14+7=1

New math? No, Gabe Kapler using the entire Giants lineup, 14 men, to score seven runs and secure one win-- a three-time come-from-behind win yesterday over the Cincinnati Reds at Oracle Park.  

In what's becoming a standard practice for this team, three Giants pinch-hitters came off the bench to make the difference in a most entertaining game. And all three stayed in on defense, moving around the diamond as needed.  

How do you pinch-hit for a guy-- Tommy LaStella-- who's 3-for-3 on the day and stands at .353 for the season? With a guy who's at .323 for the season, of course! Donovan Solano batted for LaStella with the score tied 6-6 in the bottom of the seventh, and drew a walk. Mike Yastrzemski followed with another walk, and after a fielder's choice moved Solano to third, Wilmer Flores-- who had pinch-hit for Brandon Belt an inning earlier-- drove in what became the winning run with a fly ball to deep left-0center.

In that previous inning, after red-hot Evan Longoria (1.024 OPS) had crushed a game-tying home run to left-center off the fine veteran lefthander Sean Doolittle, and after Buster Posey had singled, Austin Slater batted for LaMonte Wade. Reds manager David Bell, the former Giant, pulled Doolittle for righthander Carson Fulmer. Slater stayed in and drilled a triple to the deepest part of the ballpark, Posey scoring standing up.  Watch the highlight and note how Slater stayed inside and muscled a good pitch the other way.

By contrast, Kapler needed "only" four pitchers to get a most difficult job done. Kevin Gausman, roughed up for five runs in an inning and two-thirds, retired the last 13 batters he faced and completed six. Wandy Peralta took over in the seventh and immediately coughed up the lead thanks to a balk and a wild pitch. But he got a double play to end it, and was rewarded with a win along with his blown save when Solano, Yaz, and Flores did their thing. Tyler Rogers struck out the side in the eighth, and Jake McGee made it 5-for-5 in saves, getting a called third strike to end it and leaving Tyler Stephenson scowling at the plate.

How about each team opening the game with two two-run homers, an Oracle Park first? Joey Votto's fade to deep left was followed by Mike Moustakas' cannon shot into the waters of McCovey Cove. That made Yaz's second homer of the year and Brandon Crawford's third all the more satisfying. Despite losing the lead in the second, Gausman, who had stormed around the mound in the first, appeared much more composed the rest of the way after seeing his guys pick him up. It showed as he "gutted out" this one after two terrific starts. 

We're truly sorry to see Reyes Moronta back on the IL so quickly, with pain in his surgically-repaired right shoulder.  This guy looked like he could be the next great Giants reliever when he showed his stuff in 2018 and 2019. Like Jeremy Affeldt, he's one of those few who can come in cold with men on base, and dominate. It's the ten-day IL and let's hope that's all it is. 

Fear Hits a Grand Slam

So much for our recent praise of Commissioner Manfred. The incredibly stupid and cowardly decision to pull the All-Star Game out of Atlanta has already blown back all over MLB. No one with any sense at all can defend this. Aside from the dumb-as-a-box-of-rocks "reasoning"-- Colorado, where the game will now be played, has tougher voter registration laws than has Georgia under the new law-- there was no legitimate popular outcry from anyone who mattered-- say, the predominantly black voters in Atlanta, or, indeed, fans, voters, or communities anywhere. The only objectors to the new law are radical Democrat politicians, the bigoted mainstream media, and, of course, the stupidest man ever to occupy the White House. Evidently his outright lies, and lies they were, were enough to intimidate Manfred and, presumably, some of the team owners, into craven capitulation-- to a tiny constituency of politicians and their sycophants who use bullying to get their way. It was a bad show all around. 

Yesterday, the smart and sensible Candace Owens posted a commentary about giving up on watching sports. No, we haven't given up yet, and we've no plans to do so, but every "woketivist" jolt in the sports landscape moves us one step farther away.  As far as the 2021 All-Star Game is concerned, it can go hang. We won't discuss it here again, and it might as well not exist for all the attention we'll give it.