I can’t wait until Christian Friedrich’s next start. He’ll be found after the game, sitting in the team shower, shivering under the shower head, shivering in his soaking uniform.

“B-b-but I threw the ball! How did they hit it?”

Rockies Pitching Coach Bob Apodaca will turn off the shower tap, and slide down next to Friedrich.

“Son, you’re going to have to learn sooner or later. Not every team is the Giants.”

Today was Christian Friedrich’s second major league start, and he looked pretty unhittable for most of the game. Caveat: Giants, because they Giants.

It’s all downhill from here, kid.

***

Oh wait, it’s against the Mariners. Never mind.

***

Ryan Vogelsong looked bad, but did well. Actually, he looked pretty good, but did badly, until you looked up at the end of the game and realized he’d actually done well, while looking bad. That made sense in my head.

This is also kind of what the 2012 Giants pitching staff experience has been so far. Tim Lincecum fools batters and strikes out whole armies, but gives up runs aplenty. Zito and Vogelsong walked whole lineups, and escaped with minimal damage. Even Bumgarner has looked shaky. It’s just a thing this year.

Except Matt Cain. Six more years!

But yeah, Vogelsong. As Kruk and Kuip pointed out throughout the broadcast, Vogelsong had a bunch of 3-2 counts, especially early in the game. He had 29 pitches in the first inning and 30 in the third (8 in the second), and gave up a lot of loud contact while walking five. On the other hand, many of his walks were just outside the zone, and he generally spotted his pitches well, aside from his one mistake to Wilin Rosario.

The walks I remember, and the loud contact. But then I look up and see 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER. Ryan Vogelsong.

***

Setback Sanchez had another Freddy.

***

In college I played intramural floor hockey, and one of my teammates had an absolutely ridiculous slap shot. He’d been known to knock goalies backward into the net with the force of his shot, and I even once saw him miss the goal completely and shatter a sign hanging on the wall behind the net, about 10 feet up the wall. A few days after that, we were in the middle of a game and he made his shot, driving a hard, rubber puck into my right shin. My leg turned red, then blue and purple, and then red again. It ached all day, and kept me up at night for a solid three weeks.

So, yeah. I wouldn’t want to be Troy Tulowitski right now.

***

Another catcher was blown up today, when Chase Headley crashed into Washington rookie catcher Sandy Leon at home plate, knocking him back as his right leg buckled under him. Leon got up and took a few steps, before falling to his knees and grimacing in pain, before his coaches helped him off the field. While the circumstances leading up to the play were almost identical to Posey (throw coming from right-center field, short hop right in front of the plate), Leon was definitely blocking the plate at the time, something that Posey wasn’t doing.

But still, that’s not the point. These plays shouldn’t exist in baseball, which is a position we’ve been consistent on. If Headley really had no choice but to go through Leon, then that’s a baseball problem. After Posey’s injury people lashed out at the this-shouldn’t-exist-in-baseball group by saying that we were only bringing it up because Buster Posey was a rockstar, and that if it had happened to someone else with less name recognition, it wouldn’t get national attention.

Well, I had never the name Sandy Leon before today. I’m still not quite sure how to pronounce it. It shouldn’t have happened.

Brandon Watch 2012:

Crawford: A hit today, and generally an unmemorable game on defense, in a good way.

Belt: 

Stats of the Day:

11: Number of times Gregor Blanco has started a game. Of those, he has reached base (hit or walk) in 10 games. 13 hits, 6 walks. Keep this man in the lineup. He also told Amy G: “I always try to take pitches.” Weird.

3: Times I rewatched Pablo Sandoval pie Gregor Blanco in the face.

2: Hits by Brett Pill today, including a 2-out hit with RISP. Remember those?

1: Total walks by the Giants.

0: Times I need to see the Buster Posey injury again.

Too many: Times I will see the Buster Posey injury again.

Bonus Stat of the Day:

14: Out of 14, the rank my fantasy baseball is in this year. Get well soon, Chris Young! Get good soon, Geovany Soto!