Starting season with two shutouts wasn't on San Francisco Giants manager's mind, but that's what has happened.
Yes, the San Francisco Giants have been shut out in their first two games. Giants manager Tony Vitello didn't want to see this happen, but it has against the New York Yankees.
What's worse? It's the first time in the franchise's entire 144-year history, dating even back to its days in New York, that the Giants have been shut out in their first two games of a season.
When talking about the team's situation after Friday's 3-0 loss at Oracle Park, Vitello (pronounced Vye-tello) admitted that he might have come off a little harsh to his players in a preseason speech.
"I think some good words were shared, but I also think, as of right now, it’s a little emotional in there, and there’s definitely a lot of try-hards,” Vitello said.
Before the season started, Vitello shared some "fire-and-brimstone" words with his players, according to Giants beat reporter Maria Guardado of MLB.com.
“Regardless of what the root of it is, you guys know the guys in the lineup as well or better than I do," Vitello said. "Those guys are fully capable in there. Their results and numbers look like there’s not a lot of try-hard, but kind of the old baseball adage, there's probably too much."
Giants starter Robbie Ray was effective early on against the Yankees, really working his pitches in and out on Yankees hitters. But, in the sixth inning, things hit a bump.
Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who started the season 0-for-7, erased that quickly with a two-run home run over the left-field wall. Judge lined up a Ray pitch and didn't miss it. Vitello came out and brought in reliever José Buttó, hoping that he could keep the Yankees off the board.
That didn't work as Giancarlo Stanton smoked a Buttó pitch over the left-field wall, putting New York up 3-0.
The only hit that the Giants mustered all day on Friday was a second-inning double by Heliot Ramos.
After the game, Ray was asked if Vitello's speech might have affected how the Giants came into their first two games this season.
“We’re Major League players,” Ray said. “I think we can handle it. We can handle the ups and downs. It’s just one of those things that has happened the first two games. It’s not ideal, but you’ve got 160 games left.”
On Saturday, the Yankees and Giants finish up their three-game series at Oracle Park. First pitch is set for 7:15 p.m. ET (4:15 p.m. PT) and the game will be shown on Fox.
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