Despite giving up 7 walks, Tim Lincecum somehow managed to pitch a QS while the Giants offense came to life in the later innings for a win that looks a lot easier in the boxscore than it was in reality. Key Lines:
Angel Pagan- 3 for 4, BB, SB(24). BA= .288. Pagan had been in a mini-slump, but came up huge tonight leading the way in the first game of a major series against the Giants hated rivals.
Marco Scutaro- 2 for 5. BA= .289. When Scooter came up with the bases loaded and 1 out in the key 7'th inning, I felt a calmness that he was going to get the job done. He's just been so clutch and consistent since the Giants acquired him. I'm starting to believe that the Scutaro acquisition was the single best and most important deadling trade of this season in all of baseball.
Hector Sanchez- 1 for 3. BA= .267. Sanchez started the 2 run go-ahead rally in the 7'th with a sharp GB single through the right side. Blanco pinch ran, stole second base and scored the go-ahead run. Hector also nursed Timmy through a very rough 6.1 inning QS. The sequence of pitches he called for Santiago Casilla to strike out Hanley to end the top of the 7'th was a thing of beauty. What a tremendous resource to have this kid as the backup catcher. I would say keeping him on the active roster out of spring training is the single most important roster decision the Giants made this year.
Brandon Crawford- 1 for 3, BB. BA= .249. Crawford is closing in the .250 BA level. He scored 2 of the Giants 5 runs tonight.
Tim Lincecum- 6.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 7 BB, 7 K's. ERA- 5.11. A somewhat ugly looking line but Timmy somehow managed to get the job done. The oddity that probably saved Timmy is the he spread the walks around with 1 in each of the 7 innings he pitched in.
Santiago Casilla- 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 2.79. Casilla seems to have become Bochy's high leverage guy and did a fabulous job tonight. With runners on first and second with 1 out, he got Matt Kemp on a broken bat grounder with the runners moving up then struck out Hanley on a masterful sequence of pitches to end the threat.
Sergio Romo- 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 1.76. Maybe Bochy was bluffing with Huff in the on-deck circle and Lopez in the bullpen in the 8'th inning, but I have to say I breathed a sigh of relief when the Giants made the third out before Romo's turn in the lineup and he came out to start the 9'th. It's not that I don't have faith in Lopez, especially against LH batters, but I did not like any of the options available after Lopez faced Victorino and AGone. Oh, and that extra run in the 8'th put my mind at ease too!
With the win, the Giants finally increased their lead over the Dodgers in the NL West to 5.5 games. The D'Backs lost to the Pesky Padres 6-5 to fall 10.5 games back.
Matt Cain faces Chris Capuano in a nationally televised game tomorrow afternoon.
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now that grant doesnt have craw to kick around, he has decided to start on hector...making some crack that as the diff between whitey and hector offensively is so little, no reason to move posey back behind the dish...grant should stick to comedy
ReplyDeletetimmy's issues are all mechanical due to his inability to find his correct weight...orgs goal...help him get a good dietician and trainer for offseason and get him serious about it
no way should sergio be able to do what he is doing...he is a trick knee and a shoulder issue away from a long dl....yet he is doing it...and i found his secret...ped by 13 year old girl
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/ariel_gariano
he has been tweeting about ariel for most of the season, i paid very little attention...my huge bad
pass on and give...makes me sick that parents have to raise money to keep their children alive
but no doubt that this little girl has been sending extra mojo over to romo
You hit the nail on the head with MCC and the Hector hate. Seems some people think there is only one offensive stat that matters and if your numbers in that are low, no matter what else you do, you're garbage to them. Anyone who thinks the Giants are not better off with Hector than Whiteside has no clue what they are talking about.
DeleteI totally agree about Hector, he has been a great addition to the bench. Probably not even close to being as good as Stewart defensively, but he provides what we need more from the bench, a good hitter who can bring things up a notch when there are RISP (he was among the leaders in RBI on the team early in the season, each month, despite hardly playing). Though I would note that Stewart was a good hitter, not striking out much either, plus walking a lot, and hitting LHP very well.
DeleteI also agree about Timmy's issues, hopefully the Giants can help him get that straightened out this off-season.
Great game. Just look at the improvements across the roster, big and small. Blanco is in a rut, but he is Darren Ford minus a bit of speed with the ability to get on base. Scutaro is a savvy vet who can hit (much discussed now his 6 swing and misses in the season) over all the Freddy replacements. And yes, Hector Sanchez is an improvement over Stewart (thanks for the Greek) and Whiteside. A big one is Pagan over struggling Torres who opened the door back up for Warrior Spirit. That was a huge win, and now that Melky blew up, its looking like that trade was the best of the offseason. As an advocate of Scutaro and Pagan, I am enjoying both these guys at the top of the order.
ReplyDeletePosey is in a bit of a slump. On his K with the bases juiced he swung at a ball he usually would scuff at. Pablo hit the ball sharp with runners on the corners early but right at Hanley. We got the karma back with Pences slow roller.
I like that rotate the defense into place move. Lefty Malo called it as well as Baggs. There have been some cynical Bochy won't play Belt stuff going through the Gints Blogosphere. I'll believe it when I see it, Belt is en fuego. In addition to his killer defense and smart baserunning.
Its a very very nice set of games the Gints have put up since the all-star break. They’re hitting .311 with RISP since the All-Star break -- the best in the majors. Boo yah. That pitching comes around, AND Hunter Pence decides to break out, look out.
Having read so much smugly knowing analysis this year, from the totally ignorant, about Lincecum's woes, I wondered if a Giants fan's hand held the pen that drew a recent New Yorker cartoon: conference at the mound, with the pitcher looking zapped and the catcher--mitt covering his mouth to block lip readers--explaining to him, "Your inability to turn off your critical voice, combined with your fear of disappointing your overbearing, demanding father, is causing you to lose faith in your fastball."
ReplyDeleteYes, if the pitchers perform as they historically have, and Pence as he historically has, we should be in very good shape. Our magic number is nineteen, and we have nearly fifty chances (Giant games + Do---r games) to get there.