Sunday, June 30, 2013

Game Wrap 6/30/2013: Giants 5 Rockies 2

The Giants got HR's from Buster Posey and Hunter Pence, a few breaks which they haven't been getting lately and a terrific pitching performance by Madison Bumgarner to break a losing streak in the middle of a tough road trip.  Key Lines:

Tony Abreu- 3 for 5, 2 2B.  BA= .325.  The Giants patience with Tony Abreu is starting to pay off.  The talent has always been there.

Buster Posey- 1 for 4, HR(12), BB.  BA= .322.  Not much to say about Buster that has not already been said.  Nice for him to get some help today.

Hunter Pence- 2 for 5, HR(13).  BA= .284.  Pence has been slumping and that hole in the lineup has been huge.  Hope this is the start of better games.

Juan Perez- 1 for 3, 2 BB.  BA= .256.  Nice little game for Juan Perez.  In addition to getting on base 3 times, he motored around to score from first on Quiroz' popup that fell in with 2 outs in the 7'th inning.  Love watching Flannery run down the line with him then peel off back to his coaching box when he sees the safe call.

Quillermo Quiroz- 2 for 5.  BA= .196.  Quiroz had something like a 13 pitch AB on a single to RF and then the luck on the popup that drove in Perez.  At this point, it seems like Bochy sees him as a better defensive option than  Hector.

Madison Bumgarner- 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 4 K's, GO/AO= 12/1.  ERA= 3.08.  Bumgarner was in command the whole way.  The difference between him and Matt Cain yesterday is the run support Bummy got today.

The Win enabled the Giants to gain a game on the NL West leading D'Backs and now trail them by 3 games, although they remain in 4'th place.  The D'Backs lost to the Braves again 6-2.  The Rockies remain 2 games behind in 2'nd place.  The Padres lost again to the Marlins 6-2 to remain in 3'rd place, 2.5 games out.  The Last Place Dodgers beat the Phils 6-1 and are now just 4 games out of first place in a very congested NL West division race.

The Giants now travel to Cincinnati to play a 4 game series against the Reds in Great American Ballpark, a place that has not been historically friendly to the Giants.  Mike Kickham gets the first game tomorrow evening facing Bronson Arroyo.

10 comments:

  1. worst june since 08

    that was a horrible year...but a totally different set of circumstances

    team needs more depth in certain positions and must look long and hard at others

    nate may be on the trading blocks...know he wont be coming back, but looks like other contenders are very interested in his services

    whats interesting is that the bucs really need a rf and nate would be perfect for pnc...

    bacci

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    1. I'll take a stab at it. Here is what I think the Giants need if they are serious about making a run for it:

      1. A big bat for LF. I used to think it should be a RH bat, but with Pablo struggling and Belt more of a 6'th/7'th hitter, a LH bat would fit nicely between Posey and Pence.

      2. A hard throwing closer or setup guy. I think Romo is ideally a setup guy but I could live with him as a closer if the Giants had a lights out 8'th inning guy. Casilla, Rosario or Dunning might be that guy, but I'm thinking someone with velocity in the high 90's. Might not be available.

      I think the starting pitching is actually OK. My first priority would be a bat for LF.

      Something needs to give with Pablo too. If it's a conditioning problem, he needs to go on the DL and stay there until he meets certain goals. If it's a timing issue, that should improve as he gets more AB's after coming off the DL. Right now, though, I would almost rather see Arias at 3B.

      Love Nate, but h is not the answer.

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    2. Nate in 224 ABs: .286 w/11 HRs, 34 rbi, .536 slg
      Pence in 320 ABs: .284 w/13 HRs, 42 rbi, .488 slg
      I was and am a big Nate fan, and he played an excellent RF at ATT, as does Pence.
      Why pay Pence $15-20MIL over many years??
      Also, I agree Panda needs a rehab stint, cause he is a liability in the field and on base...
      I am also a Panda fan, but he let the team down and the fans.
      Finally, Posey is a Stud and a quiet Leader, in case nobody noticed.
      Dude in NV

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    3. There is this thing called Ballpark Effect. Let's see Nate put up those numbers playing half his games in AT&T plus another 20 in Dodger Stadium, Petco and Oakland.

      Personally, I would not sign Pence to a big longterm deal.

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    4. Pence is never never but never going to get 20m a year so thats out of the question. Probably his agents are going to look for an Ethier type of deal which am against as well, but i wouldn't mind a 3/$42 or 4/$48m with a yr option.

      Regarding Schierholtz, am thinking he's having his career year, if you look at every stat category he is way over his head as to what his career numbers were before this year, either way he didnt do much with the Giants so I dont blame management for letting him go (both needed a change of scenery) and we did get Pence in that deal which got us another WS.

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    5. I love Nate, but to DrB's point, here's his splits:

      Home: .336/.363/.692/1.054, with 7 HR in 107 AB (15 AB/HR)
      Road: .239/.313/.393/.706, with 4 HR in 117 AB (30 AB/HR)

      Career: .272/.321/.428/.749, with 35 HR in 1499 AB (43 AB/HR)
      Car-Rd: .271/.319/.419/.738, with 22 HR in 780 AB (35 AB/HR)

      I think it is clear which numbers, 2013 home or road, is closer to his talent level.

      I like Pence and would like to sign him up, 3 for $42M I would love to get, 4 for $48M is even better, but I think his agents are thinking more like $15M per season deal for 3-5 years. He's not getting $20M per year, and I think $14M per year would be an overpay as well, but with Sandoval up in the air in terms of long term production, I prefer to overpay a little to keep Pence around. And that is Sabean's M.O. Losing Pence would drop us back to 2009 and 2011 Offensive poorness. Losing Sandoval and Pence could drop us even further, even if Belt continues to develop.

      Have to wonder if the Giants might look at Villalona at 3B in 2014 in AAA if Sandoval continues to outgrow his unis. Angel is still huge but reportedly he's always wanted to return to 3B and has took practice there to keep up the skills (of course, this was all before his legal issues, who knows what he's been doing since, baseball-wise; obviously, enough to retain his hitting skill in Advanced A-ball, but if he gained weight, don't see how he kept up his 3B skills. But he's reportedly still plus defensively at 1B so who knows. Plus, maybe Susac is ready to catch in majors by 2015, Posey could move to 3B while Villalona stays at 1B. Lots of potential options, depending on where Posey wants to play after C - and is capable of playing).

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  2. Interesting news from the minor leagues:
    1) Cody hall pitched for the Squirrels today. He dominated A+, so I am not surprised.
    2) Baggarly tweeted that Villalona was also promoted to AA. He is already on teh 40-man, so he has a ticking clock. He was doing well after a horrible start.

    Anything else?

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    1. Villalona should have three options (or does he qualify for the loophole to give the team four?), so the Giants can keep him in the minors in 2013, 2014, and 2015 before being forced to bring him to the majors or risk losing him. Even at one level per year, that's Advanced A in 2013, AA in 2014, AAA in 2015, before majors in 2016. If he can figure out each level like he did in 2013, he could reach majors by 2015.

      So good point, his ticking clock does impose some level of urgency on the Giants to figure out what they got with him before his options are all gone, though if Angel progresses OK, the team should be OK, but we could be stuck with him on the bench while figuring out things.

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    2. Am a little concern as to what am hearing from Baggarly. According to him Evans told him that the Villalona promotion had more to do with Oropesa struggling really bad, so in other words its more like swapping spots. Does that say that the Giants dont really view Villalona as a top prospect anymore?

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  3. Only thing I know about the Giants right now -- that the division will not be decided before the ALL-Star game.

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