I don’t mean to pat myself on the back, but if you stayed for the whole game today you would have seen the best double play of spring, Crawford going yard, Buster at 1B, Neal’s diving catch, and oh yeah, Bumgarner taking some hacks. I’ll explain all this and more in the notes…

Diamond Notes:

- Today’s game was a split squad with the other team getting schooled by the Brewers 12-1. After 4, this game wasn’t looking so good either, down by 4 and our offense wasn’t doing a whole lot. That is until we came back with a 9 run 5th, lead by a blast from John Bowker and a slicing double down the line by the Panda. I gotta say I’m liking the offense so far. Granted, a lot of runs have been scored on relief borderline MLB pitchers but hey, watching blasts and doubles from this team is much more exciting than the usual “ground attack.”

- Pitching: Jonathan Sanchez started this game and was a little rusty just like the other starters. He did have 3K’s, but also 3BB and 3H, all in all as long as a zero is put on the board it’s fine by me. Affeldt came in for an inning and allowed 2 walks. I saw him talking to the ump after the inning was over, maybe his strike zone had a lot to do with the free passes from my angle I can’t really tell ball location left to right so I wasn’t able to gauge it. Joe Martinez had a rough outing today, but in reality most of it was because of the count. He would work batters to hitter’s counts, have to come in with something and then give up the big hit. Surprisingly, no walks were issued but he gave up 4 in 1IP. Matos looked studly today. I keep forgetting we still have him. I liked him when he got called up 2 years ago when our bullpen was sparse.

The reliever of the day, and all of last year, was Dan Runzler. Dude is filthy. Plus I love being able to say we gave the DBacks “the Runz.” Medders and Romo were their usual selves but Waldis Jaoquin came in to pitch the 9th and didn’t look good today as well. I know his fastball is pretty impressive, but he can’t locate that bad boy. Very reminiscent of Merkin Valdez to me. If you remember, he was the one that blew the save Wednesday in Peoria as well. He ended up getting out of the jam but I think he needs to change his name to “Wall This” because that’s what hitters do with his pitches. They hit them off the walls in the gaps.

- Aubrey Huff had an interesting play at the plate today. Basically he got burned on a relay that beat him by a good 4 feet. However, he decided to go OVER instead of under to try and tag home. I didn’t get the best pictures of it because, you guessed it, the ump’s butt was in my way. It was a funny play because he plowed through the DBacks catcher and fell on the ground only to realize he wasn’t tagged, but also didn’t touch home. When he finally realized it, he got tagged. I’m beginning to like this guy alot though. Definitely a character and very funny.

- Like I said, very cool things happen late in Spring Training games, like seeing pitchers pinch hitting in order to get some PA’s. Today Steve Johnson and Madison Bumgarner both got the call to hit for the relievers in the game. Madison definitely has some pop. It’s known he’s hit grand slams before but this was my first time seeing him hit live. He’s got good swing, good eye, and isn’t shy at the plate. He FO to RF but he did put a charge in it, and worked the count to his favor. It was caught right in front of the warning track.

- Brandon “The Professor” Crawford took Blaine Boyer to school with a blast to left center. He had a great game today, scoring as a pinch runner, hitting the bomb, and also completing the game ending double play to our first baseman Aubr…Buster Posey?

- Buster finally got in to a game at 1B, which had been talked about ad nauseam leading up to Spring Training. He held his own perfectly there as he started the 3-6-3 DP to get Jaoquin off the mound and end the game. It was a great play as the ball was hit down the line, Buster fielded it cleanly and Brandon stood in there long enough while leaping over the runner to get it back to Buster in time. That play was an absolute beauty. Did I get a photo of it? Of course not…sigh.

No doubt it is a position he hasn’t perfected. Steve Decker was instructing him from the dugout as to where he should be positioned.

- Uematsu came in to catch in between innings so Holm could get his gear on. He has the most awesome looking catcher’s mask. It makes him look like a reptile or something.

- I really hope they play tomorrow and the rain stays away. The game is scheduled to be in Surprise, which by happenstance is where I live. In fact I live right across the street from Surprise Stadium. Also Lincecum and Bumgarner are scheduled to pitch again.

If it does get rained out I will still have Giants baseball for you tomorrow as today was the first day of camp for all the MiLB players. I got a chance to snap some photos and will post them tomorrow as well.

CLICK HERE for full gallery.

I told you he’s the man…