Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle says Giants starting pitcher Tim Lincecum wants to buy a Volkswagen Micro-bus. Lincecum dropped the news in a small piece in the May issue of GQ. Below is a picture of what he will be rolling in…
King of Cali thoughts: I guess this is one thing he wants to buy with his money. He can get whatever he wants. He’s sitting on top of the world. Although, he’s starting to remind me a lot of Shaggy from Scooby Doo. At least we know if Shaggy played baseball. He would be one hell-of-a-pitcher!
Lincecum is 3-0 with a 0.90 ERA so far this season. I’m not calling him the 2011 Cy Young Award winner, but it seems like he’s going to make another run at it again this year. Do you think Lincecum can get the trifecta?
Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News said on his blog that Jermaine Dye would be a nice fit for the San Francisco Giants. Baggarly says if Dye comes to the realization that he really wants to play for a team that has a chance to contend, drops his pride over what he should be making and agrees to contribute in a reserve role. The Giants would be happy to talk with him. Dye is also a Bay Area guy, too.
King of Cali thoughts: On December 9th I said in a post (SF Giants Rumors – Sabean Shoots Down Rumors). That finally Brian Sabean and I were on the same page about not pursuing Dye. That’s when I was counting the signing as being our everyday outfielder. Now that Dye is sitting at home and watching baseball on TV like the rest of us. I wouldn’t mind if the Giants did acquire him to be used as a backup role. He really would be a nice threat off the bench with some power.
I just want the Giants to give John Bowker his shot this year. Just like they did with Fred Lewis. Once Bowker gets comfortable, and doesn’t feel like he needs to produce every at bat to keep himself in the lineup. I think he will end up being a big bat in the Giants offense. He’s proven that he’s mastered Triple-A, and he’s ready to show he can be a productive everyday player in San Francisco. Do you think the Giants should bring Dye back to the bay?
Aaron Rowand starts the game off by getting his first hit of the season. Edgar Renteria continues with his hot start by getting another hit. Pablo Sandoval hit into a double play and then Aubrey Huff flied out. The Giants got two hits in the inning but ended up with 0 runs. Matt Cain gets his first start of the season and has a very nice 1,2,3 inning. Getting the Giants back to the plate, so they can try to get on the scoreboard early. Mark DeRosa gets the Astros staring pitcher Brett Myers back in the stretch right away, by getting a lead-off single. Then John Bowker shows why he won the right field job. He hit a 2-run homer to right center field to give the Giants a 2-0 lead. That’s all the Giants would get in the 2nd inning.
Huff made a nice play on a hard smashed ball by Geoff Blum. Jon Miller said on the radio that it was a lucky play, but shows how quick Huff’s hands are. Huff might be trying to show that he doesn’t need a defensive replacement late in games. Pedro Feliz gets the Astros first hit off of Cain by hitting a 2 out double. After 2 innings it’s the Giants 2 and the Astros 0.
3rd Inning
The Giants got right back to work in the top of the 3rd. Renteria continued his hot hitting by getting another hit. Sandoval and Huff also got singles. The bases were loaded for DeRosa. He hit into a double play, scoring on the play was Renteria. The Giants had the bases loaded and could have did some real damage, but just managed to get the one run. Cain gave up a hit in the bottom of the 3rd but that’s all they were able to get. After 3 innings the score is 3-0 Giants.
4th Inning
The Giants went very quietly in the top of the 4th inning. The Astros got a runner on 2nd base to start the bottom of the 4th inning. Sandoval got a two-base-error by making a wild throw to first base. Cain got his first strike out of the year by striking out Carlos Lee in a big RBI situation. Feliz gets the Astros on the board. He gets a 2-out RBI double. That’s all the Astros would get. Cain does end up getting two strike outs in the bottom of the 4th inning. After 4 innings the score is 3-1 Giants.
5th Inning
Renteria gets another hit in the top of the 5th inning. Making him 3-for-3 in the game and reaching base in 8 of his first 11 at bats of the season. Sandoval got a double off the left field wall, and Renteria moves to 3rd on the play. Huff was not able to get a ball to the outfield. He grounded out to 2nd base, and Renteria was not able to score on the play. DeRosa wasn’t able to get the clutch hit the Giants needed either. The Giants are leaving a lot of men on base, and they are letting the Astros hang around instead of blowing this game wide open. The Astros weren’t able to get anything going against Cain in the bottom of the 5th inning. Three Astros up, and three Astros down in order.
6th and 7th Inning
Nothing ever got started for the Giants in the top of the 6th inning, and also nothing for the Astros in the bottom half either. Rowand did get a lead-off triple to start the top of the 7th. Renteria followed that up with an RBI single and knocking Myers out of the game. The Giants end up leaving 2 runners on base. Nate Schierholtz comes into the game in the bottom of the 7th as a defensive replacement for Bowker. Blum gets a lead-off single off of Cain. Feliz flies out to right field for the first out of the inning. Jeff Keppinger gets a single off of Cain. Runners now at 1st and 2nd with one out. Cain was able to get the 2nd out by striking out J.R. Towles (fifth strike out for Cain). Cory Sullivan comes in to pinch hit. Sullivan makes it a one run game by getting 2-run triple. Bruce Bochy comes out to get Cain. Bochy brings in Eugenio Velez to play left field and Jeremy Affeldt in to pitch (double switch). Michael Bourn gets an infield hit scoring Sullivan to tie the game. After 7 innings the game as tied 4-4.
8th Inning
Juan Uribe gets his first hit of the game by getting a lead-off double (off Sammy Gervacio) to start the top of the 8th. Whiteside bunted to get Uribe to 3rd, but the ball was thrown away (by Gervacio). The Giants score on the play, and are now back in front. Rowand gets an RBI single to score Whiteside. Gervacio threw a wild pitch allowing Rowand to move up to 2nd base. Gervacio gets hurt on the wild pitch and Chris Sampson comes in to replace him. He walks the hot hitting Renteria. Runners now on 1st and 2nd for Sandoval. Sandoval and Huff both hit fly balls and were not able to come through in the clutch. Affeldt comes back out for the bottom of the 8th, and has a very nice three up, and 3 down inning.
9th Inning
Travis Ishikawa comes in to pinch hit in the top of the 9th, and gets a pinch hit homer. That’s the first time Ishikawa has hit a homerun as a pinch hitter. Schierholtz follows that up with a single. Uribe hits a shot that rolls all the way to the wall. It’s a RBI double that scores Schierholtz from 1st base. Whiteside has a nice situational at bat. Hitting a ball to the right side to get Uribe to 3rd base. Velez gets a walk to set up 1st and 3rd for Rowand. Rowand gets a RBI single that was high off the left field wall. Scoring on the play is Uribe and Velez goes to 3rd. Renteria gets another hit and scoring on the play in Velez. Renteria now has a 5 hit game (5-for-5). The Giants wouldn’t score again in the 9th. It’s now 10-4 Giants going into the bottom of the 9th. Guillermo Mota comes in to pitch the 9th inning for the Giants to try to get the sweep (no save situation) for the Giants. Mota gets the Astros three up and three down to end the game.
Final
Giants – 10 Runs, 19 Hits and 1 Error
Astros - 4 Runs, 7 Hits and 1 Error
Affeldt -W
Gervacio -L
Highlights
Rowand – 4 Hits, 6 AB, 1 Run and 2 RBI’s
Renteria – 5 Hits, 5 AB, 1 Run and 2 RBI’s
Home Run
Bowker hit a 2-run homer in the 2nd inning.
Ishikawa hit a solo pinch hit homer in the 9th inning.
The end of the first series of the season ends today. The Giants are sending Matt Cain to the mound to try to get the sweep over the Houston Astros. Barry Zito pitched 6 shutout innings, and only allowing 3 hits. The Astros lineup isn’t anything great, but at least the Giants are doing what they should against a sub-par team.
Zito and Tim Lincecum have combined for 13 shutout innings, 7 hits, 12 strikeouts and 1 walk. The Giants seem to have a little swagger right now. Everyone seems pretty confident except for Aaron Rowand. He couldn’t make an out in Spring Training, and now is struggling to get his first hit of the 2010 season.
Bengie Molina has been given today off. He’s usually given the day game off following a night game.
Wednesday’s Giants Lineup
CF Rowand
SS Renteria
3B Sandoval
1B Huff
LF DeRosa
RF Bowker
2B Uribe
C Whiteside
P Cain
This Date In SF Giants History
April 7, 2002 – Livan Hernandez tossed a complete game, giving up only 1 run on 5 hits and striking out 5 while going 3-for-3 with 2 runs, 2 doubles and 2 RBI’s in SF’s 10-1 victory over the Padres.
The 2010 season gets started with a weak grounder to the shortstop by Aaron Rowand. The first hit of the year for the Giants comes off the bat of Aubrey Huff. He lead off the 2nd inning with a single. Mark DeRosa followed that up by drawing a walk in his first Giants at bat. Bengie Molina follows up Huff’s single and DeRosa walk with an RBI single. Scoring on the play from second base was Huff. John Bowker follows up Molina’s single with a RBI single of his own off the left field wall. Juan Uribe does his job by getting a sacrifice fly to score Molina from 3rd base. The Giants scored 3 runs in the 2nd inning to give Tim Lincecum a lead to work with.
Lincecum went 7 innings strong. He didn’t allow any runs or walks. It was a very impressive start of the 2010 season for Lincecum.
The Giants said they gave Bowker the starting position in right field even though Nate Schierholtz is the superior defender. Bowker made a very nice grab in right field to end the bottom of the 2nd inning. Giants are hoping Bowker can at least be an average defender in right field.
The first homer of the season for the Giants came off of the bat of DeRosa. It was a solo shot that just cleared the right field wall. The Giants went on to win the game by a score of 5-2 over the Astros.
The two offseason bats the Giants acquired (Huff, DeRosa) this offseason went a combined 2 for 7 at the plate, scoring 3 runs and getting 1 RBI.
The Giants and Astros are back at it tonight in Houston at Minute Maid Park. It’s a 5:05 Pacific start time, so kick off your shoes after a long day of work. Barry Zito is on the mound tonight against Wandy Rodriguez. Let’s hope Zito can have a quality start and give us a chance to win.
Bruce Bochy joined Murph and Mac this morning on KNBR the Giants flagship station. He said there is always some butterflies for coaches and players on Opening Day. The Giants ace Tim Lincecum will be a little amped up today, and Giants fans hope he’s a little more calm than last year’s opener. Let’s hope that Lincecum takes some deep breathes before getting on the mound tonight in Houston. He’s a great pitcher but sometimes seems to get a little out of sync in big games like last year’s opener and All Star Game.
Bochy said that Mark DeRosa jammed his shoulder in the last pre-season game. DeRosa told Bochy last night that he will be find for today’s opener. Bochy will check on DeRosa today, and if they need to give him the day off. They will make changes to the starting lineup. DeRosa doesn’t want to be out of the Opening Day Lineup.
John Bowker will be the starting right fielder. Bochy said Bowker is coming off a great season in Fresno, and tore the cover off the ball in Spring Training. He had a lot of quality at bats. He’s earned the start, Bochy said. Nate Schierholtz is the teams best defender and he will try to get him some at bats. Nasty Nate was penciled in at the start of spring training as the Giants right fielder, but was unable to get a consistent swing going this spring.
Bochy says Pablo Sandoval is ready to go. He hit a three run homer in his last pre-season at bat. He told Bochy since it was his last at bat that he would hit a homer.
The Opening Game is at Minute Maid Park at 4:05pm. Against the Houston Astros (Lincecum vs. Oswalt). I hope all you Giants fans will be off work by then. If not, then I hope you set your DVR to record. Let’s get the 2010 season started off with a Giants win.
Ray Ratto of the San Francisco Chronicle says Buster Posey is probably headed to Fresno. Ratto says Posey’s first major league day of 2010 will be on one of two dates. June 1st, when the Giants can push his arbitration clock back another year, or the day catcher Bengie Molina gets hurt.
King of Cali thoughts: This is one of those catch 22’s. You’re damned if you, and you’re damned if you don’t. Posey is ready and has earned a spot on the 25 man roster. They just aren’t going to give it to him. They don’t want to have Posey sitting and not getting a good number of at bats. The smartest thing to do is let him go down to Fresno and continue to play everyday. Keep his stroke going and continue to master the catching position. The Posey era will have to wait a little longer to begin in San Francisco.
San Francisco Giants broadcaster and former second baseman Duane Kuiper does his first show with Murph and Mac on KNBR. It’s his first show of 55 (Lincecum’s number.. Is that a sign for another Cy Young?). That is unless they make the playoffs. Then I’m sure more shows will be added.
Kuiper said the Giants did exceed in a lot of the things they wanted to accomplish this spring. The disappointing part of Spring was Madison Bumgarner didn’t win the 5th spot in the starting rotation. He is a homegrown kid and he didn’t light it up like everyone wanted him to.
He thinks Buster Posey put all the questions to rest about him not being ready defensively. He also hit like everyone thought he was going too. Kuiper doesn’t think he will make the 25 man roster, but says the Giants will see a lot of Posey at some point this year. He said the Giants can put him on this roster, and he would definitely help the team. He just thinks with the days off in April for the Giants. That may have hurt Posey chances of getting in some games behind the dish and at first base.
Kuiper says it seems to be a really good clubhouse this year, and a good clubhouse can win you a few games.
Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle says Freddy Sanchez cannot wait until the day he can start proving to increasingly skeptical Giants fans that the team did not blow $12 million for two years on a player who is done physically.
There is not set day for Sanchez to return to the Giants. The most optimistic prognosis for his return is May 1, but even that seems a stretch now.
King of Cali thoughts: I know, I keep having to defend Brian Sabean on this trade (has since been re-signed) for Sanchez. He’s a well proven bat and can handle himself at second base. He hasn’t been healthy since his arrival in San Francisco. Let’s just hope when he does return to the team. He’s 100% healthy. A healthy Sanchez can really spark this offense. He would be a guy that’s on base for Pablo Sandoval and Aubrey Huff to drive him in.
Bill James Handbook has the following projections for Sanchez. It’s predicted that he will hit .288 this year with 8 homers, 56 RBI’s and 67 runs scored. Now these are just projected numbers, but I have done my research on his projections and they are pretty accurate for most players.
Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News says with a week remaining before the April 5th opener at Houston. The Giants still haven’t settled on an everyday man in right field. The Giants are likely to use the four games in a real stadium to decide whether John Bowker can handle the unexpected flight paths and pinball bounces. They also will Mark DeRosa, who would open up a spot in left field for Bowker if he moved to right.
King of Cali thoughts: The job was pretty much all but set in stone that Nate Schierholtz would be starting in right field. Nasty Nate who can hold down right field with the best of them, but was unable to stay consistent at the plate. The Giants need to decide now if they want to sacrifice some defense for a hotter bat in the lineup. It’s been noted that the Giants want to have the best defense possible to play good behind this pitching staff. With Aubrey Huff at first base. That’s already giving up some defense to help the lineup score some runs.
With less than a week left till the start of the 2010 season. Let’s see which man wins the right field job.
Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News said on 
The end of the first series of the season ends today. The Giants are sending 
The 2010 season gets started with a weak grounder to the shortstop by 
Bruce Bochy
San Francisco Giants broadcaster and former second baseman 
