The Giants continued to struggle to score runs in AT&T Park, but they scored 1 more than the Rockies and that's all it takes. Key Lines:
Pablo Sandoval- 1 for 3, BB. BA= .276. Pablo started the winning rally with a single through the right side. He also made a nice diving stop and throw to first on a ball that was scorched just to his left.
Buster Posey- 2 for 4. BA= .334. There were chants of MVP! in the stands as Buster also threw out Dexter Fowler trying to steal 2B after leading off the game with a walk.
Hunter Pence- 1 for 3, BB. BA= .260. Pence had what I think was his best AB since becoming a Giant battling with 2 strikes and finally shooting a groundball through the hole in the right side to drive in the winning run. Kruk and Kuip put up a note on the TV that Pence is something like 3'rd in baseball in driving in go-ahead runs? Did I get that right?
Brandon Crawford- 2 for 3, 2B, 3B. BA= .249. We now know that Ian Kinsler's ball that hit the top of the CF wall and bounced back onto the field in the WS was not a fluke as the exact same thing happened on Crawford's triple. The difference is in this one Crawford scored on a passed ball by Wilin Rosario.
Crawford's batting line for September is .333/.436/.576. At this point, it looks like the Giants making the post-season is going to happen and that is a great thing, but if they weren't in this position there have been some very rewarding things to see this season, not the least of which is a. The Giants putting faith in Brandon Crawford and b. watching him gradually get better and better, both at the plate and defensively, and c. a whole highlight reel of jaw dropping defensive plays over the course of the season. He had another one of those tonight too with an incredible play he made in one motion from deep in the hole between 3B and SS. There's GIF of it on Extra Baggs. Check it out!
I was thinking back on all the shortstops the Giants have employed over the years from Hal Lanier to Johnny Lemaster to Miguel Tejada. Where would you rank Crawford's season in all time SF Giants SS seasons? I'm thinking it might not be #1 but it's not anywhere close to the bottom either.
Madison Bumgarner- 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 5 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 3.26. Bumgarner walked 4 batters in the first 3 innings but somehow managed to pitch out of it. Giants pitchers have had trouble getting opposing pitchers out and this game was no exception. The lone run scored by the Rockies came on a double by Jhoulys Chacin followed by a triple to Josh Rutledge. Bumgarner finished the inning without further damage.
Bullpen- 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K's. Romo got the Save, but Saves have become an even more meaningless stat in Bruce Bochy's Bullpen Committee. Most of the time the guy with the Save pitches to just one batter. Of the 5 guys who trotted out there in this one, I was particularly impressed by Mijares blowing away Tyler Colvin, Jose Casilla's 1.2 IP and Romo's K of Jason Giambi without throwing him one slider.
The Giants win pushed their lead in the NL West to a season high 8 games over the idle Dodgers.
Tim Lincecum goes against Jeff Francis tonight. 15 games to go, magic number is 8. I'm finally believing this is going to happen, folks. The Giants are going to the post-season!
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Man, I love this team..Just been watching and enoying the talent, hearts and guts of this club....Going on what you said about CRAWFORD, I have to admit, I always doubted he would hit enough to be a regular at short....But, after watching him grow on a daily basis since an ugly start, not only am I glad we have him playing this year, I think the short stop postion is filled for years...And I have to add, very well played and developed by SABEAN and the Giants....Look forward to Crawford's defesnive play being shown on the national stage in a few weeks...
ReplyDeleteSteveVA
The development of Crawford and Belt this year seems to contradict those who say Sabes and Boch have no patience with young players and you have to produce immediately and keep producing to have a chance with them.
DeleteI think Huff helped out a little bit.
DeleteOther than Omar, I haven't seen a Giants shortstop like Crawford. That arm can cover up a lot of mistakes, if necessary. As Doc and I witnessed at Adelanto, Crawford is especially gifted at being able to zing the ball while off balance. I'm not sure if I have seen arms like Crawford and Sandoval on any team.
ReplyDeleteNext, starting pitching! I am alittle concerned with the in-season conditioning. I understand the Dog Days of August, but it seems like mechanics, possibly hampered by conditioning, have become a noticeable subject with the interviews. I guess it is less embarrassing to blame the woes on mechanics, rather than state maybe conditioning is a problem. Right now the starters are starting to concern me with the exception of Zito, and I consider Zito the weak link until Vogelsong started his impersonation of his Pirates' years...
....and Pence... 44 games, 35 RBIs with a .232 BA. I wonder what it would be if the guy just hit his career average? Two things bother me concerning him. Pence needs to dispense with that Philly band box swing and smooth out to being a line drive gap hitter and moved to LF because of that arm. I would like Blanco in RF since he is quick and fast while Pence is just fast. Now if Nady starts making me believe in him, I would reconsider.
The strangest of all is how this team took off after Melky. Melky was putting up some really decent numbers to not be missed.
If Posey doesn't win MVP, they need to just get rid of it.
Is it conditioning? Remember what this same staff did in September and October of 2010? Hard to beleive anything has changed in their training and conditioning approach....And, to me, none of the pitchers or their arms (except maybe Madbum, look gassed to me.....maybe the problem is that the Giants have scored TOO MANY RUNS and the SPs have gotten a little lazy and need to pitch with their backs aainst the wall??? I say that mainly in jest but last night I saw MADBUM give in and throw two meatballs that went for triples by lousy hitters...and in the bottom of the inning looked liked he didn't want anything to do with putting down a bunt---and failed miserably.....The only one that really concerns me is VOGEY, but you don't need 5 starters and ZITO has earned the spot...
DeletePence constant motion kinda weirds m,e out a bit but he still has been rather productive and clutch...and I expect that to continue....Now is not the time to messwith his swing or positioning....perhaps next year..
And Bingo on Melky and Posey...andwhat a job by the team from Sabean down to the last man in overcoming so many obstacles this year...Gotta love them
SteveVA
That is just the beauty of Buster Posey: give him a challenge, an axe to grind, and he delivers. I don't think that there is any coincidence that there were media reports on his relative lack of excellence in throwing out base stealers plus the glowing reports on Hector, and now Posey throwing out all these base stealers.
ReplyDeleteI believe it on Pence, he's been great at hitting with RISP for us so far, great. Of course, that stat is much like the save, you have to be in the right spot to get that credit. What would be more interesting is who is leading in RISP hitting since the ASG. I would bet he would be among the leaders.
Crawford! He's just got such a good eye - he avoided the strikeouts well, as well as took a lot of walks, last season - it was just a matter of him learning to use it in a major league setting.
I would add Jose Uribe, Rich Aurilia, and Chris Speier to the list. I think Rich had the best offensive season, so it would be tough for Crawford to out do that season in 2012. But now that he has figured things out, I wouldn't bet against him in 2013. Given his combo of offense and defense, Crawford is probably, as you note, having one of the better seasons for an SF SS. Baseball-reference.com puts him at 2.0 WAR for dWAR right now. If he can continue to hit well next season, he should easily be 2.0 WAR for both offense and defense, for a 4.0 WAR total.
I'm too much aware of historical disasters to believe yet. But, heck yeah, it's feeling good!
Go Giants!
Rich Aurilia was certainly the top offensive SS the Giants have had in SF. I looked him up on Fangraphs. I was surprised to learn that he was actually a positive on defense during his peak years too. He had one huge outlier year, 2001 in which he put up a WAR of 7.6! His next highest for his career was 3.0 with Cincy several years later. 2.9 was his second highest as a Giant. It's kind of difficult to project Crawford hitting 37 HR's or putting up a WAR of 7.6, but for every other season, he's well within striking distance.
DeleteI can't compare Crawford to Speier or Aurilia with the offense. Aurilia has a big question/doubt in my mind. I was referring to range and gloves.
ReplyDeleteCasilla has been the heart of that bullpen. Not impressed with Loux, Penny or Hensley.
I am really hoping when the real pressure turns up in the playoffs, this team will play like the 2010 boys and their never-say-die attitude. The Braves are the ones that bother me the most.
I would rank Crawford right behind Omar Vizquel and Jose Uribe in terms of the simple joy of watching really great defense.
ReplyDelete