Conventional wisdom states a good baseball team wins half of its games on the road and two thirds of its games at home. That's a 95-win season and should put any team in the thick of a playoff race.
It remains to be seen how San Francisco is going to do at home but the road part of that equation needs a lot of work.
San Francisco held on for a 5-3 victory Sunday at San Diego, raising (yes, raising) it's mark to 2-5 at the conclusion of their seven-game season opening roadie.
It wasn't artistic by any stretch of the imagination unless you're into Picasso, in which case it's a bloody masterpiece because it looks nothing like what it's supposed to be. What it was, however, was a win, and when you're struggling to get out of the staring blocks you'll tape finger paintings up in the Louvre if you can put one in the win column.
All of the issues were there: shaky pitching, a pending bullpen collapse, failure to add on to a lead, and maybe something to do with the Earth's gravitational pull, but the lead-in to Monday's home opener won't smack of desperation -- nice since they face the same Arizona team that just cleaned their collective clock.
San Francisco jumped in front in the second when Chris Marrero tallied the first hit from a Giants left fielder this season -- and it only took seven games! The RBI single broke an 0-for 22 skid from the rotating cast of clowns, chasing home Buster Posey (walk) and sending Brandon Crawford (single) to third. Padres' first sacker Wil Myers went Ali on the return throw from right field and punched it into the dugout, allowing BCraw to waltz home via the error.
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| Wait, was that a save? Just checking; we hadn't seen one since September. |
The Giants padded that 2-0 lead an inning later when Pence reached out and hooked a two-run bomb to the base of the used-to-be-before-it-became-the-facade-for-an-escalator Western Metal Supply Company building. Posey followed with an oppo shot and the Giants held a comfortable 5-0 lead.
Comfortable is a relative term. Did you really think it was gonna be that easy?
Johnny Cueto was cruising but Myers got a measure of revenge with a two-run homer in the sixth. San Diego then proceeded to load the bases as Giants fans everywhere looked on in horror in anticipation of another meltdown. But Cueto shook, shimmied, popped, and probably did a bit of the robot to wiggle off the hook and the Giants maintained a 5-2 edge.
Meanwhile, back on alternate programming, the Giants offense disappeared, and it looked like the failure to add-on was going to cost them.
Cueto lasted seven sometimes-shaky innings as manager Bruce Bochy seemed more than reluctant to go to the pen. Gee, I can't imagine why.
After 104 pitches it was time for some relief, and Derek Law failed to provide it. His first batter faced, The unpronounceable and barely spellable Yangervis Solarte, went deep, and we retreated to a nearby corner to assume the fetal position as the Giants nursed a 5-3 lead into the ninth.
Mark Melancon got a second try at his first Giants save and gave up a one-out single followed by a walk to bring Myers to the plate as the potential winning run. Swear to God, Tim Burton is directing this season. But Myers mercifully grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, allowing us to step back for the ledge and celebrate a second consecutive series of not getting swept. There were fireworks, heavy drinking and cries of "Excelsior!" Enjoy the revels.
So its back to San Francisco for some day baseball and the Giants hope to turn the page and start anew. Baseball doesn't allow for do-overs but it does sometimes give you two legitimate opening days, and a well-played win in from of yet another sell-out crowd can go a long way toward righting the ship.
A left fielder and some relief help wouldn't hurt either.
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