Sunday, July 3, 2011

Game Wrap 7/3/2011: Tigers 6 Giants 3

Ordinarily, I'd be pleased as punch with a 4-3 road trip and an extension of the division lead, but those 3 games that were lost were all very winnable. Today was another one. Ryan Vogelsong did a good job of battling his command demons and pitched another QS, but the rest of the team seemed a bit flat after last night's rain delayed blowout. The bullpen poured gasoline on the fire and Miguel Tejada made a crippling error on a throw that should have ended the 7'th inning with the lead intact. Key Lines:

Ross and Nate had 2 hits each. Ross made an error in LF that cost another unearned run. The offense had a couple of opportunities to break the game open but line drives went directly into fielders' gloves.

Ryan Vogelsong- 6.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 2.13. It's a testament to how far Vogey has come that this seems like a disappointing start for him. Still, he battled very gamely against the errors in the field and his own shaky command. If this is an off day for him, he'll be OK going forward. Nice that Bochy put him on the All-Star squad. IMO, Madbum deserves to go too. That one bad inning against the Twins is probably what kept him out.

The Giants will likely maintain their 3 game lead in the NL West as the D'Backs are trailing the A's 7-1 late. The Rockies have already lost a slugfest to KC 16-8 and the Padres have also lost. The Dodgers play later against the Angels.

The Giants come home for the last 7 games leading up to the All-Star Break. Tim Lincecum starts off a 4 gamer against the Pesky Padres against Clayton Richard in a 2 PM game tomorrow.

4 comments:

  1. the heat got to vsong, or else bochy wouldve left him out there

    he has had a great first half...and if he can figure out what has been bothering him mechanically the past couple of starts...should have a winning season

    the guys left way too many on with less than 2 outs....song shouldve had a comfortable lead to work with

    the error by miggs was pathetic...all the time in the world and he threw the ball in the dirt

    if pablo is gonna be the backup at first, they need to get him reps digging balls out

    both rowand and nate were robbed of sure hits

    had the pen done its job on the road trip, giants could easily have gone 7-0

    madbum is gonna have many as games...no biggie

    you should watch vsong's postgame on csn...he was a bit worried that his wife would spill the beans on twitter

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  2. Just gotta to be able to pick'em out of the dirt! Put him at 3B for a career and move on. Now it has to be Belt to make the difference with Hector as the last hope.

    Being 3 games ahead and timing their loses with the two challengers helps.

    This is some kind of team. Remember last year the bullpen changed dramatically over the course of the year... Still like our guys, though...

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  3. One more thought: I'm not sure if Burriss was bunting for a base hit or to sacrifice in the first inning with Rowand at 2B. If it was for a base hit, it was a poor attempt. If you swing away in that situation, you just might get a single or even a double and not only drive in the run but get another runner on base. If you at least make contact, there is a good chance the runner advances anyway. Just think you are giving up a lot when you bunt there with only a marginal advantage in return.

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  4. I am meh about the possibility of going 7-0 on the road trip. The bullpen has been so shut down all season, I can overlook the few lapses over this road trip since we ended up 4-3, which is good for a road trip. The best teams end the season around or slightly above .500 on the road.

    I think MadBum deserved to go too, hard for Bochy to push for so many people in the rotation into the AS game, and yeah, I agree, that Twins blowup probably costed him the stats for Bochy to justify all four.

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