Offense blows up, so do arms in 16-7 spring win

Spring Training is far too long, but not for the reasons John Shea posited in this excellent article from the San Francisco Chronicle. Those fine words don’t begin to cover it.

Teams like our beloved Giants have copious amounts of players in camp, with the regulars seeing precious little time on the field until the season is imminent, both for fear of injury and because no one wants to add another 35 games to an already too-long schedule.

Those extra bodies are also capable of displaying the most confounding and infuriating moments seen on a diamond, as evidenced in San Francisco’s 16-7 rout of Cincinnati on Tuesday. At least a shorter training camp would minimize the exposure to such folly.

Yes, you’re reading as we complain about a game in which our favorite squad won by nine runs! But as the illustrious Mike Krukow pointed out on CSN Bay Area’s telecast, it’s spring training for everyone: players, coaches umpires, etc. It’s that way for bloggers, too. Gotta get a good practice gripe on, right? It was a circus.

 

Send in the clowns?

At least we can’t complain about Johnathan Sanchez anymore. He still sucks, but now he’s doing it in a Reds uniform. The Giants broke open a 5-4 game by whipping Sanchez like the place horse looking for more speed at the top of the stretch.

But there was also, saying it politely, plenty to work on. There was the fly ball that dropped in short center where the only guy who didn’t break on the ball was the center fielder. Kelby Tomlinson tried to trail it from the infield, Mac Williamson gave it a late dive from left, and Junior Arias was somewhere over the rainbow contemplating the universe. We could swear the CSNBA audio included a calliope.

We also saw Gregor Blanco, who should know better, give up on a drive to center that barely reached the warning track; and Williamson, who had just entered the game in relief of Angel Pagan’s first start of the spring, do a great job tracking a ball to the fence in left and then had it bounce away when it hit him in an unfortunate spot – namely his glove.

Pagan himself figured in the most infuriating play of the night, an ill-advised attempt to take an extra base. Kids are told you never make the third out at third base; you’re already in scoring position. Pagan was gunned down, but the killer was provided by the runner ahead of him. Conor Gillaspie had an easy tally in his pocket but went into cruise mode for the last 20 feet of his trek home. Pagan was retired before Gillaspie touched the plate, and the run didn’t count.

 

Yeah, we know: no time to Panik (it was there)

That may not be a big deal in a blow-out, but at the time it was a one-run game. Granted, what happens in Scottsdale stays in Scottsdale but that’s not the kind of effort you’d want on video when you’re trying to make a team that once branded you as a malcontent. That stuff gets guys waived when games count.

Gillaspie has to hope that’s not the lingering perception because he was a big part of an offensive explosion. The Reds ran up the red flag (come on!) last year when they dealt ace Johnny Cueto, who makes his Giants debut Wednesday. The remainder is suspect (they signed Sanchez!) and the Giants took full advantage. Gillaspie was one of four G-Men to record multiple hits (2-for-3, an RBI and one run scored – should been two), and 12 of the 18 Giants to receive an at-bat hit safely.

A sizeable chunk of the offense came from guy not likely to start the year in San Francisco, but two hits from Christian Arroyo (the Giants’ top prospect according the MLB.com) certainly bodes well for the future. But most encouraging was the night posted by Joe Panik.

We’d called him out earlier in the day (yeah, like he reads this drivel) because he’d lead all regulars in at-bats, all of nine, but was hitless. He broke out, going 3-for-4 including the first triple of the spring, and scoring twice.  Pagan got his first hit while likely bench players Tomlinson and Andrew Susac combined for two hits, four walks and six runs scored.

There was still the issue of the Giants failing to score guys from third with less than two outs, but they made up by scoring with two outs on the board. One of those two-out hits was the first homer of the spring from Jarrett Parker. Arroyo also went deep, and overall the Giants were 9-for-17 with runners in scoring position.

Yeah, you thought we’d forgotten. Madison Bumgarner got shelled.

 

Not ace-like aschis cutter wouldn't cut

Madbum arguably got squeezed in the first as he surrendered three runs. Both starting hurlers found out the men in blue aren’t exactly dialed in yet either as plate umpire Rob Drake’s strike zone floated like Muhammad Ali in his prime. 

Six Giants hurlers surrendered 13 hits, with both mental and physical errors contributing. Chris Heston also surrendered three runs over 2  2/3 and Javy Lopez allowed a run on two hits in an inning of work.

Elsewhere, things are starting to improve on the health front. Cueto makes his debut today, Brandon Crawford will finally take shortstop this week, and return from injury/surgery/latent boo boos is supposedly around the bend for Denard Span and Hunter Pence. Brandon Belt, Santiago Casilla and Sergio Romo have all suffered illnesses but are expected back on the field this week.

The Giants are 4-4 in Cactus League play. Only 27 meaningless contests to go.