Home Cooking Not Enough for Ailing Giants
Posted by beaston26 on August 24th, 2011
Many hoped the return of the San Francisco Giants to AT&T Park from a recent road trip and some home cooking would be just what the doctor ordered. They found out Tuesday night that it would not all be smooth sailing by the bay.
First, the Giants received mixed news on the injury front. The good news is that Carlos Beltran was activated from the disabled list. The bad news is he is still not 100% healthy with his injury limiting his left-handed swing. Beltran said he does not know how the injury will affect him when batting from the left side, what will happen when he swings and misses, or reacts to a checked swing. Jonathon Sanchez (ankle) was placed on the DL to open up a roster spot for Beltran. Nate Schierholtz, one of the most pleasant surprises this season, was diagnosed with a fractured foot. The outfielder fouled a ball off his foot in Atlanta that forced him out of action for a day. He returned to action and played through the pain, but may have re-injured himself during a collision at the plate during Sunday’s win against Houston. An MRI revealed a crack on the top of his foot, but Schierholtz hopes that the injury will not force to miss an extended period of time.
Then there was the game itself; another loss for the Giants in heartbreaking fashion, this time against the San Diego Padres. Errors, missed calls, and a less than stellar effort from the bullpen combined to drop the Giants for the 17th time in 24 games. With a runner on third and two outs, Cody Ross and Aubrey Huff collided attempting to catch a foul pop up causing Huff to drop the ball. Later in the at-bat, former Giant Jesus Guzman brought the runner home with a single into left to put the Friars up 1-0. In the following inning, the first base umpire ruled that Matt Cain missed the bag while covering on a grounder to first which was mishandled by Huff. The subsequent batter, Kyle Blanks, then sent a Cain offering over the left field wall to increase the San Diego lead to 3 runs. Cain ended up lasting 7 innings while allowing 5 runs (3 earned). Padres starter Mat Latos countered with 6 strong innings, no-hitting the Giants through the first 4, allowing 2 runs (1 earned).
Despite the misfortune, San Francisco still had a chance to come out on top in the contest. The score was 5-2 in the bottom of the 8th. Brandon Belt reached on an infield single and scored on a Cody Ross double. Rookie catcher Hector Sanchez brought in another run with an RBI single, the first hit of his career. Orlando Cabrera then delivered the tying run with a base hit to left field to make it first and second with one out. Coming to the plate next was Carlos Beltran with a chance to deliver a huge hit in his first game back. Unfortunately Beltran popped up to shortstop Jason Bartlett and Miguel Tejada lined out to third to end the inning. Ramon Ramirez was ineffective in the ninth, allowing 2 runs to score with the final scoring being 7-5. The Giants showed fight in this contest, but ultimately it was not enough to win the game. With the loss they dropped to 2 games back in the NL West after Arizona came out on top over Washington 2-0.
