Friday, May 23, 2014

Game Wrap 5/23/2014: Giants 6 Twins 2

Pablo Sandoval hit a 3 run dinger in the first inning and the Giants cruised to an easy win despite a ragged performance from Tim Lincecum.  Key Lines:

Angel Pagan- 2 for 4, 2B, 3B.  BA= .318.  Pagan was peppering the LF corner for a couple of XBH's. I'm not sure he would have had a hit on the triple with a better LF than Jason Kubel out there.

Pablo Sandoval- 1 for 4, HR(5).  BA= .225.  Sandoval stays hot and makes the most of his RBI opportunity in the first inning to get the Giants and Tim Lincecum off to a nice 3 run lead.  He made some nice plays over at 3B too.

Brandon Hicks- 1 for 2, HR(8), SF.  BA= .200.  Hicks had been slumping a bit, although he was hitting the ball hard, but right at people.  Big time contribution with the bat tonight and more stellar IF play at 2B.  Hicks is on a pace for a 3+ fWAR season and I don't see anything he can't sustain so far, well maybe the 32 dinger pace, but yeah, he's been solid!

Tim Lincecum- 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 6 BB, 4 K's.  ERA= 4.55.  Technically, it was a QS, but Timmy struggled with his command all night.  He allowed at least 2 runners to reach base every inning except the 6'th, his only clean inning.  At least he hung tough and worked his way out of the jams.  It helped that he had the lead at all times after the first inning.

Jeremy Affeldt- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 1.72.  Affeldt looked sharp and seems to be fully back on track after his mini-hiccup against the Marlins.

Jean Machi- 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 0.37.  Javier Lopez left Machi with a tight situation in the 8'th with runners at first and 3'rd and just 1 out.  The Machi Man got a quick DP groundball to get out of it, then pitched a shut down 9'th.  He's been a huge part of the Giants success so far and will be even more important until Casilla gets back.

The Win increased the Giants lead in the NL West to 4 games over the Rockies who lost to the Braves 3-2.  The Dodgers blanked the Phillies 2-0 behind Clayton Kershaw to remain 4.5 games out in 3'rd place.  The Padres pounded the Cubs 11-1 to remain 8.5 games back in 4'th place while the cellar dwelling D'Backs game with the Mets was rained out dropping the snakes to 12.5 games off the pace.

Ryan Vogelsong tries to clinch a series win tomorrow facing Sam Deduno.

2 comments:

  1. Rarely wander over to MCC, but it's as good a game wrap as any,

    "Right around the second inning, it was clear that the Twins were approaching Lincecum like he was a flightless bird discovered when the H.M.S. Beagle anchored close to shore. What is this thing? What does he throw? Does he ... wait, a changeup? Really? Since when?"

    Absurd: Giants 6 hits, no BB = 6 runs. Twins 7 hits, 7 BB = 2 runs.

    I'll take it!

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  2. giants are playing well, i just cant figure out if they are currently built for the postseason

    we all know that pitching rules in the post and while the pen has been basically lights out, the sp is questionable

    well, long way till october...so im just gonna enjoy the ride

    gonna miss watching sunday's game, as im gonna do some bonding with my bro and nephew and watch the quakes vs the storm

    bacci

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