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.
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.
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.
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.
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