The Giants showed off their defensive arm tools to make the Cubs pay for some adventurous base running and the lineup used a small-ball approach to push in 4 runs to win their Cactus League home opener. Key Lines:
Matt Chapman 3B- 2 for 2, 2 2B. Chapman looked to be in midseason form with a pair of hard-hit doubles. Stay healthy, Chappy!
Christian Koss 3B/SS- 1 for 1, BB. Grant McCray PR/CF drew a 1-out walk in the 7'th inning. Christian executed a perfect hit-and-run play with a ground ball through the 2B hole behind the runner putting runners at first and third with one out. He then drew a throw to 3B on a groundout allowing McCray to score despite the inning-ending double play. Small ball! Put the ball in play!
Bryce Eldridge DH- 0 for 1, BB. I had to do a double take at the TV screen to make sure it wasn't Brandon Belt at the plate. Striking similarity but without the slumping shoulders(at least that I noticed). Hopefully this does not ignite the Eldridge Wars.
Willy Adames SS- Adames showed how the ABS challenge system can change a game. With the bases loaded and no outs, he took a called third strike. He tapped his helmet. The call was overturned even though the top of the ball was a fraction of an inch below the strike zone and there is no way Adames could be sure it was a ball. On the next pitch he hit a groundout to first base but the runners advanced driving in one run. Rafael Devers then drove in another run on another ground out. Voila! The Giants had themselves a 2-run inning.
Robbie Ray LHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 K. Perhaps rattled by a fire alarm going of in the stadium that the umps did not stop the game for, Ray walked the first two batters he faced. Seiya Suzuki then hit a Texas Leaguer that dropped in shallow RF. Luis Arraez hustled to track it down and threw home but Devers cut it off and threw out Suzuki trying for a double. The lead runner, Matt Shaw, stopped at 3B putting two runners on one base. Alex Bregman, the trailing runner, was called out but then Shaw thought there were 3 outs and walked off the bag toward the dugout. Matt Chapman tagged him out for a very unusual triple play to end the inning.
Trent Harris RHP- 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K. Harris FB was 94 MPH. He gave up a leadoff single then another hit that Grant McCray misjudged, but then McCray showed off his arm by throwing the runner out at home plate. Jung Hoo Lee then showed off his arm by throwing out the second runner at home after catching a fly ball in foul territory to complete an inning-ending double play.
Will Bednar RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K. Bednar came out throwing 98 MPH gas but couldn't find the strike zone and walked the first two batters he faced. Pitching Coach Justin Meccage came out and delivered a message which seemed to settle Bednar down. He got out of the inning with a couple of line-outs and a K.
John Michael Bertrand LHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 0 K. Bertrand walked the bases loaded with one out. Justin Meccage came out again and Bertrand got the GIDP to end the inning and the game.
Wilkin Ramos RHP- 0.2 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 3 BB. All arms and legs. Mid-90's sinker/slider. Couldn't find command. Potential bullpen arm with better command.
Tristan Beck RHP, Carson Seymour RHP, Spencer Bivens RHP and Reiver Sanmartin LHP looked fairly sharp in scoreless innings of work. Bivens looks like he's added some muscle mass.
The Giants play the A's tomorrow in Scottsdale. No word on who is pitching.
Wilkin Ramos in 7 minor league seasons gets lots of Ks and almost as many Ws.
ReplyDeleteBig IF: can the Giants tame his wildness?
No one has in his 7 professional years.
Former Giant left handed reliever Joey Lucchesi is still available. He did pretty OK last year, do the Giants not have any need there?
ReplyDeleteIt seems fairly obvious the Giants decided to move on from Joey Lucchesi. They hope a couple of MLB capable LHP's emerge out of Erik Miller, Sam Hentges, Matt Gage, Reiver Sanmartin and Juan Sanchez. Carson Whishenhunt could be in the mix for a reliever role too vs pitching as a starter in Sacramento.
DeleteReading on MLB.com back in November, Giants didn't want to go to arbitration because Lucchesi would likely get $2M and Giants felt they could get TWO relievers for that.
DeleteThe Athletic has a whole article by Baggerly centered on the bizarre triple play:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7064880/2026/02/22/matt-chapman-triple-play-giants-cubs-spring-training/
Per the article the fire alarm was set off by a fan smoking in the bathroom. Since there was no real danger they played on, with the umps in contact with security.
However, apparently both Ray and Chapman had family in the stands, so may have been extra rattled:
“ Vitello pointed out that the alarms were especially distracting to Ray and Chapman because their families were in the stands.”
As a side note, it’s expensive but I love The Athletic! I just wish they had a better secondary Giants writer for Baggs than Grant Brisbee. I actually know folks that went to high school with Brisbee so you’d think I would be pulling for him, but he just seems to always think and write like he’s smarter and funnier than he is. I tend to skip his articles altogether. Was he the creator of McCovey Chronicles? Or a different Giants site? I seem to remember talks about him on here before?
Thanks, and The Athletic is still second to you, Dr. B, for my Giants coverage! Great job, if I haven’t said it before!
Dan in Palo Alto
Grant Brisbee deserves a lot of credit for being the first Giants oriented blogger. His first blog was EEEEE!!!!! or something like that. Next was Waiting for Boof, a nod to former Giants first round draft pick Boof Bonser. He finally settled on McCovey Chronicles but eventually sold out to SBNation. Great blogger but not sure he should be considered a true journalist or sports reporter, nor should I.
DeleteAhh, Boof Bonser! And Aardsma, I had such high hopes for Aardsma! Don’t know why I just thought of him. Thanks for the info!
DeleteLove Brisbee, He's my first read when the 2 B's have columns on the same day.
DeleteHis humor may be lost on some that just don't "get it"!
Without fail Brisbee’s articles have something that makes me laugh. I still recall him writing about the Padres ability to build a bullpen out of obscure non prospects. Back in the day when Luke Gregerson was especially tough on the Giants Brisbee wrote about the Padres finding a guy named Spencer Spencerson hanging around outside the stadium and adding him to the pen as a shutdown reliever. To this day I have to stop myself from laughing out loud when I meet someone named Spencer.
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