This game was available on MLB’s Gameday audio with the Giants feed. They were nowhere near as bad as the Royals announcers have been – in fact one day when the Royals guys were available, I didn’t even listen – UGH! Anyway, I didn’t get to hear much of the game, but what I did hear was entertaining. Mostly because I enjoyed the guy the Giants had on who normally did Spanish broadcasts, and the English guys kept asking him what this was or what that was in Spanish. I liked that. However, if you listened to the game, you’ll recognize this.. “Hello Chicago! – I’ve got $100 to give away”, or “Here we go Giants, Here we go!”.. Does the Giants radio coverage have any other commercials? It seems that’s all they played was these two!
I did get to hear Bonds’ sacrifice bunt – the Giants announcers really seemed surpirsed by that. In reading the coverage of this, Bonds only has 4 in season bunts his entire career, not once since 1998. So it was amusing. Of course he jacked a home run off of John Danks which wasn’t surprising in the least. Danks wasn’t all that great, going 4, giving up four hits and 2ER, and walked two. Not terribly dominant, but overall, not as horrible as I’ve seen, either. The other 5 Ranger pitchers combined to go 4 innings, giving up 3 hits and one run. They struck out four and walked no one.
We didn’t have a lot of offense to match San Francisco. We had a total of 9 hits (2 each by Nix & Blalock), the rest were scattered amongst the Ranger batters. Not much pop, although D’Angelo Jimenez had a home run in the second which was about it for us.
We’ve now dropped three in a row and have fallen under .500 with a 5-6-1 spring record.
ST12: Mar 14, 2006 vs. Giants (L: 3-2)
5-6-1 (.455) – 6th – 3.5 Dn – Streak L3
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News Coverage
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Photos
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Game Recap
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Barry Bonds laid down a bunt, then pointed to Texas manager Buck Showalter in a display meant for entertainment value.
Bonds has never given much credence to his spring numbers. Still, he has to be feeling pretty good about his swing so far — especially if he’s engaging in a little small ball.
His last regular-season sacrifice bunt came in 1998 and he has only four in his 20-year career — and he’s unlikely to do it again.
Bonds lined a first-inning single to the gap in left-center, then led off the fourth by sending a 1-2 pitch from 20-year-old John Danks over the wall in right and into the batting cage area to help the San Francisco Giants beat the Texas Rangers 3-2 Tuesday.
The bunt in the sixth drew a loud standing ovation, and Bonds chuckled as he jogged back into the dugout.
“I just pointed to him just to show him I’ve got more to my game than just swinging,” Bonds said, laughing, recalling his gesture to Showalter.
Bonds blooped a broken-bat single to center in the eighth, his fourth plate appearance, then got lifted for pinch-runner Daniel Ortmeier — tossing his batting helmet to himself. On Monday, Bonds spent his morning batting practice session working to keep the ball inside the park.
It’s been a week since the release of excerpts from an upcoming book detailing Bonds’ alleged longtime steroids regimen.
“Game of Shadows,” written by two San Francisco Chronicle reporters, is due out later this month, while another book on Bonds — “Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the Making of an Antihero” — written by Jeff Pearlman is slated for release in late May.
When asked what he thought of another book coming out, Bonds said: “Why do we have to go over this every time? Can we just talk baseball, please, please, please?”
Meanwhile in nearby Peoria, a male fan sported a Bonds jersey and replaced the slugger’s name with BALCO, the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative founded by Victor Conte.
Bonds sat in a folding chair near the on-deck circle in the first inning and was greeted by Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda, then stepped into the batter’s box and quickly singled. Lance Niekro followed with an RBI double to score Todd Linden, and a cautious Bonds held up at third rather than risking injury to his surgically repaired right knee by trying to score.
San Francisco Giants’ starting pitcher Matt Morris throws a warmup pitch before facing the Texas Rangers in the first inning of their spring training game in Scottsdale, Ariz., Tuesday March 14, 2006.
Had it been the regular season, he might have gone for it.
“I didn’t like bounce up or anything. I have to be careful right now,” he said.
The Giants needed approval from the Rangers to use Bonds as a DH because the game was in an NL ballpark.
Bonds didn’t mind only batting, and said he could see himself being a DH for an American League team at some point.
“It wouldn’t bother me at all,” said Bonds, who begins the season with 708 home runs — seven shy of passing Babe Ruth for second behind Hank Aaron’s 755.
Giants brass are brainstorming ways to honor Bonds if it happens.
“I would rather celebrate a World Series ring,” he said. “(Getting the record) could be God’s will. I could get hurt between now and that time. Right now I’ve just got to stay healthy.”
D’Angelo Jimenez hit his first homer of the spring with a two-run shot off Matt Morris in the second, sending a 3-2 pitch over the wall in right for the Rangers.
Morris allowed two earned runs and six hits in five innings, then Jamey Wright — a candidate for the fifth starter job — got the win with three shutout innings.
“I’m throwing all my pitches,” said Morris, who joined the Giants in the winter after spending his first nine seasons with St. Louis and winning 14 games for the Cardinals last year. “I’m trying to get into situations and out of situations. It’s pretty close to a game situation.
Notes
Texas reassigned LHP Jesse Carlson to minor league camp. … Bonds wasn’t sure whether he would play Wednesday at home against the Milwaukee Brewers and Alou planned to wait until after speaking to the slugger in the morning to write his lineup. … Giants CF Steve Finley made a pretty over-the-shoulder catch to rob Jason Botts of a home run leading off the second. What the modest, 41-year-old Finley described as “an easy one,” Alou called “a tremendous catch.” … Bonds is 5-for-7 this spring.
Box Score
CAC FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E - - - - - - - - - - - - TEXAS 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 9 0 SAN FRANCISCO 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 x 3 7 0 FINAL
WP - JAMEY WRIGHT (1-0) LP - KEVIN WALKER (0-1) SAVE - JACK TASCHNER (1)
HOME RUNS: TEX - D'ANGELO JIMENEZ (1) OFF MATT MORRIS IN THE 2ND SFO - BARRY BONDS (2) OFF JOHN DANKS IN THE 4TH
TIME: 2:19 ATT: 8,774
TEXAS (2) AT SAN FRANCISCO (3)
TEXAS AB R H BI SAN FRANCISCO AB R H BI B Wilkerson rf 3 0 0 0 K Frandsen 2b 4 0 0 0 V Sinisi 1b 1 0 0 0 T Linden lf 3 1 0 0 A Brown cf 3 0 0 0 S Finley cf 3 0 1 0 S Murphy cf 1 0 0 0 J Ellison cf 1 1 1 0 H Blalock 3b 2 0 2 0 B Bonds dh 3 1 3 1 R Eldridge lf 1 0 1 0 D Ortmeier dh 0 0 0 0 P Nevin 1b 3 0 0 0 L Niekro 1b 3 0 2 2 A Hyzdu rf 1 0 1 0 T Von Schell 1b 1 0 0 0 J Botts lf 3 0 0 0 M Matheny c 2 0 0 0 T Metcalf 3b 0 0 0 0 T Greene c 1 0 0 0 L Nix dh 4 1 2 0 N Schierholtz rf 3 0 0 0 R Barajas c 3 0 1 0 A Chavez 3b 2 0 0 0 N Trzesniak c 1 0 0 0 B Buscher 3b 1 0 0 0 D Jimenez ss 3 1 1 2 J Wald ss 2 0 0 0 T Olson 2b 0 0 0 0 M Morris p 0 0 0 0 M Derosa 2b 3 0 1 0 J Wright p 0 0 0 0 D Meyer ss 1 0 0 0 J Taschner p 0 0 0 0 J Danks p 0 0 0 0 J Silva p 0 0 0 0 K Walker p 0 0 0 0 R Bauer p 0 0 0 0 S Feldman p 0 0 0 0 B Shouse p 0 0 0 0 TOTALS 33 2 9 2 TOTALS 29 3 7 3
TEXAS 020 000 000 -- 2 SAN FRANCISCO 100 101 00x -- 3
DP--SAN FRANCISCO 1. LOB--TEXAS 9, SAN FRANCISCO 5. 2B--S Finley, L Niekro, M Derosa. HR--B Bonds 1 (2) (off J Danks), D Jimenez 1 (1) (off M Morris). SB--T Olson 1 (1). CS--J Wald, A Brown. S--B Bonds, T Metcalf.
IP H R ER BB SO HR TEXAS J Danks 4 4 2 2 2 2 1 J Silva 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 K Walker (L,0-1) 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 R Bauer 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 S Feldman 2-3 1 0 0 0 0 0 B Shouse 1-3 1 0 0 0 1 0 SAN FRANCISCO M Morris 5 6 2 2 1 2 1 J Wright (W,1-0) 3 3 0 0 2 2 0 J Taschner (S,1) 1 0 0 0 1 3 0
SO--TEX: L Nix 2, M Derosa, B Shouse, S Murphy, D Meyer, B Wilkerson. SFO: T Greene, A Chavez, J Wald, K Frandsen, N Schierholtz, T Von Schell. BB--TEX: A Brown, B Shouse, H Blalock, T Olson. SFO: T Linden, J Wald. T--2:19. A--8,774.
