Yesterday’s game was a good barometer of the depth of the Giants system. I follow the farm system closer than most, but even I didn’t expect the outcome of the 11-3 win over the Angels. This year at Scottsdale Stadium, they have a large dry erase board on the concourse behind 3B, where they post the starting lineups. When I saw the Giants starting lineup of Ellison, Ortmeier, Sweeney, Linden, Durham, Alfonzo, Chavez, De La Rosa and Haad were facing the Angels starting lineup of Figgins, Izturis, Cabrera, Guererro, Salmon, Erstad, Quinlan, Kotchman and Molina…...I figured the only chance of a Giants win would be if Noah Lowry and the rest of the Giants pitchers would out-duel Jeff Weaver and the rest of the Angels pitchers for a low scoring game. Yeah…..I hit that on right on the head.
A 3-run HR by Mark Sweeney and another 3-run HR by Eleizer Alfonzo, before Weaver got the first out of the game, pretty much sent my predictions down the ole dumper. I guess that’s why they play the game instead of calculating the probable outcome on paper. The Giants kids blistered Jeff Weaver for 8 runs on 8 hits in only 2 1/3 innings. That will do bad things to your ERA.
Only 2 Giants starters didn’t get at least one hit and one of them got an RBI, so the entire team contributed to the offensive output. The Giants had fifteen hits on the day. Jason Ellison is now hitting .400 on the spring, Todd Linden .462, Daniel Ortmeier .286, Brian Buscher .300, Nate Schierholtz .500 and Eleizer Alfonzo a ridiculous .750 (with a 1.500 slg %). I would say the kids are more than holding their own. Add to that Mark Sweeney’s .400, Ray Durham’s .400, Steve Finley’s .600, Jose Vizcaino’s .400 and Mike Matheny’s .500 and you can see why the Giants players are grabbing their bats and RUNNING to the batters box these days.
OH…….and the kids pitched pretty well too. Noah Lowry gave up 1 run in 3 innings while striking out 3 Angels and Brad Hennessey gave up 2 runs in his 3 innings, also striking out three. Hennessey was particularly sharp, giving up only one mistake to Erstad, resulting in a 2-run HR in his 3rd inning of work. It seemed like Hennessey was 0-2 to every batter. Benitez, Walker and Munter finished the Angels off with 3 perfect innings. As a matter of fact, the Giants pitchers gave up ZERO walks on the day. A good sign…a very good sign.
Today is a double header for me. Giants vs Padres at 1:00 PM at Peoria, followed by Canada vs South Africa at 7:00 PM in Scottsdale. I don’t know when I will have a chance to post…..but I will try.
A 3-run HR by Mark Sweeney and another 3-run HR by Eleizer Alfonzo, before Weaver got the first out of the game, pretty much sent my predictions down the ole dumper. I guess that’s why they play the game instead of calculating the probable outcome on paper. The Giants kids blistered Jeff Weaver for 8 runs on 8 hits in only 2 1/3 innings. That will do bad things to your ERA.
Only 2 Giants starters didn’t get at least one hit and one of them got an RBI, so the entire team contributed to the offensive output. The Giants had fifteen hits on the day. Jason Ellison is now hitting .400 on the spring, Todd Linden .462, Daniel Ortmeier .286, Brian Buscher .300, Nate Schierholtz .500 and Eleizer Alfonzo a ridiculous .750 (with a 1.500 slg %). I would say the kids are more than holding their own. Add to that Mark Sweeney’s .400, Ray Durham’s .400, Steve Finley’s .600, Jose Vizcaino’s .400 and Mike Matheny’s .500 and you can see why the Giants players are grabbing their bats and RUNNING to the batters box these days.
OH…….and the kids pitched pretty well too. Noah Lowry gave up 1 run in 3 innings while striking out 3 Angels and Brad Hennessey gave up 2 runs in his 3 innings, also striking out three. Hennessey was particularly sharp, giving up only one mistake to Erstad, resulting in a 2-run HR in his 3rd inning of work. It seemed like Hennessey was 0-2 to every batter. Benitez, Walker and Munter finished the Angels off with 3 perfect innings. As a matter of fact, the Giants pitchers gave up ZERO walks on the day. A good sign…a very good sign.
Today is a double header for me. Giants vs Padres at 1:00 PM at Peoria, followed by Canada vs South Africa at 7:00 PM in Scottsdale. I don’t know when I will have a chance to post…..but I will try.
1 comment:
Thanks again for all of your awesome work on this blog. Another job well done... too bad you aren't being paid for this as i'm sure it takes a lot of your time and effort, but we sure appreciate it. Also thanks for the picture of Noah pitching. we'll be out there next week and i'm sure looking forward to it. Thanks again!
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