Crawnik Scottsdale Report #2

Greetings from sunny Arizona again. Last night was a beautiful night for baseball in the Sonoran desert. Temperature at gametime was 81 degrees and no wind. The Giants would have their projected lineup for the first time this spring with Pudge’s son, Dereck Rodriguez pitching against the D-backs projected lineup. Good thing Shark was pitching over in Mesa to work on his pitches.

I know Belt loves hitting at Talking Stick, but Panik got things started with a second pitch of the game blast over the right-center field wall to get things going. Then Cutch hit his first homer of the spring, a two-run shot that was high and just kept carrying over the left field wall. Giants had a 4-0 lead going to the bottom of the first. Of note: after the Giants scored their four runs, they promptly struck out in five of the next six at-bats. They could not figure out the off-speed stuff that the D-back relievers were throwing.

I was impressed with Dereck Rodriguez for his poise on the mound. After he gave up a double to David Peralta, he turned and fired a strike to Panik to pick off Peralta at second base. Papa would have been proud of him. No runs allowed in 3 innings of work. Osich continues to amaze. 0 runs allowed this spring, two more punchouts to boot. I was a big Okert fan just last year, but Osich has really opened my eyes this spring and good for him. Also good, albeit an inning, was Dyson redeeming himself after Tuesday night’s debacle. 1 walk and 2 K’s. He is a hot-and-cold pitcher, but perhaps pitching on back-to-back nights helped him. Gearrin, Parra, Rogers and Jake McCasland all got an inning of work in too.

Despite the fact that the Giants played against a string of minor-league pitchers, you still have to see ball, hit ball. And hit they did. Panik, Belt, Buster with 3 hits each, Longo, BCraw and Pablo with 2 more. Duggar got one AB in. He’s down to .244 now, but I’m not worried. I will say, however, that I do like Panik and Belt at the top of the order.

 

27-0 in two games here at Talking Stick? Maybe the Giants should be play the D-backs and Rockies more often here.

Enjoy the pictures, courtesy of Mrs. Crawnik. Down day today for us. We’ll be at the final Cactus League game tomorrow against Kansas City with Bum trying to recreate his World Series Game 7 relief appearance or his Game 5 shutout against the Royals. Plus, our seats are first row right next to the Giants dugout. Pictures and hopefully an autograph or two.