Yesterday, the Giants lost to the Cubs 7-5 at Scottsdale Stadium. It was not at all a well played game for the Giants. The Giants out hit the Cubs 15-5…that’s right FIFTEEN to 5. The difference in the game as that the Giants committed 5, that’s right FIVE errors and the Giants left 10 men on base while Cubs only stranded 6.
Noah Lowry started the game and gave up 5 runs (2 earned). Lowry was not sharp, allowing 3 hits, 2 walks and reaching his pitch count after only 3 innings. It looked like he had no idea where his fastball was going. Still, he would have done alright, had it not been for a groundball in the 2nd. Ray Durham made a nice stop of a groundball to his right, but made a poor feed to SS Tomas De La Rosa. I thought Ray put the ball in a position where De La Rosa had to field it with his bare hand in order to make the play. De La Rosa couldn’t make the barehanded play and it was ruled an error on the SS. I would have scored the error on Durham for the poor feed, but the scorekeeper disagreed. Not only should this have been an out…….it should have been a double play.
De La Rosa would commit another error later, this one indisputable as he failed to field a simple groundball hit right at him. The normally sure handed Angel Chavez committed 2 errors in the same inning allowing an unearned run off of Scott Munter. Both errors were on easy groundballs that hit Angel’s glove and bounce away. Jake Wald committed the 5th error when he fielded a groundball at SS and then threw the ball into the Cubs’ dugout. Not a good defensive day for the young Giants’ infield.
Jeremy Accardo followed Lowry and gave up 2 earned runs on a HR to Aramis Ramirez. Accardo went 2 innings giving up 1 additional hit, walking none and striking out 1 Cub. Tim Worrell, Steve Kline, Scott Munter and Jack Taschner pitched no-hit ball for the final 4 innings. Kline walked 1 and Munter gave up the unearned run on Chavez’ 2 error inning. Between the 4 pitchers, Taschner was the only one to register a strikeout.
Offensively, Barry Bonds started and went 1 for 2 with a single to the right side, beating the Cubs’ shift. Also very encouraging was the fact that Bonds scored from 1B on a Mark Sweeney double. He ran as fast as I have seen in 2 years and showed no signs of a limp after he crossed home plate. He also made a couple of plays in the outfield that required him to run.
Kevin Frandsen remained hot, going 1 for 2 with a 2 RBI triple. After a very slow start, Kevin is now batting over .320 for the spring. Todd Linden remained cold as he had yet another 0fer day. This time going 0 for 3 with a double play. Seems like it has been forever since Linden got a hit, after starting the spring at 5 for 5 or something like that. Jason Ellison, Ray Durham, Mike Matheny and Tyler Von Schell all had 2 hits on the day to help add to the LOB totals.
Just an overall bad day at the park, if there is such a thing. The Giants got lots and lots of hits……..but just couldn’t get the big hit when it counted. The defense was as bad as it has been this spring. The pitching, excluding Lowry’s wildness was the bright spot of the day. If this team has Worrell, Kline, Munter and Taschner do what they did today on a regular basis, good things will happen.
Today it will be the Giants vs the Mariners at Scottsdale. Rain is supposed to return to the valley tonight and tomorrow. Hopefully all of the games will go on as scheduled.
Noah Lowry started the game and gave up 5 runs (2 earned). Lowry was not sharp, allowing 3 hits, 2 walks and reaching his pitch count after only 3 innings. It looked like he had no idea where his fastball was going. Still, he would have done alright, had it not been for a groundball in the 2nd. Ray Durham made a nice stop of a groundball to his right, but made a poor feed to SS Tomas De La Rosa. I thought Ray put the ball in a position where De La Rosa had to field it with his bare hand in order to make the play. De La Rosa couldn’t make the barehanded play and it was ruled an error on the SS. I would have scored the error on Durham for the poor feed, but the scorekeeper disagreed. Not only should this have been an out…….it should have been a double play.
De La Rosa would commit another error later, this one indisputable as he failed to field a simple groundball hit right at him. The normally sure handed Angel Chavez committed 2 errors in the same inning allowing an unearned run off of Scott Munter. Both errors were on easy groundballs that hit Angel’s glove and bounce away. Jake Wald committed the 5th error when he fielded a groundball at SS and then threw the ball into the Cubs’ dugout. Not a good defensive day for the young Giants’ infield.
Jeremy Accardo followed Lowry and gave up 2 earned runs on a HR to Aramis Ramirez. Accardo went 2 innings giving up 1 additional hit, walking none and striking out 1 Cub. Tim Worrell, Steve Kline, Scott Munter and Jack Taschner pitched no-hit ball for the final 4 innings. Kline walked 1 and Munter gave up the unearned run on Chavez’ 2 error inning. Between the 4 pitchers, Taschner was the only one to register a strikeout.
Offensively, Barry Bonds started and went 1 for 2 with a single to the right side, beating the Cubs’ shift. Also very encouraging was the fact that Bonds scored from 1B on a Mark Sweeney double. He ran as fast as I have seen in 2 years and showed no signs of a limp after he crossed home plate. He also made a couple of plays in the outfield that required him to run.
Kevin Frandsen remained hot, going 1 for 2 with a 2 RBI triple. After a very slow start, Kevin is now batting over .320 for the spring. Todd Linden remained cold as he had yet another 0fer day. This time going 0 for 3 with a double play. Seems like it has been forever since Linden got a hit, after starting the spring at 5 for 5 or something like that. Jason Ellison, Ray Durham, Mike Matheny and Tyler Von Schell all had 2 hits on the day to help add to the LOB totals.
Just an overall bad day at the park, if there is such a thing. The Giants got lots and lots of hits……..but just couldn’t get the big hit when it counted. The defense was as bad as it has been this spring. The pitching, excluding Lowry’s wildness was the bright spot of the day. If this team has Worrell, Kline, Munter and Taschner do what they did today on a regular basis, good things will happen.
Today it will be the Giants vs the Mariners at Scottsdale. Rain is supposed to return to the valley tonight and tomorrow. Hopefully all of the games will go on as scheduled.
5 comments:
Do the Giants get their surehanded ss back today?
I would have thought so.......but Omar Vizquel was nowhere to be seen today.
Wow, Omar was missed yesterday. I accually ran into him getting lemonade yesterday out by the dugout store! One of my favorite things about Spring Training.... But remember to always have a pen and ball in your pocket.... I didnt, so all I could do was wish him well this year :-)
Hank, Good to see you, We had a Blast! Dave (Black88GT)
I am glad you enjoyed yourself, Dave. When you have 2 boys you NEVER attend a game without a pen and something that is autograph worthy. Live and learn. Next time you will be ready. Coming back next year?
Oh yea we'll be back, Scottsdale is so beautiful and the weather is awesome! The kids got a lot of autographs, but this particular time we were just going to the bathroom or something, and we were caught off guard. Two thumbs up for Don and Charlies, it was well worth it....You guys said it had a ton of memorabilia, but I was truly amazed. You cant see even half of it on just one visit. Dave
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