by
Greek Giant

The Giants lost the fourth game of the series against the Reds yesterday in somewhat annoying fashion. The 5-1 loss and the split in the series largely came as a result of a fantastic performance by Reds starting pitcher Andrew Abbot. He pitched eight shutout innings and allowed only one hit! The Giants had no answer for him one night after getting mostly shut down by his teammate, Graham Ashcraft.

The story of these two losses is the Reds won both games the old-fashioned way: with superior pitching, good defense, speed and a few homers. The Cincinnati team is very athletic and garnering rave reviews for their young players like De La Cruz and Raley but I was most impressed by the aforementioned hurlers.

Granted the Giants are not full strength in the line up and they need their stars to shine. Unfortunately, Alex Cobb was never sharp in his game last night. He fell behind the counter on hitter after hitter and that is one of the first warning signs for Sir Alex. He allowed 13 baserunners (9 hits and 4 walks) in his 4 1/3 innings of work. That’s not going to cut it against this Reds squad that has a legit shot at winning the NL Centra. The Reds scored on homers, doubles and singles and the Giants were never in the game.

BUUUUUT, the boys from San Francisco did win the first two games of the series and after sweeping the Pirates in steeltown that means they are 5-2 on their current 11-game roadie. With two wins in the nation’s capital this weekend we are talking about a potential 7-4 or 8-3 trip, depending on the Monday make up game in Detroit. We will take that any time.

Andrew Bailey threw out another runner trying to steal second base.

Rest In Peace Tony!

I saw Tony Bennett in concert six years ago when he was 90 and he was just fab and charming. His passing yesterday means America loses another music and cultural icon. Sing in heaven Tony!

Tonight’s Game

The Giants, as I mentioned, travel to Washington D.C. for a three-game series against the Nationals. Tonight’s game begins at 7:05 PM, D.C. time. The starting pitching matchup is listed as Alex Wood against Jake Irvin.