SFGiants Game 19 - Happy Easter!

First and foremost, hope you all had a Happy Easter! Or if it's your preference, hope you had a Happy 420. Whatever floats your boat.

I went to church with my mom Sunday morning and then had lunch after. As we were eating our dessert, a tall, beautiful woman walked by with an adorable little boy. She looked familiar and then I realized that it was Nicole Vogelsong, with her Vogelchild, Ryder. I walked over to them to introduce myself, and she was so unbelievably sweet. She even knew me by name and mentioned my twitter handle. I even got two Vogelhugs. I made friends with Ryder too - what a great kid. Looks just like daddy. We even talked baseball a little bit and were excited when Buster Posey hit his home fun. Not going to lie, I loved meeting her. And Ryder, of course <3 

I mean, seriously. How cute are the Vogelsongs??? Anyway, onto the game!

1st inning highlights

Angel Pagan popped out to start the game after a seven pitch AB. Hunter Pence then walked. On the first pitch Posey saw, he hit his 4th home run of the season, and just like that, the Giants had two runs for the first time in what felt like forever. That hit was much needed after getting into a 1-24 slump at the plate. Michael Morse worked a seven pitch at bat as well, and subsequently struck out.

2nd inning highlights

After Joaquin Arias flied out to Seth Smith, Brandon Hicks coaxed an eight pitch walk. Brandon Crawford moved Hicks over to third with a single to center. Erlin then walked Lincecum to load the bases. Pagan came through with a single of his own to center, scoring Hicks and Crawford. Those two RBIs gave Pagan a total of 12 in the young season. After his teammates gave him a 4-0 lead, Lincecum had a shut down inning and headed back to the dugout after striking out Tommy Medica, giving up a single to Nick Hundley, and then getting Alexi Amarista to GIDP. 

3rd inning highlights

The Giants were quiet in their half of the inning, but the Padres were not. With two outs, Will Venable singled, followed by a single from Smith to move Venable to third. Former Giants Xavier Nady walked to load the bases. Chase Headley then doubled to right, with Venable and Smith scoring. The Padres also sent Nady home, and was initially called safe. Bruce Bochy challenged the call, and it was overturned. That was a perfect time to challenge, especially since it went our way. 4-2 going into the 4th was much more manageable than 4-3, especially given how anemic the Giants offense has been.

4th inning - Uneventful on both sides.

5th inning highlights

Another quiet inning from the Giants offense, but the highlight of the inning was seeing Posey gun Everth Cabrera out trying to steal 2nd. POSEY AIN'T HAVIN' IT. He is seven for 18 on getting the runner out on stolen base attempts.

6th inning - Uneventful on both sides. 

7th inning highlights

Lincecum was at 101 pitches, but Boch put him back out there, and Hundley promptly hit the first pitch he saw out, to bring the Padres within one run of the Giants. Jeremy Affeldt came to relieve Timmy and pitched a clean inning. 

8th inning highlights

Nothing going on as usual on offense, but the 8th inning gave Giants gamer babes a chance to see Javier Lopez pitch to TWO batters. WHOA. He was then replaced by Santiago Casilla. 

9th inning highlights

Sergio Romo came in to save the game. He walked leadoff batter Headley, who went to second on a wild pitch. After that, he got three consecutive pop ups from Yasmani Grandal, Hunley, and Yonder Alonso to secure the save and end the game. This was Romo's fifth save.

NO SWEEP. Little victories are important. It also ended their three game losing streak.

Some interesting fun facts:

- The Giants' last 10 games have been decided by 11 runs.

- The Giants had more runs (4) than hits (3). The Padres outhit the Giants seven to three. 

- After Pagan's RBIs in the 2nd, the Giants did not get another hit. 

- The win game Lincecum his 90th victory. 

- The Giants bullpen is currently number one in MLB with their combined 1.79 ERA.

- Pagan was interviewed after the game and we got to hear him say happy flight :)

Excited for the game tonight. Hoping for a strong start from Vogelsong and also hoping our bats come alive at hitter friendly Coors Field. 

GO GIANTS!

xoxo,

JC

SF Giants Game 14 - Jackie Robinson Day

First off, the Giants always do excellent pregame ceremonies. We are so lucky that our announcers, including Renel, do such a great job with baseball festivities. Hall of Famers Jon Miller and Vin Scully announcing the starting line-ups was so cool! I may despise the Dodgers, but Vin Scully deserves so much respect, even if he makes me a little sleepy :) 

Seeing our players wearing 42 gives me a sense of pride for the game I love and obsess over. Most importantly, It's wonderful that Jackie Robinson is honored like this once a year throughout the MLB. His story will always be a highlight in the history of our beloved national pastime.

I was nervous for Timmy Lincecum and his hideous porn stache, but he has historically pitched well against the Dodgers, so I was hopeful that he would have a great start. I haven't been able to record my thoughts as I watch the game in a while, so this should be fun.

HERE WE GO...

- Lincecum started the game with a strike. Good omen! The only downside was that it took him 20 pitches to get out of the first. After giving up a home run to former Giant Juan Uribe in the 2nd, Timmy was already up to 38 pitches.
-Stupid bastard Josh Beckett hit Michael Morse in the elbow during his AB in the bottom of the 2nd. Beckett then threw the ball away on a pick-off attempt, allowing Morse and his long legs to saunter over to 3rd. Unfortunately, Brandon Crawford struck out and stranded Morse and his sore elbow at third base. 
- Beckett, Dee Gordon, and Carl Crawford all struck out in the 3rd. Great inning by Lincecum. GRAB SOME PINE, MEAT! Times three. 

- In the 4th, Timmy loaded the bases with Adrian Gonzalez, Yasshole Puig, and Andre Ethier with one out. I held my breath as he struck out Uribe and Tim Federowicz. Crisis averted.
- Unfortunately for the Giants, the same thing happened to them in their half of the 4th inning. Brandon Belt got the first hit of the game, Buster Posey was unintentionally walked, and Hunter Pence singled to load the bases. There was only one out, but Morse struck out and Crawford grounded out. Dodgers still leading 1-0 :(
- Beckett is one of the most annoying pitchers to watch. He's so fucking slow. It's painful. 
- The Giants had another good chance in the 5th with the bases loaded (Brandon Hicks, Belt, and Sandoval were all walked) with two outs. Posey hit a shallow fly ball to center and yet again, more missed opportunities for our guys.
- With Beckett out of the game, the Giants finally tied it. Pence started the 6th off with a single and Morse reached on an error by Hanley Ramirez. Pence was safe on a close call at third following a wild pitch and BCraw sacrificed him in to tie it up. 

Look at this gem after Pence hustled home. 

- Javier Lopez came in to pitch in the 7th. Let's take a moment to enjoy him, shall we?

Unfortunately, he gave up an RBI single to put the Dodgers back in the lead. Stupid Uribe led off the inning with a double and scored when Justin Turner got a hit off Lopez. That is two games in a row now that Lopez has inherited a runner and gave up an RBI. Not happy about this. 
- My patience with Sandoval dimishes with each game. I think I'd be a lot more supportive of him if his agent weren't such a dumb ass. 
- I'm sick of repeating this, but the Giants wasted another great opportunity to score. In the 8th, Pence collected his 3rd hit of the game and then promptly stole second while Gregor Blanco was at bat. He eventually walked. BCraw struck out on a filthy pitch that made his swing look absolutely dreadful. Hicks then grounded into a pitiful double play. And just like that, the 1,000,000th runner was stranded by the Giants. Have fun in Fresno, dude! You and Jean Machi (Macheeeee) will have fun there. Please give us Hembree. Or Kontos. And a position player. Maybe Minicozzi?
- In the 9th, with my blood pressure rising, Hector Sanchez struck out. Angel Pagan singled, followed by a Belt double that scored the speedy Pagan to tie the game! (Photo credit to my twitter follower @SanDiegoGiants. In fact, the majority of photos in this post are likely all his, copied from his TL. Thank you for screenshots of great moments throughout the game.)

Check out Pagan's helmet. I love that it flops around like that when he's racing home. Useless Sandoval struck out and the Dodgers intentionally walked Posey. Scared much? Unfortunately, that strategy worked and Pence flied out to Puig.That ended the ninth, bringing us to extras.
- Adrian Gonzalez hit a sharp liner and Hicks made a great defensive play, robbing him of a hit. I forgave Hicks about 10% for that double play earlier. Puig walked, but was left there whining as Andre Ethier popped out to BCraw. Note: Sergio Romo was hyped up facing the big boys, but he had a score free inning, and that's all we could hope for.
- In the Giants half of the 10th, Gregor Blanco slid into first on a close play at first base and was called out. Blanco did a double finger shake at the ump - NOT TODAY. Ha. I wish I found a good picture of the actual play, because it was epic. 

Bruce Bochy challenged the call, and it was successfully overturned. It still makes me laugh thinking about how unsuccessful Jim Harbaugh is at challenges as the 49ers coach. Glad Boch doesn't have the same losing percentage as him. Anyway, BCraw singled, followed by a beautiful bunt from Hicks to move both runners over. Another 10% forgiven, Hicks! Sanchez walked to load the bases. What could possibly go wrong? The Dodgers put five infielders out on defense and that was interesting to see.

Pagan flied out to HanRam. My guess is that the Dodgers defense freaked him out. Belt also flied out, and another opportunity with the bases loaded and one out was wasted. How many batters left on base at this point? A GAJILLION.

- The Giants offensive woes had Boch and Giants fans everywhere doing a Bochy facepalm.

Santiago Casilla replaced Romo, and our former friend, now foe Uribe singled. The Giants were lucky when Dodgers catcher Federowicz laid down the worst bunt ever. I don't remember the last time I saw a bunt double play. I screamed pretty loud with happiness when that happened. Matt Kemp got a double, but Justin Turner grounded out and we fans rejoiced at the chance for another walk off. 
- Useless Sandoval grounded out to start the bottom of the 11th. Joaquin Arias came in as a PH for Casilla. I was really hoping we'd see another awesome Casilla at bat, but alas, it didn't happen. I wish this could've happened again. Why so serious, Jairo? 

Arias singled to center but unfortunately my baseball crush Pence grounded into a double play to send us to the 12th. Womp womp.
- Yusmeiro Petit came in to pitch the 12th, leaving Bochy with no bullpen and no reserves, just starting pitchers left. HanRam doubled and Gonzo was intentionally walked, but thankfully Petit got Puig to fly out. Worth mentioning that King of Douches thought he hit a three run home run, douched it up at the plate, and Pence caught the ball with MILES of room left. Wasn't even close. Puig also gave up on the ball and was barely out of the batters box. He didn't even fake run. What a dick. How do you root for that idiot? I hope he's benched again for his shitty attitude. Ethier grounded out and it was the Giants turn.
 -Team Brandon gained another member as Brandon League came in to pitch for the Dodgers. Blanco flied out and then BCraw singled. Hicks' ground out moved BCraw to 2nd.  A wild pitch sent him to third with two outs. Sanchez then singled past Turner's outstretched glove and BCraw scored to FINALLY end this nearly 5-hour long rollercoaster. 
- Sanchez's post game interview was hilarious. He was hungry and wanted to go home because it was almost time to drop his daughter off at school ;) Gotta love the humor of our guys. The post game dog pile on Sanchez was so adorable and it was great to see our guys happy and celebrating. It was also officially April 16th, Bochy's birthday. They won for the skipper!

Other random observations:
- Former hottie and Giants closer Brian Wilson and his disgusting beard and hobo looks warmed up a couple times, but never got into the game. He was booed lustily by Giants fans, as expected.
- Jeremy Affeldt is close to coming back and while I like to talk shit about him, the bullpen needs him! Can't wait to welcome him back. 
- Posey and Morse were taken out of the game and I missed them both in extras. 
- The Giants left 16 runners on base. Pretty pathetic, but I think they'll fix that problem.
- The game that would never end lasted 4 hours, 54 minutes.
- Forgotten in all this is that Lincecum had a decent game and lasted five innings. 

I'm going to pray that Ryan Vogelsong has a good start and lasts at least six innings. Pretty please? The bullpen is tired. Time to step up Vogey!

I was too excited to sleep, so I had to finish writing this before I went to bed. Long day at work in store for me in the morning, but it's worth it because our guys won. 

Beat LA. Fuck the Dodgers. Good night, faithful and loyal fans.

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

SFGiants Game 4

My truck is at the auto repair shop, so I'm working from home today. I generally get a lot of work done while I'm at home but it is a bonus to be able to watch the game on my TV while doing conference calls and sending e-mails. 

Game 4 Summary
- In the pre-game, Bill Laskey, Vida Blue, and Greg Papa were talking about which player has the most swag. It was pretty hilarious. It's like when older people talk about selfies or twerking. Please stop. Stop please.
- Brandon Belt his his 3rd home run in four games. Happy for him. People give him so much shit, so I hope he can stay hot at the plate.
- Paul fucking Goldshit. Why don't they just intentionally walk that guy? Every time. Especially if he's facing Lincecum. How unreal is it that he has SIX home runs in TWENTY ONE at bats? As our favorite commentators say, that is pure OWNAGE. Goldschmidt is 11-26 against Timmy with 13 RBIs. That needs to stop. It's painful just thinking about it. 
- Lincecum needs to shave that monstrosity from his face. It was cute in the "aww, baby face is trying to grow a manly mustache" way for a little bit, but it's got to go. It's worse than Barry Zito's weird porn stache from a couple seasons ago. 

Speaking of, I miss Zito...#RallyZito forever <3

- If I played the "take a drink every time Kruk & Kuip say 'shadows'", I would have been drunk by the 3rd inning.
- In the bottom of the 3rd, Timmy didn't get Goldshit out, but in trying to stretch a single into a double, Goldschmidt was out by a mile. That counts for something, right?
- At the top of the 4th with Pablo Sandoval on 2nd, Hunter Pence finally got his first hit of the season. Hooray! I like to think that's the face he wanted to make when it happened, but he's too cool to celebrate that hard over a single.

- Side note: One of the other reasons why I love baseball so much is because you can have it on in the background while multi-tasking, or in my case concentrating pretty hard on work, and it's like a nice throw blanket comforting you even if you're not paying attention 100%. 
- I was not pleased when Mark Trumbo hit a 2-run home run off of Timmy in the bottom of the 6th. Secretly, my first thought was "yay, fantasy points" and then I was pissed. This is why fantasy sports suck sometimes. You feel bipolar about things like that because it's good for fantasy, but bad for life. 100% of the time, the Giants are far more important that fantasy baseball. At least for me.
- Nice to see Brandon Hicks come in the game as a pinch hitter, and then hit a home run at the top of the 7th! Proud of him.
- I'm sometimes mean to Hacktor, err Hector Sanchez, but that *almost* home run in the top of the 8th was pretty awesome. It was also fun to see Pence running with reckless abandon. I love him so much. Michael Morse came through with a two out RBI single to tie the game after Buster Posey came in as a pinch hitter and was intentionally walked. Then our Angel with the heavenly hair hit a 3-run home run. It was Pagan's first home run of the season. FIVE RUNS in the 8th. It's still early, but I like what I'm seeing from our offense. And their hair.

So excited they won this series, great way to start the season! Pagan is sexy. Sorry, couldn't help myself. Work phone calls, phone calls from the auto repair shop, and all kinds of emails stressed me out. Signing off to meet up with friends for a Captain America 1 and 2 double feature.

Go Giants!!!

xoxo,
JC