The Giants played an entertaining, exciting game today out at AT&T Park. Unfortunately the story didn't end well as the Braves went to extra innings of a see-saw battle to complete a 3 game sweep of the Giants. Wow! Can't say I saw THAT coming! Oh, and Dan Uggla is one Uggly SOB! Key lines:
Aubrey Huff- 2 for 5, 2B. BA= .225. Maybe this will be the start of a hot streak for Huffy?
Buster Posey- 1 for 5, HR(4). BA= .280. Buster hasn't seemed to be quite himself at the plate lately, but he is 8'th in MLB in RBI's on a pace for 128!
Pablo Sandoval- 2 for 4. BA= .319. Pablo is #20 in MLB in BA.
Pat Burrell- 2 for 3. BA= .270. Pat the Bat has been going the other way a few times lately to raise his BA into the upper .200's.
Jonathan Sanchez- 5 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 3.21. Sanchez had been ill with a virus. He required IV's yesterday. Had it not been for that, I would have been critical of Bochy's decision to lift him for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the 5'th. As it was, Sanchez had a gutty performance to keep the game close after giving up 2 quick runs in the first inning.
Jeremy Affeldt- 1 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 1 K. ERA= 4.82. Affeldt walked two batters and then hung a curveball to Jason Heyward who hit it out near the deepest part of AT&T Park, a truly prodigious blast!
Sergio Romo- 0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 0 K. ERA= 1.17. I'm not sure what the purpose of advance scouting is if you don't know that you should never, ever try to throw a pitch for a strike on the inside half of the plate to Dan Uggla. Oh, and Uggla has to be the most grotesquely misshapen human being I've seen in awhile. Are we sure they are randomly testing everybody in baseball for PED's?
Brian Wilson- 1.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 9.82. Wilson was lights out in the 9'th, but he quickly dug himself a hole in the 10'th giving up a couple of quick ground ball singles to Heyward and Chipper Jones to start off the inning. Both balls were hit hard, but they also both found holes in the infield so Wilson was a bit unlucky. Bochy obviously wanted no part of Dan Uggla in that situation which loaded the bases. Wilson actually came within 1 strike of getting out of it, but he got behind 3-0 to Nate McLouth, something that never should have happened, forcing him to throw 3 consective strikes. His luck ran out on the 3'rd one as McLouth laced it to CF to break the tie and effectively win the game.
Jason Heyward(ATL)- 3 for 5, 2B, HR(5). BA= .250. I got into a pretty savage debate leading up to the 2007 draft with someone over in mccoveychronicles.com who was saying they had some inside information from some scout who said that Heyward had a fatal flaw in his swing and would never hit in the majors. I said his swing reminded me a lot of Willie McCovey's swing and a more athletic version of Willie Mac would be just fine with me. Not saying I'm not happy with Madison Bumgarner, although I threw myself down the stairs when they drafted him ahead of Heyward, but I sure wouldn't mind having Jason Heyward as our starting RF and batting 3'rd in front of Buster Posey for the next 5 years either.
Dan Uggla(ATL)- 1 for 3, HR(5), 2 BB. BA= .182. I really, really don't like Dan Uggla. He's got a bloated face and short, Bob's Big Boy arms that telescope up to his shoulders from his wrists. After what we went through with Barry Bonds, I hate to accuse anyone based on their appearance, but are we sure they're testing everybody for PED's these days? My goodness! That man just might be the most mishapen human being I've ever seen! Oh, and pitchers should never, ever throw him anything within the inside half of the strike zone!
The loss dropped the Giants season record below .500 to 10-11. They remained 4 games behind the Colorado Rockies who lost to the Florida Marlins, but the Dodgers moved ahead of the Giants into sole possession of 3'rd place with a win over the Cubs in Chicago.
The Giants get yet another off day tomorrow before opening a 10 game road trip back east. Matt Cain opens it up with a start Tuesday night against the Pirates.
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Yeah, I was with you in the 2007 draft. I didn't think Heyward would be around for our pick (#10?). When I saw the Giants passed on him for MORE pitching, man I was bummed. Then Alderson later in 1st round. I couldn't believe it. Worked out OK for the Giants. But, something must have been scaring teams off of Heyward. I thought he'd be top 5.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Ugla looks all kinds of beefy. Based on looks alone, you'd sure think 'roids. He's a beast of hitter. But, his poor defense can't be overstated. He really has hard hands, and not a lot of range.
The most widely accepted story on Heyward now is that his parents are both highly educated and told every team but the Braves that he was definitely going to college. So, everybody but the Braves passed on him! THAT doesn't seem right!
ReplyDeleteNot sure how to close that loophole in the draft though. I suppose you could force them to declare for college or the draft out of HS and if they declare for the draft, they lose college eligibility, but I don't like that either. You'd have to have the cooperation of the NCAA to do that and there doesn't seem to be any love lost between MLB and the NCAA.
I have to keep telling myself that no matter what happens to Bumgarner down the road, and he might turn out to be an ace, he was a key piece that got the Giants the elusive WS championship and you can't take that away!
ReplyDeleteHey Doc, thanks for the info on Heyward. Makes sense. After the fact I learned how much Heyward and Atlanta wanted each other. If your info on Heyward is accurate (regarding the parents), I'm cool with it. I mean, the team that misses out gets the same pick in the next draft. And teams can be very persuasive to HS kids who are DEFINITELY going to college. See Lee, Zack and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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