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.
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Friday, April 4, 2014
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
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
Thursday, April 3, 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
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
Wednesday, April 2, 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
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
Tuesday, April 1, 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
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
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