2014. Following Sunday’s grand slam, against the Arizona Diamondbacks, a 387-footer off starter Matt Stites, the Giants All-star collected all three of his first-half dinger on the banks of McCovey Cove this season. None came cheap, with the average distance for MadBum blasts measuring in at 402 feet. That matches or is better than Morneau (402), Frazier (398.6) and Tulowitzki (398.4). Sure, it’s a small sample size, but it’s an impressive one no less, and one that started the train of though to invite the lefty-throwing, righty-hitting starter.

If a small statistical pool is troublesome, let’s shed some light on what Bumgarner has done with the bat in comparison to some of his teammates. The Hickory, NC native currently sits in seventh place amongst Giants hitters in offensive wins above replacement, ranking above Brandon Belt, Tyler Colvin and Brandon Hicks as well as five other position players with more at-bats than Bumgarner. In only 1/5th the numbers of opportunities of many of his teammates, Bumgarner and his .275 batting average and 12 runs batted in have proven he’s no slouch with the stick. Throw in that he’s pitched brilliantly, going 10-7 with a 3.47 earned run average and 127 punchouts over 128 innings.

While selecting a pitcher in the home run derby sounds outlandish in theory, in practice it would create quite a buzz for the event. No pitcher has ever participated in the event, a far more significant first than the change in format implemented this year. A move to segregated league brackets that will culminate in an AL bracket-winner vs NL bracket-winner final sounds mildly interesting for the sake of it being something new, but it still represents the same old Derby concept of mashers pummeling baseballs ad nauseum till someone emerges a victor.

Inserting a starting pitcher as a combatant into the fray would draw buzz. Fans would tune in, if not to watch with intrigue of what the seldom offensively-gifted could do, at least for the train wreck aspect. The fun of watching the Derby for some isn’t the amount of success the participants have, but rather the lack there of. Who didn’t have a laugh when Robinson Cano couldn’t clear the fence even once amidst a rousing round of jeers from those in attendance at Kauffman Stadium in the summer of 2012?

There are plenty of hurdles to even considering a pitcher for the annual laser show. First and foremost is the production from the position. Bumgarner is one of only seven NL pitchers with a homerun, and only Chicago’s Travis Wood has multiple jacks to join Madison. Bumgarner is also the only hurler with more than 10 RBIs this season meaning there’s a severe lack of offensive output league-wide from the NL’s ninth spot in the order. So forgive Tulo or any other future captain for not tabbing a starter to the team.

Dim positional offensive positivity aside, imagine the resistance a general manager and manager would offer. It’s hard enough to convince star hitters to take part for fear of ruining their swing for the second half. Now picture the long list of pitchers who have injured themselves over the years taken hacks at the plate. No front office would want to see their pitcher, whom they have invested millions of dollars in, injured in a meaningless exhibition for a skillset none to prevalent at the position with no consequence other than a hollow title.

But the All-star game isn’t about managers, or GMs, or the players to some degree. It’s about the fans, rewarding them with a chance to watch the best of the best, to dream about what an All-World outfield of Mike Trout, Bautista and Adam Jones. It’s about seeing the never-before-seen, the never-to-be-seen-again. Hopefully, one day, it’ll be about seeing a starting pitcher take his long ball hacks with the best of them in the Home Run Derby.

“Contagious” Starting Pitching Keys A’s to Win in Bay Bridge Series Opener

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By Matthew Harrington

OAKLAND, Calif. – A bug is rapidly sweeping the Oakland Athletics clubhouse and every starting pitcher seems to have come down with it. It isn’t a case of the flu, but an epidemic of quality starts, with the latest “victim” to succumb being Jesse Chavez.

“It’s contagious,” said Chavez. “Yesterday, watching Jeff Samardzija pitch, I just wanted to feed off that. As a team, we feed off that. We’re playing good baseball. We’re happy to be home.”

The A’s right-hander matched a career-high in strikeouts (nine) over six shut-out innings in a 5-0 win against the San Francisco Giants at O.Co Coliseum Monday night. The win in the opener of the 2014 Bay Bridge Series marks the fifth-straight win for the A’s (56-33), who swept one of the American League’s best in the Toronto Blue Jays in a four-game set over the weekend. A’s starters allowed three runs over 27 innings of work in the quartet of outings.

“I just want to hold down this spot for what happened earlier in the year,” said Chavez. “Whatever role they ask of me, I’ll do it. I’m just looking forward to being a part of this team.”

The decision for Chavez (7-5, 3.06 ERA) also marks a swing towards the early-season progress that had the reliever-turned-starter in the running for American League pitcher of the month in April. Chavez was 2-4 with a 4.08 ERA over his last eight starts coming in to Monday night, including a five-inning, five-run loss at Detroit in his most recent start last Wednesday.

“The last two starts, with two strikes I was over the plate a little bit,” assessed Chavez on his recent struggles. “My main focus was finishing the at-bat if I got ahead.”

Fernando Abad pitched 2/3 of an inning of scoreless relief; Dan Otero did his part with 1 and 1/3 frames without a run. Ryan Cook fired off a 1-2-3 top of the ninth inning to wrap up the game. In total, A’s pitchers scattered only five hits to the San Francisco offense. The Giants left seven runners on base, while Oakland stranded nine.

Craig Gentry represented the first A’s run of the night on a John Jaso ground-out in the fifth inning to snap Giants Starter Ryan Vogelsong’s 18 and 2/3 innings scoreless streak in interleague play. An inning later, Alberto Callaspo provided the crushing blow, greeting newly-inserted reliever Juan Gutierrez with a one-out, two-run double. Callaspo took the first offering from Gutierrez, a 92 mile-per-hour fastball, into the gap in right-center to plate Josh Donaldson from third base and Jed Lowrie from first. Vogelsong (5-6, 3.92) was charged with all three runs, and ultimately, the loss after his five and 1/3 innings of work.

Lowrie chased Vogelsong earlier in the inning, singling on a first-pitch delivery to put runners on the corners after Donaldson was controversially hit by a pitch to open the inning. Replay showed that the ball hit Donaldson’s fingers near the knob of the bat, sparking debate from Bruce Bochy. The Giants manager already burned his challenge when officials upheld a hit-by-pitch of Craig Gentry in the bottom of the fifth.

“It was originally called a foul ball,” said A’s manager Bob Melvin. “Once (home plate umpire Paul Nauert) saw his hand, he changed the call around.”

“It hit the small pinky, the pinky knuckle,” said Donaldson. “He did the right thing. I have to give him some credit. When I heard it, it sounded like it hit the bat, but obviously I felt my hand hurting. I knew it hit my hand. He did the right thing, looked at my hand, saw it was swelling. He asked if I swung. I told him I felt like I didn’t.”

A couple of seventh-inning errors from Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford put Jaso and Yoenis Cespedes on second and third with no outs, setting up a Brandon Moss sacrifice fly off Gutierrez for a 4-0 lead. Donaldson, the starting AL all-star third baseman by way of fan vote, knocked Gutierrez out of the game on a laser up the middle to score Cespedes for the A’s fifth and final run of the night.

The sold-out crowd of 36,067 saw Oakland continue its dominance of San Francisco in the East Bay. Oakland has taken 10 of the last 12 games against their Northern California foes at the Coliseum.

“It’s always fun,” said Chavez of playing in the friendly rivalry. “It’s good baseball. It’s two good teams going at it. I think that’s good baseball.”

While the A’s continue to trend upward to the best record in the Major Leagues, the Giants have scuffled to one of the worst margins of victory in the league. Over the last 26 games, San Francisco (49-40) has gone 7-19 after winning 42 of the first 63 games of the season.

The black and orange send All-Star starter Madison Bumgarner to the mound Tuesday looking to split the two-game series in Oakland before the interleague rivalry series shifts to AT&T Park for a pair starting Wednesday. Oakland hands the ball off to its ace, Sonny Gray to sweep the first half of the home-and-home.

Reds Steal One From San Francisco; Giants’ Woes Continue

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By: Joe Lami

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.–The Cincinnati Reds stole a game from the San Francisco Giants on Saturday Night at AT&T, as they beat the Giants 7-2 in 11innings.  Cincinnati was trailing 1-0 going into the ninth inning, when Brandon Phillips hit a two-run homerun to put the Reds ahead.  A Giants rally capped off by a RBI double from Buster Posey in the ninth would force extra innings, but the Reds were too strong in the 11th for the Giants to come back.

The Giants continue to slump, as they are now 4-14 in the last 18 games.  The Giants have had one bright spot in that span, with Tim Lincecum’s No Hitter this past Wednesday against the Padres, but before then the Giants haven’t won a game at home since June 12, where they hammered the Nationals 7-1.

San Francisco was led by a strong pitching performance from Matt Cain, who hasn’t been himself this season going into Saturday.  Cain entered Saturday with a 1-6 record and a 4.82 ERA in 12 games.  Cain looked like the pitcher we have known though on Saturday, as he pitched seven scoreless innings, while giving up six hits, two walks and striking out four.  Saturday also marks the first time since September 26, 2012 in which Cain pitched at least seven scoreless innings.  However, the great performance goes for not, as Cain is given the no decision.

“It was a tough one, Cain pitched his heart out,” said Giants’ Skipper, Bruce Bochy after game.

Alfredo Simon was great on the other side as he surrendered one run on three hits.  Simon has been stellar for the Reds on the season boasting a 10-3 record with a 2.92 ERA, heading into Saturday night, and it continued to show, as he getsa no decision.

The Giants started the night with a bang, as Gregor Blanco led off with a base hit.  However, the Giants would have to wait until the fifth inning, until they got their next one.  The only Giant to get on base between the first and fifth inning was Pablo Sandoval in the fourth inning, when he hit a grounder and it was misplayed by Zack Cozart for an error.  Brandon Crawford recorded the second hit of the evening on his bobblehead night with a single.  Adam Duvall followed up by doubling into the left field corner sending Crawford to third.  With one out in the inning, it sent Joe Panik up to the plate.  Panik would knock in the only run for the Giants of the night, as he hammered one right up the middle but, it was knocked down by Simon and Brandon Phillips made the throw to first.  Matt Cain ended the fifth on a bunt for hit attempt to get the second run in, by he was thrown out at first.

San Francisco led the game into the top of the ninth, when Sergio Romo came into the game.  Romo started the shaky inning with a walk to Joey Votto, bringing Phillips up to the plate.  Phillips entered the at bat 0 for 3 on the evening, but made the difference in the ninth when he shot a hanging a slider deep into left field to give the Reds the 2-1 lead.  Romo was forced to finish the inning, but had trouble doing it as both Devin Mesoraco and Ryan Ludwick would hit it to the warning track before being gloved down by Juan Perez.

The Reds entered the ninth inning with the lead and one of the most dangerous closers in the game coming in, Aroldis Chapman.  Chapman entered the game 16 for 16 in saves situations, and pitching his fourth day straight.  The Giants would be the first team to break Chapman on the season as they started the ninth inning with a Hunter Pence single to right.  The turning point was an amazing ten-pitch walk forced by Sandoval putting runners on first and second.  Buster Posey was the pinch hitter and drove a 101 MPH fastball to left to bring home the tying run on the no-out double.  Runners were at second and third with no outs, and the Giants looked like they had the win in the bag, however Chapman buckled down and forced two ground outs and then struck out Duvall to end the ninth.

The Reds would strike again in the 11th inning scoring two runs off of Cozart single, that brought in Votto; who doubled to start the inning, and Phillips who was intentionally walked to set up the double play ball.  Cincinnati would put the nail in the coffin when Chris Heisey knocked two more in with a triple to right to put the Reds up 6-2.  The bleeding would continue for the Giants when Billy Hamiliton doubled to right to bring in Heisey to make it 7-2.  The Giants would get one back in the bottom half to make it 7-3.

Jonathan Broxton earns the win for Cincinnati to up his record to 3-0.  Javy Lopez gets the loss, dropping his record to 1-1. The Reds take a 3-0 series advantage this weekend, as they will go for the sweep tomorrow with a pitching matchup of Homer Bailey vs. Tim Hudson.

Giants Shutout for Second Loss in as Many Nights

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Photo Credit: Miami Marlins Google +
Photo Credit: Miami Marlins Google +

By: Joe Lami

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.–The Miami Marlins defeated the San Francisco Giants for the second night in a row on Saturday night by the final score of 5-0 to take the lead in the four game weekend set 2-1.

The night looked promising for the Giants, when Tim Lincecum smoked through the first inning with two strikeouts.  However, it looked like a completely different Lincecum in the second inning, as he walked two to set up the Marlins first run of the inning.  Lincecum walked both Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Marcell Ozuna to put runners on first and second, when  Adeiny Hechavarria knocked in Saltalamacchia for the eventual game winning run with the Marlins first hit of the evening.

Controversy occurred in the bottom half of the second inning for the Giants, when Brandon Hicks came up to the plate.  He lined a hard hit ball off of the bricks in right field for what should have been a double.  However, when rounding first, Hicks apparently missed first base.  After being challenged by the Marlins, it was deemed that Hicks missed first base, so he was called out.  “I thought I hit it, but I was looking up for the ball so I don’t know,” explained Hicks.

Instead of having runners of first and third with only one out, the Giants had two outs when Brandon Crawford was the next one to step to the plate.  He flied out to center on what would have been an easy sacrafice fly, but instead the fly out ended the inning.

“Crawford hit one and it would have been a run,” expressed Giants manager Bruce Bochy.

The Marlins were able to add two more in the sixth off of a tired Lincecum.  Casey McGehee started the inning with a leadoff double, only to be batted in when Garrett Jones came up next with a triple.  A scary moment occurred on the play, as Angel Pagan went diving for the ball, and ended up missing it, allowing Jones to get to third.  He banged up his shoulder on the play.  “He said he was a little sore, and will evaluate him tomorrow, but he should be okay,” Bochy commented.  Saltalamacchia then hit in Jones with a sacrifice fly to left to extend the lead to 3-0.

Lincecum was coming off of his best start of the season against Atlanta where he struck out 11, while allowing one run on two hits.  On Saturday night, the former Cy Young winner lasted six innings, giving up three runs on seven hits, while striking out six.  “Timmy had a good outing, the way we have been swinging the bats of late, we could have expected more,” added Bochy.

Miami was able to add one in the seventh, when Giancarlo Stanton hit a solo shot for his 12th homerun of the season.  The Marlins also added one in the ninth that went unearned to make it 5-0.

Marlins’ pitcher Tom Koehler bounces back from his worst performance of the season, where he only pitched 3.2 innings against the Dodgers, with the win.  Koehler pitched seven, striking out seven, while only allowing four hits.  He ups his record to 4-3 on the year.

The Giants try to get back in the win column Sunday, as they will face these same Marlins for the final matchup of the four-game weekend set.  San Francisco will be putting Ryan Vogelsong on the mound, while they face Jacob Turner.

 

Miami Backed By Yelich’s Four Run Game to Get Past Giants 7-5

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James-Hetfield

By: Joe Lami

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF.–A sold out crowd of 41,819 were treated to a rockin’ game on Metallica night at AT&T Park on Friday night, as the Giants and Marlins played the second game of a four-game series.  The Marlins tied the weekend series at one with the 7-5 win.  In a back and forth game, Miami finally took the stranglehold in the top of the ninth with a two run inning.

Casey McGee earned the game winning hit with one out in the ninth as he slapped a ball through the right side of the infield bringing in Christian Yelich, who earned his fourth run of the evening on the play.  “We’re going to have games like this, the game winning hit had eyes,” said Giants Manager, Bruce Bochy, following the loss.

Miami was able to add another one with a groundball base hit from Garrett Jones, as Brandon Crawford was unable to come up with the ball on a sliding ball to his left with two outs.

The Marlins got on the board first, when Yelich earned his first run of the game with a lead-off home run just five pitches in.  For Yelich, it was his fifth homer of the season and second of the Marlins road trip.  “I lost my command in the first, but after it I settled down,” Giants Starting Pitcher, Yusmeiro Petit commented.

Petit was put in as the spot starter, after projected starter Tim Hudson was unable to make it due to a strained left hip.  “I’m going to be ready anytime he (Bochy) needs me,” Petit added.

The Giants were able to answer right back with a run of their own in the bottom half of the first, when Pablo Sandoval hit in Angel Pagan with a two out double.

Miami would hit their second home run of the game in the top half of the third inning.  This time it was off of the bat of Derek Dietrich, who hit it with a runner on in Yelich that reached on an error.  Miami would add another in the fourth inning to go up 4-1 when Adeiny Hechavarria hit in Jones on a sacrifice fly.

The Giants would once again answer with two runs in the bottom half of the fourth inning to make it 4-3, with runs coming from Sandoval and Michael Morse.

Miami would add on another run in the fifth, making it three straight innings with a run to go ahead 5-3.  Yelich notched his third run of the game on a McGehee single.

The Giants would add runs in the fifth and sixth to eventually tie the game.  “We just came up short tonight, after we tied it,” explained Bochy, after the game.

Santiago Casilla gets marked with the loss, dropping his record to 1-1 on the season.  Mike Dunn picks up the win for the Marlins, upping his record to 4-3.

With the loss, the Giants remain in first.  However, they lose a game on the Colorado Rockies, who defeated San Diego 3-1 on Friday night.  San Francisco has a three-game lead on Colorado.

Saturday’s matchup will feature Tom Koehler and Tim Lincecum as the projected starters.  Koehler has a 2.57 ERA for a 3-3 record on the year and AT&T Park holds a special place in his heart, as it is where he recorded his first Major League win.  Lincecum will be on the bump for San Francisco, as he goes into Saturday with a 4.78 ERA, good enough for a 3-2 record.  Lincecum is also coming off of his best outing of the season, as he struck out 11 batters in his win over the Braves on Monday.

A-Rod’s grand slam puts Yanks on top of Giants

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By Pearl Allison Lo

Behind in the count with two outs , Alex Rodriguez changed the game and also passed Lou Gehrig for most grand slams with 24, as New York beat San Francisco 5-1 Friday.

Giants’ starter Tim Lincecum was lifted in favor of George Kontos after 121 pitches and the bases loaded.  Rodriguez entered the inning just 1 for his last 25 and was behind 2-1 when his hit landed with the spectators in deep right field, leading to a much needed win for his team.

It was a tie game since early on in the matchup.

The Yankees’ Alfonso Soriano hit a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first to make the score 1-0.

The Giants tied the game the following inning.  Brandon Crawford was issued a leadoff walk.  One out later, rookie Juan Perez doubled Crawford back to home plate to make it 1-1.

Rodriguez’s grand slam set up came in the bottom of the seventh.  Eduardo Nunez led off with a single and stole second after one out. Brendan Ryan was then hit by a pitch and a fielder’s choice left runners on first and second once again.  Ichiro Suzuki then walked to load the bases.

Sabathia was lifted in the top of the eighth after 107 pitches and issuing a leadoff single in the game that featured two former Cy Young winners .

Lincecum threw two wild pitches in addition to his two walks in his first game playing against New York

San Francisco had a one out, runners on the corners scoring opportunity in the top of the first.

The Yankees also had the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the third.

Game notes: During the game, Lincecum became the first Giants pitcher with 1,500 strikeouts since  Gaylord Perry in 1971.  Both teams get right back to playing Saturday at 10:05 am with two morning games in a row.