Friday, July 1, 2011

Game Wrap 7/1/2011: Giants 4 Tigers 3

The Giants offense woke up too late to give Madison Bumgarner a W in another terrifically pitched game. BWeezy blew one Save then tried to blow another, but Jeremy Affeldt came on and held off the Hungry Tigers at the door. Key Lines:

Aaron Rowand- 3 for 5. BA= .250. Gamer has hit .290 over his last 10 games. As bad as the Giants offense has been, that qualifies as red hot!

Pablo Sandoval- 2 for 5, 2 2B. BA= .297. Sandoval is hitting .326 over his last 10 games and has a 12 game hitting streak. He looked pretty comfortable and confident at the plate tonight.

Nate Schierholtz- 2 for 4, BB. BA= .269. Nate is hitting .385 over his last 10 games and has even drawn 5 BB's in that span. The bases loaded walk in the 9'th might have been the best AB I've seen him have in the majors.

Brandon Crawford- 0 for 2, 3 BB. BA= .198. Crawford had some good AB's and saw a lot of pitches tonight. His OBP is about 100 pts higher than his BA which is an excellent walk rate. Similar to what we saw from Brandon Belt. Bodes well for the future, don't you think?

Bill Hall- 0 for 5. BA= .217. Hall left 10 runners on base tonight. He was added as DH at the last minute when Burrell was pulled with a "sore foot." Don't know what's going on but it seems like you could DH with a "sore foot." It may be about time to conclude that the Giants failed to catch lightning in a bottle with Hall and send hlm packing as soon as Fonty is read if not sooner. Thomas Neal and Francisco Peguero are both on the 40 man roster. I'd rather see one of them DH if Burrell can't go.

Chris Stewart- 1 for 4, 2B. BA= .196. Stewart started the winning rally and also threw out Austin Jackson trying to steal 3B. CStew has thrown out something like 7 of 14 runners trying to steal. The pitchers pitch noticeably better with him behind the plate. He's hitting .240 over his last 10 games and has an OBP about 80 pts higher then his BA which is quite good. Not sure there is better available on the trade market.

Madison Bumgarner- 7.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 9 K's. ERA= 3.65. Another sensational start for Bum. This one might be more impressive than the last one vs Cleveland. This one was on the road, against a better lineup and he did not have the late afternoon shadows helping him.

Won't talk about Wilson, but I don't think he's right.

I think there were some definite positives for the offense to take from this game. Pablo his hot. Nate is hot. Ross is steady. If they can get Huffy going, it might start to look like a major league lineup out there!

The Giants Win enabled them to extend their lead in the NL West to 3 games over the D'Backs who lost to the Oakland A's 5-4. The Rockies won big to remain 6.5 games behind. The Padres were blanked by the Seattle Mariners 6-0 to fall back into a last place tie, 10 games back, with the Dodgers who won their game against the Angels of Anaheim.

Barry Zito takes the mound tomorrow on 3 days rest facing Max Scherzer. Let's just say it's a very good thing the Giants won tonight.

7 comments:

  1. Bone spur in Burrell's foot acting up. Not good, that kind of thing can kick in randomly.

    Crawford RBOE'd, the 3 walks, and was responsible for all 3 outs in the last inning. Last walk was a 10 pitch battle. Hall made an out on 3 pitches after.

    Speaking of which...Hall seems to have very little going well for him at the moment. Of course, it is hard to get a feel for a guy in a short time, but if he has something, he isn't showing it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. pat told bochy that he had a bone spur flare up and couldnt run...cant dh if you cant run at all

    but it is a prob

    madbum was amazing...shut down one of the best hitting lineups in the al

    i like craw's plate discipline...he may not hit a lick this season...but he has it in him to be a solid 250-270 hitter, and with his d, that should keep him in the majors for a good long time....dude saves runs

    wilson may need a break

    hall is gone the second frodo gets recalled on monday...he is a nice guy, but he has stone hands and cant hit

    burriss will platoon with frodo...the right side will be fine

    peguero is ripping up eastern pitching...if the giants do decide to release pat, he would be a fine call up

    the way bochy and sabean are making it sound, doesnt look like belt gets called back till sept....the kid needs to work on some stuff in the minors...seems that he is ok with this

    honestly, i think with all the injuries, pitching hickups and everything else thrown at this team...they are doing fine

    and man...stewart has a gun...dont he

    ReplyDelete
  3. I was really excited when we first signed Hall. I thought he would be this years Burrell. However, I am about to lose it with his defense and stranding so many runners on base. I thought 8 was alot a week or so ago, but 10 that is pathetic. I would rather take my chances with anyone in AAA or AA than to see another Hall at bat. Peguero, H. Sanchez, or even the Fresno batboy but please no more Hall.

    ReplyDelete
  4. OK, I'll talk about Wilson. He is NOT right. No hop on his pitches. Sit him. Romo closes. Bochy, figure this out. Time has come.

    The only person putting ABs up there is Sandoval. Hitting with authority.

    Torres is not as far off as everyone fears. 2nd half will come for him.

    Agreed on Stewart. There is a comfort zone there. The Giants will weather his weak bat for his D and handling of the staff. No need to press for a catcher. Let it ride unless something falls in our laps.

    I'll say this: Giants' weak bats are strengthening the starting pitching. They are being tempered by this. They know they have to be good. The stress is building character.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kelly,

    Panda the only one giving ABS???

    Did you watch the game? Nate and Uncle Jesse both gave MULTIPLE, GREAT ABs. Granted, Panda is the offensive "Juggernaut" on this team, but don't diminish the quality ABS the Nate and Crawbaby have given.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Not to take anything away from Nate or Crawford. (Watching the game Sat, and Crawford just went YARD.) I think I should have been more careful with my words. Pablo is hitting with authority. He is not taking defensive ABs. He's driving the ball (like what Torres or Huff were doing last year). Crawford being patient and working the count (which I love) is not the same thing. Quality AB yes. But not hitting with authority.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I was going to post this earlier but didn't have time, had to visit mother-in-law in hospital (great news, not cancer, should fully recover).

    It would have sounded prescient then but oh well, since nobody has touched on this, I was wondering if Wilson losing his cool like that might get the offense pumped up and/or loosened up. He usually keeps his cool, but by such an open demonstration of his unhappiness of his poor performance, could it be leadership in getting the offense just as upset about how poorly they were doing?

    Of course, only one game, but just a thought I had.

    Giants pitching has not been just recently dealing with poor offensive support just this season, it has been for 4.5 seasons now, 6.5 if you count from 2005 and view 2006 as a temporary aberration. They have been honed by years of hand to mouth existence of the offense, and been taught by Bochy that they win or lose together, as a group, with no pointing of fingers, apparently.

    ReplyDelete