I didn't take my camera to the game today so sorry no photos. Just a few quick observations.
Tim Lincecum started and was in mid-season form. The threw 3 perfect innings. Not a single baserunner reached base and he struck out 2 Brewers. In contrast to his first start where he threw 18 pitches in 1 inning, Timmy only needed 17 pitches to get through the first 2 innings today. I lost track of the total number of pitches for the 3 innings, but I read it was 27 (19 strikes). Damn impressive performance.
Billy Sadler did not help his cause by giving up the only 2 Brewers runs of the game on 2 hits (1 double), a walk and a strikeout. Jeremy Affeldt had another less than impressive outing. While he didn't give up any runs, Jeremy came close by loading the bases on 2 hits and a walk. He also threw a wild pitch. But then again he showed what he is capable of by getting 2 of the 3 outs via strike out.
We saw Luis Perdomo for the first time. He threw a hitless inning with 2 K's and looked good., although he faced mostly Minor Leaguers. Luis is a rule 5 draftee who has to remain on the roster or be offered back to St. Louis. So far so good, but it is very early. Bobby Howry pitched his 2nd scoreless inning of the spring. He allowed 1 single and tallied 1 strikeout.
Offensively, the Giants didn't hit very well, but did enough to win. No Giant had more that 1 hit and they totaled only 7 on the day. The big blow was, of course, John Bowker's 3 run HR in the 6th. The first pitch HR was only Bowkers 2nd hit in 11 AB's this spring and he has an unacceptable total of 5 strikeouts. The HR helped, hut he still has a ways to go to make the team this year.
Buster Posey saw his first action behind the plate in the last 3 innings of the game. He looked comfortable, but he really didn't have any tests. Affeldt threw a wild pitch past Buster, but it was really wild and there wasn't much chance to block the ball. Posey had only 1 plate appearance and lofted a medium deep sacrifice fly for his first RBI.
Pablo Sandoval had one of the best at bats I have seen in a long time. He got to an early 1-2 count and then started fouling off pitch after pitch. If the ball was inside or off-speed, he would pull it foul. If it was a fast ball or on the outside part of the plate, he would foul it the other way. After several fouls, he worked the count full before lining a single to CF. Pablo worked the pitcher for 14 pitches....heck that's only 3 pitches less than it took Lincecum to complete 2 innings. Just a great at bat. In other breaking news.......Pablo actually took a walk in his final plate appearance.
In the 2B competition, not much headway was made today. Burriss was 0 for 2 and Frandsen was 0 for 3. Frandsen did make a nice play on a hard hit linedrive that I thought was over his head and into RF. Frandsen snagged the ball and threw to Edgar Renteria to double off the runner, who like me also thought it was going to be a hit. When he got into the game, Eugenio Velez played LF. Looks to me like he is already out of the competition for the 2B job.
Tomorrow is the long trip out to Surprise to see the Giants face the Royals again. Hopefully, the Giants can do better than the 6-1 loss the Royals hung on them on Friday.
Tim Lincecum started and was in mid-season form. The threw 3 perfect innings. Not a single baserunner reached base and he struck out 2 Brewers. In contrast to his first start where he threw 18 pitches in 1 inning, Timmy only needed 17 pitches to get through the first 2 innings today. I lost track of the total number of pitches for the 3 innings, but I read it was 27 (19 strikes). Damn impressive performance.
Billy Sadler did not help his cause by giving up the only 2 Brewers runs of the game on 2 hits (1 double), a walk and a strikeout. Jeremy Affeldt had another less than impressive outing. While he didn't give up any runs, Jeremy came close by loading the bases on 2 hits and a walk. He also threw a wild pitch. But then again he showed what he is capable of by getting 2 of the 3 outs via strike out.
We saw Luis Perdomo for the first time. He threw a hitless inning with 2 K's and looked good., although he faced mostly Minor Leaguers. Luis is a rule 5 draftee who has to remain on the roster or be offered back to St. Louis. So far so good, but it is very early. Bobby Howry pitched his 2nd scoreless inning of the spring. He allowed 1 single and tallied 1 strikeout.
Offensively, the Giants didn't hit very well, but did enough to win. No Giant had more that 1 hit and they totaled only 7 on the day. The big blow was, of course, John Bowker's 3 run HR in the 6th. The first pitch HR was only Bowkers 2nd hit in 11 AB's this spring and he has an unacceptable total of 5 strikeouts. The HR helped, hut he still has a ways to go to make the team this year.
Buster Posey saw his first action behind the plate in the last 3 innings of the game. He looked comfortable, but he really didn't have any tests. Affeldt threw a wild pitch past Buster, but it was really wild and there wasn't much chance to block the ball. Posey had only 1 plate appearance and lofted a medium deep sacrifice fly for his first RBI.
Pablo Sandoval had one of the best at bats I have seen in a long time. He got to an early 1-2 count and then started fouling off pitch after pitch. If the ball was inside or off-speed, he would pull it foul. If it was a fast ball or on the outside part of the plate, he would foul it the other way. After several fouls, he worked the count full before lining a single to CF. Pablo worked the pitcher for 14 pitches....heck that's only 3 pitches less than it took Lincecum to complete 2 innings. Just a great at bat. In other breaking news.......Pablo actually took a walk in his final plate appearance.
In the 2B competition, not much headway was made today. Burriss was 0 for 2 and Frandsen was 0 for 3. Frandsen did make a nice play on a hard hit linedrive that I thought was over his head and into RF. Frandsen snagged the ball and threw to Edgar Renteria to double off the runner, who like me also thought it was going to be a hit. When he got into the game, Eugenio Velez played LF. Looks to me like he is already out of the competition for the 2B job.
Tomorrow is the long trip out to Surprise to see the Giants face the Royals again. Hopefully, the Giants can do better than the 6-1 loss the Royals hung on them on Friday.
4 comments:
I think pedromo also pitched in the opening game against Cleveland. Hey gf9 how hard does pedromo throw? Does he throw Merkin valdez hard or harder than that? Lastly in what order would you rank valdez's, Sosa's and pedromo's fastball velocity and bite of their slider.
Thanks clint
You are right about Perdomo. He has 2 hitless innings. Hard to tell about differences in fastballs. You can tell when someone is zipping the ball in there, but telling the difference between 2 pitchers with good fastballs is tough. Also, only 1 park in the Cactus League has a radar reading posted. As far as the slider...I would have to see him a lot more and probably sit behind homeplate to really tell.
Hey GF9, I know you hear this all the time, but wanted to say to say thanks again for your awesome spring training coverage. My computer was broken a week before spring training started, and reading this everyday is what motivated me to go get it fixed haha.
I was wondering if there is anything new to talk about Pablo's defense? Has he not been getting any chances or making the routine plays? I am fairly certain that he has no errors on the season otherwise I am sure it would be pretty widely discussed. I am glad to see he has taken another walk, that's two on the spring! I always thought the extent of his free swinging tendencies were always within himself, it seems to me like he swings at some pitches that other batters want nothing to do with, but if he knows he can hit it hard, then let him go! As long as he lays off the real bad ones I don't see him having any trouble putting together a nice offensive season. Your commentary on his AB is why I love this blog so much, you can only get that kind of analysis from actually being at the games. Thank you again!
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