What looked like, for 7 innings like another triumphant pitching performance by Ryan Vogelsong crumbled into dust along with the Giants hopes of repeating as World Series Champions in a 4 run 8'th inning by the Dangerous D'Backs. Key Lines:
Cody Ross- 1 for 4, HR(12). BA= .232. Ross led off the bottom of the first with a dinger. The Giants managed just 2 hits the entire rest of the game.
Ryan Vogelsong- 7.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 2.62. Vogelsong was magical for 7 innings. He was getting a sharp curveball over for strikes and that made his excellent fastball all the more deadly. He started elevating his pitches and hanging the breaking stuff in the 8'th inning and the D'Backs struck, and struck hard. Still, a nice performance by Vogelsong. It's not his fault the offense can't hit its way out of a paper bag. He got a well deserved standing O as he came off the field after being lifted in the 8'th.
The Loss dropped the Giants 7 games behind the D'Backs. I can't believe there is anybody out there who still thinks the Giants are in this thing. It's over! Wait 'till next year!
If anybody cares, the Giants travel to San Diego to take on the Pesky Padres with Madison Bumgarner facing Tim Stauffer in game 1.
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had a lot of issues with today's game, beyond the lack of offense,
ReplyDeletevogie did give up the dinger, but the second hit was an if to cabrera, that a good ss couldve turned into an out...dont understand why the kids were brought up to sit...craw couldve turned it
dont get at all what happened in the 7th...dont understand why torres was used and not ford or manny...dont understand why belt wasnt bunting (neither did he) dont understand why a ph wasnt used for whitey (bochy said, cuz they wouldve walked the ph????)
season was over yesterday...but seems that bochy is already dreaming about shark fishing
Well Bacci, I disagree with just about all of that. Crawford makes that play only in your dreams. You just have a vendetta against any decisions that Sabes or Bochy make and dream up stuff like that to justify it.
ReplyDeleteI would have pinch run Ford instead of Torres, but in the end it didn't make a difference anyway. Having Belt bunt would have been a terrible decision and also would not have won the game. Belt inexplicably was first pitch swinging at a a FB up an in, right where the biggest hole in his swing is, and it wasn't even a strike. Popped it up. The kid still has a lot to learn. He's trying to be more aggressive, but doesn't really know how yet.
doc,
ReplyDeletegotten into some of the narcotics from the pharmacy?
ive seen craw make some amazing defensive plays, he wouldve turned it...fact
and what the hell are you talking about? man on second, no outs, you bunt him to third and work a sac fly...thats a terrible decision?
according to steward, belt thought he would be called to bunt, wasnt and then pressed, with the weight of the world on the kids shoulders...that is what happens when you keep sending a kid down when he fails
soon, you gotta get off sabean and bochy's jocks..they are not infallible
ive been watching bochy do this stuff since sd
and it never works
Worked last year.
ReplyDeleteHow soon we forget.
ive seen craw make some amazing defensive plays, he wouldve turned it...fact
ReplyDeleteBy definition this is speculation, not a fact.
Drb, I'll follow the team till the end, no matter where they are in the standings, since its baseball season.. Lets see what the kids can do soon. Its been the best two year ride for me as a Giants fan since they won the WS in 2010, so I'm ok with this season.. The odds for repeating as WS Champs were against them anyway. I think they can contend in 2012 if they get everybody back healthy and add the right pieces.
ReplyDeleteNot sure I understand the controversy regarding not having Belt bunt the runner over in the 7th inning. Yes, I agree bunting is the good fundamental play in that situation. Belt is slumping and inexperienced which may be the best reason of all to bunt.. Is Belt even a good bunter since I'm sure he's not asked to do it alot? MLB 1st baseman rarely bunt the runner over. Aubrey Huff has 1 sacrifice bunt his entire career, who can forget game 5 of the WS. I can't imagine Ryan Howard or Freddie Freeman being asked to lay down a bunt in that situation. It would be different if someone like Darren Ford was hitting.
So is Huff going to turn it around? Sorry Doc, but Crawford gets that... Cabrera should not be a SS anymore due to lack of range and anticipation. Didn't care for the not going for a sac fly run.
ReplyDeleteNow are the Giants smart enough to check out the youngsters for the rest of the season or we going to have to watch this worthless bunch of has beens???
Runner on second, no outs, lefthanded batter at the plate. The best strategy, by far, is for the LH batter to pull the ball, hopefully for a hit, but if not, you still advance the runner. Statistically, bunting and giving up the out is less likely to score even one run in that situation. Belt didn't execute.
ReplyDeleteAs I said in the Beltran playing RF discussion. It's easy for us fans to sit back and say So and So would have made that play. It was a tough play on a pretty fast runner. The play was probably over by the time Cabrera got to the ball. From where the ball was hit, I just don't think Crawford gets there any quicker.
I'm not a huge fan of the bunt, but in a game like that one, a bunt was precisely what was called for (I completely agree with Carl Steward). Now, whether or not Belt can accomplish that is another question - maybe somebody like Bumgarner should have PH for Belt. "Sacrificing an out" is something that good offenses have the luxury of worrying about, but not this team. The Giants need to scratch and claw for every run they can get.
ReplyDeleteI didn't see the play at SS, but why Cabrera is playing defense after he's had a couple of AB's is mystifying to me. Crawford is the future (near-term, anyway), not Cabrera.
Let's see if Bochy understands that the Giants need to get the young guys some experience now in anticipation of next year.
Well, I don't agree with Carl Steward on this one. There are more ways to advance a runner than bunting, which almost guarantees an out in the process. The Giants, of all teams, need less outs in their offense, not more.
ReplyDeleteI agree with playing the kids from here on out. I will be disappointed if they don't.
Bunting can certainly be a good strategy if used in the right situations and with the right batter at the plate. In yesterday's situation I agree with Dr. B that with Belt at the plate a groundball to the right side or a deep fly ball would have been something more likely for him to hit. To ask Belt to bunt would be setting him up for almost guaranteed failure. As it turns out, poor pitch selection pretty much resulted in failure anyway. He'll learn and he'll be better next season.
ReplyDeleteAnd while I would rather have seen more of the Professor at short these past few weeks, there is absolutely no guarantee he would have made the plays that Cabrera failed to make (including the botched DP that sunk Timmy vs the Cubs). While Crawford may have gotten to the balls and fielded them cleanly he may still not have made accurate throws. He is definitely the superior fielder but no SS in the history of the game is a stone cold lock to make any given play. Bacci, I understand you are frustrated... we all are. We can only hope to see more of the young players in September... as a true fan that in itself is something enjoyable and something to look forward to.
Just so I am not misunderstood, I would much rather see the Giants still in the race, but given that it is now not realistic, I do look forward to seeing our prospects perform. It is looking like this team is going to need a major overhaul, so we might as well take a look at what we have on hand in order to better assess what we need to do in the offseason.
ReplyDeleteI have been a defender of Brian Sabean over the last 3 years or so. I will say that starting with this offseason, the Giants are entering a new phase of the rebuild. The young starting pitchers are starting to get expensive. A whole raft of young position players are starting to get close to breaking into the majors. Sabean will have some tough decisions about who to keep, who to trade away, which positions to fill from within, which ones need to be filled by trade or FA. He will have opportunities to decide whether to trade impending free agents for even more young talent or sign them long term.
ReplyDeleteHow he handles these next 2-3 seasons will determine what the Giants future looks like for many years to come and ultimately what kind of grade fans like me give him for his tenure as GM.
So far, he's been the most successful GM the Giants have had since John McGraw, but he's had his setbacks and mistakes along the way. This is his opportunity to raise his stature to being one of the great GM's of all time or just another good one.
Hmm... that's pretty serious stuff, huh? Maybe I should write a whole post about it!
doc,
ReplyDeletereally hope that you watched today's game...then comeback and tell me how craw would not have turned that if into an out
Come on, Bacci! Leave it alone already. Crawford would NOT have made the play you are referring to yesterday. End of story!
ReplyDeleteBTW, yeah, I watched the game today. All 9 innings!
ReplyDeleteDoc, I am a Sabean supporter, believing he has done an excellent job with the team, particularly given the constraints he has from ownership. My worry is that his 'win now' mopde, whcih is always in place, will not allow him to develop/evaluate the young players.
ReplyDeleteFor example, I would like to see them keep only Schierholz and Torres from this team's outfielders, then play a rotating cast of 5 or 6 of our best performers in the system and see if any of them can grab a job. (And I don't include G Brown, I think he needs another year). I don't see the point in bringing Ross, Burrell, or any other FA or current MLB OF.
Allfrank
I think the Giants will need to bring in one veteran OF. I don't think it realistic to think that an OF of Nate, Torres and something cobbled together from Ford, Belt, Christian and Graham is a MLB caliber OF.
ReplyDeleteI think they do need to try to win now while they still have the great pitching core while simultaneously continuing to build for the future.
My first choice would be to try to sign Beltran for no more than 3 years. Coco Crisp on a 1 or 2 year deal to play CF might be an option. Another guy flying under the radar is Laynce Nix, but he can pretty much only play LF so doesn't fit the mold of what Sabean usually goes after.