All kinds of good things happened for the Giants tonight, not the least of which is the Todd Wellemeyer from spring training showed up and pitched a darn good ballgame. Key lines:
Andres Torres- 1 for 3, BB, SB(1). BA= .265. Torres is 9 for his last 22 AB's or a .400 BA, over his last 7 games in which he had an AB. Amy G reported that he has been working on his hitting with Bam Bam and Panda and it looks like it's paid off.
Edgar Renteria- 3 for 4. BA= .314. Rent's bat has been back the last two games.
Pablo Sandoval- 2 for 4, 2 2B. BA= .372.
Aubrey Huff- 1 for 4, HR(2). I believe Huff's other HR was an inside-the-park job. Hopefully this one gives him some confidence that he can hit it out of AT&T Park.
Matt Downs- 1 for 3, HBP. BA= .375. Downs has produced this time up. Too bad he'll probably be the one to go when Rowand gets back.
Nate Schierholtz- 1 for 4, 2B, 2 OF Assists! Nate gunned, and I mean gunned, down two Phillies runners who were trying for doubles. He embarrassed Ryan Howard who was loafing into 2B thinking he had an easy stand-up double and then threw a rifle shot to nail Utley, who was running flat out and still didn't make it. When Howard struck out against Medders in the ninth, he was staring out at Nate as he walked back to the dugout as if he was still trying to figure out Nate could have made those plays. Now THAT's respect!
Todd Wellemeyer- 7 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 4 K's. He also had a hit and scored a run to help his own cause. If Wellemeyer has righted the ship, the Giants rotation is THE best in baseball!
Dan Runzler- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. Here's where Dave Righetti gets some props. When Runzler came in, he was getting under his pitches and they were sailing up and out of the strike zone. Rags came out and had a chat with him. From that point on, Runzler was throwing 95 MPH darts at the knees including the induction of an inning ending DP. I don't know what Rags could have said to him, but he apparently saw something and got his point across, because not only was the location noticeably better, but he added 2-3 MPH onto the heater!
Brandon Medders- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. Medders started out shaky with Utley's apparent double to the RF wall. Nates sensational throw seemed in energize Medders and he K's the next two batters to end the game.
A very nice win for the Giants, clinching another series victory with their ace taking the hill tomorrow.
Around the League: The Dodgers lost both ends of a DH in New York, 4-0 and 10-5 to drop their record to 8-12. It's becoming more and more apparent that the Dodgers have major issues with their pitching. The Padres got back on the winning track with a 4-1 win over the Marlins to stay tied with the Giants at 12-8 for first place in the NL West. Colorado trounced the D'Backs 12-1 to run their record to 11-10 while the D'Backs fell to 9-11.
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Doc, thanks for these recaps, from those of us who live further east and don't get any game reports in the morning paper. I especially appreciate the observation about Runzler and Righetti.
ReplyDeleteI sure wish it was Velez who got sent down when Rowand returns, instead of Downs. I'd really like to see Downs at 2B next year, with Uribe at SS until Brandon Crawford is ready.
I have no idea what pitching coaches generally say to pitchers when they go to the mound. Often is seems like they are just stalling or giving the pitcher a breather to settle down. Last night it seemed like Righetti must have gone out there with some specific mechanical advice and Runzler, to his credit, was able to implement the advice. He was a completely different pitcher after that.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they could thin out the OF by sending Velez down when Rowand returns. Bochy seems to have a thing for Velez and I tend to think it would take a lot for him to agree to send him out.
yes, thanks for your observations, particularly the Runzler one.
ReplyDeleteI like Lyle's idea, I was actually contemplating re-upping Renteria, even if we buy him out and negotiate a lower one. However, where does Sanchez go then? He could play 3B and move Panda to 1B, but Panda is much more valuable at 3B.
I don't think it's just Velez, there appears to be a lot of love for Velez among Giants management. just don't see it myself, right now.
About LA, I've been saying that since the off-season, they lost Wolf, relying on Padilla (now injured), plus needed a #5 starter, plus their young guys are struggling, a normal thing for young guys, we Giants fans don't realize how lucky we have been with Lincecum and Cain, Sanchez is more like what happens, struggles to figure it all out.
Oh, and I'm not sold on Torres after a couple of good games. If we didn't have any other options, I would just drop him over Velez.
ReplyDeleteOK, I'm starting to warm up to Torres with what he has done today's third game against Phillies.
ReplyDeleteI decided to look into his game by game stats, and it made me wonder if Bam Bam was working with him, because he was horrible early on, but that's to be expected because he struck out a lot last year, but then he has only one strikeout in his last 19 AB, which is excellent, against two walks, which is even more excellent. Players often look horrible while trying to incorporate new habits.
If he can learn to hit like this, he would be very valuable, giving Rowand rests in CF, take tough LHP in place of Schierholtz in RF. This is similar to Bowker's transformation last season.
And if this is Bam Bam's doing, put me down as a believer. Torres struck out like Ryan Howard last year, but, obviously, not even close on the HR front. But if he can eliminate the strikeouts while adding walks, he'll have an excellent OBP and that would fuel his SB and our offense atop the lineup.
OK, that makes 2 in 20 AB, still good, though 2 today...
ReplyDeleteThat F-up by Velez might have sealed his being optioned down soon, and both might have been catchable by a competent defensive OF.
ReplyDelete