San Francisco Giants beat Phillies 7-5 for second win in a row

Jun 6, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner (40) towels off in the dugout after the eight inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. The Giants won 7-5. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

I couldn’t wait for today’s Giants game. I got my scorecard, fixed myself some lunch and settled in to watch the Giants ring the Phillies bell. I turned the TV on, and…rain delay.

Are you kidding me? Where are we? Colorado? The game got underway 29 minutes later—not so bad when you consider the delays we experienced at Coors Field.

Madison Bumgarner was on the mound for the Giants, and he pitched eight solid innings, giving up five runs on six hits with zero walks. He also struck out a season-high eleven hitters. Let’s face it—he’s our ace for a reason. He did a good job on the other side of the plate too, adding two hits and an RBI to help the Giants offense.

Speaking of the Giants offense, the first goal for any offense is to get to the opponent’s bullpen as quickly as possible, right? The Giants sent the Phillies’ starter packing after just 2 2/3 innings.

The first was shaky for the rookie to say the least: he hit Nori Aoki with a pitch, got dinged with a fierce comebacker that he couldn’t field, allowing both runners to reach safely—and this was all before he recorded his first out. The Giants scored two runs in the first inning—Aoki on Pagan’s base knock and Joe Panik on a Brandon Belt sac fly.

The third turned into a calamity of errors for the Phillies, and the Giants reaped the rewards. With Buster Posey on board, Matt Duffy hit a sharp grounder to left field that kicked off the third baseman’s glove, slowing it down enough for Buster to score from second base and allowing Crawford to advance to third. With Gregor Blanco at the plate, the Phillies pitcher balked. Crawford came home and Duffy advanced to second. Blanco then drew a walk. Bumgarner was the next hitter, and he helped himself with a base hit, loading the bases.

By this time, the Phillies manager had seen enough and finally rescued his beleaguered rook. Aoki was the next batter to hit, and he did just that—he hit a sharp ground ball that had enough zip on it to allow two runs to score. And the Giants finished their half of the third with a six-run lead.

This was about the time I got smug, and (I’ll admit it) a little cocky. We had a six-run lead, we had Bumgarner on the mound, Aoki was on fire, Duffy was having another great game, Crawford, Posey and the rest of the Giants were playing like champions. Don’t you just love it when they do that?

So, I did the unthinkable: I asked myself, “What could possibly go wrong?”

I know better. You know I know better. But I did it anyway—and the answer is always: besides everything?

Bumgarner was, for the most part, vintage Bumgarner, making his pitches and hitting his spots. Until the fourth inning. Then, not so much. Bumgarner gave up a base hit, hit the next batter, then gave up another single to load the bases.

That brought former Giant Jeff Francoeur to the plate. And he unloaded. I mean he literally unloaded, clearing the bases with a big fly. Grand slam. His first since 2006.

The Giants struck again when Duffy scored on Bumgarner’s RBI single. The Phillies took it back in the eighth when Bumgarner gave up his last hit of the game: a solo home run.

Final score: Giants 7, Phillies 5

Like Lou Brown said in Major League II:
“OK, we won a game yesterday. If we win today, it’s called “two in a row”.  And if we win again tomorrow, it’s called a “winning streak”… It has happened before!”

What do you say we go out there and get that winning streak? Oh, and no more rain, please.