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SF Giants Press Clips

Monday, April 3, 2017

San Francisco Chronicle

Giants bullpen blows opener, wasting two Bumgarner homers

Henry Schulman

PHOENIX - Mark Melancon might lead the National League in saves come October. The Giants

bullpen could redeem itself after it sabotaged the 2016 season. The term "blown save" might

disappear from the lexicon of the local nine.

You do not want to hear that now. How can you, after the Giants dropped their first game of

2017 the same way they lost their final game of 2016, with a bullpen breakdown? Heck, even

the score was the same.

The Diamondbacks won 6-5 Sunday with two runs in the ninth against Mark Melancon, who

was making his Giants debut as the $62 million ninth-inning answer.

That was after Derek Law blew a 4-3 lead without getting an out in his first shot at the eighth,

ensuring a no-decision for Madison Bumgarner after the big fella made history by becoming the

first pitcher in major-league history to hit two homers on Opening Day.

Too much is made of the opener, positive and negative. It's a single snapshot in an album of

162. Grand conclusions about the 2017 bullpen are premature. But after 31 blown saves last

year, counting Game 4 of the Division Series against the Cubs, the faithful have a right to

squirm.

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The guys in the visiting clubhouse at Chase Field do not.

"These are men in there," manager Bruce Bochy said. "I think you've seen how they handle

things. It's one game. We've got 161 left. If we start thinking about that too much it's going to

compound things."

Melancon would love a chance to redeem himself Monday, but the Giants do not play until

Tuesday night.

"It's never fun trying to process these games," Melancon said. "But that's part of the job. You

have to have a short-term memory. I'm sure I'll go over it 100 times, keeping the good and

getting rid of the bad."

Melancon had not allowed a run all spring, in a Giants or a Team USA uniform, 10 2/3 innings

overall.

When he retired the first two Diamondbacks in the ninth, he was poised to save a one-run lead

that Joe Panik and Conor Gillaspie provided in the top half with a triple and sacrifice fly against

new Diamondbacks closer Fernando Rodney.

Then came the hits. Three of them.

Jeff Mathis doubled into the left-center gap and pinch-hitter Daniel Descalso singled him home

to tie it. A.J. Pollock's single got the winning run to third, and Chris Owings delivered the

winner, a single to right.

As the Diamondbacks pounded Owings in celebration, Melancon took the slow walk that Giants

fans knew so well from their closer last year, and yes, Melancon understood the significance.

"You never want to start off the his way, especially after a heck of a performance by Madison,"

he said. "That's one of the more impressive games I've seen by anyone. I wanted to cap it off.

Obviously it didn't go that way."

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Bumgarner established a San Francisco record for pitchers with his 15th and 16th homers, off

Zack Greinke and Andrew Chafin. The first homer helped the Giants to a 3-0 lead that looked as

secure as the Hope Diamond as Bumgarner retired his first 16 hitters.

Nobody was thinking "bullpen meltdown," but rather Googling "Opening Day no-hitters." (Bob

Feller had the only one, in 1940.)

But Bumgarner displayed his own humanity when he blew that three-run lead in the span of

three hitters in the sixth inning. Mathis, Nick Ahmed and Pollock went triple, single, homer.

The Giants were leading 4-3 after seven innings when Bochy decided Bumgarner had enough

after 88 pitches.

In July, Bumgarner would have gotten the eighth inning, and probably the ninth.

But this was Bumgarner's first start of the year after topping out at 90 pitches in spring training.

He also threw hard, hitting 94 mph on the gun. With the top of the Arizona due up, Bochy

decided to try out his new bullpen scheme.

The Diamondbacks tied the game 4-4 on singles by Pollock, Owings and Paul Goldschmidt. Ty

Blach debuted by getting Jake Lamb to hit into a double play and Hunter Strickland got the third

out to keep the game tied.

The stomach-churning began, at least back home, and it might not stop for a while.

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San Francisco Chronicle

Giants’ Joe Panik on hitting 8th

: ‘a little different’

John Shea

The Giants won a World Series with Joe Panik batting second. He entered the season as a .280

career hitter with a .343 on-base percentage. As a left-handed batter, he seems a prototypical

No. 2 hitter.

In the Giants’ 2017 Opening Day lineup, their second baseman hit eighth.

That might become the norm as manager Bruce Bochy leans on Brandon Belt (.359 career OBP,

.394 last season) in the second slot behind Denard Span.

“Hitting eighth and hitting second is a little different,” Panik said Saturday on the eve of the

opener. “Hitting second, you can be a little more patient. Hitting eighth, you have to be kind of

selective aggressive, knowing the pitcher is behind you.

“You might get that one pitch to hit, you might not. You just have to be ready for it. It’s a

learning process.”

Panik received some insight from Brandon Crawford, who has considerable experience hitting

eighth, especially early in his career. With the pitcher on deck, it can be frustrating seeing few

hittable pitches.

There might be just one per at-bat. Or none. Well, unless Madison Bumgarner is on deck.

“It might be the first pitch of the at-bat. It might be the fifth or whatever,” Panik said. “Craw

said you just have to be ready. Don’t overthink it.”

On Sunday, Panik drove in the Giants’ first run of the season, his sacrifice fly to center scoring

Eduardo Nuñez. It came with one out in the second inning, and Arizona’s Zack Greinke wasn’t

necessarily pitching around him with Bumgarner up next.

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With any other pitcher on deck, Panik might not see the pitches he saw Sunday. Bumgarner

drew a walk, and Span was retired to end the inning.

Bumgarner lined a homer to left in his next plate appearance and homered again in the

seventh.

Panik led off the ninth with a triple to center and scored the go-ahead run.

Panik, who struggled in the second half last year after sustaining a concussion, doesn’t take the

switch as a demotion as much as an opportunity.

“Every spot in the order has its importance,” he said. “For me, I’m definitely going to get some

opportunities to drive in runs down in the order. In this game, you either want to score runs or

drive in runs. No matter what, you’re going to have an opportunity to do that.

“And hitting eighth, it’s important to turn the lineup over. Get on base so the pitcher gets up

(and isn’t leading off the following inning). Like I said, every spot has its importance.”

Through it all, Panik said he’s not concerned with where he bats in the lineup.

“You’re still going up there swinging a bat, trying to hit a ball,” he said. “It’s not like I’m

becoming a left-handed relief specialist.”

San Francisco Chronicle

Longtime baseball official Katy Feeney dies

Henry Schulman

PHOENIX — Katy Feeney, a former major-league executive with roots in San Francisco and the

daughter of the late Giants general manager and National League president Chub Feeney, died

Saturday, the Giants announced.

Feeney died of “natural causes,” according to the club, which gave no further details.

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She was baseball’s senior vice president of club relations and scheduling until her retirement

after the 2016 season. She was familiar to fans who watched news conferences in the

postseason, which she ran.

Feeney was a great niece of longtime Giants owner Horace Stoneham and a UC-Berkeley

graduate. In her job with Major League Baseball she traveled around the majors. San Francisco

was her favorite stop.

She lived in New York.

Giants president Larry Baer issued a statement that read, “The passing of Katy Feeney brings

great sadness to our organization. Katy was one of the most experienced voices in the game

and was a longtime friend that left an imprint not only on the Giants organization, but all of

baseball.”

San Francisco Chronicle

Giants opener: Lineups and final roster moves

Henry Schulamn

PHOENIX — Good morning and welcome to the Giants’ fourth Opening Day at Chase Field in six

years. It’s a tradition like no other.

(Don’t sue me, Masters. You can’t draw blood from a stone.)

This is also my first pregame post of the year. I and my colleagues who cover games will have

these daily with lineups and any pregame news and analysis. So you might want to check back

from time to time to see if there’s anything new.

I always retweet the link. Please follow me @hankschulman.

We have some early news that is not earth-shattering, but still important for those who follow

the team deeply.

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The Giants set their roster, and as expected outfielder Chris Marrero, infielder Aaron Hill and

reliever Neil Ramirez have made the team. The Giants needed to clear three 40-man roster

spots and did so by placing Will Smith on the 60-day disabled list and designating for

assignment pitchers Ray Black and Ian Gardeck.

Trevor Brown and Mac Williamson have the “honor” of being the first Giants played on the new

10-day disabled list.

Gardeck had Tommy John surgery last spring. Black is a hard thrower who has been beset by

arm injuries.

The Giants theoretically could have placed Gardeck on the 60-man as well, ensuring he would

remain with the organization, but they would have had to promote him to the big-league club

and immediately disable him. They then would have had to pay him the major-league minimum

rather than his minor-league salary.

In truth, this is a good time to DFA players. Most teams have set their 40-man rosters after

much discussion and think long and hard before claiming a player. Chances are both pitchers

clear waivers and can be outrighted to the minors.

The Giants, by the way, are 2-1 in the three openers at Chase since 2012. They lost that year

behind Tim Lincecum but won in 2014 and 2015 behind Madison Bumgarner.

They’ve won three straight season openers overall.

An earlier version of this story had Joe Panik hitting ninth behin Madison Bumgarner. That was

never the case. The Diamondbacks inadvertantly posted the wrong lineup in the media work

room.

A few other notes:

•Hill, who wore number 94 in spring training, has changed to 7, which was Gregor Blanco’s.

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•Bochy said he is comfortable using any right-handed reliever against left-handed hitters now

that he has only one lefty (Ty Blach) in the bullpen. But he acknowledged that Derek Law might

be the optimal choice because he has four pitches and moves the ball in and out well. He

actually had a lower batting average allowed against lefties (.188) than righties (.232) as a

rookie.

•Will Smith, who had Tommy John surgery Tuesday, is here. He was wearing street clothes in

the clubhouse and did not plan to go onto the field for introductions. “It wouldn’t feel right,” he

said.

•The Giants are not interested in outfielder Melvin Upton Jr., who was cut from the Blue Jays.

•Sounds like Triple-A Sacramento will not have many similiar lineups from one day to the next.

Bochy said Jae-gyun Hwang will play third, first and left. Christian Arroyo will move around the

infield. Kelby Tomlinson will play second and short, and Orlando Calixte will be at second, short

and center.

The lineups:

GIANTS

Span CF

Belt 1B

Pence RF

Posey C

Crawford SS

Nuñez 3B

Parker LF

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Panik 2B

Bumgarner P

DIAMONDBACKS

Pollock CF

Owings SS

Goldschmidt 1B

Lamb 3B

Tomas LF

Drury 2B

Peralta RF

Mathis C

Greinke P

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San Jose Mercury News

Self-proclaimed ‘Homeless Minor Leaguer’ is in Giants system

Daniel Mano

Giants minor leaguer Matt Paré calls himself the “Homeless Minor Leaguer” in his YouTube

channel centered on sketch comedy.

Paré is a designated hitter in the Giants system — four seasons into A ball, now in San Jose —

and he is not terribly upset about working for wage below the federal minimum.

“I think the system makes sense,” Paré told USA Today’s For The Win podcast about minor

league baseball. “You’re incentivizing these players to get better, and you’re going to get a

better product out on the field in the Major Leagues, which is the ultimate goal. … I love where

I’m at, and the situation that I’m in. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

It’s true that Paré knew what he was getting into when, in 2013, he tried out for the Giants and

signed a contract as an undrafted free agent. He grew up in Portland, Maine in a family that

hosted minor leaguers from the Class AA Sea Dogs, according to USA Today.

Now, Paré writes for and stars in “Homeless Minor Leaguer” with Mets minor leaguer Ty Kelly,

his offseason roommate. Their most-watched video is a parody of Sarah McLachlan’s ASPCA

commercials called “Minor Leaguers Need Your Help.” They also have a piece on “How to Make

Money in the Offseason” since some minor leaguers don’t earn a living wage playing baseball.

Paré, who is sympathetic to the disconcertingly low income, appreciates playing for a Giants

organization that pays for clubhouse dues and provides healthy catered meals. With that help,

he thinks the minor league system is one well-suited for a young man like him, with no kids and

a college degree to fall back on if baseball doesn’t pan out.

“Things change in your life, where money is a factor in decisions you make,” Paré told USA

Today. “And that’s not to say you don’t love the game; that’s a mature decision. Some guys do

have to stop playing. That’s OK. Not everyone’s going to make the Major Leagues. Those are the

sacrifices that we all have to make. I’ve made a bunch of trips to L.A. because of the YouTube

channel recently. Everyone in L.A. has made some sort of sacrifice to do what they’re doing

because they want to pursue their dream. I’d say it’s the same thing on the minor league side.

It’s so amazing to be around people when you know that every one of them has sacrificed

something to be where they are now.”

Paré said the Giants treat their minor league players well and he likes the connections he’s

made from the gig. Plus, he’s a happy camper living out of his car.

“That’s what’s so exciting about this profession: You’re always on the move,” Paré told USA

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Today. “It’s a lifestyle I’m so used to now. You take a minimalist approach to everything. If I

can’t fit everything that I own in my car, then I probably need to get rid of some stuff.”

San Jose Mercury News

Gaints in awe over Madison Bumgarner’s two historic homers on opening day

Andrew Baggarly

PHOENIX – Madison Bumgarner leaned back against the bench in the Giants dugout, a towel

wrapped around his left arm and his perfect game intact through five innings.

In these moments, baseball decorum demands isolation for the starting pitcher. Yet there was

Buster Posey to one side, saying something to make Bumgarner blink and smile. And there was

Brandon Crawford on the other side, providing a laugh track.

“I say a lot of things to dig at him,” Posey said. “So I’m not sure which one it was.”

The Giants couldn’t just ignore Bumgarner. Not when he was in the midst of one of the greatest

power shows in baseball history. Not when he became the first pitcher in major league lore to

hit two home runs on opening day.

“Babe Ruth didn’t do it?” Posey said. “That’s what we were calling him. We were calling him the

Great Bambino in the dugout.”

Two blown saves and a 6-5 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks could not prevent the Giants from

giving full throat to praising Bumgarner, who struck out 11 in seven innings in addition to hitting

those solo shots off Arizona’s Zack Greinke and Andrew Chafin.

“I mean, for us in the dugout, we’re just shaking our heads because it’s not supposed to be that

easy,” Posey said. “He makes it look easy, but there’s a method to his madness. He works at it.

He takes it extremely seriously and the results are proof of that.”

Greinke knew to pitch Bumgarner carefully. He issued a walk in the second inning. But he paid

for a two-strike fastball at the belt, as Bumgarner sending a low line drive screaming into the

seats in left-center field to give the Giants a 2-0 lead.

It was just the second home run by a pitcher on opening day in the past 25 years, joining the

Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw and the one he hit against the Giants in 2013.

It was the first home run hit by a Giants pitcher on opening day in the club’s San Francisco era;

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four pitchers accomplished it as New York Giants, with Johnny Antonelli the last to do it in

1956.

It also was just the third home run that Greinke had ever surrendered to a pitcher. Bumgarner

owns two of the three.

The Diamondbacks’ Jeff Mathis broke up Bumgarner’s perfect game with a triple in the sixth,

and A.J. Pollock hit a tying, two-run home run.

But as quickly as Bumgarner lost the lead, he provided another one. Facing Chafin in the

seventh, he crushed a high drive that cleared the Diamondbacks bullpen in the left field corner.

“You might get that pitch 10 more times and foul it off or swing and miss the next 10,”

Bumgarner said. “But that was two good at-bats for me right there.”

Bumgarner joined the Mets’ Noah Syndergaard as the only pitchers in the last decade to homer

twice in a game. He also became the first Giant to do it since Jim Gott in 1985.

And with 16 career home runs, Bumgarner tied then moved past Antonelli and Hal Schumacher

to become the franchise’s all-time leader in home runs by a pitcher.

“I was just laughing,” first baseman Brandon Belt said. “It’s pretty hard to believe. You expect

him to get one every now and again. You don’t expect him to drop two in the first game.

“It’s incredible. There’s not much I can say. Just laugh it off. I mean, I’ve seen what he can do to

those fastballs and he did it today.”

The history was impressive. The sheer physics were wondrous. Both of Bumgarner’s home runs

left the bat at 112 mph.

Just 14 major league players hit two home runs that hard all last season, according to StatCast.

Bumgarner did it on opening day.

He also owns the four hardest hit home runs by a pitcher in the two years for which StatCast

data is available.

“I was hoping his spot would come up again,” said Bochy, “so he’d get one more at-bat and

could go for three.”

Bumgarner’s two homers might have distracted from the fact that he was even more

overpowering on the mound while striking out 11 on just 88 pitches in seven innings. He struck

out the side in the second inning on just 10 pitches. His nipping fastball approached 95 mph, a

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level of sizzle he usually doesn’t approach without that October adrenaline.

“That’s the best I’ve felt in a long time,” said Bumgarner, who claimed to struggle with his

mechanics most of last season even as he set career highs in innings and strikeouts while

placing fourth in the NL Cy Young Award balloting.

“I’m definitely a lot closer. The struggle is once you get it, to keep hold of it, to not lose it.”

Words that apply to the Giants bullpen, too.

San Jose Mercury News

Giants bullpen blows two saves, ruins Bumgarner’s historic power show in opening day loss

Andrew Baggarly

PHOENIX – They were two mighty blows, one after the next. They landed hard. They made

lungs gasp, jaws drop and eyes glaze over with vacant disbelief in the Giants dugout.

The Giants saw something on Sunday afternoon that nobody had seen before. Madison

Bumgarner became the first pitcher in major league history to hit two home runs on opening

day.

Yet a much more familiar sight was so much harder to process. A Giants bullpen that blew a

franchise-record 32 save opportunities last year got off to a cracking start, blowing not one but

two save chances in a stunning, season-opening 6-5 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase

Field.

Bumgarner was a two-way wonder. He threw his hardest in two seasons, took a perfect game

into the sixth and finished with 11 strikeouts in seven innings while also writing himself into the

record books with a prodigious power display at the plate.

But Derek Law couldn’t hold a one-run lead in the eighth inning. And after the Giants nudged

ahead in the ninth on Joe Panik’s triple and Conor Gillaspie’s sacrifice fly, neither could new

closer Mark Melancon.

Melancon, who signed a $62 million contract in the offseason, did not allow a run in any of his

11 appearances this spring. That made the ninth inning even more unbelievable for a team that

set a franchise record with 32 blown saves last season.

Melancon had two outs and the bases empty when Jeff Mathis hit a double, and the

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Diamondbacks strung together three more chopped and flared singles. Chris Owings got a liner

to fall in right field as the Diamondbacks scampered onto the field in celebration.

It was wretched enough to lose that way on opening day. It felt like a monumental waste to

give away a game that Bumgarner had grabbed by the collar with two meaty hands. They did

not shake hands on a day when the Diamondbacks used their first relief pitcher before they

achieved their first baserunner. The Giants took three leads and gave all of them back.

The worst part: it might have allowed some of last season’s late-inning toxic sludge to ooze into

a fresh campaign.

As the Giants headed into a day off Monday, manager Bruce Bochy said he wasn’t concerned

about any residue from the loss.

“Opening day? No, not at all,” Bochy said. “They’re men in there. I think you’ve seen how they

handled things. It’s one game. We’ve got 161 games. If we start thinking about this too much,

that’s going to compound the problem.

“No, I don’t worry about them at all. About Mark, or the club, or anybody. We’re pros and part

of it is being resilient. We’ll put this behind us.”

Bumgarner hit a solo home run off Zack Greinke in the fifth inning. He lost his perfect game and

the lead in the sixth when A.J. Pollock hit a two-run homer. But Bumgarner gave himself

another lead when he connected in the seventh against left-hander Andrew Chafin. It was the

first two-homer game by a Giants pitcher since Jim Gott in 1985

But Bumgarner had to work harder while protecting his 4-3 lead in the bottom of the sevent ,

barely surviving David Peralta’s drive to the warning track in left field. Bochy took him out after

throwing 88 pitches.

“He just told me I was done,” Bumgarner said. “It’s different, you know, the first actual game

that means something. He’s looking out for us. We want to go out and keep the ball but he’s

looking out for our best interests. I’m sure he had plenty of reasons why he did that.”

Bochy sought to learn something about his bullpen, which is down to one left-hander following

Will Smith’s season-ending elbow surgery. Law got first crack at a prime setup role and got

scratched for singles by all three right-handed batters he faced. Paul Goldschmidt tied it when

his ground ball found a seam on the left side of the infield.

Even though Melancon blew his own one-run lead in the ninth, Law attempted to shoulder the

blame for stopping Bumgarner’s momentum.

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“In a way I think it’s my fault,” Law said. “If I get to them earlier, it’s maybe a different ending.

Pitching can be kind of contagious, like hitting, and if I kept doing what Bumgarner was doing,

we probably finish the way we wanted.”

Ty Blach soothed the persistent cough when he got Jake Lamb to ground into a double play,

then Hunter Strickland fielded a nubber from Yasmani Tomas to strand the go-ahead run at

third base.

The Giants did it with more drama than they would like, but they got the ball to Melancon with

the lead in the ninth. Panik tripled high off the center field wall before trotting home when A.J.

Pollock made a diving catch of Gillaspie’s drive to center.

But it was only a one-run lead, because Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford stranded the bases

loaded.

Mathis, who had tripled to break up Bumgarner’s perfect game in the sixth, kept the game alive

with his two-out double against Melancon. Then came a series of feisty swings and slippery

hands.

“It’s never fun to try to process these games, but it’s part of the job,” said Melancon, who blew

just four of 51 save chances with the Pirates and Nationals last year. “You have to have a short

term memory. I’m sure I’ll go over it 100 times and keep the good and get rid of the bad.”

No matter how good or bad it gets for the Giants bullpen this season, the lasting images from

this opener will be Bumgarner’s two rocketed shots into the left field seats.

“It’s one of the greatest games I’ve seen by anybody,” Melancon said. “I really wanted to cap it

off and obviously it didn’t go that way.”

MLB.com

After Bumgsrner’s huge game, bullpen falters

Steve Gilbert

PHOENIX -- The D-backs spoiled what was a historic day for Madison Bumgarner by rallying for

a pair of runs in the ninth off new Giants closer Mark Melancon to walk off vs. San Francisco, 6-

5, in front of a sellout crowd Sunday afternoon at Chase Field.

Bumgarner became the first pitcher to homer twice on Opening Day and he also struck out

11 over seven innings, but the Giants were not able to hold on to leads of 3-0 and 5-4.

D-backs closer Fernando Rodney entered a tie game in the top of the ninth and walked two and

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threw a wild pitch in allowing the Giants to score and grab a 5-4 lead.

Melancon, who signed a four-year, $62 million deal during the offseason, came on in the ninth

and after retiring the first two batters allowed a double to Jeff Mathis and a single to pinch-

hitter Daniel Descalso, which tied the game.

A.J. Pollock singled Descalso to third and Chris Owings drove him home with a single to right.

"He threw two good pitches to start me off," Owings said. "I faced him a couple of times in the

past so that helped out a lot. I was just trying to get something up in the zone."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

Pollock's back: A fractured elbow suffered two days before last year's opener sidelined Pollock

for all but a handful of games last year and this spring he hit just .143. But Pollock looked like

his old self Sunday in hitting a two-run homer off Bumgarner and igniting two rallies with

singles. "He does a great job," Pollock said of Bumgarner. "He's got so much angle to his

pitches. My first two he got off the barrel, which is kind of what he does. He just has a knack for

doing that. Fortunately, that one he threw a fastball and I was able to stay inside of it a little

better than the first two at-bats."

Law lashes at himself: Giants reliever Derek Law was self-critical after inheriting a 4-3 lead in

the eighth inning and allowing the tying run to score. Law yielded consecutive singles to Pollock,

Owings and Paul Goldschmidt before being removed.

"In a way, I think it's my fault because if I get to them earlier, maybe it's a different ending,"

Law said.

QUOTABLE

"You can't beat Opening Day. You really can't." -- Owings

SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS

It was quite a day for D-backs catcher Mathis. He tripled off Bumgarner in the sixth, singled in

the seventh and doubled in the ninth. The double had an exit velocity of 109.5 mph, which is

the hardest he's hit a ball in the Statcast™ Era. UPON FURTHER REVIEW

The Giants' Eduardo Nunez attempted to move from second base to third on a sixth-inning wild

pitch and was initially ruled safe. But the call was overturned when replays showed that Nunez

wasn't in contact with the bag as he was tagged. One inning later, Denard Span of the Giants

was declared out on a pickoff play at first base, a call that San Francisco challenged. After a

review, it was determined that the call stands. WHAT'S NEXT

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Giants: Johnny Cueto will begin his quest to duplicate his successful 2016 debut with San

Francisco when he confronts Arizona in a game beginning at 6:40 p.m. PT on Tuesday, following

Monday's scheduled off-day. Cueto finished 18-5 last year, including 3-2 with a 4.13 ERA in five

starts against Arizona last year.

D-backs: After taking Monday off, the D-backs will return to action against the Giants on

Tuesday night with Patrick Corbin getting the ball in a 6:40 p.m. MST start.

MLB.com

Two much! Bumgarner makes history with HRs

Joe Posnanski

Yes, Madison Bumgarner was a slugger in high school. They're all sluggers in high school

though, right? OK, true, Bumgarner was particularly so -- he first captured the attention of Pat

Portugal, the scout who would sign him, with a towering home run over the scoreboard at his

high school in North Carolina -- but, really, how many times have you heard that story about

the slugging pitcher?

Every superb pitcher, it seems, bashes a few home runs in Little League, in high school, even in

college. Pitchers, after all, tend to be the team's best athlete. If they're good enough, throw

hard enough, show enough pitching potential, they get drafted. And then they find out what all

pitchers find out: Those glorious days of pitching brilliantly and mashing home runs are pretty

much over.

This should be obvious. You often hear people ask, "Why can't pitchers hit?" But that's

ridiculous, a bit like asking, "Why can't NFL defensive backs play quarterback?" Hitting a

baseball is one of the toughest things in sports. Incredibly talented young hitters who practice

nonstop fall short of the Major Leagues more often than not. The fact that any Major Leaguer

who has dedicated his life to pitching can even put a bat on a big league slider is something of a

minor miracle.

Pitching and hitting are two entirely different skills, and they each require singular dedication

and focus.

"I never worked at it," the Dodgers' Brandon McCarthy says when I ask how good a hitter he

was growing up. "Good swing. Good eye. And I somehow struggled to hit the ball."

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Pitching takes too much out of you.

When Bumgarner came to the big leagues, he couldn't hit. His first four-plus seasons in the big

leagues, he batted .138 and slugged .192. In 2013, Bumgarner posted a .107 average without an

extra-base hit in 69 plate appearances. Nobody was surprised by that. Nobody wondered, "Hey,

he crushed the ball in high school, where is the power?" That's the natural course of a pitcher's

career.

The next year, though, Bumgarner put together one of the best offensive years for a pitcher

since the designated hitter was launched in the American League in 1973. He hit .258, slugged

.470 and slammed as many home runs (four) as Joe Panik and Angel Pagan combined.

Next year, Bumgarner went deep five times, again outhomering Pagan.

Last year, Bumgarner fell off slightly. Still he became the only pitcher in the DH era to hit at

least three homers for three consecutive seasons.

And now -- as we all saw on Sunday -- it's beginning to feel right to Bumgarner. It's still not

entirely clear what we saw in that Giants-D-backs game because we have never seen it before,

and the fact that San Francisco lost, 6-5, was somewhat secondary to the feat we witnessed.

Bumgarner became the first pitcher to hit two home runs on Opening Day since … well, ever.

Since 1973, only 12 other pitchers have gone deep twice in any game.

The last Giants player to hit two home runs on Opening Day? Barry Bonds.

So yes, it's crazy. But the fact Bumgarner hit two home runs, as unusual an achievement as that

is, is almost beside the point. It was the sheer fury of those two blasts that boggled the mind.

The first came in the fifth inning when Bumgarner faced Zack Greinke, one of the Majors' best

pitchers in the past decade. Greinke fell behind 1-2, then decided to challenge Bumgarner up in

the zone with a 92-mph fastball. That was a mistake.

Bumgarner hit that ball so hard that the television seemed to shake.

With Statcast™, we now have precise ways of telling just how hard he hit that ball -- it was

112.5 mph. That is the hardest ball a pitcher has hit in the Statcast™ Era. Admittedly, the

Statcast™ Era is pretty short (circa 2015), but it's hard to imagine any pitcher connecting with a

baseball that hard. Maybe Babe Ruth. It was like a perfectly timed punch, one that knocks out

19

the mouthpiece and makes everyone in the crowd shout "OH!" at the same time.

Pitchers don't hit baseballs that hard. They just don't. When you hear that sound, see that

trajectory, you think about Albert Pujols, about Miguel Cabrera, about Mike Trout. With that

home run, Bumgarner became just the second pitcher to hit a home run with an exit velocity

higher than 110 mph. The first was … Bumgarner last year. Third place on that list was … also

Bumgarner.

"He definitely has a lot of pop," McCarthy says. "That's for sure."

Bumgarner came up again in the seventh, and it was a very different situation in the game. He

had been cruising when he took Greinke deep, tossing a perfect game through the first five

innings. Then Bumgarner got rocked a bit in the sixth, and it wasn't even certain that he would

get to hit again. But he did, and this time he faced lefty Andrew Chafin.

What was striking about this one was how predictable it was. It's ridiculous to predict that a

pitcher, even a beast like Bumgarner, will homer. But when Chafin fell behind 2-0, it seemed

like everyone knew exactly what was coming next.

Chafin would be forced to come in with a fastball (which he did).

The fastball would catch too much of the plate (if Chafin was throwing darts, this would have

been a bull's-eye).

Bumgarner's eyes would light up, and he would swing the bat with all the rage he had bottled

up from the last frustrating inning (man, did he swing hard).

This home run was not quite as awe-inspiring as the first. But it was impressive enough. Left

fielder Yasmany Tomas did not move an inch as it sailed over his head. Statcast™ measured the

exit velocity on this one at 112.1 mph -- the second hardest-hit ball by a pitcher in the era.

Bumgarner now has the four top exit velocities for pitchers.

By the way: Only one other player has knocked two home runs in a game with each exiting out

at 112 mph. I don't need to tell you that it's Giancarlo Stanton (who has done it twice). Who

else? This is the company that Bumgarner keeps these days as a hitter.

"In the dugout, we were just shaking our heads, because it's not supposed to be that easy,"

Giants catcher Buster Posey said.

20

What does it all mean? That's not easy to sum up. Bumgarner is an amazing hitter for a pitcher,

but that's about how far it goes, at least so far. The talk of him being good enough to hit every

day is premature and maybe silly. Bumgarner is, after all, a .183 career hitter with a 183-24

strikeout-to-walk ratio. There are plenty of guys in the Minor Leagues who can run into a ball

now and again.

No question, though, there has always been something a little bit larger than life about

Madison Bumgarner. How far can he take this hitting thing? Who knows? But you get the

feeling that he will blow our minds again, and soon.

MLB.com

Melancon moving on from forgettable debut

Chris Haft

PHOENIX -- The turnaround occurred quickly for the Giants and Mark Melancon following

Sunday's 6-5 loss to the D-backs at Chase Field.

The Giants' closer had retired the first two batters he faced in the ninth inning, Brandon

Drury and David Peralta. Surely Melancon, the $62-million man, would do exactly what the

Giants obtained him to do, and seal the victory. But four consecutive base hits erased San

Francisco's 5-4 lead.

"It's never fun to try to process these games," said Melancon, whose 131 saves in the last three

seasons were the most in the Majors during that span. "But it's something that's part of the job.

I'm sure I'll go over it 100 times and keep the good and get rid of the bad."

me.

"I didn't execute as well as I wanted to," Melancon said, focusing particularly on Jeff Mathis'

double that launched Arizona's rally and pinch-hitter Daniel Descalso's single that tied the

score.

The collapse recalled the bullpen issues San Francisco endured last year, when relievers

couldn't close out a franchise-high 30 games, and prompted Melancon's signing. But manager

Bruce Bochy wasn't worried about his team feeling haunted.

21

"They're men in there," Bochy said. "I think you've seen how they've handled things. It's one

game. We've got 161 [more] games. If we start thinking about this too much, that's going to

compound the problem."

Madison Bumgarner, who bequeathed leads to a bullpen that squandered them last year,

expressed confidence in Melancon.

"I know nobody's going to be afraid to run him out there Tuesday," Bumgarner said.

MLB.com

Slugging aside, Bumgarner dazzles on mound

Chris Haft

PHOENIX -- In the eyes of many, Madison Bumgarner's power probably obscured his precision

Sunday. But his excellence on the mound must not be overlooked.

As he did by homering twice, Bumgarner delivered a record-setting performance with his

pitching in the Giants' season-opening 6-5 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. He walked none

and struck out 11, eclipsing the club's Opening Day record of 10 established by Hall of Famer

Juan Marichal against the Milwaukee Braves in 1962.

Bumgarner lasted seven innings while allowing three runs and six hits.

"That's the best I felt in a long time," said Bumgarner, who retired the first 16 D-backs he faced

before Jeff Mathis tripled.

Statistical evidence supported the theory that Bumgarner simply threw harder than usual.

Statcast™ tracked 26 pitches from Bumgarner that reached or exceeded 93 mph. By contrast,

the highest number of pitches he threw in a game at that velocity last season was six.

"His fastball was jumping," Giants catcher Buster Posey said. "His command of it was really

good, especially for his first start. I thought he expanded with the curveball when he needed

to."

Said D-backs shortstop Chris Owings, who struck out in each of his three plate appearances

against Bumgarner, "I think, for me, he was really feeding off our adrenaline. I was up there and

I kind of got away from what I've been doing all Spring Training."

The outcome could have awakened bitter memories, since Bumgarner left eight games last year

with the Giants ahead -- before the bullpen blew the lead. But Bumgarner, who joined Marichal

22

and Tim Lincecum as the only Giants in the San Francisco era (since 1958) to start at least four

consecutive season openers, remained his implacable self.

"Obviously, I would have liked to come away with a win," he said. "But that's not how this game

works all the time."

Not even Bumgarner's slugging could rock his unshakable sense of perspective.

"I try to be level-headed, even-keeled," he said. "It's obviously pretty special for the chance to

do that, for that to happen. But my job's on the mound."

For a while, Bumgarner literally did his job to perfection. He retired A.J. Pollock on a popup

with his very first pitch of the season. Then he struck out the side in the second inning. Though

he yielded his three runs in the sixth, Bumgarner maintained his assertiveness by beginning and

ending the inning with strikeouts.

Nice work for the latter-day Babe Ruth. You'll recall that the Sultan of Swat was a top pitcher

for the Boston Red Sox before moving to the outfield and becoming a full-time hitter.

"That's one of the more impressive games I've ever seen by anybody," Giants closer Mark

Melancon said.

MLB.com

Giants getting heavy division dose early

Chris Haft

Every year, the importance of winning at a healthy early-season pace is emphasized. A fast start

is even more essential for the San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks, who resume

their series Tuesday following Monday's scheduled off-day. Given the nature of their schedules,

both teams can define their seasons within the schedule's first months, if not weeks.

The Giants play 24 of their first 26 games against National League West opponents. Their only

games against non-division foes will occur April 18-19 at Kansas City. The Giants happened to

finish 45-31 against NL West foes last year, so this extra helping of division matchups could help

them in the early stages of the West race if they can approach their 2016 success.

23

Arizona faces a similar challenge. The D-backs will play 24 of their first 27 games, all in April,

against NL West opponents. A home series this weekend against American League champion

Cleveland represents Arizona's lone non-West competition.

Things to know about this game

• Arizona's Paul Goldschmidt needs one stolen base to reach the 100-steals/100-homer level.

• Performing at Chase Field is old hat for Giants utility man Aaron Hill. He batted .273 in 525

games as a member of the D-backs from 2011-15.

• Three non-roster invitees made the Giants' Opening Day roster: Hill, first baseman-outfielder

Chris Marrero and right-hander Neil Ramirez.

Yahoosports.com

Madison Bumgarner is the first pitcher to hit two home runs on opening day

Blake Schuster

In the top of the fifth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Madison Bumgarner

stepped in against Zack Greinke and launched a rocket of a home run.

That alone is worth pausing for, even if the San Francisco Giants’ pitcher has 15 career

homers, except if you linger on that for too long you’ll miss the next incredible thing

Bumgarner does.

Two innings later, Bumgarner launched another. Never before had a pitcher hit two home

runs on opening day. On the second, Arizona’s outfielders barely even moved.

In the top of the fifth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Madison Bumgarner

stepped in against Zack Greinke and launched a rocket of a home run.

That alone is worth pausing for, even if the San Francisco Giants’ pitcher has 15 career

homers, except if you linger on that for too long you’ll miss the next incredible thing

Bumgarner does.

Two innings later, Bumgarner launched another. Never before had a pitcher hit two home

runs on opening day. On the second, Arizona’s outfielders barely even moved.

24

Bumgarner's second homer

Madison Bumgarner crushes a solo home run to left, becoming the first pitcher

ever to homer twice on Opening Day

According to Statcast, Bumgarner’s first shot topped out at 112.5 mph. No pitcher has

knocked a ball out of the park faster in the Statcast era. His second reached 112.1 mph.

Naturally, the list of hardest hit homers by a pitcher now looks like this:

1. Madison Bumgarner (112.5 mph)

2. Madison Bumgarner (112.1 mph)

3. Madison Bumgarner (111.0 mph)

4. Madison Bumgarner (109.4 mph)

San Francisco Giants’ Madison Bumgarner hit a home run and stayed perfect for 5.1 innings

opening day in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

And that’s only part of what’s made Bumgarner so impressive on opening day.

Bumgarner was perfect through 5.1 innings with eight strikeouts using just 60 pitches. That

streak ended when Jeff Mathis struck a triple down the third base line in the sixth.

Beyond the clichés of the Giants’ ace being in midseason form, getting off to a quick start

and sitting atop the MVP, Cy Young and Home Run races is this simple fact: Madison

Bumgarner is one of the game’s true superstars at a time when baseball is overflowing

with talent. And teams should be very, very afraid to face him.

Sunday is just another example of that.

Greinke, meanwhile, exited after giving up two runs on four hits with two strikeouts and

two walks.

CSNbayarea.com

Bumgrner becomes first pitcher to hit two homeruns on Opening Day

Alex Pavlovic

PHOENIX — This collection of Giants is a confident group, but also a somewhat stoic one. They

have plenty of fun behind closed doors, but this roster does not generally flip bats or engage in

raucous dugout celebrations or skip off the mound.

There was no hiding the emotion, however, when Madison Bumgarner hit his second homer

Sunday. Some players in the dugout stared at Bumgarner, seemingly asking, “How the bleep did

you do that?” Others smiled. Most laughed.

25

“For us in the dugout, we’re just kind of shaking our heads,” catcher Buster Posey said. “It’s not

supposed to be that easy. He kind of makes it look easy, but there’s a method to his madness.

See what I did there? Mad-ness. He works at it. He takes it seriously.”

Bumgarner worked religiously this spring to improve his approach against breaking balls, and

that seemed prudent his first time up. With a 3-2 count, Zack Greinke threw him a slider and

then missed with a curveball that sent Bumgarner jogging down to first. It is the way Bumgarner

has been pitched, even by the game’s best, for a couple of years, but if you make a mistake

with your fastball, he is still waiting to pounce.

Greinke did in the fifth, and Bumgarner blasted a low liner into the seats in left, the ball never

getting more than 55 feet off the ground. In the seventh, Andrew Chafin fell behind 2-0 and

served one up at 92 mph. It left at 112 mph, landing 422 feet away.

Bumgarner became the all-time franchise leader in homers for a pitcher (16) and extended his

lead among active pitchers. He is the only pitcher to homer twice on Opening Day. He joined

Giancarlo Stanton as the only MLB players to hit two homers at 112+ mph in one game during

the Statcast era.

“I try to be pretty level-headed and even-keeled,” he said. “Obviously it’s pretty special to do

that, but my job out there is on the mound. That’s what my main concern is.”

Bumgarner was pretty dominant there, too. The man who is forever flirting with his first no-

hitter took a perfect game into the sixth. The game unraveled quickly, but Bumgarner tipped his

cap to A.J. Pollock, who took him deep to left for a two-run homer.

The flurry did some damage to Bumgarner’s final line, but in his first start, at a park that plays

the way Chase Field does with the roof open, he didn't do much wrong. Bumgarner was

charged with three runs in seven innings. He struck out 11 and walked none while throwing 88

pitches.

The most important number may have come on the radar gun. Bumgarner does not often

worry about velocity, but an increase is a sign of proper mechanics, and after maxing out at

93.0 mph in 2016, he hit 94.3 on Sunday and repeatedly pounded fastballs that registered in

the 94 mph range.

“This is the best I’ve felt in a long time,” he said. “That’s the adjustment in my delivery that I’ve

been working on for a long time. It definitely was coming out good today.”

After many of his starts the last two seasons, Bumgarner has insisted that his mechanics were

not nearly as perfect as he wanted them to be. Asked on Sunday, he smiled and offered only

that, “I’m a lot closer than where I was.”

“The struggle is once you get it, to keep hold of it and not lose it,” Bumgarner added.

26

If this version of Bumgarner — with slightly cleaner mechanics and increased velocity — shows

up all year, the Giants could once again have a Cy Young Award winner atop their rotation. If he

keeps hitting for power, you’re talking about a potential MVP. Bumgarner has consistently

added to his value on the mound with wondrous moments at the plate, and seven innings into

his 2017 season, he’s already 40 percent of the way to his career-high for homers. In his first

plate appearance, he added a walk.

“I was hoping his spot would come up again (before he was taken out) so he could get one

more at-bat to go for three homers,” manager Bruce Bochy said.

The idea of a pitcher hitting three homers should be absurd. But teammates won’t rule

anything out with Bumgarner, not after a day like Sunday. They’ve learned to stay out of the

way and simply enjoy the show.

“I just laughed,” first baseman Brandon Belt said. “You expect him to get one every once in a

while. You don’t expect him to get two the first day. There’s not much you can say. I just

laughed. It’s pretty cool to watch a pitcher do that.”

Bumgarner’s first multi-homer game put him in elite company. He joined Bob Elliott, Willie

Mays, Matt Williams and Barry Bonds as Giants who have hit two homers on Opening Day.

Speaking after a tough loss, he shrugged all that off, saying he tries to think along with the

pitcher but he was fortunate to get pitches he could handle.

“That’s something you look back on when you’re done playing,” he said of his historic day.

“Right now, I’m not concerned about that.”

CSNbayarea.com

Giants’ revamped bullpen blows two leads in Opening Day loss

Alex Pavlovic

PHOENIX — Bruce Bochy’s head dropped into his right palm and he stared out at the mound

with a familiar look on his face. He had seen this game before, many times over the second half

of last season. He did not expect to see it on the first day of the Mark Melancon Era.

The Giants blew 32 saves last season and flamed out in the NLDS because of a leaky bullpen,

but the group was overhauled. Melancon got four years and $62 million to fix the ninth. The

eighth was handed over to promising youngsters.

The Giants believe in this group, and they believe they have the makings of a very good bullpen,

but the first time out was the same flavor of disaster. Derek Law gave up the lead in the eighth.

Melancon gave up four straight two-out hits in the ninth, blowing his first save opportunity with

the Giants. The Giants lost 6-5 to the Diamondbacks, wasting a historic day from Madison

Bumgarner and standout performances from Eduardo Nuñez and Joe Panik.

27

In a quiet clubhouse, Bochy said he’s not concerned about a group that’s lost this way before.

“They’re men in there,” he said. “You’ve seen how they’ve handled things. It’s one game and

we’ve got 161 (left). If we start thinking about this too much, that compounds things. I don’t

worry about Mark or anybody. They’re pros and part of that is being resilient.”

The 1-of-162 theme flowed throughout the clubhouse, and it’s completely true. Still, it was hard

not to feel like the Giants let one hell of a kickoff party slip through their fingers. Bumgarner

went seven strong and became the first pitcher in MLB history to hit two homers on Opening

Day. After the second one, a blast to deep left, teammates simply stared at him in the dugout

and laughed. An hour later, the Giants were trying to come to grips with a walk-off loss.

“In a way I think it’s my fault,” Law said. “I think if I get it to (Melancon) earlier, maybe it’s a

different ending. I kind of feel like, how hitting is contagious, pitching is the same way. If I

would have kept going the way Bumgarner was going, maybe it ends the way we want it.”

The Giants learned last season that, as little sense as it might make, blowing saves can feel

contagious. Santiago Casilla was the main culprit, but his replacements in September didn’t fare

much better. Casilla wasn’t part of the collapse in Game 4 of the NLDS.

Melancon’s blown save happened in an odd way. He got two quick outs, but a double and three

straight singles ended the game. He said he made two execution mistakes, to Daniel Descalso

and Jeff Mathis.

“You tip your hat to those guys,” Melancon said. “They executed. They did what they wanted to

do. It happened quickly. It's never fun to process, but it’s part of the job. You have to have a

short-term memory.”

The schedule will make that a bit more difficult. Because the NCAA basketball title game is in

nearby Glendale, the Giants won’t play again until Tuesday night. Bochy said that game, and all

other ones, will be about more than bullpen arms. The Giants went 1-for-10 with runners in

scoring position, although one of the wasted rallies included a foul tip straight off the plate that

wasn’t reviewable. Players who watched the video in the clubhouse said the ball, hit by

Brandon Crawford in the top of the ninth with the bases loaded, was indeed foul.

“Craw thought it was foul. (Phil) Nevin thought it was foul,” Bochy said. “That’s a big call at that

point.”

The Giants never pulled away on a day when their No. 9 hitter carried a heavy load, and it cost

them. They’ve blown a lot of games at Chase Field over the years. They know how it goes.

“We don’t expect anything negative to happen with Mark out there, but hey, it happens,”

Bochy said. “You’re not going to be perfect. We had a chance to put the game away a couple of

times. We just couldn’t do it. In this ballpark, anything can happen.”

28

CSNbayarea.com

Opening day goes from Babe Bumgarner to game 4 of 2016 NLDS

Ray Ratto

If Madison Bumgarner was any good, he’d have hit two more home runs Sunday and saved his

own game.

Of course, if he’d done that, he’d have taken an inky drill bit to baseball’s record book, as well

as violated one of the game’s scoring rules.

But no, Bumgarner’s two homers were just for show, and the San Francisco Giants began the

new season as they ended the last one – with a bullpen made for brisket.

Not that this is going to be the daily tale in 2017. For one, neither Bumgarner’s current home

run pace of 324 nor the team’s current blown save pace is likely to be met. I mean, Babe Ruth

hit 29 homers in 1918, and then he stopped pitching entirely.

But the Giants have already gone to full-gonzo off-the-peg wacky, and they still have 1,449

more innings to play (give or take) this year.

Now who doesn’t think that’s worth sticking around for?

Now you will not get some sort of harbinger-of-the-season story here. One day has nothing to

do with the next in baseball; if that were so, we’d have had a 162-0 team by now, and also a 0-

162 team.

But the Giants pegged their entire 2017 plan on the theory that “We’re just fine, as long as we

can get Santiago Casilla to pitch for Oakland again.” And with a sample size so small that it

doesn’t even qualify as a sample, we can say that plan is at least one game short of foolproof.

For five innings, the story was Bumgarner as 1940 Bob Feller, the man who pitched the only

Opening Day no-hitter in history. For six innings, the story was Bumgarner as 1917 Babe Ruth

(his last year as a full-time pitcher, when his OPS was .857, his batting average was .325 and his

pitching record was 24-13, 2.01).

And in the end, the story was Game 4 of the National League Division Series, when the Giants’

bullpen vomited all over the welcome mat to a fourth World Series appearance.

Now how many sub-atomic narratives do you want in one day, you greedy hyenas?

If we’re all lucky as observers, the Giants will be 162 vials of damp dynamite, and every game is

a new heroes-or-villains debate. There’s never such a thing as a bad “Did you see what they did

this time?” game.

29

But that isn’t the nature of baseball. Much of the sport is about the mundane nature of day-to-

day living – not “grinding,” the new cliché du jour, but playing largely uneventful but necessary

games. Handling that routine matters.

And there is nothing routine about a bullpen that averages 1.2 blown saves per inning pitched.

That’s a oil-coated dumpster fire with a side of blasting caps on a space heater.

So don’t get used to all this compacted hilarity out of Giants 2017. Madison Bumgarner will not

hit 64 homers (32 starts, two homers per game, give or take the odd pinch-hitting appearance),

and the Giants bullpen will not blow 54 saves (based on the notion that you win a third of your

games, lose a third, and fight for the other 50-some-odd). The best thing about a hot mess is

that it does not flow like a motorized fountain but explodes in bursts when you least expect it.

But as a way to start the 2017 season, the Giants gave you everything you could want – if what

you want is Madison Bumgarner as Babe Ruth, Bob Feller and the warmup act for The Glow-In-

The-Dark Bullpen. The bullpen will be better as time goes on, but that’s just a burden you’re

going to have to bear.