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Disclaimer: These are not going to be full recaps like you're used to in the regular season. I will go two recap innings to start, and eventually I'll stretch out to four or five recap innings. But I'm not going to push myself. It's a long season. A loooonnng season.
The Giants were pummeled by the A's in a meaningless game, yes, but it was important for a couple reasons. The first important thing is that this happened to Michael Morse:
Morse had two homers robbed from him by Josh Reddick, He is cursed, and he's brought his sickly Mariners disease to the Giants, and we're all going to die of Mariners-related boredom because the Giants' home run total will go down. This is an omen, people.
Goodness, what a catch.
The second important thing is that Sergio Romo was disassembled, whisker by whisker, until he was no more. He gave up six runs -- two away from his regular-season total in 2011 -- on seven hits. Good thing spring training doesn't mean anything.
(It's time to panic.)
Guys are just getting their reps in, making sure everything feels right, letting it fly for the first time.
(Seriously, it's time to panic. This isn't going to be fixed.)
Working on different pitches. Stretching out. Doing the spring thing the only way they know how.
(Take the nearest blunt object next to you and bash your co-worker over the head with it. Now take his keys and wallet. Go, man, go, there's not much time. You'll need to sell the car before people realize the petroleum is gone. It's time to panic. Right now. Hurry. Panic.)
For some reason, Romo always scares me, even 293 innings into his brilliant Giants career. It's like his slider defies natural law, and the Celestial Intern of Physics is going to audit baseball one day and ruin everything. I guess I don't trust him because he's so danged unique. How does he work? Why is he so brilliant? This is all going to crumble, isn't it?
So one bad Cactus League outing? It's time to panic.
(It's not time to panic.)
Wait, I said the quiet part loud and the loud part quiet. Regardless, welcome to the spring. There was baseball, and it was mostly awful baseball. But it made staring out the window on a rainy day that much better. If you can think of anything better than listening to Adam Duvall and Ehire Adrianza homer off Deryk Hooker in February, I'd like to hear it.