Tag: giants

Giants win, nine-game losing streak to the Rockies snapped

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San Francisco Giants’ Buster Posey follows through as he drives in a run with a double against the Colorado Rockies during the first inning of a baseball game, Monday, June 26, 2017, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) 

By Morris Phillips

Ease up on dissension stories, put a noose on the negativity, look no further for factions and infighting.  If only for a night, the focus fell on the diamond, as the Giants became winners again.

Jeff Samardzija pitched into the seventh inning, and four Giants produced multi-hit games in a 9-2 rout of the Rockies, ending the team’s woeful stretch of 12 losses in 13 games. The win also snapped a streak of nine, consecutive losses to the Rockies, the longest such streak of Giants’ losses in the nearly 25 seasons of meetings between the two clubs.

Manager Bruce Bochy stuck with his most veteran lineup Monday, and was rewarded with three-hit games from Buster Posey and Hunter Pence, while Denard Span and Joe Panik each had a pair of hits at the top the lineup.  The Giants scored in three of the first four innings off German Marquez, who failed to win for a third, consecutive start.

Samardzija again pitched well enough to win, but this time, he did win. The Shark tamed the same lineup that was unforgiving in Denver on June 16, when Samardzija allowed a season-worst eight runs and 11 hits.  This time, with all his pitches working, the righthander cruised through the first six innings before adversity struck in the seventh. Still, his two runs and six hits allowed performance was enough to get the decision, and avoid a major league-worst tenth loss.

“We have a hard time scoring runs for him, but tonight he got rewarded for a great effort,” manager Bruce Bochy said.

Samardzija continued to be stingy with opposing hitters, by striking out five and walking none. That extends a streak of 12 starts in which he’s struck out 82 batters while walking just four. But he’s only 3-5 in that stretch, another example of how hard wins, and run support, have been to come by for a club that’s 23 1/2 games behind the Dodgers.. after gaining ground on Monday.

“Obviously we’re trying to score runs for him,” Brandon Crawford said. “At times, we try too hard, we’re pressing.”

Samardzija’s received the third worst support in the big leagues this season, barely three runs per game on average, but he hasn’t dwelled on it, in part due to previous experience. In 2014, as a member of the Cubs, he went the first 10 starts of the season without a win, despite pitching deep into all 10 starts, and compiling a miniscule 1.46 ERA.

“Even when it’s not going well, you go out and give it all you got,” he said.

Monday’s win came on the heels of a story written by Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal that depicted the Giants as a divided clubhouse, in part due to disagreement over pre-game stretching routines that conflict with new closer Mark Melancon’s preferred, pre-night game routine. Add Rosenthal’s contention that the Giants lack fiery personalties, leaving them cemented in a lethargy of losing, and you have something to talk about.

A bewildered Bochy did just that before Monday’s game.

“It’s pole vaulting over mouse turds, to be honest,” he said, when told of Rosenthal’s finer points.

Are the Giants a happy family then, despite losing at a record pace in a season they were built to compete for a fourth World Championship?

Probably not, but they do cut an unique swath across the greater canvas of losing. For one, big contracts are hard to move, and the Giants have a bunch of them. With the trade deadline roughly six weeks away, a market flooded with sellers won’t dislodge a gaggle of buyers. Only the most, desirable contracts will move, and the deals signed by Johnny Cueto, Hunter Pence and Brandon Belt, for examples, are expensive, complicated and downright undesirable.

Also, the Giants’ front office stubbornly has backed away from trade talks–for now–in hopes that some of the underperformers can turn it around. They can’t move everyone, and the majority of their roster wasn’t considered washed up until things collectively went south just two months ago.

For example, would you consider moving arbitration-eligible Joe Panik, a year after he was widely thought to be ascending to league batting champion status? Panik will be just 27 on Opening Day 2018, and he’s showing signs of progress after two, injury-marred seasons.

On Tuesday, Matt Cain gets the start for the Giants, Jeff Hoffman goes for the Rockies at 7:15pm.

 

 

 

 

Naturally it’s the Nats: Scherzer not the one to surrender momentum to the struggling Giants

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National’s Ryan Zimmerman circling the bases after his three-run, first inning home run off Matt Cain at AT&T Park on Wednesday night. (AP/Eric Risberg)

By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–Representing varying degrees of pressure, the 3-0 deficits the Giants faced in each game of their just concluded series with the Nationals said it all about being down, and not being let up.  Those significant, but normally surmountable leads said plenty about the current acumen and confidence of the Nats, versus the increasing lethargy enveloping the Giants as well.

On Monday, the Nats built their 3-0 lead in the eighth inning. Perhaps the rare, cross country flight between day games on consecutive days delayed the NL East leader’s impending takeover by an hour or so.  On Tuesday, the Nats built their 3-0 lead after two innings.  On Wednesday, they built the lead after the first four batters of the game, capped by red-hot Ryan Zimmerman’s three run homer.

Term the series pressure, followed by pressure packed, followed by pressure filled, with Max Scherzer, Washington’s Wednesday night starter, providing much of the later. Consequently, the Giants never looked comfortable at any point.

We did say they’re different levels to this game.

Scherzer, bouyed by Giants’ hitters anxious to avoid deep counts when facing one of MLB’s most dominate pitchers, cruised to a 3-1 victory, holding the Giants without a hit until the fourth, and only surrendering five hits in a complete game performance that was breezy, if not brief.

“We got a break with one run or we’d probably get shut out, to be honest,” manager Bruce Bochy said.  “He’s done that to a lot of clubs.”

Former Giant’s manager Dusty Baker saw his win total as a big league manager reach 1,799, one win from a milestone reached by just 16 others. Baker’s gameplan for the occasion was brutally simple: ride his ace to the finish, if possible, in the absence of closer Koda Glover, who was unavailable due to a heavy workload in recent games. The result was a spectacular success; Scherzer finished off the Giants with 100 pitches, 79 of those strikes, and he retired the first hitter in every inning. Baker’s seen it all, but sounded giddy when asked about his ace.

“The difference was, he was getting strike one,”  Baker said. “Who out there can deal the way he was dealing? Boy, that was masterful.”

While Scherzer dealt, Washington’s hitters extracted every pitch out of Matt Cain, just as they sucked every pitch out of Jeff Samardzija the day before. Somehow, Cain kept it close despite throwing 80 pitches in the first four innings, but it mattered little as the Nationals’ completed the sweep, their eighth win in their last 11 games.

Bryce Harper saw his suspension reduced from four games to three, and began serving it immediately.  That left the Nats down an MVP candidate, and it hardly mattered. Trea Turner and Anthony Rendon had two hits apiece, and seven of the Nationals’ nine hits came in the first four innings. On Tuesday, 13 of the Nats’ 14 hits came in the first five innings.

“Everybody had their fingers on this,” Scherzer said.

Once again, the Giants got caught marching in place offensively. Only in the fourth inning did they manage to couple hits, and that entailed two Washington outfielders failing to catch Busted Posey’s fly ball that fell between them when Jayson Werth and Michael Taylor both lost the ball in the lights. Posey’s ball was ruled a double scoring Eduardo Nunez.

The Giants finished 2-4 on their homestand, and were twice shut out before scoring just one run Wednesday. They fell 11 1/2 games off the pace of the Dodgers in the NL West.

Breath of fresh air: Arroyo, Morse lead Giants to dramatic, 4-3 win over the Dodgers

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By Morris Phillips

When it comes to Giants-Dodgers baseball, the emotions are all over the place.  You don’t necesarilly need to track Michael Morse circling the bases, tounge wagging, hair swinging to know that.

Manager Dave Roberts was tight-lipped, but you could literally see the decisions replaying in his head after his Dodgers saw their 3-0 lead evaporate on Wednesday, and morph into a frustrating 4-3 loss to the Giants. Did Roberts lift starter Alex Wood too soon? Did Pedro Baez literally go from unhittable to just-got-hit that fast? Did Adrian Gonzalez make the right play on Nick Hundley’s difficult grounder that would load the bases ahead of Hunter Pence’s game-winning, sacrifice fly? And what of that pitch sequence to Pence that allowed the free-swinging slugger to escape 0-2 and get a pitch elevated?

Ten pitches, all above the belly button with pace.  To Pence?

“I don’t like to second-guess sequencing too much,” Roberts said, after noting the similarity in Ross Stripling’s two-strike offerings.

Roberts and Morse weren’t the only ones reacting to the game’s dramatic turn.

Sergio Romo wanted to be today’s news in his return to AT&T Park. But he wasn’t that after allowing Christian Arroyo’s first major league home run, and seeing his ERA jump to 10.57. Romo’s 80-mph slider unleashed the 21-year old’s big swing, a certain reminder why no one in the Giants’ organization was willing to entertain trade offers involving their top-tiered prospect.

Arroyo’s quick, powerful swat was reminiscent of 23-year old Buster Posey’s swing in 2010, when the Giants’ catcher deposited 18 balls beyond the fences in his first, full big league season.

While Morse’s game-tying shot in the eighth provided the game’s signature moment, Arroyo not-so-quietly made it possible with his shot in the seventh.

“We were down three. Now we’re down one.  We were just not doing anything against Wood,” manager Bruce Bochy admitted.

Dodgers’ starter Alex Wood didn’t allow a hit until Drew Stubbs led off with a single in the sixth. But Wednesday’s outing was Woods’ first one of any length since the end of spring training. Roberts approached it cautiously just as he did when Stripling flirted with a no-hitter a year earlier in similar circumstances.  So with a 3-0 cushion in the seventh, Roberts pulled the plug on Wood, looking to gain confidence in his reconfigured bullpen outside of reliable closer Kenley Jansen.  Roberts’ move didn’t work.

“The bullpen’s been great all year for us,” Wood said.  “It was a tough one for us tonight.”

How tough? Flamethrower Pedro Baez, summoned in the eighth, had not allowed a run in six, previous appearances. Morse, on the other hand, just returned to town for the first time as a Giant in three years.  Part of the club’s early season shakeup, Morse and Kelby Tomlinson were recalled from AAA Sacramento earlier in the day.

One pitch after Morse waved at Baez’ 95-mph heat, he sent one into the left field bleachers, setting off the slugger’s unbridled celebration.  You can’t make this stuff up: The game score on Wednesday was exactly the same before and after Morse’s shot as it was in the Giant’s 2014 NLCS clincher against St. Louis.

“It was cool and not only for me,” Morse said. “I think for the team, it was a really big moment.”

The Giants conclude their series with the Dodgers on Thursday at 1245p in a matchup of Matt Moore and 20-year old Julio Urias, making his season debut.

Giants battle the Rockies, persistent rain, only to come up one run short 4-3

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–After an unscheduled interruption during the national anthem, five extra base hits and six runs in a first inning played in a vigorous downpour, and the groundskeeping crew’s constant resuscitating of the playing surface, the hearty fans that braved it all had to feel they were into an epic afternoon of topsy, turvy baseball injected with frequent scoring.

Instead the rain eased, the pitching soared, and the scoring all but drived up.  And the hero of the afternoon didn’t tote a bat, but carried a catcher’s glove and assisted on a putout at first base.  But what a play.

With the Giants threating to push across the tying run in the sixth, Brandon Crawford hit a dribbler up the line that figuratively died. But Tony Wolters shed his mask, raced to the ball, took airborne, and unleashed an accurate flip to first baseman Mark Reynolds for the out. SportsCenter? You bet.

Take away the moisture and Wolters’ gymnastics, and the Giants’ issue of  the moment– scoring too few runs–couldn’t have been more apparent.  Jeff Samardzija, who fell to 0-3 after the Giants’ 4-3 loss, allowed three of those runs in his first 15 pitches.  With the Giants’ offense sputtering for the majority of the afternoon, Samardzija’s early hiccup couldn’t be overcome.

“We need to figure out a way to scratch one or two across when we need them to close the gap,” Samardzija said. “That comes from not letting runs in early, so you can take the lead.”

The Giants fell to 5-8 on the season with the loss, with a trip to Kansas City to face the Royals up next.  The Rockies grabbed three of four in the series and improved to 8-5.

The rain left the field waterlogged, especially along the tracks and in the corners.  But the Giants’ groundskeeping crew worked tirelessly to minimize the moisture only to be thanklessly chased off the field at points by the time conscious umpires.  The rain was its most intense in the first two innings. It eased after that, but never ceased.

The Giants haven’t experienced a rain out at home in 10 years with the last one coming in 2006 against the Astros. By comparison, the A’s did rain out with their home game set to start at the same time as the Giants.  But with the Warriors hosting a playoff game next door, and far fewer A’s tickets sold that Giants’ tickets, economics may have explained the team’s different approaches to the weather, more so than the Giants’ more reliable field drainage system.

Petaluma’s Madeline Haedt sang the national anthem, and did so flawlessly until an unscheduled interruption half way through.  But after gathering herself, and clearing her throat, she finished flawlessly as well.

Giants win on Opening Day, get good news on Posey’s scary head injury

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–The 18th Opening Day along the shores of McCovey Cove had an ominous start and a satisfying conclusion, with a comical moment in between that stood as the pivotal play in the Giants’ 4-1 win over the Diamondbacks.

Just another example of the home team trying to make up for those anxious days when the park by San Francisco Bay opened in 2000 and Giants’ fans suffered through several, disappointng losses to the Dodgers.  This time, fans of the orange and black were treated to all the pomp and circumstance with a giant U.S. flag ceremony, the national anthem sung by the cast of the Broadway hit “Hamilton,” and a standing ovation for Barry Bonds, the franchise’s hero come home. Following that, the Giants thrilled the fans with their 14th win in a home opener at AT&T Park.

The ominous moment was a Tijuan Walker pitch that plunked Buster Posey in the first inning, and ended his afternoon on the field, as manager Bruce Bochy elected to lift his star player as a precautionary move.  Backup Nick Hundley came on to team with Matt Moore, who was in control, pitching eight innings, allowing just one run, to pick up the win.

“Were he not the catcher, he might have stayed in the game,” Bochy said of the incident in which Posey was alert, but wide-eyed, throughout.  Posey did leave the field under his own power after a thorough look over by trainer Ron Groeschner. Posey was scheduled to be evaluated soon after the conclusion of the game, but the team announced, that they don’t expect the All-Star catcher to return to the field for Tuesday’s game.

“It’s one of the worst sounds you can hear in baseball, the ball hitting the helmet,” Bochy said.  “It’s a scary moment.  There’s been a lot of damage to hitters hit in the head.”

Moore said afterwards that he retreated to the clubhouse a couple of times to check on Posey, saying that he felt his catcher was doing fine.  Other than that, Moore did his best to reduce all his teammates’ anxiety by taming the D’Backs, allowing just the one run on Yasmani Tomas’ solo shot in the fifth.

 

Giants wind down exhibition season with big roster decisions looming

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San Francisco Giants’ Chris Marrero, left, slides safely into second base with a double as Oakland Athletics shortstop Marcus Semien waits for the throw from the outfield during the fifth inning of an exhibition baseball game Thursday, March 30, 2017, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–The Giants needed a new left fielder with the team opting not to renew Angel Pagan’s contract.  But they couldn’t have envisioned the crowded field of competitors that emerged for the opening.

Jarrett Parker and Mac Williamson were tabbed first as experienced minor leaguers with big league experience, both thought to be ready for a promotion.  Then 35-year old Michael Morse was signed to a minor league deal after missing almost all of the 2016 season.

But during spring training, Williamson suffered an injured quad, and Morse impressed, but was felled by a hamstring injury.  And 28-year old Chris Marrero, a journeyman with no home runs in any of the 39 big league games he played for the Nationals in 2011 and 2013, turned into the Babe Ruth of the Cactus League.

The 6’3″ Marrero clubbed eight home runs in Arizona, then in his AT&T Park debut on Thursday in the Bay Bridge series, he came within inches of sending a shot off the left field foul pole.

In the Giants 3-0 win over the A’s, Marrero contributed a double in his second at-bat, and made a couple of nifty catches in the outfield, and looked comfortable, all of which manager Bruce Bochy noticed.

“He had a couple of good at-bats. It was a good game for him,” Bochy said. “The first time here in left field, and it’s not an easy left field, he looked comfortable. He looked relaxed. All those things.”

Bochy begged off announcing any roster decisions, those he said,would be announced before Friday night’s game, but Marrero appears to have earned a spot.

One scenario would have Marrero making starts against right-handed starters with Parker starting against lefties in a platoon the Giants were reluctant to consider previously.  But Marrero’s pop can’t be ignored, nor can his defensive liabilities that should preclude him being named the full-time starter at this point.

A couple of things are apparent prior to Bochy’s announcements: both Morse and Williamson will begin the season on the disabled list.

NOTES: The Giants’ desire to bolster their bullpen after last season’s frequent meltdowns appears to be headed in the right direction despite the announcement setup man/closer Will Smith will undergo elbow surgery and miss the entire season.

Mark Melancon, the $62 million addition, will close and impressed this spring with his appearances and his thinking man’s game.  Derek Law, Hunter Strickland, Josh Osich and Cody Gearrin all are in the mix as setup guys as is George Kontos, a mainstay looking for a bigger role.  Also, rookie Ty Blach, considered for the fifth-starter’s role, could make the club as a bullpen guy, possibly the long reliever.

 

 

With backs to the wall, Giants come up with a season-saving win against the Cubs in 13 innings

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–It took more than five hours, but the never-say-die Giants are still alive.

Joe Panik’s drive off the bricks in the right field arcade at AT&T Park in the 13th inning chased home Brandon Crawford with the winning run in the Giants’ dramatic 6-5 win over the Cubs.  The win kept the Giants’ postseason alive, forcing a Game 4 Tuesday and preventing a sweep at the hands of the team with MLB’s best regular-season record in 2016.

Both teams staged dramatic comebacks in this one: first the Giants overcame a one-run deficit with a three-run eighth inning only to see the Cubs strike back against closer Sergio Romo on Kris Bryant’s game-tying two run homer in the ninth.

“Good baseball game,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said.  “That’s my takeaway.  I think that both sides should be somewhat exhilarated.  Obviously they win, so they’re going to feel a bit better about it, but there’s nothing on our side to be ashamed of.”

The Cubs and Giants have faced each other 10 times in 2016, and seven of the 10 have been decided by just one run.  Four of those seven went to the Cubs, in part due to their stellar bullpen that didn’t allow the Giants a run in 32 plus innings of relief.   But in the topsy-turvy atmosphere of the playoffs, the reliable Cubs relievers and Giants’ closer Sergio Romo had hiccups on Monday.

Joe Maddon turned to his closer Aroldis Chapman in the eighth inning, leading 3-2 and the Cubs just six outs away from advancing to the NLCS.  But Chapman saw his 102 mph offering turned around by Conor Gillaspie, who knocked in two runs with a triple over the outstretched glove of Chicago’s Albert Almora Jr.  Brandon Crawford followed with a base hit scoring Gillaspie, and the Giants carried a two-run lead to the ninth.

But the lead was lost as quickly as it was gained when Romo walked leadoff batter Dexter Fowler, then surrendered a two-run homer to Bryant that tied the game, 5-5.

The game would stretch into the 13th inning when Crawford’s leadoff double put the Giants in business against Mike Montgomery, who was until then pitching effectively in his fifth inning of relief.  But despite Montgomery’s contention that he was still in control, that all evaporated when Crawford doubled home Panik to win it.

The Giants got scoreless relief stints from Ty Blach, Will Smith, Hunter Strickland and Derek Law.  The Cubs used six relievers, but only Montgomery went as much as an inning, throwing the game’s final four innings before Panik struck with the game-winner.

Giants’ starter Madison Bumgarner went the first five innings, allowing just one blemish, a surprising, three-run homer to Cubs’ starter Jake Arrieta.  Arrieta homered twice in the regular season, but he surprised Bumgarner as he tried to sneak a fastball past the Chicago starter for the third time in the at-bat.

Arrieta went six innings, allowing six hits and two runs.  The former Oriole pitched in three postseason games in 2015, winning twice, and had won a combined 40 games in the last two regular seasons.  Arrieta also won his two previous starts in San Francisco while posting an 0.69 ERA.

In Game Four of the series on Tuesday, Chicago’s John Lackey will face the Giants’ Matt Moore.

 

Opportunity squandered: Chatwood outduels Samardzija, Giants fail to put Cards on their heels in the wild card chase

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By Morris Phillips

One night after racking up 19 hits, scoring 12 runs and appearing as if they had solved their biggest problem, the Giants came crashing back to their norm.  Instead of seizing control of their playoff lives, they died a small death, shutout 2-0 by a division foe seven seasons removed from their last postseason appearance.

How could the Giants lose to the Rockies under these circumstances?  Well, the answer starts and ends with Colorado’s Tyler Chatwood.  The hard-throwing, right hander had AT&T Park fans sitting on their hands, allowing four, disconnected singles in a terrific, eight innings of work.

“Everything was live,” Rockies manager Walt Weiss said of Chatwood.  “Great finish to his pitches.  He had the sinker, cutter combo, and then he started mixing in the curveball.  That’s kind of been his formula the last few times out where he starts to go to the curveball in the middle innings.  He made it interesting with a couple of leadoff walks late, but he gets the groundball and that’s what he’s really good at.  He can put the ball on the ground with the best of them.  He got two, huge double plays.  To shut down that team for eight innings, that’s impressive.”

“Chatwood’s been tough on us,” manager Bruce Bochy admitted.  “He was good tonight.  We just couldn’t figure him out.”

For the first eight innings, the Giants never got a baserunner as far as third base.   When a glimmer arose, Chatwood induced Buster Posey to ground into a double play in the seventh, then got Angel Pagan to do the same in the eighth.

Consequently, the Giants’ playoff picture remained muddied.  Four games remain, and the Giants are a 1 ½ games behind the Mets who won, and just a game in front of the Cardinals, who lost on Wednesday.  Had the Giants won, they would have had St. Louis teetering on the proverbial cliff.  Instead, they’d better win Thursday, or cede critical momentum to the Cards heading into the season’s final weekend.

The Giants were shutout for the ninth time since things got dicey following the All-Star break.  They’ve had far too many nights like these, but to be fair, Chatwood was a different animal.

The 26-year old pitcher missed most of the 2014 season, and all of 2015 while recovering from a second Tommy John surgery, the first coming when he was just a freshman in high school.  The effects of the first procedure might have been on the minds of the Angels when they gave up on the locally-reared prospect they drafted, more so than his so-so 6-11 rookie season in 2011.

Traded to Colorado for catcher Chris Ianetta after that 2011 season, Chatwood had two fair seasons with the Rockies, winning a combined 13 games in 2012 and 2013, first out of the bullpen, then as a member of the team’s starting rotation.  Elbow issues prompted the second Tommy John procedure in 2014, but since returning in April, Chatwood, according to Weiss, has exceeded expectations.

To say the least: with the win Wednesday, Chatwood improved his record to 8-1 in 13 starts away from chaotic Coors Field.  His ERA of 1.69 in those road starts is the lowest of any major league pitcher this season, while shattering the Rockies’ ERA record of 2.44 established in 2013 by Jhoulys Chacin, who made 13 road starts that season.

Opposite Chatwood, Jeff Samardzija was obscured.  The Giants’ starter pitched superbly, striking out a season-best 11, while allowing two runs in six innings.  In the sixth, Samardzija induced RBI machine Nolan Arenado to hit into an inning-ending double play, no small feat since Arenado earlier picked up his major league-leading 130th RBI.

But all that battling simply saddled the Giants’ starter with the loss, despite his performance announcing that he’s postseason-ready, if one exists for the Giants.

“This is the time of year, man,” Samardzija said.  “This feels great to be out there pitching when the weather turns a little bit and the season comes to an end.  I always love being able to see the finish line and it always allows me to go a little harder.”

Samardzija’s performance put him over 200 innings of work for the season, his fourth consecutive such season.  But will he pitch again?  The Giants tinkered with their rotation, putting Madison Bumgarner in line to start Friday against the Dodgers opposite Clayton Kershaw, with Bum’s next logical start being the wild card game a week from now.

Win next Wednesday, and the Giants will head to Chicago to challenge the powerful Cubs in the NLDS.  But after the loss to the Rockies, that’s a long way off.

On Thursday, the Giants send Johnny Cueto to the mound in a matchup with Colorado’s 10-win Jon Gray at 7:15pm.

Mets, Cardinals lose ground to the Giants in the wild card race, but few notice in the wake of Jose Fernandez’ tragic death

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By Morris Phillips

Marlins Park was a strange place on Monday night.

Filled with grieving fans, and two baseball teams with burdened minds, the park was the place for those trying to make sense of the sudden, tragic death of baseball star Jose Fernandez.

Fernandez was killed in a boating accident in Miami on Sunday morning that also claimed the lives of two of Fernandez’ friends.  Sunday’s game, in which Fernandez was originally scheduled to pitch, was cancelled, and Monday became the occasion for Fernandez’ teammates to get back to work, far too soon for a group of individuals, most too young or too fortunate to have experienced something this sad and unsettling.

“It was not scripted, no one tells you how to handle it,” Marlins’ manager Don Mattingly said.  “There’s nothing that tells you how to handle it.  They just stuck together and went out and played.  I think they really wanted to honor Jose the way he played and how he went about things—just that joy that he had when he played, that confidence and that energy.  I really think that was the focus of these guys, honoring him.”

But as the game began, after several pre-game tributes and images of Fernandez shown on the stadium’s scoreboard, it quickly became apparent the grief didn’t begin and end with the Marlins.  It also affected the Mets and their ability to focus on their position in a final week of the season battle for a wild-card playoff spot.

As Dee Gordon circled the bases after hitting a leadoff home run as the Marlins’ first batter of the evening, he couldn’t even round first base before tears were visible on his face.  When Gordon crossed the plate, the second baseman tapped his chest and looked skyward, then ran toward the Marlins’ dugout where he collapsed into the arms of his teammates.

Gordon’s trip around the bases will rank as a powerful moment that will be etched into the history of the game.  So powerful was the moment it affected the players on the field who watched Gordon.

“I saw him crying when he rounded first base.  I was crying too,” Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud said.

The evening affected all those involved in different ways.  Gordon somehow maintained enough composure to compile four of the Marlins’ 14 hits as they got past the Mets, 7-3.  New York starter Bartolo Colon, a mentor to Fernandez, allowed Gordon’s home run, and lasted fewer than three innings, charged with all seven of Miami’s runs.

Mets’ manager Terry Collins admitted to being perturbed early on regarding his team’s play.  But it wasn’t far into the game that the veteran manager knew he and his team were in extremely tough circumstances, far outweighing their precarious lead over the Giants and Cardinals.

“The whole atmosphere was not baseball,” Collins admitted.

“It was very difficult for everyone,” Colon said through his customary interpreter.

In St. Louis, the Cardinals may have also been affected by Fernandez’ death.  Facing the Reds, after losing to the Cubs in Chicago on Sunday night baseball, the Cardinals also dealt with difficult scheduling in which they will play all seven days in the season’s final week.  The Cardinals lost 15-2, falling a full game behind the Giants, and a 1 ½ behind the Mets.

While the Mets and Cardinals played and lost, the Giants returned to San Francisco in preparation for their final six games at home against the Rockies and the Dodgers.  While their path to the playoffs may be clearer with their lead on the Cardinals and virtual tie with the Mets, the Giants also may have not noticed what transpired on the scoreboard Monday.

It was that type of night, one that the world of baseball collectively wishes wouldn’t have been necessary, and hardly a respite from the overwhelming grief or the demanding playoff chase.

 

 

Giants Bullpen Collapses Again, Lose 3-2 Against St. Louis

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By Shawn Whelchel

AP photo: A picture says a 1000 words in one game earlier this season San Francisco reliever Santiago Casilla was angry for being lifted but in this Saturday photo Santiago sympathizes with what his manager Bruce Bochy has to do and lifts Casilla from the game against the St Louis Cardinals at AT&T Park in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO- Just as the team looked to have turned a corner on its second-half struggles, the Giants bullpen collapsed yet again to drop a tight game to the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday.

St. Louis strung together two runs on two hits and a walk to steal a 3-2 lead from the Giants in the top of the ninth. And for a manager renowned for his ability to work his bullpen, a questionable decision at the game’s most crucial moment proved to be the Giants’ downfall.

Yet again, Bruce Bochy put his faith in former closer Santiago Casilla to close out a tight ballgame. And yet again, he was mistaken in doing so.

Clinging to a one-run lead, Casilla entered in the bottom of the ninth win a man on first. An ill-advised walk and a seeing-eye single later and Casilla had blown his ninth save attempt of the season.

After warming up Hunter Strickland, Bochy would elect to replace Casilla with Matt Reynolds, who would lose the lead on a sacrifice fly to his first batter of the night. San Francisco would threaten with two singles in the bottom of the ninth, but couldn’t complete the comeback attempt.

The collapse erased what what a magnificent pitching performance by starter Jeff Samardzija, who allowed just one run on seven hits across 6 2/3 innings. Perhaps even more damaging is the fact that both the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers won their games, hurting the team’s chances at a playoff birth.

After the game, Bochy talked about Samardzija’s dominant outing.

“He did a great job. He gave us all we needed and it’s a great start, a quality start,” said Bochy. “Leake, we couldn’t do a whole lot off of him but we found a way to get a couple runs, and we’re a couple out away from winning the ball game. That’s been part of our issue.”

After the game, Bochy said that his decision to pull Romo- who started the ninth inning- in favor of Casilla was an attempt to play the matchups based on history.

“We said if it got to Molina there, he’s had success off of Romo, and Casilla would be a better matchup,” said Bochy. “For some reason, Molina has seen the ball pretty good off of Sergio (Romo), and you go off history. That’s why the change was made there”

 

After suffering at the hands of yet another two-out-rally by the Giants last night, the Cardinals looked to flip the script on Samardzija, jumping out to an early lead when Brandon Moss parked an opposite field shot with two down in the first inning.

As they’ve done so often lately, the Giants’ bottom half of the order-anchored by the streaking Hunter Pence- kicked off the scoring for San Francisco on Saturday night. The Giants got on the board after a deep drive by Brandon Belt to the center field warning track would plate Pence, who singled before him.

The Giants threatened to put up another crooked number, but a spectacular diving play by Cardinals’ first baseman Matt Adams would end the inning by doubling up Eduardo Nunez at first.

San Francisco would look like the team of old in the bottom of the fifth frame, as third baseman Eduardo Nunez would use his speed to steal two straight bags off the Cardinals after leading off with a single. The pair of swipes would set up a sacrifice fly from Samardzija to plate the go-ahead run.

After issuing his fourth walk of the night with two outs in the seventh, Bochy would elect to use his bullpen to close the books on Samardzija’s impressive night. Lefty Will Smith would do just that, getting pinch hitter Jhonny Peralta to fly out to deep right field to end the threat.

Samardzija would walk away with an impressive line that saw him allow just one run on seven hits through a strong 6 2/3 innings.

But the Giants’ bullpen woes would rear their ugly head to erase his strong effort. After getting the leadoff batter, Sergio Romo would promptly give up a seeing-eye single to allow the tying run on board.

In a surprising move, Bochy would elect to trust the struggling Santiago Casilla in a tight spot. Like so many other times, this would prove to be an unwise decision by the skipper known for his bullpen management.

Casilla would start his night off with an ill-advised walk to his first batter, Yadier Molina, move the tying run into scoring position. Casilla’s night would be short, but costly, as Randal Grichuk would follow Yadier with a single past the outstretched glove of a diving Crawford to tie the game at 2-2.

Reliever Matt Reynolds would then retire his next two batters, but not before a sac-fly by Kolten Wong would give the Cardinals their first lead of the game.

San Francisco would threaten with a two-out rally after Eduardo Nunez and Denard Span would lace a pair of singles, but pinch hitter Connor Gillaspie would hit a routine pop-up on his first pitch to end the game.