With Baseball season in full swing and the month of April coming to a close, that's one month in the books already for the San Francisco Giants. Entering the season with high hopes following the acquisitions of two of the most coveted arms in free agency in starting pitchers Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija as well as outfielder Denard Span, Giants fans have had a lot to be excited about. Not to mention it's an even year. And while things got off to a great start for the G-Men, Bruce Bochy's ball club has also had their fair share of letdowns in the opening month of the season.
Opening the season on the road for a three-game set against the Milwaukee Brewers, one of the newest members on the Giants wasted little time to make his presence felt as Denard Span became the first Giant to record 5 RBI's on Opening Day since a guy named Barry Bonds did it in 2002 against the rival Dodgers. Span sparked a trio of home runs in the eighth inning as Joe Panik and Buster Posey joined him in hitting back to back to back home runs, the first time the Giants had connected for three consecutive home runs in a game since July 20, 2006 when Bonds, Ray Durham and Pedro Feliz did so versus the Padres. Not since 1997 had a team accomplished the feat on Opening Day, however, as the Padres recorded back to back to back jacks against the Mets. San Francisco would go on to win the season-opener by a final of 12-3, the most runs on Opening Day by a Giants team in over 30 years, as Matt Duffy who was in the running for NL Rookie of the Year a season ago, added a homer of his own to bring the Giants within one HR shy of tying an Opening Day franchise mark set back in 1964 against the Milwaukee Braves. The Giants would end up taking 2 of 3 in Milwaukee as they failed to complete the sweep by dropping the series finale.
The Giants would kickoff their Home Opener much like they did the season opener, by scoring 12 runs in a 12-6 win over their bitter rivals -- the Los Angeles Dodgers. Hunter Pence's 8th inning Grand Slam put a damper on L.A's comeback attempt. San Francisco would end up taking three of four against L.A. to improve to 5-2. The Giants would set a franchise record for the most games with a home run to start a season with seven. The streak would continue heading into a 3-game set at Coors Field where the Rockies served the Giants some more home runs to add to their streak, while also handing them a pair of losses as the Giants were only able to win one of three games in Denver. In the lone win against the Rockies, the Giants would get a great outing from newcomer Jeff Samardzija who went 8 strong innings, allowing only 2 runs. Rookie catcher Trevor Brown also shined, hitting a pair of home runs, making him the first Giants rookie to hit home runs in his first three games of the season since Bobby Thompson (1947).
The Giants' streak of consecutive games with a homer to start a season would eventually reach 10 before ending at Dodger Stadium. And just like they did in Colorado, the Giants would drop 2 of 3 in L.A. While the 6-game road trip would come to an end for the Giants, unfortunately, their struggles would continue. With four games against the Arizona Diamondbacks to begin a 10-game home stand, the Giants would fall victim to a rare four-game sweep at home, only the second of its kind since the Giants moved to AT&T Park in 2000. In one of those losses, the Giants met a familiar foe in a different uniform as San Francisco faced off with Zack Greinke who was targeted by the Giants before signing a massive contract with the D-Backs during the offseason. Owning a record of 7-0 in 10 career starts against the Giants entering the meeting, the former Cy Young Award winner who struggled in his first two outings of the year and was tagged with a pair of losses before receiving a no-decision against the Padres, bounced back and continued his dominance against SF. Out-dueling Giants ace Madison Bumgarner, Greinke picked up his first win of the year with a 2-1 victory over the Giants. In the finale, Johnny Cueto had a chance to become the first Giants pitcher since Bill Swift in 1992 to win his first four starts. And while he would allow only 3 runs in the outing against Arizona, he would still be handed the loss as the Diamondbacks completed the sweep, handing the Giants their fifth straight loss and 8 of their last 9.
Looking forward to putting the dreadful AZ series behind them, the Giants welcomed the Miami Marlins who brought with them a familiar face that Giants fans would never forget -- Barry Bonds. Bonds who was hired by Miami skipper Don Mattingly to be the Marlins hitting coach, was welcomed back to AT&T Park with a standing ovation as a video tribute was played on the jumbo screen out in center field. It's possible that Bonds' presence helped wake the Giants bats as they took two of three against the Miami. Finishing the homestand with three games against the San Diego Padres, the Giants would string together their first sweep of the season with a pair of 1-run wins before erupting for 13-runs in the series finale. In game 2 of the three-game set, Johnny Cueto would go the distance to pitch a complete-game shutout, striking out 11 Padres batters and out-dueling James Shields in the 1-0 victory. For Cueto, the win would also be the 100th victory of his career as he became only the 12th Dominican-born pitcher to log 100 career wins. Having gone at least 7 innings in each of his five starts this season, Cueto has fit in quite nicely with his new ball club and seems to be back on track after a disappointing second half to the season after being traded to the Royals in 2015.
With an off-day to travel across the country to visit the New York Mets, the Giants seemed to have left their bats at home as they were greeted by the reigning National League champs with a 13-1 shellacking in the series-opener. Coming off his best outing of the season after three rough starts, Giants pitcher Jake Peavy couldn't get past the third inning as the Mets erupted for a franchise-record 12 runs in the third inning. Cuban slugger Yoenis Cespedes highlighted the scoring spree with a Grand Slam after Peavy was chased, having allowed 6 runs in the frame himself. The Mets wouldn't need to add anymore runs in the game but they did anyway, answering the Giants' only run (a solo home run from Angel Pagan) in the 7th inning with a run of their own. Hoping to bounce back in Game 2, the Giants put up a better fight in their second go around but saw their starting pitching struggle once again. This time it would be starter Matt Cain who ran into early trouble and was tagged for 4-runs in the first two frames before departing having allowed six runs thru six innings. The Giants would threaten the Mets late in the game as the New York bullpen allowed a pair of runs in the 8th before hanging onto the 6-5 win to closeout the month of April riding an 8-game winning-streak as Cain fell to 0-3 on the year. The Giants will have a chance to salvage the third and final game of the series on Sunday when ace Madison Bumgarner faces Mets fire-baller Noah Syndergaard.
The Giants finished the month of April with a record of 12-13 and remain in a tie for first place of the NL West with the Dodgers who are enduring some struggles of their own having lost six straight. With the highlight of the Giants season thus far belonging to Johnny Cueto who's been nothing short of remarkable in his first five starts with the team, the former All-Star pitcher for the Reds will make his next start on the road in Cincinnati as the Giants continue their current road trip with a stop in the Queen City. The month of May will also see the Giants make trips to Arizona and San Diego for the first time this season before visiting the Braves at Turner Field for the final time as Atlanta plans to open their new stadium in Cobb County in 2017. As for their home games, the Giants will welcome the Rockies, Padres and Cubs as well as a rare visit from the Toronto Blue Jays. GO GIANTS!
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Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta is on top of the baseball world. As if hurling a no-hitter last season just 10 starts ago and winning the NL Cy Young Award wasn't enough, the ace of Chicago's staff has already began putting together an even more impressive encore with a dazzling start to the 2016 season. On the road in Cincinnati to face the Reds, Arrieta tossed his second career no-hitter and just the 15th no-hitter in the 141 year history of the Cubs franchise. While the Cubbies ignited the scoreboard with five home runs en route to a 16-0 shellacking of their opponent, the second-largest margin of victory in a no-no, it would be all about the reigning Cy Young Award winner who has been on quite the journey since being traded to the Cubs just three seasons ago where he's evolved into one of the game's best pitchers.
It's hard to believe the last few seasons Arrieta has had considering he was demoted to the Minor Leagues by the Baltimore Orioles back in 2013 after compiling an ERA of 6.63 in four starts which eventually led to the O's parting ways with their struggling starter. It's safe to say Arrieta has turned it around since then as he's now recorded 24 consecutive quality starts, riding an ERA of 0.86 in those 24 games. To put Arrieta's recent dominance into perspective, he's given up only seven earned runs over his last 119 1/3 innings pitched. And interestingly enough, both of Arrieta's no-no's have come on the road, falling one shy of the all-time mark set by Nolan Ryan who tossed three of his seven career no-hitters while a member of the visiting team. Though he did allow four walks in the game and struckout six, Arrieta also out-hit the Reds by collecting a pair of singles on his way to becoming only the third Cub to record a pair of no-no's, joining Ken Holtzman and Larry Corcoran. At the ripe age of 39 years old, it would be the first no-hitter caught by Cubs catcher David Ross who had announced during spring training that the 2016 season would be his last. It would also be the first time Cincinnati would be held hit-less in 45 years.
Not since Philadelphia's Rick Wise no-hit Cincy on June 23, 1971 had the Reds been held without a hit, ending a span of 7,109 games for the longest active streak during the regular season. In his age 30 season, Arrieta who improved to 4-0 on the year with the win and is only the fourth reigning Cy Young winner to toss a no-hitter the following year, has appeared to have learned from those struggles early in his career while a member of the Orioles and has benefited from a change of scenery to quickly help him rise atop the list as one of baseball's best pitchers and on the cusp of reaching elite status if he hasn't already. Favored by many to make it to and win the World Series this year, Chicago is off to a 12-4 start to the season and is out to an early lead in the NL Central division standings. After falling short to the New York Mets in the NLCS a year ago, Joe Maddon's ball club appears poised and hungry for another run at a National League pennant with none other than Arrieta leading the way.
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With the Los Angeles Lakers in the tank machine for another season, I told myself one thing -- I wouldn't watch Laker basketball this season. But with it being Kobe Bryant's final season, the player I grew up idolizing, it's been just as hard not to watch my favorite player in his final year as it's been hard to watch them suffer another disappointing season.
With the Lakers playing terribly to the sound of their worst record in franchise history (17-65) and Kobe in his farewell tour, this season was supposed to be about the young guys -- rookie DeAngelo Russell who was selected second overall in this year's Draft and last year's first round pick Julius Randle who is basically a rookie himself, having missed all of last season with a broken leg aside from playing just 14 minutes in the season-opener. And with both players getting their much needed playing time to get their feet wet and help their development in the league, everything was going as planned. And then the news broke of Russell secretly videotaping a discussion with Laker teammate Nick Young. The conversation which touched on the subject of Young hooking up with numerous women and cheating on his fiance Iggy Azalea soon made its way onto social media. What was meant to be a joke on Young evolved into a prank gone wrong, making matters worse and adding salt to the wound that's been the Lakers' season.
So when it came time for L.A.'s final game of the season on Wednesday, Laker fans were more than relieved that the nightmare season was finally coming to an end. And then we were forced to accept that it was the ending of an era and that the career of one of basketball's all-time greats was coming to a close. The last time we would see Kobe Bean Bryant take the court in a Laker uniform. What was being referred to as "Mamba Day" began bright and early in downtown L.A. as Laker fans flocked outside of Staples Center to show their respects to "the greatest Laker in franchise history" as Magic Johnson proclaimed. With tributes being made for Kobe all season long and gifts given from opposing teams since he announced his decision to hang 'em up back in November, nothing came close to what the home team did for their beloved superstar as video messages were played on the big screen all night long. And then came the game that needed to be played. With enough celebrities in attendance for it to be an award show, the pressure on Bryant coming into the game was insurmountable. And with an 0-for-5 start from the field for Kobe, the jitters showed early on. It would soon wear off, however, as Kobe put on a show and treated us all to a spectacle in a way that only he could.
Facing the Utah Jazz who were eliminated from playoff contention earlier in the day with a victory by the Houston Rockets who claimed the eighth and final seed, Utah didn't have a whole lot to play for aside from having the chance to sweep the season series versus the Lakers for their first time ever. Utah jumped out to an early lead and maintained control of the score for nearly the entire game until the Black Mamba rose to the occasion and took over late in the fourth quarter like he's done so often in his memorable 20 year career. During a timeout discussion with former teammate Shaquille O'Neal, Shaq challenged Bryant to go out by scoring 50-points. Kobe would do him one better by scoring 60. Trailing by as many as 10 points with just over 2 minutes remaining, Kobe outscored the Jazz 23-21 in the fourth quarter including 13 unanswered while making a series of tough shots both in and outside of the three-point arch. While it was Kobe who stole the show and went on to score the most points in NBA history by a player in his final regular season game, the most important part of all for Bryant is that he did it in a winning effort as the Lakers prevailed, 101-96. As we've learned over the years, Bryant isn't one who takes losing lightly and that hasn't changed one bit over the course of his 20 year career.
Kobe shot 22 for 50 from the floor and became just the fourth player to ever attempt 50 field goals in a game. Say what you want about him taking the amount of shots he took, but understand that this one was for the fans who were forced to pay for tickets three and four times more than face value to sit in the nosebleeds if they wanted to see the iconic player in person one last time. Not to mention his teammates fed him the ball on just about every possession and encouraged him to shoot the ball. And even then, Kobe didn't disappoint, giving his supporters one last performance worth celebrating and putting an exclamation point on the storybook ending to the career of one of the game's all-time greats. A performance that had to have made the late Dr. Jerry Buss smile from the heavens above. Just to put his remarkable night into perspective, no Hall of Fame player had even scored 30-points in their final regular season game. Kobe who will undoubtedly join them and is a future Hall of Famer himself, scored twice that mark. It would be the sixth 60-point performance in his illustrious career and his first in over seven years.
With the future of the franchise unsure at this point moving forward, it's worth noting that a new era of Lakers basketball is on the horizon with Kobe out the door. With a chance to better their squad and help make the recovery from this rebuilding mode a bit easier heading into June's Draft, the Lakers will be in on just about every major free-agent on the market. But nailing the Draft is what's most important of all as Los Angeles will enter June's Draft with a top-three protected pick which will likely be used to select one of either LSU's Ben Simmons, Duke's Brandon Engram or Oklahoma's Buddy Heild. That's if they don't fall out of the top 3 spots or trade the pick. While Kobe's playing career comes to a close, his legacy will live on forever and his impact as a basketball icon and a global ambassador for the game will never fade. Bryant, a 5-time NBA Champion and former league MVP, is the Michael Jordan of his era and is the reason many players in the league today play the game of basketball. No one player made the game an international phenomenon quite like Bryant has and his name and number will be seen adorned L.A.'s Staples Center for many years to come as they sold a reported $1.2 Million worth of Kobe Bryant merchandise on Wednesday, a single-day record for any arena.
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The San Diego Padres are bad. How bad you ask? They just kicked off their 2016 season in the worse way possible -- by being swept in shutout fashion by the rival Dodgers. This all happened in their own park no less as San Diego was outscored 25 to 0. We all knew heading into the season that the Friars were going to be bad this year, but nobody could've expected this. Making matters worse for San Diego, Dodgers pitcher Kenta Maeda homered in his second career at-bat, while pitching in his Major League debut. That's right, the Dodgers' pitcher has accounted for more offense than the entire Padres lineup combined.
Regardless of how much credit first-year skipper Dave Roberts deserves for his team's blazing start considering how bad the Padres are, it's one hell of a way to kick start your managerial career. L.A. became just the second team in modern-day Major League history to record three straight shutouts to open a season, joining the 1963 St. Louis Cardinals. The 27 consecutive scoreless-innings to start a season is also a Dodgers franchise-record, breaking their previous best of 23 set back in 1974. Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw began the scoreless streak by hurling seven innings of 1-hit ball (no surprise there) before handing it off to the bullpen. Offseason acquisition Scott Kazmir followed suit in his National League debut by giving the Dodgers six solid innings in which he also only allowed one hit, followed by Maeda's memorable outing on both sides of the plate. With a 4-game slate against the arch-rival Giants (2-1) taking place in San Francisco starting Thursday, the Dodgers (3-0) will need five more scoreless frames to tie the Cardinals' record of 32 consecutive innings without allowing a run and six to set a new record. Pitcher Alex Wood will be asked to keep the streak alive for the Dodgers as San Francisco hopes to counter by turning to veteran hurler Jake Peavy.
As for the Padres who now own the dubious record previously held by the 1943 St. Louis Browns who went 26 innings without scoring a run to start a season, San Diego will have to sleep on it for at least another day as they've got an off day on Thursday. However, I do like their chances of scoring at least one run when they take the field again as they open a 3-game series on the road at Denver's Coors Field where a pitcher's earned run average goes to die and balls fly out of the park more so than anywhere else. But hey, it's not all doom and gloom if you're a baseball fan living in San Diego, as the city will play host to this year's MLB All-Star game in July. Though it's still a few months away, the Mid-Summer Classic might be the only time that San Diego baseball fans will be treated to some offense generated by the home team this season.
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