The Positives: Well, there is Cain’s perfect game for one! The Gigantes are playing good ball. The defense is getting better (less errors, more spectacular plays) with every game. The outfield (all four players, Cabrera, Pagan, Blanco and Schierholtz who is getting regular time) is the best (and the fastest) that I can ever recall seeing. Crawford and Theriot are awesome up the middle of the infield and Brandon Belt’s glove has never been questioned. Posey and Sanchez are both quality receivers and with Arias backing up the Panda in the late innings the defense is stellar. On the hitting side Belt has apparently found his home run stroke (and his power bat) which is the next step in his development as the quality first baseman that we all believe he can be (isn’t confidence wonderful?). Cabrera continues to stun with a .351 batting average and the team as a… Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Giants’
Giants v. Snakes and Giants v. Cubs
The Positives: This is a very difficult team to figure out (after all this last road trip was a winner, they took 2 out of 3 from the Brewers and split 2 and 2 with the Fish, surely a playoff team in the very tough NL East), maybe because of the all the injuries that have forced strange roster calls. However, as of today the G-Men are 25 and 23 (2 games over .500) in second place in the NL West and 7 games behind the Dodgers, who continue to be the hottest team in the major leagues. That’s striking distance, especially for those of us that remember the G-Men coming back against the Dodgers at the end of the 1962 season. The real positive is Melky Cabrera (new nickname “Leche”). He is batting .369, is leading both the team and the major leagues in base hits (in fact his… Read more
Giants 2012 Exhibition Baseball vs the A’s
Needless to say we are all ready to “dive” into this season, so I started early – – right after the last season was over. This exhibition homestand features the A’s on Monday April 2nd at 7:15 and again on Wednesday April 4th at 12:45. The A’s have a fine young pitching staff, the new Cuban star Yoenis Cespedes in left and Coco Crisp in Centerfield. This is a weird series because the A’s will have already opened their season (in Japan; they play two real games against the Mariners this week but then come home for another exhibition series. I don’t know how that is going to work (do they get to add new players for the Exhibition?). For the Giants, these two games will determine who starts the season and who goes to Fresno. I’d be there except that I have to be in Vegas with the wholesalers next week…. Read more
Giants 2012 v. Padres, Marlins and Brewers
The Positives: The 2012 Giants are hitting the ball very well generally, just not with runners in scoring position. The G-Men just finished a 7 game road trip where they took 3 out of 4 from the Mets, and dropped 2 out of 3 to the Reds., overall a winning 4 win, 3 losses road trip. That puts them 2nd in the NL West to the smoking hot Dodgers (who are fattening up on the likes of the Padres, Pirates and Astros but who play the NL East leading Nationals this weekend). This is a team that is finding itself and playing more confidently every game. The Panda is awesome, is batting .333, and is going for a team record 19 game hitting streak to open the season tonight. He has played every inning of every game so far. Angel Pagan hit a 9th inning 3-run dinger yesterday to take… Read more
Giants v Pirates and Phillies
I delayed this blog because I have been trying to figure out this team. I was right about Hector Sanchez making the team as the catcher and Whiteside returning to Fresno to teach the youngsters. I was also right that the Giants hitting would improve substantially and that the Snakes were the team to beat in the NL West. See the last blog (attached for the personnel breakdown, which I think is pretty accurate). What I didn’t figure on was the Giants strength (the pitching) being pounded on like a donkey piñata at a five-year-old’s birthday party. I don’t recall when I’ve ever seen the G-Men score not less than four runs for six straight games and then go and lose four of those games. The sweep by the Snakes was bad enough but they totally lit up LIncecum, Bumgarner and Cain. Three one-run losses in a row. We are… Read more
