San Francisco Giants: 3 Takeaways From Win Over Padres

Here we take a look at three takeways from the San Francisco Giants 5-3 win against the San Diego Padres on Tuesday afternoon.

We are less than two weeks away from opening day and it’s now the dog days of spring training as most players– and fans — are just ready for it to be over.

However, there is still a lot to play for this spring, and the San Francisco Giants coaching still has a lot to decide over the next week and a half.

Here are a few takeaways from the game on Tuesday:

• MadBum is ready to go: As I wrote after Madison Bumgarner’s last spring outing, he’s ready to go. He tossed two scoreless innings on Tuesday, allowing just two hits, while striking out three batters. In his last 15 innings pitched this spring he’s given up just 1 earned run and 9 hits. I wouldn’t be surprised if he just gets one more start in a spring training game before starting opening day against the Arizona Diamondbacks on April 2.
• Blach back on track: After back-to-back bad outings in which he gave up 6 earned runs in 4.2 innings pitched, Ty Blach bounced back on Tuesday giving up just 1 earned run over 3 innings pitched on 2 hits and a walk with 2 strikeouts. That brings his spring ERA down to 5.11 in 14.1 innings, which is better than Matt Cain’s 8.40 in 15 innings. It will come down to the end to decide which one wins the fifth starter spot.
• Battle for back-up catcher heating up: We haven’t talked much about the back-up catcher battle this spring, but it’s been pretty competitive. The battle is pretty much between Trevor Brown and Nick Hundley. Tim Federowicz has played well this spring, but he’s not on the 40-man roster so it’s not likely they’ll kick someone off to add him when Brown and Hundley are playing well. Hundley strengthened his case on Tuesday with a pair of home runs and 4 RBIs. He’s now hitting .323 in 31 at-bats – the most of any Giants catcher this spring. I still think Brown is the front-runner, but Hundley is making things interesting.

Next: Joe Panik’s Return to Normal Should Provide a Bump in Run Production

Check back with Around the Foghorn through the rest of spring training as we keep you informed on all the position battles.