Saturday, April 9, 2011

Game Wrap 4/9/2011: Giants 3 Cardinals 2

It was celebration time again at AT&T Park with the presentation of the World Series Championship rings. They are very well done, I must say and I'm not a big jewelry person. They are as classy and tasteful as you can get in today's excess of things like this. I was especially moved when Neukom and Baer came up to the TV booth and gave rings to Kruk and Kuip. Kruk, especially, got real emotional as you knew he would. That guy has absolutely bled orange and black ever since he came to the Giants in a trade. Between his pitching, his attitude and his broadcasting, I'm not sure anybody has done more for the organization than he has. I was happy to see Lon Simmons in the radio booth. I assume he got a ring too, but I didn't see for sure. I am a Giants fan today because of the way Lon and Russ Hodges used to broadcast the Giants games on radio back in the mid 1960's and captured a young boy's imagination for the team and the game of baseball. I'm sure many of you out there have similar stories to tell. Good broadcasters do more to sell the game of baseball to the fans than 500 marketing campaigns!

Back to the game! Once again, it was TORTURE! Man, I hate that word, but what else are you going to call it? This one went down the the very last out and very last strike before Miguel Tejada drove in the tying and winning runs in the bottom of the ninth inning. Key lines:

Nate Schierholtz- 3 for 3, 3B. BA= .364. Nate didn't figure in the scoring, but he sure had a sweet looking stroke going out there. He was back to hitting barehanded too....on a very cold night! He also almost nailed Yadier Molina at 2B when Molina doubled down the RF line. Nate came into the game when Torres pulled up lame after making a fine running catch in left-center. Amy G reported that it's a problem with his heel(not achilles tendon) that has been bothering him. Maybe the cold weather was too much for whatever it is?

Buster Posey- 1 for 4. Buster didn't have a very good night, but he seems to have a knack for starting rallies at key times and he started the winning one with a flair single to RF in the bottom of the ninth.

Pat Burrell- 0 for 2, BB, HBP. Burrell had a key HR in yesterday's game. Tonight, he took one off the helmet for the team that led to the first run and drew a walk to keep the ninth inning going and put the winning run on base.

Miguel Tejada- 2 for 3, BB. BA= .273. Tejada has apparently faced Ryan Franklin a lot in the AL, or something. He sure looked confident up there in the 9'th! I thinkg the drive up the left-center alley would have been gone in most games, but the cold and wind held it up a bit. I also thought Rasmus flinched at either the proximity to the wall or close presence of the left fielder. This was the second game in a row where Rasmus did the opposite of what Aaron Rowand would do in the same situation and it cost his team the game both days. Maybe Tony La Russa has a reason why he's not Colby Rasmus' biggest fan?

Matt Cain- 7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 1.38. This game was a microcosm of Matt Cain's entire career so far. He pitched well enough to win most games but hooked up in a great pitching duel. Give Jaime Garcia credit, he was on fire tonight. Give Cainer credit for keeping it close and giving his team a chance to win though.

Dan Runzler- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K. Runzler was a bit wild at first, but Rags seems to know how to get him settled down. He just blew heat past the Cardinals after Rags visited the mound. He was helped by a baserunning blunder by Jay which led to an easy pickoff and rundown after Jay had drawn a leadoff walk.

The Win evens the Giants record at 4-4 and puts them in 3'rd place, 1.5 games behind the Colorado Rockies and 1 game behind the Dodgers. Barry Zito goes against Kyle Lohse in a Sunday afternoon game tomorrow to wrap up the 3 game set with the Cardinals. I don't thing there is any celebration planned for tomorrow, which is a good thing.

8 comments:

  1. Baggs tweeted that Torres has a mild Achilles strain. Posey gets his ROY award tomorrow so thats another pregame ceremony.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ya...its the achilles....and they better make sure he is 110 percent before he comes back...cuz we all remember what happened with frandsen....and it can be more than just a season ending injury

    loved how in his final at bat, nate went over and got some dirt and rubbed it on his hands....now that is old school...dont think he will be using batting gloves anytime soon

    both pitchers were on fire...and i really dont understand larussa's decision to pull garcia

    tejada's at bat was amazing...he really worked it

    i was also impressed with how pablo looked at the plate when he came in...maybe he should get sick more often

    miggs will sit tomorrow and fontenot will play short

    guess belt is back at first...but day after night, im wondering if anyone else will sit...maybe pat after taking that glancing blow off his head

    runzler looked good too, after the little chat with raggs

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey Dr. B, I think I heard Jon Miller saying that Lon Simmons did get his ring over in the radio booth.

    Did you see Molina's reaction to Tejada's shot? He definitely thought it was gone. Rasmus shoulda had it, though.

    Really, really odd injuries to both Cody and Andres. No one wanted Rowand gone more than me, but it's good that he's still around.

    I find Amy G. irritating to begin with, but at the very least, her "reports" could stand to be a little more accurate. It's not her fault, but what's with her assuring us "it's Torres' heel, not the achilles"?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think maybe Amy G meant it wasn't an achilles tear. If it's an achilles strain, I agree with Bacci. They need to MRI that thing. For all they know, it's hanging by a thread. Then they need to make sure it's completely healed before they let him go back out there and for Heaven's sakes, don't inject it with cortisone and send him back out there in anything less than 2 weeks. Maybe a DL stint will postpone some tough decisions with Cody Ross coming back?

    ReplyDelete
  5. no doubt that the injury to torres changes everything

    while the giants do have some depth in the of position, they saw last nite what losing nate and/or rowand would mean to the org

    i love belt, but the org is gonna have to think long and hard before giving up either of the two...and it will have to be in a trade, and not a dfa

    serious injury bug running around of's throughout the league...and you dont wanna get caught short handed

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great rundown as usual, DrB!

    I totally agree about the announcers!!!

    I spent my youth with a transistor radio stuck to one of my ears, listening to the docent tones of Lon Simmons' baritone bringing me the Giants story. He deserves a ring too, and I was wondering about whether he got one too, I'm glad he got one. Plus he's a Hall of Famer too, it was noted the Giants gave one to all their Hall of Famers.

    Torres is suppose to get his MRI today, know more later, but yeah, it doesn't look good, he should be on the DL I would think. Thank goodness we still have Rowand around, particularly since he's been so hot a hitter, maybe we can ride out his hot streak for a while.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Funny, but all the pre-season worry was about our pitchers pitching over the IP of prior years and it is our OF (so far) showing the wear and tear...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Rowand has one bad game after 4 good ones while Schierholtz finally had one good game after 1 for 8 start, and still the call for Nate.

    I love Nate and if I had my preference, he'd be a starting OF in 2012, but we need to give Rowand all the opportunity now, so that he can get hot like he usually does early in the season, like he did in 2008 and 2009, and he did in 2010, though I think it was interrupted by a hit pitch to his head.

    If he can hit like he did in 2008 it would go far in dumping him off to another team this season.

    ReplyDelete