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| Marco Scutaro hits a grand slam that scares Cardinal fans back to their homes. |
This game had everything. Literally, everything. Like, take
some of every, then move it over to thing, and you’ve got what this game was.
Everything. It was a perfect game without being a perfect game. If you’re ever
feeling down and lonely, or you find yourself reliving every single at bat of
Emmanuel Burris’ career, put on the tape of this game. Just watch everything
that happened. Because everything in this game was everything. There are some
words to contemplate.
There was offense, pitching, defense and a Brooks Conrad
impression. That’s all I really ask for in life. 15 runs, 0 given up, two nifty
defensive plays at short, and an error by Tyler Greene that was Conrad-esque,
which, more than actual goofiness of the play provided, an excuse for everybody
to think about 2010, and the Braves series and all of the sudden you find
yourself reminiscing about Aubrey Huff voluntarily sticking his hands in his
pants in front of 3 million people. Sports!
This was just about the greatest game every played. It’s all
downhill from here people.
*****
15 runs is great. But the zero is just as good. Here is a
photo:
Stare at it. Gaze at it closely. Lets the picture penetrate
your eyes to the point where it’s like burn in on a flat screen T.V. There ya go, now you have Kyle Lohse burned
into your eyes forever. Thank me later.
Also Ryan Vogelsong is there. At the top. Of the Major
League leaderboard.
2 years ago, he was pitching in AAA for the Phillies, and
finished with a 4.91 ERA, as a 33 year old. That’s bad. I mean, real bad. When
you’re a 33 year old struggling minor leaguer, that’s about the time when
you’re supposed to be buying “Stock Trading For Dummies.” There’s no way any
team would be crazy enough to sign someone with such little upside after a season
like that, let alone someone willing to let you into the actual major league starting
pitching rotation. I mean, maybe in long relief if Brad Penny’s replacement to the
replacement to the replacement was in a wheelchair while nursing a broken hand. Maybe. But, first you have to get signed by some crazy, deranged, insane baseball team
that has no idea oh hey Giants!
The rest is history. Today, Ryan Vogelsong shut down one of the best offenses in
baseball, a historically good offense. He tends to find the magic pitch every
time someone gets on base, which only happened 6 times tonight. Ryan Theriot is
called gritty. He should gift wrap that moniker with a beau on top and hand it
to Ryan Vogelsong. That is a gritty baseball player. 10 years removed from the
major leagues, in which he pitched for teams from: Lynchurg, Altoona,
Nashville, Indianapolis, Hanshin, Orix, Salt Lake and Lehigh Valley. Those
sound like gym cities in Pokemon.
Suddenly in 2011 you're given one spring training month to
prove you belong on a major league roster. That, my friends, is grit.
*****
15 runs can be a bit deceiving, mainly because 15 runs are
uncommon. Trust me, I did my research. But there are two players that swung the
bat well that could propel the Giants to the stretch run. Brandon Belt and
Hunter Pence. Don't get me wrong, it's fantastic Marco Scutaro had 7 RBIs and grand slam, which is a statement I’m going to fax
to myself a month ago. But Scutaro wasn’t brought here to carry the offense,
just to not be Ryan Theriot, Brandon Crawford or Joaquin Arias. Any top notch
offensive production he gives you is gravy. But Belt and Pence. They have
upside. Plenty of it. And if they can find their stroke, watch out. And it’s
possible they can.
Tonight Brandon Belt went 2 for 5 with a double. I don’t
think there’s ever been a day when Brandon Belt has not been discussed. Brandon Belt is even somewhere in the constitution. Have you ever read the entire Constitution? That's what I thought. The point is, I’ve written a lot about him, so forgive me if this is repetitive, but yet again
tonight, he continued to produce. He’s making more and more solid contact. He’s
struck out once in his last 13 plate appearences, which doesn’t sound like
much, but it’s at least a small step for a guy that struck out at least once in
every game of the last home stand. He’s improving.
Hunter Pence went 2 for 5 with 2 RBIs. It’s not like his
hits were all that impressive: a by-the-book seeing eye grounder and a hard hit
grounder up the middle. But it should breed some confidence for a struggling
hitter. As I wrote before, it’s not just in his tenure with the Giants. He was
in a deep, dark slump before the trade for a good month. Perhaps there is a little calm instilled in Hunter Pence after this game. I'm probably being overly optimistic, but last year Pence had a .872 OPS. One year doesn't zap all that out of you, especially when you're still just 29. That type of production has to be buried somewhere in that exoskeleton.
It's not unreasonable to think Belt and Pence can turn up their hitting to be consistently above average. Here's to hoping that baseball is not unreasonable.
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