The Giants jumped out to an 8-0 lead behind a strong 3 innings from Robbie Ray and a bases-clearing double by Jerar Encarnacion and held on for the spring win. Key Lines:
Lamonte Wade Jr DH- 0 for 2, 2 BB. BA= .182. Classic LMWJ PA to lead off the Giants half of the first inning. He fell behind in the count 0-2 then drew a walk. He's now drawn 6 walks in 17 PA with an OBP of .471.
Jung Hoo Lee CF- 2 for 3. BA= .400. Two sharp groundball singles through the right side lead to 2 runs scored. Please stay healthy JHL! Please!
Matt Chapman 3B- 1 for 2, BB. BA= .333. Chapman has understandably played sparingly so far appearing in just 4 of 10 games with 12 PA's. He probably only needs about 10 days to get ready for the season so he's playing just enough to stay sharp.
Luis Matos RF- 1 for 1, HR(1). BA= .286. In a statistical oddity, Matos becomes the 14'th Giants hitter to slug a home run this spring while none have hit their second yet. If the season started tomorrow it seems like Matos would be the 4'th OF.
Jerar Encarnacion LF- 2 for 3, 2B. BA= .444. Wow! Is Jerar this year's Randy Elliott Award winner? With the bases loaded, he went the other way with pitch on the outer-lower quadrant of the strike zone and hit an absolute rocket directly over the head of the RF that clanged off the wall. He later hit a 2-run infield single.
Robbie Ray LHP- 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 0.00. Another strong start for Ray. Last year's plan to have him boost the rotation after rehabbing from surgery got derailed, but he looks fully healthy and ready to roll this year. Hopefully Tarik Skubal's private changeup lesson produces and ace level season.
The game understandably got ragged after the third inning. Keaton Winn RHP and Lou Trivino RHP pitched scoreless frames but Tyler Rogers RHP, Camilo Doval RHP, Sean Hjelle RHP and Enny Romero LHP gave up runs. I will say Hjelle was the victim of some bad BABIP luck as sinkerballers will at times.
The Giants have a free day tomorrow before making a bus trip to Peoria to play the Padres on Tuesday. No starting pitcher named yet although it would be Jordan Hicks RHP turn.
Who will be #15 to hit an HR: Adames, Fitzgerald, Villar, Wisely, Meckler, or ?
ReplyDeleteOr will one of the 14 hit his second?
I hold off on getting excited about hot hitters right now and who is doing their best Randy Elliot or Mike Ivie impersonations, but it is good to see Encarnacion and Lee starting off hot...Hope they keep it up,,,However, it already looks like OF candidates like Luciano and McCray are outmatched and need much more time....OTOH, MATOS seems to be starting a good bid to be anywhere between the 3rd-5th OF.
ReplyDeleteNow, pitching, it's never too early to get a little excited....Robbie Ray's outing was definitley as exciting as they come for the 1st half of pre-season. and along with the outings of Webb, Hicks, Roup, Birdie/Harrison, the Giants might have some real good options..Time will tell..
SteveVA
Woah, woah, woah, Steve! Mike Ivie, Sunday May 28th, 1978: PHs a Grand Slam to left against Sutton at the 'Stick on my 12th Birthday, to take the lead (and ultimately secure the win). The place went ballistic. And, sweet perfection, he gave away a Chevy with that Slam in the promotional giveaway 6th inning.
DeleteThe man did his job.
I watched that game on TV.
Delete....and Randy Elliott's best season was with the Giants in 1977 following his legendary spring. He hit 7 HR in 178 PA.
DeleteI do remember Mike Ivie having some days as a Giant...I just remember as a kid...paying attention to the spring box scores ---hey, just like this year-- in dreaming about how good Elliot and Ivie and other spring phenoms were going to be for my Giants! Man, I've become so cynical!! :)
DeleteSteveVA
It's amazing that almost 50 years later, I can mention Randy Elliott and Giants fans immediately know who I'm talking about.
DeleteElliott's reputation seems to have turned him into some light-hitting guy who got hot for a few weeks. He was actually a first round draft choice of the Padres but had shoulder problems. He was hot when he was healthy that March. He could not break into an outfield of Jack Clark, Herndon, Whitfield, and Evans and his shoulder was re-injured by a Doug Rau pitch during the regular season. That pretty much did him in.
DeleteStill, when anyone says "hot March", the big time Giants fans will think "Randy Elliott".
In contrast to previous years, there was a tendency for the Giants players to not be monitored and the front office let them do their own thing during the off-season. Under the current front office, it seems that readiness and availability is of utmost importance. Jerar and Matos were active in winter ball and I think they will show improvement. Also, a lot of players went to Papago (along with Chapman and Adames) to work on skills and hopefully, will result in crisper play during the season. Even veterans like Robbie Ray and Webb are trying to learn how to improve. How this will translate to wins, I'm not sure but I think they will end up in a better place than most sportswriters think they will.
DeleteI remember watching Randy Elliot play for the Hawaii Islanders, the Padres AAA team, before signing with the Giants a couple of years later. He was a good hitter batting over 300 that year. Thrilled that he was a big leaguer with the Giants. Mike I'vie became an instant favorite after the grand slam against the Dodgers! Upsetting when they ended up trading such a talented hitter Jack Clark!
DeleteAttabit...I wan't trying to demean Elliot..just bringing up memories...As a Kid..seeing the insane Spring hitting of an unknown (to me and to most) was exciting..even if he really never did much for the Giants afterwards.....Still more of a take on how things have changed.....Now, everybody knows everything about every damn prospect and and every AB and every misstep....All most had back then were boxscores!!!
DeletesteveVA
I do see some parallels between The Legend of Randy Elliott and Jerar's situation. No matter how great of a spring he has, much like Elliott he's going to have to compete for playing time and PA's. Barring injury, the starting OF is pretty much set. The DH gives him a source of PA's Elliott didn't have but he's going to have to compete with Wilmer and a rotation of regulars needing breaks from playing in the field. Hitting for part time players is close to impossible to sustain. Interesting and possibly frustrating situation.
DeleteMy impressions of Elliott actually came from radio descriptions of him. Back then, all we had was Who's Who in Baseball and we did not have all of the biographical information that we have now back then. Radio announcers made him seem like a guy who came out of nowhere but the biography has him as a slugger who was drafted in first round by the Padres then had multiple injuries to shoulder and ribs. Apparently, the spring of 1977 was the first time he was healthy in a while so that's why he got so hot. Then in game 2 of the regular season, Rau got him right in that same shoulder. I did not know about the injuries, just that he had a hot March in 1977 and then was never heard from again. In the context of all those injuries, now everything makes sense.
DeleteI did not know about the HBP or that it was in the second game of the season. I just knew Elliott had this great spring then disappeared from the boxscores as soon as the season started so yes, that explains a lot. In spite of all that, he came back to hit 7 HR in 178 PA which projected to 600 PA's would be 24 HR which would have given him the 35'th highest HR total in MLB that season. Now, he swung at everything, never walked and had a horrible OBP but he did have some toonder in the bat and made his contribution.
DeleteListening to JT Snow on Marty Lurie's show, Bryce Eldridge is so lucky to have Snow mentoring him on becoming a good defensive MLB 1st baseman. Its all good for Eldridge. Hoping Flores and Wade stay healthy and have good seasons so they don't have the urge to rush the kid to the big leagues Snow mentioned 3 players who caught his eye in camp: Jung Hoo Lee, Jerar Encanarcion, and Luis Matos. He said Matos just needs regular playing time. Interesting so I'll keep an eye on these 3 players. I remember the few times I saw Encanarcion last year, he would hit the ball hard., a good sleeper prospect.
ReplyDeleteSnow is a great choice to mentor Eldridge. Eldridge was mostly a pitcher so most of the fielding nuances are new to him. After JT is done, maybe another tall first baseman type can show him how a big guy handles the bag and then give him some pointers on applying duct tape to his uniform.
DeleteDo major league players forget what it's like to be ordinary?
ReplyDeleteImagine turning down a million or two a year because it's less than you are accustomed to.
How many of us could only wish?
From MLBTR:
Adam Duvall remains unsigned a few weeks into Spring Training.
Joel Sherman of The New York Post reports that the 36-year-old has informed teams that he intends to retire unless he’s guaranteed at least $3MM (per year).
To that end, Sherman writes that Duvall declined an offer from the Royals that would’ve come with a $1MM guarantee and another $1MM in performance bonuses.
It wasn’t until March 14 last year that the veteran outfielder inked a $3MM contract with the Braves.
Duvall is evidently seeking a similar or better deal this time around.
Kansas City was evidently willing to give him a major league roster spot for that role, presumably as a platoon partner for lefty-swinging left fielder MJ Melendez. Their offer wasn’t to his liking, however.
While it’s easy to understand teams’ reluctance to match or top last year’s salary after the season he just had, Duvall has banked a lot of money and seems not to be interested in playing for marginally more than the $760K league minimum at this stage of his career.
Duvall has played in parts of 11 MLB seasons. He has a little less than nine years of big league service time.
(Isn't 10 years the magic number?)
Anthony Rizzo recently told The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal that while he wants to continue his career, he has rebuffed interest from teams that “want (him) to play for basically league minimum.” Rizzo, who said he’s concerned that taking what he considers to be an offer below his value could contribute to a precedent that hinders other veteran players, remains a free agent.
Yep. I understant that $1 M is not what it used to be but it's still what, roughly 20 years salary for the average person? And yes, MLB can be a grind. It's a long season and I am sure there are some days for every player that they would rather be just about anywhere else, but it's a fun game many of us have only dreamed of playing at any organized level.
Delete...so yeah, disappointing to see that kind of attitude.
DeleteOh my! I looked up his stat line from last year and I'm not sure why any team is offering him more than a minor league deal.
Delete