Keep your gifts to yourself
Giants 3, Angels 2
🎧 New episode of Giants Postcards to soothe you on a Sunday. Kerry and I dive into the best and worst of the Giants right now, swap stories about covering the team up close, and wonder aloud if Brandon Crawford’s jersey should be retired. What do you think? Listen on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere else.
You like gifts, right? So do baseball teams.
They come small and large, and the best ones come at the right time. The Giants got one in the ninth inning Saturday night.
With the tying run on base, Giants closer Ryan Walker ran the count to 3-0. It's the kind of situation where a hitter will look for one pitch in one spot and try to hit the crud out of it. This is where Logan O'Hoppe's early Easter gift comes in.
For whatever reason, he decided to swing at a pitch running up and in on his hands. It may have even been ball four. He grounded out to Matt Chapman, who tried his best to return the gift when he slipped and fell to his knees. Still, he recorded the out—but it served as a sneaky reminder.
Good teams not only get more gifts, but they seldom return them. They take, take, take. And the Giants need to keep taking them like Halloween candy in April.
Up next: Series finale coming your way shortly. Justin Verlander, still looking for his first win as a Giant, matches up with new Angels lefty Yusei Kikuchi. First pitch at 1:07 pm.
Spot on. Good teams take, take, take. It’s very early, but 4-2 in 1-run games. Coin flip games may decide postseason race if it’s tight in September. Stack wins when mostly healthy is also true. Padres had Connor Joe starting in CF last nite. Not surprisingly they lost. Giants know how much JHL means to them. JHL is also the pure JOY fans have been waiting for a long time. Your podcast with Kerry is also super fun.