Bats And Bats

One of the enjoyable things about baseball is that a team that is generally not very good can still have great days. This makes the games worth following, even if we know that the team statistically is not bound for overall success. Today the Giants beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 13-0, the Giants’ rookie pitcher Tim Lincecum striking out 12 and walking nobody.

The Diamondbacks’ Triple-A affiliate the Tucson Sidewinders didn’t fare so well either tonight. They played the Sacramento River Cats and we went to the game this evening. We saw a superb performance by River Cats pitcher Kazuhito Tadano who went eight innings, striking out five and allowing only four hits, the River Cats winning the game 5-0. It was very nice to see Tadano do so well tonight since on our last trip to the River Cats, on June 21, we saw Tadano give up eight runs in 3-plus innings as the River Cats lost 7-13.

It was a short game, lasting only 2 hours 8 minutes, and the sun was setting when we drove back to Davis. Heading over the causeway over the Yolo Bypass, we saw a flight of bats — the mammalian kind. There is a colony of Mexican free-tailed bats that lives under the causeway, and we were lucky enough to see them as they headed out for their evening foraging.