When Willy Adames dug into the box in the bottom of the first on Sunday afternoon, he still hadn’t hit a home run in front of 40,000+ adoring Giants fans. His lack of power has been a talking point through his first month in orange and black, but Sunday’s performance will put that on the back burner. Adames smashed a pair of homers in his first two at bats, giving the Giants a 1-0 lead in the first and doubling it in the third. The two solo shots are his first two Oracle Park homers. For the light-hearted infectious personality of Adames, it’s a weight off his shoulders.
Here’s how it looked when he teed off in the first.
In his next at bat, Duane Kuiper dug deep in his bag to narrate a bomb that was even more majestic than the first.
Adames is as glad as any Giant that the calendar has turned to May. Bob Melvin might be just as excited at the potential of a Willy Adames breakthrough after a disappointing April. The Giants’ skipper highlighted how much Adames’ at bats have been improving, and made sure to reference the shortstop’s knack for hits in bunches.
Justin Verlander hasn’t pitched especially poorly for the Giants in 2025. In fact, considering his age and recent injury history, the stuff has been quite impressive from the future hall of famer. He’s thrown the ball well, but hasn’t been rewarded by the baseball Gods much. Errors, soft hits, and the occasional late hook have plagued the right-hander as he still looks for his first win in Orange and Black, a win that eill inch him closer to the elusive 300 mark. Verlander has seen just about everything you can see at this level. He’s keeping things in perspective.
The bullpen has been excellent this season for the most part, but again, that hasn’t quite impacted Verlander positively like it has some others.
We need to have a serious conversation, Giants fans. And not a fun one at that. A troubling trend has crawled from the woodwork at Oracle Park this season. One that makes the skin of true Giants fans crawl. The wave. A juvenile and offensive exercise that has always been denounced in San Francisco as a Southern California adolescent eye sore. Inexplicably, the offensive wave has broken out at a handful of Giants games over the last month.
You’re not bigger than tradition. Don’t do the wave at Oracle Park.