The Giants scored three runs in a 2-out rally in the first inning. Brandon Belt had an extra-base hit. Barry Zito drew a walk, and threw a quality start. Not bad for a beautiful day in San Francisco, and Thomas and I scored press passes to watch this game in style. I’ll try to supplement this blog with some real quotes or video or something, but until I get that, it’s important to bring out this poll again.
[poll id=”23″]
The Giants will never play a normal series against the Marlins, those Miami darlings. They’re a quirky team, from the aquaria to the home run monstrosity, to Logan Morrison’s twitter avatar.
And then there’s Giancarlo Stanton, who reminds me of how terrified I was of Kyle Blanks, if Kyle Blanks ever actually managed to stay healthy. Stanton is a beast of a man, who the Marlins drafted in the second round of the 2007 draft. The Giants drafted Madison Bumgarner that year, who has worked out pretty well, and Tim Alderson, who the Giants traded away to get Freddy Sanchez. So would you really rather have Stanton than Sanchez? Wait, don’t answer that.
I had a really good feeling about this game for, roughly, 7 2/3 innings. I can’t remember exactly what changed around that time, but it was fairly traumatic. I understand Bruce Bochy’s decision to leave Madison Bumgarner in the game to face Ryan Braun, especially considering Bumgarner’s dominance up to that point and the fact that he made Braun look silly a couple of times, but it sure didn’t end well. Hopefully Bumgarner learned a lesson, particularly not to groove a slider down the middle to Ryan Braun while he’s holding a baseball bat.
Edit: Stupid Ryan Braun ruined a perfectly good intro to this wrap. While the below still applies, take it with a grain of Morton’s Coarse Kosher Salt. I’m not gonna rewrite this whole darn thing. Stupid Ryan Braun.
