SFGiants Game 18

Getting older sucks. Nursing a slight hangover and am really tired. I wanted to nap, but it was game time! 

1st inning highlights
I finally tried the food at Free Birds. It's freaking delicious. And yes, that was the highlight of the uneventful first inning for me :)

2nd inning highlights
Seth Smith hit a single off starter Tim Hudson. Chase Headley struck out and then Jedd Gyorko (Jerkoff) grounded out, sending Smith to 2nd. Smith then scored when Yonder Alonso singled him home. 

3rd inning highlights
Joaquin Arias got the first hit of the game for the Giants. Brandon Crawford struck out and then Hudson bunted into a double play. In the Padres half of the inning, Everth Cabrera and Will Venable singled consecutively. Yasmani Grandal then lined into a double play to end the threat. 

4th inning highlights
Angel Pagan, Hunter Pence, and Buster Posey were up...and none of them got a hit. The Giants' offensive woes are starting to stress me out. 

5th inning highlights
Michael Morse led off the inning with a home run. I really like his swing. It was his 3rd home run of the season. After Pablo Sandoval flied out, Brandon Belt and Arias both hit deep fly balls to Smith. If only either (or both!) had hit the ball just a little bit further. In the Padres half of the inning, Alexi Amarista led off with a single. Huddy committed an error trying to pick him off. Eric Stults bunted Amarista over to third base and then Cabrera tripled to center, putting the Padres back in the lead, 2-1. Venable hit into a fielder's choice, with Belt throwing to Posey to get Cabrera out at home. Neener neener. The inning ended with a weak ground out by Grandal.

6th inning highlights
Huddy had a nine pitch at bat that resulted in his first hit of the year. In the bottom of the 6th, Smith singled to left. Headley hit a high chopper to Belt, who showed his agility by jumping up to snag the ball. He threw a little high and off center to BCraw who still made an excellent throw back to Belt, just a couple steps after the runner.

7th inning highlights
Nick Vincent replaced Stults to face Posey, Morse, and Sandoval. He struck out the side :( Hudson had a nice inning himself, getting Amarista out on one pitch. He then struck out Tommy Medica and got Cabrera to fly out.

Side note: Huddy set a franchise record with 29 consecutive innings without a walk. He's been such a great pick-up. I'm so happy we have him!

8th inning highlights
My frustration with our offense is growing. They are wasting the efforts of our pitchers by not being able to score any runs! Venable doubled off David Huff to start the bottom of the 8th. After getting Grandal out, Jean Machi came in to pitch with a runner at third. Chris Denorfia laid down the perfect bunt, allowing Venable to get score an insurance run, 3-1.

9th inning highlights
Last chance to score - Pagan flied out, Pence flied out on one pitch (sad Pence in the dugout made me sad), and Posey struck out to end the game. Womp womp. 

Sad but true tidbits:
- Hudson pitched really well, but was handed the loss. The Giants have scored three runs TOTAL in the last three games.
- The Giants did NOT have any runners in scoring position the ENTIRE game.
- Bumgarner, Cain, and Hudson have combined for 18 1/3 innings pitched in the last three games. They've gotten 18 strikeouts and have only given up FOUR earned runs. Each of them were handed losses due to the lack of run support.

Fuck. I'm in a bad mood now. I think I need to watch reality TV to ease some of my pain. I really hope tomorrow is better.

Together, we're frustrated.

xoxo,
JC

SF Giants Games 12 & 13

Well, hi there. It's funny how an off day like today, early in the season, feels like absolute torture. So, to feed my baseball addiction, let's recap the weekend games! 

Game 12: April 12th

Saturday was family day with my mom, cousins, and goddaughters. We did a chocolate making class in the morning from 10-12 and then had lunch after. I'm catholic and gave up chocolate for Lent so it was crazy ridiculous of me to do that, but I survived anyway.

I didn't get to watch most of this game, but here are a couple tidbits:

- Rockies starting pitcher Brett Anderson left the game with a bruised finger in the 3rd. The bullpen saved the day for him and completed the shut out of the Giants :( 

- The red hot offense we have been seeing this season was stone cold today and only managed three hits: Hunter Pence, Pablo Sandoval, and Brandon Crawford.

- I feel bad for Matt Cain. His entire career has consisted of starts like this - strong outings with ZERO run support.

- Cain went seven innings and only allowed four hits. The one run scored to win the game was small ball at it's finest. Charlie Blackmon walked, Brandon Barnes singled, and they completed a double steal. Troy Tulowitski then sacrificed Blackmon home and that was it all day.

- Angel Pagan's hitting streak ended at 10. Michael Morse's nine game hitting streak was halted as well.

- Sandoval struck out in the 8th inning with the bases loaded, continuing his suckfest of a season thus far. Second time that's happened in three games.

Game 13: April 13th

I was invited to go to the game, but respectfully declined. That was so fucking stupid of me! Ha. I needed to relax and have a day at home. Plus, I spent HOURS at the Verizon store after the game yesterday, buying a new phone and tablet, so I was awake past 3am because I'm obviously a huge nerd. I was surrounded by technology and I loved it. Old phone to new phone transfer, work laptop, personal netbook, work iPad, and new LG tablet were all in effect and syncing up. Good times. Anyway, from the top...

- Wilin Rosario hit a home run off of a location mistake by Tim Hudson in the 2nd, Rockies led 1-0.

- Aside from Pagan hitting into a double in the 3rd, there was no action until the bottom of the 5th. Birthday boy Pence was hit by a pitch, boo. Also, this is my new favorite picture of him. So dreamy!

Morse followed with a single that sent speedy Pence to third base. BCraw then sacrificed Pence home to tie the game. Brandon Hicks singled, and after a wild pitch during Hudson's at bat, Hicks and Morse were on 2nd and 3rd, respectively. With two outs, Mr. Beautiful Hair singled to right field, clearing the bases. That put the Giants up 3-1. Pagan is 10 for 20 with 10 RBIs with two outs this season.

- In the bottom of the 6th, Sandoval led off the inning with a home run to right field. It was good to see him smiling and a little more carefree, but I still want more from him. Hope he can start to get hot. 

- The Rockies responded with a Justin Morneau home run in the 7th. DJ LeMahieu had an RBI double, and the Giants lead was down to one run. Javier Lopez came to face one batter, and Drew Stubbs singled to score LeMahieu (the run was charged to Huddy) and tie the game. 

- The Giants had a chance in the bottom of the 9th when Gregor Blanco hit a ball deep to Triples Alley and was waived home. I can't believe we were *that* close to seeing another inside the park home run. Unfortunately, Blanco was tagged out on the nuts. OUCH.

Hope his family jewels are okay! With that, the Giants and Rockies stayed tied and it was time for free baseball. 

- Sergio Romo pitched the 10th. With one out, LeMahieu singled. The next batter, Josh Rutledge struck out and LeMahieu was gunned out at second by Posey for the double play. AIN'T HAVIN' IT.

- BCraw led off the 10th inning, and on the 2nd pitch he saw from Rex Brothers, he absolutely smashed it over the brick wall and into McCovey Cove. Walk off splash hit! A thing of beauty. Let's relive it in photos, shall we? Check out his sweet sweet swing.

What followed was an awesome, yet not Puig douchey, bat-flip.

The ball hit the water in beautiful fashion as BCraw rounded the bases to greet his teammates.

Look at all of that hair - BCraw and Pagan! It was awesome when Pagan gave Crawford a gatorade shower. Even better that he got Amy G pretty good too :D

- That home run was Crawford's first splash hit, the 64th splash hit by a Giants player. The last extra inning splash hit was by the Home Run King Barry Bonds in 2003.

- Hudson said in his post game interview that he wished he had pitched better. Perhaps he should've been pulled earlier, but I think he's been an excellent pick up and is quickly becoming a fan favorite. Worth noting is that he's gone 23 innings (his first three starts as a Giant) without yielding a walk. Fucking STUD.
- Read Crawford's take on his splash hit extra innings walk off here: http://brandon.mlblogs.com/2014/04/13/another-day-at-the-office-brandon-crawford/. 

All in all, a great game and a great series win. Plus, the Giants had good momentum going into their off day today and will be rested and ready to take on the Dodgers tomorrow. Hope Timmy figured out what was wrong with him and is ready to BEAT LA. 

Excited for the game tomorrow! FUCK THE DODGERS. 

xoxo,

JC

SF Giants Game 8 - Opening Day

I haven't been to Opening Day at AT&T Park in years. YEARS. I was always able to get tickets to the first night game, but I either couldn't take the day off, couldn't afford tickets, or both for the official home opener. I thank the baseball gods, and my friends Denise and Ken for aligning the stars so that I could go for the first time in way too long. 

I planned on getting to the yard around 11:30am. Figured that would give me time to do a lap, maybe meet up with some friends, and grab a drink and some lunch. I didn't get to the ballpark until 1:00pm. OOPS. One of these days, I'll just wake up earlier and stop giving myself anxiety and panic attacks rushing around. Funny side note: I tripped while running up the escalator at Pleasant Hill BART, and subsequently stubbed my toe and chipped my toe nail polish. I still missed my freaking train too. You can be damn sure that for the majority of the 40 minute ride to San Francisco, I stared at my chipped pedicure with a sad face. Unpolished toe nails are gross, by the way. 

Being at back at AT&T is such a magical feeling. It even made me forget about all the idiots on BART and Muni that were also headed to the game, but didn't even know who was the starter, or worse, which team the Giants were playing. Are you fucking kidding me? GTFOH. 

The calendar giveaway was awesome, but cumbersome to carry around. I made my way to our seats in the 300s and was seated (with two beers) in time for the player introductions, the singing of the national anthem, and best of all, I got to see BatKid's epic entrance, and unbelievably heart warming and amazing first pitch and adorable interactions with Matt Cain. 

Another side note: How freaking hot was it in San Francisco yesterday?! I was uncomfortably hot and sweaty. Pretty sure I looked like one of those roasted pigs that they have at luaus in Hawaii. Gross. I realized when I got home that my chest was sunburned. That so rarely happens.

Anyway, in the bottom of the 1st, Angel Pagan walked and my friend Jeanne joined me at the seats. I gave her a hug and then said "Brandon Belt is going to hit a home run for us!" And then he promptly did. I'm so glad that Belt is having such a hot start to his season. He deserves it! Were you aware that he changed his grip though? (sarcasm) 

How awesome is this picture though? Haha.

The D'Backs cut the lead in half when Mark Trumbo grounded out to Pablo Sandoval with Martin Prado scoring in the top of the 2nd. Five gallons of sweat later in the bottom of the 3rd, Pagan doubled and then saluted the adoring fans. He has been on fire! Belt singled, and was followed by a useless out from Sandoval. 

Admittedly, I was buying a cheesteak at this point, but at least I was near a TV ;) Captain America...our ri-damn-diculously awesome Buster Posey  singled and Pagan scored. Hunter Pence stole second (and my heart, almost two years ago) with Michael Morse batting. Shortly after, Morse singled to right, and both Belt and Pence scored, making it 5-1. 

The D'Backs got a run back in the 4th, but that was it. Our surprisingly good offense knocked starting pitcher Trevor Cahill from the game in the bottom of the 4th. In the bottom of the 5th, Pence walked and then Morse hit a ground rule double to left. I'm thinking Morse is starting to like it at our beautiful ballpark. Brandon Crawford wanted in on the RBI fun, and singled to right, scoring Pence and Blanco, who came in to run for Morse. 

I'm starting to love his swing.

The D'Backs got a pity run in the 8th, but never threatened the lead. All in all, it was a beautiful day at the AT&T Park...and the guys gave the sell out crowd a wonderful day to remember. It's worth mentioning that the Giants continue to lead the MLB in HRs and are 3rd in the NL in scoring. Our offense need to keep it up! Such a change from last year. Also, Belt and Trumbo are tied for the league lead in HRs.

Last, but certainly not least, Tim Hudson was amazing, beating the D'Backs again today. The home crowd welcomed him and he treated us to a strong eight inning performance. Plus, he has not walked a batter in both of his starts this season. He was a great pick up and I'm glad he's on our team.

I'm ready to do it again tonight. See you soon, Giants! Getting a Hunter Pence bobblehead will be the cherry on top of an already amazing evening to come. Happy Lincecum Day.

GO GIANTS!!!

xoxo, 
JC

SFGiants Game 3

I didn't get to watch the game because of personal bullshit, but I feel like I cheated on the Giants! Regardless, I'm happy they won. 7 2/3 scoreless from Tim Hudson cheered me up quite a bit because when you're having a shitty day, it's nice when your one true love can cheer you up. Mine just happens to be the San Francisco Giants. We've been in an abusive relationship since birth ;)

Hudson was a true veteran and pitched a great game after a couple shaky starts from Madison Bumgarner and Matt Cain, as well as uneven and disappointing outings by the relief pitchers. Another positive was seeing that Michael Morse contributing offensively with an RBI double. Shocked that Brandon Belt didn't hit another home run (sarcasm). How cool would it have been to start the season with three home runs in three games though?

It's only game three, so there's no need to panic or get irrational (ha, if only) but I'm bummed that Hunter Pence remains hitless. Aside from Buster Posey, he's my favorite Giants player and I want to see him succeed. His bat will get hot soon enough because as we all know, he's crazy and won't let this last for too long.

Random tidbits:
- Tonight was Huddy's 206th win and is back in the lead for most wins for the active starters. I'll admit, I used to watch him in Oakland and I loved him back then too. Not as much as Barty Zito though :)
- Sergio Romo got his second save...that's what's up!
- Working from home tomorrow, so yay for live tweeting the game.

Okay, I need to cheer myself up now. Wine and last night's episode ought to do it. Good night and go Giants!

xoxo,
JC