Tagged: Indians
Giants 5, Indians 3: Burriss’ early exit a precaution
Emmanuel Burriss showed off his versatility again Wednesday by getting the start in right field for ailing Nate Schierholtz.
But after getting a walk in two plate appearances, Burriss made a quick exit after three innings, which was curious.
As it turns out, Burriss felt a tweak in his hamstring and decided to let trainers know. Then the decision was made to remove him.
“I’ve got a good thing going,” Burriss told CSNBayArea.com. “Might as well speak up if you don’t feel right. I’ve played a lot of innings. It’s nothing serious at all.”
Burriss, who is hitting .417 this spring, likely will sit out a couple of games, which works out OK for the Giants. Look for Ryan Theriot to get starts at 2B the next couple of days.
Theriot played in a minor-league game Wednesday as he tried to find the timing in his bat. The Giants need to make a call by next Thursday on whether or not to keep Theriot. Henry Schulman of the SF Chronicle had a nice story about Theriot’s situation. To read it, click here.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
- LF Brett Pill, who has been quiet lately, made some noise with a three-run home run in the fourth. Just as noteworthy, he took his first walk of the spring.
- DH Buster Posey went 2 for 4, raising his spring average to .294.
- C Chris Stewart went 1 for 2 with a walk. He also gunned down Asdrubel Cabrera trying to steal second.
- C Hector Sanchez kept swinging the hot bat, going 2 for 2, with a double, bumping his spring average to .480.
- P Eric Surkamp continues to give the Giants confidence that they have some depth in the rotation. Surkamp would be the No. 1 option to fill in if there is an injury or if someone (read: Zito) struggles. He gave up two runs in five innings, both runs scoring on a two-run homer to Shelley Duncan.
UP NEXT
Tim Linecum faces Jamie Moyer as the Giants meet the Rockies at 7:10 p.m.
Giants 2, Indians 2: Busting out
It was great to see Buster Posey catching again.
It was great to see Buster Posey swinging the bat in a game again.
But we were thinking Wednesday, it would be really great to see Buster Posey get a hit again.
Posey put together three 0-fers in his first three spring training games, and that stretch extended to 0 for 8 in Wednesday’s game against the Indians.
But in his third at-bat Wednesday, Posey drove a Tony Sipp fastball the opposite way over the right-field wall for his first spring hit — a home run.
“I thought I hit it pretty good,” Posey said. “I’m just glad I hit it hard. That’s the goal every time.”
It was another good sign on Posey’s road to recovery.
There have been some talking heads who have doubting whether Posey will be fully recovered by opening day.
Posey is not one of them.
“I think I’ve been lucky as far as not having any setbacks,” he said. “I don’t know if I need to knock on wood or what. But I think we’ve got a game plan the rest of the way through. I’ll be ready on April 6.”
The now is for Posey to take Thursday off and catch again on Friday. He hopes to catch six innings in a game next week.
And as far as knocking on wood? Yes, Buster, you do need to knock on wood. Base knocks. Keep ’em coming.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Gregor Blanco continues to give the Giants reason to think. He went 1 for 3 with a walk. Blanco drew a walk to open the game (a rarity for the Giants in 2011). He was moving on Melky Cabrera’s grounder to first. When Cabrera was thrown out with the pitcher covering first, Blanco scooted all the way to third base. That allowed him to score on Pablo Sandoval’s ground out. Manager Bruce Bochy said the decision to keep Blanco on the 25-man roster will likely go right down to the wire. “He’s certainly intriguing, isn’t he?” Bochy said.
- Matt Cain gave up two runs on five hits and walk in 3 2/3 innings. He struck out four. One run allowed scored on an inning-ending double play when Asdrubel Cabrera came across the plate before the Giants could complete a tag-out double play in the first. The other run scored when Mitch Lively came into relieve Cain in the fourth and allowed an inherited runner to score from third on a wild pitch.
- Relievers Brian Wilson, Javier Lopez, Clay Hensley and Dan Otero each recorded 1-2-3 innings.
- Not sure if it’s a cause of concern, but the Giants’ bats have gone a little cold in recent days. They were limited to four singles andPosey’s home run on Wednesday. They also struck out eight times with only one walk — the walk to Blanco to open the game. But this early in spring, hitters prefer to swing the bat than take pitches. For example, the Indians struck out 14 times with just one walk.
UP NEXT
Barry Zito takes the mound at the Giants face the Mariners in a 7:05 p.m. at Peoria. The game will be televised live on the MLB Network.
Giants get two wins Saturday and head for home
Wins and losses in spring training don’t matter. But the Giants really needed to get one win before leaving Arizona.
Well, they got two. Both on Saturday.
The Giants left Arizona with a 20-12 record after posting wins over the Reds and Indians on Saturday.
The news wasn’t all good Saturday. Tim Lincecum, making his final spring start, got smacked around pretty good by the Reds.
“I just started missing spots and pitches got up, and I wasn’t getting ahead of many batters,” Lincecum said. “My arm feels ready. It would be nice to get to some games that actually matter.”
We guess that’s the good news. Lincecum is healthy and ready for the season. We just wish he went into the regular season on a stronger note.
Lincecum gave up six runs on 11 hits in five innings. The big hits were wind-blown home runs by Juan Francisco in the second and a three-run homer by ex-Giant Fred Lewis.
On the bright side, the Giants hitters who had largely struggled in the past week got going Saturday.
Andres Torres was 3 for 4 with two doubles and four RBI. Two of those hits were right-handed, which was huge. The oblique injury Torres suffered early in the spring limited his right-handed at-bats and he had struggled since then. So Saturday’s performance was a good sign.
Freddy Sanchez was 2 for 3 before leaving the game after being kicked in the head trying to break up a double play. He was said to be OK, which was good news.
Buster Posey walked three times. Pablo Sandoval was 1 for 3, so was Pat Burrell and Mark DeRosa. Miguel Tejada’s bat continued a strong finish to the spring, going 2 for 4 with two runs.
The Giants scored six runs in the sixth, five coming off Reds reliever Aroldis Chapman.
Also good news is four scoreless innings by the Giants bullpen. Four pitchers — Shane Loux, Guillermo Mota, Jeremy Affeldt and Steve Edlefsen combined to give up just one hit and one walk.
In the Saturday evening game, the Indians announcers were belly-aching about how the fans in Goodyear were being cheated because the Giants sent out a Triple-A lineup. Then that Triple-A lineup pounded out eight runs on 13 hits in an 8-5 win.
Mike Fontenot, Brandon Crawford and Eli Whiteside were all 2 for 5. Brandon Belt was 2 for 4, including a three-run home run. Nate Schierholtz was 2 for 4 and Roger Kieschnick was 2 for 3 with a home run.
On Sunday, the Giants capped their Arizona schedule with a 7-4 loss to the Royals. Jonathan Sanchez suffered his first spring loss. He gave up five runs, four earned, on six hits in 5 1/3 innings. The good news is that he only walked one, a four-pitch walk to Kila Kaaihue that would come back to bite Sanchez.
In the fourth, Sanchez gave up a double to Melky Cabrera, who scored on a single by Billy Butler. After the walk to Ka’aihue, Sanchez got Alex Gordon to pop out and Jeff Francoeur to strike out. Sanchez was one strike from ending the inning against Wilson Betemit, who then smacked a three-run homer for a four-run inning.
The Giants again ran out a lineup devoid of regular starters.
Expect the regular to be in the lineup Monday when the Giants return to San Francisco to open a three-game series against the A’s.
Trying to stay positive
We’re going to try to stay positive in the post in the wake of the Giants’ 7-1 loss to the Indians on Thursday night.
We’re not going to discuss on the fact that the loss was the Giants’ fourth consecutive or that it was their sixth in the past seven games.
We’re not going to talk about on the fact that including Monday’s rained out 2 1/2 innings, the Giants have been outscored 20-1 over the last 20+ innings.
We’re not going to focus on how the Giants’ starting right fielder will open the season on the DL, and their closer may soon be joining him.
We’re not even going to think about how the Giants’ recent play left a frustrated Bruce Bochy to comment: “We’re not doing anything well now these last five games — pitching, hitting, baserunning (he didn’t mention fielding). We’ve got to pick it up. It’s been a great camp and we’re due to have a lull, but it’s too close to the season to make the mistakes we’re making.”
No, we’re going to ignore all those things as we try to accentuate the positive. So here we go.
Barry Zito. Zito has another solid outing. In fact, it was a quality start, pitching six innings and giving up two earned runs. He gave four runs total on seven hits. More importantly, he only gave up one walk and struck out five.
Miguel Tejada. Much has been made about the veteran’s shortstops struggles at the plate and in the field this spring. But hopefully, Thursday was the sign that Tejada is ready to ramp things up for the regular season. Tejada belted his first home run of the spring and only his second extra-base hit. He also made a nice barehanded play while charging an infield grounder, getting the out with an off-balance throw that ended with a somersault on the infield grass. “When I make a play like that, I think it tells me my legs are ready to go,” Tejada said.
Buster Posey. Posey went 1 for 2 with a walk. His spring average is .415. Watch out, Ted Williams!
Jeremy Affeldt. The left-handed reliever gave up just one hit in a scoreless inning of work. His spring ERA is 0.96.
Dan Runzler. The lefty is making his strong push to make the big club by setting the side down in order in the ninth. His spring ERA is 2.57.
Opening day. The season opener is less than a week away. Is there any better news than that?
Spring training: Indians 7, Giants 1
Giants fans who were hoping to see a Tim Lincecum-esque outing from Tim Lincecum on Tuesday didn’t get that. The Giants ace gave up four earned runs on four hits and four walks in four innings of works as the Cleveland Indians beat the San Francisco Giants 7-1.
More Splash Hits 