Giants 1, Padres 0 (10 innings): Every Giants starter pitched on this homestand, and the only one to surrender a run was Matt Cain, who obviously sucks.
If it weren’t for Bengie’s pinch-hit, 10th inning, game-ending double, the theme of this game would be the 8th and 9th innings, when San Diego bullpen scrub Luke Gregerson threw 20 pitches and the Giants swung at nearly all of them. One of their only takes was from Pablo Sandoval, who watched a slider bounce two feet in front of home plate. Jon Miller on the radio seemed surprised Sandoval didn’t swing.
When can we start eyeing hitting coach Carney Lansford with malice aforethought? Is any of this ridiculous whiffery his fault? Or does he simply have bad material to work with?
A couple notes on Molina’s hit: It was a nearly perfect pitcher’s pitch, at the knees or lower on the outside corner, and Molina hit it hard (perhaps helped by the jet stream). Padres outfielders didn’t react well. Left-fielder Headley came the closest, just missing it on the warning track. Center-fielder Gerut seemed to slow down and defer to Headley. Both also seemed to be playing shallow, perhaps hoping to cut down the runner at the plate on a single.
Sweep!
