The Giants played a pretty good game today only to see it ruined by a bullpen meltdown in the 8'th inning. Key Lines:
Brandon Belt- 1 for 2, BB, HBP. BA= .211. Belt looked pretty good in this one smartly pulling a line drive to RF for his base hit and drawing a walk. He was also hit on the left wrist and may have pulled a groin muscle when he dived for a ball in the disastrous 8'th inning. He left the game leaving Emmanuel Burriss to pinch hit for him with the tying run at the plate in the 9'th inning.
Cody Ross- 2 for 4. BA= .243. Ross hit a couple of singles.
Brandon Crawford- 2 for 4, 2B. Crawford hit two balls really hard, a line drive single to right-center and a ringing double down the RF line later in the game. Not sure it will last, but the kid has looked very good so far.
Ryan Vogelsong- 5 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 1.77. Vogelsong had no secondary pitches in the first 3 innings. He managed to keep the Cards at bay by spotting his fastball and throwing variations of it to keep the hitters from teeing off on it. Very impressive performance because of what he was able to do without his best stuff.
Jeremy Affeldt- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 5.40. We got the old Jeremy tonight as he was virtually unhittable for 2 innings.
Sergio Romo- 0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 0 K's. Many internet commentators, including me, have wondered why Bochy doesn't seem to have faith in Romo. Maybe Boch has known something we don't all along?
With the Loss, the Giants remained 0.5 games behind the D'Backs who lost to the Marlins 5-2. If the Dodgers 8-2 lead over the Rockies in the 9'th inning holds up, the Rockies will remain 4.5 games behind tied with the Dodgers for 3'rd place in the NL West. The Pesky Padres won another 1 run game 5-4 over the Braves to move up to 6 games off the pace in last place.
Tim LIncecum takes the mound tomorrow night in St Louis against Jake Westbrook.
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wasnt that great a game
ReplyDeleteguess the giants batters didnt figure out what song and carpenter knew...the kzone was tiny...so they kept swinging at balls on the outside of the plate
burrell looks like crap
i understand that he has great numbers against carpenter...but that was the pat that was already hitting...and fielding....what in the world was that??? worried about the pitcher getting home????
this is why...for the 5th starter...you put your best d on the field
belt and crawford had very good at bats...
tejada is a joke
romo is good...but for the life of me, i cant figure out why he and whiteside decided to pitch to albert....he shoulda gotten nothing close to the zone
and lopez cannot pitch against righties
after today, i am sure that zito aint getting his spot back
oh...and the tying run was on 2nd...remember, nate dinked in a double
and jeeez....cant anyone teach manny how to drive the ball into the ground and try to use speed to make it to first?
Well, "pretty good" isn't the same thing as "great."
ReplyDeleteBurrell did draw 2 BB's but the D in LF was brutal. Agree with him or not, Bochy does have a reason for his lineups. Burrell has killed Carpenter over the course of his career.
Seems like Tejada might be done when Pablo gets back. Don't count on Crawford hitting like this the rest of the way, though. Don't see how Tejada can play SS though, so it's probably either Crawford or make a trade.
Romo had to try to get Pujols out because Berkman was on deck. That's what a good lineup will do for you and why it was so frustrating to see Barry Bonds with no protection in the lineup those last few years.
Yeah, when was the last time we heard any word on Zito?
That's the problem, bacci, somebody taught Manny to slap at the ball to use his speed to get on-base. He's one of the main reasons Carney Lansford gave up his dream of coaching for his boyhood team, Lansford saw the arms of Manny and tried to teach him to swing to use that strength to hit line drives to the outfield where he can really use his speed, meaning extra-bases, but Manny couldn't/wouldn't change. That's why his ISO is non-existent right now.
ReplyDeleteIf he could only learn to swing for line drives, like Brandon Belt and Nick Noonan did with the video training system, he could be a major league starter, most probably at 2B, instead of his current destiny, utility MI.
I agree that Tejada might be done, does not look good for him right now, not doing it defensively nor offensively. His dreams may have died along with Posey's season.
Meanwhile, Crawford isn't looking anything like the strikeout machine he was previously in the minors. He's more the walk machine that he was in advanced A (though he still struck out some there as well). He's actually progressed pretty nicely season to season, could this be the culmination of his learnings? Isn't the rubric that a hitter needs 1000 PAs to figure things out? He's actually right about there now.
Not that he stopped striking out in A-ball this season, but he sure got a whole heck of a lot of walks, he has made great inroads to being more selective over the past two seasons.
I wonder if that is what they worked with him in extended spring training since he was out with his injury when the season started? Might this be the new Brandon Crawford? Very small samples but 12 AB, 15 PA, not even one strikeout yet and 3 walks!!! Very encouraging and if he can continue to avoid the strikeouts, Tejada is as sure as gone.
The Giants pitchers got to like Crawford. That taser arm will aid him in a lot of bad situations. I kind of buy in to the extended spring train working with him. His ABs are impressive in that he isn't being overwelmed by the pitchers.
ReplyDeleteNext problem is: I am not sure this team can survive with any batless positions. I really would like for Whiteside to kick it up alittle and hit .250 or better with a few HRs tossed in.
But; half a game out of first place...... and heading home for a few games to balalnce this nasty early season schedule, isn't too shabby.
I Belt and Crawford fill the void of Buster's bat, this just develope into something.
I have this feeling that D'Backs lack qualilty starters. Bullpen is darn good with Upton, Drew and Young, this team isn't a throw away.
With Gibson, doing his thing in Arizona, there are some serious managers in this NL West.