Seeing Brian Giles reach base three times in the leadoff spot and score two of the Padres’ three runs Monday night (recap | box score) is great. Seeing how he did it is even better.
In the first inning, Marlins right-hander Sergio Mitre retired Giles on three pitches. Call it a mulligan. Next time up, leading off the fourth, Giles smoked a 1-0 fastball out over the plate into left-center field for a double. He took third on a beautiful sacrifice bunt by Marcus Giles (who almost beat it for a single) and scored on an Adrian Gonzalez grounder to second. With the Florida infield drawn in, Giles broke home on contact and ran right past the outstretched glove of catcher Miguel Olivo, who had moved up the third base line to field Dan Uggla’s rushed throw, giving the Padres a 1-0 lead.
Giles had a classic at-bat leading off the sixth. After falling behind in the count, 0-2, he took three balls and fouled off three more en route to a nine-pitch walk. Marcus singled him to second, and both brothers advanced on a grounder back to Mitre off the bat of Gonzalez. The ball was a double play waiting to happen, but Mitre had trouble handling it and could only get the out at first. Then, with the infield again playing in, Mike Cameron hit a slow bouncer toward third. With Miguel Cabrera charging hard, Giles again broke immediately, beating the throw home and giving the Padres their second run of the game.
In his final trip to the plate — this time against lefty Erasmo Ramirez — Giles again worked a nine-pitch walk. He jumped ahead in the count, 2-0, and then started hacking. Giles hit five foul balls in the at-bat, including two that just missed landing fair for possible extra bases. Although he didn’t score, Giles again proved to be a pest.
Chris Young is among the final candidates for the National League All-Star team. You can vote for him at the Padres web site. Not that the opinion of a person who thinks the All-Star game is a waste of time counts for much, but I do believe that Young is the most deserving player on the ballot.
The power is gone. This is no revelation — it’s been on the decline ever since Giles put on a Padres uniform. Instead of focusing on what he cannot do, though, the Padres have chosen to look at what he can do and are giving him the opportunity to contribute in a different way. Giles can work the count, get on base, and — believe it or not — disrupt the defense once he’s there. We usually have in mind an absolute burner when we think of guys who disrupt a defense. Giles obviously doesn’t fit that description, and he won’t necessarily rattle many pitchers. Still, we’ve seen him take out infielders and catchers in recent years, and on Monday night we saw him act swiftly and decisively, putting enormous pressure on two Florida infielders in situations where anything less than perfect execution would result in runs for the home team.
Giles has been playing baseball for a long time. He plays hard, and it’s taken its toll. His skill level simply isn’t what it was when he was putting up monster numbers for Pittsburgh. On the bright side, his instincts for the game — at the plate, on the bases, in the outfield — are fantastic. What he may lack in skill at this stage in his career, he makes up for in guile.
Or should I say, Giles?
by Peter Friberg
You will not see this report from jail. If you partake in the adult beverages this week, designate before you celebrate! Be safe out there, people!
AAA
Craig Stansberry: 3 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 2 RBI; 2B, CS
Pete LaForest: 3 AB, 1 R, 0 H, 0 RBI; 2 BB, SO
Clay Hensley: 5.0 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 2 SO, 1 HR
AA
Nick Hundley: 2 AB, 0 R, 0 H, 1 RBI; 3 BB, SO
Will Venable: 5 AB, 1 R, 3 H, 1 RBI
Manny Ayala: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR – AA debut
High-A
Matt Antonelli: 4 AB, 2 R, 3 H, 0 RBI; 1 BB
David Freese: 5 AB, 1 R, 3 H, 5 RBI; 2B, HR
Low-A
Rayner Contreras: 4 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 2 RBI; 2B, HR, SO, CS
Ernesto Frieri: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR
Short Season-A
Kellen Kulbacki: 4 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 2 RBI; 2B, HR, SO
Rookie
Matt Bush: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR
Commentary:
In 74 games and 295 at-bats, David Freese (.312/.408/.529) now has 22 doubles and 12 home runs. In a radio interview on Mighty XX, Lake Elsinore Storm President Dave Oster said that Freese might be better than Chase Headley, and pointed out that Freese is doing well this year in Lake Elsinore, while Headley struggled last year…
Matt Bush: 3.1 IP with 1 hit, 1 walk, and 8 strikeouts… Not too shabby…
Thanks, Peter. You know the rest. Go Padres!
Granted… Giles is a professional baseball player in every sense of the phrase. And while I am glad we have a veteran presense at the top of the line-up, yada yada yada… still, he is making the money of a power hitting corner outfielder. I would be thrilled to find a team willing to eat his contract for next season.
If you’re going to only hit 1 home run and have a slugging percentage that ranks below Terrmel Sledge, Hiram Bocachica and Pete LaForrest, then you need to do more than take walks. (I know he does more than that, I’m exaggerating)
Damn I was hoping “Brian Guile” was a reference to the striking similarities between the muscle bound, blonde frosted tip having, orange tinted Street Fighter character. You may have accidentally stumbled onto a new Brian Giles nickname Geoff!
Here you go!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guile_(Street_Fighter)
Sonic Boom!
4.
Oh man 2nd day in a row you have me laughing pretty hard at my desk.
Man if Giles could still hit the long ball that would be an awseome HR call
#2: I had no idea. That’s hilarious:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Streetfighter_guile_illust.png
6.
Seriously!!!
Re: 5 I guess we have the same affliction for office comedies and early 90′s super NES games.
I am very happy the Buddy realized this is really the only place in the lineup that Giles can still be effective, and as GY pointed out, so far he has done a pretty good job. Last night Brian did a good job. I disagree that both times he scored required perfect execution by the defense to prevent, (if Uggla gets that throw anywhere near the plate he is out by a mile and Cabrera didnt even have a shot at hime) but it was great to see us manufacture the runs when we cant hit. Buddy realized with the amount that Giles walks he should be used as a run machine not for RBI’s.
In addition to sonic boom homerun calls, it would be even better if Giles could pull off a Flash Kick going into second.
Guile was always the noob character since all of his moves consisted of charging a direction for a couple heartbeats then jamming the joystick 180 degrees and pressing punch or kick.
Re: I thought Chan Ho did the flash kick
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kARUpvRHICA
11.
Haha! I was always a “Ryu” guy myself but stupid “Dhalsim” and his stretchy arms and legs got me every time!
12.
Hahahahaha. I forgot about that!
Marcus, why can’t you be more like your brother?