Bruce Bochy held a closed door meeting with the players before this one and issued some challenges. Whatever he said, it seemed to light a fire. The Giants held a 3-0 lead going to the 7'th inning, but broke it open with a lot of hitting and lot of help from very bad Rockies' defense to win going away. Key Lines:
Angel Pagan- 3 for 4, 2B, 3B, 2 BB. BA= .277 Hitting leadoff, Pagan was the sparkplug tonight getting on base 5 times and scoring 4 runs.
Ryan Theriot- 2 for 5, BB. BA= .267. Speaking of sparkplugs, Riot got on base 3 times and scored 3 times.
Melky Cabrera- Melky got into the act late in the game with a 2 run double just over the 3B bag hitting from the left side then walked and scored a run in a wild 8'th inning.
Buster Posey- 4 for 5, HR(15), BB. BA= .325. Is there a hotter hitter in the game right now? Oh my goodness! Buster hit .381 for the month of July with a 1.043 OPS and is keeping it going right into August.
Brett Pill- 1 for 5, HR(4). BA= .202. I tend to believe that short of trading for a firstbaseman or moving Buster to first, Belt should be in there every day against RHP and LHP's but Pill hit the ball hard several times and hit the dinger that made it 3-0 early.
Hector Sanchez- 1 for 1, 2B. BA= .278. The Hector relieved Buster behind the plate late in the game and hit a ringing double down the RF line. Gotta love what this kid brings to the table. He's the reason why the Giants felt OK trading Tommy Joseph. I fully understand the importance of OBP and why the Beltists are focused on it, but sometimes when you are a young player like The Hector, you just have to go up there looking to do some damage. That's what he does!
Ryan Vogelsong- 6/1 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 7 K's. ERA=2.38. A rough 7'th inning after running the bases made this line look a lot worse than it should have. Vogey has become the team's stopper and he took the situation into his own hands with 6 scoreless innings until after the Giants broke the game open.
Colorado Rockies- 2 E's, 5 WP's. Man, it really looks like the wheels have come off for the Rockies. Remember when they signed CarGo and Tulo to those long term contracts and had Ubaldo and Jorge De La Rosa on the mound? Man, I thought they were as well positioned for the future as any team in baseball! Not now! I would say Jim Tracy's days as manager of that outfit are numbered.
The Dodgers beat the Cubbies 6-1 to stay 0.5 games behind the NL West leading Giants while the D'Backs remained 2 games back with a 4-2 win over the Phillies
Madison Bumgarner goes tomorrow evening facing lefty Jeff Francis.
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There were a lot of reports by the usual suspects regarding that meeting, where the theme was Toughness.
ReplyDeleteApparently that got their butts going (well, except for Pence, though he at least got his first knock).
Yeah, the sabers have problems appreciating guys like Hector, who has been among the leaders in RBIs each month for the team, even though he doesn't play more than a third of the games.
I feel that these people take the lazy way to the saber label: walk, walk, walk, OBP, Moneyball. They just don't understand the value of a hit, and particularly extra-base hits, which is why most denigrated Gary Brown as a prospect.
If you are right about Tracy, I'm glad, he's one of the few managers I'm afraid of.
They did look poised for something, but I still feel that CarGo is overrated: very good, but still overrated, because he don't really hit that well on the road, plus that year that got him a huge contract, his BABIP was horribly high, which is why he went down the next season, as his BABIP regressed to his mean.
And Tulo, for whatever reason (A's fan when he was a kid?), is snake-bit for injuries.
But when either gets going - hoowee - scary!
I also thought Ubaldo was overrated too, because of his great start to that season, and I wonder if he injured himself doing that, because his numbers in the second half was not that good, if I recall right.
Still, four nice pieces as a start for a nice run, they just never could get the other pieces that they needed. Of course, their mid-sized payroll was hampered by their mistake to Helton long ago, and really, with the way their park plays, they should have done like the Giants and focused on finding pitching, because if you bring in hired guns, you really have no idea if they will pan out or not (Hampton) in their funky park, whereas they can run out their cheap prospects until they find one that sticks.
Should have noted that Pagan had a poor batting line in Colorado before, low 700 OPS and with a good number of ABs, so this was quite the surprise. Maybe the Pence trade and finding out that he's only getting ABs against LHP made him get untracked in this game. He can still beat out Blanco to be the starting CF instead of platooning by going on a hot streak now, and that would get him a good contract in the off-season.
DeleteStill, unless he gets super-hot, people's prediction of offering him $13M for 2013 to get a draft pick is not looking like a really likely scenario.
Also, I think Pill is only getting ABs until the Giants think Belt is untracked and then Brandon will get most of the starts again. Same with Arias and Crawford, plus once Sandoval returns, Scutaro will start getting those starts at SS instead, plus give Theriot a rest at 2B, maybe even Sandoval at 3B. I think if the Giants can get Fontenot, they will and option Arias back to AAA (or DFA if he is out of options). He's like LeMaster with the bat, unfortunately.
Have to say, Pill's HR was pretty impressive. The pitcher made the pitch that he wanted and located it pretty well, but Pill beat the location. The pitch was down and in, and he just kept his arms tucked and launched it out.
ReplyDeleteJust what the doctor ordered heh,heh.Too bad they can't do this in front of their loyal fans @ AT&T.Pence still not a factor (1for12).083.Buster's white hot pace has been somewhat overshadowed by Giants slump.I wonder how many jacks he'd have playing in a bandbox? Ryans base running and thin air took it's toll. I don't know what's with Pence,if he can't get extra base hits in Denver,when will he? Dodgers should have their way with hapless perennial doormat Cubs, also Phills no help for G's tonight.Cam,Solana Beach,S.D.
ReplyDeletevogey has lost a lot of weight over the season. i hope the training staff is taking note of this and working on increasing his caloric intake
ReplyDeletehe pretty much cruised till the 7th and then was gassed.
i never know what to make of offensive explosions at coors, so i wont comment...
did anyone here know that vizquel is with the jays? does anyone know why? does that guy wanna push off his hof induction indefinitely? someone contact dancing with the stars to give him something else to do
After picking up Blanton the Dodgers claim Cliff Lee. Blanton is one thing. Lee is another. Would the Phillies just surrender Lee without at least trying to work a trade? Probably not.
ReplyDeleteBut its clear that the Dodger ownership group has all the money we thought they did. And, I'm guessing only the Luxury Tax will limit their spending in the off-season.
That was the first time I had seen Pagan batting leadoff with a leadoff hitters approach. It might have had something to do with Sanchez pitching so everyone was instructed to take as many pitches as possible but he finally worked a few counts and looked comfortable. The top of the lineup is a huge factor in the success for this offense because we don't hit a lot of homeruns. We need table setters at the top and f Pagan can lock down leadoff then once Panda comes back we could have a dangerous lineup.
ReplyDeleteBelt should sit until he forces his way back in the lineup. OBP is a deceiving stat in my opinion because it isn't as important to the bottom of a lineup as it is to the top. Batting 7th it is better to swing away and drive in runs then to work the count looking for a walk just so Craw can come up before the pitcher.
The argument Belt supporters would have then is why doesn't Bochy bat Belt 2nd in the lineup to which I am inclined to agree. I would however give him a short leash in the 2 hole and see if the OBP stays the same or goes down. It is possible he is walking so frequently now because pitchers would rather face Craw. He swings and misses at more pitches then anyone in baseball so my guess is his OBP would nosedive and he would be exposed even more then he already has been.
$615,000 is probably more dinero than most of us make.But when Buster Posey's making that figure compared to Pence'$ 10 million 4 hundred thousand, then I think the latter has to start hitting tape measure jacks all this weekend.Pence fans will say the pressure on him is enormous but when his salary is also enormous he should be doing better than 1 bases empty single in 12 at bats.His 2 rbi's are the result of him being up with men on 3rd when he made 2 outs.Friday the G's won despite him, even Vogelsong got a double. But if he continues to struggle all August with men on base, he could be a bigger BUST than the Kissing Bandit. Cam, Solana Beach.
ReplyDeleteWell, you really can't compare Posey's salary to Pence's because there is a huge difference in service time. If Buster stays healthy, I'm sure he will make a whole lot more than $10 M someday.
DeleteIts 2 games people stop freaking out about Pence
ReplyDeleteWell said!
DeleteNobody's freaking out re Pence' woeful start.2 bases empty hits,no jacks.Pujols had similar start in L.A. The problem, however, pence isn't near the player Pujols is.If the Giants make the post season with his help leading up to and during playoffs this will be forgotten. But remember,albeit an extra wild card in no way ensures G's a playoff spot.If G's end up 3rd in NL West there are other teams who'll finish ahead. Cam, Solana Beach. p.s. 6-0 Giants top 6.
ReplyDeleteDemolishing Rockies Class A pitching is hardly proof of a turnaround.That said,they're beating teams they should beat.The Dodgers will probably best the perennially pathetic Cubs again. Phills, however,have just shutout the D'Backs. I wish all you bloggers a great weekend. Ian, Vancouver, British Columbia.
ReplyDelete