I've said it before. I'll say it again. When you get down to the bedrock of this Giants team, you get to one name: Matthew Thomas Cain. In the NLCS last year, Bruce Bochy altered the pitching rotation to ensure that Cain would pitch in San Francisco thought by many to be a concession that Cain and his flyball tendencies were a risk in the bandbox that is Citizen's Bank Park only made worse by the extreme left-handed lean of the Phillies lineup. Tonight, Cain took the mound in that very same bandbox ballpark against an even more lefthanded lineup and proved that last year's NLCS performance in San Francisco was neither a fluke nor just a product of his home ballpark. He did not allow a run until the 7'th inning when the Giants had a 2 run lead and that run was unearned! That flyball tendency? Pffft! Cainer only got 1 K in this one but his GO/AO was 11/6 negating the HR risk while still maintaining his remarkable HR/Flyball ratio. Key Lines:
Offense: The Giants mustered just 6 hits but 4 of them were XBH's: Doubles by Keppinger, Nate and Huff plus a triple by Rowand.
Matt Cain- 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K. ERA= 2.91. What more can I say? Cain just has so many ways he can get it done now. He is a complete pitcher!
With the Win, the Giants maintain their 3 game lead in the NL West over the Dangerous D'Backs who edged the Pathetic Padres 4-3. The Reeling Rockies topped the Desperate Dodgers 3-1 to remain 11.5 games behind in 3'rd place while the Dodgers dropped to 13 games behind the leaders. The Pathetic ones are now 16 games behind in the NL West cellar.
Tim Lincecum is apparently feeling better and is scheduled to take the mound tomorrow against Kyle Kendrick and Carlos Beltran should be in RF hitting in the 3 hole! Go Giants!
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Going to be tough for opposing managers to play with pitching match-ups, given the fact that the Giants now have two switch hitters in the heart of the lineup (panda and Beltran). The presence of Beltran in the lineup will probably put some pressure off of the rest of the guys like Ross or Huff, which would allow them stay within themselves and not over think or over try.
ReplyDeleteHow would the outfield setup be like? I hear Beltran will be starting in RF. Would this cut playing time from Nate? Though his avg is now .283, he's been coming into his own.
It looks like Nate moves to LF and Ross is the odd man out with Rowand and Torres still platooning CF.
ReplyDeleteAgreed on the switch-hitting thing. It makes pitching matchups close to impossible for opposing teams.
i hope beltran rethinks his want to play in rt...especially at the belle
ReplyDeletewould hate to lose nate's d
nate avg is exactly where it should be...he is never gonna be a 300 hitter...always around 280...but with some pop
im thinking that hall gets dfa
pat stays (cheap vet bat off the bench...with playoff xp)
they will keep belt up...although i really didnt want to see the kid come off the bench
5 more days till kroon makes another opt out decision...figure he is gonna just wait out till the sept callup...giants are gonna want pen arms to rest the guys who will be doing the dealing during the post
Yeah, I'm hoping you're right, Bacci. I'd like to see Burrell stay. And I'd like to see Kroon in a Giants uni, if only for September.
ReplyDeleteAlso, love to see the Giants keep Nate in right. He's the best man for the job. Is it going to hurt Beltran's ego to play left? Also, couldn't the Giants cover a Beltran in CF flanked by Ross & Nate?
Been calling out Wilson for being off all season. Last couple of performances say he's getting back to it.
The problem with a September callup for Marc Kroon is he is not on the 40 man roster. Someone would have to go.
ReplyDeleteI think, morally, the Giants have to do everything possible to et Kroon a Septemer call up. There is dead weight on the roster that can be DFA'd (hi, Hinshaw). Sometimes, you just have to do the right thing, even if it isn't neccesarilynthe right BASEBALL thing.
ReplyDeleteyup, hall dfa
ReplyDeleteand burriss is likely the odd man out...to return in a month
as for getting kroon on the 40, gotta dfa hinshaw
manny sent down...makes sense
ReplyDeleteguy needs at bats and needs a month of playing different positions...will be back in sept
gotta bring kroon up in sept...guy has been great pr for the org...hinshaw can be dropped...no one is gonna grab him
I saw on MLBTR that the Giants have talked to the Dodgers about Furcal. (I suggested that here a few days ago.)
ReplyDeleteThe Giants should be able to get Furcal for next to nothing. C- prospect or less. And the Dodgers should pick up a good portion of his salary. They just want him gone and to start playing Dee Gordon.
We'd risk next to nothing, and it probably wouldn't work out. (You know, a Bill Hall kind of thing until Tejada gets back.) But it's worth the risk.
Furcal started slow when he came off the DL in July, but he's been swinging the bat better this past 5 or 6 games.
I don't think the Giants have a moral obligation to Marc Kroon. IMO, he has not pitched well enough in Fresno to justify opening a roster spot for him. What about a guy like Matt Yourkin who has pitched his butt off for Fresno for two seasons? What about a Danny Otero who has patiently worked his way up from the lowest minors one step at a time? What about an Eric Surkamp who might come in handy against a LH batter or two? Brett Pill? EdGone? Tyler Graham? What about Waldis Joaquin who refused a waiver claim by the ChiSox so he could stay with the Giants WHO HAD JUST WAIVED HIM? I just don't see that Kroon has a leg up on any of those guys just because he makes for great TV on Showtime.
ReplyDeletegod...no furcal....small sample sizes mean nothing
ReplyDeleteand you are right doc...there are lots of guys who deserve the sept callup
otero will be in the pen mix next season...i have a feeling they may want him to shut down at the end of august
i thought surkamp was on the 40
joaquin would be nice too
look...sabean may still deal for a catcher...so this could all be moot...as he will have to use a pen arm or 2 to get him
the one thing that i really like...players want to come to this org....couldnt say that 10 years ago
Just my understanding of the Kroon thing was he was OK with retiring. He didn't want to go back to the minors. And Bochy kind of talked him into it. You know, with the tease of joining a playoff team mid-season. "Come along for the ride." Just my take.
ReplyDeleteDoc, you'd know better than I do how he's pitching (I'm going on numbers only), but it doesn't seem that he's pitched that poorly.
There seems to be room for him in September along with, you know, a dozen other guys.