ugh.
Madison Bumgarner’s historic two home runs in game one of the season were wasted in a bullpen implosion that included Melancon. The debacle was followed by a win for Cueto in game 2, but the G-men couldn’t put it together after that and the snakes took the first series 3-1. Samardzija gotshellacked for three HRs, Matt Moore looked great until Brandon Belt made a rare error, and then he collapsed into a heap and fell apart.
Dwelling in the cellar of the NL West with the Padres to open the season, the Giants now have an opportunity to separate themselves with three games down in San Diego, where I’m certain there will be the usual cadre of screaming SF gamers to assist the fellas in their pursuit back up the standings.
It’s only the first series of the year and indeed after last year – when we had the hottest, first half in all of baseball only to have an epic second half collapse – I’m cool with losing a few as we settle in and find a groove. We lost three key players in our ‘pen, and have a new look on 3rd and in LF. It’s gonna take time.
Trouble is, the NL West is gonna require maximum wins, especially against division rivals. At this point, the Rockies, Dodgers and D-Backs are all 3-1, while we and the Pads are at 1-3. To stay in the hunt for the second wildcard is going to be difficult with this competition.
The Rockies had a great winter adding Dave Holland and Ian Desmond to an already pretty good team that features Nolan Arenado. While they did pick on a weak Brewers squad to win their opening series, it will be really interesting to see what happens against the Dodgers at altitude this week – can they get to the nemesis’ pitchers?
With the butterflies and yips of opening day and the opening series of the year behind them, the Giants need to jump on the Padres, while the Rockies and Dodgers beat up each other. But looking for a sweep as we head to San Diego, I’m not encouraged Matt Cain’s on the mound today to start things off. We all love the big horse, but he’s been a slow-moving train wreck ever since the perfect game.
Sweep the Pads.
Come On, Big Horse, make it happen!
love,
mtk
M.T. Karthik 