The Giants offense got some favorable bounces early and took full advantage while Barry Zito got some favorable bounces and some balls hit right at fielders and pitched 7 innings of shutout ball as the Giants threw down in game 1 of their key 3 game series with the Dodgers at AT&T Park. Key Lines:
Gregor Blanco- 2 for 4, BB. BA= .259. Blanco has been struggling a bit so it was good to see the leadoff guy get on base 3 times. Strangely that did not produce any Runs or RBI's.
Melky Cabrera- 2 for 5. BA= .351. Melky had been quiet for a couple of games. Good to see him getting base hits again.
Angel Pagan- 2 for 4, 2B, BB. BA= .299. Pagan and the Giants got a huge break in the first inning when his bounder hit the 1B bag and bounced high in the air over Juan Rivera's head for a double to drive in a run and set up Pablo's 2 run double.
Pablo Sandoval- 3 for 3, 2 2B, SF. Pablo seemed to have his timing and stroke back tonight. One double was roped down the RF line and the other was a high liner that caromed off the very top of the RF wall missing a HR by inches.
Hector Sanchez- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .282. Despite some pressure from fans and some in the press, Bochy made the right call to stick to his scheduled catcher rotation. The Giants are going to need Buster to have fresh legs for any kind of stretch run. Way too early to panic and over-use him now. Besides, The Hector is not exactly running up the white flag out there. A scare moment when Hector turned his head to field a pitch that looked like it was diving down and in but was fouled back off the side of his hockey style helmet/mask and sent plastic shards flying. Hector appeared to have some pain in the left ear and jaw. Hate to think what might have happened had he been wearing a conventional mask. Vin Scully couldn't figure out how it hit him in the ear, but the slo-mo replays clearly showed it hitting the side of the mask and shards flying. It probably felt like an extremely hard football head slap which I understand is not a lot of fun to be on the receiving end of.
Barry Zito- 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 4.00. Zito walked several leadoff batters and looked like the wheels could come off at any moment but with some BABIP luck and a big lead, he cruised to the QS and W. This was a huge win as the pitching matchups for this series did not appear to be at all favorable to the Giants and I thought a sweep by the Dodgers was a real possibility going in. That ain't gonna happen now!
George Kontos- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K. ERA= 1.29. I was thinking Kontos should finish the game, but Bochy probably wants to have him available tomorrow too, if need be.
Nate Eovaldi(Dodgers)- 5 IP, 10 H, 8 R, 1 BB, 1 K. ERA= 4.04. Eovaldi got some bad breaks early and his inexperience showed as he couldn't figure out how to stop the bleeding. Make no mistake, the Giants need to make hay while the sun shines with this kid because he has top of the rotation stuff and should be a good one as he gains experience.
With the win, the Giants move to 2 games behind the NL West leading Dodgers. The Dangerous D'Backs did not play and are now lurking 5 games back. The Giants hold a 2 game lead in the race for the top Wild Card playoff spot over the Braves and Pirates.
Ryan Vogelsong, the true Warrior Spirit takes his gameface to the mound against Clayton Kershaw tomorrow evening. Did you know that Vogey has lower ERA than Kershaw going in?
Go Giants! Beat LA!
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Right now, Sanchez is our best offensive weapon off the bench. Not to take anything away from him, but he's a rookie with not even a full year's work in AA or AAA. Again, not to take anything away from him, as he's a great player, but it does say something about our bench. I'd love to get another dependable bat (a la Burrell) to add a little more depth.
ReplyDeleteAlso, with Sanchez's play, at what point does he force more playing time (even if not until next year)? And when that time comes, how? I have a hard time seeing Posey give up catcher's duty this early in his career, and if he did it would require moving Belt. I suppose it's a good problem to have.
Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Sanchez is nice, but he's only hitting .282/.280/.388/.669, whereas the average NL catcher hits .250/.322/.387/.719. He is a great option and probably can start if we didn't have Posey for whatever reason, but with that batting line, he's not forcing anybody out of the starting catching position, he is just very handle to have around, just in case.
DeleteI think he or Posey will be used as a pretty major trading chip after the '13 season. The one who stays will be the starting catcher with ToJo or Susac stepping into the backup roll. Then, after probably 2014, the same will be done with the remaining 3 catchers, and we will be left with 2 of them (unless Belt falters or is traded, which moves Posey or ToJo to 1B).
DeleteHaving 4 highly rated YOUNG catchers in the system at the same time puts the org in a GREAT position!!
I don't think I'm getting ahead of myself. Sanchez is putting up good numbers for a kid who essentially made the jump to the ML/AAA from San Jose last year. I think his ability to hit like he has bodes well for his future. But that's not the point I'm trying to make. Rather, he can't be the bat we depend on off the bench, and it would be nice to pair his presence on the bench with someone with experience doing so. Nate has his moments, but he's a left. Arias, although very pleasant surprise this year, is more of a defensive replacement with the occasional ability to get a timely hit. Burriss, nah. Huff, ditto. So, despite Sanchez's ability, how do we make our bench stronger?
DeleteAnd speaking of Sanchez's ability, my second point was to acknowledge the potential he has offensively. At some point, that needs to be addressed (even if next year)...whether it be a position change for others in an effort to let him catch or using him as trade bait. Either way, if he continues to hit when given the chance, he'll force the issue.
Sanchez better learn how to take a walk. He has an OBP lower than his AVG
Deleteeh, walking has become way overrated, especially for hitters who are down in the 6,7,8 spots in the batting order.
Delete@calsnowskier
DeleteNo, Posey should not be traded after the 2013 season. That is crazy talk. No scout or expert has ever indicated that Hector Sanchez will ever come close to being the impact hitter that Posey is.
@DrB
While I don't agree that walks are way overrated, I do not think you want hitters who can't walk or having a seemingly inability to take a walk. It is pretty bad that his batting average is higher than his OBP.
Sorry TK. It is NOT pretty bad that Sanchez' BA is higher than his OBP. Who would you rather have on the roster. Sanchez and his no walks or Eli Whiteside or CStew? Personally, I'll take Sanchez. He's doing just fine, thank you.
DeleteI would strongly consider trading Posey at some point rather than signing him to a big long term contract. I'm not going to put a time on it and it would need to be the right package coming back.
While Sanchez is not currently a replacement for Buster he can grow into that player. He actually had terrific walk rates early in his minor league career. Rookies are not going to get close calls from umps. Gotta be aggressive. He'll start drawing some walks as umps and opposing pitchers start to respect him more.
Lucky, As the trade deadline comes closer, I hope that Sabean will look at ways to improve the bench.. Right now, they have Sanchez and Nate as good pinch hitting options.. As for Huff, it depends if Bochy sees him as a contributor as a part time starter and pinch hitter in the 2nd half.. He's an experienced veteran who should be able to handle it.. His situation sort of reminds me of Renteria in 2010 and look how he came alive in the playoffs, so you never know...
DeleteThe logical position to upgrade via trade market is 2nd base, but Theriot is playing well.. Its early, but I've read some articles were players like Darwin Barney, Jed Lowrie, and a favorite of mine Kelly Johnson might be available in trades in 1 month.. They should also look at outfielders, preferably right handed hitters, but I haven't read who might be available.
In the near term, I don't see Sanchez being anymore then a backup catcher to Posey. He's not going to play 1st base because they have Belt starting at 1st base with Posey backing him up.. The Giants are in a good position to let this play out further as long as each player continues to be productive.
LG
Eh, for Zito, the baseball gods taketh away, the baseball gods giveth today. Of course, a big lead also helps calms him down and allow him to pitch without stress or fear.
ReplyDeletePablo hopefully is now starting to get his power back after his surgery. Right about the right time as he did last season, in terms of time since surgery. Last year he went on a streak of, like, 9 games with extra-base hits. We could certainly use that in these series this week, week and a half.
Hector doesn't seem to know hitting unless there are runners on base, then he's aces. He's an RBI machine so far this season, 21 RBI in only 103 ABs, and he's done a lot of his hitting 6, 7, 8.
FYI, Minor League Baseball Analyst don't think much of Eovaldi. At best #3 starter or a reliever, "Can be effectively wild, but is living on borrowed time if his command doesn't improve." And looking at his stats, while his walks is much improved, it is still high at 3.3 BB/9, while his K/9 is a lousy 5.3 K/9. Combine that with a high H/9 and his 4-ish ERA is a lucky figure, he should be where MiLBA says he is, a #3 starter (mid-to-high 4 ERA). He will have to improve greatly to become a top of rotation guy.
Man, I don't know how the D-backs do it, but they are doing it again this season. Both Collmenter and Hudson goes bad, plus Ian Kennedy is struggling, and they find more in the bushes like Wade Miley to kick it up 10 notches. And Goldschmidt continues to hit well despite his horrid strikeout rate, and they are doing OK without Drew and Young, as Kubel acquisition pays off, as well as oldies like Overbay and Cody Ransom!
The good news is that Miley almost certainly cannot continue his great June, but if Kennedy finally clicks, he'll pick up the baton and keep the team going. I'm getting vibes of like how the Rockies used to linger for a while then suddenly get hot and take over the division, charging right by everyone. Luckily, with our rotation and improving lineup (Belt! Sandoval!) we should still be in the mix as well, they should not leave us standing.
I guess I don't agree with Minor League Baseball Analyst, whoever they are. Eovaldi can hit 96 on the radar gun and has a nice little curveball that he can drop in for strikes, although I thought the ump was being a bit generous on some of those. I didn't see much of a changeup so he can work on that. To me, a kid his age who can hit a legitimate 96 on the gun has a high ceiling, no matter what the stats say.
DeleteThat is the minor league companion publication to Baseball Forecaster.
DeleteI think the point of their assessment is that they don't think Eovaldi can get his high velocity under control enough to not walk a lot. Also, despite his velocity now, he's striking out at a rate similar to Rueter in his best years, 5.3 K/9 is seriously bad.
But he has the tools to raise the K/9. With young players, you have to look at what they can become, not necessarily what they are now. You can't always do that staring at a stat line.
DeleteOK, just passing on information from a reputable source.
DeleteHere is what BA noted: "His key going forward will be to throw more strikes. Some scouts believe Eovaldi fits best as a two-pitch, late-inning reliever, but LA will keep him a starter." They also noted a flaw in his mechanics, "He has a wrist warp in his arm action that has led to inconsistency, but he did a better job in 2011 of staying over the rubber longer and allowing his arm to clear, helping his fastball command."
And both publications note the skill you note of velocity, so yes, that is a plus plus skill for him, but he appears to have a lot of hurdles he need to make in order to achieve that potential. And I didn't deny that skill, I'm just noting a reputable publication assessment of him plus noted some negatives that he will need to solve before he can reach the potential you talk of.
Nice win. I expect we'll get a free pass tonight, as Donnie Baseball will order Kershaw to plunk either Melky or Posey in retaliation for that creampuff Zito hbp of Ethier.
ReplyDeleteSandoval's hits were quite nice, good to see him swinging better. Zito pitched to contact, and stopped walking fools after the 2nd, nice rebound game for him. And Melky decided to continue his BABIP rampage! Those were some true BABIP hits last night, the bloop special.
I like this team a lot. Theriot has stabilized the 2B mess, Crawford has stopped yipping (should I even say anything - watch, 2 errors tonight) and Belt is breaking out. Good to see. Vogelsong starts shaky, lets hope he can button it down early, then it gets rough. Should be a great game tonight.
I like this team a lot too. Sanchez has been a good replacement for Posey when he needs a blow, particularly in the RBI department, as you noted the MI is stabilizing, and the corner IF - Belt and Sandoval - are breaking out just as our OF - Cabrera, Blanco, Pagan - start to return to earth.
DeleteWow, looking at June, if not for Belt breaking out, our June would look pretty bleak, only he and Posey have been hitting well, plus Pablo has high OBP (but low SLG), but even Melky is cool - .299/.315/.414/.728. Oh, and while Theriot has cooled, he still gets on base: .319/.350/.362/.712. But, oy, Blanco is hitting .220/.283/.363/.645 and Pagan .256/.307/.329/.636. That's why Schierholtz has been seeing more playing time lately, .233/.361/.333/.694.
But despite all that bad hitting, the offense has scored 4 or more runs in June in 14 of 23 games, which is pretty good. And that despite not hitting better with RISP. That combined with higher ERA in June (though perhaps lower RA due to less errors?), should spell a tough month, but the Giants are having their best month so far this season, 14-9.
Vogelsong! Just one more for the sweep that you were worried would be done to us, but now we have Tim vs. Billingsley. Amazingly, as they were rising through the minors in parallel, Billingsley was rated higher than Cain all the way up. And I suppose he did start out better, but he has regressed why Cain has improved steadily over the years.
ReplyDeleteUnbelievable, I agree with you that a sweep by LA was a possibility and a loss of the series was also a strong possibility, given Zito and Lincecum, and Kershaw vs. Vogelsong. And inconceivable that the Giants could possibly sweep. Yet Vogelsong continues to show that he's the man, beating Kershaw twice now, whereas Kershaw shut us down previously, I'm thinking of Dave Stewart now. And Zito rebounded - helped by early and often scoring - and now we are a rejuvenated Lincecum away from a once impossible sweep.
Go Giants!