Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Giants vs Rangers

The Giants defeated the Rangers 3-2 today in one of the fastest games yet this spring. Game time was about 2 hours & 15 minutes. Since I expanded the comments on the photos I will try to keep this review down to a minimum. Although, when I start talking baseball, it’s pretty hard for me to keep it short.

The Giants didn’t play a lot of regulars, but the regulars accounted for all of the runs in one form or another. Barry Bonds went 3 for 3 with a HR, 2 singles and a sacrifice bunt……yep, that’s right………Barry laid down a SAC bunt that moved pinch runner Jason Ellison over from 2B to 3B from where he scored the third & winning run. Lance Niekro got another couple of RBIs and would have had a third, except that Barry held up waiting to see if the ball would be caught and then couldn’t score from 1B on a double that Lance hit off the wall at the 430 foot mark. Lance and Barry had a good laugh about it. This team continues to be as loose as I have seen them in years. They seem to really enjoy each other.

Morris only gave up 2 runs in 5 innings but he was really hit hard. Even the outs were just smashed. He struck out 1 and walked 1. Without some good defense and a couple of “atom balls” Morris could have easily given up 8 or more runs. He wasn’t fooling anyone.

Jamey Wright pitched the 6th, 7th and 8th innings, giving up no runs on 3 hits and 2 walks. Jamey also struck out 2. The way they are using him; it looks like they are grooming him for long relief. I don’t know…..he looks like the leading candidate for the #5 spot in the rotation to me. Jack Tashner got the save, pitching a scoreless 9th inning. After issuing a walk to the first batter, Jack struck out the next 3 batters to end the game. He looked very sharp and had a nice fastball today. I really like this kid.

Todd Linden went 0 for 3 again with a walk. It appears his early hitting streak is over. Angel Chavez went hitless for the first time in awhile. Frandsen, Schierholtz, Wald, Buscher and Tyler Von Schell went a combined 0 for 11….so the kids didn’t hit the ball. But they played some good defense to bail Morris out……so all was good.

Like all spring games, some good, some bad. Considering the Giants again played few regulars, I was happy with the game. As I have said many times, I really like these kids. Even when they don’t hit, they help the regulars win the game. Good stuff.

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