The slumbering Giants offense awoke today and sustained an attack against Mike Leake and the Cincinnati Reds. Barry Zito did not pitch well, but Tim Lincecum picked up the slack with a sensational long relief performance to hold the Reds offense down. Key Lines:
Angel Pagan- 2 for 3, 2B, HR, 2 BB. BA= .200. Pagan lead off the game with a blast then proceeded to get on base 3 more times.
Pablo Sandoval- 3 for 4, 2B, HR, SF. BA= .294. Pablo's bat comes alive!
Hector Sanchez- 1 for 2, 2 BB. BA= .500. Bruce Bochy lost this game by putting an inferior lineup on the field....wait, what? Take THAT, haters!
Gregor Blanco- 1 for 4, HR. BA= .300. Blanco has taken a couple of frustrating strike 3's but he's having a good series overall.
Joaquin Arias- 2 for 3, 2 2B. BA= .500. Arias is hitting righties too. I'm thinking with 1 game do or die tomorrow, he needs to be in the lineup.
Barry Zito- 2.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 4 K's. Bochy's leash was mighty short, and it was the right move.
Tim Lincecum- 4.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 6 K's. Timmy has now pitched 6.1 IP, with 0 BB's and 8 K's. Pretty much the same number of innings he would have been expected to pitch as the starter and he got the W here. Bochy is a genius! LOL!
It's a new series with 1 game to decide it. Matt Cain tries to atone for his first game subpar performance facing off against Giants nemesis Mat Latos. Game is at 10 AM PDT. I'll be working but you can bet I'll be checking Gameday during breaks. Whatever happens, this team showed some heart to come back from those 2 defeats at home.
PS: The Giants set a record for the worse offensive performance by a winning team in postseason history yesterday by a significant margin as measured by Team wOBA. See Fangraphs for full story.
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Got to LOVE it!!!
ReplyDeleteA classic 2012 Giants road beat down win. Zito out by 2, offense in for 8.
Bochy is playing for the moment, the short leash, and the hot hand to the extreme. Damn fine job of managing.
Timmy's game, indeed. Whatever he's eating or excerising now he needs to keep doing it.
Great to see the top of the lineup light it up.
Hector Sanchez and Arias, who would have thunk way back in April.
Blanco too!
Deletenice to have a manager that understands the concept of a short leash
ReplyDeletezito couldnt get the curve ball working and was sooooo lucky to escape the first 2 innings
timmy stepped up
tired of the hector hate.
win or lose tomorrow, giants showed that they have heart. and they have gotten into the heads of the reds and the doofus one
ok giants...here is your chance....make daren cry
We had been on that side in a postseason series where we saw the momentum swing the other way.
DeleteLet's hope this time, it works in our favor.
Hector has a 0.7 fWAR in 227 plate appearances, and Belt has a 1.7 fWAR in 472. If we prorate Belt's fWAR for the same number of plate appearances that Sanchez had, Belt is at .81. That is, the difference between the two is minuscule, especially given that Belt plays regularly, to get and maintain a rhythm at bat, and Sanchez plays intermittently. While we are at it, another player whom many bloggers sharply undervalue(d), Brandon Crawford, has outperformed the bloggers' darling, Belt, in virtually the same number of PAs as Belt (BB 472, BC 476). BB has a 2.0 fWAR to Belt's 1.7, so has by that measure been more valuable to the team.
ReplyDeleteMy comment isn't meant to knock Belt, who is on his way to becoming a very fine player. It's to suggest that by the full-season sabermetric stats that are the North Star to a considerable number of opinion-rich bloggers, the online comparisons among Giants players often soar on a great deal of unballasted hot air.
Well said, and thanks for doing so.
DeleteYes, agreed, thanks!
DeleteLet me say upfront that I like all our kids to do well and I believe all our kids are good.
DeleteHector's fWar over 472 PA would project to be, by my calculation, 1.46.
If the difference between a fWAR of 1.7 and a fWar of 1.46 is 'minisucle,' the the difference between BB's 2.0 and Belt's 1.7 can't be that much more than miniscule.
On the other hand, if BB is more 'more valuble' than Belt (2.0 vs. 1.7), than Belt can not fail to be close to more valuable than Hector (1.7 vs. 1.46).
For me, I would rather view '2.0 vs. 1.7' and '1.7 vs 1.46' as miniscule in both cases, and not minisucle in one case and more valuable in the other.
Again, I believe all our kids are good.
Stats aside, the key to me on Hector is - he is fearless. And he knows it.
DeleteJumps from A ball to the majors. Handles the Giants crown jewels - the pitching staff. Drives in runs flashing extra base power. Walks twice in the biggest game of his life.
This kid is fearless and has done a great job. He has a bright future and is showing it right now.
The series is over when its over. Tomorrow. All the marbles baby!
ReplyDeleteOur boys came to play. And it was sweet.
I have the game taped, now I get to go check out the Timmy pitching. Saw the Ludwick K and the first inning. That is absolute redemption right there. Love it.
I threw down a quick plea for some rational approach to Hector in the middle of a MCC whipup. Alls I can say is Pagan did his job, Scutaro got on track apparently (that glove work was shaky) and Pablo's bat warmed up. That was what is important. And look at that, Sanchez draws a couple BBs. Ain't life ironic.
Pence needs to keep doing what he is doing with the motivational, and our Captain needs to bring some calm to the bump tomorrow. Elimination games are what makes October baseball so special.
A rational approach to Hector on MCC is an oxymoron.
DeleteThis is true. I decided against giving an attaboy there tonight. I'll do it here: Attaboy Hector!
DeleteI smile every time I check out Hector's stats on BB-Ref because of your sponsoring of his profile, Shankbone.
DeleteI love Belt and I'm now pretty sure that he will eventually reach the hyped heights we all had for him, but he was not there yet this season for long stretches. It was just sad how people would jump on any player or on Bochy when Belt was not in the lineup. Belt needed his time off to work on things, and people who didn't get that don't really understand hitting in baseball.
I covered somewhere the number of runners our top hitters drove in, including Sanchez, and his percentage was up there with Posey, Pence, Sandoval, high teens, whereas Belt was much lower, mid-teens.
Oh, here's the stats:
Belt 14.8% (there were 330 runners on in his PAs, and he drove in 49 of them; I removed their driving in themselves with homers)
Sanchez 17.9%
Posey 18.4%
Pence 19.2%
Sandoval 16.8%
Blanco 12.0%
It would be interesting to the numbers again not excluding self-driven runs.
DeleteAnd more interesting to see the details of those nubmers - in some situations it's easier to drive in a run (bases loaded no outs) vs. say 1 runner on, 2 outs - to make it tougher, the runner is on 1st).
I have no idea what the numbers will be like, but I hope they will prove that all the kids are good.
I'm going to throw something out there that the TBS announcers threw out there but has gone mostly unnoticed. The Giants have hired a sleep specialist as a consultant to help them with travel related sleep problems. He advised them to stay in SF overnight after Game 2 and fly to Cincy in the morning. The Giants took his advice. The Reds flew out right after game 2 and arrived in Cincy at 6 AM Monday morning.
ReplyDeleteThe Giants arrived on Monday in time to hold an evening workout and get a good night's sleep in Cincy.
Not sure how much difference it makes but based on my understanding of sleep rhythms I think this guy the Giants have hired knows what he is talking about.
Thanks for sharing that.
DeleteI would agree. On my last trip, my sleep was totally messed up and I was out of whack for over a week. Has to be even worse for professional athletes.
Still, it was both teams sleepwalking in that first game.
Watching the game now. Arias put some nice swings in. He is having a very nice series.
ReplyDeleteBochy must have forgotten what got him a world series in 2010 because he keeps trotting out the same goddamn lineup with Belt and Crawford basically wasting space while guys like Arias and Hector are sitting on the bench. I have been on both of these guys most of the year and here is just more proof why they shouldn't have been our main choices at 1B and SS. It doesn't matter how far we get in the playoffs, neither of those guys can hit in the big games. Arias has done more then enough to warrant a start and if we lose today I will have more harsh words for Bochy, Brandon, and Belt... the crappy B's.
ReplyDeleteRight now, the game is being played, I am rooting for whoever is playing.
DeleteOh I love it when I am wrong!! Hell yea Crawford!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteMentally, it's easier to be wrong with the player/team exceeding what you expected than to be wrong with the player/team underperforming.
DeleteIt hurts more to emotionally root for a player or a team who then disappoints than to be always 'objective' or to 'know it' beforehand.
That's the price one pays sometimes.
P-duk, wrong! Thank God for that!!!
DeleteIt's the easy way out.
DeleteYou can say 'We will lose the next series' from today on, and then say later, 'I am glad I was wrong if that means the Giants win.'
I would rather be wrong 10 times out of 10 if it means the Giants win! I still can't believe they came back from down 0-2 and especially with a game like this to clinch it. Classic Giants game, glad I "worked from home" today! Give some credit to the Red's for being a great opponent and then how about some love for the team across the bay?? I never hear anyone on this site have anything positive to say about the A's and they are a hell of a team. I'm going to be rooting for them all the way up until they meet us in the WS!
ReplyDeleteAt 10:46Am while the game was being played, one could root by writing about wanting the team and all Giants to do well, not 'if they lose today, I will have more harsh words...the crappy Bs'
DeleteThat is best reserved for before and after. It's kind of like supporting our soldiers whether one wass for, or not, before the conflict.
Once the game is on, you focus on wishing them all to do well.
P-duk, this is the "When the GIANTS Come to Town" site. I am sure the A's play baseball somewhere around here, but it ain't here.
Deletereds are a hell of a team and it took the injury to cueto for the giants to win
Deleteas for the a's....hell ya im rooting for them
first, i want the rivercats to be the first pcl team to go to the ws
second, i want lew to explain again how being in oakland he cant field a winner or draw fans
third, i want an end to the moneyball myth. this team is made up of guys who were carefully scouted and developed.
if there is any ball, its aussie ball.
to me, the a's going deep is a hell of a lot better for the mlb than the yanks
I guess people are free to root for whomever they want, unless DrB says otherwise. This is his site.
DeleteFor those Giants fans here who say they root for the A's, I wish they would also explicitly say they root for the Giants. They do, I am sure, but it's just we don't hear that from everyone often enough. We sometimes take those we love for granted.