AAA Giants

DIAMONDBACKS SERIES:  May 6, 7, 9

What an exciting matchup ... Giants (9-1) vs undefeated Diamondbacks (10-0).  No doubt this is an epic clash of the titans to determine which one belongs crowned King of the Hill.  And with three games in four days, this is going to put these powerhouses to the test. 

GAME 1:  Buljan games are always tricky, and this was no exception.  But the team practiced hard in preparation of the aggressive baserunning scouted by the D-Backs.  And it was evident the kids listened because they immediately applied that knowledge on the very first out ... with the leadoff runner on 2B, SP Colin after the next pitch waited for the greedy runner to turn their back, and the second he did, Colin made a snap throw to SS Ryan for the perfect tag out!  Then the trusted defense took over as 3B Jimmy and SS Ryan made the assists to covering 2B Tucker.  The following innings of playing defense was downright weird ... both times the G's did their jobs by immediately putting two outs on the board - only to not be able to get the unreachable final out, letting the DBs score the max 5 runs.

However, it really didn't matter ... because our bats did not make the field.  Only Ethan posted a hit.  We were speechless since this team has been averaging over 10 runs a game ... ONE HIT?  Dang  you Buljan Curse ...

GAME 2:    Literally hours later, we found ourselves playing each other again, but this time in the comfortable confines of Richards Field.  Again, the team showed resilience as they performed the perfect pickle ... the Dbacks runner was thinking 2B, but the G's had other plans as 1B Ethan fired the strike to covering SS Ryan forcing the runner into the PICKLE!  From there it was a beauty to watch ... as every Giant player jumped into line either at 1B or 2B salvating for their chance to chase down the tireless runner ... and for about six throws back and forth, finally SS Ryan applied the tag putting him out of his misery for the first exciting out of the game.  Overall the defense played strong as LF August caught a bomb ... C Colin caught the stealing runner to SS Ryan ... 2B Keaton got into the action making the nice plays to first ... and to end the game C Colin made the nice fly out grab.

Hitting was much much better this round ... Jimmy and Tyler had singles scoring and getting an RBI ... Colin roped two singles ... however the BIG hitters were Ethan (Rbi triple) and August (2-3, 3B, R, 2 SB).  Overall both teams played lights out baseball but again the "bad guys" took home the victory.

GAME 3:  This game was the tale of "no matter how hard you hit the ball, it will find a D-Backs glove".  We knew luck was not on our side when the first two batters - Will and August - hit fly balls into shallow right field ... only to be chased down by the 2B ... and then Colin drives one up the middle ... only to glance off the pitchers glove and into the Shortstop's mitt for the out.  Now down 6-0 going to our hitting half of the inning (could of been worse, but RF August made two huge catches, CF Ethan big grab, and C Tuckers throw catching the attempted stealer to 3B Jimmy).  The Giants team roared back with 4 runs of their own off of SIX pitches - Ethan (1B), Ryan (HBP), Tucker (1B, rbi), Jimmy (1B, rbi) and Josh/Tyler with sacrifices brought the game within reach.

P Tyler and the defense held the D-backs to one more run over two innings (7-4) going into the 4th.  However the first two G batters were put out and a much needed 2-out rally in desperate need ... Orth (1B) got on base ... Tyler (1B) smacked a single past second ... and entering the game fresh Soto took the 2nd pitch into the outfield gap for 2 huge rbi's!!!

But with the score 7-6, the team ran out of gas and couldn't finish the comeback as the Diamondbacks completed the sweep.  Even though this was the final regular season game between the teams, gut tells me there will be one more chapter to this story ...

MVP:  A couple possible candidates in this well played series - Soto's timely double ... Ethan and August's play in the outfield ... but in the end it was easily the play of the year to date, the .....