Pablo Sandoval and the Giants unleashed a withering offensive attack on the Reeling Rockies making it easy for Barry Zito and the second string bullpen pitchers to complete a 4 game sweep. Key Lines:
Angel Pagan- 2 for 4, 2B, BB. BA= .293. Pagan leads the way again.
Marco Scutaro- 2 for 4. BA= .301. Scooter stays hot.
Pablo Sandoval- 2 for 4, 2 HR(11). BA= .285. I guess he's back, huh?
Buster Posey- 2 for 4, HR(23). BA= .335. MVP! MVP!
Hector Sanchez- 3 for 4. BA= .276. So much for those who say the Giants will lose because of an inferior lineup if they play Buster at 1B in the postseason. Second game in a row where he was called for catcher interference, though.
Barry Zito- 5.2 IP, 10 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 4.18. Lot's of hits but few runs.
Bullpen- 3.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. Mota was the only member of The Committee to appear, so most of them got an additional day off.
With the win, the Giants stretch their lead in the NL West to 9.5 games, at least temporarily. Dodgers are losing to the Nats in Washington so it could got to 10 games if the Nats make it hold up. They also shaved another game off their Magic Number which now stands at 4 with it possibly going to 3 if the Dodgers lose.
Ryan Vogelsong tries to get himself back on track facing rookie RHP Casey Kelly and the Pesky Padres tomorrow night at AT&T Park.
Addendum: Dodgers lose to Nats 4-1. Giants lead NL West by 10 full games. Magic Number is 3. Dodgers are just 3 games over .500 and lead the 3'rd place D'Backs by just 2.5 games.
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as much as im happy the team is going to the post, i would prefer an end of year schedule that is closer to what the a's have or what the giants face next season
ReplyDeletefacing aaa rosters doesnt really help one to prepare
giants look like they will be facing cinci...doofus was diagnosed with an irregular heart beat and i wish him a full recovery...so the giants can break his heart once again
key to that series is basically not to enter the 8th down
Staff needs rest.
DeleteThis is different from what we're used to: scraping and scratching down to the end.
This is better. This gives the Giants rest and options.
And you can't have it both ways. We'd be loving an our share of the easy schedule at the end if we were currently tied with the Doyers.
In the end, the Giants have to be professionals, easing up for now, ramping up for the playoffs.
If the Giants lose to the Reds or Nats in the playoffs, I'll be comfortable in knowing that the Nats or Reds are the better team. I won't be sitting there bemoaning that the Giants lost their edge by coasting to the finish line. If the Giants can't get up for the playoffs, they deserve the early exit.
Playoffs are by nature a small sample size. In small sample sizes, anything can happen. Yeah, if they played the current Rockies in 10 consecutive 5 games series, they would probably win 8 or 9 of them, but the 1 or 2 they lost would not prove they were an inferior team in that series. Winning 3 consecutive postseason series' is crazy hard and in most cases requires an element of luck. That's why there is only one team left standing at the end.
DeleteI like the position the Giants are in. Their race was close up until the last 7-10 days. They will probably clinch with about 1 week to go. It gives them a chance to catch their breath, set their rotation, give the starters 3 innings to get keep loose but still rest up, give The Committee a breather.
I like where the hitters are. Pablo getting hot her at the very end is potentially huge. The one guy I worry about in the playoffs is Scooter. He's been so insanely hot for so long that a regression in the playoffs would not be a surprise at all, but the Giants have enough offensive firepower that they can survive 1 or 2 guys going cold. If the whole team goes cold, like has happened at times in the past, they will probably lose and not much you can do about that.
All in all, I'm very happy with the season. Whatever happens in the playoffs happens. That's what having a WS win under your belt does for you as a fan.
The biggest reason why I would really like the Giants to win it all, other than that I am a Giants fan and I always want them to win, is it would finally prove to all but the most unreasonable haters and naysayers that yes, Sabean and Bochy are a good GM and Manager respectively, possibly even HOF material.
I think you play one game at time and try not to look too far ahead.
DeleteI also think it's better not to second guess. Just play the hand you are dealt.
I've got to say, regardless of how the Giants do in the playoffs, that Sabean is better than I ever gave him credit for. I think he HAS to wear the Beltran and Pierzynski moves. But, incredible props for the Melky and Pagan trades. He addressed huge needs. No one, at the time, hailed them as great or even good moves. I like the Pence move because, I don't care what the Giants say, they KNEW Melky was getting suspended.
DeleteThe unthinkable, another title, would be sweet satisfaction to all those (the entire east coast, and Dodger fans) who said the Giants got lucky in 2010.
It is great fun talking to my Dodger fan friends. Apparently, they never, ever thought that they'd make the playoffs this year. This is all to be expected. The crazy backpedaling, the "yeah, wait 'til next year" is so damn enjoyable.
I see the Beltran deal as being driven by events on the ground. I'm sure Sabes knew he was giving up a lot to get Beltran, but what are you going to do when your defending championship team is leading the division but the offense is in the toilet? He had to do something or be accused of prematurely throwing in the towel. He went out and got the best available hitter at a premium price. No shame in that, as far as I am concerned.
DeleteI really liked the AJ trade at the time. My wife is a Twins fan and I had followed his career in MN and had him pegged as a guy I would like to see play for the Giants. When the trade went down, my wife was kind of upset the Twins were losing their All-Star catcher. I told her that 3 good pitchers was an excellent return for him and even though I liked the trade for the Giants, those pitchers could come back to bite them. We'll probably never know exactly why AJ was so unhappy here and why it didn't work out. It sounds like he and Sabes got off on the wrong foot and never patched things up and it carried over into how AJ related to his whole experience here.
So yeah, Sabes has made good trades and not so good ones, but on balance, he's been the most successful GM in franchise history since John McGraw.
That's probably true. (And I like what Rosen did)
DeleteI think the key to the Giants 2012 playoffs is rest for the starters. This year I have observed (and I know OGC has too) that when a Giants starter throws a high pitch count (110+) game, they follow it with 4-5 mediocre starts.
ReplyDeleteIt's like they have caught a bad cold and can't shake it. High pitch count first innings (30+), walking batters, throwing out of the stretch from batter two, losing their release point/fastball control, unable to put away batters when up 0-2, and giving up key hits to weak batters (opposing pitchers specifically). To their credit the starters have battled. But by the 5th inning they are gassed and done.
The Giants need to use their cushion and clinch this weekend, to rest their starters. Let them throw low pitch count games and/or move back the starters a day or two and start Johnny Allstaff. I believe if the starters roll into October well rested we will see the dominate staff ala 2010.
Note I also believe that the Giants offense will be much more dangerous and able to win games for them in 2012.
Weren't there some pitchers who said they pitched better when tired?
DeleteDid Reuter say that? Are sinker ballers or such more likely to be better when tired?
BLSL, well the Giants starters aren't sinker ball pitchers and Reuter ain't starting in the playoffs this year. But I get your point.
DeleteI think this staff, at least this year, pitches better when rested. Maybe it's the accumulated high-stress "Giants torture" innings over the past three years. Maybe it's just tired arms this time of year. Maybe it's that the league scouts and prepares for them better. All I know is when the starters throw high pitch count games they seem to follow them with several mediocre games.
Each season has it's own story to roll out and I think the Giants are fortunate to have a 10 game division lead in that they can rest up their starters up for the playoffs. I know the counter wisdom says to keep the pressure on till the last day, enter the playoffs hot, sweaty and fighting for every pitch. 2010 proved it out. I just think this year, the opposite will prove true and the Giants starters will need all the rest the doctor ordered.
Plus it does allow the Giants to luxury to adjust their starting rotation order to best fit their opponent in a short playoff series.
Unfortunately, we can't have it both ways: we either rest up and prep for the playoffs early, or we battle to the end and bring it into the playoffs.
DeleteAs crazy as my statement will sound, two years is like a generation ago for our pitchers. They are now in their prime physical age range, which on one hand should help them, it also means that they have a lot of mileage on their arms, in particular Lincecum and Cain. They were still young and in their mid-20's in 2010, but in 2012, they are nearing 30, when a lot of pitchers start slowing down (both physically and in terms of velocity).
So I prefer that we wrap it up early, let our Giants coaching staff figure out a plan for resting the pitchers without having them lose their feel for their mechanics and sharpness. Also, they can also start thinking about the order of the starters, which is hard since the opponent will determine the order, I would think. And while the Nats are in the playoffs, the Braves could still catch up and take the division title if the Nats have an epic collapse. Meanwhile the Reds magic number is only 2 and the Giants only 3, so they should have the division title wrapped up long before it is known who wins the NL East division title (though the Nats pretty much has it wrapped up).
My feelings are driven by Posey's comment that he was spent at the end of the 2010 season and that the rest, as little as there was, really helped him. I think that should be the goal, is to give rest to the starters who need it once we clinch, maybe play every other game for the rest of the season, or maybe 2 of 3.
OGC have you noticed this year that after a high pitch count game the Giants starters tend to then have a stretch of mediocre starts? I say this for Timmy, MadBum, Cain and Voggie.
DeleteNobody pitches better when they're tired. That is BS.
DeleteKirk Reuter is royalty around here, of course. But look at his numbers. While he does have a gaudy W-L record (he knew how to pitch just well enough to win, supported by a huge offensive juggernaut) he has a WHIP of 1.394! That includes 6 seasons at AT&T.
He'd have trouble being the #5 guy on this team. So, I'm not taking his word that it's better to pitch tired.
I should acknowledge that Woody pitched in the steroid era. And was very successfully.
DeleteWhat I'm trying to say that it's not good to pitch tired. Arguing that pitching tired can be good is trying to rationalize away a problem that we do not have.
Some sinkerballers say they tend to overthrow if they are too amped up or to rested. The Giants don't really have any of those kinds of pitchers. The staff is showing signs of being close to gassed. If they get a week to take it easy and get rejuvinated, I think it will be better for them in the playoffs.
DeleteI think there are two aspects to consider, the physical and the mental/emotional side. The Giants starters are clearly a bit gassed and the entire team could use a bit of a break since they are all physically challenged by the end of a long regular season. A close and thrilling division race might get the team geared up mentally/emotionally going into the post-season, but I see that as secondary. If they are not able as professionals to get geared up and motivated by being in the post season and come out flat, they don't deserve to advance past the first round. However, if they are nursing nagging injuries and just plain worn out, it is unlikely any amount of self-motivation is going to help them... "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak."
ReplyDelete