Posey shines but Giants lose to Angels
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. >> When Buster Posey stepped into the batter’s box and received his customary ovation from the crowd at Scottsdale Stadium Sunday, it all felt so normal.
Baseball is back, Posey is donning orange and black again and fans were scattered around the seats on a brisk afternoon at the Giants’ spring training home. It didn’t necessarily feel like the Giants’ 5-2 loss to the Angels was taking place during a pandemic —particularly because roughly half the fans ignored a stadium mask mandate— but there was one not-so-subtle reminder that Sunday’s game was hardly business as usual.
“You can hear people’s comments,” Posey said.
From fans who barked like a dog when Giants outfielder Darin Ruf came to the plate to another who yelled, “four more years” when backup catcher Chadwick Tromp took an at-bat, it was easy for players and coaches to hear exactly what fans were saying.
Scottsdale Stadium is typically packed with 10,000-plus fans for the Giants’ Cactus League home opener, but with protocols in place to encourage social distancing, the club announced a paid attendance of 863.
“The Angels’ first base was saying it kind of felt like a high school game,” Posey said. “It was different.”
Giants center fielder LaMonte Wade Jr. said a sold-out stadium often produces “white noise” that makes it difficult for players to hear what individual fans are yelling, but that wasn’t the case Sunday. The reduced capacity set-up might make focusing more challenging, but players who spent the 2020 season performing in front of empty stadiums prefer the soundtrack from Sunday to the void they experienced last year.
“It’s good to have them in
there,” Wade said. “It’s better than dead silence and fake noise coming in so I appreciate the fans coming out.”
POSEY SHINES IN DEBUT >> When Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi discussed all of the transactions the team made during the offseason at a press conference last month, he was quick to point out that the biggest addition to the club wasn’t a free agent signee or a player acquired via a trade. It was Posey.
Nearly a full year after he took his last Cactus League at-bat, Posey returned to the Giants’ lineup Sunday against the Angels. In two plate appearances, the starting catcher drew a walk and ripped an opposite-field single for the team’s first hit of the spring.
“It felt good to be back,” Posey said. “It’s a game I’ve loved to play since I was a kid so being able to get out and compete and get on
the field was great.”
Posey caught three different pitchers —Conner Menez, Zack Littell and Jay Jackson— and was forced into high-stress situations as all three allowed the leadoff batter to reach base. The Angels scored four runs with Posey behind the plate as Littell and Jackson each gave up hard contact, but the catcher said he felt strong.
“I mean you can never replicate game speed obviously but it felt like I got some good work in this winter,” Posey said.
Kapler mentioned last week the Giants wanted to get Posey 50-to-60 at-bats this spring to prepare for the regular season after such a long layoff, but Posey said he’ll continue to evaluate how he feels with his timing and rhythm at the plate.
“I think coming into it my thought is to try to get some more (at-bats than usual),” Posey said. “But also if we get two to three weeks out from now and I feel like I’m at a really good place at the plate, I’m not going to grind through spring training unnecessarily.”