San Francisco Giants Baseball-#1: Good Pitchers, Not Great Ones

Good Pitchers, Not Great Ones

I am going to premise this baseball blog on two infallible concepts: one, something occurs in every baseball game that is played, that has never happened before; and two, the purpose in watching the Giants play, is not to see a victory, but to see the game played well.  For me it is enough to know that I am watching the best team in baseball play each day.

I used to feel that an appropriate measure for a "successful" game was to have the tying runs on base in the late innings, thus providing a chance for victory.  Now victory is no longer the measure of success.  Simply watching them play, knowing that they have the best win/loss ratio for one-run games, lends credence to the idea that they can pull out a victory if they are behind.

Did I mention that the Giants lead the majors in come-from behind victories?  Even when the Twins jumped on Madbum for eight runs in the first, I did not bail out on our guys.  I remembered that nine-run deficit that we had overcome last summer against Cincy.  The fact that David, who hails from Minnesota, was watching the game with me, made it impossible to admit that eight runs might have been a tad too many.  Therefore, we watched until the seventh, when he had to go off and do some chores.

Last night's game had already exceeded expectations, when we were able to tie it up in the eighth.  So when the Reds opened the tenth by loading the bases with no one out,  Nate's catch and two-hop throw to the plate, with one out, was as sweet a play as I've seen all season.  Eli had time to apply the tag, and get back out of the way, before the sliding runner crossed the plate, making it a straightforward call.  Perfect execution.

Edgar's hit in the thirteenth?  I'd rather be beaten by Edgar Renteria, than any other player in the game.

I have one comment on Charlie Manual's incredibly shortsighted evaluation of Timmy and Matt's pitching.  He said that they were good pitchers, not great ones.  Poor Charlie doesn't get it.  It doesn't matter whether Timmy and Matt are good or great; the Phollies seem to have a hard time scoring runs off of them.  Indeed, by denigrating Timmy and Matt, he disses on his own team.  After all, if his own offensive-minded juggernaut cannot get past the "good" pitchers, what are they going to do when they get to the great ones, like Madbum and Vogelsong?