Hanging In There

Sep 28, 2022 | 2022 Season, Latest Post

by
Greek Giant

The Giants Magic number is now 8. I kid you not. The Phillies lost and with the Giants 5-2 win over the Rockies last night at Willie Mays Field it means the Giants would make the final Wild Card if they win out and the Phillies lose their final eight games. It could happen.

In the top of the first inning Charlie Blackmon smacked a single the opposite way to get the scoring in the game started. It was a great piece of hitting on a decent fastball. Blackmon looks like a Hall-of-Famer every time he plays the Giants.

The Giants answered the Rockies run with two in the bottom of the first when Joc Pederson took a splieatieerer about thigh-high and moving towards the outside of the plate and smashed it over the wall in center field. In a bit of comic effect Rockies center fielder Yonathan Daza put his back to the wall and raised his arms as if to say he was going to make the catch. Nope.

The ball sailed five feet over his head and into the netting.

The Giants second run scored when Yaz hit a fly ball to medium shallow left center that the aforementioned Yaza caught in an off balance position and took three extra steps before releasing the throw that turned out to be offline. That enabled Thairo Estrada to score easily when he tagged up from third. If the ball is caught with proper technique, with your body behind it and your throwing hand on the glove with a quick release and accurate throw then you may have a different story at the plate.

Defense Matters

In the top of the fourth inning with nobody out and a 0-1 county Diaz hit a bouncer in the hole between third and short that few mortal shortstops get to, let alone throw to first for the out.


Brandon Crawford did it with ease. It was a thing of beauty, a superb example of his range, technique and arm strength. He made the throw off balance heading into left field and first baseman Wilmer Flores did not even have to move his glove. It is a play that needs to be viewed by every budding shortstop from high school to the Big Leagues. Watch closely how Crawford fields the ball and in the same motion makes the exchange from glove to throwing hand and fires an accurate throw. It’s an incredible, athletic skill and I could make this entire post about it.

Davis Goes Boom!

In the bottom of the fourth inning J. D. Davis hit a booming homer to the deepest part of Willie Mays Field off a slider that did not slide very much.


It was lowish and towards the middle of the plate. Davis has tremendous opposite field power with his inside-out swing. The homer made the game 3-1. I want to see Davis get 400-500 at bast next year because I promise you, if he does he hits 25 long balls or more and drives in 85 runs. You read it here first. Take my word for hit, Farhan. Some guys just need a change of team/scenery/city to jump start their careers. This appears to be the case with Davis.

In the bottom of the seventh inning the Giants added two insurance runs on a double by Joc that scored Joey Bart from first base. That’s the second time in a week that Bart scored from first on a double. In this case the Rockies kicked the ball around a bit and that allowed the Giant catcher to score the run.

Estrada followed with a bloop single to right to bring Bart home and it was 5-1, Giants.

Webb’s 15th Win

Logan Webb pitched five very efficient innings allowing only that first inning run and recording seven strikeouts with one walk. He threw 78 pitches and was pulled as was the plan to keep his pitch count limited in his final starts. The plan worked beautifully as the Giants only allowed a Rockies run in the ninth off Camilo Doval to complete the win. Webb recorded his 15th victory against 9 losses and lowered his ERA to 2.90. 2022 has been a good year for Logan.

Tyler Rogers pitched two shutout innings and Scott Alexander pitched a shutout in his inning of work to keep things stress-free for the 18,554 fans in attendance and those watching at home.

Tonight’s Game

Game two of the series takes place tonight at 6:40 PM. Jose Urena of the Rockies will face a Giants reliever.