Giants at Indians

Today was the very first game ever at Goodyear Ballpark and marked the return of the Cleveland Indians to Arizona. When I first started coming to Spring Training, the Indians played down at Hi Corbett Field in Tucson (as shown in the movie Major League). The Giants gave the Indians a rude welcome back to the Cactus League by beating them 10-7. They were ahead 10-3 at one point, but Alex Hinshaw and Kelvin Pichardo decided to make it a ballgame by giving up 1 run (Hinshaw) in the 7th and 3 runs in the 8th (Pichardo).

The park itself was beautiful and I had great seats, but they have BY FAR the biggest screen (backstop) I have ever seen in my life. The screen extends from the far end of one dugout to the far end of the other dugout. Plus, I had 2 big cables between my line of sight and the pitchers mound. My camera kept focusing on the screen and cables, so more than half of my photos were out of focus and I had to delete them. Therefore, there really is no rhyme or reason to the photos I posted today. For those planning to visit the park, the food was pretty run of the mill and the parking lots are not completed yet. With only 5,000 people in the park today, some people had to park several hundred yards away in dusty dirt lots.

As far as the hitting goes, it was superb, with 11 hits and 5 extra base hits. The hits were spread throughout the lineup, top to bottom, starters and replacements.

The pitching was good overall, except one pitch by Yabu and a very maddening performance by Kelvin Pichardo. Pichardo started the 8th inning. He got 2 quick outs and had a 1-2 count on the 3rd batter he faced. On a 1-2 count, Michael Aubry put the ball over the fence for a solo HR. From that point on, Pichardo gave up single, double, double and could not get out of the inning. He was relieved by Francis Beltran, who added to the suspense by walking the first batter he faced on 5 pitches. Beltran got the next batter out, and limited the damage. Beltran and Jesse English closed out the game for a 10-7 final.

Sorry for the short post....but it is already 7:10 PM here and I have to get the Barbecue going. If I think of something else important, I might edit this post later to add it.