Monday, April 4, 2016

Opening Day Game Wrap 4/4/2016: Giants 12 Brewers 3

Madison Bumgarner had a subpar start while battling the flu, but his teammates unleashed an offensive attack full of historic achievements and the Giants cruised to an easy win over an obviously bad team.  Key Lines:

Denard Span- 2 for 4, HR(1), SF.  BA= .500.  Span drove in 5 runs including 3 with the dinger.  That's the most by a MLB leadoff batter on opening day since 1945.  It was also the most RBI's by any Giants player on Opening Day since Barry Bonds in 2002.  Span's blast was also the first of 3 consecutive HR's, the first time that's been done on Opening Day since 1987.

Joe Panik- 1 for 5, HR(1).  BA= .200.  Not much of a day for Panik until he became the middle leg of the back-to-back-to-back in the 8'th inning.

Buster Posey- 2 for 4, HR(1), BB.  BA= .500.  Buster was the final leg of the HR trifecta in the 8'th inning.  I don't have the numbers but it sure seems like Buster loves to hit in Miller Park!

Brandon Belt- 3 for 4, 2 2B, BB.  BA= .750.  Look, I'll be happy to be wrong about the 30+ HR prediction for Belt if he continues to hit like this.

Matt Duffy- 2 for 5, HR(1).  BA= .400.  Duffman is the guy who really broke this game open with a 2-run dinger in the 5'th inning to make it 7-3.  You pretty much knew the Giants had this one right about then.

Angel Pagan- 1 for 4, 2B, BB, SB(1), Assist(home).  BA= .250.  The assist throw from LF took several bounces to reach home plate, but hey, it all counts the same in the record book.

Madison Bumgarner- 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 5 BB, 6 K's.  ERA= 5.40.  Bumgarner was obviously not at his best, but he had a great excuse. He had flu symptoms and a fever on the flight to Milwaukee that did not get in until 10:30 PM last night.  He still somehow managed to summon the strength to strike out the side in the 5'th inning, the final one coming on his 101'st pitch of the game.  Just another anecdote to add to Bummy's already legendary rep for toughness.

Kontos, Gearrin, Strickland and Osich- 1 scoreless inning each.  Composite line:  4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K's.  I think I like the 0 BB in that line the most.

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Johnny Cueto makes his Giants regular season debut tomorrow evening facing RHP Jimmy Nelson.

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Speaking of bad teams, the Padres lost to Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers 15-0.

Zack Greinke had a rough start to the D'Backs leg of his career allowing 7 ER in 4 IP against the Rockies in Arizona.

5 comments:

  1. Is Adrianza going to be this year's Tomlinson? I know his single was late in the game and really didn't matter, but still, a hit is a hit, and for Ehire they just keep coming. That can only mean good things for him and Giants.

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  2. You know your pitcher is a tough-as-nails stud who is a true pitcher when they don't scratch him when has the flu and he can scratch and claw through a rough outing with minimal damage despite struggling to find the plate or keep his velocity up. (There was a point in time PitchFX had a huge run of pitches that didn't break the high 80s and his average FB velocity yesterday was 90.2, about 2 MPH under from where it should be.)

    Pagan's assist was kind of amusing. Throw. Hop. Hop. Hop. Hop. Catch. Out. But all that really matters is that it was on-line and in time and saved a run so even if it did 4-hop to the plate, so I am not going to complain because style-points don't count with me.

    Not playing Panik yesterday (I forgot to move him off the bench) cost me 6 points. At first I thought I (accidently) dodged a bullet, but he came through in the end. So first thing this AM was to slot him where he belongs -- 2B.

    Also, I picked Trevor Story (Rockies) up this AM. He took Greinke to the yard twice yesterday (4 ER). He's currently the starter because of the Reyes suspension so he's a bit of a gamble. But I'm betting he sticks because he was a power-hitting SS in the minors (.279 with 20HR last year in AA/AAA) and if he can play half-way defense he'll be a massive defensive upgrade over Reyes who is suspended right now.

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  3. The Colorado press were giving the Rockies grief because if they had kept Trevor Story in the minors a bit longer, they would be able to control his contract for another year. His historic day will quiet those critics. Looks like this year will really show the disparity between the good and bad teams. Bad teams=Padres, Rockies, Brewers, Phillies, Marlins, Reds and Braves.

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  4. After yesterday's performance, Buster's career at Miller Park looks like this:
    53 AB, .358/.435/.792, 7 HR, 16 RBI
    Wasn't it in Milwaukee in 2010 when he began that ridiculous month of hitting during his rookie year? If I remember right he hit something like 4 HR in 3 games there to kick off a long midwest road trip. Yeah, Buster loves Milwaukee!

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  5. Grass isn't always greener and Boston fans can be mighty cruel:

    SAD PANDA: RED SOX FAN LISTS "OVERWEIGHT" PABLO SANDOVAL FOR SALE ON CRAIGSLIST http://tinyurl.com/j4ynt98

    "Overweight Third baseman for sale or trade. 5'11 290. Willing to eat most or all of current contract. Willing to hear offers from National league teams, American League Central or West, independent leagues, Chinese, Japanese, or Korean leagues, Any South American or Carribean Leagues, and Most Co-Ed Softball leagues. Warning: offer to eat the salary of the contract does not include cost to feed this man. Take at your own risk. Also if you have a daughter, please take the extra steps to block him off Instagram on her account before adding to your current roster.

    Would also trade for a used car (rust is fine, doesn't need a steering wheel), a goat (in which I can flip to the Cubs), partially used Marlboro gift cards (I still owe Jim Leyland), or someone to volunteer to teach Moncada English.

    If interested, please call show contact info and ask for Dave."


    At least they're not throwing things at him. I remember when they used to throw beer bottles at Brodie and beer cans at Eddie DeBartolo.

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