David Eckstein, the Padres and Petco Park continued to bedevil the Giants in another frustrating loss. Matt Cain continued to get scant run support. Jeremy Affledt gave up a walkoff HR to David Eckstein, of all people! Key lines:
Eugenio Velez- 0 for 5. Not sure why Pharoah is hitting leadoff against LHP's. He's not that good at getting on base at best, and he's a considerably worse hitting from the right side of the plate. Gotta be missing the RH bats of Rowand and DeRosa the last 2 games.
Juan Uribe- 2 for 3, HR(2), BB. BA= .348. Uribe has been so close to being the hero two games in a row. Not sure I'm looking forward to Fred Sanchez coming back the way Uribe has been hitting going all the way back to the end of last season.
Nate, Huff, Rent- 2 hits each. Nate also had a sacrifice, a SB and a OF assist.
Matt Cain- 6 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 4 K's. Cain always seems to need an inning to get going. He was then hurt by a very questionable quality of play by Velez on Blanks' leadoff triple in the 6'th.
Dan Runzler- 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K. Runzler was overpowering for most of his outing.
Mark DeRosa didn't look good at all in a pinch hit AB, but neither did any other Giants hitter against Luke Gregerson who was throwing up some nasty looking junk. The Giants need DeRosa back. They are very handicapped against LHP's with DeRosa and Rowand out.
San Diego is a vastly underrated team that is rapidly rebuilding. If they can figure out a way to hang onto AGone and Bell, they are in great shape for the future with several rapidly improving young players to complement them.
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The Velez love from Bochy is exasperating. He clearly isn't as good a hitter from the right-side. And Torres looks helpless out there. A hitter like DeRosa would help, but isn't really the answer. Somebody like (hopefully) Thomas Neal is more like what we need - a righty slugger.
ReplyDeleteFor that matter, that lineup was all kinds of wrong. Velez leading off? Okay, I know, VROOM. But seriously, Mr. Bochy, please acquire a clue. Right now, Uribe seems to be our most dependable hitter. Here's how I'd choose the lineup:
CF - Torres (but insist he attempt 2 bunts per game)
RF - Schierholtz
1B - Huff
2B - Uribe
3B - Sandoval
LF - Bowker
C - Molina
SS - Renteria
Bowker's a big boy - let him hit against some tough lefties, even in a pitcher's park like Petco. Maybe he'll learn to hit the other way. He certainly has more potential than Torres or Velez. Let's get him the AB's.
Gotta agree. Bowker can't be worse against LHP's than Velez and Torres have been. He might go 1 for 8 over two games, but that 1 hit might be a HR that wins a game.
ReplyDeleteNeal looks like he's probably still at least a year away, but he has the potential to be the type of RH hitter we need in the lineup every day.
I wouldn't worry too much about Sanchez coming back. I doubt he'll be healthy long enough to matter.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that the FO kept Velez over FLew still depresses me. Not that FLew would have been any good, but Velez it that bad.
"is that bad"
ReplyDeletesorry
SI's article on MLB's ultimate gamers....
ReplyDeleteAaron Rowand, Giants
Rowand, San Francisco’s center fielder and leadoff hitter, will always give his all, particularly out in the field. He’ll run into walls tying to make a catch — in fact, he once broke multiple bones in his face while making a catch against the fence in Philadelphia — and he also brings that fighter’s mentality to his gritty at-bats.
Hey! Once again, thanks for the comments everybody!
ReplyDeleteYeti,
I don't mind Velez batting lefthanded. Pharoah is a serious hitter from the left side, albeit maybe not a real great leadoff option. I understand that Bochy doesn't have a lot of OF options with both Rowand and DeRosa on the shelf, but it seems like Torres might be a better leadoff option against LHP's than Velez. I was a FLew fan too, but I'm not going to dwell on water under the bridge.
Adrian,
Careful there my friend. Rowand and his gamerness is a touchy subject with Giants fans. I think being a "gamer" is somewhat similar to being a "savvy vet." Rowand has been better this season so far, and certainly is much better option against LHP's than either Velez or Torres, or Bowker for that matter, but I'm still not exactly in love with him or his contract.
I wonder what SI considers a gritty AB? Grounding out to the SS on the first pitch, or first pitch taken down the middle for a called strike, second pitch on the hands fouled back over the screen, third pitch a foot outside swung on and missed see ya later?
Anyway, I wish Aaron Rowand a speedy recovery and no permanent harm. I hope he continues to avoid obssessing about how many HR's he's not hitting in AT&T park and concentrates on getting on base from his leadoff position in the lineup.
BTW, I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Rowand after he made that catch with one out in the ninth inning of Sanchez' no-hitter. I thought it was done, for sure.
More on Rowand: Then there's that batting stance of his, which really can't be described in a family oriented blog. That has to be one of the most annoying things I've ever seen in baseball. Maybe Craig Counsell's is more annoying, but not by much.
ReplyDelete