Cleveland just seemed to get clutch hit today as the Giants fall 7-1 in Goodyear. This game was also televised so I’ll try to keep the notes short again.

Diamond Notes:

- Tim Lincecum looked a lot better today even though he got tagged for 4 runs. The line is very similar to Bumgarner’s yesterday, with almost every stat being the number 4. I think Tim was a victim of an inconsistent strike zone. I was sitting on the 3rd base line and from my point of view he probably should have had at least a couple more punch outs. He walked 4, but if even one of those batters doesn’t reach, we have a whole different game for Tim’s innings. Again, no excuses, but I can see how it might be frustrating to have a pitch called a strike one time, and not a strike the other. It would probably make you have to come in a little bit more, and the hitters knew that too.

The Stadium gun wasn’t working today, so unfortunately I can’t attest to his velocity. I was also very busy snapping photos of Tim because I don’t usually sit on the 3B side, which is where he opens during delivery, meaning I was focused primarily on photos. The progression is looking great though and I hope to be at his sim start on Sunday so be on the look out for that.

- The Giants accumulated 5 hits today. Which means not a whole bunch of action from the plate photo wise. I do have about 20 shots of balls being hit in to the ground though. Day game after a night game with travel (about 30-45min to Goodyear) can be rough too. I was even tired today, and these two days have been the shortest commute all spring for me.

- Kevin Pucetas is a beast. 2IP with absolute ZEROs across the board. I think we may have found our 5th starter, yes? He definitely deserves it right now. The best part about his 0 ERA so far is that he has done it from both starting games and in relief.

- A note about photos and the yard today… Goodyear is a beautiful ballpark, if you haven’t been it definitely needs to be on the schedule for your Spring Training trip. Some think it’s okay, but to me, the park itself is one of the best. The whole field is recessed in the ground, so street level is above the outfield wall. Kind of cool and different. The landscaping is kind of rusty steel mixed with fine stained wood and chrome at places. I really like it.

Except for the one MASSIVE FLAW.

The stupid net behind the backstop jets out across both entire dugouts. This means that if you have a seat behind the dugout, you watch the game through the net. I paid for a baseball ticket man, not a freaking cage match. The worst part is the net is on the opposite side of the dugout, which makes it just far enough away to a) haze photos b) make watching the game annoying, and c) forget about autographs for those that want to seek them. If you are buying tickets, buy the first section after the dugout, you will be pleased.

As I said earlier, the game was televised. They decided the best place to mic the field was directly in front of my seat and right in my line of sight of the mound. I took a photo to show you my POV. That was fun to shoot through :)

- Lastly, I did some contests last year during Fall League and I thought they were pretty cool. I am going to be doing one today for a relatively cool prize as well. Be on the lookout in the next couple hours.

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