Rafael Devers 2-run home run in the first inning triggered a benches-clearing incident which got Willy Adames and Matt Chapman ejected forcing Devers to play third base for the first time this season and the Giants to play the rest of the game shorthanded. All's well that ends well and the Giants ended up with a nice win. Key Lines:
Rafael Devers 1B/3B- 1 for 5, HR(30), R, 2 RBI. BA= .263. OK, Devers' HR and the ensuing scuffle were the highlight of the game so in case you didn't see it on TV or find a video replay, here's my version of what I saw. Devers hit it pretty good and it carried into the walkway behind the lower deck of the RF bleachers, a pretty good poke but probably not one justifying his theatrics which consisted of him watching it go out from his follow-through position, then stumbling backwards out of the box, walking about 30 feet down the line carrying his bat which he then flipped away. At this point, Kyle Freeland LHP went all MadBum on Devers, walking toward him while yelling and waving his arms while lecturing him to "get off my.....er.....about home run etiquette, respecting the game and playing it the right way. The umps did a good job of getting between Devers and Freeland and pushing them away from each other but then the benches arrived on the scene. Matt Chapman ran up and gave Freeland a shove that was not needed then Adames arrived and started a ridiculous looking girlie slap fight(sorry if that offends someone but it's the only way I can think of to describe it). After everybody got separated and back to the dugouts, the umps huddled for almost 10 minutes and finally decided to eject Freeland, Chapman and Adames with Devers finally rounding the bases. As for Freeland, with the way his season has gone I suspect he was just as happy to be outa there. If all that sounds ridiculous and totally unnecessary from beginning to end, it definitely was, but it was kind of fun to watch....and describe.
Devers did reach 30 home runs but 15 of those were with the Red Sox. Nothing against Devers but I'm not counting that as breaking the Giants 30 HR drought.
Casey Schmitt PH/2B- 2 for 5, HR(10), R, RBI. BA= .241. Schmitt was not in the starting lineup due to a sore elbow from the HBP yesterday and it wasn't clear that he was even available to play but he was pressed into service after the ejections and hit 4 balls hard with one carrying out of the park for a homer.
Wilmer Flores DH- 1 for 5, HR(15), R, 2 RBI. BA= .242. Wilmer's HR came after Schmitt's in the 5'th inning and after Dom Smith reached base on a single. Wilmer got in some pretty good shoves during the baseball version of a kabuki dance in the first inning. The Giants would have been in a world of hurt if he got ejected too.
Jung Hoo Lee CF- 2 for 3, BB, R. BA= .262. Lee reached base 3 times and scored ahead of Patrick Bailey's home run in the 8'th inning. Lee is batting .308 over his last 7 games, .293 over his last 15 and .292 over his last 30. He has been quite consistent since adjusting his approach over the All-Star Break.
Patrick Bailey C- 2 for 4, HR(3), R, 2 RBI. BA= .210. All 7 of the Giants runs scored on home runs with Bailey's blow adding a couple of insurance runs in the 8'th inning. Pretty rare 2-hit game and home run for Bailey who has only hit marginally better in the second half.
Logan Webb RHP- 5 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 7 K's, 5/0 GO/AO. ERA= 3.17. Not Webb at his best but good enough with more than his usual run support.
Jose Butto' allowed a 2-run home run in 2 innings of work to bring some anxiety to watching Giants fans. No worries as between Bailey's HR and scoreless innings by Joey Lucchesi LHP and Ryan Walker RHP it was an easy win. Walker recorded his 13'th Save.
Robbie Ray LHP tries for the sweep tomorrow evening against German Marquez RHP who, like other Rockies pitchers, has had a rough season with an ERA of 6.14.
Sure looked to me like freeland called Devers a homophobic slur. Imagine that’d triggered a suspension.
ReplyDeleteI can't confirm or refute that but if he did, it should warrant a multi-game suspension.
DeleteI already had Freeland getting five games for instigating, a slur would likely increase that to 10 and I don't think Freeland gives a shit about any suspension coming his way. Adames and Chapman at worst, will get three games but, I hope they can avoid additional punishment. I think Posey is on the phone with Fitzgerald for a call up should there be suspensions to be served after appealing and probably Winn gets optioned and they play a pitcher down since the suspensions would have to be staggered if both end up having to serve suspensions.
DeleteNicely done on your write-up of the brawl and the game. Baseball melees are silly, but, yes they are fun to watch. I hope that there are not any more consequences from the scrum as the Giants have a good thing going and need Adames and Chapman in the lineup. This winning run has saved their season. With 23 games remaining with (& vs. LA, 6 vs. Backs, 6 vs Cards and 4 more against the Rocks), it will be exciting if they can continue to win. (I made a bet with Draft Kings before the season started that they would win at least 80 games, which I had given up on).
ReplyDeleteOn a side note, I wonder when you do your write-ups. I often check to see if you have posted late at night and don't see anything and then when I get up, your post is there. Thanks for all of your diligence.
I would say most of the time I write the game wrap before I go to bed for the night, usually right after the game and finish by about 10:30 PM or so. Sometimes I am tired and decide to write it early in the morning, but I often wake up between 12:30 AM and 2:00 AM and. find if I get up and write I can get myself back to sleep after. The write ups usually take between 30 min and an hour. I would say I write most of the Down on the Farm posts during these awake periods. Now that I am retired I can sleep later into the morning to make up for the lost time during the night which is a nice feeling.
DeleteTo me it almost looked like Devers was watching the ball to see if it stayed fair or not. He may have lingered a little longer than he needed but I dont think his initial intent was to show anyone up. Either way, Giants still have some fight in them, literally, which was good to see.
ReplyDeleteBilly Baseball
Maybe but I think what Freeland was more upset about was him slowly walking 1/3 of the way down the line then flipping his bat. He definitely was not watching the ball then.
DeleteI'm fairly glad that ADAMES is a giant and i Hope for more and better in the next few years..but i've noticed that the Giant's broadcasts love to focus on him in particular, especially in game winning celebrations...I guess he's the most "dynamic" player that Giants have..and they need one or two..but sometimes he just acts like a Padre or a Red...Yeah, as Doc said...get off my....:) Just old fashioned here! But keep hitting those HRs!
ReplyDeleteNice game by SCHMIDT and that Bailey HR surprised the hell out of me...Most of the time he looks lost up there, but he destroyed that pitch!
SteveVA
Nice writeup of the first inning scenario. With all the HBP and strike/ball arguing that seem to arise with every game, I wonder if MLB might be considering additional rule clarifications to curb bad behavior amongst players. It's hard to have a policy for everything but IIRC the NBA has a rule about bench clearing, and the umps are trying their best sometimes in ambiguous circumstances to keep a certain amount of order.
ReplyDeleteWhere I feel bad for the umps is with the strike zone. The strike zone box on the TV creates the belief among fans that it is THE true strike zone yet the the umps can't see it when they are trying to see where the ball crosses the plate at 100 MPH or with a 12+ inch break. I say either get rid of the box on TV or go to electronic balls and strikes. I don't remember too many bench-clearing incidents involving the Giants this season. Maybe if it got out of hand make some new rules but you don't want turn MLB into the NFL(No Fun League). That one last night was a hoot, much as I hated seeing two Giants players get the boot.
DeleteHalf the fun of baseball is coming up with an excuse why Max Muncy is wrong when he celebrates and why we’re behind Bumgarner when he yells at him! And then, just a few years later We get to justify why it’s OK for Devers to do it and why Freeland is wrong.
ReplyDeleteJust part of being a homer!
Andy in OC
Well, it's possible to hate Max Muncy with ever fiber of being and at the same time think MadBum was silly and out of line for yelling at him. Hate to say it but MadBum was the one who came out of that looking worse. And Devers did a lot more than just watch to see if it was fair or foul and at the same time Freeland was an idiot for running his mouth and making an incident out of it. Anyway, most baseball "brawls" are fun to watch except when somebody gets seriously injured like what happened to Michael Morse.
Delete