Sacramento River Cats & SF Giants Press Clips Friday, MAY 19, 2017

Transcription

1 Sacramento River Cats & SF Giants Press Clips Friday, MAY 19, 2017 Article Source Author Page Homestand Highlights: River Cats homestand will rock River Cats Staff 1 and roll with Nashville, Memphis DOWN ON THE FARM: GIANTS TOP C PROSPECT OPENS UP ON NBC Sports Bay Area Dalton 3 CONCUSSION Giants Christian Arroyo dealing with first major slump SF Chronicle Schulman 5 Moore, Giants begin road trip vs. Cards MLB.com Haft 6 After terrible start, have the Giants turned the corner? SF Chronicle Schulman 7 Q&A with Giants announcer Mike Krukow SJ Mercury Baggarly 9 GIANTS LOOK TO BUILD ON STRONG HOMESTAND, WIN AWAY NBC Sports Bay Area Pavlovic 12 FROM AT&T PARK

2 Homestand Highlights: River Cats homestand will rock and roll with Nashville, Memphis By Staff, Sacramento River Cats The Sacramento River Cats return to Raley Field on Friday, May 19 for an eight-game homestand filled with exciting events and promotions. They'll host the Nashville Sounds (Oakland Athletics) for four games before welcoming the Memphis Redbirds (St. Louis Cardinals) on Tuesday, May 23. The homestand includes the fan-favorite Superhero Night, Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Night, Irish/Scottish Heritage Night, three fireworks shows, and much more. Friday, May 19 - River Cats vs. Nashville Sounds Game Time: First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. Raley Field gates will open to all fans at 5 p.m. Broadcast: Tonight's game will be broadcast live online at rivercats.com, on the MiLB First Pitch app, and on Money Superhero Night: Bring out your inner superhero at tonight's game and come dressed as your favorite character. Superhero Jersey Cape Giveaway: The first 2,500 fans through the gates at Raley Field will take home their very own River Cats-themed superhero cape. #OrangeFriday: Live music from Souled Out, $2 off craft beers in the Beer Garden, postgame fireworks, and of course, orange Sactown jerseys. Saturday, May 20 - River Cats vs. Nashville Sounds Game Time: First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. Raley Field gates will open to all fans at 5 p.m. Broadcast: Tonight's game will be broadcast live online at rivercats.com, on the MiLB First Pitch app, and on Money Asian Pacific Islander Heritage: Celebrate Sacramento's diversity with the Asian Pacific Islander community. Junior Giants Glove Drive: Bring a glove to donate to the Junior Giants and you'll receive a limited edition San Francisco Giants lapel pin. Saturday Night Fireworks: Enjoy themed fireworks shows after every Saturday game, courtesy of Sutter Health. Youth Baseball Night: Pregame youth baseball presented by California Family Fitness. DBW Boating Safety Day: Help us spread the word about best practices for boating safety with the Division of Boating and Waterways. Sunday, May 21 - River Cats vs. Nashville Sounds Game Time: First pitch is at 1:05 p.m. Raley Field gates will open to all fans at noon. Broadcast: Today's game will be broadcast live online at rivercats.com, on the MiLB First Pitch app, and on ESPN Sunday Funday: K-LOVE Sunday Funday features pregame player autographs, face painters, and Kids Run the Bases after the game. All City Awards: Join us as we recognize and honor the Sacramento region's top high school student athlete's before today's game. 1

3 Monday, May 22 - River Cats vs. Nashville Sounds Game Time: First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. Raley Field gates will open to all fans at 6 p.m. Broadcast: Tonight's game will be broadcast live online at rivercats.com, on the MiLB First Pitch app, and on Money Baseball Bingo Monday: Each play on the field corresponds to a square on your Bingo card, presented by Cache Creek Casino Resort. Tuesday, May 23 - River Cats vs. Memphis Redbirds Game Time: First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. Raley Field gates will open to all fans at 6 p.m. Broadcast: Tonight's game will be broadcast live online at rivercats.com, on the MiLB First Pitch app, and on Money Toyota Family Value Tuesdays: Fans can enjoy $1 hot dogs and ice cream cups every Tuesday, presented by Toyota. Motorcycle Night: Motorcycle enthusiasts will enjoy a pregame motorcycle parade around the field, presented by ACE Hardware. Wednesday, May 24 - River Cats vs. Memphis Redbirds Game Time: First pitch is at 12:05 p.m. Raley Field gates will open to all fans at 9:30 a.m. Broadcast: Today's game will be broadcast live online at rivercats.com, on the MiLB First Pitch app, and on ESPN Wellness Wednesday - Yoga: Yoga enthusiasts can enjoy a postgame Yoga class in the outfield, presented by Raley's. AAA School Day: Students from across the Sacramento Region can enjoy a pregame AAA Assembly, courtesy of the Division of Boating and Waterways. Thursday, May 25 - River Cats vs. Memphis Redbirds Game Time: First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. Raley Field gates will open to all fans at 6 p.m. Broadcast: Tonight's game will be broadcast live online at rivercats.com, on the MiLB First Pitch app, and on Money Thirsty Thursday: 12-oz select beers are just $2 only in the Sactown Smokehouse BBQ in right field. Tito's Trolley: Travel to the ballpark in style with the free Tito's Trolley. The trolley makes multiple stops around Downtown and Midtown Sacramento. Green Awareness Night: Go green with us at Raley Field as we focus on conserving and protecting our natural environment. Friday, May 26 - River Cats vs. Memphis Redbirds Game Time: First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. Raley Field gates will open to all fans at 5 p.m. 2

4 Broadcast: Tonight's game will be broadcast live online at rivercats.com, on the MiLB First Pitch app, and on Money Irish/Scottish Heritage Night: Celebrate Sacramento's diversity with our Irish and Scottish communities. #OrangeFriday: Live music from Riggity Jig, $2 off well whiskey and craft beer in the Beer Garden, post-game fireworks, and of course, orange Sactown jerseys. Tickets are still available for all games and can be purchased online at rivercats.com or over the phone by calling (916) 371-HITS (4487) or by visiting the Round Table Pizza Ticket Office at Raley Field. DOWN ON THE FARM: GIANTS TOP C PROSPECT OPENS UP ON CONCUSSION By Dalton Johnson, NBC Sports Bay Area The Giants' top catching prospect, Aramis Garcia, is taking the field at a different position than behind the dish for the first time in his pro career. If it was up to him, that wouldn't be the case. If it was up to the Giants, that wouldn't be the case either. But, health always comes first. Garcia, 24, sustained his second concussion in the last two years on April 20 as the San Jose Giants took on the Visalia Rawhide. A foul tip rocketed straight back and nailed him in the mask, where metal meets plastic, right on top of his forehead. "I mean, it squared me up straight on," Garcia said over the phone to NBCSportsBayArea.com. "Pretty much the worst part of the mask you can get hit on and just kind of lost my balance for a second. I tried to stay in the game. "Initially I just thought it was because I got hit in that part of the mask that maybe my head just hurt, but after a couple innings I started to feel different and started to realize it was probably a headache because it started to get worse." Garcia came out of the game and was later diagnosed with a concussion. San Jose placed him on the seven-day disabled list and he was kept out of baseball activities for four or five days. Symptoms wise though, he describes the incident as a little more than mild. Once they settled down, Garcia progressed off the field enough to get him back on the field May 3. Last season, the Giants' second-round pick from the 2014 MLB Draft missed a large chunk due to a freak injury. Hustling to second base to break up a double play, Garcia took a knee to the face resulting in several facial fractures that necessitated surgery and kept him out for two months. After he returned to the field last season, he had to make an equipment change. "I kind of have to wear a hockey-style mask because of my surgery last year," Garcia explained. "I can't wear a two-piece anymore because the pad on the two-piece mask, it kind of goes over the cheek bones and that's one of the areas I had surgery on last year." 3

5 This actually isn't Garcia's first time wearing a hockey-style mask. He wore one in high school, but once he reached college ball at Florida International he switched to a two-piece mask. And he actually prefers the hockey-style mask for two different reasons vision and comfort. The bars on a hockey-style mask are much closer to your face, making your line of vision clearer. Plus, there's padding all along the larger catcher's mask compared to an old-school two-piece. The real question though, does a hockey-mask give you more protection than the minimalist two-piece? "There's different opinions on it, Garcia says. Some people believe with the two-piece you're able to, because the mask falls off when you're hit, that limits impact. Other people say that the hockey-style is better, so I honestly couldn't tell you. For the time being, Garcia's mask is being put to rest. Since San Jose activated him off the DL, he has strictly played first base and DH. As someone who is usually part of so much of the action and takes pride in his defense, it's frustrating to not catch right now, but Garcia understands the Giants' thought process. "Mentally, I'm just trying to stay positive. They're doing this because they want me in the lineup, they want me to get my at-bats," Garcia said on the move away from catching for now. "I feel the same exact way. I don't want to be on the DL anymore after last year and then the short stint this year. I want to play as many games as possible. The Giants are finding ways to get Garcia in the lineup for good reason. Before his concussion, Garcia was batting.348 with four home runs and 15 RBI in 11 games played. Since the injury, his offensive numbers have taken a tumble. In 13 games off the DL, Garcia has hit.188 with two home runs, but has drove in another 10 runs. Even after missing time due to his injury and falling in a slump since returning, Garcia still leads San Jose in RBI (25), already passing his total of 24 in 47 games last year. For him, it's all about keeping it simple and sending credit to his teammates where credit is due. "You gotta credit the guys in front of me too and even in the bottom of the order when we have a big inning going. I mean, those guys are getting on base and giving me the opportunity to drive guys in. "It's just all about having an approach, trying to keep things simple, having an idea of how the pitcher's gonna attack you." As he mans first base, Garcia feels much more comfortable there than as a DH. He has prior experience playing some first at FIU, but keeping his body loose hasn't exactly been easy at DH. "You try to do things, like my last start at DH I would do it like Little League style," Garcia said while laughing. "I would run out and go warm up the right fielder just to get a sprint in and keep my arm loose. If that's gonna help me feel like I'm warm for my next at-bat as opposed to sitting in the dugout for 20 or 30 minutes, I'd rather do that." The Giants have seen this before. Buster Posey spent time on the seven-day concussion DL this season after taking one off the head at the plate against the D backs. San Francisco has also gone through a similar situation with a former top catching prospect. 4

6 Tommy Joseph, the Giants second-round pick in 2009, eventually moved off the position after sustaining multiple concussions. Joseph, now with the Phillies as part of the Hunter Pence trade, hit 21 home runs last season in 107 games. Garcia is fully committed to catching again when the Giants decide to put him back there and from what he's been told, the move is only temporary. For now, he's taking a leadership mentality no matter where the Giants put him in the field. "You just try to do what you can to help your team win and you keep moving forward." Spoken like a true catcher. Giants Christian Arroyo dealing with first major slump By Henry Schulman, SF Chronicle If Christian Arroyo were any other 21-year-old, the Giants might be tempted to send him back to Triple-A amid a 3-for-24 slump to regain his stroke in a less pressurized environment and prevent his dauber from getting down. Because Arroyo is Arroyo, he is staying where he is, enjoying the confidence of a staff that sees a mature rookie who simply needs to adjust at the plate, as all hitters do. He s a quick learner, batting coach Hensley Meulens said. Hopefully, it s not a long struggle. When Arroyo arrived, he proved he could turn on inside fastballs, so right-handed pitchers have been throwing everything on the outside corner or outside, period. Meulens is getting Arroyo to move closer to the plate so he can reach those pitches. Arroyo s mental state is not an issue. He proved that Tuesday night when he played second base for the first time in the majors and made several good plays, including a throw home to nail Justin Turner. Arroyo is doing fine, Meulens said. He s going through that first rough patch. We ve basically got to keep things simple for him. He understands that he s learning and he understands that he s got to make some kind of adjustments to produce. He did in his last at-bat. He got a base hit. That was Tuesday night. On Wednesday, he took an 0-for-4 but had a good third at-bat against Clayton Kershaw and lined out. Melancon said he feels no discomfort after rehabbing a strained right pronator, a forearm muscle. The Giants optioned infielder Kelby Tomlinson and restored an eight-man bullpen. Briefly: Eduardo Nuñez s first homer of the year, against Sergio Romo in the ninth, extended the Giants streak of homering to 10 games. Their past 13 have been solos.... The Giants fell to 6-4 against the Dodgers this season. 5

7 Moore, Giants begin road trip vs. Cards By Chris Haft / MLB.com The stakes won't be as high as the last time these two teams met, when a National League Wild Card berth was at stake in September But with the Giants playing better as of late and the Cardinals trying to hold their ground atop the National League Central, the series won't lack intrigue. It will be left-hander Matt Moore going against right-hander Michael Wacha in the series opener on Friday. For Wacha, the appearance will be his first since May 7. The Cardinals opted to skip him in the rotation the last time through to try and prevent against shoulder complications later in the season. Lifetime at Busch Stadium, Wacha is 18-8 with a 3.61 ERA. This year, though, he's been even better. In four home starts, Wacha is 2-0 with a 2.92 ERA and.218 opponents' batting average. Conversely, Moore has struggled in four road starts, compiling an 0-3 record with a.370 opponents' batting average and a ERA. But he will enter the series opener feeling a bit more well-armed than usual. According to Statcast, Moore's average exit velocity of approximately 90 mph ranks as one of the highest in the Major Leagues. However, on Saturday against Cincinnati, Moore's average exit velocity dwindled to 83.3 mph, which helped him last 7 1/3 innings in a 3-1 victory over the Reds. Moore will face a Cardinals team that is likely to get third baseman Jhonny Peralta back in advance of the series opener. Peralta, who went on the 10-day disabled list on April 17 with an upper respiratory illness, wrapped up a rehab stint with Triple-A Memphis on Wednesday. He'll assume a bench role upon returning. Things to know about this game The Giants have homered in 10 straight games and enter the weekend series having won five of their last six. During that stretch, they have posted a 2.47 team ERA. The Cardinals may reduce their bullpen from eight relievers to seven on Friday in order to make roster room for Peralta. St. Louis has been carrying eight relievers most of the season, partly because of questions about Trevor Rosenthal's ability to pitch on consecutive days. That is no longer a concern. This series will feature two of the Majors' top catchers, San Francisco's Buster Posey and St. Louis' Yadier Molina. Posey won the National League Gold Glove Award this past season, ending Molina's eight-year run of capturing the honor. Molina (eight games) and Magneuris Sierra (seven) will enter the series with hitting streaks. If he were to get a hit on Friday, Sierra would become the first player in franchise history to hit safely in eight consecutive games to open his career. After terrible start, have the Giants turned the corner? By Henry Schulman, SF Chronicle 6

8 At long last, the sun has broken through the fog at 24 Willie Mays Plaza. It took until Mother s Day, but the Giants finally found a way to play winning baseball. Giants fans could not be blamed if they took winning for granted. Their team had done a lot of it over the past eight seasons. Then came 2017, which started with them blowing a ninth-inning lead on Opening Day and losing at Arizona, a bleak harbinger for the local nine. The first quarter of the season, which the Giants completed Tuesday, looked like the start of an annus horribilis on and off the field for a team that was crowned a dynasty after winning the 2010, 2012 and 2014 World Series. The usual spring optimism turned to disbelief as many of the faithful and others within the game wondered if the Giants championship window had slammed shut. The view is a lot crisper now for the Giants, who won five games in a row before their streak was broken Wednesday. As recently as last week, they had the worst record of the 30 majorleague teams at We had a six-week stretch that has been, if you combine on the field and off the field, like no other, Giants President and Chief Executive Officer Larry Baer said. The Giants were smacked with a numbing array of injuries. Two starting outfielders, Jarrett Parker and Denard Span, got hurt crashing into walls. Buster Posey, the franchise s most important position player, suffered a concussion when hit in the helmet by a fastball in his first home at-bat of the season April 10. Worse yet, 2014 World Series hero Madison Bumgarner separated his pitching shoulder and bruised some ribs while riding a dirt bike during an April 20 day off near Denver, which will keep him off the mound until roughly Aug. 1. Bruce Bochy, the manager who guided the Giants to those three titles, needed a minor procedure last month to eliminate an abnormal heart rhythm, the third time since February 2016 he was forced to leave the team briefly to tend to his heart. In a realm that superseded baseball, three women who were part of what the organization calls the Giants family died unexpectedly over a 12-day stretch in April. Katy Feeney, a former Major League Baseball official and daughter of onetime Giants general manager Chub Feeney, died in her sleep at 68 on the eve of Opening Day. Mirian Cepeda, the wife of Giants Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda, died at 62 of pneumonia on April 12. The same day, Jennifer Pippin, a sister-in-law of shortstop Brandon Crawford, died of an asthma attack at 38. After news of Pippin s death spread through AT&T Park, Giants Executive Vice President of Communications Staci Slaughter walked into the dugout shell-shocked and said, I m afraid to answer my phone. Social media buzzed with calls for the Giants to blow it up, baseball parlance for a losing team to sell off expensive players and rebuild for the future. Giants officials, noting the vast number of games remaining on the 162-game schedule, have insisted they are not thinking that way. 7

9 I cannot say we will never in our lifetime have a year like that, but what I can say is that s not how we went into the season looking at it, and that s not how we look at it today, Baer said Tuesday. Obviously, this is a challenging stretch. Whether it s the beginning, the middle or the end of the season, what gives me comfort is falling back on the Giants DNA, the DNA of the team, the guys on the field, Bochy and his coaching staff. They ve had a find-a-way mentality for the better part of a decade. Some of the end of an era talk is fueled by a belief that Bochy, at 62, will tire of losing, retire or move to a less stressful job upstairs to protect his heart, a notion that he dismisses out of hand. His most serious ailment emerged in February 2016, in the first days of spring training, when he had two stents inserted into a blocked artery. Twice since, including last month, Bochy was treated for an arrhythmia, a condition considered more a nuisance than a threat to his long-term health. Bochy increasingly is getting more annoyed with questions about his heart and any insinuation that his health or the team s record has diminished his desire to run the team. I m not talking about that, he said emphatically during an interview last week. I m fine. There s nothing wrong with me. I m here. I m ready to go. There s fire here. I wouldn t stay if I didn t think we could win another championship. Injuries have taken a toll, but even the players who remained healthy underperformed over the first six weeks, especially for a team with a payroll approaching $205 million, about the fifthhighest in baseball. Fans also have criticized the front office for not spending more to acquire a left fielder to replace Angel Pagan, who left as a free agent. After committing $470 million since the end of the 2015 season on long-term contracts for pitchers Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija, the center fielder Span, new closer Mark Melancon, and extensions for infielders Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt, the Giants decided to hand left field this year to an inexpensive homegrown player, Parker, and a journeyman who had not played in the majors since 2013, Chris Marrero. After Parker broke his collarbone crashing into the left-field wall in the 13th game of the season, and Span sprained his shoulder in the same manner a week later, the Giants threw a carousel of journeymen into the outfield, which continues to rank last among the 30 big-league teams in offensive production. Just when it seemed the Giants might not find a way to stop their free fall, they got a jolt of production and youthful exuberance from 21-year-old infielder Christian Arroyo, their top offensive prospect, whom they promoted from Triple-A on April 24. The Giants also benefited from a power resurgence from Posey, which began during a series in New York on the last trip, and the return of Span and Crawford from the disabled list. On Friday night actually Saturday morning Posey homered to end a 17-inning game. The Giants also won the next four before losing to the Dodgers on Wednesday. 8

10 Notwithstanding the Bumgarner injury, the Giants are as healthy as they have been in a while as they open a three-game series in St. Louis on Friday night. Now, there are definitely no excuses, second baseman Joe Panik said. With the talent in this clubhouse, we definitely should be playing better baseball. It doesn t mean at the end of September we re going to be where we are now. I don t think anybody in this clubhouse believes that. Even with their recent spate of winning, the Giants are and a long shot to reach the playoffs. No team since the 1989 Toronto Blue Jays has reached the playoffs after losing 24 of its first 36 games. Bochy is the last person who cares about a statistic like that. We can make this a great story, he said. This is our decision how we want this to go. I hope we look at it that way. Q&A with Giants announcer Mike Krukow By ANDREW BAGGARLY, San Jose Mercury News SAN FRANCISCO The Giants were headed to the 17th inning last Friday their longest game by innings in nearly 16 years and up in the broadcast booth, Mike Krukow empathized with catcher Buster Posey. I think there s a numbness going on in Buster Posey s body right now, below the belt, Krukow said. He s probably more comfortable in the squat than standing up. So in the bottom of the 17th, when Posey ripped a game-winning home run into the left field bleachers, viewers didn t need to see his comically relieved expression as he tossed his bat to understand how he felt in that moment. Krukow already had let them into Posey s mind. That is what the Giants longtime TV analyst loves most about his job. Krukow doesn t need to assemble reams of anecdotes or obscure statistics to fill time during the broadcast. He lets the game tell the story. He lets the players slide into their moments. And he reminds you that this is a hard game that will wring out every bit of the emotional spectrum. And if that game lasts 17 innings? Well, where else would you rather be than at the ballpark? Krukow has cut back on his travel this season and wasn t on the team flight as the Giants get set for a weekend series in St. Louis, a begrudging concession to the muscle condition (inclusion body myositis) that makes travel difficult and stairs impossible. He doesn t go east of Denver any longer, and will be watching along with the rest of the TV audience when the Giants play seven games against the Cardinals and Chicago Cubs. We caught up with Krukow after the Giants completed a successful, 5-2 homestand that got them within eight games of the.500 mark: Q: What is it like to broadcast a 17-inning game? Do you run out of anecdotes? Is it as fatiguing for you as it is for the players? 9

11 A: Here s one of the real pet peeves we have as a crew, and I m sure you ve heard it: we ll walk by a writer or visiting broadcaster and they ll say, `Hey, we hope we get a quick one today. Our response is, `Well, where else would you rather be? That s a feeling we all have, Duane and Jon and Dave and I: there is no place that we would rather be. The charm of baseball is there s no clock on it, and to be honest, we never look at the clock during a game. That s no exaggeration. We really don t. Sure you prepare with some stories for a long inning or a boring game, like a 9-1 laugher. But even in a game like that, the games dictate what you talk about. A 17-inning game is a great game to win because it involves everyone on your team. I mean, it has to. So you try to put your viewer into the mindset of the manager, or of the starting pitcher who might have his spikes on and might have to pitch or pinch hit or even play left field, who knows? We feel like those games are so rare that the mindset of both teams becomes the story in itself. But whatever is happening, we try to find the story in the game, every time. I ll give you an example from (last Saturday): Matt Moore was coming off two outings when he didn t pitch well, and both times the team gave him a lead early and he blew it. So now he s out there Saturday after the 17-inning game the night before, and he absolutely has to get them deep into that game. If you re Matt Moore, you re worried about that and you re thinking you can t blow a lead again. So getting into Matt Moore s mind, to me, is the story of the game. He faced up to a giant he had to beat, those doubts he had, and he had to cut that giant down. He had to step up and give his team innings. Now, in a 17-inning game, the story is how a manager is going to get through it. If you go back to most games that last that long, it turns into a home run derby. Everyone is trying to end it with one swing. So you end up getting a lot of quick, innings. It s long, but it doesn t drag. But it doesn t matter. You re not going to hear us bitch for four-plus hours because nobody wants to hear that, and because we know we re the luckiest guys in the world. There s a conscious effort to appreciate what our season is all about. It s a collection of moments like those. Q: It s been awhile since the Giants have struggled as badly as they did in April. After one of these ugly losses, how the heck do you find someone to pick as your player of the game on the postgame wrap? A: Well, you look at (Wednesday s loss to the Dodgers). It was a stinker game, not a lot of highlights. I mean, you cannot pick a Dodger. So I went with Mark Melancon. He had activated himself prior to the first pitch, he s active and back, and there he is warming up in the ninth inning. That means a lot to the club, just to see that, so he was my pick. There s always something. We ll pick the ball dude because he made a great play. Q: Do you think this will be a lost year for the Giants? A: Every year is intriguing, especially the first couple months because you re so vulnerable. It s one thing if you lose when you have an announced rebuild. But everyone s expectations were high for the Giants this year, and that s what makes it difficult for the fans. We think it s an intriguing story, though, because of the pedigree of the clubhouse and how hard they work. So the story is, `You know they re going to think of something. What will it be? There s no talk of a fire sale or a rebuild. All the talk is, `Let s get guys healthy and get back to being who we are. From our standpoint sitting behind the microphone, there s an anticipation that they ll snap out of this and start playing good baseball. And it really seems like in the last nine games here it s starting to happen. 10

12 Q: If they can focus on getting as close as possible to.500 by the All-Star break, they ll have a chance. I mean, they open the second half at San Diego and then play 20 of their next 23 in the Bay Area. So if they A: I don t think they re thinking 500. They re thinking, `Let s fix what we don t have. If you start winning games, it can happen quickly. So if you re thinking, `OK, let s get to.500, then that becomes acceptable. I don t think that s their mindset or what this club is all about. They have some problems in their bullpen, but you ve seen in the time that they lost Melancon, some guys are stepping up. We saw one the other night in a 2-1 ballgame with (Hunter) Strickland and (Derek) Law, with a setup guy and a closer each throwing a whole inning. How many times have we seen that? I think that s a confidence builder. They have guys down there who are not holding their weight, and that s got to be resolved. They re catching the ball better and hitting for more power, but I do believe it all turns around with that bullpen. I m absolutely convinced the key to this team is the bullpen. Q: What has it been like to miss the trips to the NL Central and NL East? Weird? Relaxing? Do you watch every game when you re not traveling, or take a break? A: I watch all of them. That was my biggest concern: I felt you had to be there every day to maintain your finger on the pulse of the team. You see how guys take their at-bats, how they re throwing. You know who s hot and who s not. I ve talked to broadcasters who became national guys that do two or three games a week, and you can tell. So I m watching every game, every pitch, and to be honest, it s odd. I feel guilty not being there. It s a weird transition, but it is what it is. And you know, I was talking to (Reds announcer) Thom Brennaman about cutting back and he said he s doing 110 games. Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez have schedules similar to mine. So that helped me look at it a little differently. It is going to be a good thing, because I don t know if I could go too many more years at 160 games a year. But this is doable, and from that long-haul perspective, it s great. Q: What are your impressions of your replacements, Jeremy Affeldt and Javier Lopez, thus far? A: Oh, they re doing great. They re fun and interesting people. They ve got great insights. They re also new to this, and you ve got to give them time. It s a matter of small details you learn over time, and we ve got great play-by-play guys who will teach them the ropes. So the game s in good hands. Q: Of all the great moments in franchise history that you have witnessed, does anything stand out as the most euphoric? A: Well, the very first time winning it all in 2010, that was just remarkable. We had to wait so long, and when you finally sensed it was going to happen, there was an absolute awe at work. It was the simplicity in which it happened and the beauty in which it all came together and the way the region melds with a group of guys and how it transcends all the things that divide us on a daily basis. We were all united under one flag, and we ve gotten to witness it three times. Usually what brings a community together is a tragedy or an earthquake, and we set everything aside like we did in 1989 to rebuild our lives. That was powerful and I know it changed my life to see that. But winning the World Series is bringing us together and rallying around something 11

13 positive. We ve watched the Warriors do it now, too. We became a family together and it s very powerful. Q: You know, that 2010 team was in fourth place at the All-Star break. So you never know where the story will turn next. A: That s right. You never know. Let s get back to playing baseball. Let s get back to being confident on the field. That s when you start winning and make your move. And when that clicks, you get the biggest element going in your direction, and that s chemistry. Once you have that, you re unbeatable. GIANTS LOOK TO BUILD ON STRONG HOMESTAND, WIN AWAY FROM AT&T PARK By Alex Pavlovic, NBC Sports Bay Area SAN FRANCISCO Just over a week ago, general manager Bobby Evans stood in the visiting dugout at Citi Field and spent 20 minutes discussing a team that looked dead in the water. The fans have a right to be upset they re not alone, Evans said. The players are upset. The front office is upset. What a difference a homestand can make. The Giants won in thrilling fashion on their final day in New York and then came home and took five of seven from the Reds and Dodgers. They are still just and far behind three teams in the National League West. But as players packed up Wednesday, they could at least take solace in the fact that they re playing real baseball again. Whatever happened in Cincinnati appears to be out of their system. It s a start, that s what it is, manager Bruce Bochy said. You can t think you re out of it. You ve got to keep playing the way you have been playing. That style had clear markers over seven days at home. The Giants played their usual strong defense once Brandon Crawford returned Thursday, and they slightly increased their offensive production, with Buster Posey and Brandon Belt bringing some punch back to the lineup and Denard Span proving a game-changer at the top. But more than anything, the Giants pitched well. Bochy leaned on his starters against the Reds and Dodgers and they didn t let him down. Over seven games, the rotation threw 48 2/3 innings with a 2.77 ERA. That s actually in line with what the Giants did even when they were the worst team in the league. At home, the starters have a 2.82 ERA, third in the Majors. On the road it s an unsightly 6.62, ranking 29th. Does Bochy believe the last week can carry over to Busch Stadium and Wrigley Field? Do close to what you ve been doing here at home, Bochy asked of his starters. We re not asking you to shut them out. That s always nice. But give the team quality starts and stay away from the big innings. 12

14 The Cardinals (21-17) and Cubs (21-19) are second and third in the NL Central, behind the surprising Brewers. While the Cubs rank sixth in the league in runs scored, the Cardinals have done it with pitching. Only the Dodgers have allowed fewer runs in the NL, and the Giants will see three big guns: Michael Wacha, Carlos Martinez and Adam Wainwright. Kyle Hendricks, Jon Lester and Jake Arrieta are waiting in Chicago. Perhaps those big names are a blessing in disguise. The Giants have had no luck getting to rookies and journeymen, and names like Martinez and Lester and Arrieta will certainly grab your attention when you come to the yard. Bochy liked the focus he saw over the past week. He cautioned his team not to let that get away. You have to be careful about saying We ll be okay, there s lots of time left. That s not the thing that stops it, he said. What stops this is a sense of determination and attitude. Last year we were saying, Hey we re okay, we re fine. We weren t. You ve got to go out and do something about it and that s what I m proud of with this (winning) run. The clubhouse felt that sense of determination, but if the attitude doesn t make the trip to the Midwest, changes could be coming. When he spoke last week in New York, Evans insisted the Giants weren t going into sell mode, but multiple sources indicated that the front office was indeed close. Brian Sabean changed his travel plans after the debacle in Cincinnati, and when he arrived at Citi Field, he was said to be close to blowing it up. The homestand provided a reprieve but it won t be permanent. If this road trip leads to a deeper hole, the Giants will again have to start thinking about where they can send their pending free agents, and what they might get for Johnny Cueto, who remains on track to opt out of his contract. The players hope that discussion doesn t return. At the moment, they have lighter concerns. I hope we re not rain-delayed a ton in St. Louis, that s the first thing, Posey said Wednesday, smiling. But no, St. Louis is playing well and Chicago is a good team. We have to be ready to go. 13