The Reds outscored the Giants in this 4 game series 17-9, but a 3-2 win counts just as much in the standings as a 3-0 win and a 4-2 win counts as much as a 10-2 win. The Giants formula is win the close games and forget about the blowouts. They followed that formula this evening to gain a split in the series and win the homestand 6 games to 4. Key lines:
Andres Torres- 1 for 4, 2B, BB. BA= .254. Despite the uninspiring BA, Torres' OBP is a very good .354 for a leadoff hitter. It would sure be nice for him to get hot though.
Miguel Tejada- 1 for 3, BB, SB(3). BA= .227. Miggy is hitting .275 over his last 10 games. Not great, but pretty good considering what the rest of the lineup is doing.
Nate Schierholtz- 1 for 2, BB, SF. BA= .263. Nate was clutch again tonight scoring 2 of the 4 runs and driving in another.
Aubrey Huff- 3 for 4. BA= .234. They weren't struck with authority, but they got the job done. Maybe the 3 hits will be something to finally build on. It seemed like the 3 HR game just brought back some bad habits.
Chris Stewart- 1 for 3, 2B, BB. BA= .118. CStew had a nice game, both at the plate and behind it. He had some nice blocks and threw a perfect strike to nail Jay Bruce attempting to steal 2B.
Emmanuel Burriss- 0 for 3, BB. BA= .250. I was impressed by Burriss' defensive play at 2B. He showed good range and made at least 2 very difficult throws that showed good arm strength. I'm not sure the bat is good enough to play there regularaly though.
Jonathan Sanchez- 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 5 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 3.47. I think by now, you can almost look at the pitching line and know who owns it without posting the name in front of it. Just a very typical Jonathan Sanchez start. Out of 14 starts this year, he's thrown 7 QS's. Of the other 7 starts, he's given up less than 3 runs and pitched at least 5 innings in 5 others. in other words, he's given his team a chance to win in 12 of his 14 starts. You wouldn't want a rotation full of guys like him because it would wear out the bullpen, but in a rotation like the Giants, it's a very valuable piece to have.
Javier Lopez- 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 2.92. Lopez absolutely abused the Joey Votto and Jay Bruce, 2 of the best hitters in baseball and both very good against LHP's. Those were two huge outs!
Brian Wilson- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, Save(18). ERA= 2.70. CStew and BWeezy seem to work well together.
The Win enabled the Giants to stay 12 game ahead of the Dangerous, Dangerous D'Backs, in the NL West, who topped the Marlins 5-1. The Dodgers outslugged the Rockies 10-8 to drop the Rocks 5.5 games behind in 3'rd place while the Dodgers remained 6.5 games off the pace in 4'th place. The Pathetic Padres lost again to the Nats 2-0 as the Nats scored 2 runs in the top of the 9'th.
The Giants get a much needed day off tomorrow before traveling to Arizona for a NL West showdown with the Dangerous D'Backs. Matt Cain gets the first game against Jesse Collmenter and his Iron Mike delivery. Collmenter has a very low BABIP, so may regress once teams have had a look at his delivery a time or two.
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durty....i finally figured him out....he is the most frustrating pitcher in all the majors...to fans and the batters
ReplyDeleteyou think he is done...lost control...gonna get pounded...then he either paints the corner or gets you to turn over on a ball and hit it right into the d
nate is solid...he will never be a household name, but his glove, speed and ability to hit when needed, should now guarantee a lasting mlb career...but he scored 2 runs and drove in one
again, the only reason i can see the giants sending manny back down, is to get more in game reps at every base and in the of...his glove work and footwork at second is very good...his bat needs work, and i still dont understand why they just dont have him slap hitting
huff is taking a full day off tomorrow, will fly alone at night...
doofus remains a half assed on field manager...ya, the book says lefty vs lefty...but hey dusty...both nate and huff have been hitting lefties better than righties....dont you talk to your advance scouts?
best pen in the majors...trust them all in any close game
as the chances of the giants getting a catcher, without being taken to the cleaners, continue to diminish, games like this from stewart are a great positive
pablo activated...conner sent back to fresno
now for some bad news....freddie is almost certain to miss the rest of the season...going for a second opinion tomorrow, but as usual, the giants did not release the full mri results...labrum damage and stretched capsule...as its his throwing arm, i cant see how this can be repaired through simple rehab
btw...collmenter can be hit...he was hit and hit hard in the cal league...he has a funky delivery, but guys who saw him a lot learned how to hit him
Don't know how the Giants are doing it. Thin...real thin.
ReplyDeleteOooookay...so Doc, Bacci, Obsessive, 2nd Base? How bad is the Brett Pill idea/experiment? Can he play 2nd? Can he hit MLB? Burriss and Crawford are a pleasure to watch in the field...but I really have my doubts on both of them with the bat. More of less, this seems like a 6-week audition for organizational solutions at 2nd & Catcher.
Really nice to Stewart gun down a base-stealer. Baggs says Whiteside is banged up. OK, fine. But if he's too banged up to do his job, Bochy has see that sooner and sit him. (Whitey's not going to admit anything. He wants to play.) This season is going to be all about 90 feet at a time. We just can't give away bases.
Oh, and way to go Bears!
ReplyDeleteBaccci,
ReplyDeleteBurriss already slap hits. That's his whole problem! He's strong enough to have gap power if he would swing harder and with a bit of an uppercut, but as it is, he can barely get it out of the infield. He needs to talk to Andres Torres and listen to the story of how Andres turned himself into a hitter.
I think Dusty made the right move in bringing in the lefty to face Nate and Huff. Nate was just 3 for 21 against LHP's before last night and I think you still go with the lefty against Huff in that situation. His guy just didn't get it done, and it the poor guy's defense, neither Nate nor Huffster hit the ball hard.
Anon,
Moving Pill to 2B is a great idea. I'm not sure Pill is going to hit at the MLB level any better than Crawford. He would have more power than Burriss, but the BA would likely be just as ugly.
This team has whooped a nasty early season schedule, moved on from 3 devastating injuries, as well as other injuries to be in first place. Hopefully we are the bottom, Hall contributes and Pablo gets back to Panda for the upward drive.
ReplyDeleteDon't for one second underestimate the D'Backs. Pitching staff is more than adequate and with Upton, Drew and Young, they have an offense. They may drop later but they are on a roll now. I have watched some of their games and they have that drive the Giants had last year. Maybe it is that ex Dodger?
Agreed, the D'Backs are dangerous as you can tell by the nickname I've given them.
ReplyDeleteI'm very impressed by Kirk Gibson's management of that team. He's a bit like Bochy in that he doesn't look too smart but, but obviously is. Most impressive is how a guy who was that intense and in-your-face as a player would have the finesse to manage a clubhouse and all the personalities involved.
I think Kirk Gibson could be the new Billy Martin.
ReplyDeleteI agree that an intense and in-your-face player would not be able to change his spots as a manager. Billy Martin usually brought on an improvement in the play of the team initially but as his act worn on, the players tuned him out and he would be fired soon. I see Gibson getting production with intensity early on (and he had this effect on them at the end of last season, they were already playing near .500 ball with him by the end, hence why I had them on my radar as a dark horse) but if he don't moderate his personality, the team will similarly burn out and tune him out (good for us...).
I think Pill as 2B at best is an experiment that can happen next season at the MLB level and as utility guy. I would not want somebody who was relegated to 1B starting at 2B after maybe a month of playing there. Recipe for defensive disaster.
ReplyDeleteAnd, unfortunately, his MLE for past two seasons haven't been that good. I know there is a contingent in love with him, but they don't realize that age relative to league is an important factor to account for. Baseball Forecaster does account for age and here is his MLE for 2009 and 2010:
2009: .262/.302/.412/.714, 38 AB/HR (AA)
2010: .223/.252/.336/.588, 52 AB/HR (AAA)
Just think, if he could really field a middle infield position well, then wouldn't somebody have moved him there already? A power-hitting 2B is always much more valuable than a power-hitting 1B, particularly if they are hitting the same. Unfortunately, the power that got him a pro career (to go with his great defense at 1B) is not showing up enough to be a legit starting 1B, let alone 2B.
I think the Giants have to think that Franchez is gone for the season and make decisions that way. They seem to be, picking up Bill Hall immediately. Bad timing, as Jose Lopez was recently dropped by the Rockies and picked up on June 9th by Mets. If he had held out for a few more days, I think the Giants would have considered signing him and giving him at least some of the starts at 2B. He is a good hitter in that he avoids strikeouts well plus hit for power.
I have to think Bill Hall is the starting 2B but I don't see how he's going to hold the position. He strikes out too much, and as bad as his batting line with Houston looks, it is even worse if you account for his high BABIP this season. Unless he suddenly figures things out, like he did with Boston (perhaps he plays up - or down - with his teammates abilities), he's just a temporary stopgap there.
Meanwhile, I have to think they start trying out Tejada there in practice to see if he can acclimate himself to the position. If he is at least half decent, I think he and Hall will share 2B duties per Bochy gut whims.
Meanwhile, again, I think Sabean et al are combing DFAs for possibilities. I would have liked getting Scott Sizemore but the A's got him just before the injury, another case of bad timing. And too bad Andy LaRoche wasn't made a free agent, I would have liked to get a look at him at 2B for us (I think A's kept him after he passed through waivers). And too bad neither Culberson nor Noonan are showing much in AA, else they might get a look.
I have to think they will have to make a trade at some point. I trust that Sabean won't make a horrible trade, losing a player we want to keep, but I can see him accepting whoever we can get to start at 2B and seeing what happens.
I think long-shot is that if Panik just starts raking in minors like Brown did, they could be aggressive in promoting him and seeing what he can handle, as other teams have done with their top prospects. But they have never done that before, that I can recall, so this is unlikely, I think.
And yes, Rooooooll oooooon yoooou Beeeeeears!
ReplyDelete:^)
Issue for D-Backs right now is that their recent hot streak is related mainly to Collmenter, Duke, and Owings pitching like aces for the rest of the season. Collmenter, I can accept, but Zach Duke and Micah Owings are 28 and never showed such control as they have now, nor have they really pitched that well for an extended period in the majors, but have done that over short period before. They are too old to think both of the figured it out, once I can accept (hello, Vogelsong), but two?
ReplyDeleteOnce the two fade back and regress to their career mean, they should fall back to the pack with the other losers in our division.