gridlore: Doug looking off camera with a grin (doug couch)
[personal profile] gridlore
Opening Day edition!

Well, after the let down of the World Series loss to the Angels, the 2003 campaign arrives with new hope and a lot of new faces. The Giants set a record in moves by a League Champion. Over half our starters from games six and seven, including both starting pitchers, left the team.

Spring training was mixed. We split the games we played, and while Barry had a fantastic time in the Cactus League, there were many questions left unanswered.

Well today we started getting some answers as the Giants opened their year in San Diego

San Francisco Giants: 5
San Diego Padres:2




Benito Santiago and J.T. Snow homered on consecutive pitches in the ninth inning, and the defending NL champion San Francisco Giants opened the season with a 5-2 win over the San Diego Padres on Monday. Until Santiago and Snow connected off rookie Clay Condrey, the Giants had just four hits off two Padres pitchers. They got five hits in the ninth to give Felipe Alou a victory in his first game as San Francisco's manager. Santiago, a former Padres catcher, opened the ninth by hitting a 1-0 pitch to left-center, putting the Giants ahead 3-2. Snow hit the next pitch from Condrey over the fence in right-center.

It was 80 degrees when Brian Lawrence threw the first pitch, and a crowd of 61,707, a San Diego regular-season record, watched as the Padres opened their 35th and final season at Qualcomm Stadium. They'll move into Petco Park downtown next season. Barry Bonds, who won a record fifth MVP last year, was 0-for-3 with two intentional walks and two strikeouts.

Ray Durham, one of several Giants newcomers, scored San Francisco's first two runs, including a leadoff homer. Jose Cruz Jr., another newcomer, hit an RBI single in the ninth. Felix Rodriguez pitched a perfect eighth for the win. With Robb Nen going on the disabled list before the game, Tim Worrell worked the ninth for the save. Condrey, who allowed the first three batters to reach in the ninth, allowed three runs on four hits and walked two in one inning for the loss. Durham was on third after Cruz doubled with none out in the eighth, but Condrey got out of that jam, aided by a double play.

The Padres tied it at 2 in the sixth on Ryan Klesko's RBI double that chased starter Kirk Rueter. Reliever Joe Nathan came on with none out and runners on second and third and squashed the rally. Mark Loretta reached third with two outs in the seventh but was stranded when Snow, the first baseman, made a great play on Klesko's hard grounder. Durham had the 22nd leadoff homer of his career, hitting a 1-2 pitch from Lawrence just inside the right-field foul pole.

It was the first National League at-bat for Durham, who signed as a free agent in December after spending the last two months of 2002 with the Oakland A's, and the previous 71/2 seasons with the Chicago White Sox. Durham scored on a wild pitch by Lawrence in the third to make it 2-0. San Diego pulled to 2-1 in the fourth on consecutive two-out doubles by rookie Xavier Nady and Sean Burroughs. Rueter and Lawrence were both making their first opening-day starts, and neither got a decision. Rueter allowed two runs, one earned, on five hits in five innings. Lawrence went seven innings, allowing two runs and three hits.

Notes:

San Diego's a Navy town, so two sailors sang the national anthem and a giant American flag was unfurled in the outfield by dozens of sailors. ... Nen was placed on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to Sunday, with a strained right shoulder. Nen, 33, worked one inning Sunday against Oakland in his first action against major league hitters since having surgery in November. He is scheduled to be examined by Dr. Lewis Yocum of the Anaheim Angels on Tuesday. ... To take Nen's roster spot, the Giants recalled right-hander Jim Brower from Triple-A Fresno. ... Although the game was declared a sellout, there were a few thousand empty seats.

Date: 31 Mar 2003 19:53 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] eleri.livejournal.com
Check into Giants training in Oregon for me, would you? There was something on the board at the ball park in Salem about "Future SF Giants"

Date: 1 Apr 2003 07:26 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gridlore.livejournal.com
The Salam - Keizer Volcanos are a Class A minor league affiliated with the Giants.

http://www.oregonlink.com/volcano/

The way is works is that Major League teams have farm teams, minor leagues where they develop new talent that might someday back the main teams.

The Giant's affiliates are:

Fresno Grizzlies
Hagerstown Suns
Norwich Navigators
Salem-Keizer Volcanoes
San Jose Giants

You might want to get down for a game. Minor Leagues are fun to watch without the crush of a big league game, and who knows, you might see the next Barry Bonds or Randy Johnson!

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gridlore: Doug looking off camera with a grin (Default)
Douglas Berry

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