Furcal - Giants Game 4-27-09

So I’m not sure what happens to the Dodgers in SF, but the last two games I’ve been to up here have been full of Dodger errors. You’d never know it by the box score, but there should have been 4 Dodger errors that weren’t scored. Ethier bumped into Kemp in the 1st inning. Kemp misplayed a ball over his head. Belisario tried to be Omar Vizquel and flip the ball to Martin with his glove, and then also uncorked a wild pitch.

The batting was decent and Wolf did ok, but they didn’t look sharp tonight.  I’ve actually never been to a game with that few of people in the stands.  It wasn’t a surprise that they had discounts on the tickets. 

Barry Zito actually pitched a really good game tonight.  He definitely had the Dodgers guessing.  They started letting Pablo Sandoval catch him and ever since he can pitch again.  If you have a fantasy team – keep an eye on him.  He definitely looked like the Zito of old.

The funniest story of the night was who I ended up sitting next to.  There was a guy with a shirt that said “Osama Bin Laden is a Dodgerfan” with a picture of the LA logo on Bin Laden’s turbin.  It was pretty funny and it ends up the guy is setting up a blog for die hard Giants fans just like I set this one up for Dodger fans here in SF.  I had my cards with the logo on it, and he had his stickers with his website, www.dodgerhater.net .  Two like minded fans…just different teams.  Good luck to you Sean.

I don’t know what it is with these teams, but the rivalry is real and it plays out in the games.  They are always close.  One Giants fan behind me summed it up well, “Watching this game is emotionally exhausting.”  It was.  It was fun to be there tonight…just tough to swallow the ending.

Oh yeah – man I love Casey Blake.  The guy just hits jacks.

Dodgers Mob James Loney - Brian Vander Brug - LA Times.com

I was gone for a few days to go see the Dodgers in L.A., and when I got back a Giants fan I work with told me that he was hoping that I didn’t get back until Thursday.  With the beating the Giants took on Monday, he hoped I was gone at least until the second game of the series, hoping the Giants would win and level out the series.  He felt if the Giants won game two, that he could point out that Monday was just one game, and wasn’t all that significant.

Well – sorry Jon.  No luck.  I came back, AND the Dodgers won game two.  The Dodgers are still better.  He even told me yesterday that the Giants were better than the Dodgers because all time they still have a better winning percentage than the Dodgers.

Again – sorry Jon.  Maybe so, but this year so far is all Dodgers.

I’m not sure if Dodger fans are aware of this, but Matt Cain is still 0-6 lifetime against the Dodgers.  He always pitches them well, but continues to come away with a loss.  It really became obvious last year when he consistently held them to less than 3 runs, but then once he left the game, the Dodgers beat the bullpen and won the game.  Last night Casey Blake got the best of him, but he pitched well…the Dodgers just beat the bullpen.

Got to love Casey Blake and Clayton Kershaw.  Blake is the 8 hitter and has 3 homeruns.  He may hit 30 this year.  Kershaw strikes out 13 and looks brilliant.  Running tally – the Giants have struck out 24 times out of 54 at bats in 2 games.  That has to be rough for a pitching coach.  Between Stults, Wolf, Billingsley and Kershaw, Ned Colletti obviously knew something more about the pitching staff than we all did.  They could still use one more arm, but they look great right now.

You could have an interesting debate as to if Loney was trying for walks in two of his at bats last night, including the one to win the game.  He stared down multiple beautiful fastballs, and then took the walks.  You could say he was afraid to hit and wanted the walk, or you could say he just knew the pitchers would end up throwing balls, and therefore he just let them do it.

I don’t buy that he was afraid to hit as he has been hitting the ball like crazy the last few days.  I think he’s just a smart hitter who knew the power of a walk, and was going to let the pitchers do it if they couldn’t throw strikes. How bitterly sweet that the Giants walked in the winning run.

Brian Wilson is a good closer, so tough luck to him, but to the Dodgers gain.  Even if the Dodgers lose tonight, the series has been won.

To conclude the Top 7 Things Learned at Camelback Ranch, I thought I would have some fun and give a quiz. Part of the fun of going to Spring Training is seeing the players up close, and trying to recognize them outside of uniform. Here’s a little test to see if you can pick out the players. I’ll try to start easy and get harder. Answers at the bottom.

A)

B)

C)

D)

E) (Hard One)

So, how did you do?

Here’s the answers:

A) Jason Schmidt B) Randy Wolf C) Blake DeWitt  D) Ned Colletti  E) Andre Ethier (left) and Don Mattingly (Right)

Thanks for the memories Camelback Ranch.  Great First Season and we’ll see you next year.

Randy Wolf (The New Dodgers Ace) from Dodgers.com

So the Dodgers played the Giants today in Arizona.  It was the first Dodgers/Giants “Regular Spring Training” game as part of the cactus league.  In the spirit of David Letterman, here are the top 10 things I learned:

10.  Man it’s good to have baseball again.  It’s been too long thinking about Manny (even though he came up again and again in the game) and not listening to the crack of the bat.

9.  Who’s playing center field now?  I listened to Jon MIller (Giant’s radio station) and even he had trouble naming all the new players switching in and out of the game.  Got to love spring training where most of the names are new and you never know who just subbed in.

8.  Jon Miller interviewed Henry Schulman (Writer for the San Francisco Chronicle) during the broadcast and I liked what he had to say.  He was talking about the rivalry and that even though this was a nothing game that the fans still get into it.  He was saying that he could really see it in the players too that there was a greater energy going into the game.  There is something deeper to this rivalry, and I hope it never leaves.  I really like that the players get into it too.

7.  The Dodgers can finally hit Sergio Romo.  (See previous post)  They lit him up today.

6.  Delwyn Young needs to take more fly balls.

5.  Jonathan Broxton still has me worried as a closer…unless they just sit him when he plays the Giants.  They just continue to light him up.  He got out of the inning, but not without a run, and not without striking fear as to how bad the Giants may beat him later this year.

4.  Randy Wolf may be well worth his asking price.  Who knew he could become the ace!?

3.  Russell Martin is still a stud.  Here’s hoping he can hit the second half, but he is definitely still my current favorite.

2.  Never heard of Valentino Pascucci before today, but I hope we keep hearing about him.  He launched a homerun, and he has the coolest name of any Dodger in years.

1.  The Dodgers are still better than the Giants and proved it by the final score.  Ahh, I love living in this area when the Dodgers are obviously better and every Giants fan knows it.

Too bad it isn’t a 3 game series…

Travis Ishikawa hit 2 homeruns for the Giants (David Zaluboski_AP)

So yesterday was the first day of Spring Training and the Giants won their game against the Indians 10-7. The Dodgers on the other hand lost 5-3. I don’t put a lot of salt in Spring Training games, but hope always abounds going into Spring Training, so the Giants were very happy with their win.

The Giants fans I heard were stoked about their exhibition of offense and I even heard one talk show host say, “Who needs Manny?” The other host just laughed at him because they both know that this was just an anomaly and they definitely still need a power boost. It seems that the talks of Manny are gone up here with just some remaining fans hoping it could work out.

Either way, it was comedy to me that the fans were bragging about “their offense,” knowing it probably won’t last.

It is funny though to take the first day and project it. The Giants had a pleasant surprise and won. The Dodgers hit decently, but then couldn’t pitch and ended up losing. Sound like the playoffs anyone? They still need more pitching.

Apparently the Dodgers made a new offer to Manny yesterday. Fine by me, but there is a clause where Manny could opt out next year. The potential of having to do this whole negotiation bit all over again next year should cause heartburn in every Dodgerfan.

The Dodgers and Giants square off today in their first interleague game. It is getting some hype because the Dodgers have “joined the Cactus League,” and this is their first game against the Giants. The game starts at 12:05pm and it is Wolf against Cain. Go Blue.