Giants Begin Title Defense, split 6 with A's

Sushi. Salt air. Steroids. Bay Area baseball is back! The MBL Champion SF Giants open their 8th MBL season under the ownership of Greek Olive Tycoon Nick Foulpopups with a three game home-and-home series with their newly improved Easy Bay rivals the Oakland A’s. The Giants won the division by 20 games last year. Not so this year, evident by the 3-3 split by the Bay combatants in Series 1.

The G-Men have won two of the last three MBL crowns, and begin their 2006 defense by sending the Big Unit, Noah Lowry and Josh Towers to the mound for the trio of games in San Fran. David Wells, along with Johnson and Lowry, will serve nothing but southpaws whilst across the Bay Bridge. The Boys in Research think this is the best way to attack the A’s new look line-up.

At SF
Game 1 – SF 7 OAK 3
With Curt Schilling, now sadly a Minnesota twin, throwing out the first ball, the 2006 season began with a bang, as Luis Matos hit the first pitch from loser Johann Santana
(0-1) and SF never looked back, beating the A’s 7-3 on opening day.

Randy Johnson (1-0) easily out-dueled Santana, striking out 7 in 7 IP wile giving up only 1 ER on 6 hits and 2 BB. Newly aquired Aubrey Huff hit a pinch homer in his first SF at at bat and last year’s batting champ Mark Loretta added two hits with a dinger. Juan Pierre went 2 for 4, RS, SB in a losing effort.

Game 2 – OAK 8 SF 6
SF threw this game away (literally) and blew a great comeback. The G-Men spotted the A’s a 6-2 lead thru 5 ½ innings, courtesy of btb dingers by Eric Chavez and Bobby “why do they keep trading for other shortstops” Crosby. Giants battled to make at 6-all by the 9th, when close BJ Ryan took a perfect back to the box DP ball and plunked it in the Bay.
OAK’s Marcus Giles (3 for 4, 3 RS) and SF’s Ryan Howard (3 for 4, 3 RS, HR, were the hitting stars.

Game 3 – OAK 4 SF 0
A’s rookie Joe Blanton tossed a 4 hit shutout, and Oakland took the rubber game in
SF 4-0. Blanton frustrated the Giants, and was terrific though a bit wild, hitting two batters. None was more frustrated than SF’s Emile Brown, who when popped high on the shoulder in th 8th, charged the mound, and was wrestled to the ground. When order was restored, Brown was ejected and the Giants were dejected, dropping their 2nd straight game to their rivals.

at OAK
Game 4 – SF 7 OAK 3
Boomer lowered the boom on Oakland, scattering 8 hits while tossing a CG as David Wells and SF defeated the A’s 7-3 in Oakland’s home opener. Wells mound counterpart Nate Robertson was tossing up BP, allowing 11 runners with 2 WP’s in his 4.2 IP. 2005 MBL MVP Miguel Tejada went 3 for 4 and c Toby Hall was 2 for 4 with a 3 run HR.

Game 5 – SF 6 OAK 3 (15 inn.)
Game 5 almost became game 6 as our Bay buddies battled until the 15th inning, when Carlos Lee slammed a 2 run HR and the Giants outlasted Oakland 6-3. Each team used 7 pitchers, and SF even had p Noah Lowry pinch hit in the 13th. Eric Chavez had a horrific 0 for 7 with 4 K’s. This one kinda reminded me of the Foreman-Lyle heavyweight fight of 3 decades ago. Shit, I’m getting old!

Game 6 – OAK 3 SF 2
A good pitchers duel between Johan Santana and Noah Lowry, with rookie Rickie Weeks hitting a tie breaking 8th inning HR that was the difference in this one and Oakland a split six with the Champs. Hudson Street got his 2nd save of the series for the A’s.

Series Notes:
Runs - SF 28, OAK 24 (7 unearned)
SF bullpen gave up 1 run in 17.2 IP
OAK hitters fanned 56 times in 59 innings
OAK starters had 3 QS, SF had 4 (2 by Big Unit)

SF
Ryan Howard – 7 for 14, 2 HR,
Toby Hall – 7 for 20, 6 RBI
Pedro Feliz – 2 for 12, .481 OPS
Emil Brown – 5 for 24, 0 RBI

OAK
Brian Giles – 10 for 22, 8 RBI, 5 RS
Bobby Crosby - .471 OBP
Eric Chavez - 3 for 26, 11 K
Jermaine Dye – 3 for 25, 7 K