PHILADELPHIA (AP) â Brandon Belt and Kevin Gausman made sure Gabe Kapler could raise a glass in his return to Philadelphia.
Belt hit a two-run homer, Gausman niftily pitched out of trouble in six innings and the San Francisco Giants beat the Phillies 2-0 Monday night.
Kapler became the first manager in major league baseball history to start his career 200-200. Kapler, who was 161-163 as Philadelphiaâs manager in 2018-19, was booed when he brought out the lineup card.
âMy feelings are Iâm just focused on doing a good job with the San Francisco Giants,” Kapler said.
His coaches and a few players, including Gausman, came into his office and had a drink together to celebrate his 200th win.
Brandon Belt, Kevin Gausman lead San Francisco Giants and Gabe Kapler over Philadelphia Phillies
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Giants 2021 Opening Day roster
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SURPRISE, Ariz. Mike Yastrzemski had an up-close view of Tommy La Stella’s walk-off home run against the Giants at Angel Stadium last year. Yastrzemski was in right field when La Stella drove a curveball from erstwhile closer Trevor Gott over the yellow home run boundary line for a two-run shot that sealed the Giants’ third consecutive loss.
The defeat was extra painful for Yastrzemski, as the ball ended up deflecting off the right-field wall and smacking him in the face.
“He had mentioned that the ball had hit him in the face coming off the wall, which I didn’t know until he told me,” La Stella said during a Zoom call with reporters on Monday. “We both got a good laugh out of that.”
Giants spring training observations: Gabe Kapler seeks players input; pitching plans told
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Communication is the most important part of a manager’s job description, and
Gabe Kapler is going above and beyond this spring.
Kapler is meeting with players one-on-one each afternoon, along with president of baseball operations
Farhan Zaidi and general manager
Scott Harris to hear what’s on everyone’s minds. With 72 players in camp, that’s a lot of meetings, four a day for 20 minutes or more each.
“We’re talking about things they’re working on, reiterating strengths they showed last year - but what we really want is to hear from the players, that they’re thinking as we’re starting camp,” Kapler said Friday. “It’s going really well. We want to let them into the process - we want players to be involved in their own development plan.”