The Giants avenged Thursday night's blowout loss to the A's as the offense came alive while the pitching continued to be characteristically stingy. The final score was 10-6, but the game was not nearly that close as the A's scored 5 runs in the bottom of the ninth inning against Alex Hinshaw and Felix Romero, who may have not had their hearts in it after learning of their demotions to Fresno. Giants win the Bay Bridge Series 2 games to 1. Key lines:
Andres Torres- 1 for 3, BB, SF. This guy seems to contribute every time he plays. Very nice reserve OF.
Pablo Sandoval- 2 for 3, HR(2), BB. Sandoval had been scuffling at the plate a bit. I thought it looked like he was trying to hit ever pitch out of the park. Nice to see him get back on track today.
John Bowker- 1 for 4, HR(6), BB. Bowker creates a dilemma. Nate and Torres are much better defensive options in RF. If Nate is hitting, he should be the starting RF. Bowker can play LF, but then where does that leave DeRosa? The Giants didn't sign DeRosa to sit.
Nate Schierholtz- 3 for 5, 2 2B. Struck out in the first with the bases loaded, but then had a pretty good game at the plate. BA up to .262. If he's hitting, his defense should make him the starting RF.
Eugenio Velez- 2 for 5, 2B, HR(2). BA= .309. Pharoah played 2B today. Let's see, Uribe, DeRosa and Velez can all play 2B. Sanchez makes 4 when he comes back.
Jonathan Sanchez- 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's. Durty was apparently feeling under the weather, but pitched great anyway. I'm looking for a huge breakout this year.
Affeldt, Medders, Runzler- 1 scoreless IP each.
Romo- 1 IP, 1 unearned run.
Around the league:
It looks like Nick Johnson will start at DH for the Yankees opener tomorrow, but expect significant DL time for him this year. He's already had two booboos this spring.
Poor Coco Crisp can't seem to stay healthy either. He broke a pinkie while getting thrown out on a steal attempt last night so he's on the DL to start the season for the A's. Travis Buck gets the starts in LF while Rajai Davis moves over to CF.
Speaking of the A's, Jack Cust was waived in somewhat of a surprise move. The A's owe him $2.65 M which another team would have to pick up if they claim him. Seems like he could help some AL team as a DH, but pure DH's seem to be a dying breed. Cust hit 25 HR's last season, but is a huge liability in the field. The A's apparently are going to use Eric Chavez as their primary DH with Jake Fox filling in against LHP's from time to time.
Gio Gonzalez is going to be the A's #5 starter while Trevor Cahill goes to the DL. Tyson Ross made the A's final roster as a long man out of the bullpen. I really like Ross and think he should be starting every 5'th day in the minors.
I watched the first few innings of the Dodgers-Angels game today. Chad Billingsley looked terrible although overall he had a good spring. The Dodgers would seem to be in a lot of trouble if Billz has a poor season as their starting pitching is paper thin. ESPN is reporting that Russ Ortiz has made the team, which tells you something right there. He may pitch out of the bullpen though. Rule 5 draftee Chris Monasterios. He has only pitched 7.1 innings above A ball. The Mets picked him up in the Rule 5 draft and then traded him to the Dodgers. All that tells you more about the Dodgers pitching situation.
In the same game, Kendry Morales got all of a pitch that went just inside the RF foul pole. Very impressive grand slam HR.
Scott Kazmir will start the season on the DL for the Angels, although it seems like it's more to stretch him out in extended ST than a new injury.
Homer Bailey, who seemed like he was finally getting it together for the Reds last year finished the spring by allowing 6 runs in 6 IP today. His final spring ERA is 5.09. He's going to be the Reds #4 starter for now though. If Bailey is their #4 starter, I'm sure the Aroldis Chapman watch will be heating up real soon.
Can't wait for opening day!!
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If Bowker has really adjusted to big-league offspeed pitches -- finally -- it makes no sense to sit him in favor of a second baseman. He has way too much upside. So it really should become a question of which second baseman plays; Bowker will never be a rightfielder, especially at ATT. If they're paying DeRosa to play, then he plays and Uribe sits as primary backup at 2b-SS-3B.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I think Bochy will sit Bowker in favor of keeping Uribe's veteran bat in the lineup. I hope I'm wrong.
Bowker has had a great spring and has become the flavor du jour among a lot of Giants fans. I'm not sold myself, but just once I'd like to see a player who has a hot spring while fighting for a reserve roster spot get a chance to carry that hotness over into the regular season which won't happen if they spend most of their time on the bench. It's a tough choice. I'd be OK with DeRosa at 2B, Bowker in LF and Uribe on the bench to start the season, but I don't think it's an obvious call.
ReplyDeleteAs for Bowker's defense, that one throw I saw from RF against the Angels that made it to about even with the pitching mound would not have been adequate even for LF. I guess you can't judge a player on just one throw, but that was really bad. I think Bowk can probably cover enough ground to play LF, but I'm not sure his arm plays anywhere.
Well, this is probably the time to find out. If Bowker can't play the outfield at all, then it's first base or bust. Franchez's injury (May? June?) offers a good chance to resolve the question. I'd like to see Bowker making adequate throws from left and, by May 15, hitting .300+ with, say, a half dozen home runs. If he's at .262 with two, then pinch hitting starts looking more attractive.
ReplyDeleteStill, I think they'll sit him and force him to hit his way into the lineup over the course of the season.