It was a beautiful day for a game out at AT&T Park. Barry Zito did not disappoint the troops who his charity has helped over the years. The offense made a spirited effort to get an early lead. Zito and the bullpen made it stand up. Key Lines:
Gregor Blanco- 2 for 4, 2 2B, SB(6). BA= .290. The SB was of Home on the back end of a double steal with 2 outs in the first inning to get the Giants on the board. That may have distracted Trevor Cahill long enough to the Giants to tack on 2 more runs and it was all downhill from there. When was the last time we saw the Giants pull off a straight double steal?
Melky Cabrera- 1 for 3, BB. BA= .368. My apologies to Brandon Belt as Melky had pretty much the same AB with a runner on 3B and less than 2 outs as Belt did Sunday that I roasted him for in the Game Wrap. I guess it can happen to the best of them and you do have to give some credit to the pitchers. Melky did have one hit to increase his May total to 47 2 hits shy of Willie Mays' record for the month. Melky has 2 more games to try to tie or break it.
Hector Sanchez- 1 for 4. BA= .284. Hector was right in the middle of the Giants 3 run first inning with a 2 out single through the hole in the right side of the infield to drive in Pagan from 2B and then ran all the way home from first on Belt's drive up Triples Alley.
Brandon Belt- 2 for 4, 3B. BA= .240. Belt capped off the first inning with a smoking triple up Triples Alley. He got a second hit on a squibber down the 3B line. Hopefully this game is a confidence booster for him.
Barry Zito- 7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 3.41. Zito came out with a bit if fire in his eyes. He was sailing his curveball half the time and the ump wasn't calling it when he did throw it for a strike. What Zito did was establish his fastball that got all the way up to 85 MPH on the outside corner at the knees and backed that up with a nice looking changeup until later in the game when he got a handle on the deuce and figured out where the ump would call it a strike. The 3'rd inning was a bit rough with a lot of very hard outs. You could see Hector Sanchez, The Zito Whisperer, working with him and talking him down several times and innings 4-7 went smoothly. Zeets got 2 standing O's. One when he came off the field after pitching the 7'th and once again when he came out of the game after giving up a leadoff HR to pinch-hitter John McDonald in the 8'th. Zito upped his record to 4-2 with 6 Quality Starts out of 9. How many of us would have predicted that the Giants would get that kind of performance out of him at the beginning of the season? With Timmy's struggles, that has saved the season so far as much as anything.
Clay Hensley- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 1.86. Hensley has been a godsend to the bullpen too. He quickly restored order in the 8'th after the leadoff HR by McDonald. Hensley has, among other things, a nasty put-away curveball that just drops off the table.
Santiago Casilla- 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, Save(13). ERA= 1.23. Casilla gave us a bit of torture in this one allowing the tying runners on base and then getting saved by the winds in AT&T's RF as Ryan Roberts smoked one that looked like it was at least going to bounce off the wall. Blanco caught up with it right at the edge of the warning track for the final out.
Veterans- It as both inspiring and sad to see the young man maimed by war throw out the first pitch. Great day for Zito, the Veterans and the troops in attendance though.
Lon Simmons- Lon was at the game sitting in the stands with his daughter. He's an old dude but looked terrific. I cut my teeth as a Giants fan listening to Russ Hodges and Lon Simmons describe the exploits of my boyhood heroes, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry. Great to see him still going strong and still a Giants fan himself.
Barry Bonds- Barry paid a visit to the broadcast booth and had some very interesting insights. One take away point was that as a young player, he sought out the advice to pitchers teammates for help in figuring out how pitchers think and what to look for in game situations. Barry and Kruk got into a playful mano-a-mano about a dinger that Barry remembered hitting off Kruk. For a minute there I thought that conversation might end badly, but they both backed away in time and diverted themselves to a different topic without either one really backing down.
With the Win the Giants get back to 3 games over .500 tying their high water mark on the year. The NL West leading Dodgers are playing this evening. Giants are 14-8 since their 4 game losing streak to open the month, all 3 games to the Marlins and first game of the Brewers' series.
Ryan Vogelsong goes up against Joe Saunders in Game 2 of the series tomorrow night.
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cahill is fat. lon aint that old. every ball hit to cf is an adventure. still dont like belt, and the giants are nuts if they cant figure out a way to use barry's knowledge of the game
ReplyDeleteand i think that whole back and forth between kruk and bonds was funny
when bonds was explaining how he knew what was coming when he his 715, i was amazed...he has the same mind as his godfather...who, if he wasnt forced to play in the worst parks every made, would have the hr record, and barry wouldnt have broken it
Amen Bacci. Willie Mays is the greatest ballplayer ever, and the numbers we hold dear don't reflect all of them. If the Yanks weren't so thickheadedly racist, they would have had Mays, and he might have put down 800 easy.
DeleteNot that old? He'll turn 89 on July 19. That's getting up there. I tell my patients that 80 is the new 60, but dang, I'm not sure 90 is the new 70, and as they say, 3 score years and 10..... I've got quite a few over 90 and some of them look even better than Lon, but not very many.
DeleteEh, Yankee Stadium ain't all that friendly to RH batters, but Willie would have been poking them into the short porch in RF. Put Willie in Atlanta's Fulton County Stadium though.....
DeleteWell, my wife's great-uncle is 96, going strong, and a veteran of Normandie, liberated Paris and met the Russkis. Old people have a lot of life to live. Happy memorial day, and a giant thanks to all veterans.
DeleteWell sure, Horace could have taken time off from the 3 Martini lunch and moved in the Stick fences as well, we can play this game all night long...
Deletedoc, my dad is old...basically because he hasnt taken care of himself and now the system is killing him
Deletelon went to hawaii...look at him...that aint old
Well the older population is astonishingly diverse, that's for sure. Chronological age definitely does not correlate exactly with health age, but there is a correlation. Right now 113-115 seems to be the upper limit and we're going to see a flood of folks making it past 100. I used to think getting past 100 would be a piece of cake, but I'm starting to realize it's gonna be a real longshot. I'm feeling old!!
DeleteZito is showing some sand. Don't trust him, but it is nice to see. Relax and enjoy the ride!
ReplyDeleteHope Belt gets some confidence. I don't think we're going to see much pressure from Huff, so there is some meeting of the minds with Bochy and the lineup schemes. The job is yours for the taking right now Brandon, all you have to do is step up and hit.
The OF as configured has been awesome. Good for Bochy to let it ride, and good for those guys to keep that BA AND OBP up.
Now is the time to go on a run. Hope the Doyers run into some junk. Lilly on the DL, a tough road trip coming. The Giants need to take the NL West seriously and roll tide. A win tomorrow would be a nice way to demonstrate that.
Yeah, love the 3 Amigos in the OF. Blanco has really ignited the lineup and helped everyone else settle into a role. Hope he can keep it up. He's always had the OBP and speed which is exactly the ideal leadoff hitter.
DeleteZito is what he is, no more, no less. As the ELM interview with Fleming brought to light, Zito has impeccable command in his pregame warmups, but it would disappear once the game start. It's like I've been saying, he's a thinker and thinkers tinkers, constantly, and their minds get in their own way in game situations. Lincecum appears to be one of those too, just not as bad.
DeleteI trust Zito to be up and down, with many good games but just enough bad games to remind us that he'll never live up to his contract. However, I do hold out hope that 2012 will be his "breakout" season with the Giants, mainly because of the Zito Whisperer, Hector Sanchez.
I think Zito can get into virtuous circles, where Hector's hero-worship boosts Zito's confidence, which boosts Hector and so on. Confidence is the key for Zito to pitch well for us. I think his marriage could be helping in that regard as well in that when he goes home, he doesn't go home alone and brood over his poor performances - that is what thinkers like to do, sit and stew over bad performances and beat themselves up over it - but instead goes home and his wife can commiserate with him and prop up his ego and confidence.
Together, his confidence is getting boosts that perhaps he didn't get earlier in his Giants tenure (like when Righetti jumped on him for his experimentation his first spring training with us), and thus he can bring that command into games instead of leaving it on the sidelines. Hopefully, at least.
oh, and zito looked really focused. i like that he has stopped that pregame shaving thing...and i dont understand why bochy sent him out for the 8th...zito's limit is 90 pitches
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think the fans all thought Zito wasn't coming back for the 8'th and that's why they gave him the standing O as he came off after the 7'th. Zito has a way of looking great in his last good inning then having it all fall apart in the next. He also spent the entire bottom of the 7'th on the basepaths whch Bochy probably wasn't counting on when he sent Zito to the plate to lead off the 7'th. Boch probably though it would be a 1,2 see ya later for Zeets then he'd have at least 2 more batters to get ready for the 8'th. Once he let him hit, it might have been a bit awkward to not let him come back out. It all worked out OK in the end, but Casilla did give me a bit of a scare there.
DeleteHey don't look now, but we're at 49 games played and the offense has actually been quite decent, without the benefit of Sandoval for the most part. 8th in the majors in BA, 14th in OBP, 19th in runs, 20th in slugging. The park adjusted factors get em to 3rd in the National League in B/R OPS+ (101, behind just the Cards and Doyers), 8th in wRC+ from F/G in the National League (93). The problem with the hitting is they are way down the pack in ISO, third from last in the National League, only the Padres have less HRs. Still, the problem hasn't been the offense, its been the defense and Tim Lincecum. 29 Unearned runs so far, and a National League leading 51 errors. Pen has held up, and obviously 2B is a black hole, but maybe shifting Arias there would help out when Panda comes back. Still, good team, getting their identity. Be nice for Timmy to figure things out and the clankmittery to stop.
ReplyDeleteI think the Giants are in good shape to have a chance to really take off after the All-star break, if not sooner. Hopefully yesterday was a sign of things to come for Belt. This team could potentially have a league average offense (if not slightly better) by the time the season is over.
DeleteSorry to be personal, but are you the TK on MCC? If so, I hope you are well and fully recovered. And if not, well, I hope you are well.
DeleteEnjoyed the Bonds banter with Kruk and John. Boy do good hitters or pitchers ever forget? Kruk and Bonds were ready to go at it over balls and strikes thrown 10+ years ago. Take a listen at MLB.com highlights of yesterday's game. Good fun.
ReplyDeleteOK, here's the question: What is Bonds doing in the booth?
DeleteMy understanding was this was not simply a give-the-fans-a-thrill visit. Bonds has an agenda. Begin to pave the way for his return to baseball, a la McGwire-type thing.
If that was his intention, it was pretty much a failure in my eyes because of the Krukow exchange.
Listen, Bonds, everyone knows that you are an exceptional talent. In the age of hyperbole, you live up to the description of, "one of the greatest players ever to play the game."
Krukow? A very decent pitcher. Above average, though his ERA+ at Baseball-Ref is 96.
So, Barry, what a great opportunity to show that you've grown. You are not the same self-absorbed, aloof ego-maniac you were as a player. You've matured. You're ready for this next step into coaching. Or the front office. Or wherever you want to go.
And, instead of embracing Krukow as a great competitor, and saying complimentary things such as, "Facing you was always a difficult AB," you get into a pissing contest with him.
It makes me angry that Bonds does nothing but justify his bad reputation every single time he opens his mouth.
Not to say that he's not knowledgeable. But his ability to relate to people ruins any opportunity that he might have to contribute to the future of the SF Giants.
Barry, thanks for the phenomenal play. But, really, there is no more use for you here.
And furthermore (Since this thread is a couple of days old and no one is going to read it, I'll just continue with my rant...lol) I realize that this sounds cold.
DeleteBut it's Bonds that has made it so.
Think for a second how you feel about Willie McCovey. I'd practically take a bullet for that man. Great Giant. Good guy. Beloved.
That's how it could be for Bonds, only exponentially more so. Local guy who broke the HR record. As soon as he hit FA, he came home. Greatest player of his generation. He could be absolutely revered here.
But, he moved to LA. Oh, and he keeps opening his mouth and revealing his character.
Please Giants, do the smart thing. Bonds gets a couple of days every Spring Training every year. A little of batting practice field time at AT&T with the players. And then walk away.
Listening to tonight's game, with Will in the booth...now that's what you want from a coach.
DeleteYou watching Barry? Of course not.
Listen to Will Clark talk about being a Giant. About his experiences in the playoffs. How he felt Candlestick was louder. He truly loved playing here. His career truly did begin here. True reverie and appreciation for his time here.
ReplyDeleteJust compare it with the false, poorly delivered platitudes of Bonds.
Let's not delude ourselves, Giants fans. The Bonds experience ends on the field.