I once heard a fan at AT&T Park say that he liked pitching duels when watching baseball on television, but when he was at the park, he wanted to see runs scored. I understood his perspective; hits and baserunners are a lot more interesting from the upper deck than a continual succession of pitches going into the catcher’s mitt. With this in mind, I was looking forward to some fun when I watched the San Francisco Giants play the Arizona Diamondbacks last week. The Giants had been hitting the covers off balls since the start of the season, scoring twelve runs both on their road and home Opening Days. Naturally, I was disappointed. The D-Backs beat the Giants 2-1, mostly because the 3-4-5 hitters in the Giants lineup went hitless for the night. It was a good game, nevertheless, not just because it was close but also because I got to see Buster Posey from a new perspective.
Every year, with this one no exception, Posey has been asked when he thought the time would be right to move from his catcher’s spot to first base, where he occasionally plays when the Giants want to rest him without giving up his bat. Posey has always been adamant when he answers that question: he loves catching, and he wants to do it as long as he can. He has good reasons to feel this way. A lot has been written about his ability to manage a game, particularly with catching borderline pitches and getting them called for strikes—an art known as “framing.” More visible at the park is his ability to throw out runners, which I got to see that night. In the first inning, Posey picked off a runner from first base, snapping off his throw so fast that I didn’t realize what had happened until after the umpire pumped his fist with the out sign. I got a much better view of the action in the eighth, when he threw out a runner at third base. The hitter had tried to bunt the runner over from second but only got the ball a few feet in front of the plate. Posey leaped out of his crouch, snatched up the ball, and fired a bullet that arrived in plenty of time to get the runner. I happened to be sitting almost directly in line behind Posey when he threw the ball, and I could see it go right to its target a couple of feet off the ground slightly on the infield side of the base—just where the third baseman could catch it and make a quick tag. Posey couldn’t have run the ball over and placed it any better, and how he was able to do it so fast after leaping out of his crouch was beyond my comprehension. It was an awe-inspiring moment.
The Giants ended up losing eight out of nine games in that stretch, but recovered against a couple of traditional bottom-feeders, the Padres and the Marlins, for a 12-11 record as of today and a share of first place in the NL West. It’s always tough to assess teams in April, when factors such as pitching depth and injuries haven’t had their full impact. I agree, though, with Giants announcer Mike Krukow that their current record is quite acceptable for now. Barring future runs of bad luck, this team has too much talent not to contend, and I expect to see that talent assert itself over the next couple of months. When it does, the Giants won’t have to dig themselves out of a hole.
– Chuck Strom
