Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Game Wrap 8/26/2014 Giants 3 Rockies 0

Madison Bumgarner and Buster Posey stood in the gap last night and led the Giants to an emphatic win that came oh so close to making baseball history.  Key Lines:

Gregor Blanco- 0 for 3.  BA= .248.  Nothing on offense here, but the second batter of the game, Drew Stubbs, hit a drive to the wall in LF that Blanco turned into an out, that I very much doubt Michael Morse would have made a play on.  That ball bounces off the wall and it's a whole different ballgame right off the bat, so to speak.

Hunter Pence- 1 for 2, 2 BB.  BA= .286.  Pence's contribution was not as dramatic as Bumgarner's or Posey's but he stood in the gap along with them getting on base 3 times out of the 2-hole.

Buster Posey- 2 for 4, 2 HR(17).  BA= .288.  In the previous game, Buster got rung up on a pitch that was not close to the strike zone, apparently as payback to Jake Peavy for an incident earlier in the game.  Tonight Buster came back and made a statement of his own, showing that umpire how his fit of anger was not harmless and may well have changed the outcome of the game.  In addition, Buster made a statement to his teammates about his leadership and accountability for the success of the team.  Just a star performance by a star of the team.

Madison Bumgarner- 9 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 13 K's.  ERA= 3.02.  Talk about being a stopper!  Bummy took a perfect game into the 8'th inning.  The pitch Morneau hit for a leadoff double was a good pitch that he had to reach for, but managed to drop the bathead on the ball and poke it down the RF line.  In retrospect, that was probably not the best pitch Bummy could have thrown in that situation and it did look like a location mistake with an offspeed pitch that probably should have gone to the outside corner.  On to happier topics, Bumgarner has found a new weapon, the elevated fastball and he is dominating with it!  And what a beast Bumgarner is anyway!  Not only is he not wilting in the dog days, he has found a foot or two on the FB hitting 94 on the high hard one with regularity late in the game last night.  His 13 K's came on top of 12 from his previous game.  He now has pitched 5 QS's in a row with 49 K's against just 2 BB's in 40 IP.   He's had 2 CG's in that 5 game span with double digit K's 3 times.  Right now, Madison Bumgarner deserves to be in the conversation about who is the best pitcher in baseball, and he's still getting better!

The Dodgers also won, so the Giants remain 5 games behind them in the NL West.  The Braves lost, so the Giants now have a 1.5 game lead for the second Wild Card playoff berth.

Tim Hudson tries to build on this game tonight facing LHP Franklin Morales.

6 comments:

  1. That's what leaders do (and thus they are stars) - lead and turn something negative into something positive.

    And this team will go where their leaders take them.

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  2. Hot tip: Check out an article on Fangraphs, linked to the left, entitled CJ Wilson on Spin Rates, Arm Angles and Exploiting Weaknesses. It's a must read. I picked up at least 4-5 points about pitching I had never known before reading it. Just chock full of great information!

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  3. "In addition, Buster made a statement to his teammates about his leadership and accountability for the success of the team. Just a star performance by a star of the team."

    Buster Posey is a star. Dr. B rests his case.
    ;)

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  4. NL Rookie of the Year, NL MVP, 2 All Star selections and a Silver Slugger award. Buster Posey is not a star? I almost fell out of my chair when I heard some guy say he wasn't the other day. I think it was by an anonymous poster. Now, is he a super star like Mike Trout, Miguel Cabrera and it pains me to say it Clayton Kershaw. No he isn't. But he is definitely a star and a born leader. His inconsistency issues are almost completely due to his body getting beat up behind the plate. Playing at 1B I think he could maximize his potential and consistency.

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    1. I was the poster who said he wasn't. I was referring to last year and this year so far (that might change if he heats up he has declined from the previous 2 seasons were there was no doubt that he was a star player. Sorry it it bothers you guys, but I do not consider a .290 15hr or a .290 17hr guy a star. Like with Lincecum, how can anyone say that a pitcher with an ERA of almost 5 is a star. Its like calling Ryan Howard a star now. In their past they sure were but not now.

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    2. When rating someone as a star you need to look at the position. The URL below will tell you all you need to know. Posey is 3rd in all of baseball with a WAR of 3.9. He is 8th in all of baseball at throwing out baserunners with 29%. You start putting him in the same boat as Stanton, Trout, Cabrera then I see your point. But look at just catchers. The two people ahead of Posey are Yan Gomes and Jonathan Lucroy. I will take Buster Posey as my catcher any day of the week ahead of those guys. You can't measure leadership ability. There is no stat for that.

      http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=c&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=8&season=2014&month=0&season1=2014&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0

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