The Giants offense came to life at AT&T Park today in support of a classic Matt Cain start and the Giants cruised to a win over the Reeling Rockies. Key Lines:
Buster Posey- 2 for 4, HR(19), BB. BA= .330. The offense was spread around the lineup pretty well today with every player in the starting lineup, including Cainer, getting at least 1 hit. 8 different players scored runs and 6 players had RBI's. Once again, Buster led the way getting on base and hitting dingers. If the Giants end up winning their division, Buster deserves serious consideration for MVP. Stay hot, Buster!
Hunter Pence- 1 for 4, 2B. BA= .258 Say what you want, but I'll take that from Pence. I think he will do betterl, but I'll take this. He lengthens the dangerous part of the lineup.
Joaquin Arias- 2 for 3, 2B, SF. BA= .262. Arias made an error, but it was late in the game and did not jeopardize the outcome. Terrific day at the plate.
Matt Cain- 7.1 IP, 7 H 2 R, 1 BB, 6 K's, GO/AO= 1/10. ERA= 2.99. Cainer had 'em in the ol' popcorn popper today. I think he's a better pitcher when he's inducing soft flyballs. It shows he has command of the upper part of the strike zone.
The Dodgers lost to the Marlins 7-3 to fall 1 game behind the NL West leading Giants. The D'Backs lost to the Nationals 6-5 to fall 5 games off the pace.
Barry Zito goes tomorrow afternoon against Alex White.
Anybody else enjoying this nail biter of a pennant race?
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I am up for a pennant race for the ages. I hope that Gints fans put aside small differences and embrace the GOOD stuff. Let us see how much heart soul and luck we got. My money is on french vanilla...
ReplyDeleteWell, it could still break one way or the other any time, but the longer the Giants hang in there with Pablo out makes it more and more likely they will have the horses to prevail(knock on wood). IF, and that's a big if, Pablo gets back and hits anything close to his capabilities, this will be a very potent lineup.
DeleteYup. I am pretty sick of the Belt wars. It would be nice for Pablo to come back and kill it. Crawford now has a 2.1 WAR per B/R, Belt right behind at 2.0 WAR. Both young Brandons are contributing, especially with their slick defense. Defense wins in the post season big time.
DeleteI'm ready to put Belt out there every day except on days when Buster needs to play 1B to rest his legs. 2.1 WAR for Crawford? Wow! Last I looked on Fangraphs he was stuck at 0.8 or 0.9. Anyway, I love Crawford's D and hope he does not lose a lot of PT when Sandoval gets back. I think Scoots needs to replace Riot as the starting 2B/#2 hitter and let Riot be the rover/utility guy. Not sure how that will set on the clubhouse though. Riot and Crawford seem to have developed some chemistry up the middle.
DeleteHe is still at 0.9 fWAR; and the 2.1 rWAR is cumulative defensive WAR over 2011-12. But for B-R his total 2012 WAR is 2, 0.5 on offense and 1.5 on defense, so that the number Shankbone cites is pretty accurate.
DeleteHe has been maintaining an OBP over .300 since he got over his cold start this season, so in terms of prediction when he now comes to bat, he's doing pretty well for a young middle infielder.
I was thinking about what this lineup will look like with Panda back. This will be the first time that I can remember that we will have 4 very good middle of the order bats all in the prime of their careers! If Pagan, Scutaro, and Theriot can continue to contribute at the top of the lineup, this offense will be enough to win the West.
ReplyDeleteI have some concerns about the top of the lineup but a bigger concern for me will be where Panda and Pence are batting. Both are free swingers and putting them together may diminish their value. This may end up being a tough decision for Bochy but I would be inclined to bat Panda early in the order and Pence as late as possible.
One solution that could help the top of the order as well as give Panda and Pence plenty of distance from each other would be to bat Panda 2nd and Pence 5th. Panda would see decent pitches in the 2 hole with Melky and Posey behind him and Pence would get plenty of opportunities to drive in runs which he has proven capable of doing.
I would also see how Panda did batting 3rd with Melky either in the 2 or 5 hole which would put Pence batting 6th giving us some really nice depth. However you stack it, we have the pieces to go as far as our pitching can take us but keep your eye on how effective Pence and Panda are when Bochy bats them 5th and 6th.
I don't think there is a need to stress too much over the lineup. Here's mine:
DeleteCF Pagan
2B Scutaro
LF Melky
C Posey
3B Pablo
RF Pence
1B Belt
SS Crawford/Arias
Pablo is a free swinger, but gets his share of walks and has a pretty good OBP. Pence gives him some protection so he hopefully does not get pitched around. Belt may get pitched around in the 7 hole, but so be it. There could be worse outcomes there. Hopefully Crawford/Arias can step it up just a tad in the 8 hole.
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ReplyDeleteIan,
DeleteI finally figured out who you are. I knew the writing was familiar but I couldn't place it. You are TitoMac from the Giants Message Board and Extra Baggs/Extra Giants! Same era of fandom, same leaps of logic, same obsessive repetitiveness, same taking a kernal of truth and blowing it up into a mountain.
Bye Bye.
The home/road discrepency.
ReplyDeleteOften a manager gets blamed when in fact the players are not very talented.
Here, we have a situation where we can score on the road but not much at home, except last night, after getting shut out the night before. Is is a case of Bochy elevating a team on the road whose home record is a more realistic reflection of itself or is it a case of Bochy of having enough hitters but not being able to bring the results at home, for some reason (perhaps psychologically not properly motivated, e.g. combatting being psyched out by the park or what not, when we assume that if you can hit, you don't forget how to hit) ?
Hopefully, we turned a corner last night.
Most likely just sample size aberrations exacerbated by the people starting to notice it and the players dwelling on it too much and pressing.
DeleteP-Duk,
ReplyDeleteNice to have "good" middle of the order problems. Like your thinking, but don't see Bochy getting off of his formula {play 2B = hit 2nd}. I see this:
#1 & #2 Mix/match to maximize OBP/speed. (Pagan/Blanco followed by The Riot/Scoots). Note I like a tough "red ass" AB in the two hole to make the pitchers battle and move runners along.
#3 Melky Hey he owns this space and has proven it with OBP, XBH and runs produced.
#4 Buster the magnificent. Who would have foreseen his level of play and leadership - amazing.
#5 Panda. Well this is where its gets interesting. He has earned middle order status, but is coming back once again from injury and has to get back into playing shape (BIG issue). I think until Panda gets into shape (better base runner) he shouldn't hit higher up in the order.
#6 Pence. Okay two free swingers in a row - but if they are connecting then no relief for the pitcher. Power bats to drive in runs here. Hope Pence gets it going.
#7 Belt/Pill. Mix and match and hope they produce.
#8 Crawdaddy/Arias.
Sure beats the hell out of what we have watched for most of the past 6 years.
I agree,
Deletealso, I like panda 5 and pence 6th because panda is a switch hitter. prevents two righties going in a row.
just about every other batter in this lineup is a switch hitter
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ReplyDeleteCam,
DeleteIt's a nice break from the MCC, where EVERY move is greeted with heaping doses of snark, knee-jerk cynicism and beating of dead horses. Refreshing is exactly what this blog is.
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ReplyDeleteWho's like'n Pence now!!!
ReplyDeleteThat's what a RH power bat can do at Willie Mays Plaza.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete"rightly critical" after 49 ABs...
ReplyDeleteTalk about instant-gratification delusion, you've come through big time, Ian.
Did Hunter come in trash-talking, boasting how he was going to hit like a demon and save the Giants? I don't think so.
The level of unrealistic expectation and sense of entitlement among some Giant fans is disturbing.
Nice win today, and it looks like DrB finally gets hit with some silliness on his board and has to push some buttons. All I have to say on the matter is I pegged this Ian character for a killjoy troll from the beginning. On the "biases" = you don't like the tone there are plenty of places to go on the interwebz. DrB has a nice style of letting discussion free flow, and most the time that works out fine. A little argument is all good, but it looks like some lines have been crossed in the last couple of days. Stay strong DrB, you have a lot of regular posters who support you and enjoy each others comments. You got a good thing going for sure. Just like Los Gigantes.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThe problem I see with the two anonyms is that there has been no serious analysis to legitimate their sneering (sample bit of "wit": the only plaque Pence will get is plaque on his teeth). Pence was not getting hits, true, but his BAPIP was low enough to let one see that the number of hits might be anomalously low. Before starting to sneer and snipe, anyone who wasn't just blowing off gas would then want to check his contact rate and, more subjectively, how hard he was hitting the ball, to find out if his lack of hits was a matter of short-sample luck. I'm not sure why anyone should expect others to be interested in what s/he is saying when so little actual thought has gone into it. Bloated egos? Desire to be annoying trolls?--it's the latter that Shankbone surmises, and maybe correctly so.
DeleteI have a feeling if DrB takes a look at IP addresses, he will find Cam and Ian have... the same one.
DeleteCampanari! I agree with your Pence analysis, and I think he will snap out of it soon. It will hopefully take our offense on the continued road to success along with Mr Panda.
Didn't look at IP addresses but didn't have to.
DeleteDon't want to get mean about it, but this blog is not a democracy and I don't need proof. If somebody is disrupting the blog and causing trouble, I'll hit the button on them. Simple as that.
Yup, your blog, and your rules. That is all good, its not mean in the slightest, its just the hassle from having a good blog, trouble finds ya... I think you were right on that call of the posters true identity. I remember that guy from the old ESPN boards even. Oh dear. Waste of time.
DeleteThanks for the support, everybody. We'll try to keep this a place for serious baseball discussion where alternative views can be heard as long as they stay rational, civil and non-repetitive.
ReplyDeleteNot absolutey sure if Ian=TitoMac but it really doesn't matter if the product is the same.
Oh and BTW,
DeleteNotice he didn't come on here and deny he is TitoMac. Instead, he put up an obvious sock puppet to defend his original persona.