Monday, July 18, 2011

Game Wrap 7/18/2011: Giants 5 Dodgers 0

On the pregame show of the Dodgers' TV broadcast, Steve Lyons and the bozo broadcast partner proclaimed that the Dodgers had the advantage in the series because of the pitching matchups. Well, Ryan Vogelsong, the man who didn't want to be a Dodger, had something to say about that with yet another sensational start to shut out the Dodger for 6.2 IP. The bullpen made the whitewashing stand up. The 8'th inning was especially fun to watch as Jeremy Affedt absolutely abused Andre Ethier and the Ramon Ramirez came in and duplicated that feat facing Matt Kemp. I think the Dodgers knew they were beaten after that. Oh, great to see Joe Montana and the wife out at the game. Not sure what he was hollering at Matt Kemp, who was in the on-deck circle, but I hope it was some good trash talk. Key Lines:

Pablo Sandoval- 3 for 4, HR(9). BA= .310. Vin Scully commented on Sandoval singling to left and hitting the HR to RF saying "That shows he's a good hitter." Uh Vinnie, thanks for letting us all in on that one! You know what, Vinnie? He's a pretty good fielder too. Pablo was a vacuum at 3B tonight fielding one hot groundball after another and turning them into easy outs.

Nate Schierholtz- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .291. Another productive game for Nate at the Plate.

Cody Ross- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .268. Ross drove the stake throught Billingsley's heart with a 2 run double up the gap in right-center splitting the OF's right down the middle. Maybe Huffy and he should switch places in the lineup? The L-R-L of Nate, Ross and Huff works too.

Ryan Vogelsong- 6.2 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 2.02. Had to be a huge thrill for the guy who dreamed of being a Giant and who didn't want to be a Dodger to take on the rivals his home park. He was going up against a pretty good pitcher in Billingsley too. Vogey came out on fire retiring the first 8 batters he faces and should have had Billingsley struck out on a 2-2 pitch that the ump somehow thought was a ball. He took it into the 7'th before running out of gas and allowing 2 baserunners with 2 outs. Affeldt added to the drama with a walk to load the bases but then got the 3'rd out on a GB to Sandoval. Affeldt came back out to abuse Ethier in the 8'th before turning it over to Ramirez to finish out the blanking of the Dodgers.

Miguel Tejada left the game early with a lower abdominal strain that looked pretty bad. I'm guessing he's hitting the DL. Time for Crawford to step it up.

With the Win, the Giants maintained their 3.5 game NL West lead on the Dangerous D'Backs who topped the BrewCrew 3-0 behind Tomahawk Boy. The Reeling Rockies slipped to 10.5 games out with a 7-4 loss to ATL. The Dodgers fell back to 13.5 back and the idle Padres slipped another 0.5 games down to 14.5 games behind the leaders.

Madison Bumgarner takes the mound tomorrow night against fireballer Rubby De La Rosa. I wonder if Steve Lyons still thinks the Dodgers have the advantage in pitching matchups?

3 comments:

  1. Panda's homerun was impressive squaring up a high inside fastball.. He threw perfect strikes to 1st base after fielding ground balls. He looks like an improved player even from his steller rookie season. It was good to see Ross getting that 2 run double to right center field. It might be time to trade for a middle infielder due to Tejada's injury.. Jaime Carroll anyone?

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  2. Would like to see brett pill called up and see what he can do since tejada will hopefully go to dl.

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  3. Eh. Let's give Old Vin a pass on Sandoval. Vinny has a good voice and is just too damn old. Doesn't even travel with the Dodgers most the time these days.

    As for Pablo, he really is playing some great baseball. With only 230 AB's, he's already amassed a 3.2 WAR and a UZR of 11+, so even sabermetrics are loving him.

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