Barry Zito was dazzling. Brian Wilson was overpowering. Nate Schierholtz started an 8'th inning rally by stroking a leadoff double to RF and the Giants guaranteed themselves a series win over the mighty Cardinals with a 2-0 win on Panda Bobblehead night. Key lines:
Pablo Sandoval- 2 for 3, BB. BA= .333. Panda didn't score a run or RBI, but beat out a disputed IF hit to keep the winning rally going for Huff to hit the sac fly.
Nate Schierholtz- 1 for 3, 2B. BA= .321. It looks like Nate Schierholtz is the starting RF again. He is looking more comfortable at the plate and contributing out of the 8'th hole. IMO, the Giants need to just keep him out there and batting 8'th. Let him build up his confidence. He contributes with his speed and defense in addition to whatever offense he generates.
Mark DeRosa- 0 for 2, 2 HBP. BA= .255. It didn't seem like Wainwright was hitting him on purpose, but Mark didn't look too happy with him.
Barry Zito!- 8 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 10 K's. ERA= 1.32. Fangraphs ran a piece yesterday basically saying Zito has been lucky this year and we can expect him to regress to a 4.5+ ERA. Well, it's pretty safe to say that tonight's performance wasn't luck, not with 10 K's to back it up. Take that Fangraphs!
Brian Wilson- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K's, Save(4). ERA= 0.00.
Giants move to 10-7 to stay 1 game off the Padres' pace.
Around the League: The Padres ran their record to 11-6 with a 5-0 blanking of the Cincinnati Reds. The Dodgers survived a 13 inning marathon with a 4-3 win over the Nats to up their record to 8-9. The Rockies split a DH with the Marlins to stay at .500, 9-9. The D'Backs were edged by the Phillies 3-2 to fall to 7-10.
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Zito has been a popular whipping boy for years now because he is downgraded by dIPS theory. Most of these people dont understand the concept of exceptions to the rule. Ive often brought up Tom Tippetts landmark study showing that while DIPS is the great thing that it is, there are still players who don't fit and can be successful. Zito appears to be one of them, and despite my efforts to teach them this, none of them seems to get it. And Ive hit most of the major sites too.
ReplyDeleteSounds like your experience is similar to mine, OGC. I'd be the first to say that Zito has been a major disappointment since signing with the Giants, although he has eaten a lot of innings and kept the heat off the Giants young pitchers.
ReplyDeleteOver the past year or so, he has remade himself into a different pitcher. Will it last? I don't know the future. He could suffer an injury tomorrow, or lose his command, or something, but he is clearly a far different, and better, pitcher than he was at this time last year, I don't care what FIP, FIPx or whatever small sample size stat you want to give me. I watch the games and he's not the same pitcher!