Wow, what a great road trip to start the season! The Giants showed their spring training record was not a fluke. They head home with a 5-1 record, and an off-day, to unwind before the home opener Friday. Some Blackjohn research shows this team started 5-1 in some good years: 1962, 2010, and 2014.
Wilmer Flores gets the Picture of the Post, pretty much a no brainer. He now has 5 hits, 4 of which were homers, two of them being the special three run variety. He leads the team with 10 RBI. He got a special graphic on the TV coverage, too:
4+ homers in first 6 games of season
Travis Jackson, 4 in 1930
Hank Sauer, 5 in 1953
Willie Mays, 6 in 1964
Willie Mays, 4 in 1971
Chili Davis, 4 in 1983
Kevin Mitchell, 5 in 1991
Barry Bonds, 5 in 2002
Wilmer Flores, 4 in 2025
We all know that Flores is a dead calm RBI producing guy, so long as his knees hold up, will continue to produce the rest of the year. His fans, his teammates, and his coaches are all thrilled, for he is one of the best humans in MLB.
Heliot Ramos is on fire too, and actually managed to take the PotP award for the first series away from Wilmer. He now has 3 homers for 7 RBI, and is also in the record books, as Shayna Rubin tweeted, “That’s Ramos’ sixth consecutive game with an extra-base hit. Felipe Alou (1963) is the only other Giant to open the season with an XBH in 6 straight games.”
One of the coolest things about being a Giants fan is never knowing where names like Felipe Alou and Willie Mays and Chili Davis will pop up.
Matt Chapman has a homer and 4 RBI to brag about, besides his usual incredible defense. LaMonte Wade (1 for 17) and Willy Adames (3 for 23) and Patrick Bailey (1 for 13) all started little slowly, but Wade did get off the schneid with a homer.
There was fabulous pitching all around, as Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, and Jordan Hicks accounted for 3 of the wins (the others went to Tyler Rodgers and Randy Rodriguez). Webb has 11 strikeouts and 12 innings in his 2 starts, he is going for the league lead in IP again. Hicks threw an absolute gem, 6 whiffs in 6 innings, no runs allowed. Ryan Walker and Camilo Doval have each been in 3 games, and might be co-closers soon. No hits and no walks issued by Doval, and he remembered to cover first for the final out of the Astros sweep.
Beyond all doubt the biggest surprise of the trip is Casey Schmitt being sent to 1B! This was apparently with no practice, and shows a lot of faith in Schmitt’s fielding skills. This experiment must result from the team having assumed Jerar Encarnacion would be the ‘platoon’ (or whatever this is) with Wade.
On Friday, we welcome baseball back into Willie Mays Field. There will be a post in a day or so to preview the Mariners series.
It is fun to have baseball back again, and to share it with the graceful and knowledgeable commenters below. If you are lurking, please do join in. If you know someone who would be a good addition to this comment board, please invite them.
