San Francisco Giants Morning Commute – 5/15

The Miami Marlins head into town tonight to face the San Francisco Giants in a 4-game series over the weekend. With the heat in San Francisco, I expect the bombs to be flying, particularly tonight and Friday before it cools back down.

The Marlins are fresh off a 13-3 beat down of the Los Angeles Dodgers (Thanks!), but also on the heels that their ace, Jose Fernandez will need to have season-ending Tommy John surgery.  They’re not a road team, but the Giants will still have to keep the Marlins balls in the park if they want to take this series.

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Gregor Blanco filled in nicely for Angel Pagan yesterday. He had an excellent game, and he really needed it.

"Blanco was standing still, in a 4-for-40 slump that was the baseball equivalent of a gill net. When he’d get a rare at-bat, he’d try to whallop it out of the park. Then he stopped to look at video of his at-bats from last season, to remind himself who he was and what skills he possessed. He realized that when he tried to take a big bite, he had it all wrong. – Andrew Baggarly, CSN Bay Area"

Blanco finally remembered what we all already knew – he’s not a home run hitter. Mostly, all he needs to do is get on base and steal a bag now and then. Yesterday, his “little league” home run was exactly what Blanco needed and what the Giants needed from him. He walked, stole 2B, stole 3B, and then scored on an errant throw to 3B. It doesn’t get much better than that. 1 run scored without even getting a hit.

Also he tied a stolen base record for the Giants.

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Speaking of hitting the ball out of the park, they’re doing a MUCH better job of that than in the last few years.

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 Pablo Sandoval hurt his big toe yesterday. Bochy said he was okay, but is considered day-to-day.

By the way, Sandoval is hitting .321 in the last 7 days. Hopefully it’s a true sign he’s heating up. With Brandon Belt on the DL, he has to do it.

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Just to make you happy.