The Giants offense scored early and often to support another strong start from Ryan Vogelsong and won this one going away. Key Lines:
Angel Pagan- 3 for 5, 2B, 3B. BA= .306. You want your leadoff guy to get into scoring position as quickly as possible. He can do that by reaching 1B and stealing or with XBH's.
Joe Panik- 4 for 6, 2B. BA= .312. Panik continues to show plate discipline with a short stroke to the ball. He played pepper with the field in this one.
Buster Posey- 5 for 5, 3B. BA= .290. I think Buster Posey is hot. Reassuring to see this after his 0 for 4 in the finale against the Rockies. Buster becomes the only catcher in franchise history to have two 5 for 5 games.
Hunter Pence- 3 for 4, BB. Panik's emergence as a classic #2 hitter allows Pence to move down in the lineup. I would probably bat him #4 with Sandoval at #5 but it's a minuscule difference. Pence's speed is nice in the 5-hole.
Gregor Blanco- 1 for 2, HR(4), 3 BB, SB(14). BA= .251. 3 things that are not coincidences: Panik moving to the 2-hole, Blanco starting in LF and the Giants winning. Blanco is on a HR tear with 3 in his last 6 games. He has also draw 6 walks in his last 3 games. He also raised his fWAR score by 0.3 points in 1 game last night from 1.0 to 1.3, and got his offensive contribution into positive territory on the year.
Ryan Vogelsong- 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 7 K's. ERA= 3.73. Vogey got run support again. He allowed the first two batters to reach in the top of the 5'th with the score 8-1. Bochy left him in this time and he got out of it with just 1 of those runners scoring.
The Win was the Giants 4'th in a row. The Dodgers lost to the Padres in extra innings so the Giants are now 3.5 games behind in the NL West. The Cardinals lost so the Giants pass them for a 0.5 game lead for the home field advantage in a Wild Card game. The Braves and Pirates won and trail the Giants by 1.5 and 2 games for the second Wild Card playoff spot.
Jake Peavy takes the mound this evening facing Mike Fiers, the man with a high fastball.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Must read: Article by Dan Brown in the San Jose Mercury News about the Giants influence on MLB and the reasons for it. It is linked in the Pregame Notes on Giants Extra which is linked to the left.
ReplyDeleteIt's not how you start, but how you finish. In our case, we started strong and are in shape to finish strong, with, hopefully, Belt coming back.
ReplyDeleteSolid, consistent pitching will be the key. The current offense is no worse than the one in the 2012 run, with Blanco in LF and now we have the option of platoon him and Morse there, and when Belt comes back, splitting 1B there between them and with Posey, who is getting hot and is capable of putting together a hot streak month-long.
Strickland, Okert and other kids may help the rest of the season, starting as early as tomorrow (?), though I don't foresee any in the post season roster.
But the fact remains - if we are going to go somewhere this year, it will be mainly in-season help from the farm, Panik, Duffy, Susac, with solid contribution from the 'pale-in-comparison-to-other-much-hyped-trades' addition from outside of Peavy (though Joseph and Rosin for Pence is, it seems to em, similar in price to Escobar and Hembree for Peavy).
Do we know that Belt is coming back? It might actually be better if he didn't! How long is it going to take to get his timing back? I'd rather ride with Morse doing most of the starting at 1B with Blanco in LF. Right now, I have more faith in Travis Ishikawa than I do in Belt coming back and being at all productive this year.
DeleteJust for precision, the trade for Pence was Nate Schierholtz, Joseph and Rosin.
Deletealmost for sure that neither belt nor sanchez are coming back this season
Deleteafter what happened to matheny, the giants are extra careful when it comes to concussive injuries
gotta be very concerned about crawford, he has had a terrible second half at the plate
its a bit puzzling that so many are so surprised by panik
giants signed him in the first round because they knew he would sign fast and was a hard worker with a high ceiling
in other news, the a's seem to be in a bit of a funk and im wondering if beane out thunk himself with all his moves at the break
bacci
Bacci, I don't think too many saw Panik pick as high ceiling. Hard working, yes, signable, yes. Utility guy was the prediction by many.
DeleteCraw needs rest, can Duffy make it happen?
DocB, good take on Belt. We can't afford two weeks of Belt flailing away at the plate, while one game my decide our playoff fate.
I do think it's strange that more in the sabermetric community did not pick up on Panik's K and BB rates even when his primary numbers weren't looking so good. I tend to think it's because the sabers have their minds made up that the Giants don't know anything about stats analysis therefore no point in taking a closer look at their prospects. I do think there is a definite bias there.
DeleteBaggarly on 8/27 mentioned Belt's symptoms are subsiding. How soon will he be able to go again - I don't know.
DeletePosey is on the kind of tear that carries a team. They are looking much more like the time at the beginning of the season that was over .500 by 20 games than those imposters that stunk it up in the middle of the season. If they keep the momentum, they got a shot as they have some head to head games still against the Dodgers. Won't be easy but at least we are competitive again.
ReplyDeleteGiants win (great pitching by Peavy!), Bums get bounced, and the gap is down to 2-1/2.
ReplyDelete