When Chad covers the games he tends to give a full recap and a story of the game and what happened. I’m a bit different. Tonight I’m going to cover the things I notice as the game goes on in more of a “stream of consciousness” style. Of course, the experience from the press box is not the same as the one you will get from normal seats so hopefully I can give you a new perspective.
- Arriving at the park is such a different feeling when the Giants are rolling and this team is rolling with a capital G. 11 of 13 and and 25-10 since April 21st. The best in the bigs over that time.
- There was a good feeling at BP. Most guys were raking the ball and for such a small guy the loudest contact was coming off of Duffy’s bat. He has been very impressive since taking over every day at 3rd. His .343 avg is the 8th best in the majors in May.
- Forgive the vertical shooting but I was Perscoping BP and caught the Brandons and Panik doing…well….whatever the hell this is: Some awesome new drill
- There is no hole in tonight’s lineup for the G-men. Every hitter top to bottom is seeing the ball well which is great since the weather is cooling off quick and it will likely take a string of hits to score runs tonight. When Pagan is your 7th hitter you know things are going well. The only guy struggling is Belt but against a Righty he should be in the lineup.
- The anthem was sung by a 1st grade class. No notes were hit but the “aww” factor was strong.
- A.J. Pierzynski still receives boos from the fans here at AT&T park. Michael Morse may be the most beloved one-year Giant and A.J. is definitely the most hated.
- It’s uncomfortable how long the camera stayed on the kid who yelled “play ball”. Although he didn’t seem to mind. Atta be, babe!
- When Hunter comes out he always takes a moment to acknowledge the fans in the three areas around right. This man can do no wrong and will go down as an all-time fan favorite in this town.
- Aoki has been great so far. I think from now on we should absorb someone from every team we beat in the World Series. Just as a rule.
- I was just here the other weekend and I could have sworn Juan Uribe was, too. Oh well. I guess I’m just hallucinating. Wait. He’s a Brave now?!
- A nice video package for the Warriors during the break. This may be the Bay Area’s golden age of sports. Make sure you appreciate it everyone.
- Heston is making the Braves look like little leaguers tonight. Kid is dealing through three! Line: 4K 1H 3IP
- Went to meet a friend who was here in the upper deck and she says she now hates Buster Posey because a friend of hers works in hositality and says he never tips. Cannot corraborate and only one source so I’m still a fan pending a full investigation.
- Heston with a 2B in the 6th for his first career etra bagger. One of the reasons I hate the DH is it takes away the fun moments when a pitcher does something awesome at the plate. We’ll save this topic for the podcast itself.
- Kiss Cam is always a joy. Tonight’s fun moment? Camera finds a guy actually in the act of applying chapstick. He goes in for the kiss but clearly he is in the friend zone and gets denied. Hilarious.
- Belt leaves earth in the 7th and the goys take a 1-0 lead. He hit it much harder than it looked as not only is the weather tough but he went opposite fild as well. He was the coldest Giant coming in so this bodes well.
- Even though he isn’t the closer anymore Romo still comes in to El Mechon and I love it. It still riles up the locals. Highlight, guy drunkenly doing finger guns to the latin jam.
- This is a Thursday night in a 1-0 game and the crowd is seriously rocking. I love that we have embraced this style of baseball here in SF. I get the feeling most AL crowds would be bored to tears and missing all the good stuff a game like this provides. The atmosphere is almost like a playoff game.
- Giants explode for 6 in the 8th on the strength of the magic wandu follwed by some gappers and line drives. The boys look impressive.
- Final score 7-0. Heston gets the win with 7.1 IP 6K and only 5 baserunners allowed, HR by Belt and 2 RBI for Panik and Pence and the team hitting a blistering 6-11 with RISP. With the Dodgers off for the night that moves the Giants a half game out of first after a terrible start to the year. They are also now 14-3 over their last 17 games at home. This looks like the team that was the best in baseball for a good portion of 2014.. The key now will be health and the moves that they make, if any, at the All-Star break.
No bonusode tonight as I covered the action alone but we’ll be back Monday and hopefully the Giants will keep it rolling through the weekend.
-Willie Dills
The TortureCast 