Peavy shows better stuff, Giants still lose

Well, you could say it was an improvement. At least Jake Peavy didn’t spike himself.

After getting shelled and failing to complete two innings in his Cactus League debut (nine hits, six runs against Texas), Peavy allowed five hits and two runs over three innings of work Monday in a 6-5 loss to Texas that dropped the Giants to 3-4 in games that don't mean a flippin' thing.

Peavy: no spike marks 

Peavy admitted to throwing mostly fastballs that didn’t work in his first attempt, but mixed in secondary pitches more this time around. He also said it was no small help that Buster Posey made the trip to Surprise from San Francisco’s spring training home in Scottsdale (a 52-minute drive according to Google Maps) to catch the projected number-five starter.

"It's nice to have somebody care that much for a spring training game," Peavy told the Associated Press. "To come all the way out there, just to care to make you better. This guy makes us all better. It's appreciated a lot."

Jeez, Jake. It takes that long to get from Pier 39 to Second and King streets on a Friday night.

Posey is definitely one of Bruce Bochy’s protected class. He’s appeared in four games but has just six at-bats, generally pressed into service only when the new guys need to get familiar with the starting backstop. He was behind the plate for Jeff Samardzija’s debut and one can assume he’ll see similar duty for Johnny Cueto this week.

We get the impression the trainer’s room is well stocked with bubble wrap. Half the equipment budget didn’t go to Medco but to Office Depot and Lowe’s.

Peavy did manage to limit the damage, with both runs scoring on sacrifice flies. That was an issue in 2015, when Peavy could be dominant at times but tended to come unraveled when opposing offenses had chances to apply pressure.

More important to the Giants, Peavy seems healthy. He barely broke triple digits in innings pitched a year ago thanks to hip and lower-back issues.  "It checked out perfect. That's an encouraging sign for me moving forward,” he said.

San Francisco took a 5-3 lead into the ninth but Ian Gardeck surrendered three runs. He was on the bench when Mike “Right Down” Broadway allowed the walk-off hit as the Giants lost 6-5. 

Broadway got a venti decaf with the club last year but is unlikely to make the club out of spring training. Gardeck, a 16^th-round pick out of Alabama in 2012, spent last season in A Ball (3-4, 3.45 ERA at San Jose) and is in Major League camp strictly for seasoning. They lost it. It’s camp. Who cares?

 

Blanks not firing blanks (too easy, but required)

The offense benefited from another long ball, with Kyle Blanks launching his second of the year. The two-run blast in the first gave the Giants a lead the pen would cough up in the ninth, but it strengthened the outfielder (sort of)/first baseman’s  bid to make the team as a bench player. He’s hitting .571 in Cactus League play.

Blanks was in the game in relief of Brandon Belt, who missed his third straight contest with an illness. Belt is expected back as soon as Wednesday.

Health still remains an issue for the Giants:

• The team remains cautious with Matt Cain following removal of a cyst from his pitching arm. He’s throwing on flat ground but has yet to toss from the mound.
•  Brandon Crawford (sore shoulder) is set to return to the infield but the entire starting outfield -- Hunter Pence (strained Achilles),  Denard Span (offseason surgery) and Angel Pagan (another offseason surgery) have yet to play defensively, although Pagan is scheduled to start on Tuesday.
• Cueto, scratched from his scheduled start on Saturday, with make his Giants pitching debut on Wednesday.
•  Mac Williamson was hit on the knee by a pitch Tuesday and was down for several minutes but remained in the game. He went 1-for-2, lifting his average to .455 with two homers.

The G-Men continue a ”soft-open” with the veterans, injured or not, saving plenty of energy for the weight room (maybe) or golf course (probably). 

Twenty-eight different players have at-bats over the seven games played, with only nine in double digits. Ehire Adriana, inexplicably, is the leader with 15 ABs. The regular with the most trips to the dish of Joe Panik, tied for 11^th with Gregor Blanco at nine. Panik, by the way, is 0-for-9. Oy vey.

 

Please don't let this happen

Making some noise is non-roster invitee Gorky’s Hernandez, a 28-year-old who has seen limited action with Pittsburgh and Miami and now hopes to be the next Justin Maxwell (shudder).  A career .186 hitter, he’s gone 5-for-13 (.385) this spring, but the Giants’ outfield situation remains crowded.

Remember that Maxwell’s chance only came because Pence’s season from Hell got an early start and Maxwell was still gone by summer’s end. If Hernandez is on the Opening Day roster, half of Giants nation will have the garage door closed and the engine running because disaster will have struck at AT&T Park.

Maybe Dwayne Johnson can play the outfield.