Opening Day Game Wrap 7/23/2020: Dodgers 8 Giants 1

Welp, that didn't go well!  The Giants and their fans felt good going to the bottom of the 7'th inning tied 1-1 and Tyler Rogers on the mound.  Then the wheels fell off.  Bad pitching and poor defensive decisonmaking gave the Dodgers 7 unanswered runs in the 7'th and 8'th innings and they ran away with it.  Key Lines:

Mike Yastrzemski CF- 2 for 4.  BA= .500.  YtY reached base 3 times, once on an error.  Giants got their leadoff batter on base in the first, third, fifth and ninth innings.  They only got one of them home.

Alex Dickerson LF- 2 for 4.  BA= .500.  Giants had 8 hits, all singles.  Dick also made a nice running catch down in the LF corner.

Joe McCarthy RF- 0 for 4.  BA= .000.  OK, I get the whole matchup/opportunity thing, but there is nothing in Joe McCarthy's minor league track record to suggest he is the best guy to put out there or that the Giants need to find out something about him.  He looked completely overmatched at the plate and unimpressive in the field.  Michael Reed was the starting RF on Opening Day in 2019.  Just sayin'.  I submit the Giants need to find out what Jaylin Davis can do against good RH pitching more than they need McCarthy's platoon bat in RF.  Just callin' it like I see it.

Tyler Heineman C- 2 for 3.  BA= .667.  Heineman led off the 3'rd inning with a nice bunt single.  He came around to score the Giants only run on a SF by Pabs after the Giants loaded the bases with no outs.  With the RHP on the mound for the Dodgers, it would appear Heineman is the Giants primary catcher.

Johnny Cueto RHP- 4 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 3 K.  ERA= 2.25.  Cueto looked sharp.  FB 92 MPH, shimmyin' and shakin'.  Cueto didn't like coming out after 4 innings but was starting to look tired in the fourth when he gave up his only run.

Drew Smyly LHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 0.00.  It was a bit of a surprise to see Smyly enter the game in the 5'th inning.  Isn't he supposed to be one of the top 4 SP's?  OK, maybe he's a tandem starter and Kap really, really wants to win the opener?  He only went one inning!  Still scratching my head on that one.

Rico Garcia RHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K.  ERA= 0.00.  Garcia showed a nice mid-90's FB and and solid changeup that kept Dodgers hitters off balance.  I'd like to see more of that.

Tyler Rogers RHP- 0.2 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 0 BB, 0 K.  ERA= 54.00.  Uh oh!  Rogers was supposed to be the do it all reliever.  The beat writers seem to think Kap intended to have him work the 7'th and 8'th innings and give the Giants a chance to win.  After giving up 2 loud hits to lead off the inning, he got the groundballs he wanted but Mookie Betts beat a throw home and a poorly executed rundown play put runners at 2'nd and 3'rd who both scored on a single by the ubiquitous Kike Hernandez who as a Giants fan, I really hate!  The Giants bullpen needs Tyler Rogers to be good.  We'll have to hope this was Opening Day jitters against a very good team.

Dany Jimenez RHP- 0.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 27.00.  It took Jimenez 5 batters to get the last out of the 7'th inning.  He threw a lot of nice downward breaking curveballs that the Dodger batters picked up and let them drop out of the strike zone.  Kap finally came out with the interpreter and told Dany to establish the heater.  To his credit, Jimenez did just that and got the bases-loaded K to finally end the inning.

Enrique Hernandez 2B(Dodgers)- 4 for 5, HR(1).  BA= .800.  I looked up Hernandez career splits because it sure seems like he kills the Giants.  His OPS against them is right at his overall career average, so no, he does not kill the Giants.  It just seems that way. He certainly did in this game with 5 of the Dodgers 8 RBI's.

Dustin May RHP(Dodgers)- 4.1 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 4 K's.  ERA= 2.08.  Clayton Kershaw was a late scratch for back stiffness.  May's FB was in the high 90's and he threw one pitch that hit 100 on the TV gun, but he was hittable.  The Giants just couldn't muster an XBH or a walk and played station-to-station baseball.

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The Giants will face Ross Stripling, who was almost traded to the Angels in the offseason, tonight.  Kap has no idea who the Giants SP is going to be, or at least is not saying.