The Giants had already clinched a Wild Card playoff berth as the took the field against the Padres. They were also able to celebrate a win after blowing a 6-0 lead with the offense finding some traction against Andrew Cashner and the Padres bullpen. Key lines:
Joe Panik- 2 for 5. BA= .304. He's still 2-Hit Joe. My pick for ROY.
Buster Posey- 2 for 2, 2B, BB. BA= .310. Buster seems to have busted out of his mini-slump, which is a tremendous development coming into the postseason.
Pablo Sandoval- 3 for 3, SF. BA= .281. Pablo went back to the basics, bashing the ball up the middle 3 times for singles that drove in a run each time after hitting a SF to LF in the first inning.
Brandon Belt- 2 for 4, HR(12). BA= .233. Great to see the big guy unload on one. Splash hit #68! 2 adding a second hit even better. Giants desperately need his bat in the postseason.
Matt Duffy- 0 for 0, Sac. BA= .236. Duffy laid down an almost perfect squeeze bunt to drive in the winning run. Good thing Pence can fly down the baseline, though, as the pitcher made a perfect play to almost catch him. Pence's foot hit the plate about a nanosecond before the catcher applied the tag, but he was clearly safe.
Brandon Crawford- 1 for 3, HR(10), BB. BA= .248. Crawford got to double digits in HR's which allowed him to team up with Hunter Pence as the only pair of Giants to reach double digits in doubles, triples and HR's in the history of the SF era of the franchise.
Yusmeiro Petit- 5.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 8 K's. ERA= 3.69. Petit was working on a gem when everything fell apart in the 6'th when he gave up to dingers that were both crushed. His stuff and location looked good up to that point, though.
Hunter Strickland- 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 0.00. After Affeldt stunk it up and brought the tying run to the plate, the rook came in and threw BB's past Tommy Medica, a guy known for turning around fastballs. Bochy has obviously gained a ton of confidence in Strickland. Look for one of the veteran bullpen guys to develop an injury in the next 3 days. As for next year, gotta think Strickland is a lock for a bullpen slot, possibly even Closer!
Gotta be concerned about the bullpen big time after Affeldt, Lopez and Machi stunk it up in this game. They all got just one out each. Affledt had to be rescued by Strickland in the 6'th and Lopez and Machi coughed up the lead by allowing 2 and 3 runs respectively in the 7'th. At least Romo and Casilla had uneventful innings, but neither had a K in their appearances.
Travis Ishikawa did not get any hits, but he hit the ball hard and looked surprisingly fast and athletic in LF. He made several catches that were a bit more than routine. He may be the Giants postseason LF.
It was kind of nice to be able to forget about the Dodgers for awhile. The Win left the Giants 1 game behind the Pirates for the home field advantage in the Wild Card play-in game, but the Pirates hold the tiebreaker. The Giants are only 2 games back of the Cardinals who lead the NL Central. The Giants hold the tiebreaker if they should end up tied with the Cards in the Wild Card race. If the Pirates and Cards should tie for the NL Central, those two teams would play a one game playoff to determine the division winner and Wild Card rep before the Wild Card play-in game. The most likely scenario is still the Giants going to Pittsburgh for the Wild Card game.
Ryan Vogelsong tries to keep the Giants hopes for hosting the Wild Card game alive tonight facing Ian Kennedy.
The Giants have said that they will not use Madison Bumgarner on the final day of the regular season even if the home field advantage is at stake in order to save him for the Wild Card game, as they apparently feel having Bummy on the mound trumps home field advantage.
Great to see Willie Mays take a lap in a vintage limo before the game in celebration of the 60 year anniversary of The Catch. 60 years! The Catch was only 12 years old when I first read about it in the World Book Encylopedia at age 10! How about that?!
Props to Covechatter for digging up an eyewitness to Gustavo Cabrera on the field in Arizona for Instructional League.
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Couldn't find CoveChatter's note on Cabrera, but then I found it down his list of tweets. He retweeted something from Bill Mitchell https://twitter.com/billazbbphotog Is that the guy that takes all those shots of Giants ST?
ReplyDeleteLove the quote by Bochy saying they have,"Championship Blood!" . That got me pumped for the postseason and I can worry about next season when this season is over. Along with the celebration, everybody needs to enjoy that the Gmen are in it. That was quite the accomplishment. Also good to see the Gmen get some hits off a really good pitcher. Giant's may be are just laying in the weeds until the playoffs! Great game by Pablo and Belt. I didn't want to talk about the future but, if Pablo leaves as a free agent one team to watch out for is Arizona Diamondbacks. He likes hitting there and Dbacks may make a push to sign him. Even worse the Dback's first round pick is protected:(
ReplyDeletegood call on Sando the desert. I had assumed NYY or BOS would be lead dogs.
DeleteI'm going to guess that Pabs is a Red Sox or Marlin next year, although I could easily see Agent Ned spending $120 M on him just to get the Giants goat. I'm predicting Romo is a Dodger next year.
DeleteDrB, it looks like the Red Sox pick will be protected and most likely the Marlins would not be protected. Is it correct in saying that if the Red Sox sign Pablo we would get a Compensatory round pick and if the Marlins sign him we would get their pick which is currently #13? This is obviously only if we give him a QO which we definitely will.
DeleteNo, the lost picks do not go to the team that loses the player. The Giants will only get a Supplemental Round pick no matter where Pabs signs.
DeleteOh, and wherever Romo ends up, he's been a good Giant. Check on a very nice, but heartbreaking story of how Romo helped a sick girl get through her last days on Earth by the Merc's Dan Brown. It's linked several times over on Giants Extra linked to the left. BTW, didn't know that Dan Brown was married to Susan Slusser. As a guy who is married to someone in the same line of work, I like that.
Deleteromo has a huge heart
Deletethe whole ariel rose story is heartwarming and breaking at the same time
i still believe that it was that little girl's strength that carried a few of the giants through that run in 2012
im glad brown wrote this story....her mom is so worried that people will forget all about her
bacci
Just took a look at Panik and Crawford's numbers.
ReplyDeletePanik deserves some ROY votes, and he'll get some ROY votes. I don't know enough about Hamilton or DeGrom to say Panik SHOULD be ROY over them, but I still think one of them takes it because of longer coverage through out the season, and Hamilton's WAR is crazy (thanks to his fielding scores) combined with so many SBs, and DeGrom looking like the best rookie pitcher in a year without a 'standout' hitter.
Crawford's 2012: 248/304/349; 2013: 248/311/363; 2014 248/327/394. He's got a shot to hit the same AVG for three years running while improving his OBP and SLG each year. I think we continue to see maturation as a hitter and familiarity to the league. I've been saying for a while that he needed to get to double digit homeruns, and then the commentators will start to take note of his "power". His wOBA 2012-2014: 284, 296, 313. Great stuff. I think (echoing many commentators here) that going forward we need to look at resting Craw more often, especially when he begins to wear down a bit or has some nagging minor injury that saps his bat and his arm.
nice lines, thanks. Imagine if he could avoid those dreary slumps late in the season. His wRC+ is over 100, so how about that?
Deletei enjoy watching billy hamilton
Deletekid is a throwback and he deserves the roy
panik will get a few votes and is a lock to be the giants starting 2nd baseman next season
as for craw, not sure why the org cant be happy with an ss who is a solid 250 hitter with some pop....take off the pressure on the kid to perform better offensively and maybe he doesnt get the eeps in the field and is a perennial gold glover
bacci
I think you are correct on all three counts.
DeleteNWGiantsFan
DtF!!!
This is the lineup I think gives us our best chance to win. This is not the batting order, just positions. This leaves us Duffy, Perez and Susac off the bench. If we make it past the wild card game then Morse might be thrown into the mix. I really do not want to see Perez start any games. Defensive switches only for him.
ReplyDelete1B Belt
2B Panic
3B Sandoval
SS Crawford
C Posey
LF Ishikawa
CF Blanco
RF Pence
Anyone see a different lineup?
Will they face a tough leftie? Because then I could see Belt and Ishikawa sat, with Susac and someone for LF in.
DeleteGood job, guys.
ReplyDeleteWe're in and anything is possible. Who will be this year's Cody Ross or Scutaro?
Maybe Ishikawa will be this year's Cody Ross. If he hits multiple homers off of Strasburg, then we'll know we're on to something.
DeleteThis year's Cody Ross should have been a guy Sabean picked up at the deadline. Instead we're looking at slim pickens for LF in the playoffs.
DeleteBut you've got like Ishikawa's chances of putting up some good at bats and maybe driving the ball in a big spot.
Maybe a starting pitching equivalent of Edgar Renteria...not much during the regular season but on fire in the post season.
DeleteI know DrB hates the "Belt to LF" talk but with Pagan out we are really exposed in the lineup at LF.
ReplyDeleteDoes anybody think Susac at C, Posey at 1B and Belt in LF is a better lineup?
It would not surprise me if we see that lineup.
Deletebelt in a position he hasnt played all season after being knocked goofy?
Deletemight as well just leave lf open
how about bochy goes a little nuts and tries out brown over the next 3 games
bacci
I understand but Ishikawa only started 1 game in LF and Perez only started 8 games in LF. The question is how to get the best bats in the lineup. Belt would not be a liability out there. Susac in the lineup brings much more offensive depth.
DeleteI dispute that Belt would not be a liability in LF. Bochy himself has addressed the question and all but ruled it out. His comment was, "you have to catch the ball" or something to that effect.
DeleteI am not sure about starting Madbum in the one game. Sets us up better to throw maybe Peavy or even Petit. I know you have to win the one before the others but the way Peavy has been throwing and Petit can throw, I think the odds would be ok with them too.
ReplyDeletePeavy can start Game 1 of the NLDS if they get there. The priority has to be winning the one game to get you them to the next step.
DeleteYeah don't count you chickens before they hatch.
DeleteProbably no surprise here, but Gibby got the ax in Arizonaland. Gotta have some scrappy players on your team, but you also have to have players with tools and talent. Gibby didn't seem to understand that.
ReplyDeletekinda strange to announce this with 3 games left in the season
ReplyDeleteeven stranger is the choice of new gm....dave stewart
seems that larussa is remaking the entire fo and coaching staff
bacci
bucs win again
ReplyDeletecards currently trailing the lowly snakes
giants best case scenario....bucs and cards tie and have to play a one game playoff for the central
bucs win and cards must fly out to sf
so lets root for that
bacci