The Giants got a gutsy performance from Madison Bumgarner and broke out the long ball, but in the end it wasn't enough as they dropped a tough one to the D'Backs in extra innings. Key lines:
Aaron Rowand- 2 for 5, 2B. BA= .364. Rowand continued his hot hitting at the top of the order.
Aubrey Huff- 1 for 3, HR(1), SF. BA= .250. Huff laid into one in the 4'th inning and pulled a line drive into the RF bleachers for the Giants first run, hit and baserunner of the game.
Buster Posey- 1 for 5, HR(3). BA= .296. His other AB's didn't look so great, but Buster pulled this one smartly into the D'Backs bullpen down the LF line for a 2 run dinger to drive Enright from the game in the 6'th inning.
Pablo Sandoval- 1 for 4, HR(4). BA= .340. Pablo went back-to-back with Buster to put the Giants up 5-4 off a new pitcher. Things were looking good at this point. Enright was out and the D'Backs bullpen has been a collective gas can. Alas, the Giants would muster just one hit and baserunner the rest of way over 6 innings. Liberal use of defensive subs has worked well for Bochy, but it came back to bite him today when the Rockies tied the game. Sorry, but Nate and Darren Ford in for Burrell and Huff is a major offensive downgrade.
Madison Bumgarner- 6.2 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 2 K's, GO/AO= 10/4. ERA= 7.36. An uneven game from Bumgarner, but some things to be encouraged about: 1. Velocity sat at 93 MPH and registered all the way up to 96 on at least one pitch. 2. He recovered when it looked like he was on the ropes in the 3'rd inning and only allowed 1 more run, a solo HR to Justin Upton, into the 7'th. 3. The ground ball tendency which combined with the velocity should produce a lot more good games than bad ones.
Jeremy Affeldt- 0.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. BS(2). ERA= 2.84. Affeldt went 1.1 IP yesterday, so I wonder if a rested Javier Lopez might have been a better choice to face Montero. They just needed the one out. Leaving him in against Roberts who hit the game tyer was questionable too. The rationale was the Romo was the RH option warmed up in the bullpen and LH batter Juan Miranda would have pinch hit for Roberts. I understand the reasoning, but if Affeldt couldn't get the lefty out, what makes you think he's a better matchup against the righty than Romo against Miranda? It's pretty obvious that Bochy doesn't trust Romo against LH batters yet. Anyway, both points are debateable and the way it turned out does NOT make Bochy a bad manager nor does it make him responsible for the loss.
Dan Runzler- 2.1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 1 K, Loss. ERA= 5.87. Runzler was lights out for 2 innings, but lost control of the strike zone with 1 out in the 12'th. Lopez didn't fare any better against the LH batter than Affeldt and that was the ballgame.
Tough loss. Credit is due the D'Backs bullpen and blame to the Giants inability to mount any semblance of a rally after the 6'th inning outburst.
The loss breaks the Giants win streak of 4 games and drops the them to 8-7 and once again 4 games back of the Rampagin' Rockies who battered the Cubs 9-5. The Giants have now won 3 series in a row though. They now move on to Colorado for the first big showdown of the season. The Rockies are red hot and Coors Field is a very tough place for the Giants to win. Tim Lincecum takes the mound tomorrow night against Esmil Rogers who has a couple of great games under his belt already this yearn and electric stuff. Tough series. They can probably survive if they win at least one of the games. It would be very tough to overcome a sweep which would drop them 8 games off the pace in the NL West.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think our guy Madbum got a case of Zito-titus. He let that ump get in his head. I wonder if the ump today is wedded to that Davis, who was atrocious last week. After Madbum cooled down he seem like a different guy. He was having major problems with his off speed stuff. Posey and Madbum should have done the "shake the cobwebs out" on the ump's face mask. Madbum's conditioning?....again?
ReplyDeleteFord and Nate may be a drop down offensively, but they sure make up for it with the defense...
I really would like to have Ford/Rowand and Nate out there when Matt pitches. Bat Cain in the slot behind Panda. Cain isn't that big K guy like before.
I missed something.
ReplyDeleteHave you checked on Affeldt's stats for the last few years? This guy has been in A LOT games and thrown quite a few pitches. He could use going on the Waikiki DL list about July. I just think Bochy is using him alittle too much this early in the season; but then again, the WS trophy isn't on my resume.
i think nate's issue, is that, as his status is still up in the air, he feels as if he must constantly prove himself...
ReplyDeletewould be nice if he got a start that was not contingent on him having a great offensive performance the day before
i dont think the ump got into madbums's head, i think its the fact that he cant trust the defense behind him....that pop fly gets caught by even the most average of rfs
gotta sweep teams like the snakes
gonna be interesting to see how bochy uses the pen the next 3 games....thanks to the zito injury and today's game...they are pretty much burnt
Hye bacci... A couple of years ago up in Adlento, Madbum and Alderson were charting pitches for Clark, who was starting that day. Some wise acres from back by the annoucers booth were tossing water all around and I believe they got some on the stat sheets. Madbum had this "a-farm-boy-will-kick-your-ass" look at that guy and his friends. I saw that look out there today in the second inning after he missed 2 high and outside which were close strikes per gameday. But the one down the pike called a ball raised the hair on Bum's neck. Take notice next time Madbum is pitching. When he gets stressed. he starts pushing down the fingers on the glove hand. Kinda of like bending them toward the pocket. I saw him do it in the spring. Maybe I was just nitpiking but that is the way it seemed. Just breaking stress, I guess... Maybe I was reading to much...
ReplyDeleteThe injuries to Torres, and even more so Cody Ross have forced the Giants to make a choice between offense and defense. Brandon Belt's situation didn't exactly help either. Yes, he is a bit of a defensive upgrade at first base, and will probably eventually hit, but putting him at first forced Huff to a place where he goes from being a defensive wash to a huge liability.
ReplyDeleteThe return of Cody Ross and Torres solves some of the defensive issues. Huff can move to LF where he is not quite the liability he his in RF, but then Burrell moves to the bench. That's a problem because I see Burrell as being the type of player who has to play every day for a full season to really get the benefit of what he has to offer.
I think it's about time for all of us Nate fans to admit that he is probably never going to be an offensive force. He is a wonderful defensive RF but his value as a late inning defensive replacement goes way down as soon as Cody Ross comes back.
Rowand is a whole other issue. He's doing great right now but I don't see many hands in the air from those who think he's going to keep it up much longer. To make matters even more complicated, I'm not at all sure Torres and Ross come back raking right away from the DL. Notice there has been no mention of Mark DeRosa in this discussion.
It seems pretty clear that a fully healthy Torres and Ross should be the CF and RF respectively. That leaves a whole bucketful of very tough decisions to make about Belt, Huff, Burrell, Rowand and DeRosa.
Lastly, we haven't even touched on whether Miggy can get through the season as the starting SS! That's another looming issue!
If we played an outfield of Ford, Rowand and Schierholtz when Matt Cain pitches, we would be asking for a 1-0 loss for Matt Cain. Go all offense for the kid, he is a good pitcher who has deserved much better in his career.
ReplyDeleteNot to argue a point, but most of the offense is coming from Freddie, Panda and Buster with the exception of maybe, occasional blurps from Pat and Tejeda. A lone Rowand is only OF contributor as of now. Not impressed with any of the OF's offensive skills and that includes Ross. Huff might come out of his dumps, hopefully. Are we going to see a "Marlins' Ross" or a "postseason Ross"? Torres is the most valuable of the OF, at bat and on the field. IMO
ReplyDeleteDoc, I agree about Pat being in the lineup. I was wondering why this team didn't take a feeler for Eckstein? That guy is a perfect mind set for this team. I would rather have him than Tejeda at this time. It kind of surprised me.
ReplyDeleteI think Rowand can continue his hot hitting into mid-season: he has done that before. The question is whether his conditioning is enough to push it deep into the second half and whether he can play without getting injured.
ReplyDeleteI think Nate can be an average offensive player, and perhaps above average, which is very valuable with his plus plus defense.
His problem is that he has felt the need to continue playing when his body was not up to it, resulting in the Giants keeping him in there starting while he's not performing before being forced to sit him again. When he is on fire, he is a great offensive contributor, and if he can just extend that out beyond the 2-4 week periods that he has done it before, he can a good starter for us in RF.
I'm glad to see Nate in the lineup today, hopefully he can start hitting here in the high altitude and put himself into the starting mix before Ross and Torres return from the DL.
Tejada is going to be a problem. I'd like to see a .250/.300/.400 line from him, but I doubt we'll get it.
ReplyDeleteHis defense, which I was hoping would be adequate, is putrid...