This one looked for all the world like another Caining as Matt fell behind 2-1 on a WP in the bottom of the 8'th inning, but the bottom of the Giants lineup, helped by a couple of PH pushed across 2 runs in the top of the 9'th and Sergio Romo closed the door on the hapless Astros. Key Lines:
Angel Pagan- 2 for 4, 2B, HR(8), BB. BA= .291. Another tremendous effort by Pagan, both at the plate and with some nice catches in the OF.
Brandon Belt- 1 for 4. BA= .264. Belt started the winning rally with a GB single up the middle of a LHP reliever.
Joaquin Arias- 1 for 1, 2B. BA= .282. Arias continues his hot hitting as a pinch-hitter in this one. He's hitting .478 over his last 10 games and .420 for the month of August. Giants gotta keep this kid and find a way to play him every day next year.
Hector Sanchez- 1 for 1. BA= .265. Sanchez took one look at the same 2 seam fastball that froze Crawford in the previous AB. He immediately shortened up his swing and punched a broken bat blooper to CF to drive in Arias with the winning run from 2B. Sanchez is now 5 for 13 as a PH. Almost every time I see this kid play, I marvel at something he does to show wisdom way beyond his years. Kid's a winner!
Matt Cain- 7.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 2.82. Another day at the office for Matt Cain. He deserved the W, but a ND in a game the Giants win will do.
Sergio Romo- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, Save(7). ERA= 2.01. Easy Save for Romo in this one.
Now for the really good part! The Dodgers lost to the Rockies, in fact, they were pounded by the Rockies 8-4 to fall 3.5 games behind the NL West leading Giants. The Dodgers have now lost 3 in a row and 3 of 4 since The Trade. Not only that, but the Cincinnati Reds beat the D'Backs 5-2 who fall 8.5 games off the pace.
Barry Zito faces Dallas Keuchel tomorrow night. Dallas Keuchel? Go Giants!
You know, I have to admit I had kind of gone a bit soft on the Dodgers until this trade went down. The Trade and the general behavior of the new ownership has really gotten my juices flowing. Man, I HATE the Dodgers again! The Giants absolutely can't get too far ahead of this team. Every game counts! Memo to Dodgers fans and their owners: You don't win games or championships on paper. There's a reason why they play the games!
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This one makes up for the last two Braves games. Nothing like a good comeback win to clear the air.
ReplyDeleteYes, Arias has to be in the lineup everyday, right now.
Damn Flannery is living the charmed life, otherwise Belt is out by ten feet.
Maybe the Bums can just stumble their way out the back door, can't count on it though.
I actually had a flashback to JT Snow was Belt was lumbering home. I didn't think he was ever going to get there!
DeleteSpeaking of JT....When my kids were young, we got them a turtle for a pet. They named him JT Slow! LOL!
DeleteYeah, thank god it wasn't Pudge Rodriguez waiting with the ball at home either.
Deletekemp may be out for a bit as he tried to run through the cf wall...luck for the bums, they dont have to use the dl
ReplyDeletethe trade was really about getting press...i think the bums know they dont have the pitching for the stretch run, especially now with billingsly gone
as much as craw brings on d, i really think they gotta have the hot bat in there, so arias should get more playing time
angel is a man posessed....maybe the fans should start coming to the park with wings
still surprised that the snakes havent stepped up...but anything can happen in the final month
i still think that because of timmy, the loss of melky and the pen issues, this team cannot go deep in the post
however, there is much to look forward to for next season, and for many seasons after
I think the bullpen is the achilles heel if and when they get to the playoffs. Timmy can be left off the playoff roster if it comes to that. You only need 4 starters and only 3 good starters to win in the playoffs, but most successful playoff teams have a shut down closer.
Deletepablo and craws play made webgems and brought up a huge argument if it was the best play of the yaer
ReplyDeletedont know if it was the best...but most heads up from the giants ss
Yep...irritating that the Dodgers want to buy their way in. And then feel good about it. I too actually felt bad for Dodger fans in the wake of that lowlife scumsucking pig McCourt...but now, all bets are now off. The universe is aligned again.
ReplyDeleteIt was tough growing up in the 70's and have to deal with the Giants rowing with one paddle while the Dodgers cultivated great success and fanfare. The WS appearances in 74, 77 & 78. The win in 81. Orel, Fernando. That infield. Morgana the friggin kissing bandit.
But, you know, they earned then. They built it, and they earned it. But now, this? It's the BS hype machine fueled by endless cash. A bizarre, and very real leverage.
How is it that McCourt was the only realistic offer on the Dodgers 8 or 9 years ago. And now, during economic hardship, there is FOUR TIMES the cash available to purchase that team???
There is now true and real reason to hate the Dodgers. Who they are, and what they do. Because they are looking to reap in an unjust way, and then claim that they are better.
Can the Giants fight the good fight with an flawed team?
Bacci is right. Giants don't look right in pen. Sabean admitted it was a mess. We're rationalizing bringing back Mota...so...yeah. And the bats...well...c'mon Hunter. C'mon.
So, yeah, Gaints take the Dodgers down.
I hear Mauer got waived. So...it goes on. Hmmmm.
I was thinking of writing a whole post saying pretty much what you just said. Yeah, much as I hated those Lasorda/Garvey/Cey/Sutton teams of the 70's, I had a grudging respect for the masterful way the Dodgers built those teams.
DeleteNow they are just trying to bludgeon everybody else with the sheer power of money. Don't worry about scouting or development or statistical analysis, just buy up the most expensive players on the market and keep buying. Who needs an international scouting department? just sign 20 players in one day. There's sure to be one or two who turn out to be stars, right?
The Dodgers may well buy their way to a championship or two, but it's sure going to be fun to hate on them again, in fact, this time with righteous hatred rather than having to grudgingly admit that they were good at building baseball teams.
I agree with you gents, the pen don't look quite right. A shutdown closer is a big need in the playoffs. I guess Saber guys disdain of a closer concept will be tested this year. Velocity counts a bunch, I fear an epic Casilla meltdown if we are good/lucky enough to make it to the postseason. Bochy is quick draw McGraw though if he thinks the pitcher don't got it if we are short timing.
DeletePretty bad decade of futility between the 1971 loss to the Pirates and the Joe Morgan game of 1982. I came in on the tail end of that, but those early 80s teams were bad as well. Only one 100 loss team in Gint history though, and that gave us The Thrill.
This team is pretty young. Crawford and Belt will get tested, I think their high baseball IQ and sweet defense might just shine. The pen is the biggest hole, a real bench might be the 2nd problem. Still, Arias and Sanchez coming through, as well as the scrappy Cajun... Hey we have to start somewhere on improving the after 8 innings record. Nice win last night, and good job Hector fightin and clawin. 3.5 with 33 to go!
One thing I haven't heard many people point out about the closer by committee is that it actually allows the manager to manage the final inning of the game as opposed to just handing the ball to the "closer". This allows Boch to use matchups and he isn't married to anyone for that inning so if he pulls Romo after one batter or lets a guy come in for one out to get the save then so be it! Some will argue that relievers like to know their roles when they get to the ballpark everyday but how exciting would it be as a reliever to know that all that is out the window and they could be called upon to save a game any day? It should create a playoff type of mentality for them knowing that they have to be ready any day to step up and contribute in the most crucial situation. The downside is that there is a reason why we are doing closer by committee and it is because our bullpen is hurting right now not because it is a smart strategy.
DeleteSpeaking of knowing your role for a reliever, the other thing people don't mention is that as far as certainty is concerned, there are two kinds of certainty.
Delete1. You know you will go into the game in the 8th, for example, without not knowing who you will face. It could anyone in the opponents lineup.
2. You don't know when you will go in, maybe it's the 7th or the 8th or the 9th, but, especially for a lefty, you can narrow it down to one or two or three of their left-handed bats. A certainty of a lesser kind, I guess.
I hated the Dodgers too, as I grew up following them in the 70's and 80's. Maybe that is why I can appreciate how good the team is now whereas there is this huge class of fans that came out of the 60's (I'm guessing and not saying all are like this, notably DrB) who are bitter and jaded Giants fans, stuck in the "woe is me" fanmode.
DeleteI've never really felt sorry for the Dodger fans, you live with the highs, you live with the lows, that's the way life goes. Heck, I went through 20-25 years of ups and downs, mostly downs, so LA can suck it.
McCourt won favor in the court of Selig with his partial ownership of Boston pre-LA, and when the O'Malley family was ready to sell, I think he was fast tracked and no other bidders were really seeked out. Plus, McCourt paid a pretty large price to get the team, that's why he ran into problems, he over extended himself. Also, cable was not as big a revenue source - though significant - back then.
On top of that, nobody was expecting a bid this high. Basically the bidder made an e-Bay "Buy NOW!" all-cash offer to speed up the purchase process and power through bankruptcy court. And apparently that money was just a drop in his pocket, so he could be generous and let McCourt keep half ownership in the land purchase (though he's a silent partner with no management rights), as that is how McCourt made his money in the first place, real estate.
Another reason they could bid so much money was that the Dodgers were poised to sign a huge cable broadcast deal, equal to the Angel's $150M per year deal that they just signed (and now talk is pushing that up to $250-350M per year). That is a lot of cash flow that helped push the deal's purchase value up the roof.
Even the Yankees are a flawed team and they have had money coming out of their ears for years now. And as someone I read noted, the Yankees have made the World Series twice and won once in the last 10 seasons, and so have the Giants.
I'm OK with the pen. Shock: I agree with Pato mostly. Been saying it for awhile, that the usage of our set-up relievers like this just shifts their work from 7/8 to 8/9, with same expectations for everyone on how they will be used. Moreover, it has been working! Still, I think Bochy will go back to Casilla at some point and that he'll be our closer in the playoffs.
As I noted about Pence on another DrB post, Pence has actually been hitting well for us for 3 weeks now. It was just that he was so cold initially that his overall line is still bad. Still, it would be nice if he can heat it up even more for the month of September, hopefully being in Houston (he grew up in Houston) gives him good vibes and carry us for a while.
As I noted on Kawakami's cockamamie article, Mota is not a rationalization. Melky would be. Mota for all appearances appear to be an honest mistake. All the articles talking about it noted that the panel he explained this to accepted his version of the truth (and I assume they asked to see his daughter's prescription medicine) and how he was contrite and believable.
And, frankly, he's a middle reliever, never been more than that for us. If he was a closer or set-up guy, yeah, I can see that maybe rationalization is a possibility. That's why I view Melky returning as a huge rationalization (and huge PR black eye).
But Mota has a relatively minor role for any team, which is key sometimes, yes, but I believe that there is definitely a shadow of a doubt that he purposefully did this. He would have to be a great actor to get all these people to believe that he's telling the truth, particularly reporters who deal with people who lie, all the time.
Shankbone, saber's disdain for closers have been tested and often, by the A's, and I think that their lack of consistent success is a sign that they are wrong with their supposition. Also, the Giants lack of a closer hurt us after Nen until we got Wilson. Not proof, but enough empirical evidence, I think, to make our point that closers are a different breed.
DeleteHowever, who is to say that our set-up relievers don't have a closer mentality. Romo certainly feels that he could be a closer if given the chance, he said that very clearly last off-season in an interview I saw on CSN, while noting he was happy with his role supporting Wilson as closer, he was talking hypothetically, at some point in the future.
And really, any LOOGY is essentially dealing with a closer situation: he is in there for one and only one reason, to get that LH batter out or risk losing the game. That is not different from a closer coming in, only that the LOOGY usually only faces a LH batter(s).
I think most sabers acknowledge that even a season's worth of data for a reliever is not conclusive. So how can the impression of the committee-of-closers be deemed good or bad on less than half a season's worth of results? I think this can work. For the Giants. Because of the way Bochy has used the trio of Affeldt/Romo/Lopez over the past 2-3 seasons. Maybe if the Giants had not signed Affeldt and/or Lopez and brought in two guys to pair up with Romo, then this might now work.
As I've noted, I think Casilla will get the role at some point for the playoffs. But I agree with you that Bochy will have the quick hook if Casilla falters. I think that is where Kontos graduating to a set-up role is key, as that would allow Bochy to save Romo (who has arm issues anyway) as the backup for Casilla should things go south.
Maybe I'm off, but I like our bench right now. Hector and Arias have both been great for us for large stretches of time in the season, and Theriot was great starting for us, until he slowed down. Still, if Scutaro didn't come in, I would have expected Theriot to heat back up again. Peguero and Whiteside aren't much, so I will give you that. But how many benches have 5 good bench players: having 3 like Sanchez, Arias, and Theriot is pretty good, I think.
DeleteIn addition, anybody in our system can be used in the playoffs. So if Huff or Nady can come in and heat up for us in September, they could get a bench spot. Christian, I think, would be better than Peguero, though Pegs has Sept to convince me otherwise. I think Pill would be good as well, for power off the bench, if Huff or Nady sputter, or even if they don't.
And, OT, but Blanco has been good for us since returning to the lineup in Melky's wake, he's been batting .281 with a .378 OBP since then. No power, but he's like a secondary leadoff guy at the bottom of the lineup. He would be ideal right now for Bochy to experiment more with his buddy LaRussa's bat pitcher 8th, secondary leadoff 9th, strategy, by batting Blanco 9th.
Got to disagree on the pen w/o a closer being a weakness. Short series w/Bochy juggling the pen and 4-5 closer LOOGYs and ROOGYs arms available. Look at what Bochy did to the Bums last series. Ethier just like Howard was shut down in RISP situations by first Mijares and then Lopez. If anyone can do bullpen by committee the Giants and Bochy are it. My two issues are:
ReplyDelete1. Can we keep the bullpen fresh enough for the playoffs given the high leverage use recently and most likely thru September. Hopefully Mota and call ups (Hembree, others?) can bridge the middle innings and the blow out/big win games to keep the pen fresh.
2. Real worry for the playoffs is a fourth starter. Can Timmy or Good Zito show up? Bad first innings by Timmy and/or Bad Zito will knock the Giants out of the game early. Does Bochy hook 'em in the first inning? How many runs can the team give up in the first inning and still come back? Giants have not looked good all year when they go down by 3+ runs in the first inning - gives the opposing pitcher too much room/confidence to throw junk to the Giants free swingers.
I hope Hembree is 100% and I hope he gets a chance to prove himself in September and maybe he comes through to add a power arm in the pen.
DeleteMaybe Timmy in the pen, instead of being dropped of the roster.
Giants did OK in 2010 with Dirty getting knocked out early. I think you pretty much have to go with Timmy if we are to have any hope of 1) winning World Series this season and 2) signing him long-term. I don't think we can go deep unless he is starting and helping out. We need him to figure things out by the playoffs.
DeleteNot that I don't think that we can't go all the way without him, but it would be so much easier if he was performing well.
Also, I think Kontos is slowly earning trust (and gaining confidence, judging from interview after his firs MLB victory) and Bochy will use him in high leverage situations in September, particularly if we keep a lead above 3 games.
Baggs noted in post yesterday that Hembree not expected among call-ups, FYI. I like DrB's call on Machi as a dark horse.