by
Greek Giant
How nice is it to wake up in Greece and read this on espn.com:
The surprising NL West leaders have won seven of eight and are a season-high 21 games over .500 with the best record in the majors at 47-26 and a three-game lead over the Dodgers.
The Giants keep on keepin’ on! Last night they shutout the Angels of SoCal 5-0 thanks to Anthony Desclafani’s superb 7-inning start and two scoreless innings by the relief corps. In the process Mr. Desclafani is making his case for the All Star Game pitching staff. The win gave him a record of 8-2 and lowered his ERA to 2.77. Imagine those numbers from your number 2 pitcher!
As for the hitting attack there were homers by Mauricio Dubon and Wilmer Flores. Mr. Flores appears to have found his hitting stroke in the wake of the Evan Longoria injury and is making the most of his time as the Giants third baseman. He had another hit as well and raised his average to a cool .262. Flores is a good example of the depth the Giants have demonstrated this season during the inevitable injuries to key players. As kind of the forgotten man on a roster with hitters achieving may peaks of offensive prowess for the San Franciscans, Flores is an example of a veteran contributing to the team and a big reason why the Giants have continued to win when things were looking bleaker than a fog ridden Haight Street on Sunday night as Evan Longoria, who was having a fine season, suffered his weird collision with BCraw.
Dubon’s home run was especially poignant because he was celebrating his proposal to marry his girlfriend the night before. She said yes. He also explained in a piece by Alex Pavlovic how frustrating his season had been at times and the amount of work he put into fixing his swing.
BCraw, by the way, went 3-3 and Brandon Belt had a key RBI bunt single down the third base line with two outs in the top of the first. It was a work of genius and a beacon of hope to all lefties out there who need to find creative ways to beat the shift.
Here is a nice overview of the superb outing by Desclafani.
9 Ks in another clean outing from @ADeSclafani: pic.twitter.com/BEh4BvoDo1
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) June 23, 2021
The Box
Today’s Game.
The incredible Shohei Otani is schedule to pitch for the Angels. One hopes he will be out of the lineup as a result since he usually does not hit on days he hurls. For the Giants the starter will be Kevin Gausman, looking to continue his run to 20 wins. First pitch is at 1:07 PM, Rod Carew time.
Editor’s note: We mistakenly wrote that the current Giants – Angels series was three games. It is a two game series. Thanks go to Rob Deer for his fine and finely sarcastic corrections in the commentary. What would I do without him.