Yet another good day for the kids yesterday as the Giants came back from a 2-0 deficit after 6 innings to beat the Mariners 4-2. The temperature must have dropped 15 degrees from Tuesday, but the Giants kids stayed hot.
Jason Schmidt started the game and pitched well, but I don’t think he was as sharp as he was in his first game. Jason had a little trouble finding the strike zone in his first inning, fell behind a lot of batters and threw too many pitches in the first. He gave up 2 runs on 2 hits and a walk. He also struck out 5 Marines in 3 innings, so you know he had his “A” stuff. The 2 runs probably shouldn’t have happened as 1 hit he surrendered was a 97 hop grounder that Tomas De La Rosa, who started the game at 3B, got to, but just didn’t bend over far enough to field. The ball went under De La Rosa’s glove for a scored single. The Mariners would not have scored if De La Rosa makes that play……..a play that most Major Leaguers would have made.
The remainder of the pitching was even better than Schmidt. Tim Worrell, Steve Kline, Matt Kinney, Jack Taschner and Merkin Valdez followed Schmidt. Kinney threw 2 innings, the others 1 complete. Each of them gave up 1 hit and zero runs. Taschner was particularly impressive with 2 strikeouts in his 1 inning of work. Very nice pitching, indeed. If this continues, it will be interesting to see how the Giants sort out this sudden glut of good arms.
Offensively, the Giants starters, including the few veterans that played in the game, had a ton of trouble with Mariners starter Jaime Moyer. Even with a number of new players, the Giants STILL have trouble with junk ballers. Some things never change I guess. The starters; Jason Ellison, Jose Vizcaino, Mark Sweeney, Todd Linden, Ray Durham, Abraham Nunez, Adam Shabala, Tomas De La Rosa and Yamid Haad; went a combined 1 for 22 with 2 walks, no runs, no RBI and 6 strikeouts.
The replacements; Nate Schierholtz, Jake Wald, Travis Ishikawa, Fred Lewis, Kevin Frandsen, Derin McMains, Brian Buscher, Justin Knoedler and Todd Jennings; went a combined 7 for 14 with 1 walk, 4 runs, 4 RBI and only 1 strikeout. Included in these numbers were McMains’ pinch hit solo HR for the Giants’ first run of the game and Schierholtz’ solo HR in the 8th. Schierholtz hit a tape measure shot, which cleared the RF bullpen and reached the top of the grass berm behind it. Of the subs, only Ishikawa and Jennings were hitless.
That’s about it for today, I know Spring Training performances don’t mean a thing, but it is nice to see the youngsters lead a come from behind win and even nicer to see the pitching do so well. Sorry that there are no photos again today. I just don’t have the time to go to 2 games AND take and post photos. I am only going to one game today, Giants @ Angels in Tempe, so hopefully I can get a few photos up of today’s game.
Jason Schmidt started the game and pitched well, but I don’t think he was as sharp as he was in his first game. Jason had a little trouble finding the strike zone in his first inning, fell behind a lot of batters and threw too many pitches in the first. He gave up 2 runs on 2 hits and a walk. He also struck out 5 Marines in 3 innings, so you know he had his “A” stuff. The 2 runs probably shouldn’t have happened as 1 hit he surrendered was a 97 hop grounder that Tomas De La Rosa, who started the game at 3B, got to, but just didn’t bend over far enough to field. The ball went under De La Rosa’s glove for a scored single. The Mariners would not have scored if De La Rosa makes that play……..a play that most Major Leaguers would have made.
The remainder of the pitching was even better than Schmidt. Tim Worrell, Steve Kline, Matt Kinney, Jack Taschner and Merkin Valdez followed Schmidt. Kinney threw 2 innings, the others 1 complete. Each of them gave up 1 hit and zero runs. Taschner was particularly impressive with 2 strikeouts in his 1 inning of work. Very nice pitching, indeed. If this continues, it will be interesting to see how the Giants sort out this sudden glut of good arms.
Offensively, the Giants starters, including the few veterans that played in the game, had a ton of trouble with Mariners starter Jaime Moyer. Even with a number of new players, the Giants STILL have trouble with junk ballers. Some things never change I guess. The starters; Jason Ellison, Jose Vizcaino, Mark Sweeney, Todd Linden, Ray Durham, Abraham Nunez, Adam Shabala, Tomas De La Rosa and Yamid Haad; went a combined 1 for 22 with 2 walks, no runs, no RBI and 6 strikeouts.
The replacements; Nate Schierholtz, Jake Wald, Travis Ishikawa, Fred Lewis, Kevin Frandsen, Derin McMains, Brian Buscher, Justin Knoedler and Todd Jennings; went a combined 7 for 14 with 1 walk, 4 runs, 4 RBI and only 1 strikeout. Included in these numbers were McMains’ pinch hit solo HR for the Giants’ first run of the game and Schierholtz’ solo HR in the 8th. Schierholtz hit a tape measure shot, which cleared the RF bullpen and reached the top of the grass berm behind it. Of the subs, only Ishikawa and Jennings were hitless.
That’s about it for today, I know Spring Training performances don’t mean a thing, but it is nice to see the youngsters lead a come from behind win and even nicer to see the pitching do so well. Sorry that there are no photos again today. I just don’t have the time to go to 2 games AND take and post photos. I am only going to one game today, Giants @ Angels in Tempe, so hopefully I can get a few photos up of today’s game.
2 comments:
Hey fullmonte....please read my disclaimer form a couple of days ago.
"DISCLAIMER: Every year when I start reviewing Spring Training games, I get a number of people reminding me it is only Spring Training and I shouldn’t worry about player performance. Before the first of those comments arrives, let me assure you that I am not at all worried about player performance until the last week or so of games. I am merely reviewing the performance of the players I have seen. If they perform well, I will say that…….and if they stink……I will also say that. As a matter of fact, being an old athlete and coach, I am a superstitious guy. The Giants always have their best seasons after having terrible Spring Training records. Last year the Giants had their best spring record in years……..but look what happened in the regular season. I would rather the Giants had a losing spring……..the superstition in me believes they will have a better year if they do."
Also as a note.... the kids scored all 4 runs off of Jeff Harris, a pitcher who pitched half the year in 2005 in AAA with a 2.79 ERA and the other half in Seattle with a 4.19 ERA. I still think that's not too bad from a bunch of kids who were mostly in single A ball in 2005. But that's just me.
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