Well, the Florida Marlins, who have crushed the hearts of Giants fans a time or two in their history, came into the Giants house and pretty much sacked and pillaged it, taking no prisoners in the process. I mean, that has to be one of the worst butt-whippings I've witnessed in my life as a Giants fan and believe me, I've witnessed a few. Other than a fluky 9'th inning rally last night, the Marlins dominated every phase of the game and some things that are not part of the game, or shouldn't be. I figured after the events of last night, the Giants pretty much had no chance against Anibal Sanchez, and I was pretty much right, except for Ryan Vogelsong's continued sensational pitching. Key lines:
Ryan Vogelsong- 8 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 1.77. This may all be a dream for Ryan Vogelsong, but what a great dream! Stay hot, Ryan!
Anibal Sanchez- 9 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K's. ERA= 2.60. The line pretty much says it all. The Giants offense is all but helpless against good pitchers and Sanchez is really good when he's healthy and on.
With the Loss, the Giants lead in the NL West slipped to 1.5 games as the Dangerous D'Backs topped the Reeling Rockies 6-3. The Desperate Dodgers were idle to gain a half game to 6 behind while the Pathetic Padres were also idle and gained to 7.5 games behind.
The Giants fly to Milwaukee to start a road trip against the BrewCrew. Tim Lincecum takes the mound against Shaun Marcum tomorrow.
As expected, the news on Buster Posey was not good after the MRI results were known. In addition to a fractured fibula, Buster tore ligaments on 3 sides of his ankle, lateral, medial and anterior. In other words, there wasn't much holding his foot to his leg. No final decision has been made. They are consulting several specialists but it seems that surgery to repair the ligaments is likely. I did not see any word on whether there was cartilage damage in the joint.
The Giants are keeping a brave face with Bruce Bochy going so far as to not rule out the possibility of a return before the end of the season. I know surgical technology has advanced a lot, but I have a hard time seeing Buster coming back this season. I'm not sure I even want him to. Let it ully heal and fully rehab before going back out there into the battle. If the Giants are in contention late in the season, then they were able to do it without Buster. If they aren't, then you really don't want to be taking any risks on a lost season. Right now, I'm just praying this isn't the end of Buster's career before it even got started.
On possible replacements, I'm most intrigued by Ryan Doumit. Beyond that, I'm not convinced there is anything out there significantly better than Whiteside and Stewart. Give them a chance and see what happens!
Here's hoping for good things from the Brandons and from Chris Stewart who seems like, at worst, a tough out and a guy who will draw some walks.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
There is Pudge Rodriguez. I'm guessing the Nats would want a mid or low-range prospect in return. Of course, I-Rod has been playing since forever and he is obviously not the offensive player like he was back then, but he still has a cannon behind the plate. He even nailed both Ford and Jose Reyes this season.
ReplyDeleteDoumit's bat is more lively right now than Whiteside's or Stewart's. It'll be interesting to see what the Giants will do.
Of course, there is still Bengie in the free agent market..
No thank you no Bengie. I really think the Giants can do better with Whiteside and CStew. Pudge would be OK for a rental I guess. The thing I like about Doumit is he is a switch-hitter so gives you another LH bat against RHP's and he can play other positions if he has to. He might make a nice, albeit expensive, backup to Buster next season too.
ReplyDeletedown two of their best hitters and looking more and more like fresno...did you really expect this team to hit sanchez?
ReplyDeletelosing two out of 3 games by one run, is not a butt whipping
losing posey...is
kills me that an org with no fan base, a wackjob of an owner and absolutely no money, is able to do more than sabean and company, when it comes to developing talent
says a lot...dontchya think?
no point in rushing posey back
and dang....song is for real...totally unflappable
why get zito's hopes up...unless song implodes, he should own the 5th spot till the end of the year, and be the early fav for 4 or 5 for 2012
DrB, I've been in mourning all day about Buster. I prey also that Buster fully recovers so he can resume his career. Thats the most important thing right now. Watching the play last night gave me the same sick feeling when I watched the Angels Kendry Morales break his leg celebrating a walkoff win last year. Kendry is out for this season as well... I prey for him also, its a shame when a good young player gets severely hurt.
ReplyDeleteYeah, ankle injuries are notoriously tough. The Morales experience shows just how tough they can be to heal properly. I'm not sure I've ever seen a human being with as much going for him as Buster. I mean, that kid has everything, looks, smarts, wealth, talent. He is the complete package. I've had this uneasy feeling all along that playing him at catcher is a bit like playing marbles with the Hope Diamond, or something like that. The problem is, looks, smart, wealth and talent don't get you very far if your health fails. That's the sickening part of all this. To me, best case scenario is Buster being able to resume his career without a hitch starting with spring training next season. Forget this season. Let that ankle completely heal. Don't try to rush back for a few weeks and jeopardize the rest of your career. I will consider Buster and the team and us lucky if he's as good as new next season.
ReplyDeleteAs for developing young talent, the Giants are a little late to the party, but no team has developed more talent in the last 5 years than the Giants, so I'm not conceding that to the Marlins. The Marlins are a serious young team though.
What a catastrophe at the plate. The consensus about this play seems to be three things:
ReplyDelete1. Cousins had an open lane to the plate.
2. Cousins went with the better odds of scoring, and just went after Posey, and destroyed him.
3. It was a legal play. "Part of Baseball."
It's very interesting hearing people make comparisons between this play and exposed athletes in other sports: You can't touch a hockey goalie and in the NFL this type hit on a "defenseless" player would result in a fine and suspension.
I've always loved plays at the plate. Who doesn't? There must be a way to preserve them while protecting the catcher.
MLB has controlled other dangerous "legal" activities, like intentionally throwing at batters. (Not that I'm always thrilled with those results...Lilly hits Posey TWICE, and we get warned...WTF???) Still, they have find a solution to this.
When Vogelsong threw that 0-2 pitch to Morrison in the 6th, it was supposed to be a wasted, high fastball. Vogelsong had probably thrown 3 of those waste pitches already in the game, every one of them coming in too low, just above the belt. As Whiteside signaled the pitch and a high target, I said, "Not too low." But it was. That is the ONLY negative thing you can say about Vogelsong. And if that's it, then, WOW. He went toe-to-toe with Anibal Sanchez. We'll see what happens if the league makes adjustments. But there is no way he loses his spot to Zito.
I've never felt this pessimistic about the Giants while they sit in 1st place. Wow.
It seemed to me while Posey was laying on the ground, the trainer and someone else was trying to convey with Buster, Buster seemed to be shaking his head "no", as I assumed they were asking about a gurney. All this was after the trainer got there while umpires were clearing out the area. Point? That wasn't Estes out there. That baby face dude is one tough cookie.
ReplyDeleteKelly,
ReplyDeleteThey still have Timmy...
This won't be popular: Why is everyone opposed to Bengie Molina? There are a few reasons you shouldn't be:
ReplyDelete1. Our starting catcher is now Eli Whiteside...
2. He already knows the staff and is defensively as good or better than Whiteside
3. His power potential is better than Whiteside
4. He would probably come on the cheap
5. Our starting catcher is Eli Whiteside...
If you don't recall, Bengie Molina was the catcher for a world series team last year. We aren't talking about batting 4th Bengie Molina, we're talking about batting 7th or 8th and playing decent defense here. It would hardly be a downgrade.
Eli Whiteside had a higher OPS last year than Bengie Molina after he was traded to Texas. I just think Bengie is done. Let's see what CStew does before we panic. If the Giants really need to get a catcher from outstside the organization I'd go with Doumit as my first target, Ronnie Paulino as #2, Pudge as #3.
ReplyDeleteGreat interview with Buster over on Extra Baggs.
ReplyDeleteWhat a rough patch of luck. I do think Buster may need to make the change to 1st or 3rd after this. I get PTSD just thinking about him being behind the plate again.
ReplyDelete