Game of the Week: April 4: SF @ SEA

[Commissioner Erick]

San Francisco Giants (0-0) @ Seattle Mariners (0-0)


SF: Alfredo Esteves (0-0, 0.00)
SEA: Marcus Stroman (0-0, 0.00)


Giants 3 Key Stats:

795: San Francisco runs scored in 2028: Even with an improved offense, San Francisco still finished sixth in runs scored. They've added Andres Gimenez, Tomaz Espassandim, Jadon Ancrum, and Juan Castereno in an attempt to put more runs on the board.

149: Strikeouts for Alfredo Estevez last year in only 109.2 career innings. Estevez went 10-2 with a 2.63 ERA, and went 2-0 with a 2.70 ERA in the playoffs. Just 22, he already looks like an ace for San Francisco.

0: Lefties in San Francisco's pen. The Giants have an excellent relief group, but they won't have the ability to line up a lefty to face a Mariners lefty in a key situation.


Mariners 3 Key Stats:

0.73: Marcus Stroman's career HR/9 rate, third in PBA history among pitchers with at least 1,000 career IP. Stroman has never had more than a 1.0 HR/9 mark in a season, and excels at limiting hard contact. He'll force San Francisco to earn its runs the hard way.

1: Mariner who hit double-digit PBA homers last year. Seattle may be stared for offense with a lineup extremely light on power.

5.06: Juan Samuel Franco's Range Factor last year. Franco has been an excellent defensive Shortstop, winning a Gold Glove in 2025. He was strong last year as well, but a sprained ankle limited his playing time. If he's healthy, he'll go a long way to helping Seattle have an elite defense.


Questions for the GMs:


For Vic Black, your first game with a new team. What is your overall impression of the club you inherited and helped improve?

Who plays today, Joe Taylor or Mike Bishop, and why?

You traded for Luis Zapien. Why go after him?

For Jay Bigs, you only have one returning player who hit double digit homers last year. Do you feel you have the power to go far this year?

San Francisco is perennially an elite pitching team. Will your club use more small ball to get offense against them?

You have two open spots on your roster right now. How do you plan on filling them?


TRIVIA: Three players won the MVP of the Nippon League Central Division the first seven years of the league. Each of those three players played in the PBA. Name the three players.

[vicblack22]

For Vic Black, your first game with a new team. What is your overall impression of the club you inherited and helped improve?

This team was already a pretty good team.  I just added some pieces i like to try to get over the hump and in the to the World Series.  The pitching staff was pretty good.  I just wanted to add a big bat or two and ended up with four.  Hopefully we can put it all together and have a great year.  


Who plays today, Joe Taylor or Mike Bishop, and why?

Neither.  We are going to try Joe DeCarlo at 3B to begin the season.  


You traded for Luis Zapien. Why go after him?

Zapien was acquired to add some depth to the outfield.  He may be in the starting lineup to begin the season though.  

[Commissioner Erick]

Mariners 4 - Giants 3

WP: M. Stroman (1-0)
LP: A. Esteves (0-1)
SV: D. Farris (1)

Fans of the Seattle Mariners who packed the stands for the home opener were rewarded with a Seattle win over the visiting San Francisco Giants, 4-3. Marcus Stroman started for the home team against Alfredo Estevez. Marcus Stroman earned accolades for his performance.

Chad Woods, the Seattle first baseman, contributed a run-scoring single in the bottom of the seventh inning to make the score 4-3, Mariners. For the game, Woods went 2 for 4 with 2 singles.

"I really like what we did out there today," Stroman said after the game.


Questions for the GMs:


For Vic Black, you gave newly acquired Joe DeCarlo the start. What did you think of his performance today?

Estevez appeared to falter later into his outing. Would you have preferred a shorter leash for him out there?

You gave up a lot of singles to Seattle. Are you happy with your team's defensive performance?

For Jay Bigs, your team was aggressive on the bases. Three steal attempts, two successful. Is that a tenant of yours, running aggressively?

Josh Bush was hitting the ball well. did you agree with his sac bunt in the seventh that led to the winning run?

Farris looked strong out there, getting the multi-inning Save. What made you give the ball to the rookie as your closer?


TRIVIA: Who has the most sacrifice bunts all time for Seattle?

[Jay Bigs]

Questions for the GMs:

For Jay Bigs, your team was aggressive on the bases. Three steal attempts, two successful. Is that a tenant of yours, running aggressively?

When I took over the team already have a few strong runners, plenty of speed and unintentionally we added to that over the offseason. I have made a point of giving them a little more leeway on the basepaths to use that speed and baserunning ability and we will see if it pays off over the season. With a only a few power bats on the roster I believe this is one way we can attack alot of pitchers.

Josh Bush was hitting the ball well. did you agree with his sac bunt in the seventh that led to the winning run?

Ultimately like you said it led to the winning run, he has started the season well with the bat but he still has great speed and can bunt for a hit too so we will trust the players to make this decision themselves.

Farris looked strong out there, getting the multi-inning Save. What made you give the ball to the rookie as your closer?

Really happy with how Farris has started out his rookie season. I probably would of brought in Anyelo Luna to close out and not push Farris to 2 shutout innings but the bench coach believe it the best choice and we got the result so no complaints. Its possible he wins that closer role over the season but for now he will we stress his arm and mentality in high pressure situations and see how he can do in the stopper role.

[Commissioner Erick]

Trivia 2: Tim correctly guessed Lucius Fox

[vicblack22]

For Vic Black, you gave newly acquired Joe DeCarlo the start. What did you think of his performance today?

Joe played as well as I thought he would.  I look forward to seeing what he does for the rest of the year. 


Estevez appeared to falter later into his outing. Would you have preferred a shorter leash for him out there?

Yes. I would have preferred a shorter leash and nights like this happen.  We will get better as the season goes on at managing these guys and making the right choice for the teams success.


You gave up a lot of singles to Seattle. Are you happy with your team's defensive performance?

Yes.  We played pretty good defense tonight.  Hopefully, we can continue play good defense all season and make some big things happen in San Francisco this year.

[Commissioner Erick]

Ben correctly guessed Seiya Suzuki and Tetsuo Yamada