AAA Giants

Yankees Series: March 28, April 1

We looked forward to facing the Yankees because we knew the highly regarded opponent could pitch, play defense and swing a smooth bat.  This series was going to be a battle from pitch one to the final out ... and a barometer on where we stood as an AAA team.

OFFENSIVELY our bats woke up ... with Yankee pitchers zoned in on the catchers mitt, the Giants hitters were ferocious in every at-bat, and it showed with major results: 19 runs, 13 singles, 3 doubles, a triple and a home run ... with only striking out 4x over the two games!  That my friends is getting it done. 

Yankees wanted nothing to do with Cole, Tucker, August and Jimmy as they walked 8x, stole three bags and crossed the plate four times ...  Will the Thrill enjoyed success driving the ball back up the middle, walking 3 times and scoring 3 runs ... Soto "Frosty" showed off the big bat hitting a couple singles and a monster double scoring 4 RBI's in the process ... Colin got on board every at bat during the series and even showed power with two doubles ... RyanK joined the party with a nice hit ... Tyler scored after reaching on a hit and two walks ... Josh flexed his muscle in this series with two hard drives, two RBI's, two walks, but none bigger than his HUGE TRIPLE, awesome hitting display ... RyanH also favored the number two, as he had two walks, two runs, and two RBI's - but his biggest hit was one that unfortunately counted as an out, as he belted the fastball high into the gap in the bottom of the last inning, only to have it mysteriously find the CF glove ... and finally Ethan "Lefty" racked up 5 hits, with one of them being the BIGGEST hit so far for the Giants as he BLASTED a solo HR ... while hitting in 6 RBI's during the two game slugfest!

PITCHING featured Ethan, Jimmy, RyanK, Colin and Tyler.  Consistency is tough to find at the AAA level and this series proved it.  These guys pitched hard chalking up 18 K's, but did allow 13 walks and scattered 13 hits.  The exception to (all) the rules is Tyler, who has been throwing out of his mind in this early season ... he pitched 3 innings - allowed 1 run, 6 hits, ZERO walks and struck out NINE BATTERS.  A 9:0 (K:BB ratio) is absolutely disgusting, and deserves some type of federal investigation.

DEFENSE is crucial in backing up the pitchers and keeping runners off the paths.   Soto made the nice popup grab at 3rd with bases loaded ... Colin had two put outs at 1B and 2B as he received the ball from 2B Josh and SS RyanK ... Tyler made a variety of plays catching the flyball at 1B and a couple put outs with the assist from RyanK.  The greatest play was C RyanH throwing out the runner attempting to steal second base ... "not in my house buddy"!

The second game was definitely exciting with an opportunity to comeback and take it but the Yankees displayed strong team defense and we ended up splitting the 2-game series overall.  Finding the most valuable player was a tough call ... Keaton's drives were a beauty to witness ... Soto's timely double ... Hug's throw out from home to second ... and of course RBI machine and HR power hitter Ethan were all solid candidates.  But in the end it actually became quite clear who deserved the MVP recognition ... this kid accounted for THIRTEEN DEFENSIVE OUTS  ... say what?  He put the Yankees out of their misery in all fashions - assisted put outs (2), unassisted put outs (2), but most impressive were the 9 K's.  Awesome display of taking care of defensive business, Mr. Tyler Rennie!!!

 Giants 12    Yankees 6

 Yankees 8    Giants 7