San Francisco Giants 3 Up, 3 Down: Four Games with Colorado
The San Francisco Giants dropped three of four to the Colorado Rockies, so let’s look at some positives and negatives from the series.
For the start of the new season, this is something I will do after each San Francisco Giants’ series. These articles will take three positive things (3 Up) and three negative things (3 Down) from the games, this time from the Giants’ first series against the Colorado Rockies.
3 UP
1 – Chris Marrero Finally Breaks Through
12 seasons as a professional ball player. 4,460 plate appearances as a pro. Three separate stints in the big leagues. On Friday, Chris Marrero finally hit his first career big league home run. It took 48 big league games and 154 plate appearances, but he finally etched his name into that record book.
Marrero entered his first at-bat against Tyler Anderson hitting a lowly .056 (1-18) at the time, but left the yard to give the Giants a 2-0 lead in what would turn into an easy 8-2 victory. It was a great moment for a player that had been struggling badly, and his high-five with third base coach Phil Nevin could not have been more emphatic. Maybe that home run was just what Marrero needed, seeing as he finished the series with three hits in eight at-bats.
2 – Speaking of Phil Nevin…
Roberto Kelly‘s two seasons as a third base coach were cautious and he didn’t take many chances. Phil Nevin is not afraid to wave his arm and send his guy home. Nevin seems to have made more aggressive sends in his first two weeks than Kelly did his entire tenure, and so far, he hasn’t been wrong.
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Eventually, an outfielder is going to make a perfect throw and gun a Nevin-sent runner down at the plate. That’s how it goes. But until that time, Nevin is endearing himself extremely well to the fanbase.
3 – The Bullpen’s Continued Improvement
It was a pretty rough series overall for the Giants, but a great sign for the team is how the bullpen pitched. They combined to throw 10.1 innings during the four games, and didn’t allow a single run or inherited runner to score. They gave up just two hits and a walk.
No pitcher’s improvement is more obvious than Hunter Strickland‘s. His curveball is rapidly improving, and pairs well with a fastball that still sits in the mid-to-high 90s. On Sunday, Strickland threw three straight curveballs to slugger Nolan Arenado, getting two strikes (one on a swing-and-miss) before he popped out harmlessly. Strickland continues to earn more favor, proving that he certainly belongs in the later innings.