The Giants winning formula of tight pitching and timely hitting almost worked again tonight, but almost doesn't count, at least as a W. Pirates hang on to edge the Giants 6-5. Key lines:
Aaron Rowand- 2 for 5. BA= .300.
Bengie Molina- 2 for 3, 2B, BB. I think Bengie might have already walked more than he did all last year.
Nate Schierholtz- 1 for 1. .333. I still think Nate should be the starting RF.
Eugenio Velez- 1 for 2, HR(1). 2 run dinger in the bottom of the 9'th to draw the Giants to within 1 run. Unfortunately Rowand, Renteria and Pablo all made subsequent outs. Velez ain't going to be the one who makes room for Fred Lewis.
Matt Cain- 6 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 K's. A gritty performance by Cain who quite obviously didn't have his best stuff tonight.
Jeremy Affeldt- 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K's. Affeldt should have been out of the inning, but Renteria dropped an easy DP ball after a comebacker to Affeldt.
Brandon Medders- 1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 1 K. Medders didn't get the job done tonight.
Around the League:
The Dodgers won their home opener over Arizona 9-5. Colorado trounced the Mets 11-3.
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Doc, I know you're a Nate fan. What would you do with Fred Lewis, if you were GM? Keep pursuing a trade, release him if no takers, or bring him up. And if you bring him, who goes down/out?
ReplyDeleteThat's a really tough situation. The Giants have 4 players, Nate, Bowker, Fred Lewis and Eugenio Velez, all OF's, who are in approximately the same situation. They've shown some promise but failed to take it to a full time starting situation in multiple small sample opportunities. Torres is a classic AAAA player who has finally shown enough to be a 5'th OF and has contributed in the role.
ReplyDeleteMy order of preference for these 5 players is Nate, Lewis, Velez, Bowker, Torres, but there is admittedly not enough difference between any of them for me to get too passionate about it. It seems like the team right now has pretty good chemistry, players have pretty well defined roles. I think Nate could re-emerge as the starting RF, but in the meantime, he's a good PH, defensive sub option. Long term, the next wave of OF prospects is going to be Thomas Neal, Roger Kieschnick and Darren Ford. Hanging onto Fred Lewis is not essential in either the short or long term.
First choice is to trade him, hopefully for a young prospect with some upside like that Escobar kid we got from Texas for Ben Snyder. Failing that, I guess I would just have to make an unpleasant decision, let Fred be the odd man out, and hope he clears waivers.
To make matters worse for Fred Lewis, all 5 OF's I mentioned above hit either lefthanded or switch-hit. His lefthanded hitting, ordinarily a positive, is actually a detriment in the Giants situation.
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