Saturday, July 5, 2014

Game Wrap 7/4/2014: Padres 2 Giants 0

Matt Cain had one rough inning and it cost him the game as the Giants mustered just 6 baserunners against Eric Stults, who is not a very good pitcher.  Key Lines:

Matt Cain- 6.1 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 6 K's.  ERA= 4.27.  Cain had good looking stuff.  He just keeps making mistake pitches here and there and they all seem to get pounded.  One of the runs was a pop fly HR to RF by Amarista which seemed to have unusual carry.  Petco definitely plays differently in the daytime, especially on warm days.  And of course, there was the zero in run support.

The Loss, coupled with the Dodgers 9-0 shellacking of the Colorado Rockies behind Clayton Kershaw who ran his scoreless inning streak to 36, dropped the Giants 1.5 games behind the Bad Guys in the NL West.   The Giants do still have the 4'th best record in the NL and would be a playoff team if the season ended today.

Tim Hudson faced Odrisamer Despaigne in Game 2 of the series tonight.

Around the League:

Trader Billy stacked all of his chips on this season trading away 2 former first round draft picks, Addison Russell and Billy McKinney along with RHP Dan Straily to the Cubs for Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel in a true blockbuster trade.  All I can say is the A's better go all the way this year although Samardzija is under contract through 2015.  As for the Cubs, they stockpile yet more high ceiling talent, but trade away a good, still young pitcher who they should be able to afford in a longterm contract.  Their organization was already thin in pitching, both now and longterm, and this trade does not help balance the talent out.

8 comments:

  1. This is how I 'sense' the situation.

    Billy, despite of all his hype, has 0 and Sabean has 2 rings. Since 2012, he has been spending or trading trying get at least one, signing Cespedes and now getting Samardzija. This is more SabeanBall than BillyBall (not in the sense of spending money efficiently - that idea is not Beane's and can be found in all businesses, but building through the draft, upon which rested his success in early 2000s) though admittedly Sabean misses a few good Cubans.

    As for the Giants, I sense we want to answer the Dodgers' success last year. We really want to stop them this year. I sense if we don't, then it becomes something more fundamental to our challenge...maybe the core is not up to it. And then we have to address the core and not just the complementary players.


    ReplyDelete
  2. what? you are aware that because of injury the a's staff has been depleted. bean has lots more chips in his system to play with because, lets face it, the a's have a better farm system then does the giants.

    in this new era of the wc, judging success by ws wins, is just plain silly.

    the post season is a crap shoot and the team who is the hottest is the one that wins

    bean does more with less than any other gm in the game

    as for the giants....im not sure why i am upset....they are exactly where i thought they would be before the season began...

    but exactly how are they answering the bums success?

    the org has no depth in the of......perez???? are you kidding me?

    panik was rushed up, as was duvall

    they continue to waste quality starts from starters and have no offensive answer when their starters or pen falters

    it may be only july, but with pagan being out at least till the end of this month, i dont see things getting better

    and so....its fire sale time, boys and girls

    wont happen...cuz the org needs to continue selling junk....but it should

    if you cant beat a pitcher that no one loses to....its over

    bacci

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I did not say anything about the A's farm.

      And I did not say Beane did more with less. In fact, he has been efficient. He is good tactically, but just not the strategic revolution he's claimed by some to be.

      I think big trades would not have happened in the early 2000s. That's more Sabean thing.

      Giving that much money to Cespedes also would not have happened in the early 2000s. Again, it's more a not-poor club thing to do.

      Signing Melvin to be the manager also would not have happened earlier.

      It's good he has changed to align more closely with Sabean's philosophical or strategic way of thinking.

      That he has always been above average tactically is not what I did not say.

      Delete
    2. Make that 'I did not say Beane did not do more with less.'

      Delete
    3. Bacci,

      The WC is precisely why it is much too early to throw in the towel on this season. Now, if Sabes is so PO'd at this team he is not willing to invest prospects in reinforcements, then yes, he needs to be selling some pieces, namely Sandoval who may be gone after this year and who would bring a nice return on talent. Personally, I would try to help the current team out, but he has to move fast. Waiting until the deadline may well be too late.

      Delete
    4. One more thing, Bacci. Apparently Billy Beane himself does not agree with you that rings don't matter or he would not have made this trade. The A's were going to make the playoffs without this trade. This was a trade to win the WS, nothing less.

      Delete
    5. I think Beane's looking at "windows" here - he has Cespedes leaving after 2015, if Donaldson and Grey keep it up they get expensive by 2016-17. Kazmir is a short term guy. So he's going for it. This is a trade to go deep in the playoffs, not do the usual Beane dismissal. I think its crazy to trade a prospect of Russell's caliber, but I do admire going for it, and I do think Shark is a difference maker.

      Calling for a fire sale is interesting Bacci. Maybe they should sell off Pablo, I'd rather have something proven than the 29-32nd pick in the draft. We don't know when Pagan is coming back. I don't know how they're supposed to get any impact guys in a trade though, because of the WC, most teams want to take a crack and won't sell. And then you have the silly offers like Crick and Blackburn for Bud Norris. The Giants have proven ability to collect 4th OFs like nobody's bidness though, don't know why you are complaining about OF depth. Getting a top fleet OF is hard to do.

      Delete
    6. Fire sale? With the 3rd best record (tied) in the NL, a half game back from the NL West lead, and only a couple of games back from the NL lead?

      4rth OF? Perez is the 6th OF. Pence, Pagan, Morse, Blanco, Colvin, Perez. No-one's 6th OF is good.

      19-9 in May. 10-16 in June. They weren't that good, and they weren't that bad. But they built a nice cushion for the when the injuries and slumps hit.

      If the Giants don't want Sandoval, then who does? They could trade him at below value I guess and still get back a better bet than a 29-32 pick. But then who do they put at Third? Who they get back in the trade? Again, then why would someone trade for Sandoval. Duvall? I want to see him some more this season, but I'm not ready to hand him the rest of the starts at Third. Arias? C'mon...

      In a fire sale you dump talent to save money, because the season is wasted.If the 3rd best record in the NL is a hopeless situation, there won't be any buyers.

      Delete