Thursday, August 18, 2011

Game Wrap 8/18/2011: Braves 1 Giants 0

This will be short. Another disheartening loss for the Giants as Tim Lincecum pitched another terrific game, but lost on 1 mistake pitch to Larry Wayne "Chipper" Jones. Meanwhile the Giants offense got shut down by rookie LHP Mike Minor and the Braves "Three Headed Monster" relief team of Eric O'Flaherty, Jonny Venters and Craig Kimbrel. Minor is a former first round draft choice by the Braves and is a good pitcher, but he did come into the game sporting a 4.84 ERA. Even a subpar offense ought to be able to scratch out a run or two off that. Key Lines:

Tim Lincecum- 7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 7 K's. ERA= 2.53. Timmy got Cained.

With the Loss, the Giants remained 2.5 games off the pace to the D'Backs in the NL West assuming the Phillies' lead stands up against the Dangerous D'Backs.

The Giants move on to Houston where Ryan Vogelsong faces Wandy Rodriguez in game 1 of a 3 game weekend series. After that, the Giants have 34 remaining games, 21 at home and 13 on the road. The only remaining games against teams with a winning record are the 6 games against the D'Backs. If the Giants can get a few of their injured players healthy they may not not be in terrible shape down the stretch. It's a lot of ifs, but the Giants faced much more daunting odds several times last season.



4 comments:

  1. Tough loss today but the series should have been a split if Wilson's doesn't blow Monday's game. Good teams overcome injuries, but losing a top run producer (Beltran), and your closer (Wilson) for an extended period would be a problem. They are still in this and the schedule turns favorable. The key is to get their players back healthy soon. DrB - If Josh Osich is healthy, can he become the Giants version of Mike Minor in 2 years? Mock drafts had him in the 1st round, but health set him back. Maybe too early to tell, but an interesting pitcher to keep an eye on..

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  2. what does it matter...it is apparent that the giant skipper has totally lost his mind

    knowing full well that this team can really only scratch out runs...instead of having cabrera bunt ross to third after 2 leadoff doubles, he has the guy (and his 220 ba) swing away....good job

    and hey...keeping huff in the 4 spot is still working out great

    its over...the fat lady has sung...the team is beat

    best pitching in over a decade gone to waste...thank god for last season

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  3. Hey Bacci !!

    "it's ain't over till it's over", I am sure that we will finish strong this road trip and that we'll keep going on during the next homestand.

    Beltran, Kepp, Huff, Panda, Schierholtz & al will produce and all our pitching staff will have a sub 1 ERA during the next month.

    We just need Huff to find a new rally thing and the baseball gods will come back in the orange & black side.

    I am half kidding

    Go Giants !!!

    GIP

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  4. Again, thanks for the comments everybody!

    Osich and Minor have different styles with Osich being more of a power pitcher and Minor more finesse. If fully healthy, I think Osich may have a higher ceiling, but of course that's a big if and there's a long way to go.

    Giving up an out to advance a runner from 2B to 3B is, statistically, about the dumbest thing a manager can do, so no criticism of Bochy from here THAT idea.

    It ain't over 'til it's over, Bacci. The road my be rough, but it's not impassable.

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