Ryan Vogelsong pitched a Quality Start despite giving up 3 HR's. Angel Pagan played like a man possessed. Bruce Bochy continued his increasingly legendary bullpen wizardry. The Giants mixed and matched their way to a win while rumors of a blockbuster trade between the Dodgers and Red Sox swirled in the air. Key Lines:
Angel Pagan- 4 for 5, 2B(27), 3B(9). BA= .295. A man possessed indeed. Pagan's Fangraphs WAR has shot up from 1.7 just a couple of weeks ago to 3.2 after this game. Pagan has put this team on his back and has carried it in the wake of Melky's Meltdown. Pagan directly contributed to 3 of the Giants 5 runs tonight. We'll forgive him for the late pickoff at 1B.
Marco Scutaro- 2 for 4, Sac. BA= .286. Scooter batting second has been a big contributor over the last 2 weeks too.
All starting 8 position players had at least 1 hit in this one with Belt and Blanco contributing 2 each.
Ryan Vogelsong- 6.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 2.90. I'm guessing Vogelsong was trying to avoid the astronomical pitch count by being more aggressive with hitters which may have contributed to the 3 dingers he gave up. He only gave up 1 BB and 1 other hit so still got the QS
Santiago Casilla- 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 3.04. 2 huge outs in the 7'th and I'm really liking Casilla as the high leverage guy in the bullpen rather than the closer.
Javier Lopez- 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, Save(4). ERA= 2.48. Here's where I really like The Committee concept. Nobody is tougher on LH batters right now than Lopez. Starting with Heyward in the 8'th inning, the Braves next 4 batters were 3 lefties and a switch-hitting Chipper Jones. I would take Lopez facing them over Brian Wilson, Sergio Romo, Santiago Casilla, Jeremy Affeldt, heck, over Jonathan Papelbon! Guess what? Bochy had him sitting right there ready to go at exactly the right time. Bochy has done some brilliant bullpen managing in his day, but this was as good as any.
The Dodgers pounded the Marlins 11-4, but Billz came out of the game in the 4'th with a sore elbow. They remain 3 games behind the NL West leading Giants. The D'Backs were blanked by the Pesky Padres 5-0 to fall 7 games off the pace.
Madison Bumgarner takes the mound today facing lefty Mike Minor. Go Giants!!
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Voggie 4H, 3HR! Talk about tough luck. As long as they are solo shots I can live with it. But Voggie was PISSED.
ReplyDeletePagan is mucho caliente.
Nice to see Posey back, brings the lineup into balance again.
The win streak reminds us how important starting pitching is and why the Giants have a shot if they can make the playoffs.
Can we choose to 'see the trades' netting out as Wheeler for Pagan?
ReplyDeleteI'm liking this committee thing. The relievers are doing quite well for themselves.
ReplyDeleteI like Scutaro, he seems to do the little things to win games.. He will try to hit the ball to the right side or bunt the runner over like he did last night in the 3rd inning moving Pagan to 3rd base. He tagged up going to 2nd base in the 7th inning, and scored the 5th run last night.
ReplyDeletePagan looks to be the benificiary of the Melky fiasco.. The Giants may offer him a contract for 2013. Love the energy that he plays with...
Tough night for Crawford at the plate.. We'll see Arias today with the lefty going for the Bravos..
With the blockbuster going down today, this promises to be a wild september rollercoaster ride.. I think the key for the Bums in that trade is Beckett.. Should be fun!
LG
Agreed, Bochy has done very well with managing the bullpen these past few games. The "closer by committee" idea is similar to how the Rangers used their DH spot in the lineup. Given Michael Young's versatility in the infield, they would rotate players in and out of the DH spot to give players a chance to take a break from playing defense. It seemed to work well for them last year over the traditional use of the DH spot where its always occupied by a big power hitter who can no longer play good defense.
ReplyDeletevogey said that after the friars game he went back over the tapes of the past 2 games and saw that he was tipping his pitches...so he tweaked his delivery...he was also mad about the last pitch and felt he wasnt carrying his load....love this guy
ReplyDeletedale murphy didnt think what scoots did was smart...till pablo hit the double
park showed why they cannot bring in the fences...opposing teams are clueless as to how to defend...the park is the 26th man...doubles and triples make up for lack of dingers
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