Intra-Squad Game II

Today the Giants changed things up on me again. Apparently Bochy wants to keep me guessing. I arrived at the park at about 10:15 thinking the routine would be the same as yesterday, with the game at 11:00. When I arrived they were just setting up the field for batting practice. Four groups took one round of BP and the game didn't start until about 11:50.

I did not take any photos of the BP Session but I will make a few comments. Ryan Klesko was the first player to beat Bonds as the daily HR champ. Klesko knocked SEVEN bombs out of the park and none of them were cheapies. Klesko has been hitting the ball hard since the start of camp and only seems to be getting better. Bonds had 4 dongs and Durham 3. For some reason, Rich Aurilia did not take BP.

Just some overall summaries since this as the last workout before games start. While Pedro Feliz has been hitting frequent line drives, he has shown very little power. I have only seen him go deep 1 or 2 times.......not that I am favoring my boy, but Kevin Frandsen has shown more power so far. Mark Sweeney did have one HR today, but he is sporting a VERY slow bat and has been since workouts began. It has gotten so bad, it is obviously frustrating him. He was so upset in the middle of his BP round, that he took a full swing at the metal support of the batting cage as he exited and loudly yelled an expletive. Not at all usual behavior for the usually easy going Sweeney.

Other than that, most of the guys are hitting the ball well. I have been particularly impressed with Frandsen and Todd Linden. Fred Lewis has also impressed, but I have only seen him hit twice. Benjie Molina's bat had been slow the first week or so, but he seems to have developed his line drive power if not his HR power. It is only BP.....in the first week of Spring Training......but for the most part, the bats look good.

Intra-Squad Lineups
Team #1..............................................Team #2
CF Fred Lewis....................................CF Jason Ellison
3B Thomas DeLaRosa.......................RF Clay Timpner
RF Nate Schierholtz...........................LF Eddy Martinez-Esteve
LF Dan Ortmeier................................3B Scott McClain
1B Chad Santos...................................1B Travis Ishikawa
C Todd Jennins..................................C Justin Knoedler
2B William Bergolla............................2B Eugenio Velez
SS Ivan Ochoa.....................................SS Luis Figueroa

Pitchers................................................Pitchers
Scott Atchison......................................Chris Begg
Brian Bowles........................................Eric Threets
Pat Misch.............................................Dan Giese

Team #1 wins 2-1 in 3 innings

Again, most of the game is detailed as captions to the photos. I did not get photos of Dan Ortmeier, Chad Santos or Chris Begg. Chris Begg started the game for the losing team and did not do too well. Chris gave up both runs on the first FOUR PITCHES of the game. That's right, a single to Lewis, an RBI double to DeLaRosa, an F7 that moved Lewis to 3B by Schierholtz, and an RBI SAC fly to RF by Ortmeier......all on first pitch swings. Begg then ended the inning with a strikeout. It was pretty funny....as catcher Justin Knoedler returned to the dugout after the inning, he said to one of the coaches "Four first pitches, what the hell was I doing out there?" meaning he hadn't been needed because he had not caught a single pitch before the 2 runs were scored.

Ortmeier and Santos only had one AB each. Ortmeier had the SAC fly mentioned above and Santos had the inning ending K. Both sides faced only 3 batters over the minimum. The game was so fast.....that although it started about 45 minutes later than yesterday.....it finished only 10 minutes after the game did yesterday.

Tomorrow the "real" Spring Training games start. The Giants face the Cubs in Mesa at 1:05 Arizona time. Because of the difference in time between workouts and games........obviously tomorrow's post will be much later than they have been. Also if I go out after the games....it may be even later (in some cases the next morning). Bare with me..........I will post summaries of most games.....but I want to enjoy myself too.