AT LAST, regular season baseball to discuss! I wasn't too shocked by the final roster moves, and like the veteran additions to the bull pen with Mota, and to the starting staff with Wellemeyer. More on that in a minute. Not to bring up a sore point right out of the box, but I saw that Brad Penny pitched very well (seven strong innings and a no decision) in his St.Louis debut Thursday -- a 2-1 loss to the Reds.
Hey, nice start for the Giants in Houston, and a rock-solid start for Lincecum, Zito, and (almost) Cain. The "Cainer" got burned by a couple of bad breaks Wednesday, and pitched better than the final stat line may indicate (notice zero walks in the stat line). Timmy and Barry though were quite good. I expected as much from the two-time defending Cy Young winner (seven shutout innings), but Zito has been consistently bad in the early stages of the season, only to finish with a flurish. He leaves us wanting more through a long off-season only to disappoint all over again in April. Well, at least for one start, we as fans definitely got some pleasure with five k's and just three hits allowed in six shutout innings. The Astros are wounded without Lance Berkman in the middle of that line-up, and the Giants needed to and did take advantage. However, they also beat a pair of top-notch starters in Roy Oswalt and Wandy Rodriguez with just enough offense.
The Giants were putting rallies together in the first couple of games that make a baseball geek like me excited. Sustained rallies, advancing the runner, taking some walks, sacrifice flies, and some timely hits led to crooked-numbered innings in each of the first two games. How much of a difference does it make having Bengie Molina hitting sixth instead of fourth? Huge. And then, for me, the kicker... When the Giants faced their first adversity of the young season, and allowed Houston to come back and tie Wednesday's game at 4-4, what did San Francisco do??? They scored two in the 8th to take the lead back, and then plated four more runs in the 9th for good measure -- sweet! Everyone was getting into the act with bench guys Ishikawa (home run), Schierholtz, and Velez all scoring runs in the 9th inning rally. I'm digging it.
John Bowker. First of all, I really thought it was finally time for Nate Schierholtz to play everyday in right field and get 500 at-bats. Let's figure this guy out, right? Wrong! Bowker won the job, and so far, so good. Great spring stats should be measured appropriately, but with the games now counting for real this week, Bowker is 3-for-9 with three RBI's, and has already had a couple of important hits. A two-run shot off Brett Meyers (late of the Phillies) Wednesday, and that RBI blast off Oswalt that was "this close" to having been an opposite field shot three-runner into the Crawford Boxes Monday. That was really close to blowing the inning wide open, but it allowed the inning to continue and led to a sacrifice fly by Juan Uribe that plated one more run in a three-run inning. Most importantly, it's production from a position that was inept last year at the plate (in the form of Randy Winn). What a sweet landing for him at the new Yankee Stadium by the way. A fourth outfielder and defensive replacement? Not bad work if you can find it.
Edgar Renteria? Five hits in one game?? Eight hits in his first eleven at-bats??? Who is this impostor, and what happened to the guy we had at short stop last year? I guess he really was dinged last year, and having elbow surgery to remove some bone chips has made a big difference thus far. He's batting .727 and leads the world in hitting through three games.
Todd Wellemeyer. Why did St.Louis give up on this guy? Good spring, but I'm still very curious. Guillermo Mota has been around the block several times, in fact, the Giants are his eighth team over a lengthy career that stretches back to 1999. He had a year for the Dodgers back in 2003: 99 k's in 105 innings, and an ERA of 1.97 and a WHIP of 0.99 over 76 games. I had to look it up to verify just how filthy he once was! He provides some stability and some veteran guidance for a relatively young bull pen with Joaquin, Runzler, and Romo. Everyone looking good in the pen except for Medders, who got dinged for a couple of runs in one-third of an inning. Once Freddy Sanchez and Emmanual Burriss are ready to return to regular duty, Mota might be one of the first to depart.
The Braves will likely offer some stiffer competition this weekend as the Giants get the home season rolling at A.T.& T. Park. For those going Sunday, head out there early for the reunion of the 2000 team that opened that yard ten years ago (Bonds and Kent together again). Let's get this thing rolling!!! Sanchez and Hudson should be a great match-up Friday afternoon for the home opener.
Keywords: Atlanta Braves, Aubrey Huff, Barry Zito, Bengie Molina, Brad Penny, Brandon Medders, Brett Meyers., Dan Runzler, Edgar Renteria, Guillermo Mota, Houston Astros, John Bowker, Juan Uribe, Lance Berkman, Mark DeRosa, Matt Cain, Nate Schierholtz, Roy Oswalt, San Francisco Giants, Sergio Romo, St.Louis Cardinals, Tim Lincecum, Todd Wellemeyer, Waldis Joaquin, Wandy Rodriguez
