Sunday, May 5, 2013

Game Wrap 5/4/2013: Giants 10 Dodgers 9

Seldom used backup Catcher Guillermo Quiroz ended a wild see-saw battle that neither team seemed to want to win with a walk-off HR in the bottom of the 10'th inning.  Key Lines:

Angel Pagan- 1 for 4, 2B.  BA= .275.  You knew it was going to be one of those games when Pagan led off the bottom of the first with a pop-fly double that the Dodgers did not see due to the evening sun shining directly into the eyes of the fielders.  Pagan himself had battled a long fly ball in the top of the first that he somehow managed to catch.  Pagan left this one early with a hammy, but it sounds like it's not a bad one.  If it is, Pagan may be a big part of this team, but the Giants OF is well set up to absorb the loss as both Blanco and Torres can play CF.

Francisco Peguero- 1 for 2, 2B, SB(1).  BA= .500.  Peguero made a contribution in his first start action since being called up.  He doubled up the left-center alley and eventually scored.  He also stole 2B to pick himself up after turning a sacrifice bunt into a fielder's choice.  He eventually made it to 3B but Buster inexplicably tapped into a bases loaded DP to end the threat.

Marco Scutaro- 2 for 3, 3 BB.  BA= .252.  Scooter is hitting .293/.383 over his last 10 games.

Pablo Sandoval- 3 for 4, BB, SF.  BA= .331.  Still not hitting with as much power as you might want to see, but he's absolutely peppering the field with basehits.

Buster Posey- 2 for 4, 2B, 2 BB.  BA= .290.  Another long, busy night for Buster.  Do you think he might have been just a bit fatigued when he tapped into that DP in the bottom of the 9'th?

Gregor Blanco- 1 for 2, SF.  BA= .288.  Bochy was pushing the right buttons here.  Blanco drove in 3 runs then was replaced by Andres Torres who promptly hit a HR. 

Andres Torres- 1 for 2, HR(1). BB.  BA= .236.  Torres serves notice that he is not going to give ground to Pegs without a fight.

Quillermo Quiroz- 1 for 1, HR(1).  BA= .444.  Wouldn't you know it?  A game like this ends with the guy who seems least likely to hit a walk-off HR doing just that.  Gotta say, I've been impressed by Q's bat as well as his defense.  Wonder why he was begging for a job this spring?

Ryan Vogelsong- 4.2 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 2 BB, 4 K's.  ERA= 7.20.  Vogie appeared to be in command through 4, although in retrospect, he did not have any pristine innings.  The wheels came off in a 7 run 5'th.  There was talk after the game of fatigue finally catching up to Vogie.  That may be the case, but there was significant BABIP issues in early in the inning and Machi brought a gas can with him when he replaced Vogie.

Santiago Casilla- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 2.20.  For some reason it did not seem like Casilla pitched shutout ball in his two innings.  The game was that frustrating to watch, but these 2 innings were as responsible for the Win as anything.  Well deserved W here.

With the Win, the Giants remained tied for first place in the NL West with the Rockies who pounded the Rays 9-3.  The D'Backs remained 2 games behind in 3'rd place with an 8-1 win over the Pathetic Padres.  The Dodgers slipped to 4.5 games off the pace and the Padres bring up the rear at a 6 game deficit.

Matt Cain tries for the sweep against Jumbo Hyun-Jin Ryu in another twilight game at AT&T.  They ought to ban starting times between 2 and 6:30 PM on the West Coast.  That sun is brutal for the first few innings.  The problem will last for about 6 innings with a 5 PM start.

I guess there are two ways of looking at the Giants situation:  1.  They are winning despite subpar performances from several starters.  Once that gets fixed they will be unstoppable.  2.  Those starters have logged way too many innings over the last 3 seasons and are about to collapse.  I'm guessing the truth lies somewhere in between.

15 comments:

  1. ya, seems like vogey is experiencing arm fatigue. his velocity in the 4th dropped to 88 and he lost all control of the 2 seamer

    i didnt get why saturday's game was called for 6 as it was locally televised...unless they were forced into it because of the 5pm espn start time

    not that it mattered...thanks to the scoring and the bum's need to have a mound meeting almost every inning, the game ended when it would have had there been a 7pm start

    i know that errors cannot be charged unless a player touches a ball, but pence totally misplayed gordon's ball, which led to the triple

    gordon has speed and base stealing abilities, but that kid is never gonna be an mlb caliber ss.

    im not sure what book wotus was looking at, but it seems he had the of playing in wrong position for most of the latter parts of the game

    scully was all over craw for the messed up dp, where craw fielded and threw the ball from a knee

    am i wrong or is paco have a delivery that is gonna cause him to have some serious arm issues? he snaps his wrist before completing his delivery and i thought pitchers are taught not to do that.

    i hope someone makes a vid comparing torres and q-ball's home run trots....im sure that by the time q got to 2nd, andres was already at home

    .another entertaining game...and that is all i wanted from this season

    bacci

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    1. I didn't see Gordon's triple. Was out getting some food and a birthday card for the older daughter with the family, so missed the carnage of the 5'th inning. I was falling asleep by the end of the game, but Q hit his dinger just as my eyes were closing so I saw that.

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    2. Paco does have a weird delivery. I'm not really an expert on what deliveries cause injuries. All I know is the Giants hitters were absolutely not seeing his slider at all.

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    3. If I am an opposing manager, I order my pitchers to throw Gordon nothing but high heat. If he can get on top of it and drive it, more power to him, but until he proves he can do that consistently, that's how I'm pitching him. Oh, and absolutely no nibbling with that stick man. He should NEVER be walked!

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    4. i didnt get the nibbling. the kid has speed and base stealing skills and if he gets on, is gonna steal. but he really cant hit

      gordon's triple is on the dodgers main site. you can see pence totally misplay it and go into a slide on one knee...its weird, watch it..cuz it wasnt hit hard enough to split the of...pence kinda stops and goes into the slide

      same with the double over pagan's head...angel was playing too far in

      and happy bday to your daughter...enjoy the day

      bacci

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    5. OK, I looked it up. Perhaps Pence could have taken a deeper route to the ball to try to cut it off, but I don't think he was going to touch that ball, slide or no slide. Just my opinion after watching the video.

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    6. I do agree that I seen no reason for Pence to slide in that situation and it certainly did not help him get closer to the ball, but I highly doubt he touches that ball even if he kept going full bore.

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    7. I think that was a tough play for Pence. I was frustrated by Casilla's approach on Gordon but give him props for shrugging off baserunners both innings. I agree, nothing but high fastballs, force him to hit. He did ok on the 3-2 pitch Casilla threw though.

      Should be interesting to see the hype for the next of Flash Gordon's spawn next year. They're great athletes, these Gordons.

      You notice the trend on the walkoffs? Scutaro comes out of LF, almost literally, the only guy with his hat still on, and escorts the Hero to the plate. Check the replays, both nights! Walkoffs against the bums! It really doesn't get sweeter than this. Love this team.

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    8. Steve lyons suggested on the Postgame that Pence may have lost the ball in the lights. Panda may not be hitting for power, but he's swinging the bat well. I thought that ball he hit to the CF wall that Kemp caught was a HR.. The win was nice, but felt good for Quiroz, a career minor leaguer, hitting that walkoff! Maybe its just me, but it seems like Javior Lopez's velocity is down this year. Time for Cain to step up and pitch a good game and get the sweep!

      LG

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  2. What does the 6th starter depth chart look like now?

    Kickham?

    Heston?

    Bonser?

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    1. I don't think there is a viable 6'th starter in the organization right now. I'm guessing Gaudin gets the first shot with Petit #2.

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    2. Starting pitcher lines in Fresno are just brutal.

      I mentioned it here before, but I would like to see the Giants explore the possibility of a 6-man rotation. I don't think the Giants can cannibalize the bullpen for that, so I'd run short on a position player, and try to have a man who can play both INF-OUT.

      But, as has been the case for the past few years, there is no good 6th starter candidate.

      I was out at the yard last night. Sloppy, messy game. But a WHOLE lot of fun to watch.

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    1. That's right. And the Giants tendency to grab vets and scrapheaps: they're the best guy they can find at that place and time to wear the uniform. Just like the Raiders of the 70s.

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