Who's got the edge? 2014 Postseason breakdown

After the inspired victory by the Royals on day 1 of the postseason, knocking off Jon Lester and the A's in extras, and the Giants dominace of the Pirates, thanks to a lights out Madison Bumgarner, the stage is set for the Division series.
By way of my own personal bias, I will not breakdown the Giants vs. Nationals series because of the conflict of interest.

ALDS
DETROIT TIGERS vs. BALTIMORE ORIOLES
This is probably the most intriguing series of all, two heavyweight division winners with potent offenses and stellar pitching staffs going at it.
Starting Pitching: Detroit
Scherzer, Verlander, Price, Porcello, those 4 definitely have the battle tested resumes to give a real challenge to the Oriole Lineup. While no knock on tbe O's staff, I think the edge is with the Tigers.
Lineup: tie
While the O's may not have as big a names as Victor Martinez, Miguel Cabrera, Ian Kinsler and company, Adam Jones is a superstar in his own right and the emergence of Nelson Cruz has really made this O's lineup tough to pitch to. With good contributions from under the radar players like Detroit's J.D. Martinez, and the O's Steve Pierce, both teams are stacked top to bottom.
Bullpen: Orioles
When you got guys like Zach Britton, who emerged out of the dark as the bonified closer, Tommy Hunter, a converted starter to flamethrowing reliever and Andrew Miller, makes each game turn into a 6 inning game.

KANSAS CITY ROYALS vs LOS ANGELES ANGELS OF ANAHIEM
Speed verses power, that is the story of this series, both teams bring a totally different way of going about the game, but both have gotten the job done to get to where they are.
Starting Pitching: Angels
Since Big Game James Shields pitched in the Wild Card game, that means the Angels only have to face him once, which is huge in a best of 5 series, Weaver, Wilson, Shoemaker, solid 1-2-3.
Lineup: Angels
Star power. Period. If your lineup has Mike Trout in it, chances are it is pretty good. Pair that with Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton and the emergence of Kole Calhoun, it is tough to beat.
Bullpen: Royals
It is hard to put up better numbers than the Royals 3-headed Giant at the back end of their pen, Herrera, Davis and Holland all have sub 2 ERAs and throw absolute gas, pair that with the new lefty out of TCU Finnegan, the game gets shorter and shorter.

ST. LOUIS CARDINALS vs LOS ANGELES DODGERS
Aces wild will be the story in this one, both teams with two of the best pitchers in the game, and solid teams all around will make for an interesting 5 game series.
Starting Pitching: Dodgers
Two words, Clayton Kershaw. Having to face the leagues best pitcher twice in the same series just smells danger for the Cards. Paired with Zach Grienke make for a deadly 1-2 punch.
Lineup: Dodgers
Gordon with unreal speed helps set the table for Puig, Kemp, Ramirez, Gonzalez, Crawford, makes for a stacked lineup that will make it hard on the Cards starters.
Bullpen: tie
Both teams have a lockdown closer and good pieces surrounding them, neither is really all that special, but both do not lack any talent.

Baseball is an unpredictable game, anything can happen, and anyone can beat anyone on any given day. Perfect example, both underdogs won tbe Wild Card games.
Game 1's to keep an eye on:
In Baltimore, Max Scherzer 18-5 vs Chris Tillman 13-6
In LA, Adam Wainwright 20-9 vs Clayton Kershaw 21-3

Interesting stats in baseball people do not know

When you look at the game of baseball as a whole, everybody knows how good Mike Trout is, or how unreal Clayton Kershaw is on the mound, but there is something to be said about the little things that people do not know about. There are some mind boggling stats that I just heard about that I could not believe.

Wade Davis, Kansas City Royals
Starting pitcher that has been converted into a reliever has shined in his new role. His ERA as a starter was 4.54 and as a reliever it is 1.54. A 3 run difference and a velocity jump to say the least, out of the pen he is throwing a 99 mph fastball with a 91 mph slider.
What people may not know is Davis has only given up 2 extra base hits this entire season, and has not given up a run since June 25.

Jared Cosart, Miami Marlins
Since being traded by the Astros to the Marlins at the deadline, (an under the radar move by the fish) Cosart has been a totally different pitcher. With Astros 9-7 with 4.41 ERA and with the Marlins 4-2 with 1.99 ERA, one of the better pitching moves that were made at the deadline.

Joe Panik, San Francisco Giants
The young Giants second baseman has been a shot in the dark this season for the Giants, a team in desperate need for an everyday second baseman has found their man in Panik. On Tuesday night Panik became the first Giants second baseman under 23 to have 5 hits in a game since 1966.

Drew Smyly, Tampa Bay Rays
Smyly threw a complete game shutout on August 23rd, it was the first time in Rays history a lefty has thrown a shutout with two or less hits and no walks. He was traded to the Rays in the David Price deal. Since the deal at the deadline, Smyly is 3-1 with a 1.70 ERA and Price is 2-3 with a 4.10 ERA with Detroit.

Albert Pujols, Los Angeles Angels of Anahiem
The great slugger of this generation made some personal history on Thursday September 11. Not good history, but amazing nonetheless. For the first time in his career he struck out 4 times in one game. That is 7894 at bats and he has never struck out more than 3 times in one game. That is unreal.

Victor Martinez, Detroit Tigers
When people say that they think one of their favorite players does not stike out much, they have not seen the numbers on Victor Martinez, who is the king of putting the ball in play. Victor has struck out only 39 times this season, in 507 plate appearances. He also has 30 homers, so 30 homers and 39 strike outs, thats unbelievable.

Aroldis Chapman, Cincinnati Reds
This flamthrowing closer for the Reds has taken his arm and put it into the record books, earlier this season he broke the his own streak of 49 consecutive innings with a strikeout, which is a major league record for a reliever. The lefty has thrown 358 pitches this season that have been 100 mph, which is twice as many as anyone in the majors this season.


Stats recieved while watching MLB Network. Staggering statistics that many people do not know.

Change leads to success for the Giants

Giants fans have waiting a long time to see their team win the world series, 52 years to be exact before the torture team of 2010 finay broke the streak and brought home their first title in San Francisco. It was a crazy season that ended in a way that nobody could have predicted before the season began. The key to that season was getting the most of players that had amazing seasons. Pat Burell and Cody Ross, who were both rejected by their teams halfway through the season shined bright when the Giants acquired them. When we look back at the lineup that was handed to the umpire in game 1 of the world series, it is interesting to see where those players are today, just 4 years later.
                                   In 2010.            In 2011
1. Andres Torres        .268AVG.         .221AVG
2. Freddy Sanchez     .292AVG.         .289AVG
3. Buster Posey          .305AVG.        INJURED
4. Pat Burell               .266AVG.        .230AVG
5. Cody Ross             .288AVG.        .240AVG
6. Aubrey Huff          .290AVG.        .246AVG
7. Juan Uribe             .248AVG.        DODGERS
8. Edgar Renteria      .276AVG.             REDS
9. Tim Lincecum        16-10.                 13-14

Giants found every last ounce of star power from all these players (besides Posey) and would never see that kind of production again. In 2011, Brian Sabean understood that the Giants were not going to win with the same team they had in 2010 because they all had career years. In the offseason after a dismal 2011 campaign Sabean made changes and boy did they pay off, the Giants won their second title in 3 years, but again it was because he made a change that they were able to get it done.
                                        In 2012.         In 2013
1. Angel Pagan              .288AVG.        .282AVG
2. Marco Scutaro.          .362AVG.        .297AVG
3. Pablo Sandoval.         .283AVG.       .278AVG
4. Buster Posey.             .336AVG.       .294AVG
5. Hunter Pence.            .219AVG.       .283AVG
6. Brandon Belt.            .275AVG.       .289AVG
7. Gregor Blanco.          .244AVG.       .265AVG
8. Brandon Crawford.   .248AVG.       .248AVG
9. Barry Zito                     15-8.                 5-11

Sabean made the same mistake in the 2013 season, he was content with the team he has to put on the field, even though these players are younger than the ones in 2010, change makes a difference for the Giants team. Although the batting averages were decent, the Giants just were not scoring runs and their pitching staff struggled throughout the year.

In 2014 the Giants have run into the same problem, people keep asking why are they stuggling, what is happening, well, history speaks for itself. Change needs to happen. The Giants are a team that have thrived off having a fresh new group of players working well around their core player, Buster Posey. Sabean made the mistake of doing nothing at the trade deadline which I cannot understand. In 2010 they got Cody Ross and Pat Burell. 2012 they got Hunter Pence and Marco Scutaro. He needs to understand that a change is needed.

Top 5 most underrated pitchers in baseball

Everybody knows about Clayton Kershaw, King Felix, Adam Wainwright and others that have been under the pitching spotlight for the past several years and for good reason. They are unbelievably good. But I have devised a list of the 5 pitchers that I believe get overlooked and people should pay attention to down the stretch run and beyond.

5. Wily Peralta. Milwakee Brewers.
This is a pitcher that not many people have ever heard of, but this season he has opened the eyes of many scouts and fans alike. He has only been in the big leagues for a couple years and had a less than pomising 11-15 record with a 4.37 ERA last season. This year he has burst through in a big way for the Brewers, giving them something they have needed for a long time, good pitching. The Brew Crew can hit and most people have known that for years now, but what has seperated them from teams like the Reds and Cardinals has been their starting rotation. Going into his next start on Thursday against the Giants, Peralta is 13-6 with a 3.52 ERA and is tied for the league lead in wins. He has helped the Brewers maintain the top spot in the NL Central for most of 2014 and will be a key in their future success should they make the playoffs.

4. Tyson Ross. San Diego Padres.
Tyson Ross is a great pitcher, he is so often overlooked because his record is not sparkling and he plays on the Padres, a team that is only talked about for their horrible offense. But that is where a players win/loss record means nothing about the potential of the pitcher. Ross is 10-10 with a 2.62 ERA, 157 strikeouts, .227 BAA, 1.18 WHIP in 154.2 innings this season for the Padres. Even though the Padres are going nowhere this season, Ross should not be overlooked, I have seen him a couple times when he faced the Giants and he is sneaky pitcher that hides the ball well and has a nasty slider that makes hitters look foolish. If he was on a contender, he would be looked at more highly than he is right now.

3. Garrett Richard. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
This guy has become a stud starter in the American league this year. He has always had electric stuff but this year he has finally been able to keep up the consistancy that the Angels have been looking for out of him. He was my biggest All-Star snub and was unfortunately stuck behind Chris Sale on the final ballot. He has been a mainstake in the Angels 2014 resurgence, a team that had high hopes a couple years ago when the acquired Albert Pujols, C.J. Wilson and last year Josh Hamilton has not lived up to what they should be. This year they are one of the best teams in baseball and are in a dogfight with the A's for the top spot in the AL West. Richards has written his own story, he is 11-4 with a 2.74 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, .197 BAA and 143 strikeouts. He is top 10 in BAA and WHIP on the league. He has only allowed 5 HRs all season and opponents have been baffled by his electic fastball and sharp breaking ball. Keep him on your radar.

2. Scott Kazmir. Oakland Athletics.
Kazmir has fallen off the radar of many people ever since his excellent 2008 campaign with the Tampa Bay Rays, as if he almost disappeared entirely. The A's saw this differently and picked him up from the Cleveland Indians, looks like they knew something nobody else did. Kazmir has been unbelieveably good this year for the first place A's, posting a record of 12-4 with a 2.53 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and a .224 BAA. He is been a vital part of the Billy Beane's vision for this team and he has rewarded the GM tremendously. He doesn't come at you with unbelieveable stuff but he gets the job done every 5th day by getting outs using all his pitches and escaping from jams. He was a pickup that nobody saw coming, and everyone wished they had made. He is apart of a superstar rotation of Sunny Gray, Jon Lester, Jason Hammel and Jeff Samardzija.

1. Corey Kluber. Cleveland Indians.
This man can flat out pitch. Coming off a good season last year, Kluber has quickly turned himself into a bonified ace in the league and an important part of the Indians rotation. His numbers are staggering and his strikeout rate is unbelieveable. It only makes me wonder why more people do not talk about this man, but now they will. He is 12-6 with a 2.55 ERA, 177 strikeouts, 1.08 WHIP, in 165.2 innings pitched this season. He has really been a shot in the dark for the Indians who are fighting their hardest to try and gain a playoff spot. He is doing his part to keep them in the mix. His slider puts hitters to shame along with his elecric fastball. This is a pitcher that will definitely be heard of in the coming years. He is coming off a start where he outdueled King Felix who is the American League leader in ERA.

National League All Star Starter Opinions

I have decided to give my own opinion on how the starting lineups should shape up for the National league in the 2014 All-Star Game in Minnesota.

National league starters:

C- Johnathan Lucroy.
He has been the most consistant hitting catcher so far in 2014. He may not have the catching skill set that Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina, but he has vastly improved the past few years. Many people make the argument that Molina should be the starter because he has so many gold gloves, world series rings, and so on, but that has nothing to do with the All-Star game. The game is supposed to show the best players at each position from both leagues so far that year. It boggles my mind why what Molina has done the past few years has anything to do with his All-Star appearance this year. I do appreciate what Molina does daily, he is the best fielding catcher in baseball. Lucroy however is hitting .330 8HRs 39RBIs .403 OBP. Molina is batting .284 6HRs 27RBIs .334 OBP. Evan Gattis should be considered heavily for backing up these two as he has had an amazing June.

1B- Paul Goldschmidt
This one was easy, Goldschmidt has been a consistant hitting machine as he has done for most of his young career. Being a Giants fan I have gotten a few looks at him and he has impressed me greatly. He leads all of baseball with 28 doubles already this year and is hitting .301 15HRs 53RBIs .381 OBP, on a team that at the moment is going nowhere, but he that has not stopped him from continuing to produce. The sneaky choice that should be also considered is Justin Morneau of the Colorado Rockies who has turned it on of late and is driving in a ton of runs 57RBIs this season.

2B- Chase Utley
After having a super fast start for the seemingly ageless Utley, he has come back to earth in the past couple months, but he has continued to gather hits which convinces me he is deserving of the start at 2nd base. He is batting .293 5HRs 34RBIs 41Rs .354OBP. I also believe that Dee Gordon should get a strong consideration because he is stealing bases at an unbelievable pace, he has 40 steals through 74 games this season.

SS- Troy Tulowitzki
This was by far the easiest choice of any of the NL starters, Tulo has been the best hitter in all of baseball to start the 2014 season and just does not stop hitting. He is hitting .351 18HRs 45RBIs 60Rs .443 OBP. He has been producing steadily for the Rockies who were in the thick of the NL West race before hitting a wall a month and a half ago.

3B- David Wright
He is the easy option in the NL for third base, he has been consistant for the Mets and despite the Mets woes of not making the playoffs, that has not stopped Wright from taking that role as the face of the franchise. He is batting .278 6HRs 40RBIs .334 OBP.

OF- Yasiel Puig
The Dodgers young star has been just continuing to hit and drive in runs ever since he got called up last year almost mid season. He has had fantastic offense and defensive help for the Dodgers. Batting average has been the name of the game for Puig ever since he broke into the big leagues, and has been a hitting machine. He is batting .313 11HRs 45RBIs 40Rs .402 OBP.

OF- Andrew McCutchen
The NL MVP only a year ago has just picked up where he left off last year for the Bucs, hitting for average and power, drving in runs and then saving them with his stellar CF defense. Arguments can be made for Carlos Gomez, who has had a great year in CF for the Brewers, but Cutch has been pushing the envelope and producing a little more. McCutchen is batting .315 12HRs 48RBIs 41Rs .420 OBP.

OF- Giancarlo Stanton
This man has unreal power, he can hit balls farther and harder that you will ever see, but he is not just power, he has been hitting for average and has locked in that 3 spot in the lineup for the Marlins and keeping them in the race in the NL East. He is hitting .307 20HRs 58RBIs 54Rs .399 OBP.

Sleeper pick for All-Star game:
Casey McGehee- newly acquired third baseman for the Marlins who spent all of last season in Japan trying to get his swing and production back has done so. He has the chance to be the first player since 1944 to have 50RBIs by the All-Star break with only 1HR.

 As far as the Giants are concerned, it looks like it may be Michael Morse who has the best shot at the All-Star game, especially with Pagan bitten by the injury bug. For pitchers it should be Madison Bumgarner and Tim Hudson, maybe Sergio Romo and hopefully Jean Machi who has had an unbelievable year in the Giants pen.

The June Swoon

It is that time of year again. It's June. Historically that is when the Giants season usually hits a wall and it is hard to explain why they are losing the way they are. This year they have reached an all new low in the month of June. The Giants are currently on a 5 game losing streak and have lost 8 of their last 9 games. The biggest effect this drop has had is in the standings, while the Giants still maintain their first place mark, the lead over the Dodgers which was 9.5 games has now diminished down to 4 games heading into the weekend.

The Giants seem lost right now, and it all began last week when the Nationals came into town. The Giants were riding a 4 game winning streak and were 21 games over the .500 in their record. (42-21). Nothing could seemingly go wrong for the revitalized Giants team with their starting pitching on fire and an elite bullpen that was working at incredible pace. Even the offense which the Giants have had little of the past few years was scoring, and scoring a lot. But as baseball people always say, it all will even out.

Coming into the series against the Nationals, the Giants had only lost one series in the past 5 weeks. The Nationals made them come back to earth. They smashed the Giants in the first 3 games of the series behind incredible pitching done by Stephen Strasburg, Doug Fister and Tanner Roark. The Giants could barely score any runs and the Nationals were doing nothing but score runs and attacked the Giants starters. Tim Hudson (Mr. Consistant) put an end to this madness in the last game and the Giants avoided a rare home sweep.
But the Giants unfortunately cannot pitch Hudson everyday.

When the Rockies came into town for the weekend they had been struggling. They were once in the thick of the pack for the top spot in the NL West but tanked in the month of May dramatically. Now they were treading water and trying to get any wins they could. This began the worst series I have seen the Giants play in some time.
Friday: Giants were winning 4-2 in the 9th inning, Lincecum pitched well and the bullpen held up the two run advantage. Enter Sergio Romo, 20 for 22 in save situations, one of his blown saves had come against the Rockies. He gave up 2 straight singles, then a fly out by dangerous hitter Wilin Rosario, but Angel Pagan made an ill advised throw to third and both runners moved up. Later with the bases loaded DJ Lemahieu hit a base hit and for no reason Pagan threw home and the runner moved up to second. The amout of mental errors made by the Giants in this inning was astonishing. They went on to give up 5 runs and lose 7-4.
Saturday: Giants are winning 4-3 in the ninth inning thanks to a good comeback by the G-men and great bullpen stoppers to keep the them ahead. Enter Sergio Romo. I was at this game and was very surprised to see him come in again. HUGE MISTAKE. He got the first two outs easily, everyone was happy, then a harmless 2out single by Charlie Blackmon. Then on a ball left up by Romo to Brandon Barnes he hit a ball between Pagan and Pence that Pagan for some reason decided to dive for, which to this day I still do not understand, and he hit and inside the park home run and the Giants lost 5-4.
Sunday: Just when we thought it could not get worse, the Giants were up 7-4 in the 8th inning when the bullpen gave up 4 runs and the Giants lost 8-7.

After the insane weekend against the Rockies where the Giants had 3 wins in the bag but managed to squander the lead late, they headed to Chicago. It did not get better there. Matt Cain got smashed in game 1 and the offense was shut down by John Danks. Then the matchup that many people were looking for in game 2, Chris Sale against Tim Hudson. Two pitchers having amazing seasons so far. It did not go well. Hudson had his worst start of the year and got hit hard by the White Sox and the Giants were put to bed by Chris Sale.

So now the Giants head to Arizona to see if they can dig themselves out of this hole of losing. The only bright spot from this entire two weeks has been Jean Machi who has continued his amazing season. He has pitched 31 innings and has only given up 1 run. 5-0, 0.29ERA. Unreal.

Aces square off in St. Louis: Madison Bumgarner vs. Adam Wainwright

In the second game of a 4 game weekend series in St. Louis, aces were set to square off. Adam Wainwright had not given up a run in his past 20 innings pitched, and last week won the pitcher of the week honors in the National League. Madison Bumgarner has been solid all year for the Giants, he was coming off of a 7 inning, 10 strikeout performance against the Twins.

The game went much differently that people would have expected. The new Giants revamped offense did not care when they heard the streak Wainwright was on not giving up runs. They took it to the righty in the first two innings, taking advantage of Wainwrights lack of getting ahead and poor location of all his pitches. The Giants got one in the first on a base hit by Mike Morse on a pitch that was supposed to be away but came over the middle. In the second inning he got two quick outs and then got ahead of Brandon Hicks 0-2, Hicks stayed diciplined and worked a walk in a spot that he usually strikes out. That became the key play in the second inning, because Bumgarner came up next and hit base hit on a poorly located fastball by Wainwright to a good hitting pitcher. Angel Pagan then wasted no time and took a hanging first pitch curveball and slapped it up the middle for an RBI. Then Hunter Pence stepped up, and on a 2-1 pitch Wainwright tried to fool him on a curveball but Pence saw the movement and went with it and absolutely crushed the ball to the third deck in left field. Another poorly placed breaking ball by Wainwright who is known for his amazing curveball. On the other side of the script Madison Bumgarner lived up to the billing, he was superb. As opposed to his counterpart, Bumgarner had pin point control all night long which led to 6 strike outs looking by Cardinal hitters who were left guessing. That is an unusual total for him because he normally strikes people out with his wipeout slider and devastating cutter, but he was working the corners of the strikezone all night long. Bumgarner finished with a similar line as he did last Sunday, 7 innings, 3 hits, 1 walk, 10 strikeouts. Wainwright was unable to make it through the 5th inning and finished up with 4.1 innings, 8 hits, 7 runs, 1 walk and 4 strikeouts. By far his worst start of the year.

San Francisco 9, St. Louis 4

W- Bumgarner (7-3)
L- Wainwright (8-3)

Odd 2014 Baseball injuries and Tommy John epidemic

Considering the number of players that have been injured this season already in baseball, I thought that I would tell you about some of the more stranger ways that baseball players are getting injured.

Matt Cain: Earlier this season Giants right hander had to be scratched from his scheduled start less than 2 hours before the game because he accidentally cut open his right index finger while making himself and sandwich in the Giants clubhouse.

A. J. Ellis: The Dodger catcher was placed on the 15-day DL today because of an ankle sprain he sustained while celebrating Josh Beckett's no-hitter yesterday. The team ran on the field and were jumping up and down and he landed awkwardly on his ankle. He was not even catching that game.

Michael Wacha: Cardinals right handed pitcher was removed from the game on Wednesday because he was hit by a line drive while he was sitting in the dugout. The Cardinals were batting and a foul ball came and hit him directly in his pitching elbow. Of all the pitchers sitting in the dugout, it hit him.

Santiago Casilla: The Giants reliever was told by manager Bruce Bochy not to swing in his meaningless at-bat in the 9th inning in Colorado, he swong at a 3-2 pitch and grounded out to shortstop, he then proceeded to go all out running to first base and is now on the DL with a hamstring strain. The Giants were winning 5-1.

Carlos Gonzalez: The Rockies star right fielder had to leave the game earlier this year because he felt dizzy after he swallowed his chewing tobacco. Wow.

Bryce Harper: The Nationals young phenom was criticized by manager Matt Williams for not running out a ground ball, and was taken out of the game for lack of hustle. A couple days later Harper tried to show his hustle by trying to go to third and dove head first and hurt his thumb (torn ligament in thumb). He was placed on the DL after. He is out for 10-12 weeks.

Micheal Pineda: Yankee right hander was suspended earlier this season for 10 games after he was caught having a strip of pine-tar on his nevk to aid him while pitching with is illegal. He made it so obvious to get caught by having it on his neck, you have to be very dumb to do that. While making a minor league start getting ready to come back from suspension, Pineda injured his back and had to come out of the game. He has been on the DL since May 6th. Karma will bite you.

WARNING: Tommy John Surgery Outbreak

This season there have been an unbelievable amount of pitcher that have needed to undergo one of baseballs top reconstructive elbow surgeries for pitchers, Tommy John. There have been 40 cases of TJ already this season, which is the cause for the sudden outcry and fearfulness running throughout baseball. Even the commisioner Bud Selig said that he is afraid of how far this outbreak might go, considering it has started to hit some of the top pitchers in the game today.

What is Tommy John Surgery?
When a pitcher has a tear in his ligament in the elbow (UCL tear) he will have to undergo surgery to replace the torn part and have a new ligament placed into the elbow. The surgery does not take long, but the recovery period for a pitcher is 10-12 month which is about a year before he can take a game mound. The reason for the lengthy recovery time is the elbow needs time to recover and restart the pitching motion and with the amount of stress that is placed on an arm for a pitcher, it takes a while to become adjusted.

Big name pitchers bitten by the TJ surgery this year:
Arizona: Patrick Corbin (ace)
Miami: Jose Fernandez (ace)
Atlanta: Kris Medlen (#2), Brandon Beachy
New York M: Matt Harvey (ace)
New York Y: Ivan Nova
Oakland: Jarrod Parker (ace), AJ Griffin

What is causing the sudden outbreak?
Nobody really knows for sure, they are trying to figure out the source of all the tears but no answer is in sight. What boggles my mind is MLB teams spend so much money each season on their pitching staff, why don't they spend some of their money instead on researching a cure or reason for all of these TJ surgeries to help protect their pitchers so that they will be worth the gigantic contracts that have been handed out. This injury is changing the world of baseball in a hurry.

Quarter season recap: 1st place San Francisco Giants

 As we have seen through the first quarter of the season (41 games) this is a new brand of Giants baseball, they are no longer the anemic offense, with just enough pitching to win close games. No, the Giants pitchers are no longer afraid that if they get down 3-0 that automatically means they will lose. The Giants have shown this season that the bats have woken up and it has given extra confidence to the pitching staff that allows them to just worry about doing their job and not the score.

As a pitcher myself I find it so much easier to pitch when I know that if i make a mistake or give up a few runs that the offense on my team will pick me up and we still have a chance to win the ball game. The biggest joke last year was people saying that Madison Bumgarner just needs to throw a shutout and hit a home run, that is the only way the Giants can win. That is no longer the case. At this point last year the starting staff had a record of 11-11. This year they are 17-14. One of their biggest helps in the rotation this year has been Tim Hudson, he has been an absolute workhorse and has seperated himself as the ace of this Giants team with a record of 4-2, with a 2.09 ERA, and only 4 walks in 60.1 innings pitched.

The bullpen to this point has been lights out, they are posting the best numbers in the league as far as bullpens go, lead by Jean Machi who is 5-0 with a 0.42 ERA in 21.2 innings pitched. When you are a starting pitcher and you know you have a bullpen that can put up numbers like that, it allows you to ease yourself into the game and know that you do not need to go the distance. You leave with a lead, it will get protected. Sergio Romo is 15/16 in save opportunities this season.

The offense has been the biggest surprise of the 2014 season, the Giants are putting up fantastic offensive numbers thanks to newcomer Michael Morse who has fit in nicely into the Giants everyday lineup. Morse so far this season is hitting .278 with 10 HRs and 28 RBIs. Brandon Belt was starting to show signs of becoming an elite offensive force that the Giants have been waiting for before he got hit in the finger and will be out for some time. Brandon Hicks has been a pleasent surprise, and under the radar signing that they made to take place of the injured Marco Scutaro, although he does not hit for average, he has amazing pop and has hit 7 home runs. Hector Sanchez is developing into a nice backup catcher both offensively and defensively, which allows Bochy to be happier with putting Posey at first base more often. The Giants as a team have scored 188 runs this season and have hit 50 home runs, that's right, 50 home runs. This is shocking considering they finished last year with 107 total home runs. The Giants have hit 3 splash hits in the past week.

The Giants welcomed the Miami Marlins into town for a 4 game weekend series by the bay. The Marlins have held their own at AT&T Park and have done well against the Giants the past few years. San Francisco ended up splitting the series with the Marlins, got grat pitching performances by Matt Cain and especially Ryan Vogelsong who is starting to look like the guy he did a few years ago. Pablo Sandoval is starting to heat up at the right time with Belt on the shelf, he extended his 9-game hit streak on Sunday with an opposite field home run. A split is a plus for the team considering their bad history against the Marlins and will now head out to Colorado to take on the Rockies starting Tuesday night. Madison Bumgarner will be on the hill. Side note: Tim Hudson was scratched from his last start on Friday with back tightness, he is on track though to make hist next start on Thursday.

Series Recap: Atlanta Braves vs. San Francisco Giants

Sorry readers for not having posted anything the past week plus since i was really sick. Anyways, the Giants closed up their road trip nicely going 7-3 against the Braves, Pirates and Dodgers. They now welcome the Braves to their home for a 3 game series.

Game 1 the Giants handed the ball to Tim Lincecum who struggled big time against Pirates last time out, leaving most of his pitches up and not having any command. In his history however, he owns the Atlanta Braves. We talk so often about which teams and players have owned Lincecum and how he has struggled in places and so on, but we forget that their is a team that he has just flat dominated. He continued that on Monday. Everything was working and the strikeouts were the theme of the night. It always helps Timmy to pitch against a team that is prone to strikeout and the Braves strike out a whole lot. After walking the first batter of the game it was all sharp command for Lincecum as he was able to spot up his fastball and get the Braves free swingers to wave at all of his off-speed pitches. He got offensive help in the 2nd inning when new comer Tyler Colvin hit his first homer of the season off of a high fastball from Gavin Floyd, intk the bay. Timmy took a no hitter into the 5th inning until he made a mistake against BJ Upton who hit a homer into the bleachers. That was the only blemish on the night for Timmy as he went 7.2 innings, only 2 hits, and 11 strikeouts. He looked like the old Lincecum that we all loved. Colvin continued to help out with a 2 RBI triple down the line which led to the win.

San Francisco 4, Atlanta 2

Mr. Red hot Ryan Vogelsong took the hill for the Giants in game 2, Vogey had only given up 2 runs in his last 20.1 innings. He continued his pace in the first couple innings and he brought out the strikeout stuff to this outing against the Braves. He was able to get ahead of hitters and put them to sleep with his breaking balls. He made a mistake to Evan Gattis in the 4th which led to an RBI triple which gave the Braves the lead. On the other side Mike Minor for the Braves was dealing, he has the Giants hitters guessing all night long and they kept walking back to the dugout frustrated. The game for Vogelsong hit a wall in the 6th inning when Freddy Freeman hit a single to right and Hunter Pence threw a bullet to Buster Posey but Posey just somehow missed Jason Heyward who made a crazy outside slide to score. The inning just got out of control after that and the Giants were quickly down 4-0. Minor only went 6.2 innings but the bullpen for the Braves shut down the Giants offense and preserved the shutout.

Atlanta 5, San Francisco 0

Game 3 was set up to be a pitchers duel, Giants Madison Bumgarner against Braves Julio Tehran. That of course did not happen. Out of the gate Bumgarner struggled in the first inning, he got hit around by the Braves and gave up 2 runs. In the bottom of the first however, the Giants answered, Tehran who coming into this game was third in the league in ERA (1.71). The Giant hitters did not care as Hunter Pence tee'd off of him with a two run homer on an 0-2 high fastball to the deepest part of the park, they later took the lead and the were ahead 3-2. In the bottom of the second Gregor Blanco led off with a walk, stole second, then stole third and the throw sailed into left field to allow him to score. Despite being up 4-2, Bumgarner was unable to hold the lead when he gave up a double and then a triple to Chris Johnson and Andrelton Simmons respectively to tie the game 4-4. The Giants came right back in the bottom of the inning to take the lead. Both starters were out of the game by the middle of the 5th inning, but the Giants offense was not finished. Mike Morse in the bottom of 6th took a 1-1 fastball inside from Alex Wood and was able to get his bat inside the ball tha pulled it for a home run. His power is amazing. In the 8th they kept pouring it on as Brandon Crawford took a first pitch 95 MPH fastball and planted it into the SF bay for a two run homer.

San Francisco 10, Atlanta 4

The Giants continue to stay hot as they have won 5 of their last 7 games. They continue their homestand tomorrow as they welcome the Miami Marlins into town for the first game of a 4 game series. Matt Cain will toe the slab for the Giants, still searching for his first win of the season.

Series Recap: San Francisco Giants vs. Atlanta Braves

The Giants take their two game win streak on the road for a meeting with the Atlanta Braves, the first place team in the NL East.

The ball was given to Tim Lincecum to take on Mike Minor who was making his first start of the season coming off of injury. The Giants got off to another fast start in the first inning when Angel Pagan took Minor deep on a high fastball. Lincecum also got off to a rocky start, scattering baserunner in the first couple innings, but he was able to pitch out of the jams and keep the Braves off the scoreboard. Both pitchers then settled in and were able to command the strikezone well and use their off speed pitches effectively. In the 5th inning Lincecum got into a pickle, when he gave up an RBI single to Freddy Freeman with two outs. The Giants offense responded in the top of the 6th when Michael Morse hit an opposite field home run on a 0-1 fastball away that he muscled out of the yard. The Giants stellar bullpen then took over and made the one run lead stand with the good work from Jeremy Affeldt, Santiago Casilla and Sergio Romo.

San Francisco 2, Atlanta 1

In game 2 Ryan Vogelsong was taking on young Atlanta ace Julio Tehran who has been brilliant this season with a microscopic ERA in his past 3 starts. The Giants on the other hand did not care. In the second inning Brandon Belt joined the Giants weekend home run assult of the Braves with a solo home run on a 1-0 fastball down the middle. Vogelsong on the other hand was working hard in first few innings, working out of a jam in the second inning thanks to some timely defense. In the 3rd the Braves got to him with an RBI double by BJ Upton. After a single by Freeman, Vogey was in a first and third nobody out jam, but he kept his composure and made his pitches. He struck out Justin Upton and then Evan Gattis, with Buster Posey throwing out Freeman to complete the strike em out, throw em out double play. In the next inning the Giants did exactly what they did the night before, get the lead back. Buster Posey hit a solo home run off of Tehran on a 1-1 slider that he planted in the seats. Vogelsong continued as he settled down and went 6 strong only giving up the one run. In the top of the 7th the Giants padded their lead with their 5th solo home run of the series, this time by Morse on a first pitch mistake by Tehran. He wanted to sneak a slider in to steal a first pitch strike but he had to pay the price. The bullpen for the Giants shut the door again with Affeldt, Jean Machi and Romo doing their jobs.

San Francisco 3, Atlanta 1

Game 3 had a great pitching matchup between two great leftys, Madison Bumgarner against Alex Wood. Wood has been ridden with bad luck this season, having to face other teams aces every time he goes out on the mound. The Giants got off to yet another fast start with a run in the first inning with an RBI ground out by Buster Posey. It was the first run that the Giants had scored this series that was not a solo home run. Bumgarner looked sharp early with 4 strikeouts through the first 2 innings. He was touched up in the 3rd after a sacrifice fly by Jason Heyward scored Bryan Pena. An unearned run for Bumgarner. The Giants offense continued for the third straight day to comeback in the next inning to take the lead with their 6th solo home run of the series by Brandon Crawford. Bumgarner then went into shutdown mode and mowed down the Braves hitters while racking up strikeouts along the way. He took full advantage off the aggresive Brave hitters by getting them to chase pitches that were not strikes. They were frustrated and guessing all day. He finished by going 6 innings, 3 hits, 1 walk and 9 strikeouts. The bullpen did what they always do and kept the Braves hitters guessing for the final 3 innings. Brandon Crawford added another home run in the 8th inning, this one a 2-run shot on a 96 mph fastball by Jordan Walden that he left over the middle.

San Francisco 4, Atlanta 1

The Giants completed the 3 game sweep of the Braves on the road, something they haven't done since 1988. They have won 5 in a row and 9 of their last 10 as they reach the 20 win mark only 31 games into the season. They now head out to Pittsburgh to start a 3 game series with the Bucs tomorrow.

Series Recap: San Diego Padres vs. San Francisco Giants

The Padres make a trip up to San Francisco for the second time this season to take on the Giants. The final 3 games in the month of April.

The Giants had Madison Bumgarner on the hill for game 1, looking to continue where he left off in Colorado with a 2 run complete game. He did not. His problem was commanding his off speed pitches because he was not able to throw them for strikes. He fell behind the Padres hitters often and had to throw too many fastballs. With a pitcher like Bumgarner, his curve and cutter are key in keeping opposing hitters off balance and guessing. He got through the first 3 innings without giving up a run but scattered baserunners everywhere. Rene Rivera had himself a day for the Padres, he came into the game with 0 RBIs on the season and ended up going 2-5, HR, 5RBIs. He saw the ball well off Bumgarner who gave up a two run double to Rivera in the 4th on a cutter that he left up in the zone. The Giants offense was able to come back in the bottom of the inning to take a 3-2 lead. That lead we erased quickly as Bumgarner gave up a 3-run homer to Rivera in the 5th on a slider that he left right over the middle of the plate. As a pitcher myself that also throws a slider, he threw it in the worst spot, I have done the same thing and have been burned badly. The Giants were put in a hole but got a solo home run by Brandon Hicks on a hanging curveball right down the middle that he hit over the center field wall. That was it for the offense for the Giants.

San Diego 6, San Francisco 4

Matt Cain was scheduled to start game 2 but before the game cut his index finger with a knive in the team kitchen when he was making a sandwhich. Yusimero Petit got the spot start for the G-men. He was fantastic. He looked like the pitcher he was at the end of the season last year with pin point control of his fastballs inside and outside. He made it easy on the plate umpire to call strikes because he hit the glove everytime. He got help from the Giants hitters in the bottom of the 1st as Angel Pagan hit a leadoff home run on a high fastball that he hit down the line. Padre starter Eric Stults had trouble keeping the ball down which led to giving up another homer to Buster Posey in the first. Petit was on cruise control for the Giants, inning after inning just mowing down the Padre hitters, who had trouble squaring up anything he was throwing. He went 6 shutout innings, striking out 4 and only giving up 3 baserunners. The offense scored more runs throughout the game and the bullpen completed the shutout.

San Francisco 6, San Diego 0

In game 3 the Giants sent their new ace to the hill, Tim Hudson. He has been masterful to start the season and continued to impress Giants fans on this night. He was dealing. His command was on as usual and his sinker especially helped him keep his pitch count down. He got ground ball after ground ball and the Padres could do nothing. He kept working at a good pace as he usually does which helps keep the defense on their toes and ready to go. In the bottom of the first the offense got off to another fast start with new Giant Mike Morse getting his 20th RBI of the season on a double. In the 2nd Brandon Hicks hit an opposite field bomb for his 5th of the year. Tim Hudson continued to cruise, his only blemish was a run he gave up in the 8th on a ground out. He entered the 9th with only 80 pitches thrown in 8 innings which in the Giants history the past years in a new sight that is rare. Giants fans are so used to high pitch counts and their starters usually going maybe 6 or 7. After 2 outs, Hudson made his only mistake of the night, on a 1-2 pitch to Yasmani Grandal he left a sinker right down the middle and Grandal parked it into the bay. Romo came in and locked down his 7th save of the season.

San Francisco 3, San Diego 2

The Giants now head out of town and to the east coast to start a 3 game weekend series with the Atlanta Braves, then the Pirates and finally the Dodgers before heading back home. San Francisco has now won 5 of their last 6 games and are clicking on all phases of the baseball.

Series Recap: Cleveland Indians vs. San Francisco Giants

The Giants come home after a rough road trip hoping to turn it around after an exciting extra inning game to finish their trip. They have 6 games at home before they go on another long road trip.

Tim Hudson got the ball in game 1, he has been the Giants best pitcher by far this season and had a current MLB record 30 innings without a walk to start the season. His control has been the mainstay for his success but on this night he started to struggle. He issued his first walk of the season with two outs in the 1st inning, but quickly settled down after that and had a clean second inning. In the third he fell behind Michael Bourn 3-1, then missed his target across the middle of thr plate and gave up a triple. Nick Swisher then drove him home. He then regained his composure and settled into a groove and threw 4 lights out innings after giving up the run, only giving up 1 hit. His offense helped him out big time today as the Giants were able to get to Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco who had come into this start having struggled this season. The big hit came off the bat of Michael Morse who took an 0-2 fastball that was supposed to be outside and up and hit it where no right hander ever does. Over the right center field wall. The bullpen for the Giants was stellar and made quick work of the Indian hitters.

San Francisco 5, Cleveland 1

In game 2 Tim Lincecum got the ball for the Giants against Indians pitcher Zach McCallister. Timmy did not have the same success that Hudson did the night before as he quickly got behind 1-0 in the top of the first when he struggled to keep the ball down to Bourn and Jason Kipnis. He had scattered baserunners all day, not recording a single 1-2-3 inning. The Indians got to him again in the 3rd and 5th innings scoring 1 in each. Lincecum only went 4.2, giving up 3 runs on 9 hits and only striking out 3. He left down 3-0. His counterpart McCallister was dealing through the first 4 innings but lost all command in the 5th when the Giants finally got to him.  They scored 4 in the inning with the big hit coming from Hunter Pence. He hit a two out base hit that knocked in the tying and go ahead runs. The bullpen again was lights out for the Giants and they cruised to a 3 game win streak.

San Francisco 5, Cleveland 3

In the final game of the weekend series they gave the ball to Ryan Vogelsong to try and complete the sweep of the Indians. In his past few starts Vogey has struggled with his control and has not pitched well because of it. Today was a different story, from the first pitch he was locked in. He did start out a bit off as there were runners at first and third with two out, but after he got out of that inning unscathed he went into cruise control. His only command flaw in this one was that he fell behind hitters early in the count, but each time he was able to comeback and put them away. He went 7 strong shutout innings only giving up 2 hits and striking out 6. His biggest pitch was his changeup and his ablity to utilize it ahead in the count. On the other side Indians starter Danny Salazar was striking out Giant hitters left and right with his electric fastball and devastating off speed pitches. He was touched up in the 4th when he gave up a double to Brandon Crawford on first pitched fastball that leaked over the middle of the plate. In the top of the 8th the Indians finally got to the Giants bullpen when Yan Gomes took a 1-2 fastball from Casilla that he left down the middle of the plate and sent it into the bleachers. In the bottom of the ninth after an intentional walk to Brandon Crawford to make it 1st and 2nd with two out, Brandon Hicks stepped up to the plate, a good fastball hitter. He got a 1-0 fastball up in the zone, a big mistake by righty Cody Allen and Hicks sent everyone home with a 3-run walkoff home run.

San Francisco 4, Cleveland 1

The Giants welcome the Padres to town tomorrow night and send lefty ace Madison Bumgarner to the hill, looking for his 3rd win of the season. San Francisco has now won 4 games in a row. After a clean sweep of the Indians.

Special Pitching Only Recap: San Francisco Giants vs. Colorado Rockies

Game 1: Ryan Vogelsong
The Giants gave the ball to Vogelsong in game 1, and it did not go well. He had trouble keeping the ball down and in the strikezone, which led to the Rockie hitters taking advantage of him and his pitch count going up. In the first inning, he fell behind Nolan Arenado, and Vogey fell behind quickly 2-0 which forced him to have to throw a strike. His command of the fastball was non existent and Arenado hit a home run. 3 batters later he faced Wilin Rosario and the scouting report on this hitter is he can crush balls that are throw above the belt. Since Vogey's command was so off he missed a changeup up in the zone and Rosario did not waste a second to hit a three run home run. As a pitcher the last thing you want to do is pitch to the hitters strength, but it seemed the fatigue of the long inning had set in on him which led to the careless location. The second inning was no better, he threw a fastball down the middle on a 2-1 count to Charlie Blackmon and the hot hitting Rockie blasted it into the seats. Buster Posey on the pitch had set up inside but the pitch leaked over the middle. The bullpen had to take over in the 2nd inning.

Colorado 8, San Francisco 2

Game 2: Madison Bumgarner
Madison flipped the script from the day before for the Giants pitching staff as he was able to give the bullpen the night off, going a complete game. His command was superb and his location of his fastballs were what made it a quick night. Inside, outside, and up out of the strikezone, he made it easy for the umpire to give him a pitchers strikezone which made up for his last start when the home plate umpire was terrible. The two mistakes he made during his 8 innings of work were in the 4th and 5th inning. In the 4th, he tried to throw a fastball inside to Troy Tulowitzki but it leaked of the middle and Tulo planted it into the left center field seats. In the 5th he made another mistake on location, Buster Posey set the target away during a 2-2 count to Nolan Arenado, and asked for a fastball. Bumgarner let the ball come back over the middle of the plate and Arenado hit a home run. Besides those two Bumgarner was fantastic, getting himself in and out of jams and had stellar defense behind him. He was unfortunately tagged with the loss because the offense could only score one run.

Colorado 2, San Francisco 1

Game 3: Matt Cain
Cain was given the ball in the final game of this 3 game series in hopes that the Giants could steal one win and not get swept out of Colorado. Coming off of back to back great starts, he was hoping to keep his streak going. This would not be the case. He did go 6 innings but gave up 10 hits, 7 runs, 3 walks and 4 strikeouts. His biggest problem was keeping the ball down, if you leave the ball up in a park like Coors field, it is going to be a long day. The ball carried big time and he seemed a bit lost for words on the mound. He needs to work big time on his control of his pitches, because if he keeps leaving balls up in the zone and missing his spots, this will continue. He was fortunate that the Giants offense finally woke up and was able to come back for Cain. The Giants won in extras.

San Francisco 12, Colorado 10

Series Recap: San Francisco Giants vs. San Diego Padres

The Giants make their first trip of the season down to San Diego to take on the Padres in a three game weekend series. Coming off of a rough day offensively on Thursday against the Dodgers, the Giants look to go back to the hitting they showed when the season began.

In game 1 the Giants sent Matt Cain to the hill, Cain coming off of a fantastic start against the Rockies when he only gave up 1 run in 7 innings but was given the loss as the Giants were unable to score. In this one he continued his dominance. His command was there and his great use of the curveball with two strikes helped him put away the Padre hitters. He went 7 innings and gave up one unearned run on a passed ball by Hector Sanchez in the first inning. He walked 2 and struck out 8, but the Giants offense was unable to help out Matt Cain for the second start in a row. Padre starter Tyson Ross absolutely shut down the Giants, throwing 8 shutout innings, striking out 9 and only walking 1. His slider kept the Giants confused and waving at it constantly the whole night. His biggest success was being able to get ahead of the Giant hitters all night long, 0-1, 0-2. In the bottom of the 8th reliever Juan Gutierrez for the Giants gave up a homer to pinch hitter Yasmani Grandal who blasted an inside fastball into the right field seats. In the top of the ninth the Giants finally got on the board on a solo home run by Brandon Belt off of closer Houston Street. The offense as a whole let Cain down for the second time in as many starts, despite turning in a brilliant outing.

San Diego 2, San Francisco 1

In game 2 the Giants had Tim Hudson on the hill who has been Mr. Consistant this season so far with his new club. He was opposed by Erik Stults a good lefty for the Padres. The anemic offense became the story again in this one for the Giants. It was yet another pitchers duel at Petco park. Stults mowed down the Giants bats through the first 4 innings with a good mix of all of his pitches, keeping the hitters he faced guessing each time. Hudson was almost the same, despite giving up a run in the second. In the 5th the Giants tied the game on a bomb by Michael Morse on a fastball up from Stults. The beginning of the at-bat they tried throwing curveballs away from Morse because they knew he could hit his fastball, but after he fell behind 2-0, Stults went to the fastball and Morse made him pay. Hudson failed to get the shutdown inning in the bottom of the 5th as the Padres took the lead. Hudson finished up going 7 innings, giving up the 2 runs and striking out 4. He continued his Giants record of consecutive innings without issuing a walk which has now reached 30 innings. The Padre bullpen took over and shut the Giants down.

San Diego 3, San Francisco 1

The Giants needed Tim Lincecum to be their stopper to get them out of this mini skid and give their offense a chance to get out of this funk. In game 3 it was Tim Lincecum against young Padre lefty Robbie Erlin. It did not take long for the Giants to give Timmy a lead, in the first inning Buster Posey took a fastball that was on the outer half from Erlin and put it over the left center field wall for a two-run homer. Lincecum started out well in the first two innings, getting some help from his defense in the form of the three Brandons in the infield. In the second inning the Giants offense continued. Pagan got a fastball up from Erlin that he took the other way for a two-run single. 4-0. Erlin in the first two innings had trouble keeping the ball low and his biggest problem was walking 3 men, 2 of which scored. In the bottom of the third the Padres got to Lincecum as Chase Headley hit a two-run double down the first base line. The Giants completed a perfect relay to get the third runner Xavier Nady who was initially called safe, but after Bruce Bochy challenged was called out. The offense for the Giants that looked as if it was turning the corner hit a wall after the 2nd inning, Erlin settled into a groove and made quick work of the Giants by retiring the final 12 hitters he faced. Lincecum on the other hand started finding better command of his pitches, and although he did not have the control he did in his previous start, he was effectively wild and ended up with 7 strikeouts. The Giants bullpen was brilliant, starting with recently added Jeremy Affeldt from the DL, Javier Lopez, Santiago Casilla and the game was closed out by Sergio Romo. The Giants were able to salvage one game of this 3 game series on getaway day.

San Francisco 4, San Diego 3

The Giants now head out to Colorado where they begin a three game series with the Rockies starting tomorrow with Ryan Vogelsong on the hill. The Giants have played 9 of their last 10 games by a difference of one run. They are hoping that their bats will wake up in mile-high Colorado and Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence can get out of their slumps.

Series Recap: Los Angeles Dodgers vs. San Francisco Giants

In an early season battle for first place in the west, the Dodgers make their first trip of the year to AT&T park in hopes to gain some distance between them and the Giants. The Giants had other ideas.

Tuesday April 15 was Jackie Robinson day around major league baseball. In honor of the great player that broke the color barrier in the time of the civil war, every player, coach and on field person wore the number 42. Tim Lincecum took the hill for the Giants in game one, trying to bounce back after a rough start against the D-backs his last time out. In his career he is the only Giants starter that has actually enjoyed facing the Dodgers and has a history of success against the men in blue. Timmy's command was the most important part of all of his starts, as long as he can keep the ball down and hit the corners, it would be a good night. And it was. Lincecum mowed down the Dodgers through 5 innings, his only blemish was a hanging changeup to former Giant Juan Uribe who blasted a home run into the bleachers. Besides the home run, Lincecum had good command of his off-speed pitches. The only problem that he had all night was his inability to get ahead of hitters, each count would always start out 1-0 or 2-0, but he was able to come back and get the hitter out. By not being able to stay ahead of hitters, his pitch count went way up and he was out of the game after the 5th inning. Dodger pitcher Josh Beckett also pitched well this game and threw 5 shutout innings before handing the ball to the Dodger pen. The Giants finally scratched across a run in the 6th, but the Dodgers quickly countered with a run in the 7th. In the bottom of the ninth Brandon Belt came up clutch and hit a double down the line that scored Angel Pagan all the way from first base. 2-2. In the bottom of 12th inning Hector Sanchez became the hero of the night and drove in Brandon Crawford with a single off the glove of second baseman Justin Turner. The Giants bullpen came up clutch for the Giants, only giving up 1 run in 7 innings of work.

San Francisco 3, Los Angeles 2 in 12 innings

Ryan Vogelsong got the nod in game 2 of the series with the Giants now tied with the Dodgers atop the NL West. Vogelsong like Lincecum was hoping to turn around a poor start to the season with a good one at home. He did that and more. He looked like the Vogelsong Giants fans remember from a couple years ago, with his easy calm delivery and great command of all his pitches, he was able to pin point the corners of the strikezone and keep the Dodger hitters off balance. He pitched to contact well and did not give up a run through the first 5 innings. He had a hiccup in the 6th when he walked the opposing pitcher Paul Maholm with two outs, then gave up a triple to Dee Gordon. Vogelsong finished up going 6 innings giving up 4 hits, 2 walks and struck out 2. The bullpen took over and shut it down from there. In the bottom of the 7th the Giants broke the tie with a clutch base hit by Pablo Sandoval. The clutch moment of the game in the top of the 7th when it was bases loaded with one out and pitcher Jean Machi got a ground ball comebacker that started the 1-2-3 double play.

San Francisco 2, Los Angeles 1

The Giants now found themselves in first place in the division and a chance to sweep the Dodgers out of San Francisco. They handed the ball to their ace Madison Bumgarner to try and get them the sweep. It did not work out that way. He was only able to go 4.1 innings and gave up 2 runs on 99 pitches. His biggest issue was the umpire, he was not getting any calls on the outside part of the plate to right handed batters which made his pitch count rise considerably. He became extremely frustrated, so did Buster Posey and Bruce Bochy. Bumgarner made the right pitches when he needed too but the unknown strikezone kept him on edge. The Giants offense was stimied by Dodger starter Hyun Jin Ryu who went 7 strong shutout innings, making up up for his last start against the Giants when he gave up 8 runs in two innings. The Giants made a mini comeback in the ninth inning, scoring one run on a base hit by Ehire Adrianza. Dodger closer Kenly Jansen settled down and got pinch hitter Brandon Crawford to end the game.

Los Angeles 2, San Francisco 1

The Giants with a bitter end to their homestand with the loss to the Dodgers but now hit the road and head down to San Diego tomorrow to take on the Padres. The Giants have played 7 consecutive one run games, the first time the team has ever done that since 1910.

Series Recap: Colorado Rockies vs. San Francisco Giants

The Giants continued their homestand with the Colorado Rockies coming into town.

I was able to go to the game on Friday night so I got a good look at Madison Bumgarner against Jorge De la Rosa. Bumgarner just coming off of a great start against the Dodgers where he struck out 10. This game did not begin well for the lefty, only a few batters into the game he was quickly in a first and third nobody out jam because he was unable to put away hitters when he was ahead of them 1-2. He worked hard and got out of the inning only giving up 1 run after he picked off Josh Rutledge which allowed Brandon Barnes to score. De La Rosa for the Rockies started with the opposite fate, setting down the Giants in order the first two innings. In the top of the third Bumgarner made a huge mistake to power hitting Carlos Gonzalez, who did not miss the hanging curveball and put it into the bay. Col 3-0. In the bottom of the 3rd Bumgarner helped his own cause with a sacrifice fly. Bumgarner then settled into a groove on the mound, being able to command the corners of the zone to keep the high powered Rockies offense in check. Bumgarner was not done with his bat, in the bottom of the 4th he took a fastball down the middle of the plate abd put it deep into the bleachers in left field for a grand slam. He went on to go 6 innings, giving up 4 runs, walking 2 and striking out 7. The bullpen took over for the Giants and shut the door on any comebacks for the Rockies.

San Francisco 6, Colorado 5

Game 2 turned out to be a typical AT&T park game, a pitchers duel. Matt Cain and Brett Anderson went toe to toe in this one. Cain looking to change the season that has already started bad in his first two starts of the season, his biggest problem, control. Control was not a problem in this one as was able to command the corners with ease, looking like the old horse Giants fans are used to seeing. Brett Anderson for the Rockies had a strong start but after the 3rd inning he had to come out of the game with a finger contusion. Which put Walt Weiss's bullpen in a big hole, but they were up to the task. The Giants had no chance as the Rockies pen through 6 shutout innings behind Anderson. Cain's only blemish on an otherwise spotless afternoon came in the 3rd when he gave up a sacrifice fly to Troy Tulowizki. Cain went 7 innings, gave up the one run and struck out 8 Rockies. The biggest part of Cain's success was his pin-point control of his fastball and curveball. Putting them in spots that locked up the hitters and made him look untouchable. The Giants offense was kept at bay in this one and Cain had to deal with a close loss.

Colorado 1, San Francisco 0

In the rubber game of this three game weekend series the Giants sent right hander Tim Hudson to the hill against Tyler Chatwood, who was making his first start of the season. Hudson has been mr. Reliable to start the year with his unreal command of all of his pitches and he has not walked anyone in his first two starts. This day went a little different. The Giants were quickly behind the 8 ball early in this one when Hudson hung a slider right over the middle of the plate to Wilin Rosario in 2nd and he blasted a homer to left field. Both pitchers looked sharp early, getting help from their defense on both sides. In the 5th inning the Giants finally got to Chatwood as they scored 3 runs capped off by a two run single by Angel Pagan. In the 6th the Giants home run tear to start the season continued as Pablo Sandoval got into the fun as he took a hanging changup from Chatwood and deposited it into the SF bay. But the Rockies would not go away, they strung together 3 runs in the 7th/8th inninng to the tie the game, including a homer by Justin Morneau off of Hudson on a fastball, an opposite field home run. In his last 2 innings Hudson struggled a bit with his control which allowed the Rockies to come back. The 9th inning is where it got interesting when Gregor Blanco hit a ball of the second arcade in right center that rolled away from right fielder Michael Cuddyer. Blanco with his speed rounded second when Cuddyer kicked the ball abd Flannery waved him in, but DJ Lemahieu completed a textbook relay to the catcher Rosario who applied the tag to prevent a replay of last years walk-off inside the park home run by Angel Pagan. The game went to extras, but did not last long. In the bottom on the tenth on the second pitch of the at-bat against the lefty Rex Brothers, Brandon Crawford took a rip at a fastball and hit a no-doubt homer into the bay for a walk-off home run.

San Francisco 5, Colorado 4 in 10 innings

The Giants continue their homestand on tuesday when they welcome the Los Angeles Dodgers to town, when they will give the ball to Tim Lincecum who will take on Josh Beckett. The Giants are currently 3-3 on their homestand.

Series Recap: Arizona Diamondbacks vs. San Francisco Giants

The long awaited home opener had finally arrived, the moment that Giants fans have been waiting for ever since the last game of the season last year. This year hoping for a different fate. The Giants play host to the Diamondbacks, a team they had just seen 4 days ago, when the G-men took 3 of 4 to spoil the opening series in Arizona. The D-backs trying to return the favor to the Giants this time.

Newly acquired starter Tim Hudson took the ball in the opener for the team after showing the fans why the Giants got him. He wanted to continue that dominance against the D-backs in his first home start of the year. He lived up to the hype again. The strike zone was established early by Hudson, showing again his excellent command of his full arsenal of pitches. This time the D-back hitters were able to square up more of his pitches, but Hudson got excellent work from his defense to help him. He got touched up for 2 runs in the first 4 innings, getting into early inning jams when he gave up base hits to the leadoff batter. He did not let that phase him as he kept composed and limited the damage. Hudson got great help from his offense which continued it's torrid home run pace as Brandon Belt hit one in the first inning (a two-run shot). Michael Morse and Brandon Crawford came up with clutch hits later to drive in two runs apiece later in the game. Hudson kept dealing as the innings got later, racking up strikeouts when he needed them with his sharp slider, curveball and changeup. His finishing line was 8 innings, 2 Earned runs, 7 hits, no walks and 4 strikeouts. The home crowd was impressed with the veteran righty, and gave him a huge ovation as he walked off the field at the end of the 8th inning.

San Francisco 7, Arizona 3

Game 2 did not go the way the Giants would have liked, only a day removed from all the opening day festivities the Bochy gave the ball the ball to the 4th starter Tim Lincecum. It is always a hold your breath scenario when Timmy is on the mound verses the D-backs because of the insane success that Paul Goldschmidt has against him. He has 6 homers against Lincecum in his career. Early in the first inning that success continued. On a 1-1 pitch from Lincecum to Goldschmidt with runners on first and third with one out, Timmy threw a challenge fastball and Goldschmidt hit a 3-run opposite field home run. In AT&T park that is almost unheard of for someone to hit and opposite field homer but when you have the ownage that he does it will happen. The game continued this way for Lincecum, not able to keep the ball down, and the D-backs took advantage and scored 7 runs in 4 innings against the Giants righty capped off with a two-run homer by Gerardo Parra in the 4th inning. The Giants offense was put in a major hole being down 7-2, and were not able to solve the mystery that was Josh Collementer, who came in to replace Bronson Arroyo in the 6th. He went 4 shutout innings.

Arizona 7, San Francisco 3

In the rubber match of the 3 game series the Giants Ryan Vogelsong opposed the D-backs Randel Delgado. Vogelsong struggled in his first start agains the Dodgers and looked to turn that around against Arizona. Delgado coming into this game had the best overall ERA of any starting pitcher against the Giants in the majors. 0.96 ERA. Vogelsong struggles continued in the second inning when he hung a breaking ball to Cliff Pennington who took it the opposite way for a two-run single. The woes wore on as he gave up a two-run double to Miguel Montero on a breaking ball down and in that split the outfielders. The Giants did not let the 4-1 deficit phase them in any way, the offense had Vogelsong's back and score 4 runs in the next 3 innings to take the lead 5-4. The bullpen came in and took over the show. None bigger than Jean Machi who found himself in a bases loaded nobody out jam in the 7th. He kept composed and got a ground ball back to him which went 1-2-3 double play. Bochy then turned to Javier Lopez who came in and struck out Montero on a nasty changeup. All work was lost in the 8th when Pablo Sandoval made an error by throwing the ball over Brandon Belts head that allowed the run to score. 5-5. In extra innings, a timely steal by Cliff Pennington off Yusimero Petit led to a Campana RBI single. Camapana was in a grueling battle with Petit fouling off tough pitches but then slapping a single to right center. Addison Reed then came in and shut the door on the Giants in the bottom of the 10th.

Arizona 6, San Francisco 5

ARI wins: 2-1

The Giants now stay home as they will take on the Colorado Rockies as they make their first trip to AT&T park. Madison Bumgarner will have the ball in game 1, friday night.

Series Recap: San Francisco Giants vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

San Francisco made their first trip of the season to Chavez Ravine to take on the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 3 game opening weekend series. The Giants come in riding a 2 game winning streak and continued their potent offense that started in Arizona. The starters Madison Bumgarner and Matt Cain both looked to get back on track after having a rough time in their first appearances of the season. The offense led by hot hitting Brandon Belt wanted to keep their NL leading home run and RBI mark.

Madison Bumgarner got the ball in game 2 of the series, and pitched like an ace. He kept the Giants in the game with his stellar command of his fastball, cutter and slider. He used a little bit of everything and was able to command the corners of the strike zone consistently which allowed him to rack up on strike outs. He got some help from his offense in the 4th and 5th innings with home runs from Michael Morse (first as a Giant), Pablo Sandoval (3-run homer) and Buster Posey. Those runs would be the only ones Bumgarner needed as he struck out 10 Dodgers in 6.1 innings. He gave up 2 earned runs, walked only 1 and scattered 8 hits. He got bailed out of the 7th inning thanks to Santiago Casilla, who came in with the bases loaded and 1 out and got pinch hitter Yasiel Puig to fly out. Hunter Pence then came to the rescue and he unleashed his cannon to throw out A.J. Ellis on a base hit by Andre Ethier. His 3rd outfield assist of the young season. Casilla with his electric movement on all his pitches especially his two-seam fastball that clocks in at 94-96mph that ran away from lefty's and into righty's helped him get out of jams.

Game 2: San Francisco 7, Los Angeles 2

Matt Cain had trouble in the final game of the series, giving up the long ball. His command this time was a lot better, being able to have a feel for his curveball and slider. The problem he had was balls that were left up in the zone to Matt Kemp twice and Hanley Ramirez. They did not wait long to park those balls beyond the fence, putting the Giants in a 4-0 hole early in the game. Besides the 3 home runs Cain was able to pitch well, commanding the strike zone and keeping the Dodger hitters off the bases. He went 6 innings, allowed 5 earned runs, walked 0 and struck out 3. He got ground balls and fly balls when he needed to and all the hitters besides Ramirez and Kemp off balance all night. The Giants offense had an off night at the hands of Dodger pitcher Zach Greinke who pitched masterfully despite giving up home runs to Brandon Belt and Hunter Pence.

Game 3: Los Angeles 6, San Francisco 2

SF wins series 2-1

Now the Giants head home and have an off day tomorrow to get prepared to face the Arizona Diamondbacks for the second time this season. The home opener for the Giants on Tuesday. I will have a series recap for the Giants vs D-backs on Thursday.

San Francisco Giants vs. Los Angeles Dodgers 4-4-14

The Giants headed to LA for a weekend series against their rivals the Dodgers. Ryan Vogelsong gets the ball in game 1 of this 3 game series, hoping to keep the Giants rolling to start the season. Vogey, fresh off a new contract with SF this past off season that helped solidify the rotation. He finished last season with a record of 4-6 with an ERA of 5.73 in only 20 starts. He was bitten by the injury bug which made the Giants more open to signing someone else, but ultimately decided they wanted to keep him. San Francisco continues their road trip in LA before heading home on Tuesday for the first game of the season at AT&T Park.

Offense with yet another fast start in this one began with two outs in the first inning when the Giants batted around and scored 6 runs off Dodger starter Hyun-Jin Ryu, who had trouble locating his pitches and the Giants took advantage. The inning was capped off with a 2 RBI single by Vogelsong who helped his own cause before he even took the mound. In the second inning the offense did not stop, scoring 2 more runs off the bats of new Giant Brandon Hicks and Joaquin Arias. Vogelsong meanwhile settled into an early groove, have good command of his changeup and kept the Dodger power bats silent through the first 3 innings. The 4th inning is where his command started to falter, not being able to put away hitters when he was ahead of them. He made a 1-2 mistake to Adrian Gonzalez to lead off the 4th inning that led to a solo homer. The next batter Andre Either also took a mistake pitch from Vogelsong and planted it into the stands going back to back with Gonzalez. The Dodgers in the 5th continued to take advantage of Vogelsong which knocked him out of the game early in the inning. He finished with the line of 4+ 7 hits 4 runs 2 walks and 4 strikeouts. David Huff had to come in relief to help bail out Vogelsong from the jam. One of the turning points of the game came in the 7th inning when Hanley Ramirez was called safe stealing second base but appeared to be tagged out. Bochy challenged the play and Ramirez was called out. The Giants are now 1 for 2 this year on challenges. Both bullpens took over and shut down the offense for both teams, the Dodger bullpen shut down the Giants bats completely with 7 innings, no hits and only one walk. Javier Lopez came in to close out the game. David Huff got his first win as a member of the Giants.

San Francisco 8, Los Angeles 4

W- Huff (1-0)
L- Ryu (1-1)

Friday April 4, 2014

San Francisco Giants vs. Arizona Diamondbacks 4-3-14

The Giants trying to take 3 of 4 from the D-backs in this opening series give the ball to 2-time CY Young award winner Tim Lincecum. Timmy had an up and down season last year highlighted in the summer with a no-hitter against the Padres to add to his resume. The Giants gave him a new contract this off season to keep him in San Francisco and fill the void of the 4 spot in the rotation. Lincecum finished last year with a record of 10-14 with an ERA of 4.37 in 197.2 innings. In his history against the D-backs Timmy has had a tough time dealing with Paul Goldschmidt, who is 10-20 with 5 home runs lifetime off the righty. He has completely owned Lincecum and just isn't fooled by anything he throws.

Giants got off to another fast start as the hot hitting Brandon Belt hit his 3rd homer of the season on a 3-2 curveball that did not fool Belt and caught more plate then Bronson Arroyo probably intended. The D-backs countered in the bottom of the first with yet another home run by Goldschmidt, a two-run shot off Lincecum on a first pitch fastball. Timmy settled down after that, posting 4 shutout innings 2-5 racking up strikeouts with his slider, curveball and nasty split-change. His day was finished after 6 innings, he left down 4-2 and after he gave up another two-run homer, this time to Mark Trumbo. Trumbo homered to the deepest part of Chase Field off of a split change that Timmy hung by mistake, and Trumbo pounced on it. Lincecum had 7 strikeouts and no walks which is definitely a promising sign for the righty in his first start of the season. In the top of the 7th Brandon Hicks hit a pinch hit solo homer to cut the D-backs lead in half off reliever Josh Collmenter. The Giants bullpen kept the game close and allowed the offense to have a chance. In the 8th inning the Giants tied the game with a 2-out rally started by an RBI base hit up the middle by Michael Morse on a hanging curveball by Will Harris on a 2-1 count. The next batter Pagan stepped up and hit a 3-run go ahead homer on a first pitch fastball that Harris wanted to throw inside but leaked over the middle of the plate and Pagan made no mistake and blasted it over the right center field wall. The Giants pen shut it down after that, closed out by Javier Lopez. As a team in this first series of the 2014 campain they have been able to come back late twice by scoring 5 runs in the last three innings in the first game, and scoring 6 runs today in the final three frames. They do not quit, and have been taking advantage of the D-backs bullpen throughout the series. The Giants head out to Los Angeles to take on the Dodgers tomorrow night.

San Francisco 8, Arizona 5

W- Machi (2-0)
L- Harris (0-1)

Thursday April 3, 2014

San Francisco Giants vs. Arizona Diamondbacks 4-2-14

Tim Hudson making his Giants debut tonight. Hudson signed with the Giants this off season after having played on the A's for 6 years and the Braves for 9 years, he established himself as the ace of the Braves for many years. He was acquired by the Giants to help complete their 5-man rotation and replace his ex teammate with the A's Barry Zito. Hudson had a bitter end to his Braves career when he was injured last year covering first base on a put out. When tagging the base he put his right foot on the right side of the base which resulted in the runner stepping on his ankle, ending his season. In his career against the D-backs, Hudson is 7-1 with an ERA around 2.

Unlike the games before this one, Tim Hudson and Trevor Cahill were locked in a pitchers duel, both righty's pitching lights out through the first 4 innings. Both were able to keep the opposing hitters off balance with their sinkers and getting a lot of ground balls to get outs. Hudson effectively used his secondary pitches to put away hitters, having full command of all 6 of his pitches. He recieved help in the bottom of the 4th when Pagan made a run saving diving catch to end the inning. The next inning Pagan came through clutch again with an RBI single past te diving Goldschmidt to score Adrianza and give the Giants the lead. In the 6th Michael Morse came through and hit a bullet off the glove of the centerfielder Campana to score Pence. That was all that Hudson would need as he continued to mow down the bats of the D-backs with help from his defense. He would steal strikes consistantly with his sinker and curveball, while getting timely strikeouts with his splitter to help get out of any jams. Unlike Cain and Bumgarner, he kept consistantly pounding the outside and inside corners and making it easy for the umpire to give him close pitches. Hudson finished after 7.2 innings, giving up 3 hits and walking none with 7 strikeouts. (103 pitches). The bullpen came in and took care of the rest of the game with Lopez finishing the inning and Romo with a clean lockdown save to end it. The Giants have their final game of the series tomorrow.

San Francisco 2, Arizona 0

W- Hudson (1-0)
L- Cahill (0-2)
S- Romo (2)

Wednesday April 2, 2014

San Francisco Giants vs. Arizona Diamondbacks 4-1-14

Matt Cain was on the hill tonight for the Giants against the Diamondbacks for the second game of this four game opening series in Arizona. Cain struggled last year, having very uncharacteristic numbers by his standards and was unable to really settle into a groove like he was in 2012. He finished with a record of 8-10 with a 4.00 ERA in 184.1 innings pitched. The once named "horse" of the staff is looking to turn it around this year and go back to being the dominant reliable guy that Giants have come to love.

Giants gave Cain an early boost in the first inning thanks to a massive homer by Brandon Belt his second in as many games that capped off a 4 run first. Cain's struggles continued and he was unable to find any command of his off-speed pitches, his slider was flat a easily seen by the D-backs hitters and his curve had no bite to it that became problematic. He relies heavily on all of his pitches to help with his pin point control and control the bats of the opponents, but all he could throw was his fastball and changeup. He got out of the first with a clutch double play off the bat of Trumbo. The second and third innings were more of the same, no control of his put away pitches and had to rely on his fastball to get ahead and his changeup to put away. Meanwhile Wade Miley for the D-backs settled into a groove, stealing strikes early with his curve and striking the Giants out with his fastball, he didn't not give up another baserunner until a two out walk by Buster Posey in the 6th. Bottom of the 4th got interesting for the Giants when Matt Cain appeared to pick off AJ Pollock off first base but was called safe, Bochy challenged the play and the call stood despite the evidence shown that he was clearly out. Two batters later a passed ball by Posey, which he then quickly flipped to Cain covering home got the tag on Pollock attempting to score but the umpire called him safe and because the Giants lost the challenge on the pick play, there was nothing the Giants could do. Gutierrez came in to relieve Cain and was unable to keep his off-speed pitches down and that led to the D-backs taking the lead. The second turning point of the game was in the top of the 7th, the Giants had second and third with only one out, and Juan Perez struck out and was unable to put the ball in play. The D-backs bullpen shut it down with pin point fastball location throughout the last few innings that kept the Giants at bay.

Arizona 5, San Francisco 4

W- Miley (1-1)
L- Gutierrez (0-1)
S- Reed (1)

Tuesday April 1, 2014

Opening Day 2014

Another season has begun for the San Francisco Giants, this year with the hope of turning around a dismal performance last year as the defending World Series Champions. Madison Bumgarner received the nod to start the first game of the season after being one of the only bright spots in the 2013 Giants season, he was 13-9 with a 2.77 ERA (5th best in the league among qualifying pitchers) and was able to be the horse of the staff with 200+ innings. The young lefty made his first opening day start of his career and hopefully not his last. After a superb spring training for Bumgarner, Bochy seemed poised to watch his ace take the season the same way he left Scottsdale where he was untouchable.

Bumgarner struggled in his first start of the season, having to constantly pitch from the stretch and in his 4 innings of work did not record a 1-2-3 inning. He was able to get in and out of jams through the first 3 innings unscathed. The Giants we able to score first when Angel Pagan hit a two out RBI single in the 3rd inning scoring Brandon Crawford. He was plagued by unfortunate defense behind him but was unable to work around those miscues by Brandon Belt and Pablo Sandoval which cost them in an endless 4th inning. This was when the D-backs really broke the game open and put a 4 spot on the board and capitalized on all the miscues by the Giants, capped with a 2 RBI double by Aaron Hill. The biggest problem I saw with Bumgarner tonight was his inability to control the hitters in the 4th inning like he did in the first 3. The D-backs were able to drive his pitches. His strikeout numbers were down because he did not do a good job of keeping the hitters off balance consistently.  The Giants scratched across a run in the 5th on a ground out by pinch hitter Gregor Blanco. I was disappointed with the at bat of Joaquin Arias when he came up with runners on second and third, nobody out and was unable to make a productive out. Yusimero Petit came in to relieve Bumgarner and struggled to settle into any kind of a groove as he gave up 4 straight hits to start the inning which put him in a hole. More bad defense by the Giants allowed another run to score, but Petit composed himself and was able to limit the damage. In the 6th Belt got a hold of a fastball that leaked over the middle of the plate and parked it over the right center field wall.  The Giants really came alive in the 7th inning thanks to hits from Morse, pinch hitter Ehire Adrianza, Pagan, Belt, Sandoval and Posey. This was the inning of offense that I have been waiting to see from the Giants bats, they have never been a flashy team that will hit home runs everywhere, it is all about base hits. After the game was tied at 7-7, Jean Machi took over out of the Giants pen with his ridiculous moving fork ball that he developed over the off season that made the D-backs hitters look foolish. Its sharp downward bite allows him to strike out both righty's and lefty's. Buster Posey took to the skies in the 9th with a two-run bomb that put the Giants ahead 9-7. Very fat pitch by Addison Reed, tried to go inside on Posey, which he has not learned, is a big mistake. Romo shut it down in the bottom of the ninth with the help of his nasty slider and a filthy changeup to Eric Chavez for a clutch strikeout.

San Francisco 9, Arizona 8

W- Machi (1-0)
L- Reed (0-1)
S- Romo (1)

Monday March 31, 2014