Born to run (on and on and on)
Yankees 8, Giants 4
🎧 Fill your ears with the latest episode of Giants Postcards. Kerry and I discuss the best and worst we’ve seen from the Giants, the new City Connects, and why Tyler Rogers speaks to me. Listen on Apple, Spotify, and everywhere else. (Give us a rating, too, please!)
The run-on inning, like the run-on sentence, is a nuisance, connecting singles and triples and errors and walks in an almost comical fashion as the game slips further and further out of reach, causing you to wonder, much like you might be about this sentence: will it ever end?
At that point you've already lost, be it the game or the reader.
The Giants have been stung by run-on innings twice in the last three games, both costing them five runs. They survived against the Reds but couldn’t do the same in New York on a soggy Saturday.
The Yankees sent the top of their order to face Jordan Hicks in the fifth inning and quickly got to work: single, single, single, double, walk. Randy Rodriguez took Hicks's spot and christened the run-on inning, allowing a sac fly and a single with the bases loaded.
The Giants spent the next four innings stuffing the basepaths but still finding themselves one hit away from being one hit away. Because the only way to beat a run-on inning is to have one yourself.
Up next: I’m braving the wet and the wind to see #ForeverGiant Carlos Rodon square off against Logan Webb at Yankee Stadium. First pitch at 10:35 am. Enjoy the breakfast baseball.
Finally, Melvin’s 2023 Padres w/elite pitching and mostly healthy lineup were the last MLB team to win 4 games in a row (September). Culture issues in clubhouse. Webb said last year’s vibes felt forced. Posey changed the culture. So did Shildt. Both teams in wins and losses are playing “together.”
https://x.com/mlbnetworkradio/status/1911796935188529527?s=46
Webb, Doval + Bivens are my fav pitchers. Webb is super fun and candid. Tells Chris Rose that he forgets to cover 1B, gets mad on the mound and lets things snowball. Honest stuff that happens to even the best. Pagés, the Cardinals catcher, got a SB off Webb in a game where the Cards ran wild on Webb. He’s a winner so fans don’t get mad. Admits he’s hungover in a meaningless All-Star game. Doval has a lot of talent but not good w/the details: fielding his position, walks, holding runners. When he gets upset, fans, media and announcers, say it can’t happen, mental case and vile stuff. Doval’s command/holding runners was poor in his last outing before the blown save in Webb’s gem. No one questioned why Melvin put him in that spot. Webb gets Cain’ed a lot. Roger Munter also noted Doval was overused by previous regime and probably shouldn’t have played winter ball. Bivens time in Mexico is huge to me. Games there are loud and feel like postseason games. He’s not the most talented but he has grit. Bivens is fun to me even if he eventually gets demoted for better arms.
Your podcast is awesome because you and Kerry aren’t afraid to step on the Third Rail about your predictions.