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.