Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Giants at Mariners

Today was a very good day for first 7 innings..........and a terrible day for the last 2 innings. Matt Morris had his second very good game in a row. He gave up 2 runs on 7 hits and 2 strikeouts. He didn't walk anyone and really didn't give up too many hard hit balls. After an 8th and a 9th that felt like going to the dentist......Morris finally got the 9-8 win.

Ichiro led off the game with a long double, but the wind was blowing out and Randy Winn misplayed the ball and turned around and faced the wall, like he expected it to either be a HR or hit high off the wall. As it was, the ball hit the wall about 1 foot off the ground. If Winn keeps his back to the wall....he makes an easy catch. Even with the double.....the Mariners did not score in the first as Morris buckled down and left Ichiro standing at 2B. Morris' first run was allowed when he allowed a leadoff single. He got one out and got Ichiro to hit a comebacker for what I thought was a DP......but Morris was too deliberate with his throw to 2B and Ichiro beat it out to 1B. Ichiro then stole 2B and Eliezer Alfonzo threw the ball into CF, allowing Ichiro to move to 3B. He then scored on a 2 out double by Jose Lopez. The second run was even more tainted. With 2 out and a man on 1B, a ball was hit on a low line drive to Clay Timpner. Timpner made an ill fated attempt to make a diving catch. The ball bounced off his glove and the runner was able to score from 1B. Morris then got the 3rd out of the inning. If Timpner just fields the ball on a hop.....the runner stops at 3B and Morris' 2nd run never scores.

Morris was followed by Vinnie Chulk. Chulk had a good inning allowing one hit and getting 1 strikeout. After that the wheels came off for the bullpen. Taschner pitched the 8th and gave up a run on 2 singles and a walk. Brian Wilson stared the 9th and did his best to prove Righetti clairvoyant. Unfortunately, Wilson actually HAS been inconsistent since Rags incorrectly told the press he was inconsistent. Wilson went 0-2 on the first batter....and proceeded to throw 4 straight balls to walk him. Walks are just killing the bullpen right now. Morris and Chulk issued ZERO walks through 7 innings.........the rest of the pen allowed 4, plus a hits batsman, in the last 2 innings. Wilson gave up 5 earned runs on 3 hits and 2 walks and only got 1 out.....just abysmal.

Ryan Meaux relieved Wilson and walked the only batter he faced. Scott Munter relieved Meaux with the bases loaded and 1 out. He struck out the first batter he faced. Then gave up a groundball up the middle to allow 2 runs to score to make it 9-8. The ball was just hit to the wrong place...if it was hit to an infielder......the game was over. Munter then hit the next batter on a 2 strike count......before finally getting the final out of the game. The good news is that Munter's sinker was sinking and the only basehit he allowed was a groundball that was not hit hard. The bad news is Wilson was horrible. Meaux and Taschner were merely mediocre.

Offensively, Eliezer Alfonzo had a breakout day. He went 3 for 4 with a double, a HR and 4 RBI. His HR was a line drive that just cut the corner between the batters eye and the LF fence, right at the 410 mark. Everything Alfonzo hit was just smashed today.......even the foul balls. Pedro Feliz went 3 for 4 with a double. Ray Durham was 2 for 3 and hit the ball hard. Lance Niekro went 1 for 3 with a sacrifice fly and 2 RBI. Barry Bonds had the hardest hit ball of the day and had only a double to show for it. Bonds hit the ball off the batter's eye about 20 feet off the ground right above the 410 foot sign. I think that makes 3 hits off of the batter's eyes in Spring Training that would have been 430+ foot HRs in any park in the Majors.

Tomorrow is the last game in the desert as the Giants face the Brewers in Scottsdale. Hard to believe that Spring Training is over. I will be catching a flight back to the Bay Area after the game and will be at AT&T Park Thursday night for the exhibition game against the Mariners. I have a bunch of things to do before I leave tomorrow and obviously, I won't have time to post after tomorrows game. I definitely will not be keeping score or taking photos at tomorrow's game. I will try to post some photos from todays game later on tonight.....but I won't make any promises.

36 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like to Thank you for the great in depth coverage and awesome pics all Spring. THanks

allfrank said...

I second the motion

Anonymous said...

Thank you for tiding all of us Giants fans over until the season starts, I really appreciate it.

Anonymous said...

All I can say is ...

I LOVE it when you take your scorebook to the game.

See ya soon at the big ballpark, and thanks for the daily reports and photos.

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much: no other coverage is nearly as good as this blog.

Anonymous said...

Thank You for providing a great blog.

Anonymous said...

yes agreed, this blog did do wonders to keep my addiction for Giants Baseball at bay. A testament to your wonders goes as follows. Reading your blog installed a slight bit of faith in Benitez, something that frankly after last year i never thought possible.

Anonymous said...

Thanks a lot.
I'll be back next year.

Anonymous said...

Many thanks for all your hard work, it has been greatly appreciated on this side of the Atlantic as well.

kennv said...

Thanks for the blog. I loved your analysis and photos.

Anonymous said...

Seriously great pictures and fine insight. I checked this every day this spring for my Giants fix. This was an instant bookmark for me (I found the link from a post by Grant from McCovey Chronicles). Keep up the great work!

Anonymous said...

Yes!

Fantastic job GF9.

Easilyl the best No-BS Giants ST coverage.

Have enjoyed the pics and insights.

I hope to see you in Scottsdale next year.

Kel

Anonymous said...

Hank...welcome back home. Let's get the season started for real all ready!

Look forward to havin' a cold one with ya soon.

Anonymous said...

Loved the blog last year.. thank god Lefty posted a link on his blog or I might have missed it this year! Thank you so much, you've fed my addiction quite nicely :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks. Great "jottings", great photos. Awesome!

Steveb said...

Thank so much from this side of the Pacific. You add another reason to look forward to spring training.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for tiding us over through the spring - you've done a great service for Giants fans!

Kobold Curry Chef said...

Thanks again for all your hard work, all the great information and photos. I almost felt like I was there with you. Enjoy the regular season!

Unknown said...

GF9,
Thanks for all the effort that you put into your blogs. This is the best spot for giants ST info. The pictures are a great bonus. I know it takes quite a bit of effort to upload to site.
Like I said before, I wish you would do this all year long but I realize that it is a hobby and not a full time paying job.

Anonymous said...

GF9

Great work again, thank you for putting in all that effort. Your blog is the next best thing to being in Scottsdale!

Anonymous said...

Hank,
As everyone says, thanks! Great job! I almost felt like I was there with you...oh wait, I was!!! You do a wonderful job, and it's very much appreciated!! Let's get together during the regular season.

Oh, and by the way...I have three seats in San Jose, so you and Mary, or you and Mike, are welcome any time. Just let me know!!

GRMG

Unknown said...

I appreciate your hard work to keep us informed. Here's to a successful regular (and hopefully post) season for the GIANTS!

Anonymous said...

I've been reading your blog throughout spring training and I'd like to thank you for the great coverage and pics. I wanted to spend some vacation time there this year but too much stuff was going on. Next year for sure.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for everything, it was like being down there.

Anonymous said...

The Giants should pay you for doing this, it's amazing! Better than anything they have on their website!

Anonymous said...

I just want to echo everyone else in saying thank you for your daily coverage. Its a far cry from years ago when you would just get a couple of lines in the Chronicle. I was in Phoenix this last week & I felt I knew everything that was going on with my unhealthy obsession (The G-men) before I came to town. Thanks agin, I hope you will be back next year!

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