Matt Cain pitched out of trouble in the first two innings and Hunter Pence supplied the big blow with a grand slam dinger in the 3'rd inning. The Giants cruised the rest of the way to a win. Key Lines:
Marco Scutaro- 2 for 5. BA= .294. Scooter is hitting .432 over his last 10. He hit .314 in August and .377 in September so far.
Pablo Sandoval- 3 for 4, 2B. BA= .282. A couple of days off seemed to help Sandoval. He had a pretty bad throwing error on a potential DP ball, but made a great stop down the line on another ball.
Hunter Pence- 2 for 3, HR(21), HBP. BA= .260. The grand slam is why the Giants got him. It may not be pretty, and he has his ups and downs, but his end of season stat line is amazingly consistent over the years.
Santiago Casilla- 1 for 1. BA= .500. Casilla had what might be the funniest, most wonderful AB of the entire season. He generally goes up there with orders to not swing. After he faked a bunt while simultaneously bailing out on the first pitch, Bochy decided, oh whattheheck and gave him the green light. Casilla took a swing at the next pitch and hit what looked like a shanked billiards ball that shot right through the hole in the right side of the infield. I think the D'Backs fielders were so shocked they couldn't react, but it was a base hit all the way. Casilla's run to first followed by a confused dance at the end of the play are on GIF's all over the internet. If you didn't see it, gotta check it out. Even funnier were some of the reactions from his teammates. He borrowed Blanco's bat and got to keep it. Jeremy Affeldt said if Casilla ever gets a hit off of him, he will take off his uniform top, walk off the mound and retire. Better be careful what you say there, Jeremy!
Matt Cain- 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 5 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 2.93. Cain huffed and puffed and sweated his way through a couple of rough innings to start the game, but somehow managed to pitch his way out of trouble, something he's always been able to do. Pence took the heat off in the 3'rd with his salami.
Jeremy Affeldt- 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 2.84. I think Affeldt does best when he can stretch out and eat up more than 1 inning mid-game.
Tyler Skaggs(D'Backs)- 4 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 5.55. Not complaining, but I did feel a bit sorry for Skaggs who I thought got the Rookie Treatment big time. He was squeezed by the home plate ump and had a couple of very close calls go against him on the field. He made 1 really bad pitch to Pence, but probably didn't deserve to be in that position.
The Win allowed the Giants to maintain their 7.5 game lead on the Dodgers in the NL West as the Evil Ones topped the Cardinals 8-5 in LA. The losing D'Backs slipped to 11 games off the pace.
Barry Zito takes the mound today facing lefty Wade Miley this evening. 18 games to go, magic number is 11. Go Giants!!
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when are mlb umps gonna go on strike so we can get replacement umps?
ReplyDeletehow does a first base ump just stand there without making a call?
how did posey get called safe at home on a force play?
and the k-zone is back to being changed in game
they have to institute instant replay...its ridiculous
very nice play by the fat boy...hope he will soon realize that he can make that play every game, if he just drops some weight
casilla's bh was the play of the year.
More bad news for the Dodgers. Kershaw scratched from Sunday start and will see a hip specialist.
ReplyDeleteYou mean more good news for the Giants!
DeleteI didn't say that!
DeleteI know I should have asked in the Q&A post, but would you want the Giants to trade for Justin Upton this offseason? Miller and Kruk were saying on the radio that either Upton or Young would be traded this offseason to make room for Adam Eaton in the DBacks outfield.
ReplyDeleteI think that Upton, Pagan and Pence would be pretty nice OF and provide good pop. Just wanted to see your opinion on the matter.
I myself favor the principle that anyone who speculates about a trade ought to specify both sides of the trade: whom would the Giants give Arizona so as to get Upton? The trade, in this system, has to be rational, not a trade of Upton for Edlefson, Linden, and Yusmeiro Petit. And in this case, there's the added consideration of the two teams' being rivals in the NL West. Clint, I don't want to say that DrB should or shouldn't answer your question as it stands, but if I were he, I would ask you please to rewrite it in the fuller form that I've indicated above.
Deletesnakes are gonna want a whole lot more than that and no way should the giants assist an org that won 3 minor league crowns, in improving their depth
Deletethis trade will never happen
giants are not as deep in of as they have been in the past, but no reason to break the bank or sell the farm to get one or two of guys
and i think that mays working with pagan has helped a lot in greasing the wheels for him to resign with the org
I really like Upton as a player. He's had a down season but I think he will break out huge at some point in the near future.
DeleteI'm not sure what the Giants have the D'Backs would want let alone what the Giants would be willing to give up. Add in the reluctance of teams to trade within their division and it's unlikely to happen.
Okay I'll give it another shot.
ReplyDeleteWould you trade Pablo Sandoval for Upton?
I think the giants might and Pablo would kill it in Arizona's ballpark.
Here's the thing. I doubt there is room in the Giants future payroll for both Upton and Pence. I think the Giants would prefer to sign Pence long term who they've already given up players for. Also, I seriously doubt the D'Backs would trade Upton within the division. In fact, I think there is probably less than a 50% chance they trade Upton at all. Chris Young? Yes, they will trade him but I don't think he's what the Giants need.
DeleteThat would be a good reason the Giants would not want to trade Pablo to Arizona, it goes both ways in regards to trading within the division.
DeleteAgain, I would not trade someone who is capable of 900+ OPS. Not until we are extremely sure that he's not going to buckle down and figure it out. And as long as he is at least an average hitter most of the time when he is struggling, we have no real reason to get rid of him now, especially for someone whose career of good hitting is built on his home park: .925 OPS at home, .734 OPS on the road. For that, I wouldn't even trade Blanco for, let alone someone as good as Sandoval can be when he is on.
I mean, how soon do people forget? He was hitting very well in the early season. He wasn't as slim as we would have liked but he was hitting well then at least, and was hitting well eventually once he got over his hamate bone surgery, it was his second DL for the hamstring that has strung him up and he has not hit well since. If you want perfect, then you are in the wrong universe. He was at least trying to get better and he worked with that firm again over the off-season. He was trying. And he only just turned 26 YO. If he's still battling his demons in 2013, then I would be OK with seeing what we can get, but I would not give up such a hitter easily, nor would I trade him to someone in the NL, especially the NL West, just in case he haunts us.
Good points, OGC. The Giants don't really have anyone to take Sandoval's place at 3B so trading him would leave a hole there. Arias can play the position and appears to have some upside, but that would be taking a risk of the type Sabes has not shown the inclination to take in the past. Given Sabes track record, I would not want to argue with him on that either.
DeleteOGC, I am a huge Sandoval supporter, but feel like Upton could be one of the best hitters in the NL for next 10 years hitting in front of Posey. His body also looks more reliable and seems like He could have a Matt Kemp type resurgence to his career in his later 20s. This is probably moot, but fun to think about it. Sorry I probably shouldn't be looking forward to next year with a WS championship to be won. Go Giants!
ReplyDeleteI like Upton a lot but I don't see a path for him to become a Giant. There is no guarantee he is going to ever really break out either. His brother has looked like he's on the verge of breaking out forever and has never done it.
DeleteHey, so has Delmon Young and he's never met his potential either (one prospect rater said that he was HOF quality).
DeleteThe simple fact is that Upton may have upside, but so far he's only done it at his home park, not some much on the road, though to be fair, he was OK from 2009-2011 on the road, not superstar, but I would say Hunter Pence-like, so I will concede that maybe he's having a bad season this year. I think I can see your point now about the two being similar enough to be traded one-up for each other.
Still, I would not do the trade, Sandoval easily hit over .900 when healthy and in shape. He was hitting .316/.375/.537/.912 when he went down for his hamate break. And after a slow start coming back, which is to be expected, he hit .295/.333/.557/.890 in the 24 games before his hamstring issue. That was about two months of great hitting, it was only after the hamstring injury that he got fatter and hasn't been able to find his batting stroke since. Plus, he doesn't whiff as much as Upton, which is what leads to wide swings in batting line performance on his part.
But whereas before I would have been upset about such a trade, I think I can now live with such a trade, I just simply prefer Panda for the reasons above.
Oh, and I would also add that he has a .699 OPS in AT&T in 158 ABs there, food for thought...
Delete