Ryan Vogelsong was nails to today against a Rangers' offense that leads MLB in multiple categories. The Giants put up a persistant offense taking advantage of some poor fielding and the result was a nice win on a sunny day at AT&T Park. Key Lines:
Gregor Blanco- 2 for 5. BA= .291. In addition to solidifying the leadoff spot in the lineup, Blanco does a lot of other little things well like covering running in from the OF to cover bases and stopping in his tracks on the bases to give a runner time to score. What a nice find by the Giants!
Pablo Sandoval- 1 for 4. BA= .313. I'm not sure what all the fuss is about with Pablo's weight. He's not small, but he never has been and never will be. I don't see any ballooning weight going on. He looked a bit too amped at the plate early on but had a nice single up the middle to drive in an insurance run and handled all the plays nicely at 3B looking quite spry in the process.
Angel Pagan- 2 for 3, 2B, BB. BA= .320. Pagan also made a nice running catch in left-center on day when the sun was giving OF's fits.
Brandon Belt- 0 for 4. BA= .228. Belt hit the ball hard a couple of times and is a magician at first base.
Nate Schierholtz- 2 for 4, 2B, 3B. BA= .245. Nate looked terrible in his first 2 AB's, but put up a battle against a tough LH reliever. You could see him gaining confidence as that AB went along and he finally got ahold of one and drove it off the brick wall in Triples Alley for a, well, a triple! Later he poked a ground rule double down the 3B line and made a couple of nice catches in RF.
Ryan Vogelsong- 7.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 3 K's, GO/AO= 8/8. Not much more to say about Vogey. We've kind of come to expect this type of game from him. Rangers are a good, good lineup. Ryan puts on a clinic every game he pitches on how to use the fastball in 3 forms with average FB veliocity to dominate hitters. 4 seamer up in the zone. 2 seamer down low. Cutter to jam LH hitters and make RH hitters roll it over. His use of those 3 pitches is reflected in the even groundball/flyball ratios.
The Dodgers jumped out in front of Seattle with Kershaw on the mound, so gotta think the lead will stay at 4 games. 'The Giants currently lead the Mets for the final Wild Card playoff spot by 1.5 games.
Tim Lincecum faces Alexi Ogando in the final game of the series tomorrow afternoon.
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mrs v might as well start packing for kc right now...vogey has the 3rd best era in the nl...
ReplyDeletedont get nate. the skills are there...the talent is there...and then he goes on those long cold stretches
nice play by belt....he might as well give up trying to hit dingers and just concentrate on line drives, like everyone else
pretty tired of the beat, booth and every other guy reminding us that the giants aint hitting dingers...this team will win with speed and line drives....screw the claw babies and their power bats....good pitching shuts those bats down...speed just needs to get on base
Yup, this team is not going to out slug anybody, but they will outpitch most if they get on base, drive the ball into the gaps, take the extra base and steal a few.
Deletedoc,
Deletedont you think its kinda strange that the giants werent the ones to draft feldman...he is the kinda pitcher that they usually go for in the later rounds
know he has been having a rough year...but he has some very good pitches
and he is out of csm...where the org has a pipeline
There are so many teams drafting and so many draft eligible players, the probability of any single player being drafted by a given team is miniscule.
DeleteBelt just needs to get the HR monkey off his back. The longer his drought continues, the harder I think it becomes for him to relax up at the plate. Its gotta be hard to see that guys with less playing time (Pill and Hector Sanchez) have more HRs than him. I hope he gets that first HR soon so he doesn't have to constantly be reminded he hasn't hit a HR yet.
ReplyDeleteHere's a thought: A lot of people use interleague play records to beat NL fans over the head that the AL is a better league. Well, Dan Brown over on Extra Giants posted the Giants interleague record since the start- 126-118. Take THAT AL fans!
ReplyDeleteRe: Pablo's Weight. Do you remember your classic post at McC?
ReplyDelete"Yikes!! Did anyone see the picture of Pablo Sandoval? OMG!! Talk about the Pillsbury Doughboy! That kid isn't just overweight. He's seriously obese! OMG!! My hands won't stop shaking! His listed Ht/Wt is 5'11, 180 lbs. BA has him at 210 lbs. I guarantee you he's quite a bit heavier than that. There is no way, NO WAY a kid who looks like that is ever going to play in the big leagues."
http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2005/9/22/193038/302#987255
LOL. Posted with good intentions - all in fun. Love your blog.
Yeah, I remember that. There was a kid who went by the handle of Kenshin over there who was a pre-med student who wanted to know if I thought he had metabolic syndrome. LOL!
DeleteI remember seeing Pablo play when he first came up to San Jose. Folks may have a hard time believing this, but he was way bigger then than he is now. I remember being surprised at how agile he was at that size. He was still kind of scuffling at the plate then. Next time I saw him play was in San Bernardino. He hit one of the longest HR's I've ever seen off James McDonald who was in the Dodgers' organization at the time. That was the moment I knew he was something special.
The other thing that stood out when I saw him play in person was how much fun he looked like he was having out there.
That's why I love going to minor league games and doing a little of my own scouting. You see things up close that you can't see in a batting line, pictures or videos.
Yes, direct observation tells you about possibilities and limitations. Reminds me of one particular individual who wrote off Pablo's chances at 3B based on his 64 chances in the sally league. But for those who could appreciate the significance of his agility and soft hands, we knew he had a chance to do well there.
DeleteOn the flip side, Gillaspie was exposed pretty quickly as inadequate at 3B. In the minors, a weakness might not be routinely exploited if it does not correspond to what an opponent is trying to develop, i.e. players working on contact are not going to exploit Gillaspie inability to handle bunts. At the major league level, where the focus is on winning, every weakness is exploited. And, of course, players at the major league level have the talent to repeatedly attack any weakness, particularly pitchers in attacking holes in swings.
I remember the first time I saw Gillaspie play one night up in High Desert. I was sitting with Opshuns(AKA Tacklebox) and we could both see it. He just wasn't a very good defensive 3B and did not appear to have the tools to get much better. I think he has polished his defensive game up a bit since then, but I don't think it's still any great shakes. Pablo, for all his girth, is a much better defensive 3B because he moves a lot better and has a much stronger arm.
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