Can’t predict ball! It never stops being true. If someone had told us back in spring training that, not only would Pat Bailey be playing in Oracle Park before Memorial Day, but we’d see him pick up his first major league hit AND first major league homer right handed, well, I think we’d have all taken the under on that one!
But fourteen games in Richmond, fourteen games in Sacramento…and here we are, in what is turning out to be a There R Giants’ kind of season! Delightful surprises are what this game delivers up repeatedly. It’s why we watch.
[As a bit of housekeeping, it seems from the feedback that I got on Friday that maybe the issue for people playing the embedded videos is that you’re trying to watch them in your email application, where indeed, they do seem to be flattened down. But if you click out of the email and read the post on my Substack website (or on the Substack app on your smart phone), those videos should work. What I’m going to do for the time being is keep embedding the native videos into my post, but also link to either Twitter or You Tube where you can watch the videos in another platform if you’re still having issues — like the above video of Bailey swatting his first HR, which you can find here).]
But where was I?…. Oh yes, a There R Giants’ kind of weekend! Besides the Bailey Fun, let’s not sleep on longtime There R Giants’ fave Ryan Walker making his big league debut — and picking up a Win at the same time! In tomorrow’s mailbag, we’re going to talk more about the rapid pace of change that is going on in the organization, but for right now, let’s just appreciate that I was covering a LOT of these guys in Richmond really recently! Bailey weeks ago, Walker and Casey Schmitt just last September! These appear to be crazy times — in the best possible way. It’s starting to look like it’s the rooks who are going to determine where this season goes.
(“Your scheduled Casey Schmitt highlight”)
HITTER of the WEEKEND: Luis Matos (Sac), 7 for 13, 2b (9), 2 3b (2)
PITCHER of the WEEKEND: Hayden Birdsong (SJ), 4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K
As usual, we have a big weekend of action to cover … we’ll take the big picture lens on all of it right after the jump!
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