San Francisco Giants Morning Minute: Great Start to Final Week

On this edition of the San Francisco Giants Morning Minute, we discuss a big win for the Giants as they enter the final week.

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Good morning, San Francisco Giants’ fans, and welcome to another edition of the Giants Morning Minute. On Tuesday, the Giants began the final week of the regular season by beating the Colorado Rockies 12-3. Matt Moore (5-5) was spectacular en route to a win, while rookie German Marquez (1-1) suffered his first career loss.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have already clinched the NL West, but lost to the San Diego Padres on Tuesday. The New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals both won, so the top of the wildcard standings went unchanged. The Mets hold the top spot, leading the Giants by half a game. The Cardinals are still one game back of the Giants.

Here’s what went on Tuesday.

1 – Extra-Big Win

The Giants needed their bats to wake up. The Cardinals and the Mets had both mashed their way to victories on Tuesday, and the Giants needed a win to keep the pace in the wildcard race. San Francisco joined their wildcard counterpoints with a big offensive performance when they needed it the most.

They started the night getting single runs in the first and third innings, but bombarded rookie pitcher German Marquez in the fifth inning. They scored four times, including back-to-back solo home runs from Buster Posey and Hunter Pence. Brandon Belt added an RBI double and Angel Pagan drove him home with a single.

Every Giants’ hitter collected at least two hits, save for Posey. He just hit a home run and walked twice instead. All but one hitter collected an extra-base hit, with the lone exception being Pagan. Pagan made up for it with two singles and two RBI.

Overall, the Giants had 19 hits. 10 went for extra bases. Denard Span, Joe Panik, and Belt had doubles. Belt, Panik, and Crawford (twice) had triples. Conor Gillaspie joined Pence and Posey on the home run train.

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And let’s not forget about starting pitcher Moore. He matched a career-high by striking out 11 over 7.2 innings of one-run ball. Maybe more importantly, he didn’t walk anyone for the first time as a Giant.

There’s five games left for the Giants to either sneak their way into the postseason as a wildcard, or complete this epic collapse by missing out altogether. If these are the Giants that are going to show up the rest of the way, their chances look pretty good.

2 – A Grand Day For Posey

It was over eight years ago that Posey collected his first hit as a major leaguer. Getting his first taste of the Show as a September call-up, Posey was just 22 years old in 2009. On September 19th that year, Posey broke the seal as he picked up his first career big league base hit. In the ninth inning of a blowout loss to the Dodgers, Posey stroked a Jeff Weaver fastball into right field. It was just a taste of things to come.

Posey has done just about everything in his career, despite not even crossing the 30-year-old threshold. He’s a former National League Most Valuable Player. He’s an NL Rookie of the Year. He’s been Comeback Player of the Year, a four-time All-Star, and a batting champion. He’s been a catalyst for three World Series winning teams. He may be in line for his first Gold Glove this year.

He passed a career milestone on Tuesday, getting his 1,000th hit. He did it in grand fashion, crushing a solo home run to left field. It’s been a wonderful ride watching Posey get to this point, so here’s to the next 1,000 hits.

Next: Who Wins the Wildcard Race?

And that will do it for this edition of the Giants Morning Minute. Up next, the Giants and Rockies continue their final head-to-head series of the season. Jeff Samardzija looks to continue his hot streak for the Giants, opposed by righty Tyler Chatwood.