The Giants were going for a sweep of the defending NL Champions. They had their ace going who put on a performance worthy of a 3 time Cy Young Award winner. They got offense. So they won, right? Well, unfortunately, the bullpen, which had been nothing short of spectacular in the first two games of the series didn't get it done, 3 times they didn't get it done. The offense kept coming back, but in the end, it couldn't overcome a bullpen that for whatever reason didn't live up to it's standards today and the fell in extra innings 7-6. Key lines:
Andres Torres- 2 for 6, BB, SB(2). BA= .275. The lineup got turned upside down today as the bottom scored the runs and the top drove them in. 3 RBI's for Torres who had an excellent series and seems to have moved ahead of Eugenio Velez on the depth chart.
Edgar Renteria- 2 for 5, BB, SB(1). BA= .320. Seeing Rent get hot again was one of the better aspects of this series.
Bengie Molina- 3 for 4, BB. BA= .350. Bengie has drawn 3 walks in his last 10 games. At that rate, he'll draw about 40 on the season even if this one was an IBB.
Nate Schierholtz- 5 for 5, 2 2B, IBB. BA= .378. A perfect game at the plate for Nate! A lefthanded starter to boot. Last night he was the hero on defense. Today he should have been the hero on offense. Stay hot, Nate!
Tim Lincecum- 8.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 11 K's. ERA= 1.27. I know Timmy wanted to stay in the game. He's a competitor who undoubtedly believes he's always the best man for the job and probably is. Timmy did throw 106 pitches. He did seem to wear down at the end of last season. The bullpen has been lights out. While it's debatable, I don't see how this is fireable offense for Bochy. The bullpen simply didn't do it's job today. I won't post the gory details of the stat lines.
These losses hurt a lot more than the ones where you get blown out early, but if you had told me at the beginning of the homestand that the Giants would go 4-2 against the Cardinals and Phillies, I would have happily taken it. The Giants season record now stands at 12-9, a game behind the Padres who won today.
Around the League: The Dodger's pitching woes continued as they lost to the Mets 7-4 behind a minor league callup pitcher named John Ely. The loss drops them to 8-13. The Padres topped Florida 6-4 and certainly seem to be for real with a 13-8 record at the top of the NL West. Arizona outslugged Colorado to get up to 10-11 with the Rockies dropping to .500 at 11-11.
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Giants offense: check!
ReplyDeleteLincecum's pitching: check!
Giants bullpen: _______
The bullpen just didn't have it today. It would have been great to see a revamped Giants team sweep the defending NL champs. But going 4-2 in their first 6 games of the homestand isn't too shabby either.
Anyway..
Ever since Rowand was put on the DL, Torres has shown promise as a pretty decent lead-off hitter. The past two series showed that he could deliver a hit at critical times and at times of opportunity. Not to mention that he also played well defensively making some good catches out at deep center field.
Matt Downs also showed promise as a team asset too. I hope that when Rowand gets back, it wouldn't be Downs who gets sent down (no pun intended). I would want to see Bowker sent down. As much as Velez's performance has dropped lately, his potential in comparison to Bowker's is more. In addition, Velez has speed, which he could use at critical times when a pinch runner is needed. He can also play the infield at times. Overall, Velez seems more of a greater team asset than Bowker, despite Velez's drop in performance for the past few games.
I'm sorry, I'm going to disagree with anonymous. Downs looks good, and it seems like he's going to stay with the club after Rowand comes back (judging by Berroa's minor league contract with the Giants), but Velez over Bowker? Please no.
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to go into a lot of detail, but Velez is not a good hitter, not a good fielder, and a bad baserunner considering how fast he is. Bowker is not hitting well right now, certainly, but his offensive potential (based on minor league numbers and scouting) is much, much, much higher than Velez's. It's not even close. And while he is not the best outfielder, he is probably at least an average to above average left fielder and consistently makes the routine plays.
What I'm trying to say is that Velez hurts the team and seems to make at least one glaring mistake every game. These mistakes cost the team runs, and he (or Waldis Joaquin, who is not being used) should be sent down when Rowand comes back.
I agree with Scott. Velez has been provided plenty of opportunities to prove that he is a worthy addition to the roster, and frankly has proved that he is not. I think he is the definition of a AAAA player. He frankly just really does not have an identity. He is a so so infielder and a poor outfielder. Like Scott said he has amazing speed but doesn't know how to read pithcers and pick good positions to steal. The most discouraging thing about Velez is i swear sometimes when he is on the field he forgets to just relax and think rationally. His attempt at taking home several weeks ago that killed a potential rally was incredibly frustrating.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Bochy has showed us through the early season that in late game situation he is going to insert defensive substitutes, again making Velez useless. Bowker also has more pop in his bad and provides more of a power threat than Velez does in late inning situations. A starting outfield of Derosa Rowand and Schierholtz with Bowker and Torres as subs seems fine to me.
The problem seems to me to be that Velez freezes up when he is in the spotlight as a starter. He was doing fine in the utility role, but once he is the starter, he freezes up and can't seem to relax at the plate.
ReplyDeleteNot that I'm a Velez believer, just that I noticed that.
Baggarly noted that the Giants signed Angel Berroa to play in AAA, which is a sign that Downs will be around for a lot longer. He might not even go down when Sanchez is back, they might get rid of Velez and Joaquin, who has not seen much use nor has he impressed in the few times that he did get to relieve. That is, when Rowand and Sanchez returns.
I would guess Joaquin first, since Wellemeyer will be an extra arm in the bullpen since they are skipping his rotation spot, then Velez gets a few more chances probably before they send him down (Baggarly says he has another option left).
All good points. Thanks for reading and commenting, everybody! Torres definitely seems to have moved ahead of Velez on the depth chart. SInce Velez has an option, he may well be the guy to go down. It's kind of all or nothing with him. On a day when he is on, he can really put a charge into the ball, but more often he's not, and his glaring mistakes are all the more hurtful then. Bowker, for some reason, just can't seem to get the hang of MLB pitching. You could flip a coin between Velez and Bowker and I wouldn't be too upset.
ReplyDeleteWhat the probability that Ishikawa is the one who is released/traded? I hold out great hope for him to become a serviceable major leaguer, and think he still has a chance to be a very good player. However, I don't think he'll develop under the current Giants' regime. Given that he is being used as a one dimensional player at this point, he may the most logical one to be let go. For his sake, I hope that he's the one.
ReplyDeletecool...finally found the blog
ReplyDeletei usually dont have a prob with the manager lifting the starter...i just dont like the way bochy did it...especially based on his post game comments
if he and rags knew that timmy was basically done after 8, he shoulda been replaced with a ph and wilson shouldve closed with no one on.
wilson didnt pitch poorly, but i was kinda shocked when he decided to pitch around howard, thereby loading the bases.
as for what happened in the double switch...i dont buy bochy's explanation that because velez is a switch hitter, he had more options
in the late innings, and especially in extras...you want your best defensive team out there..and bowker is better defensively than is pharoh
additionally, he shoulda ph'd bowker for pharoh in the 11th....men on 2nd and 3rd, one out...who is better suited to hit a long fly?
as for bowker ending up being the odd man out...i think it is sad
how in the world does a guy who is named the starting rf get sent back to aaa after a month?
only in the giants org...where you can name a guy a starter, but decided before he even suited up that you are gonna platoon the position.
Bacci, I agree with you that it is ridiculous of the giants to name a starter and then essentially take his job away with only less than 50 after under Bowker's belt. However, the giants did the same thing with Schierholtz this spring. Schierholtz struggled throughout the spring and "played" himself out of a starting job.
ReplyDeleteOverall i think Schierholtz and Bowker offer similar advantages offensively with a slight offensive edge to Bowker with his recent increase in OBP and his power stroke. Schierholtz is a freak and has mastered RF at Pac Bell and offers a lot defensively. With this in mind, i think it would be wise of the giant to send Velez down keep Schierholtz starting (even through some inevitable struggles and slumps) and keep bowker as a late inning pinch hitter while also spelling Derosa and Schierholtz when they need rest.
james,
ReplyDeletei know they did it with nate...and it thought that was absurd too
bowker batted better than both huff and derosa during st...why not have him replace one of them?
god forbid...cuz they are vets and will work through whatever offensive woes they are having...right? well that didnt work with winn last season, and so far neither has been swinging a hot bat.
i loved how everyone was "shocked" at the strength of nates arm....huh???? ask the doc...anyone following the kids development have always known about his defensive skills
his main prob was that he couldnt lose the hitch in his swing and wasnt great at seeing pitches, which kept his walk rate low and his k rate up. that seems to be fixed (maybe by bam bam)
basically, had last season truly been used as a rebuilding year, we wouldnt even have this prob
Bacci,
ReplyDeleteWelcome aboard. Hope you like the blog and keep coming back.
It's actually a widely used managerial strategy throughout baseball when a starter gets up near their pitch limit to let them start the inning. If they sail through 3 up and 3 down, they finish the inning, but they get pulled when they allow their first baserunner, especially if it via a walk. Bochy's may not be the greatest game manager in the business, but this one's on the bullpen.
In my book, Bowker has not shown any progress at all in hitting MLB caliber pitching. Nate has had his struggles, but even last year when he really struggled at times, hit .267. Bowker may have more power, but it's not worth a hill of beans if he can't break .200 on the old BA.
As for their relative defensive merits, Velez may run around like a chicken with it's head cut off at times, he is a lot faster than Bowker and makes up for his gaffes by getting to more balls. Velez is the better fielder by UZR.
Let me preface this by saying I love the addition of sabermetrics and think it is a great new way of assessing ones ability and future ability. Although i like UZR as assessing ones defensive ability, some things seem very flawed. For example lets compare some 2009 Giants outfielder UZRs:
ReplyDeleteVelez: 6.3 in 288 innings
Bowker: 2.0 in 84 innings
Schierholtz: 5.8 in 597
Winn: 5.5 in 319
Torres: 5.9 in 152
Basically what the advocates of UZR can agree upon is the fact UZR becomes increasingly accurate with an increase in the number of games played. In his article describing UZR alex remington of yahoo sports states that " 150 defensive games is not generally a sufficient sample size for UZR." But if we are looking at merely UZR are you willing to say that our best outfielder of 2009 is Velez because i am most certainly not.
I think UZR is effective in speaking in generalities. Velez defense is probably under appreciated. Bowker's D is probably worse than we think and Schierholtz Torres, and Winn defense is pretty freakishly good. Beyond that the defensive UZR ratings from 2009 do not seem to offer us too much.
I have no problem with this analysis, but it's just as wrong to make a flat statement that Bowker is a better fielder than Velez when there is even less evidence to back it up.
ReplyDeleteI agree that sample sizes are important, but I saw Velez make quite a few very good plays in the OF last year. It absolutely wouldn't shock me if he was, in fact, statistically the best outfielder on the team. I agree that just a UZR on that sample size doesn't prove it though.
doc,
ReplyDeleteseriously...is timmy "just another starter"?
as for bowker...im sorry, you dont name him your starting right fielder, say you arent gonna platoon, then do platoon, then wonder why he isnt hitting after sitting for 3 days
i didnt want him named the starter...i think using st stats as a basis for anything is absurd
and velez may be quicker than bowker, but he is not a better fielder...and he sure as heck aint better at hitting sac flys
please dont become an apologist for bochy