Regular season games are usually just that, regular. But there's no denying that when the Giants are at home, magic is in the air.
Whether it be Tejada hitting a line drive to get a walk-off on ring ceremony day, or Freddy Sanchez singling in the winning run after hearing chants of "FREDDY FREDDY." The Giants always seem to find a way to come back and win in dramatic fashion.
Yesterday was no different as I watched the Giants fail time and again to close the 5-3 gap in the late innings. I came to the realization that everytime we play the Padres I feel the need for pepto or at least some tums.
And then it dawned on me. This must be how it feels to face the Giants. Most games the Giants are winning by only 1 or 2 runs, and the opposing team just cannot get anything done. I'm sure opposing fans are thinking... Oh thank God, this guy Vogelsong is no longer in the game... we have 3 more innings maybe we can get to their bullpen.
Well the Padres found out yesterday how great our bullpen is, along with flexing their own bullpen strength by taking the game to the 14th inning.
Ramirez, Mota, Wilson, Romo, Lopez... all were just plain nasty. Altogether they pitched 8 innings, struck out 13 batters and allowed only 2 hits, both by Wilson. Wilson however made up for it by striking out the side in the 10th. The strike out on Rizzo was especially nasty with Wilson's new 2-seamer screaming in towards Rizzo only to snap back into the strike zone for a called strike 3.
Finally lets get to the hero: Nate The F**KING Great Schierholtz
Without fail the guy follows an amazing game with an 0 for 4, and never cements himself into this lineup. But boy does he come through at the best times. Without looking at his game log, I'm pretty sure he's carried this team on his back at least 3-4 times this season and in crucial moments. The man is just unbelievable. If he were to put together any type of consistency along with Panda being back, the offense might finally be on track.
Yesterday in the press conference someone asked Bochy if Nate should be batting cleanup!... CLEANUP!! That's what a 2 homer game will do for your reputation.
The legend of Nate Schierholtz continues...
Laws of the Day
Speed Kills: Steals since 2010 in Giants/Padres series
Giants: 7
Padres: 27
(8-2 this year)
Also - Padres caught stealing 8 times since 2010, Giants caught 4 times
Way to go Nate! But very true about the steals, man we need to prevent that, both pitchers and catchers share the blame, so hopefully some practice time will sharpen us up:)
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