Two reasons Mamma  is not in love with pre-season games played during Spring Training. 

Don’t get me wrong I love to go watch the boys work out but I usually skip the games and here’s why:

1) They don’t count. They don’t depict the team we will see in April. The outcome of these games in no way predicts how they will appear in the standings for the season.

Here is a perfect example of what happens when people forget these games don’t count:

I get an excited phone call from a friend back home in the bay area last night. Seems that  my friend is all jacked up “Giants have hit 5 home-runs kicking butt blah blah blah!!” Not for one moment did I feel like I was missing something because I wasn’t watching. Even though I did comment that it sure sounded like the boys were having fun. 

Today we let Oakland walk all over us resulting in a 9-1 loss for my beloved SF Giants.

Spring training is important and yes you get a chance to see the talent available to choose from and check out the new guys already roster ready. But what you don’t see is an accurate portrayal of the team or how their season is going to pan out. Even if it’s not a real consideration I would say that common sense would keep a savvy skipper from showing his weapons or lack there of to the teams that will be opposing them when the season begins.

Not real games, don’t count.

2) Injuries! The chance of a key player being injured during one of these games is a lot higher than during regular workouts scatter in some practice games against somebody that doesn’t want to harm you.

Bumgarner ended up missing one spring start with the neuroma in his left foot and his sore ribs.

Today’s game Madison Bumgarner took the mound obviously should have been home resting. But instead he played while still suffering some “mild discomfort”. I don’t believe that a healthy Bum with a tiny little bit of pain would be a Bum that ended up giving up 5 earned runs on 7 hits, with a 2 run homer in the mix. After 2 2/3 innings Bumgarner left the game and I don’t think he should have been playing at all.

In this case a spring training performance does tell me something. It tells me that our Ace pitcher and precious treasure was not healthy enough to be out there on the mound allowing Oakland designated hitter Billy Butler to yank one long. 

Any whoooo- plus side, Bumgarner walked nobody and struck four guys out.

Now Mamma says go home and rest Cowboy we need you healthy and happy. 🙂

Denard Span jammed his shoulder Wednesday keeping him from starting in Friday’s game against Oakland which by the way is not going to happen during the Bay Series. Just sayin’ But he did go deep in today’s game so

Mamma says he’s ready to play outside but not with the rough boys!

Gregor Blanco said had “tightness” in his back which they say is much better but

Mamma bets ya that he is playing in a game that doesn’t count before that tightness is completely gone.

Which leads us to Andrew Susac who has suffered from tendonitis in his wrist and had surgery last season. So what do they do with him oh yeah, put him behind the plate to catch Cueto who would be a rocket normally but that game he was all over the place, literally. So this has irritated the tendonitis and now our backup catcher needs a backup.

And let’s not forget that horrific moment when Johnny was tagged in the HEAD!

Also during a Spring Training game.

So since there are still more than 10 games left in “spring training” there is a very likely chance that more of our guys will decide to play through the pain and since mothering the SF Giants players is my gig-

Mamma doesn’t think it’s such a good idea for the boys to be out playing with those other boys that play too rough.

Johnny you are lucky to be alive. Now behave!