San Francisco Giants come out on top over Nationals after Ryan Vogelsong’s shaky start

Aug 13, 2015; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants relief pitcher Santiago Casilla (46) celebrates with catcher Buster Posey (28) after the win against the Washington Nationals at AT&T Park. The San Francisco Giants defeated the Washington Nationals 3-1. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Tuesday we put one past the Astros. Wednesday the Astros turned the table. Thursday, the Giants faced the Washington Nationals and quietly showed them the door.

I’m starting to feel a little dizzy.

In the spirit of these are my guys, this is who I’m going with, manager Bruce Bochy left Ryan Vogelsong in the game after a disastrous first inning that fortunately yielded only one run for the Nationals.

It looked like the Giants were in for a bumpy night when the crack of the bat off the first pitch of the game yielded a home run for the Nationals. As Kuip always says‒”and that’s how this game gets started.”

Truthfully, it wasn’t a great start. But after walking the bases loaded, Vogey and the Giants defense got out of the jam before allowing another run to score.

Vogey was, after the first inning, brilliant. This would be the perfect game for one of Bochy’s mulligans.

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It was almost like someone threw a switch, and the Vogelsong that pitched the first inning was replaced with the Vogelsong that pitched his way out of Japan. By the time he finished up after the fifth, he allowed just the one run, three hits and four walks. He struck out a season high eight hitters.

In the Giants half of the first inning, Gregor Blanco led off with a triple, Matt Duffy singled him home, Brandon Belt drew a walk, and Buster Posey hit a single, scoring Duffy. After that it was three quick outs, and on to the next inning.

And not one thing happened after that. Well, not for a while anyway. But hey, that’s the good news! Why? Because the Giants bullpen took up where Vogey left off: Hunter Strickland was pitcher perfect for two innings and Sergio Romo gave up one hit. But no runners were allowed to score.

Santiago Casilla took the ball in the ninth‒I could hear audible groans from some fans, but he gave up just one hit and he didn’t allow any runs. Casilla earned the save. He needed that.

For the second time Thursday night, Blanco crossed home plate. After drawing a walk in the seventh, Blanco stole second and scored when Brandon Belt hit a funny little “thang” as Kruk called it‒that turned into a single. The final score was: Giants 3, Nationals 1

There wasn’t much excitement to Thursday night’s game. But one thing happened in the third that caused the Tweeters to twerp and the FaceBookers to squawk. Buster Posey hit a double, and started to run when Hunter Pence hit line drive to right. Roberto Kelly waved Buster home and Buster went. Problem is Buster was doing the running and Bryce Harper, the Nationals right fielder, was doing the throwing.

Buster didn’t make it. Those legs were made for squatting, not the 90 yard dash. The internet fan base voiced their collective opinion. Should Roberto have held Buster up? Probably. Will Roberto forget this error in judgment? Probably not. Lesson learned. All I have to say is this: it’s pretty easy to decide what should have been done from the comfort of your arm chair, with all the camera angles showing you all the action.

Still, he’s no Tim Flannery (and I don’t expect him to be), who always ran right alongside any runner he sent while Kruk and Kuip chirped their version of what Flannery was thinking: “my butt’s on the line, my butt’s on the line, my butt’s on the line.”

I miss that guy.

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