You could set your clock to the Giants' ineptitude in Southern California in April. They got clobbered in Los Angeles and San Diego in 2009 and 2010. Thought it would be different with the team wearing World Series patches on its uniforms? Think again.
The Giants' 2011 start officially reached "ugly" with Tuesday's 3-1 loss to San Diego in the Padres' home opener. The Giants are 2-15 in March and April at Dodger Stadium and Petco Park dating to 2009.
There are many reasons why, though poor clutch hitting has been a steady undercurrent. So it was Tuesday, when the third inning told the entire story.
In the top half, Miguel Tejada doubled and Madison Bumgarner singled to put runners on the corners with nobody out against Aaron Harang. Andres Torres and Freddy Sanchez, who could have added to a 1-0 lead with a flyball - or, in Torres' case, even a double play - both struck out, and the Giants did not score.
In the bottom half, a Padres lineup that was supposed to wilt without Adrian Gonzalez made Bumgarner throw 41 pitches. He walked three batters, including Chase Headley with the bases loaded, and let the third run score on a Chris Denorfia comebacker when the ball slipped out of his hand as he tried to throw to first for the third out.
Those three runs were plenty for the Padres, as the Giants went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and assured they will sport a losing record when they raise the championship banner at AT&T Park on Friday. The only question now is whether they can win behind Tim Lincecum today to make it 2-4, or whether it will be 1-5.
"Obviously, it's frustrating," Buster Posey said. "I think everybody's more frustrated because we've been in all the games, minus the last one in L.A., and even in that one, we had a shot.
"That's the positive you can take away from it. We were just one big hit away from tying it up or taking a lead."
San Diego got no big hits to score. The RBIs went to Jorge Cantu on a sacrifice fly, Headley on a walk and Denorfia on the comebacker, which should have been ruled an error on Bumgarner.
Nick Hundley started the rally with a single on the eighth pitch of his at-bat. Ryan Ludwick forced Bumgarner to throw 10 pitches for a walk after falling behind 0-2. The Padres spoiled a lot of good pitches with foul balls.
Manager Bruce Bochy said he thought Bumgarner might have gotten frustrated with a few ball-strike calls that did not go his way and tried to make perfect pitches, which usually leads to imperfect ones. Ludwick surmised that Bumgarner got a little "rattled" in the inning, "not with me or not with any one hitter. That was a long inning."
In truth, Bumgarner was poised enough to prevent the game from getting out of hand. He retired Cameron Maybin on a flyball with the bases loaded to end the inning down 3-1.
"That's what I've been working on a long time, trying to keep my composure," Bumgarner said. "That's what I want to do each time out, whether it's good or bad. It would have been a lot worse if I had lost my composure. There's no telling how bad it could have been."
1 comment:
Show your 100% performance in game leave it to god.
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