Marty Lurie Talks San Francisco Giants Baseball
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Inside the Giants 6-0 Win Over The A's


The Giants beat the A’s 6-0 and when you see the score you will probably think the Giants had the game all the way.

Ted Lilly did just enough to lose the game, but he had his moments, let me explain.

Lilly is still a very young starting pitcher in terms of his major league experience. His plan Friday night was to go away from the big hitters, trying to keep them in the park.

Jose Cruz, Jr. homered for the Giants first run on a pitch low and on the outside of the plate. Chalk one up for Cruz.

Then the fun started for the A’s lefty. With a runner on first, the first base umpire called a delayed balk on Lilly for not stopping long enough (he should have counted one Mississippi) in his delivery on a pitch that Barry Bonds lifted harmlessly to centerfield.

Bonds returned to the plate, where Lilly who seemed unnerved by the call, walked Bonds. Next Santiago flied to medium deep center field. Both Grissom and Bonds tagged, Byrnes without much of a chance threw to third to try to cut Grissom down. Too late, Grissom slid around Chavez and Bonds took second on the throw.

Now, here’s where Lilly learned a valuable lesson which may help him later on this season. After working very hard and staying with breaking stuff, Lilly struck out Andres Galarraga. Now, with Pedro Feliz at the plate, a batter who is notorious for chasing pitches out of the strike zone, Lilly threw a weak breaking ball over the plate on the first pitch, boom! single two runs scored and the Giants were on their way home with a 3-0 lead.

Why Lilly didn’t bounce one to Feliz only he can answer, but his mistake effectively ended his night on the mound.

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Lilly then tried to get cute on Bonds’ next at bat by dropping down slightly and curving Bonds. No luck. Bonds wasn’t fooled and hit the ball into McCovey Cove.

The game drifted away from Lilly at a slow pace, but the lessons he learned (be patient , stay with the game plan) will come in later. This game was a necessary outing in the education of Ted Lilly, big league pitcher. Every mistake hurt him and he knows it.

Jerome Williams pitched the ball 96 times and threw 73 strikes, 25 first pitch strikes. Jose Cruz made a sensational catch to bail Williams out of his only jam of the night in the third inning when the game was still close.

The A’s didn’t hit in Pac Bell, a malady that has befallen the best of squads who come into the park. Hey, I warned you it isn’t the Texas pitching staff that the A’s are facing now.

Williams had a lot to do with the A’s ineptitude Friday night.

On Saturday, Barry Zito will try to keep the ball out of the left field seats long enough for his mates to score some runs off of Kirk Reuter.

The A’s need one more good righthanded bat to play in the outfield. Billy McMillon hits lefthanded and plays poor defense, so he’s not it. Adam Piatt is still trying to impress someone on the A’s and get more playing time, that hasn’t happened. Jermaine Dye had a cortisone shot Friday and may be available on Sunday. Until then, the A’s will struggle without the DH in the NL park.

Boston went nuts setting all sorts of major league records pounding Miami 25-8. The bottom line is Boston hits like crazy at home and will keep the pressure on the Yankees.

Toronto keeps plugging along although Roy Haladay did his five run high wire act once again. Unfortunately for Halladay, he was gone when the Blue Jays pushed across the winning run in the bottom of the ninth.

Milwaukee pounded Minnesota much to the happiness of the Royals who now lead the Central by two games. KC’s Darrell May finally got his first win this season after losing two sure wins to the A’s, due to late inning failures by his teammates in the bullpen.

The White Sox escaped a blown save by Tom Gordon and Billy Koch to hang on and beat the Cubs in the ninth inning. Frank Thomas homered and it is worth noting that Thomas’ spirited play has been a large part of the White Sox come back from the depths of third place in the Central.

Atlanta broke loose with homers in Tampa Bay behind Horacio Ramirez.

The Dodgers continued their slide, not scoring off of John Lackey, a feat not easily accomplished by any major league team.

The Phillies don’t hit very much, but they do pitch and held the Orioles close for 16 innings before winning 4-2. Thank goodness for Omar Daal who can’t win as a starter or as a reliever as he proved in Friday’s game.

Arizona keeps rolling along and the word is that Randy Johnson came through his test with flying colors and is scheduled to start again in July.

The Marlins project a payroll of 88 million next season if they keep all their players. So, get in line for Mike Lowell, Luis Castillo, and Derek Lee.

See you at the park Saturday.

0 comments

1 Anonymous { 06.28.03 at 11:31 am }

Lilly seems to lose his focus on the mound. He started out strong, but then did not trust himself in big situations. And the crazy inning with the balk and tag out at 3rd really unnerved him. I still like Lilly and hope that he can become more confident out there. Take a look at Hudson who has confidence to spare.

So, is there a reason we need to look at Bond’s homerun 13 times? While I think Krukow is a knowledgeable baseball color analyst, his fawning over Bonds makes me sick. Yeh, the guy is good but enough already. Last Friday when both Bonds and Tejada homered, we saw one replay of Tejada’s and 12 of Bond’s. (I counted). No wonder the guy has an attitude–he thinks he deserves to be put on a pedestal.

If both teams make the WS, the Giants will make sure that Williams pitches games 1, 4, and 7 against the A’s. We seem to have a problem with 21 year old rookies. He pitched a whale of a game.

By the way, Tejada is really hitting the ball well and being very patient. I think he will have an amazing 2nd half.

Is there any truth to the Beltrane rumors?

2 Anonymous { 06.28.03 at 12:18 pm }

Seems to me that the switch of hitting coaches by the A’s has had a positive effect on several of the players. What is your opinion?

Ralph Kegarise

3 naturalcool { 06.15.07 at 7:53 pm }

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