Baseball Cliche #197

This is a trade that will benefit both teams. That has been the case in the first two games of the Astros – Giants series in San Francisco this week. Of course I am referring to the trade that sent Jeff Keppinger from the Astros to the Giants in exchange for Henry Sosa (and another minor leaguer.) 

Sosa picked up his first big leage win Thursday night. Keppinger drove in both runs for the Giants in last night’s 2-1 win. Kepp’s fifth inning double proved to be all the offense the Giants would need to secure the victory for Madison Bumgarner. The Giants lefty had very little trouble with the young Astros offense.  The offensively challenged Giants managed only four hits in the game. Astros lefty J.A. Happ looked good in his return to the rotation. Happ (4-15, 6.03) was just recalled from a two week stint at AAA Oklahoma City.

The real story of the game, in my opinion, was the ridiculous strike zone being called by umpire Dan Bellino. I’ve seen some poor umpiring this summer, but this was the worst. Apparently Bellino was under the impression that the chalk line for the left-handed batter’s box was the strike target. Any pitch that was in that area was called a strike. Meanwhile a pitch over the inside part of the plate to a right-handed hitter was called a ball. At least Bellino was consistent, consistently bad. The Astros eighth and ninth innings ended on called strikes that were in the aforementioned area, nowhere near the actual strike zone. For that reason it was a tough loss to stomach.