Monday, May 31, 2010

Down on the Farm: 05-31-2010

AAA Fresno Grizzlies edged the Salt Lake City Bees 7-6:

Brock Bond- 1 for 3, 2 BB. BA= .284.
Pat Burrell- 1 for 2, 2B, 2 BB. BA= .429.
Angel Berroa- 2 for 5, 2B. BA= .227.
Matt Yourkin- 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 4.22.

Bond continues to be an on-base machine. Burrell's Giants career is off to a good start. If Posey stays hot, it seems like Rowand would have to hit the pine when/if Burrell gets called up.

AA Bowie Baysox outlasted the Richmond Flying Squirrels 3-2 in 11 innings:

Thomas Neal- 2 for 4, BB. BA= .259.
Conor Gillaspie- 1 for 4, BB. BA= .261.
Clay TImpner- 1 for 4, 2B, BB, SB(2). BA= .356.
Mike MacDonald- 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 4 K's, GO/AO= 11/2. ERA= 3.99.
Rafael Cova- 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 0.47.

Not too much to comment on here. The only rap on Cova is 13 BB's in 19.1 IP. Otherwise he's been great.

High A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes topped the San Jose Giants 5-3:

Ehire Adrianza- 1 for 2, 3 BB. BA= .254.
Brandon Belt- 2 for 3, 2B(18), HR(4), 2 BB. BA= .374.

Since Belt has proven he can handle Cal League pitching, it wouldn't hurt for him to work on driving the ball and getting some more loft on it before he moves up to higher levels where he may have to fight just to make consistent contact.

Low A Asheville Tourists edged squeezed past the Augusta Greenjackets in the completion of yesterday's game 4-3:

Ryan Cavan- 3 for 4, 2B. BA= .275.
Evan Crawford- 2 for 4, 3B. BA= .245.
Brian Irving- 2.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 4.13.
Chris Gloor- 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 2.02.

Not much to comment on here.

The Greenjackets smothered the Tourists 7-1 in the 7 inning regularly scheduled game:

Luke Anders- 2 for 3, 2B, BB. BA= .287.
Dan Cook- 2 for 3, SB(5). BA= .247.
Evan Crawford- 2 for 3, 3B(7). BA= .251.
Jorge Bucardo- 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 1.87.

Crawford has 2 hits in his last 2 games after 6 game hitless streak spanning 26 AB's. Bucardo has dominated this level so far at age 20.

DSL Giants were postponed along with most of the DSL presumable due to weather.

Game Wrap 05-31-2010: Rockies 4 Giants 0

Tim Lincecum came within 1 out of pitching a Quality Start today which represents a distinct improvement from his last two starts, but it was still a struggle as he battled poor control and an apparent loss of velocity on his fastball. Meanwhile, you can pencil in Ubaldo Jimenez as the new most dominant starting pitcher in baseball as he totally dominated the Giants with filthy stuff all game long. In the Giants defense, I thought they put up a valiant effort trying to work counts and hitting a number of balls hard, but when you are going as good as Jimenez, those balls tend to find the gloves of your fielders and the Giants never really threatened. Key lines:

Pablo Sandoval- 3 for 4, 2B. BA= .293. Pablo wasn't intimidated and looks like he may be getting his mojo back.

Tim Lincecum- 5.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 5 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 3.14. The highest velocity I saw from Timmy today was 90 MPH. He relied a whole lot on a pitch that is either a splittee or a knuckle curve. The Rockies' hitters weren't buying and mostly let it dive on down out of the strike zone forcing Timmy to get them out with less than his best pitches. It's not clear whether Tim's loss of velocity is due to an out-of-whack delivery or fatigue, but it's the same thing that cropped up near the end of last season. That it's happening this early this year has got to be a bit disconcerting. It's making the Giants negotiating a 2 year deal rather than a longer one look better and better. Until Timmy proves he can regain his velocity or make it work with a lower velocity, Matt Cain and Jonathan Sanchez have moved ahead of Tim in terms of stuff and ability to be stoppers in the rotation. Cain is probably the ace of the staff now.

Dan Runzler- 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K's. ERA= 4.43. Runzler threw away a pickoff throw that allowed one of TImmy's runners to score. Ultimately, it didn't matter. Otherwise Runzler looked like he had good command of dominant stuff hitting the mid-90's with the fastball.

Denny Bautista- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 1.59. It was a mop up effort, but Bautista is looking like another small gem found on a dumpster dive. Mid-high 90's fastball with good movement. Brandon Medders is going to have a tough time getting back to the majors after his injury.

Ubaldo Jimenez- 9 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 9 K's. Great, great stuff. You have to go all the way back to Juan Marichal to find a comparable start to the season and starting pitching was a vastly different occupation back then. Meet your new odds-on-favorite to win the NL Cy Young award, if not MVP. Jimenez is on a pace to win 30 games. Unlikely, but not completely lmpossible. Even 25 would be astounding in this day and age of deep bullpens and quality starts.

College Corner: Ricky Oropesa

Since they are, unfortunately, not going to the college postseason, Rick Oropesa and the USC Trojans have completed their 2010 baseball season. Although the team had it's good games, they were way too inconsistent to contend in a tough conference like the PAC 10. Ricky had an extraordinary year, though. In his sophomore season he significantly improved his line across the board despite not having a lot of protection in the lineup. Ricky hit a HR in the season finale vs Washington to bring his season totals to: .353/.434/.711 with 20 HR's and 7 SB's. Ricky placed in USC's historical top 10 in several categories: 20 HR's= 6'th place all time. 22 doubles= 5'th place all time. 167 Total Bases= 6'th place all time. His 33 career HR's so far place him tied for 7'th all time with the promise of more to come next season.


Given USC's storied baseball history, this is truly rarified air. I fully expect Ricky to be on BA's preseason All-America team next year and to be a high MLB draft choice in 2011. Here's a shout out to my man Ricky Oropesa on a great sophomore season for the USC Trojans!

Blast from the Past: Tagg Bozied

Before I get started with Tagg Bozied's story, I'd like to give a shout out to El Lefty Malo, at www.leftymalo.com, for a great interview with a writer named Dan Fost who has recently written a book on the Giants called Giants Past and Present. Go over and take a look!

When Kendry Morales broke his leg in a celebration at home plate Saturday, it brought back memories of an almost identical incident that happened to a San Diego Padres prospect name Tagg Bozied several years ago. Bozied is one of those players who are living proof of just how hard it is to make it to the major leagues of baseball, let alone be a star player at that level. He's also living proof that one fateful moment can make all the difference in the world between ultimate success or failure in a career.

Robert Tanios "Tagg" Bozied originally hails from Sioux Falls, SD, my wife's hometown. He was originally drafted out of high school by the Minnesota Twins in the 50'th round in 1997. Rather than sign, he chose to play college baseball at the University of San Francisco where, as a sophomore, he won the Big West Conference Triple Crown with a .412 BA, 30 HR's and 82 RBI's.

The next season was good, but not as spectacular at .359 with 14 HR's and 52 RBI's. The Twins again drafted him this time in the second round. Again, he did not sign and returned to school for his senior year. His stat line regressed a little more to .335 with 12 HR's was drafted in 2001 in the third round by the San Diego Padres. He eventually signed with the Padres and played well for the High A Lake Elsinore Storm in 2002 putting up a .298/.377/546 line with 15 HR's. A midseason promotion to AA did not go as well where he hit .214/.268/.389.

The Padres must have liked what they saw in his bat, because Tagg was promoted to the AAA Portland Beavers for the 2003 season where he hit .273/.331/.431 with 14 HR's. Back at Portland for the 2004 season, Bozied started off red hot with a .315/.374/.629 line with 15 HR's in 57 games. Tagg was starting to get national attention as a top prospect and looked like he was headed for a MLB call up with the Padres when disaster struck on July 19.

The Beavers were playing Pacific Coast League rivals, the Tacoma Rainiers and Tagg hit a game winning walk-off grand slam HR. As he came around to score, he jumped on home plate and was mobbed by his teammates. During the celebration, he somehow tore the patellar tendon in his left knee which required surgery and a long rehab to repair.

Tagg missed the rest of 2004 and only played in 26 games in 2005. The Padres released him after the 2005 season. Since then, he has played for a series of organizations including the Mets, St. Louis Cardinals and Florida Marlins. He's put up decent numbers with each organization, but not quite good enough to induce a MLB call up. For one thing, he is now considered to be too old for a prospect and organizations would rather give their opportunities to younger players who they perceive as having more potential. Tagg Bozied is now 31 years old and playing in the Phillies organization still chasing the dream that has eluded him, largely because of that one fateful moment of celebration after hitting a game winning grand slam home run, now all those years ago.

Down on the Farm: 05-30-2010

AAA Salt Lake City Bees edged the Fresno Grizzlies 6-5 in 10 innings:

Brock Bond- 2 for 4, 2B, 2 BB. BA= .283. OBP= .406!
Tyler Graham- 3 for 5, 2B, SB(10). BA= .379.
Pat "The Bat" Burrell- 2 for 5, HR(1). BA= .400.
Joe Martinez- 5.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 3.39.
Waldis Joaquin- 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 1.00.
Brandon Medders- 1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 0 K's.

Burrell makes his debut in the Giants organization. Bond has hit just .235 over his last 10 games but has drawn 11 walks in that span for a OBP of .435! Graham has been a spark, but may be playing over his head in a small sample size. Medders has an inauspicious start to his rehab assignment. Is DFA next?

AA Bowie Baysox defeated the Richmond Flying Squirrels 6-2:

Conor Gillaspie- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .262.
Clayton Tanner- 5.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 3.86.

This was Tanner's first appearance in 2 weeks after two consecutive rough starts. Gillaspie is hitting .375 over his last 10 games with a .500 SLG%.

High A San Jose Giants edged the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 7-6 in 10 innings:

Juan Perez- 4 for 6, HR(6). BA= .348.
Ehire Adrianza- 3 for 5, 2B, SB(12). BA= .251.
Charlie Culberson- 2 for 4, 2 2B, BB, SB(6). BA= .287.
Wendell Fairley- 2 for 3, 2 BB, SB(3). BA= .266.
Justin Fitzgerald- 5.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 5 K's, GO/AO= 7/2. ERA= 2.13.
Jason Stoffel- 1.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K. ERA= 5.19.

Juan Perez seems to be this year's breakout offensive player along with Belt. Charlie Culberson is making a bid for that designation too. Stoffel got the W but continues to put up lines that are shaky to downright ugly. Poor defense appears to have contributed to the Blown Save here.

Low A Asheville Tourists edged the Augusta Greenjackets 3-2 in a 5 inning weather suspended game:

Ryan Cavan- 2 for 2, 2B. BA= .273.
Chris Heston- 5 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 6.75.

Not much to comment on here.

The Dominican Summer League got underway on Saturday:

Cubs edged the Giants 4-3:

Christian Paulino(18 yo, 3B)- 1 for 3, HR(1), BB, SB(1).
Joan Gregorio(18 yo, RHP, 6'7", 180 lbs)- 4.1 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 4 K's.

The DSL Giants were idle yesterday.

2 names from the DSL roster to pay particular attention to: RHP Marvin Barrios 17 yo RHP and Leonardo Fuentes 17 yo OF listed at 6'4", 215 lbs. These two players were signed to sizable bonuses late last summer. A rule of thumb in the DSL is that any player age 19 or over is probably not a highly rated prospect.

Game Wrap 05-30-2010: GIants 6 D'Backs 5

The Giants offense rallied late to push this game into extra innings and then the win in the bottom of the 10'th to salvage a series sweep against the NL West cellar dwelling Arizona Diamondbacks. Key lines:

Andres Torres- 4 for 6. BA= .307. Torres is unconscious right now. Don't wake him up!

Fred Sanchez- 2 for 3, 2 BB. BA= .324. Freddy has definitely provided a spark, both on offense and defense. In this game, he ranged out into foul territory to dig out a ball hot smash that had caromed off Buster Posey and fired a strike to 2B to nail Kelly Johnson trying for a double. Then he made a perfect relay throw to 3B to give Nate an assist on a runner trying to advance from first to third on a hit that went to the wall in RF.

Aubrey Huff- 2 for 4, HR(6), BB. BA= .296 OBP= .378. Huff has been a great pickup with steady production at the plate and defense that is much better than advertised at both 1B and LF.

Buster Posey- 3 for 5, 2 2B. Posey has provided a definite spark in the two games since his call up.

Travis Ishikawa- 1 for 1, 2B. Travis has two doubles in two AB's over two games. This one started the game tying rally in the bottom of the 9'th.

Todd Wellemeyer- 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 7 K's. ERA= 5.03. Since April 21 when his ERA stood at 8.16, Wellemeyer has turned in 4 quality starts out of a possible 6 plus a fine 3 inning relief appearance. All of his good games have been at home, but he's gotten bombed on the road. Still, it's not a terrible record for a 5'th starter picked off the scrap heap.

Brian Wilson- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. Wilson picks up the W in this one as he came in with the game tied, held it there and the Giants brought home the winning run in the bottom of his inning.

The win moves the Giants to 5 games over .500 at 27-22, but no closer to the first place Padres in the torrid NL West as the Padres edged the Nats 3-2 in 10 innings in Petco to stay 2 games ahead of the Dodgers and 2.5 ahead of the Giants at 30-20, the best record in the NL. The Dodgers kept pace at 28-22 with a 4-3 win over Colorado who slipped to 26-24, 1.5 games behind the 3'rd place Giants. The D'Backs sank further into last place at 20-31, 10.5 games behind the Pads.

Today's game is the Clash of the Titans with 2 time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum facing off against the guy who has to be the current favorite for that title Ubaldo Jimenez. Timmy has scuffled in his last two starts while you have to go all the way back to Juan Marichal to find a comparable start to the season for Ubaldo. Timmy and the Giants are going to have to dig deep for this one.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Down on the Farm: 05-29-2010

AAA The Buster Poseyless Fresno Grizzlies lost to the Salt Lake City Bees 8-7:

Matt Downs- 2 for 4, 2B, SB(1). BA= .295.
Brett Pill- 2 for 4, 2B, HR(5). BA= .284.
Steve Holm- 2 for 4, HR(3). BA= .203.
Steve Edlefsen- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 1.17.
Eric Hacker- 5 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 3.83.

The Giants signed Pat "The Bat" Burrell to a minor league deal. We should be seeing his name in the Fresno box scores soon. SLC is a tough place to pitch, but it would seem that Bumgarner has moved ahead of Eric Hacker as next in line starter to be called up.

AA RIchmond Flying Squirrels defeated the Bowie Baysox 7-3:

Darren Ford- 3 for 5. BA= .247.
Eddy Martinez-Esteve- 0 for 4. BA= .000.
Conor Gillaspie- 2 for 4, 2B, 3B. BA= .256.
David Mixon- 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 8 K's, GO/AO= 8/2. ERA= 3.05.

A Eddy M-E sighting! Must be coming off the DL or something? Conor Gillaspie is hitting .375 over his last 10 games. Another solid effort by Mixon.

High A San Jose Giants topped the Stockton Ports 4-2:

Juan Perez- 1 for 5, HR(5). BA= .337.
Brandon Belt- 1 for 2, 3B, 2 BB, SB(11). BA= .376.
Craig Westcott- 5.1 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 1.40.
Edwin Quirarte- 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K's. ERA= 0.83.

Belt continues to have busy lines for the little Giants.

Low A Augusta defeated the Asheville Tourists 7-5 in 13 innings:

Chris Dominguez- 4 for 7, 2B, 2 HR(8). BA= .271.
Evan Crawford- 0 for 6, 4 K's. BA= .239.
Jose Valdez- 5.1 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 2.78.
Ryan Verdugo- 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 2.84.

Huge game for Dominguez. Evan Crawford had his BA up in the .270's just a week or so ago. He's in a brutal slump now. Valdez got the start and was disappointing. Verdugo had a dominant relief appearance. Tyler Matzek got the start for Asheville, a Colorado affiliate: 4 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 3.00. Zack Wheeler's last appearance was May 19. That was a very good start with 6 IP, 0 R, 7 K's. I found a reference on 22 gigantes.com blog that he is on the 7 day DL with a fingernail problem. Doesn't sound too serious. Whew!

Game Wrap 05-29-2010: GIants 12 D'Backs 1

Lots of good things happened in the game last evening, but the big news was Buster Posey getting called up and giving every indication that it's for the last time in his career. It wasn't his MLB debut, but is sure felt like it, and it sure felt good! Key lines:

Andres Torres- 0 for 3, 2 BB, SB(8). If Torres did this every game, he'd have a .000 BA and a .400 OBP.....and be a good leadoff hitter!

Freddy Sanchez- 1 for 3, 2 BB. I don't think there is any question that Freddy has been a spark since coming off the DL. Maybe the trade and contract were worth it after all?

Pablo Sandoval- 3 for 5, 2B. Pablo seems to have gotten inspired by actually having some runners with speed on the bases ahead of him.

Aubrey Huff- 2 for 3, SF. BA= .291. Huff hasn't supplied the power the Giants were hoping for, but he's been a steady performer both on offense and defense.

Juan Uribe- 3 for 3, HR(7), BB. I love watching Uribe's facial expressions in the dugout. He had a great game last night both on the field and in the dugout!

Buster Posey- 3 for 4. As Kruk pointed out, his swing is built more for BA than for power, but ask yourself what the likelihood of getting 3 RBI singles in one game from Bowker, Nate or just about anybody else on the team not named Pablo? On the other hand, this wasn't a typical game for a lot of Giants' hitters.

Jonathan Sanchez- 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 7K's. ERA= 2.90. Sanchez fought through shaky control and a very small strike zone to hold the D'Backs at bay for 5 innings while the Giants hitters took care of the rest. This W partially makes up for the 3 he should have gotten against San Diego.

Bullpen(Romo, Bautista, Runzler)- 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K's. Not that they had to be, but the bullpen was lights out after Sanchez' departure.

The win improves the Giants record to 26-22 keeping them 2.5 games back of the Padres who beat the Nats 4-2 in Petco to bring their record to 29-20. The Dodgers fell back to 2 games off the Padres pace at 27-22 with a 11-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies who stayed 0.5 games behind the Giants and 3 games behind the Padres at 26-23. The D'Backs got pushed farther into the hole in last place at 20-30, 9.5 games out.

Around the League:

Congrats to Roy Halladay on the Perfecto. That's the second one this year coming on the heels of on by Mark Buehrle last year. Something's up in MLB, and it ain't hitting!

Kendry Morales of the Angels hit a walk-off grand slam and then broke his ankle jumping on home plate. He will require surgery and is out for an indefinite period. Bad news for my Savvy Vets fantasy baseball team!

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Draft Update: Nick Castellanos

JIm Callis has a new Mock draft up from yesterday on BA. He has the Giants taking HS 3B NIck Castellanos at #24. This would be a great pick if the Giants drafted him and got him signed. He reportedly wants a ton of $$$ and that may be why he would fall to the Giants. The Giants have shown that they intend to sign whoever they draft. Callis' backup choice in the discussion is HS RHP Stetson Allie which would be a fine pick too.

BA and Jim Callis know what they are talking about and we're getting close enough to the draft that we can start taking specific picks in their mock drafts seriously. What has me excited is that almost every recent mock draft has the Giants taking a very good player. This is a great year to be drafting in the bottom third. The talent at the very top may be only 1 or two players deep, but the second tier of talent extends way down the board well into the second round or even beyond IMO.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Down on the Farm: 05-28-2010

AAA Fresno Grizzlies blanked the Salt Lake City Bees 8-0 behind Madison Bumgarner and Buster Posey:

Buster Posey- 2 for 3, 2B, BB, SF. BA= .349.
Madison Bumgarner- 7.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 2.72.
Henry Sosa- 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 1.30.

If the Giants are going to call up Buster Posey, I hope they are prepared to be patient with him. He's not going to save the Giants offense by himself. With the way Molina is hitting right now, they may need him to do more catching than they are currently thinking. Bumgarner probably needs more seasoning in AAA, but Giants fans have to be breathing a sigh of relief at his recent performances.

AA Bowie Baysox crunched the Richmond Flying Squirrels 10-1:

Daryl Maday- 6 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 1.68.

A QS for Maday, but the offense gave no support and then the bullpen fell apart.

High A Stockton Ports edged the San Jose Giants 6-5:

Charlie Culberson- 1 for 4, HR(6). BA= .287.
James Simmons- 1 for 2, HR(1). BA= .235.
Jose Flores- 2 for 4, HR(1). BA= .400.
Ehire Adrianza- 2 for 3, SB(11). BA= .241.
Eric Surkamp- 5 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 10 K's. ERA= 2.62.
Kyle Woodruff- 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K's. ERA= 1.93.
Jason Stoffel- 0.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 5.74.

Charlie Culberson continued his hot hitting. Surkamp gets 10 K's despite a rough outing. Stoffel really needs to move out of the closer's role. He's not on the fast track!

Low A Augusta Greenjackets blanked the Asheville Tourists 7-0:

Nick Liles 2 for 4, BB, SB(10). BA= .289.
Ryan Cavan- 3 for 4, 2 2B. BA= .274.
Dan Cook- 3 for 4, 2B, 3B. BA= .245.
Jeremy Toole- 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K's. ERA= 1.04.

Liles is quietly having a good season. Leadoff may be the spot for him. Cavan's bat continues to heat up. This is the second dominant start in a row for Toole who has a mid-upper 90's heater. As unsuccessful as the Giants have been at developing hitters, they sure seem to know what to do with young pitchers!

Game Wrap 05-28-2010: Giants 5 D'Backs 0

Matt Cain made a statement tonight. The Giants have more than one ace! Man what a performance from Matt "Hoss" Cain. Totally dominating the D'Backs to the point where the D'Back TV announcers were gushing and quite obviously rooting for him to finish it off in the 9'th inning. And Dang if I didn't get back from my meeting in San Diego too late to move Cainer into my fantasy team the Savvy Vets' rotation! The Giants also seem to have found a functional combination at the top of the lineup. The result was a 5-0 shellacking of the Arizona Diamondbacks in a game that wasn't that close. Key lines:

Andres Torres- 1 for 3, 2B, BB, SB(7). Now THAT's what a leadoff batter is supposed to do! 2 runs scored for Torres.

Freddy Sanchez- 2 for 3, 2B, BB. And THAT's what a #2 hitter is supposed to do!

Pablo Sandoval- 2 for 3, HR(4), SF. And THAT is what a #3 hitter is supposed to do!

Matt Cain- 9 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K's. ERA= 2.50. A vintage Matt Cain performance. This team has an ace alright and his name just might be Matt Cain!

With the W, the Giants gained a game on the Padres who dropped one to the Nats in Petco 5-3. The Giants 25-22 record puts them 2.5 games behind the 28-20 Pads. Meanwhile, the Dodgers moved to 1 game back at 27-21 with a 5-4 win over the Rockies who slipped 0.5 games behind the Giants into 4'th place at 25-23. With the L, Arizona remains 8.5 games off the pace at 20-29. Jonathan Sanchez takes on the Snakes tomorrow evening.

Down on the Farm: 05-27-2010

AAA Fresno Grizzlies defeated the Memphis Redbirds 6-4:

Buster Posey- 1 for 3, 3B, BB. BA= .343.
Ben Copeland- 2 for 3, 2B, HR(2). BA= .258.
Eugenio Velez- 2 for 3, 3B, S. BA= .313.
Joe Borchard- 3 for 4. BA= .327.

Not much new here. Yes, Posey played 1B as he has done on several other occasions. Nothing to get too excited about.

Richmond Flying Squirrels soared over the Binghampton Mets 11-4:

Darren Ford- 1 for 5, 2B, BB. BA= .241.
Brandon Crawford- 2 for 6. BA= .244.
Thomas Neal- 2 for 5, 2 2B. BA= .255.
Conor Gillaspie- 5 for 5, BA= .256.
Andy D'Alessio- 3 for 4, 2B. BA= .280.

Hopefully this is a breakout game for Gillaspie even if they were all singles. He needs to get his BA up!

High A San Jose Giants blanked the Stockton Ports 2-0:

Brandon Belt- 1 for 4, 2B. BA= .384.
Charlie Culberson- 3 for 3, SB(5). BA= .288.
Eric Stolp- 8 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, GO/AO= 15/4. ERA= 3.02.
Jason Stoffel- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K's, Save(10). ERA= 4.70.

Charlie Culberson continues his breakout of sorts. Stolp is an exrtreme GB pitcher who doesn't miss many bats which might not project to higher levels. Stoffel is getting the Saves and his ERA is coming back down but there is no dominance to be seen in his lines.

Low A Rome Braves edged the Augusta Greenjackets 5-4:

Ryan Lollis- 2 for 3, 3B, OF Assist- BA= .289.
Brian Salsbury- 7.2 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 8K's. ERA= 3.61.

Salsbury maintained a dominant K/BB in this game.

Game Wrap 05-27-2010: Giants 5 Nats 4

The Giants used staged a rare 3 run rally in the bottom of the 7'th inning to pick up Barry Zito who had a somewhat shaky, but adequate start and gain a game in the NL West standings. Key lines:

Freddy Sanchez- 2 for 4, 2 BB, CS. BA= .250. Nice game for Freddy even though he was able to score on only 1 of his 4 times on base.

Aubrey Huff- 3 for 4, HR(5). BA= .281. Huff has proven to be a nice addition at a very cheap price so far.

Juan Uribe- 2 for 4. BA= .272. Second two-hit night in a row for Uribe.

Barry Zito- 6.1 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 5 BB, 3 K's. Technically a QS, although a WHIP of almost 2 isn't really quality pitching. 3 DP's always helps though.

Guillermo Mota- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K's. ERA= 1.13. Mota has helped stabilize a reeling bullpen.

Brian Wilson- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. Wilson seems to have regained his footing as the closer.

The GIants improve to 24-22 to get within 3.5 games of the first place Padres who lost to St Louis in a game I attended 8-3. The Dodgers lost to the Cubbies 1-0 to stay 2 games off the Padres' pace. Colorado trounced the hapless D'Backs 8-2 to stay 0.5 games up on the Giants while D'Backs sank to 20-28. 3.5 games separate the top 4 teams with Arizona bringing up the rear 8.5 games behind.

The Giants start a series vs the D'Backs at home with Cain, Sanchez and Wellemeyer getting the starting calls. Hopefully they play them better at home than in Arizona.

Down on the Farm: 05-26-2010

AAA Fresno Grizzlies beat the Memphis Redbirds 5-3:

Brock Bond- 1 for 1, BB, HBP, S, SB(4). BA= .287.
Eugenio Velez- 3 for 4. BA= .289.
Buster Posey- 1 for 4, HR(6). BA= .343.
Joe Borchard- 2 for 4, 2B, 3B. BA= .317
Steve Edlefsen- 2.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K. ERA= 1.26.
Joe Paterson- 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 1.64.

Bond has been in a bit of a slump. He had 4 productive AB's in this game. Edlefsen allowed 2 inherited runs to score.

AA Richmond Flying Squirrels crashed against the Binghampton Mets 9-1:

Darren Ford- 1 for 3, SF. BA= .242.
Wilmin Rodriguez- 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 0.00.

The Squirrels mustered just 2 hits in the game. Rodriguez has always had a great arm, but has had control/command issues.

High A Stockton Ports bombed the San Jose Giants 13-3:

Not much to see here. Perez and Belt had 2 hits each. Belt made 2 errors, rare for him. Kyle Nicholson got shelled to run his ERA to 7.07.

Low A: Augusta Greenjackets edged the Rome Braves 3-2:

Ryan Cavan- 2 for 3, 2 2B. BA= .264,
Jorge Bucardo- 7 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 K's, GO/AO= 1.95.

Cavan has been struggling after a hot start. Another dominant start for Jorge Bucardo. He's definitely moving up my list of top Giants prospects.

Game Wrap 05-26-2010: Nats 7 Giants 3

Sorry for the late post. I had to take off for a meeting and didn't have an internet connection.

Tim Lincecum struggled for the second game in a row hitting the showers after just 4.2 IP and 6 ER's allowed. Control/Command was again the big issue with 5 walks and a HBP contributing to the early exit. Key lines:

Juan Uribe- 2 for 4, HR(6). Uribe continues to be one of the few modest power sources in the lineup.

Aaron Rowand- 2 for 4. BA= .243. Gamer hit 7'th tonight. Hopefully this is the start of him hitting his way out of the bottom of the lineup.

Tim Lincecum- 4.2 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 5 BB, 5 K's. I would say the last two games have dropped Timmy way behind Ubaldo Jimenez and possibly others in the Cy Young race.

The loss drops the Giants to 23-22, 4.5 games behind the Padres who continued their magic against the St. Louis Cardinals in Petco 2-1 in 13 innings on a walkoff HR by Jerry Hairston, Jr. Colorado moved to 0.5 games ahead of the Giants with a 7-3 win over the D'Backs behind the aforementioned Ubaldo Jimenez at 24-22. The D'Backs fell further back in last place at 20-27. Meanwhile, the Dodgers stayed 2 games off the Padres' pace with an 8-5 win over the Cubbies.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Down on the Farm: 05-25-2010

AAA The Memphis Redbirds defeated the Fresno Grizzlies 4-1:

Really nothing to see here. Ben Copeland accounted for the only run with a solo HR.

AA Binghampton Mets trounced the Richmond Flying Squirrels 10-0:

Andy Sisco- 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 4.35. A dominant outing for the big guy.

High A The Cal League was idle.

Low A Rome Braves topped the Augusta Greenjackets 8-4:

Luke Anders- 1 for 3, HR(7), BB. BA= .285.
Tommy Joseph- 2 for 4. BA= .212.

Not much to comment on here as it was a quiet night down on the farm.

Game Wrap 05-25-2010: Giants 4 Nats 2

Todd Wellemeyer took a 1 hit shutout into the 7'th inning and started a 4 run, 2 out rally in the 5'th to spur the Giants to a win over the Nats and Giants fans old whipping boy, Livan "Cheeseburger" Hernandez before a relatively sparse crowd at AT&T park last night. Key lines:

Andres Torres- 3 for 4, 2B. Torres started the game off with a resounding double off the left CF wall, but in typical Giants fashion was left stranded at 3B.

Edgar Renteria- 2 for 3, S. Renteria failed to advance Torres in the first inning when he bounced back to Hernandez. He did keep the winning rally going with the 3'rd of 5 consecutive hits in the inning. He also made a sparkling defensive play to end a Nats threat earlier in the game. Unfortunately, he tweaked his hammy again and you have to start thinking he's going to lose most of the season to this recurring problem and likely won't be back next year.

Todd Wellemeyer- 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K's. Strange to think Wellemeyer was the stopper tonight, but he has pitched quite well at home. When he loses it, he loses it fast, though as he started the 7'th by allowing 3 consecutive hits that were not bloopers.

Bullpen(Romo, Mota, Wilson)- 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 4 K's. The bullpen finished this one off with aplomb.

I really liked the lineup Bochy put out there today, although the runs they scored were a bit fluky. It was only for one game though as Rent likely goes back to the DL. I particularly thought it took some guts to put Molina and Rowand down in the 7 and 8 holes. The move didn't improve the performance of either player.

The Giants have a great chance to put another W on the board with Timmy on the mound vs Atilano tonight.

The Giants gained a game of .500 at 23-21, 3.5 games behind the 27-18 Padres who won yet another 1-0 game against the St Louis Cardinals behind Jon Garland. Man, those Pads pitchers are sure comfortable in Petco Park, huh? The Dodgers slipped to 25-20, 2 games off the pace with a 3-0 loss to Ryan Dempster and the Cubs. Colorado(23-22) stayed 0.5 games behind the Giants with a 3-2 win over the last place D'Backs(20-26).

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Down on the Farm: 05-24-2010

AAA Memphis Redbirds trounced the Fresno Grizzlies 8-1:

Buster Posey- 4 for 4, 2B. BA= .344.
Eric Hacker- 4 IP, 11 H, 8 R, 2 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 3.49.
Henry Sosa- 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 1.37.
Joe Paterson- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K. ERA= 1.86.

Posey had been in a mini slump. Hacker had been the best of the AAA pitchers before tonight. Paterson apparently completed a rehab asslgnment and is back in Fresno.

AA Richmond Flying Squirrels edged the Binghampton Mets 3-2:

Brandon Crawford- 1 for 4, HR(5). BA= .252.
Thomas Neal- 2 for 4, HR(3). BA= .263.
David Mixon- 5.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 3.27.
Rafael Cova- 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's, Save(9). ERA= 0.59.

Not much to comment on here.

High A San Jose pounded the Modesto Nuts 10-2:

Juan Perez- 3 for 3, 2B, 2 BB, 2 SB. BA= .354.
Francisco Peguero- 2 for 5. BA= .279.
Brandon Belt- 2 for 5, 2B. BA= .384.
Wendell Fairley- 2 for 5, SB(2). BA= .283.
Ehire Adrianza- 2 for 5. BA= .237.
Justin Fitzgerald- 7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 2.00.

Fairley is hitting .324 over his last 10 games. Fitz has looked really strong as a starter so far this year.

Low A Rome Braves bested the Augusta Greejackets 3-1:

Kyle Vazquez- 7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 2.61.

Vazquez got a taste of what pitching for the Giants is like as the Greenjackets mustered just 2 hits on the night.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Down on the Farm: 05-23-2010

AAA Fresno Grizzlies edged the Nashville Sounds 4-3 in 11 innings:

Jesus Guzman- 2 for 5, BB. BA= .260.
Tyler Graham- 1 for 3, 2 BB. BA= .405.
Madison Bumgarner- 6.2 IP, 12 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 4 K's, GO/AO= 12/2.

Guzman is hitting .360 over his last 10 games. Bum gave up a ton of hits, but he managed to keep them from scoring. I am convinced, from the GO/AO over several games now that he has incorporated a 2 seam/sinker pitch into his repertoire as well as a a cutter. I actually really like the 4 seam/2 seam/ cutter combo as it gives hitters 3 different looks off the fastball, so it's like 3 pitches in one!

AA Richmond shut out the Reading Phillies 6-0:

Darren Ford- 1 for 3, 2 BB, SB(14). BA= .253.
Conor Gillaspie- 3 for 5. BA= .243.
Andy D'Alessio- 4 for 5, 2 2B, HR(2). BA= .268.
Roger Kieschnick- 0 for 5. BA= .240.
Daryl Maday- 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 1.36.
Tony Pena- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 1.01.

Roger Kieschnick has cooled off considerably. A big day for Big Andy. Wish he had more of those! Maday has been lights out this season. I haven't ever thought of him as a top pitching prospect. This is his second season at AA, so that may partially explain his success this year, but give him credit for improvement. Pena continues to impress in relief.

High A San Jose Giants downed the Modesto Nuts 7-5:

Wendell Fairley- 2 for 5. BA= .278.
Francisco Peguero- 2 for 5. BA= .275.
Jose Flores- 2 for 4, BB, SB(2). BA= .415.
Charlie Culberson- 3 for 5, 2B. BA= .285.
Drew Biery- 2 for 3, 1 HR, 1 BB. BA= .276.
Craig Westcott- 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 1.13.
Jason Stoffel- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K's. ERA= 5.02.

Culberson has had a sustained period of hot hitting to raise his BA into the high .200's. Fairley still isn't hitting for any power to speak of, but at least he's maintaining an acceptable BA and a very nice OBP. Flores' numbers are likely due to sample size.

Low A Augusta Greenjackets blanked the Greenville Drive 5-0:

Evan Crawford- 2 for 3, 2 BB. BA= .278.
Nick Liles- 2 for 4, 2B, BB, SB(7). BA= .298.
Chris Dominguez- 1 for 4, HR(6). BA= .272.
Dan Cook- 2 for 4, SB(4). BA= .245.
Jeremy Toole- 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K's, GO/AO= 8/5. ERA= 1.35.
Chris Gloor- 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 2.25.

Crawford is hitting .410 over his last 10 games with an OBP of .531. His overall season line is .278/.357/.370 with 8 SB's.
This was Toole's longest, and by far his best, appearance of the season after missing nearly a month from April 19 to May 12. Toole is a big guy who, if I remember correctly, has a mid-upper 90's fastball.

Game Wrap 05-23-2010: A's 3 Giants 0

It's getting to the point where the only part of the score I have to change in the post title is the Giants' opponents score. Yet another all-too-familiar scenario unfolded at Oakland's McAfee Stadium, which by the way, has to be the the ugliest stadium left in Major League Baseball! The Giants got another sparking performance from a starting pitcher only to see the effort go to naught due to a total lack of offensive support. I know an offensive drought of this length ceases to be attributable to bad luck, but the Giants did have several hard hit balls in key situations go right into fielder's gloves. Maybe that's a sign that they are coming out of it and some hits are going to start falling? Hey, hope springs eternal! Key lines:

Jonathan Sanchez- 7 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 5 BB, 4 K's. Still too many walks, but Sanchez has become a very reliable MLB starter. He just hasn't gotten any run support.

There is nothing to report on offense. Rowand lined a ball into the glove of the third baseman with a runner on 2B and Uribe lined out on a leaping catch by the second baseman with runners on first and second. That's the closest the Giants came to scoring off of Ben Sheets and 4 A's relievers.

The Giants record now stands barely above .500 at 22-21. They come home against the Nats after a day off. Still not certain whether Wellemeyer's spot will be skipped. He's pitched much better at home than on the road.

Around the League: The San Diego Padres kept on winning behind Mat Latos to move back ahead of the Dodgers in first place at 26-18, 3.5 games ahead of the Giants. The Detroit Tigers cooled off the Dodgers 6-2 behind Rick Porcello leaving the Dodgers 1 game back of the Padres at 25-19. Colorado pounded KC 11-7 to even their record at 22-22, 0.5 games behind the Giants, while Arizona was pounded by Toronto 12-4 to keep them in last place at 20-25, 3 games behind the Giants.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Scouting the Draft: First Round Mock Draft

I thought I'd try my hand at a mock draft. Disclaimer: I'm generally terrible at predictions in general and particularly terrible at Mock drafts. This draft is extremely difficult to predict as there are only 1 or two players who stand out above the rest. I think teams are going to play it pretty close to the vest and not take too many risks. I think you will see a lot of signability picks, especially in round 1 like what Pittsburgh did with Jason Castro last year. Here it goes:

1. Nationals: Bryce Harper, C, JC. I'm not completely sold on Bryce Harper. In scouting videos, his swing looks very long and he even has kind of a windup at the start. Still, it's pretty hard to discount his track record too much. He's dominated JC ball using wood bats against older competition. No way the Nats can afford to pass on the one player who is head and shoulders above the rest of the draft class.

2. Pirates: Manny Machado, SS, HS. As Drew Pomeranz' stock has slipped a bit, the Pirates are rumored to be more interested in Machado, the best middle infielder in the draft. The Pirates proved they are willing to spend $$$ on the draft as they went over slot on several HS players with the money they saved on Sanchez. This time they may well decide to spend more up front.

3. Orioles: Jameson Taillon, RHP, HS. The Orioles have proven they are willing to go over slot and Taillon is too good to pass up here.

4. Royals: Yasmani Grandal, C, Miami. Not really a surprise as word has leaked out of KC's interest, but few experts are biting in their mock drafts so far. This pick makes a lot of sense for KC though as Jason Kendall is no more than a stopgap, and Grandal should be ready within 2 years.

5. Indians: Drew Pomeranz, LHP, Ole Miss. Cleveland will almost surely pick a college player, needs pitching it it's system and is pleasantly surprised to see Pomeranz fall to them at #5.

6. D' Backs: Deck McGuire, RHP, GA Tech. D'Backs need pitching and need it now. Don't be fooled by Deck's college W-L and ERA. He will be a dominant RH starter and will be ready almost from day 1. Likely to be seen in the future as the steal of the draft. #1 overall talent here.

7. Mets: Chris Sale, LHP, Florida Atlantic. The Mets are very conservative in the draft. Sale is the best talent available who is likely to sign for close to slot.

8. Astros: Zack Cox, 3B, Arkansas. Best college bat in the draft. Won't hit for a ton of power, but should hit for an easy .300+ with 20 HR's/season.

9. Padres: Nick Castellanos, 3B, HS. The Padres broke out of their Moneyball mold last year by drafting Donovan Tate. They are rumored to be lusting after Castellanos and are very happy to find him still on the board. Castellanos might be the best power hitting prospect in the draft not named Bryce Harper.

10. A's: Gary Brown, OF, CS Fullerton: The first huge surprise in the draft. Billy Beane is never afraid to act on his convictions. Right now he's obsessed with defensive metrics and speed in the OF. He sees Brown as his CF of the future, OBP be damned.

11. Blue Jays: Christian Colon, SS, CS Fullerton: After a painfully slow start, Colon has rebounded to have a very good season. The Jays are investing $$$ into scouting and drafting. Colon is a nice balance between short term help and best player available. He's still just as good a player as when he was being touted in the preseason as a top 5 pick.

12. Reds: Seth Blair, RHP, Arizona State. Another big surprise. The Reds have already gotten a nice return on drafting Mike Leake last year. Blair is cut from the same cloth and is from the same school.

13. White Sox- Michael Choice, OF, UT-Arlington. You never know what Kenny Williams is going to do, but he has mostly drafted college players. He goes for the best college power hitter in the draft here.

14. Brewers- Karsten Whitson, RHP, HS. The Brewers need immediate help with the pitching staff, but are drafting too low to get an elite college pitcher. Whitson has fallen at this point and promises a reasonably fast ascent through the minors.

15. Rangers- Brett Eibner, RHP, Arkansas. This is an unprotected compensation pick for failing to sign Matt Purke. Thus a strict signability pick is mandated. Eibner is a 2 way player, but most scouts like him better as a pitcher.

16. Cubs- Bryce Brentz, OF, Middle Tennessee State. This is a tough spot for the Cubs to be drafting in. Ideally they take a high upside pitcher, but there are no can't miss guys out there at this point. The Cubbies settle for a similar player to last year's Brett Jackson. Brentz can play RF to Jackon's CF.

17. Rays: Justin O'Conner, C/SS/RHP, HS. The Rays have a longterm organizational need at catcher. They think O'Conner can stick there and will have a plus bat.

18. Angels: Dylan Covey, RHP, HS. The Angels almost always go HS with their early picks and love SoCal players. Covey fits the bill perfectly here.

19. Astros: Stetson Allie, RHP, HS. After taking the eminently signable Zach Cox at #8, the 'Stros can afford to gamble on a high ceiling arm here. What a great name for a Texas team!

20. BoSox: Matt Harvey, RHP, UNC. The BoSox aren't afraid of Scott Boras and like Harvey's upside.

21. Twins: AJ Cole, RHP, HS. Another team that likes to draft HS players. Cole is the best player available at this point.

22. Rangers: Brandon Workman, RHP, Texas. The Rangers have multiple early picks and can't afford to go much over slot on any of them. Workman is a well known local boy.

23. Marlins: Yordy Cabrera, SS/3B, HS: The Marlins love to draft HS players with power. Cabrera fits the bill and should be easily signable.

24. Giants: Anthony Ranaudo, RHP, LSU. John Barr's MO has been to take previously highly rated guys who drop in the draft. Ranaudo's injury, a stress reaction in the elbow, should not be a long term problem(Matt Cain had the same thing in his first full pro season). Scott Boras may be an issue here as he may well think that Ranaudo can improve his stock by going back to school or playing Indy ball next spring. Other options would be HS RHP's Peter Tago or D'Andre Smelter or HS hitter Stefan Sabol.

25. Cardinals: Kevin Gausman, RHP, HS. Cards take the best HS pitcher on the board.

26. Rockies: Barrett Loux, RHP, Texas A&M. Loux has had a sensational season, is big and throws hard. The Rockies make a great pick for this late in the first round.

27. Phillies: Chevez Clarke, OF, HS. The Phils love to draft toolsy HS players and then let them take their time developing or else use them as trade bait. Clarke is a perfect fit here.

28. Dodgers: Asher Wojciechowski, RHP, The Citadel. The Dodgers have taken pitching in the first round every year except for James Loney and that was a long time ago now. They are penny pinching these days and take the signability pick here, except that Asher is a darn good pitcher too!

29. Angels: Peter Tago, RHP, HS. Another SoCal HS product with not only a great upside but pretty good polish right now. Should be a fast riser in the system.

30. Angels: Stefan Sabol, C/OF, HS. Another SoCal HS player, this time a hitter. Fits the Angels' mold perfectly.

31. Rays: Kolbrin Vitek, 2B, Minnesota. Vitek is rumored to be shooting up a number of draft boards, but falls back to the Rays here.

32. Yanks: Kaleb Cowert, RHP/ OF, HS. The problem with Cowert is that most teams see him as a pitcher and he is adamant that he wants to hit. The fear is that if a team drafts him as pitcher, he'll just go to college. The Yanks don't care. They figure to give him the $$$ to sign, let him try hitting and switch him to pitcher if and when he fails. They have all the time in the world.

What do you think? Do you think there is any chance Ranaudo falls to the Giants? Do you thing they would pull the trigger if he did?

Down on the Farm: 05-22-2010

AAA Nashville Sounds edged the Fresno Grizzlies 2-1:

Nothing at all to see here, unless you are interested in how Matt Kinney is doing.

AA Reading Philies edged the Richmond Flying Squirrels 4-3:

Darren Ford- 1 for 3, BB. BA= .252.
Brandon Crawford- 1 for 4, 3B. BA= .252.
Conor Gillaspie- 2 for 4. BA= .231.
Nick Noonan- 1 for 3, BB. BA= .243.

The hitting prospects at Richmond have been keeping their heads above water, but nobody has really caught fire yet.

HIgh A San Jose Giants edged the Modesto Nuts 3-2:

Brandon Belt- 1 for 2, 2B, 2 BB. BA= .394.
Charlie Culberson- 1 for 3, HR(5), BB. BA= .275.
Eric Surkamp- 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 2.16.
David Quinowski- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 3.44.
Jason Stoffel- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's, Save(8). ERA= 5.40.

Belt continues to toy with Cal League pitchers and not swing at any garbage. Culberson has gotten really hot in the last 10 games. Solid outing for Surkamp and Stoffel seems to have gotten back on track after a couple of awful appearances.

Low A Augusta Greenjackets outlasted the Greenville Drive 8-6 in 15 innings:

Evan Crawford- 2 for 5, 3B, 3 BB, SB(8). BA= .270.
Chris Dominguez- 3 for 6, 3B. BA= .272.
Tommy Joseph- 2 for 6, HBP. BA= .216
Hector Sanchez- 3 for 7, 2 2B. BA= .250.
Brian Salsbury- 7.1 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 0 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 3.62.

Evan Crawford is hot. This extra-inning affair was a lot kinder to Dominguez and Joseph who went a combined 0 for 16 in the 18 inning 1-0 game. Good to see Hector Sanchez with multiple hits. Augusta pitchers combined for 19 K's in the 15 IP, The bullpen pitched shutout ball for 7 innings from the 8'th inning on.

Game Wrap 05-22-2010: A's 1 Giants 0

I guess the Giants got tired of leaving so many runners on base. The solution? Don't put runners on base! The Giants wasted another excellent start by a member of the best starting rotation in baseball on a single unearned run by the crosstown rival Oakland A's. Key Lines:

Matt Cain- 8 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 2.88.

That's it! That's all you need to know about the game and about the Giants. Great, great starting pitching, possibly the best in baseball. Horrible hitting, possibly the worst in all of baseball. This will take some digging deep to get past.

Jonathan Sanchez tries to salvage a game from this series tomorrow vs Ben Sheets.

Down on the Farm: 05-21-2010 Addendum

Well, the boxscore and stats for San Jose are still messed up, but thanks to Bacci, we have some of it sorted out. San Jose Giants played two games against the Modesto Nuts yesterday winning one by a score of 13-3 and losing the other 3-1.

The 13-3 game is the one that looks suspect as the batting averages in the boxscore are clearly wrong and the lineup is listed in a very strange order that I doubt is accurate. Here's what's listed:

Ehire Adrianza- 3 for 6, 2 2B.
Francisco Peguero- 3 for 5, SB.
Charlie Culberson- 3 for 4, 2B.
Brandon Belt- 3 for 3, BB.
Justin Fitzgerald- 2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K.
Eric Stolp- 7 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 2 K's, GO/AO= 16/3.

Nice game for several players. I'm not sure the info is correct. I will keep checking back and make corrections if needed.

There were fewer highlights in the losing 3-1 game:

Charlie Culberson- 3 for 3.
Kyle Woodruff- 3.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 3 K's.

Great day for Charlie Culberson going a combined 6 for 7. That will help your batting average!

Friday, May 21, 2010

Down on the Farm: 05-21-2010

AAA Nashville Sounds beat the Fresno Grizzlies 3-1:

Brett Pill- 2 for 4 2B. BA= .284.
Steve Edlefsen- 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 1 K. ERA= 1.38.

Pill continues to be a doubles machine. Edlefsen needs to watch the BB's.

AA Reading Phillies beat the Richmond Flying Squirrels 7-3:

Wow! Absolutely nothing to see here! We'll move on to High A.....OK, that's better.....

High A San Jose Giants pounded the Modesto Nuts 13-3:

OK, I guess this is just a bad night. It looks ike the San Jose Boxscore is all messed up, especially the batting averages, but it looks like the players are listed out of order too. I'll have to catch up with this one later.

Low A Augusta Greenjackets topped the Greenville Drive 5-2:

NIck Liles - 3 for 4, 2B. BA= .292.
Jorge Bucardo- 4.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 2.27.
Chris Gloor- 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 2.42.
Ryan Verdugo- 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 3.95.

Dominant bullpen work by Gloor and Verdugo.

Game Wrap 05-21-2010: A's 6 Giants 1

I didn't see any of this game on TV due to family obligations. It looks like that was just as well as it looks like it was a real snoozer, if not extremely anger inducing. A clearly not-at-his-best Barry Zito was backed by a listless offense that once again couldn't seem to drive in any runs to save it's life. Just don't try telling Giants fans right now that it's more important to get on base than to drive the baserunners in. Key lines:

None, really! Sandoval, Huff and Torres had 2 hits each with Torres getting 2 doubles.

Zito- 6.2 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 1 BB, 3 K's. We had to know this was coming as his 1+ ERA was clearly unsustainable.

The Giants and A's go again tomorrow with Matt Cain taking the ball. Hoss has pitched some pretty good games against the A's in his career. Let's hope he has one in him for tomorrow.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Down on the Farm: 05-20-2010

AAA Fresno Grizzlies defeated the Nashville Sounds 6-2:

Brock Bond- 2 for 2, 3B, BB. BA= .302.
Brett Pill- 1 for 4, HR(4). BA= .277.
Jesus Guzman- 2 for 3, HR(4). BA= .262.
Joe Martinez- 7.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 3 K's, GO/AO= 14/4. ERA= 3.66.
Osiris Matos- 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 2.45.

Haven't called Bond's name in the highlights for awhile. The Fresno bullpen pitchers better stay on their toes. They have a great chance to get called up in the near future if the SF bullpen continues down the path it is currently on.

AA Richmond Flying Squirrels defeated the Erie Sea Wolves 5-1:

Darren Ford- 1 for 3, 3B, BB. BA= .257.
Brandon Crawford- 1 for 3, HR(4), BB. BA= .250.
Craig Clark- 5.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 3.46.
Tony Pena- 3.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K's. ERA= 1.09.

Ford is hitting .316 with a .447 OBP over his last 10 games. Crawford is hitting .343 over his last 10. Tony Pena had a dominant, extended appearance. Don't be shocked if we see him in SF before the season is over!

High A San Jose Giants edged the Visalia Rawhide 2-1 in 10 innings:

Ehire Adrianza- 2 for 3, SB(9). BA= .226.
Aaron King- 4 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 7.57.
Joe Paterson- 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 0.82.

Paterson must be on some kind of rehab assignment. He wasn't pitching badly for Fresno. Maybe King got his feet back on the ground with a decent outing here.

Low A Greenville Drive smashed the Augusta Greenjackets 11-4:

Tommy Joseph- 1 for 3, 2B. BA= .217.
Evan Crawford- 2 for 2, 2 BB. BA= .273.
Chris Heston- 2.1 IP, 10 H, 11 R, 2 BB, 1 K. ERA= 6.81.
Brian Irving- 2.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 4.15.
Jose Valdez- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K. ERA= 1.93.

Evan Crawford continues to hit. Tommy Joseph has had a tough time starting with a 0 for 8 in the 18 inning game. Heston has been either very good or very bad. Valdez seems to be turning into a very good pitcher.

Game Wrap 05-120-2010: D'Backs 8 Giants 7

The Giants had to feel pretty good about this one coming in. They had their ace, THE ace on the mound against somebody named Rodrigo Lopez. Timmy made it look good through 4 innings. He was a bit wild, but was throwing hard blowing 94 MPH past several hitters. Then, it all came apart in the 5'th as Arizona scored 5 to take a 5-2 lead. What with the Giants offensive struggles, things had to be looking bleak here, but the Giants roared back to take a 7-5 lead. Alas, the suddenly porous bullpen couldn't hold the lead over the next two innings and the Giants lost one they should have won.....twice! Key lines:

Freddy Sanchez- 2 for 3, S, SF. Freddy did everything a #2 hitter is supposed to do and made a couple of nifty plays at 2B to boot.

Aubrey Huff- 2 for 4, 2 2B, BB. Huff was probably PO'd at having to sit out yesterday's game. He came back with a vengeance.

Juan Uribe- 2 for 5, HR(5). It looked like Uribe may have tweaked a hammy after his HR. The Giants can ill-afford to lose his bat and don't really have anyone else to play SS until Rent gets back.

John Bowker- 2 for 3, SF. Johnny B was seeing the ball and making contact tonight. He should get a chance to keep it going if Nate is on the shelf for awhile.

Tim Lincecum- 5 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 BB, 6 K's. Disappointing line for Timmy. All the damage was done in 1 inning.

Romo- 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 K.
Dan Runzler- 0.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 1 K.
Guillermo Mota- 0.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K.
Jeremy Affeldt- 1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K's.

Suddenly the Giants don't have 1 pitcher they can count on in the bullpen!

Around the League: Dodgers beat the Pads 4-1 behind Clayton Kershaw. Colorado blanked Houston behind Ubaldo. Current Standings: 1. Padres(24-17) 2. Dodgers(23-18) 3. Giants(22-18) 4. Rockies(20-21) D'Backs(18-24).

The Giants now come back to the Bay Area, but play the A's in Oakland which is never a gimme series. They will be going with Zito, Cain and Sanchez as the starters.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Down on the Farm: 05-19-2010

AAA PCL was idle.

AA Erie Sea Wolves devoured the Richmond Flying Squirrels 9-4:

Darren Ford- 2 for 3, 2B, 2 BB. BA= .256
Brandon Crawford- 2 for 5. BA= .248.
David Mixon- 4 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 3.28.

Ford seems to be slowly getting on track. Mixon has a rare off night.

High A San Jose Giants dropped the Visalia Rawhide 4-2:

Juan Perez- 3 for 4, 2B, 3B. BA= .363.
Brandon Belt- 2 for 4, SB(10). BA= .385.
Drew Biery- 3 for 4. BA= .286.
Jose Flores- 3 for 4, 2 2B. BA= .500.
Kyle Nicholson- 6 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 5.87.
Jason Stoffel- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, Save(7). ERA= 5.84.

Perez and Belt just keep hitting. Flores has been in the organization since 2003 and has never performed like this for a sustained period. We'll see this time. Stoffel seems to be back on track.

Low A Augusta Greenjackets beat the Savannah Sand Gnats 3-1:

Evan Crawford- 2 for 3, 2B, 3B. BA= .264.
Kyle Vazquez- 7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 2.61.
Devan Kline- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 1.46.

Crawford is hitting .326 over his last 10 games and has his BA into a respectable range.

Game Wrap 05-19-2010: D'Backs 13 Giants 1

Recipe for baseball disaster: Take a flyball, contact pitcher with shaky command/control. Put him up against a free swinging lineup in a hitting friendly park. The result is a game pretty much like we saw tonight. Total destruction! Key lines:

Pablo Sandoval- 2 for 4, 2B. Pablo seems to be starting to heat up again.

Todd Wellemeyer- 5 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 5 BB, 3 K's, 3 HR's allowed. ERA= 5.71. I'll give him about 2 more starts like this. If Bumgarner's next two are like his last one, I think there's a good chance we might see him up in SF by mid June.

Brandon Medders- 1 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 0 BB, 0 K's, 2 HR allowed. ERA= 7.20. If Santiago Casilla keeps going good down in Fresno, we might see Medders DFA'd in the near future.

Timmy tries for a split tomorrow.

Around the League to follow, probably in AM.

Game Wrap 05-18-2010: Giants 7 Padres 6

The Giants battled it out for 12 innings last night and finally, at long last, got a W against a team that had seemed to get into their heads and bedeviled them to 7 losses in 7 head-to-head meetings so far. Key lines:

Aaron Rowand- 3 for 7, 2B. Multihit game for Gamer who at one point had his BA down below .260.

Andres Torres- 2 for 5, HR(2). I don't have much faith the Torres can keep this up for a full season, but hey, I'm riding with it now. Apparently Bruce Bochy is too. In addition to the two hits, Torres smoked another ball to the deepest part of right CF that Venable made a running catch on. Torres also threw out a runner at 2B from the OF.

Eli Whiteside- 2 for 6. BA= .325. Another guy I have my doubts about how long he can keep it up, but good for him, for now.

Matt Downs- 3 for 5, 2B. Matt has been hitting the ball hard but most of them have been finding gloves. They fell in tonight and he was one of the stars of the game.

Jonathan Sanchez- 6 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 0 BB, 7 K's. It was the best of times and worst of times for Durty last night as he retired the first 12 batters he faced, and quite easily, sending me into visions of a perfecto. He's obviously capable! Then the wheels came off in the 5'th. After Headley led off with a hit, the Pads just kept punching single after single. Sanchez finally onlly got out of the inning when a runner was trapped between first and second and tagged out in a rundown. To his credit, Sanchez came back and pitched a scoreless 6'th, but I figured the game was lost at that point.

Jeremy Affeldt- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K's. Affeldt won this game by preserving the rest of the bullpen to go into extra innings. Basically the Padres ran out of pitchers first!

Medders, Mota, Runzler- 1 IP, 0 Runs each.

Brian Wilson- 1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K's, Save(10). Hey, he has to do it his way, but he gets it done.....most of the time.

Even when they have lost this year, the Giants have generally battled it to the end. This time it paid off. There may have been a game or two where the Giants folded their tents early, but I can't remember any.

This win puts the Giants record at 22-16 0.5 games behind the Pads and keeps them 0.5 games up on the Dodgers who won again.

Around the League: The Dodgers kept on winning with their 9'th win in a row, this time over the 'Stros 7-3. Colorado slipped back below .500 with a 6-2 loss to the Cubs. Arizona fell further into last place with an 8-0 loss to the Marlins.

The Giants now go to Arizona to take on the D'Backs with Wellemeyer and Tim Lincecum getting the starts.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Down on the Farm: 05-18-2010

AAA Fresno Grizzlies topped the Oklahoma City Redhawks 4-1:

Buster Posey- 1 for 3, 2B, 2 BB. BA= .338.
Joe Borchard- 3 for 4, 2B. BA= .353.
Eric Hacker- 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K's, GO/AO=12/2. ERA= 2.20.
Santiago Casilla- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 0.00.

Posey's OBP is .429. Over his last 10 games, Buster's BA is just .314, but his OBP is .442 with a SLG% of .571 for a OPS of 1.013. Hacker is putting up some interesting numbers at this level. At this point, there just aren't any openings at the MLB level. I am quite confident that we will see Casilla in SF sometime this season.

AA Erie Seawolves downed the Richmond Flying Squirrels 3-1:

Darren Ford- 2 for 5. BA= .246.
Thomas Neal- 3 for 5, SB(5). BA= .268.
Daryl Maday- 5 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 1.57.
Craig Whitaker- 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 4.32.

Thomas Neal is continuing the baserunning success he found in the Arizona Fall League into AA.

High A Game 2, DH San Jose Giants defeated the Visalia Rawhide 5-1:

Juan Perez- 3 for 3, 2B, BB, SB(6). BA= .352.
Johnny Monell, Charlie Culberson, Wendell Fairley, Ehire Adrianza- 1 for 3, 2B.
Oliver Odle- 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 4.03.

Juan Perez continues to be the hottest hitter on the team. 5 of the team's 8 hits went for doubles.

High A Game 1, DH Giants edged the Visalia Rawhide 5-4:

Juan Perez- 2 for 3, BB, 2 SB(5). BA= .338.
Charlie Culberson- 2 for 3, 2B, SB(4). BA= .250.
James Simmons- 2 for 3, 3 SB)7). BA= .253.
Justin Fitzgerald- 6 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 8 K's, GO/AO- 7/2. ERA= 2.00.

The Little Giants ran wild on the bases in this game. Fitzgerald had good looking peripheral numbers.

Low A Augusta Greejackets scored a run in the bottom of the ninth to edge the Savannah Sand Gnats 1-0:

Not much to see on offense as Hector Sanchez was the only Greenjacket with more than 1 hit going 2 for 3.
Zack Wheeler- 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K's. ERA= 5.06. Nice recovery from a poor start his last time out.

Zack Wheeler's dominant start has to be the big news on the farm tonight.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Game Wrap 05-17-2010: Padres 3 Giants 1

The Giants nightmare opponent continued to bedevil them as a familiar story unfolded at Petco Park again tonight. Key lines:

Pablo Sandoval- 1 for 2, 2 BB. The Giants drew a total of 5 walks in the game, so it wasn't a matter of too much hacking. They just don't hit against these pitchers and they don't hit in this stadium. That's a lot of not hitting!

Matt Cain- 6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 5 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 3.33. Cain pitched well enough that he should be able to win a majority of games like this. The 5 BB's tell you he wasn't at the top of his game though.

The Giants record fell to 21-16, 1.5 games behind the Padres who are at 23-15. Tomorrow we get round 3 of Sanchez vs Latos which has ended badly despite sensational pitching by Sanchez the last two rounds.

Around the League: The Dodgers won their 8'th in a row beating up on Houston 8-2 behind another fine pitching effort by John Ely to move within 0.5 games of the Giants at 21-17. Colorado fell back to a .500 record at 19-19 losing 4-2 in 10 innings to the Cubbies. Arizona improved their last place record to 16-23 with a 5-1 win over Florida behind Edwin Jackson.

Down on the Farm: 05-17-2010

AAA Game 1 Fresno Grizzlies topped the Oklahoma City Redhawks 3-2:

Really nothing of note of offense.
Kevin Pucetas- 6.2 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 4.22.

DH's in the minors are 7 innings each.

AAA Game 2 Grizzlies bested the Redhawks 1-0, and MadBum is back!!

Again, nothing to see on offense.
Madison Bumgarner- 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K's. ERA= 3.64.

Oh man! Is this good to see or what? Bumgarner has kept getting stronger as the season has progressed and this looks like his lines from Augusta and San Jose days, doesn't it? The Grizzlies got their 1 run on only 2 hits off 4 Oklahoma City pitchers.

AA Eastern League was idle last night.

High A San Jose Giants beat the Bakersfield Blaze 5-3:

Francisco Peguero- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .293.
Brandon Belt- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .392.
Drew Biery- 1 for 3, 3B, BB, SB(1). BA= .275.
Johnny Monell- 2 for 4. BA= .237.
Craig Westcott- 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 1.30.
Jason Stoffel- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, Save(6). ERA= 6.35.

Not much to comment on here. I still think it's a mistake to use Stoffel as a closer at this point in his career. The point of playing in the minors is to help him become a better pitcher. I think that's tough to do when you are the closer. You don't want to be working on stuff when you are trying to close out a game. You don't want to throw your second best pitch in close games. I say use him in 2-3 inning stints or else start him.

Augusta Greenjackets blanked the Savannah Sand Gnats 3-0.

Ryan Cavan- 2 for 3, 2 2B, BB. BA= .287.
Chris Dominguez- 2 for 3, BB, SB(7). BA= .272.
Jeremy Toole- 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 0 K's. ERA= 1.93.
Brian Irving- 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 4.74.
Chris Gloor- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 2.70.

Not sure how it happened, but Dominguez' SB was of home. Kind of a fluky line from Toole. Gloor has been a Jack of All Trades and a good one at that.

The big news tonight has to be Madison Bumgarner and his sparkling line for Fresno.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Draft Update: BA Mock Draft- Yordy Cabrera to Giants

BA's latest mock draft has the Giants taking Yordy Cabrera at #24. Much as I like Austin Wilson, this pick could get me real excited too. Cabrera is a HS SS/RHP who projects as a third baseman in the pros. He doesn't look as tall as Wilson, but is listed at 6'4", 190 lbs. If anything, I like his swing better than Wilson's. You can find several videos on youtube.com and a scouting report on baseballbeginnings.com. BTW, Cabrera won the AFLAC HR derby!

Hot Tip!

There's a great article on fangraphs.com from 5/13 entitled, "Apparently, the Phillies Cheated, So What?" It's a must read, including the responses. I can't remember the last time I laughed that hard. It seems a Phillies bullpen coach was caught peering in at the opposing team's catcher with binoculars. The catch? Apparently there is nothing in the MLB rule book about signs or stealing signs. It's one of those unwritten rules, kind of like stepping on the pitching rubber when returning to first base after rounding second on a foul ball, or whatever ARod did. Here's some samples of the discussion after the article that had me howling with laughter:

Llewdor says:
"Officially, it's cheating if 'electronic devices' are used. I'll take it one step farther, though. I say anything beyond the naked eye is cheating."

So presumably contact lenses are cheating too?

LOL! Here's another one from don:

"How would he relay the signs from the bullpen to the batter in time for them to be useful? If the Phillies have a buzzer system set up at Coors, that would be pretty slick."

Travis L: Agreed. so what. The only thing this means is that obnoxious Phillie fans can't bring out the "and they play the game the right way...!" comment. Without looking stupid.

Alex Remington: For many baseball fans, the fear of looking stupid is clearly not an effective deterrent."

Todd Doug: A.J. Pierzynski is a complete douche, no question, but he didn't break up a perfect game by pretending to be hit. Romero had two BB before that.

joser: Such is Pierzynski's imperfection as a human being that by breaking it up he erased those walks and made it a perfect game retroactively.

Here's the best one of all:

bowie: Alderson's memo said: "No club shall use electronic equipment, including walkie- talkies and cellular telephones, to communicate to or with any on-field personnnel, including those, in the dugout, bullpen, field and-during the game-the clubhouse." Is a coach not allowed to call the bullpen to tell a pitcher to warm up?

Gina: those phones are non electric I believe.

bowie: coffee can and string?

LOL!!!!!!!! Be sure to read the whole thing!

Down on the Farm: 05-16-2010

AAA Fresno Giants vs Oklahoma City Redhawks postponed, I assume due to weather in Tornado Alley.

AA Altoona Curve edged the Richmond Flying Squirrels 7-6:

Brandon Crawford- 2 for 3, 2B, 2 BB. BA= .242.
Conor Gillaspie- 3 for 4, 2B, 3B, BB. BA= .218.
Darren Ford- 0 for 4, BB, 2 SB(13). BA= .240.
Clayton Tanner- 2.1 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 1 K. ERA= 3.93.
Rafael Cova- 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 0.00.
Tony Pena- 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 1.27.

The Squirrels committed 5 errors, but they only accounted for 1 unearned run. Tanner had his second rough start in a row.

High A The San Jose Giants extinguished the Bakersfield Blaze 6-0:

Juan Perez- 3 for 4, 2B, 3B. BA= .341.
Francisco Peguero- 2 for 3, 3B, HR(3), SB(17). BA= .287.
Eric Surkamp- 9 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K's. ERA= 2.05.

A dominant start for Surkamp who now has a 15 inning scoreless streak going back to his last start. Perez just keeps inflating his BA and Peguero is having a solid season.

Low A The Augusta Greenjackets outlasted the Charleston Riverdogs 1-8 in 18 innings:

Evan Crawford- 4 for 6, HBP, SB(6). BA= .255.
Brian Salsbury- 8 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 3.40.
Jose Casilla- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 1.71.
Jose Valdez- 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 2.11.

The two teams had a total of 26 hits in the game with just the one run scoring. All of the Greenjackets' 12 hits were singles. Cavan, Anders and Lollis had 2 hits each with Lollis scoring the winning run without the benefit of an RBI.

Game Wrap 05-16-2010: Giants 4 Astros 3

It was deju vu all over again in the 9'th inning today out at AT&T where Brian Wilson wasn't content to just close out the game 1,2,3. No, he had to make sure he got Michael Bourn within 90 feet of the scoring the tying run with none other than his 15 pitch nemesis Kaz Matsui at the plate. This time Matsui only managed to foul off 2 pitches and it took just 7 pitches for Wilson to dispatch him on a swinging strike 3 to preserve the W and series sweep for the Giants against the Houston Astros. Key lines:

Aaron Rowand- 1 for 3, HR(5), BB. BA= .267 Good game for Rowand as he hit an important HR and scored 2 of the Giants 4 runs. That .308 OBP is something that needs to be better from a leadoff hitter, though.

Andres Torres- 2 for 3, 2B, HR(1), BB, SB(5). BA= .299. Torres has been a spark this series in all aspects of the game, hitting, running the bases and fielding LF. A top of the lineup of Torres and Freddy Sanchez could be interesting. Rowand may have to find another spot farther down the lineup.

Barry Zito- 7 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 4 K's. Zito came back from a shaky first inning to pitch a pretty good game. The ump seemed to have a squirrelly strike zone for both Zito and Myers, but they both pitched well in spite of it.

Jeremy Affeldt- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K. ERA= 2.63. Good hold to Affleldt who hadn't pitched in the homestand before today.

Brian Wilson- 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's, Save(9). ERA= 1.76. See opening paragraph.

The Giants now travel south to Petco where they will try to break the Padres' hex. How weird is it to have this 2 gamer right on the heels of a home and home already this season?

Around the League: Uh-oh! Here come the Dodgers! Whoever said they are still the team we need to be rooting against had it right. They got great pitching from Chad Billingsley today in a 1-0 win over SD to take a series sweep in Petco. That win brought the Giants to within 0.5 games of the first place Padres, but also brought the Dodgers closer, now at 2 games behind, 1.5 games behind the Giants. Arizona got clobbered by the Braves 13-1 to remain in last place at 15-23. Meanwhile, the Rockies got on the positive side of the W-L record by edging the Nats 2-1 and sweeping their weekend series.

College Corner: A Couple More

While the upcoming MLB free agent draft is a bit thin at the top, it is loaded from about the beginning of the first supplemental round through rounds 5 or 6 at least, especially with college pitching. Here's a couple more college pitchers who haven't gotten a lot of attention who could be great value picks in round 2-3:

Jimmy Nelson, RHP, Alabama. 6'6", 235 lbs. Has come on strong late this season. Yesterday he threw his first complete game as a college pitchers and put up quite a line: 9 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 11 K's against a pretty good Mississippi team. His season line: 6-2, 4.17, 77.2 IP, 23 BB, 73 K's. I saw one mock draft that had the Giants taking him in the first round at #24, but it was just some fan writing a fanpost on a website. I haven't seen any other mocks with him in either the first round or supplemental round. To me, he could be a nice pick no earlier than round 2, possibly a great value in round 3.

Sam Dyson, RHP, South Carolina. 6'2", 195 lbs. Has been a frontline pitcher for the Gamecocks since he redshirted his freshman season, but hasn't been able to maintain dominance. He shutout a very good hitting Arkansas team yesterday 9 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K's. His season line: 5-4, 3.79, 76.0 IP, 16 BB, 79 K's. The A's picked him in round 10 as a draft eligible sophomore last year. He's improved both his K/9 and BB/9 this year and yesterday's start was impressive. Again, he could be a great value pick somewhere in the mid single digit rounds.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Down on the Farm: 05-15-2010

AAA Fresno blanked the Oklahoma City Redhawks 2-0:

Freddy Sanchez- 2 for 4. BA= .500.
Joe Borchard- 2 for 4. BA= .349.
Ben Copeland- 3 for 3, SB(6), Assist(Iribarren at 2B). BA= .274.
Matt Yourkin- 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 3.50.
Steve Edlefsen- 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 1.57.
Santiago Casilla- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 0.00.

Nice game for Copeland who has 5 tools. It's just that none of those tools is quite what you are looking for at the MLB level. Buried in the Giants OF depth chart. Freddy Sanchez takes his rehab assignment to AAA. Replacing DeRosa on the 25 man roster when Mark goes on the DL would seem to be the logical move here. Yourkin is almost 29 yo, but is a big LHP who put up pretty good numbers in AA last year. Could be an emergency option down the road. I can almost guarantee that Casilla will play a MLB role with the Giants sometime before the year is up.

AA Altoona Curve wiped out the Richmond Flying Squirrels 9-2:

Darren Ford- 1 for 4, 2B. BA= .248.
Mike MacDonald- 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 2.48.
Andy Sisco- 2 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 5.65.
Craig Whitaker- 1.2 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 0 K's. ERA= 4.60.

MacDonald was on a lowered pitch count coming off a DL Stint(I didn't even know he was on the DL in the first place!). Whitaker got hammered after a string of dominant outings.

High A San Jose Giants defeated the Bakersfield Blaze 6-2:

Juan Perez- 2 for 4, 2B, SB(3). BA= .328.
Brandon Belt- 1 for 2, 3B, 2 BB. BA= .398.
Ehire Adrianza- 2 for 2, 2 BB. BA= .222.
Eric Stolp- 7 IP, 10 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 2 K's, GO/AO= 15/3. ERA= 4.39.

Stolp is an extreme GB pitcher with a season GO/AO of almost 4. He doesn't seem to have enough else to make it work at higher levels. Belt seems to be toying with the Cal League pitchers.

Low A Augusta Greenjackets downed the Charleston Riverdogs 3-1:

Chris Dominguez- 1 for 4, 2 SB(6). BA= .279.
Luke Anders- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .302.
Hector Sanchez- 1 for 4, HR(2). BA= .250.
Jorge Bucardo- 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K's, GO/AO= 4/7. ERA= 2.04.

Dominant start for Bucardo. A couple of things to note in the line: the K/9>9 and the reversed GO/AO makes me wonder if Jorge is mixing in a 4 seam fastball to complement his two seamer. If so, I think it's a great move that forces hitters to worry about a changing visual plane on pitches that are traveling 90+ MPH. Cain and Lincecum use this to enhance the effectiveness of their heaters except they started with the 4 seamer and added the two seamer later. Or, it all may be just a one game fluke here for Bucardo! LOL!

College Corner: Odds and Ends

My man Ricky Oropesa had an epic night Friday in a losing cause to the UCLA Bruins: 4 for 5, 2B, HR(14). Ricky drove in 4 runs and improved his season line to .358/.430/.684.

baseballbeginnings.com has a scouting report on Minnesota RHP Seth Rosin. There hasn't been a lot of buzz about Rosin, probably because he hasn't put up the spectacular numbers that a Deck McGuire or Drew Pomeranz has. He sounds like an interesting draft possibility for rounds 3-5 though. He's a tall kid at 6'7" with a fastball that goes 91-95 MPH and an advanced changeup. Beyond his size and stuff, he's got great control. Here's his season line so far: 6-4, 4.93, 80.1 IP, 7 BB, 73 K's. He fits the mold of a typical Giants pick in rounds 3-5 with scouting reports and peripheral stats that look better than his W-L or ERA.

I think I've found another later round pitcher to keep an eye on: Tommy Shirley from Xavier! Shirley is a big junior LHP, 6'5", 220 lbs. He's their Friday night starter. Last night he turned in a gem of a game against UMass: 8 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K's. Check out the peripheral stats in his season line: 2-3, 4.63, 83.2 IP, 21 BB, 87K's. Again, the Giants have shown that they love to draft big pitchers from less well known programs in the later rounds, especially if they are lefthanded!

Game Wrap 05-15-2010: Giants 2 Astros 1

It was an old fashioned pitcher's duel today out at AT&T Park. Fox Game of the Week was on hand to broadcast it. The game lived up to it's billing, thankfully complete with a win for the Tim Lincecum and the Giants. ER's in every city served by the broadcast experienced a sharp increase in 911 traffic thanks to Brian Wilson and his unique methods of saving games. Key lines:

Juan Uribe- 3 for 3, HR(4). BA= .279. That's the offense right there. Molina got on base with a soft 2 out single to left-center and Uribe drove him in with the HR. Gotta love how Uribe drops the bat and holds his hands up with fingers spread when he knows he's hit one!

Nate Schierholtz- 0 for 2, HBP. BA= .333. Nate did not participate in the scoring today, but made at least two sparkling catches in RF that helped Timmy pitch his great game.

Tim Lincecum- 8 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 5 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 1.76. Timmy was a bit wild today, especially early in the game. Were it not for Uribe's HR, it would have cost him the game in the first inning. Bourn walked to lead off the game. It's never a good thing to walk Michael Bourn which is about the only way Bourn can beat you. He stole second base. Matsui failed to move him over, but Berkman did the job with a ground out to Huff. Bourn then scored on a wild pitch by Lincecum that Bengie should have been able to block. The 'Stros didn't have anything closely resembling a scoring threat again until the 9'th inning againts Brian Wilson.

Brian Wilson- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K, Save(8). ERA= 1.88. Wilson continues to channel Robb Nen and gave pretty much every Giants fan watching the game a bad case of anxiety as he loaded the bases and the survived a 15 pitch AB from Kaz Matsui to close out the game.

We'll take it any way we can get it. The Giants improved their record to 20-15, once again clinching at least a series win after the first 2 games. It doesn't prove that the 2 sweeps at the hand of the San Diego Padres are either flukes or because the Padres are that good, but it does lend credence to the theories. Barry Zito takes on the 'Sros and Brett Myers tomorrow afternoon. Myers has pitched pretty well this year and his game tends to play well in AT&T. So much so, that he was on the list of SP free agents I wanted to see the Giants sign this offseason! It's another good matchup! Go Giants!

BTW. As if there wasn't already enough annoying about Aaron "Gamer" Rowand's batting stance, is anyone else finding themselves wishing he could get called out for having too much pine tar on his bat? I mean, that stuff is caked all the way up past the label, and he keeps gripping and ungripping the bat over and over as if his hands get stuck to it in the wrong position.

Around the League: The Dodgers won their 6'th in a row with a 4-1 win over the Padres which helped the Giants move to 1.5 games out of first place in the NL West to the Padres 22-14. The Dodgers stayed 1.5 games behind the Giants in 3'rd place with a 19-17 record. The Colorado Rockies won both ends of a DH against the Nats 4-3 and 6-2 to bring their record up to 17-18, 1.5 games behind the Dodgers and 4.5 games out of first place. Arizona trounced Atlanta 11-1 to improve their last place record to 15-22, 7.5 games off the pacesetting Padres. So the NL West tightened up considerably in the last two days. I can go back to rooting for the Padres to beat the Hated Ones.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Down on the Farm: 05-14-2010

AAA Fresno Grizzlies were blanked by the New Orleans Zephyrs 3-0:

Joe Martinez- 6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 7 K's. ERA= 3.92.

Nice QS for Joey. Nothing to see on offense!

AA Richmond Flying Squirrels took it to the Altoona Curve 7-1:

Darren Ford- 3 for 4, 2B, SB(11). BA= .248.
Brandon Crawford- 2 for 4. BA= .235.
Thomas Neal- 3 for 3, 2 BB. BA= .274.
Jackson Williams- 2 for 3. BA= .244.
Craig Clark- 5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 4.05.

Nice to see several multihit games. Neal had a perfect night including an OF assist at home plate. Roger Kieschnick who has been hot, took an 0 for 5.

High A San Jose edged the Bakersfield Blaze 8-7:

Juan Perez- 2 for 5. BA= .323.
James Simmons- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .247.
Brandon Belt- 3 for 4, SF. BA= .396
Johnny Monell- 2 for 4, 3B. BA= .243.
Charlie Culberson- 3 for 5, 2 2B. BA= .252.
Aaron King- 2.1 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 8.87!
Edwin Quirarte- 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 0.95.
Jason Stoffel- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K's.

Again, lots of offense from multiple players. Second 3 hit game in a row for Charlie Culberson who is hitting .310 over his last 10 games. Aaron King has had one dominant appearance and the rest have stunk it up. Lots of raw talent, but can he harness it?

Low A Augusta Greenjackets smothered the Charleston River Dogs 8-4:

Nick Liles- 3 for 5, 2B. BA= .341.
Chris Dominguez- 2 for 5, HR(5). BA= .280.
Luke Anders- 2 for 3, 3B, 2 BB. BA= .295.
Tommy Joseph- 1 for 3, 2B. BA= .240.
Chris Heston- 6 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 4.50.
Ryan Verdugo- 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 5.06.

Nick Liles hit leadoff. Dominguez continues his steady production as does Luke Anders. Dominant 2 innings from Ryan Verdugo.

Game Wrap 05-14-2010: Giants 8 Astros 2

Maybe we just have to give the Padres credit for being a good team. The Giants bounced back tonight from a crushing sweep at the hand of the Padres to take it to the Houston Astros 8-2, showing a lot of aggressiveness and hustle while getting a quality start and then some from Todd Wellemeyer, who turned into an unlikely stopper. Key lines:

Andres Torres- 3 for 4, 2 2B, 3B, BB. BA= .286. Torres had a great night hitting the ball from the left side with authority, hustling out a nice double and then adding some heads up baserunning to score a key run to help put the game away.

Pablo Sandoval- 2 for 4. BA= .281. Panda showing signs of coming out of his slump, but is he still gaining weight as the season goes along? Man, he looked huge tonight!

Nate Schierholtz- 2 for 3, BB, SB(4). BA= .341. Nate had two key hits in this game. He singled to lead off the second inning and then stole 2B to put himself in scoring position for Matt Down's double. Then in the 3 run 5'th inning, with runners on first and second, he hit a hard smash that kicked off a diving Lance Berkman that went into no-man's land in RF allowing Bengie Molina, of all players, to score from 2B!

Matt Downs- 1 for 3, 2B, BB. BA= .283. Downs had a good night as he hit the ball hard in another AB and made a nifty play at 2b at a key point.

Todd Wellemeyer- 7.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 5.25. Nice QS for The Well. More of these would be appreciated!

The Giants improved their record to 19-15. Tomorrow is a great matchup between Roy Oswalt and Tim Lincecum. Go Timmy!

Around the League: Man, how hard is it to root for the Dodgers? The Giants needed the Dodgers to slow down the runaway Pads, but I don't know. It's very hard to overcome 40+ years of hatred to root for that team. Anyway, the Dodgers did their job edging out the Pads 4-3. Ramon Ortiz got the start for LA just to show how desperate their pitching situation is. The Giants edged to within 2.5 games of the Padres 22-13. The Dodgers broke .500 at 18-17. Atlanta pushed the D'Back further into the cellar at 14-22 with a 6-5 win. Colorado vs Nats was postponed with Colorado sitting at 16-18.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Down on the Farm: 05-13-2010

AAA Fresno Grizzlies edged the New Orleans Zephyrs 6-5:

Eugenio Velez- 3 for 5, SB(5). BA= .313.
Angel Berroa- 2 for 4, 2B, HR(1). BA= .368.
Eric Hacker- 6 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 2.61.

Velez made an error in the OF(failed catch).

AA Richmond Flying Squirrels downed the Altoona Curve 4-2:

Thomas Neal- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .258.
Roger Kieschnick- 2 for 3. BA= .306.
Nick Noonan- 2 for 4. BA= .250.
David Mixon- 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 9 K's, GO/AO= 8/3. ERA= 2.32.

The Flying Squirrels move past Altoona into first place in the EL West division. I something isn't fishy with the listed positions in the boxscore, the Flying Squirrels were either having some fun or are trying to redefine versatility as players up and down the lineup were not playing their accustomed positions. Darren Ford as SS? Brandon Crawford in CF? Neal is getting his BA into respectable territory. Kieschnick continues to impress with his ability to hit for average. A dominant start for Mixon.

High A San Jose Giants shredded the Visalia Rawhide in a slugfest 21-9:

Juan Perez- 4 for 7, 2 SB(2). BA= .319.
Freddy Sanchez- 3 for 3, 2 2B, BB, HBP. BA= .667.
Brandon Belt- 4 for 6, 2 2B, BB. BA= .383.
Drew Biery- 3 for 6, BB. BA= .298.
Johnny Monell- 2 for 6, HR(5), BB, SB(4). BA= .233.
Charlie Culberson- 3 for 7. BA= .237.
Wendell Fairley- 2 for 5, BB. BA= .277.
James Simmons- 2 for 5, 2B, 3B, HBP. BA= .233.
Kyle Nicholson- 5 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 2 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 6.68.
Kyle Woodruff- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 0.00
Brian Anderson- 2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 0 K's. ERA= 4.50.

Pretty much the whole team got in on the act here. Wendell Fairley is not generating any power, but at least he's keeping his BA above .250 and maintaining a good walk rate. Not too many XBH's here as the Giants banged out a total of 26 hits, 18 of them singles.

Low A Augusta Greenjackets lost to the Charleston River Dogs 3-2:

Nothing to see on offense. The 'Jackets scored both runs in the top of the 9'th inning in a last ditch rally that came up short.

Kyle Vazquez- 6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 2.88.

Game Wrap 05-13-2010: Padres 1 Giants 0

It's one thing to get swept by the Padres in their crib. It's quite another to get swept by the Padres in your own crib. This was about as dismal a peformance, especially for the offense as I can recall. And, what about Jonathan Sanchez? The guy absolutely owns the Padres, yet has two losses to show for it so far this year. Key lines(It will be short, I promise!):

Offense: 1 for 28. That pretty much tells you all you need to know, right there.

Jonathan Sanchez- 8 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 2.66. You can't pitch a whole lot better than Sanchez has pitched vs the Padres this year. What, 4 hits 2 ER in 15 IP? That is just ridiculous!

Not much else to say about this game or this series. The Giants are going to have to find a way to put this behind them.

The Padres moves 3.5 games up on the Giants with a record of 22-12. Amazingly, the Giants are still in second place at 18-15. LA was idle at 17-17, 1.5 games behind the Giants. Arizona was also idle staying at 14-21, 8.5 games off the pace. Colorado is trailing the Nats late in their game. They will fall to 16-18 if that holds up.

The Giants now take on Houston, who they swept in their crib in the opening series of the season. Houston will be a different team though as they have Lance Berkman back and Hunter Pence is heating up. Things don't look so good for ending this losing streak that now stands at 4 games with Todd Wellemeyer on the mound tomorrow night. Houston's starter, Felipe Paulino is a better pitcher than his 0-5 record would imply.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Down on the Farm: 05-12-2010

AAA Fresno Grizzlies mauled the New Orleans Zephyrs 7-1:

Buster Posey- 3 for 5, 3 2B. BA= .355.
Brett Pill- 2 for 4, 2B, BB, SB(4). BA= .317.
Madison Bumgarner- 2 for 3. BA= .375
Madison Bumgarner- 6 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 K's, GO/AO= 6/6.
Henry Sosa- 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 0.86.
Santiago Casilla- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 0.00.

What a great game for Giants prospect watchers! Madison Bumgarner is a hitter too! I guess if the pitching thing doesn't pan out, he can pull a Rick Ankiel! While not dominant, tonight's start showed a lessened probability of that being necessary. Posey seems to have found the range with his bat. Harder to tell if he's ready behind the plate.

AA Richmond Flying Squirrels blanked the Bowie Baysox 5-0:

Brandon Crawford- 2 for 4, BB. BA= .231.
Thomas Neal- 2 for 5. BA= .250.
Roger Kieschnick- 2 for 3, 2 HR(3), 2 BB. BA= .297.
Daryl Maday- 5.2 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 1.54.
Andy Sisco- 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 3.65.
Rafael Cova- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 0.00.

Even more impressive than Kieschnick's power surge is the BA close to .300. So far, of last year's San Jose stars, Roger has made the smoothest transition to AA. Thomas Neal is hitting .302 over his last 10 games.

High A San Jose Giants lost to the Visalia Rawhide 3-2 in 10 innings:

Freddy Sanchez- 1 for 2, 2B, 2 BB. BA= .500.
Justin Fitzgerald- 7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 0 K's, GO/AO= 14/7. ERA= 1.20.

Low A Charleston River Dogs beat the Augusta Greenjackets 6-4:

Chris Dominguez- 2 for 5, 2B. BA= .276.
Luke Anders- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .287.
Zack Wheeler- 2.2 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 3 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 6.53.

Speed bump for young Zack.

Game Wrap 05-12-2010: Padres 5 Giants 2

If a team is going to rough up Matt Cain, they usually do it in the first inning before he gets the fastball heated up. Tonight, Cain breezed through the first 3 hitters in the Padres lineup almost like they weren't there. I had visions of a brewing no-hitter! Alas, things started to fall apart in the second inning. Cain never really got back on track and once again, the Giants couldn't really break through against the Padre's pitchers. Right now, this team has ownage on the Giants, but they are also very much for real in the NL West. They don't have the best record in the NL by accident. Key lines:

Really nothing worth mentioning on offense!

Matt Cain- 6.2 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 6 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 3.38. 3 of the BB's were IBB's, but that's not really a good thing either as it meant that there were runners on base already. I'm not sure where Cain's head was at tonight, but it was obviously somewhere else. Bengie Molina looked bad behind the plate, but a lot of it was Cain's failure to hold runners and throwing pitches of a different type than Molina called for. On Will Venable's SB, he took off a full count and a half and was half-way to 2B before Cain even started his delivery!

In summary, virtually no offense plus a very sloppy start by Cain= another loss to the Padres.

The Giants fall to 18-14 while the Pads extended their lead to 2.5 games at 21-12. The Dodgers evened their record at 17-17 with a 6-3 win over the faltering D'Backs who fell further into the cellar at 14-21. Colorado upped their record to 16-17 with a 4-3 win over the Phils. The second game of their DH was postponed.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Game Wrap 05-11-2010: Padres 3 Giants 2

This was deja vu all over again as the Padres continued their hex over the Giants in a walk-o-rama that was incredibly frustrating and boring to watch. Key lines:

Aubrey Huff= 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .288. Huff is proving to be a pretty good, steady hitter in this lineup.

Juan Uribe-1 for 3, 3B, BB. BA= .265.

Bengie Molina- 1 for 2, 2 BB. BA= .337. Molina has now taken 9 BB's compared to 16 all last year.

Aaron Rowand- 0 for 4, BB. Rowand had a terrible day at the plate. The Giants need his bat against LHP's and LeBlanc completely befuddled him except for the first inning walk.

Barry Zito- 5 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 7 BB, 2 K's. Surprisingly, of the 12 BB's allowed by Giants pitchers tonight, only 1 scored. Is that right? This game was lost by the offense!

The Giants got some very bad, if not totally surprising, news today that Mark DeRosa is back to square 1 with his wrist. The surgery was a failure! I like what Sabean has done with the farm system, and the overall position he has gotten the Giants in for the future, but he has a disturbing track record of signing damaged goods. Here's a hint Brian, you might want to consider staying away from players with recent wrist or shoulder injuries. Neither of those tend to heal quickly or well.

Around the League: The loss drops the Giants to 18-13, 1.5 games behind the Padres. The Dodgers pounded the D'Backs 13-3. The Dodgers are at 16-17 while the D'Backs fall further in the cellar at 14-20. Colorado's game against the Phils was rained out. Colorado stands at 15-17 in 4'th place.

Down on the Farm: 05-11-2010

AAA Fresno Grizzlies doubled up the New Orleans Zephyrs 8-4:

Tyler Graham- 3 for 5, 2B, 2 SB(3). BA= .545.
Buster Posey- 1 for 3, 2 BB. BA= .345.
Joe Borchard- 2 for 4, 2B, BB. BA= .364.
Ben Copeland- 2 for 3 2 2B, 2 BB. BA= .250.
Angel Berroa- 2 for 4, BB. BA= .333
Steve Holm- 1 for 5, HR(2). BA= .209.
Kevin Pucetas- 5 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 4.50.
Waldis Joaquin- 1.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, BS, W. ERA= 0.00.

Graham continues with a hot start apparently replacing Mike McBryde who I assume is hurt. It looks like there may be an opening in SF for a RH bat. How about moving Aubrey Huff to LF and playing Buster at 1B? They could also give Borchard a chance, but would have to make a 40 man roster move. Joaquin allowed 2 inherited runners to score before the Grizzly hitters bailed him out with a 4 run top of the 9'th.

AA Bowie Baysox edged the Richmond Flying Squirrels 6-5:

Darren Ford- 2 for 4, BB, SB(9). BA= .238
Roger Kieshnick- 2 for 4, HR(1), BB. BA= .287.
Nick Noonan- 2 for 4. BA= .241.
Thomas Neal- 1 for 4, SF, SB(4). BA= .244.
Clayton Tanner- 3.1 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 3.15.
Dan Turpen- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 2.95.

Good to see Roger Kieschnick hit the long ball as well as the .287 BA. Tough start for Clayton Tanner. Dan Turpen has a 1.56 ERA over his last 10 appearances(17.1 IP).

High A San Jose Giants beat the Visalia Rawhide 6-1:

Juan Perez- 3 for 5, 3B. BA= .301.
Freddy Sanchez- 2 for 4, 2 2B. BA= .500.
Francisco Peguero- 2 for 5, 3B. BA= .299.
Wendell Fairley- 3 for 4. BA= .264.
Ehire Adrianza- 2 for 4, 2 SB(7). BA= .190.
Craig Westcott- 5.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 0.94.
Jason Stoffel- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 7.71.

Nice to see Wendell Fairley have a multi-hit game. Juan Perez seems like he is an emerging star on this team. Freddy Sanchez makes his first rehab start! Jason Stoffel starts the long process of whittling down his ERA from a couple of disastrous outings.

Low A The entire SAL had the night off.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Down on the Farm: 05-10-2010

AAA Fresno Grizzlies beat the Salt Lake City Bees 4-2:

Eugenio Velez- 2 for 4, 2 2B(2). BA= .500.
Joe Borchard- 3 for 4, 2 2B, HR(6). BA= .358.
Buster Posey- 1 for 3, HR(5), BB. BA= .345.
Angel Berroa- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .273.
Matt Yourkin- 4 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 4.85.
Henry Sosa- 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 K's. ERA= 0.95.
Santiago Casilla- 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 0.00.
Steve Edlefsen- 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 1.37.

Gotta hand it to Velez. He doesn't sit around moping when he gets sent down. Buster looks like he's starting to dial in his power stroke. Santiago Casilla is likely to play a major role in the bullpen before the season is over if he stays healthy.

AA Richmond Flying Squirrels edged the Bowie Baysox 5-4:

Darren Ford- 0 for 3, 2 BB. BA= .228.
Brandon Crawford- 1 for 4, BB. BA= .230.
Thomas Neal- 1 for 5, 3B. BA= .244.
Conor Gillaspie- 1 for 3, BB. BA= .204.
Nick Noonan- 0 for 3, BB, SB(4). BA= .231.
Craig Whitaker- 3.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 1.80.

Slim pickings on offense, I looked for lines where the player reached base more than once. It looks like the Giants may be trying to stretch out Craig Whitaker.

High A High Desert Mavericks outlasted the San Jose Giants in 10 innings 2-1:

Francisco Peguero- 3 for 4, SB(16), OF Assist. BA= .295
Jose Flores- 2 for 3. BA= .500.
Eric Surkamp- 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 2.57.
Edwin Quirarte- 4 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 2.93.

Flores is a newcomer in only his second game with SJ. Peguero is hitting .350 over his last 10 games. Nice start by Surkamp.

Low A Augusta Greenjackets shaded the Hagerstown Suns 3-2:

Evan Crawford- 2 for 4, BA= .237.
Tommy Joseph- 3 for 4. BA= .271.
Ryan Lollis- 2 for 3, 3B. BA= .310.
Brian Salsbury- 8 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 10 K's. ERA= 4.19.

Nice to see Joseph hitting some non-HR hits. Brian Salbury has been inconsistent, but was dominant today.