Sharks, dark horses, and failure to duck

Finally, some “real” baseball to talk about. Yep, it was only the first game of the Giants’ Cactus League slate and we didn’t see much from what promises to be the Opening Day regulars, but there were pitchers pitching and hitters hitting and fielders fielding. It’s all good.

Christian Arroyo's RBI double capped a three-run uprising that snapped a sixth-inning tie Wednesday and led the San Francisco Giants to a 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Rally Chimps of Disneyland in a Cactus League opener.

The Giants rallied from an early deficit thanks to the efforts of a bunch of guys you haven’t heard of unless Baseball Reference is your preferred morning reading or you’ve watched as we scraped for post subjects in the absence of bat meeting ball.

Trevor Brown headed for home, and a job?

With the score tied at 1 apiece, Trevor Brown singled to open San Francisco sixth and later scored on Ryan Lollis' single. Grant Green (who?) added a one-bagger then a wild pitch plated Lollis and put Green in scoring position for Arroyo's ground-rule double to right-center.

The Giants first run scored when Prodigal Son Conor Gillaspie showed the power he didn't exhibit in his previous stay, launching a blast well beyond the right field fence to lead off the third.

The outing was notable for several reasons; predictable and not.

Of course, the faithful were anxious to see the Giants debut of Jeff Samardzija, he of the 5-year, $90 million deal that talking heads have proclaimed as either genius or foolish. Samardzija’s six-year career has been plagued by inconsistency, and he exhibited it on Wednesday. He was dominant in the first inning then surrendered a run on a double, two walks and a sac fly in his second, and final, inning of work.

The Giants’ hopes for Samardzija are as big as his contract. As MLB.com’s Tracy Ringolsby wrote (between badmouthings of Barry Bonds and attempts to keep his “Bonanza” wardrobe intact) that the Giants are counting on Manager Bruce Bochy and pitching guru Dave Righetti to once again work their magic and bring out some undiscovered ability. Fortunately that’s not crazy talk; they’ve done it before.

While we’re still talking about pitching, someone please tell Clayton Blackburn that catching IS part of the deal. He got five outs without surrendering a run. He also got a pair of shin burgers, taking a grounder off his left leg in the fourth and shot off his right calf an inning later, prompting Bochy to mercifully end the carnage.

 

Ouch....twice.

Blackburn was Michael Jackson (or maybe Steve Sax); wearing a glove on one hand for no apparent reason.

Another standout moment came not on the field but via the radio. Actually, it was sort of a hybrid. Brown had a good day behind the plate and better day at it, going 2-for-2 and scoring a run. His performance prompted an exchange between announcing tandem Jon Miller and Dave Flemming that indicated Brown’s fate, and by extension Andrew Susac’s, isn’t set in stone.

Miller noted Brown’s reputation was as a defender but that the Giants had been pleased with his unheralded bat since injuries pressed him into service last September. Most assume it will be Susac to back up Buster Posey, but Flemming indicated word from Bochy is that’s there’s open competition for that spot.

Susac has been the hot prospect for a while now, and his name is prominently mentioned every time the subject of Posey moving to first base comes up. Brown, however, may force the issue. He's had just 39 Major League at-bats, recording nine hits (three doubles) and driving in five. That small sample is certainly no indicator of future success, but he did hit .261 in 82 games with AAA Sacramento.

Bouncing back and forth between the Bigs and AAA, Susac raised hopes with a .273 average in limited 2014 action but slumped to .218 last year over 133 ABs before getting caught up in that whole injury vortex thing.. He’s still just 25, a year older than Brown, but this might be the season he becomes the insurance policy instead of the heir apparent if he doesn’t rebound.

Shout out to Gillaspie, who professed to have a new attitude following his circuitous route back to the team that took him with the 37^th pick of the 2008 draft. That attitude may be accompanied by a new swing. He hit 13 bombs in his one good year (2013) with the White Sox but isn’t considered a power bat, but his shot yesterday left the park faster than Fuller House can be cancelled, and it landed out where umbrella brigade usually rests in relative safety. 

Add to that a nice defensive play to gun down a runner after Blackburn, uh, slowed the ball down (yeah, that’s polite enough) and you can see why the Giants would consider this non-roster invitee as a legitimate back-up at third.

Giants are back in action today against Milwaukee.