The Giants played another nice, crisp game….for 8 innings. Things got sloppy then fell apart in the top of the 9'th with an evil wind blowing in from centerfield. Key Lines:
Joe Panik(2B)- 2 for 3, BB. BA= .171. Panik's bat is finally starting to come around at just about the right time.
Brandon Belt(1B)- 1 for 2, 2 BB. BA= .364. Belt keeps belting'.
Travis Ishikawa(LF)- 1 for 4. BA= .267. Travis drove in a run with an RBI single then went a long way to make a running catch of a drive by Jay Bruce at the warning track. Remember this the next time you get the feeling the Giants are about to move Brandon Belt to LF.
Juan Perez(CF)- 1 for 1, 2B, BB. BA= .333. Lil' Juan P continues to state his case for a roster spot. He continues a hot streak that started in the 2014 postseason.
Matt Duffy(PH-2B)- 1 for 2. BA= .393. It was Duffy's throwing error after he had ranged far to his left for a ball in the hole that opened the door for a rough inning for the Giants and Hunter Strickland, but oh my! The kid can sure hit!
Ehire Adrianza(SS)- 0 for 3, 2 BB, SB(1). BA= .231. Adrianza made the last out of the game on a line drive right into the glove of the Reds' 2B.
Tim Hudson(RHP)- 3.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 4 K, GO/AO= 5/2. ERA= 1.50. Strong start for Huddy and the Giants SP's are indeed looking better.
Steven Okert(LHP)- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 1.59. Okert has had a great spring. Positioning himself to possibly be Affeldt's replacement in the bullpen next year.
Hunter Strickland(RHP)- 0.1 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K. ERA= 8.59. Strickland pitched better than the line looks. When the leadoff batter reaches on an error, you know it's going to be a tough inning. He also gave up a broken bat single over the 3B head and a squibber/bloop/infield single added to the bad luck here. Definitely a BABIP job on poor Strickland.
Should mention that Casey McGehee made a sensational pick and throw on a bunt attempt by Billy Hamilton. Not sure Pablo, even when he was in his best shape, makes that play. Oh, and McGehee got himself another hit.
Tim Lincecum is scheduled to pitch tomorrow for the first time since coming down with a bad case of stiff neck syndrome.
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I guess my rope for Hunter Strickland is much shorter than Bochys. He has had a few good outings but he has also been lit up several times. I do not have much faith in him. Right now I have to go with Kontos. I am wondering why Cordier has only pitched 3 innings. In those innings he didn't give up an earned run. Why don't with give him a shot over Strickland in the depth chart?
ReplyDeleteThis is Belt's year! If he wants that Freddie Freeman type of contract in a few years this would be the time to start showing he can be what we all think he is capable of. These weird injuries need to go away.
At this point in time I think Strickland has no chance to make the roster. Lucky for him he's got options so he'll probably get at least one more shot at making the Giants.
DeleteCordier has been sidelined with forearm tightness unfortunatley.
DeleteIMO, sticking with Strickland was beneficial to him, and Bochy. There were things to learn there. Strickland was 99.99% headed to AAA, this confirmed that.
ReplyDeleteAdrianza made some nice plays at short, he might be more consistent than Crawford, although not as flashy.
Ish and Perez added bricks (good, building types) to their quest for 2015.
The only case for Belt playing LF is to have him and Posey in the lineup when Buster plays 1st, which will happen more often than Belt should sit.
Like you said it was good for 8 innings, that meltdown would not occur in regular season.
Makes one wonder whether Matt Duffy (!) could play CF. Seems fast enough; looks like a CF; sure be nice to have that bat in the lineup. Not a huge arm, but there are a lot of ML CFs that don't have a big arm. Wouldn't complain if they threw him in the starting lineup at CF for Sacramento for a couple weeks just to see how he does ...
ReplyDeleteStrickland also got a way with a few bad pitches, Krukow noticed it too. Plus he wasn't facing the big league hitters. I think he needs to go to the minors again and still work on his command a bit. Ishi did make a nice grab and McGehee's plays were solid too. I still prefer Duffy over Arias but not sure the Giants come out the gate with that. I also think the Giants could do worse than a platoon of Blanco and Perez while Pence comes back. I'd be very comfortable with those two holding down the fort. Overall much better play the last couple of games.
ReplyDeleteBilly Baseball
im sure everyone was told to pace themselves during st...
ReplyDeletebochy is gonna have his work cut out for him with mixing and matching in the of, as im sure pagan is gonna join pence on the dl to start the season
as long as strickland isnt giving up dingers, im good with where he is at....but i still think he starts the season in sacto
speaking of sacto, really wish the giants had scheduled one st game there...important to get off on the right foot with a new affiliate
the if defense should be fine
ot...just saw the battered bastards of baseball, the doc on the portland mavs team that played in the nwl....great story about the love of the game....but the doc seemed to be holding some things back and it appears that the doc was more of a treatment in order to sell hollywood on making a movie based on it
will be cool to see kurt russell playing his dad, who was an amazing character who really loved the game and reinvented indy ball....still cant figure out why the mlb was so dead set against indy ball succeeding, as it has been shown to be very succesful in allowing some guys to get back in organized ball, and is overall good for the game and fan interest
lots of things that bing introduced to the overall atmosphere of his games, milb teams have been using since
is it april 1 yet?
bacci
I lived across the river from Portland in Vancouver, WA at the time the Mavericks got started. I used to love reading about their games in the Portland Oregonian.
DeleteI like the idea of seeing if Duffy can play LF.If we're willing to put a 1B with average speed in LF.It makes sense to see if a guy with better speed and a better bat can play the position.
ReplyDeleteThere is more to playing OF than just speed. Did you see Ishikawa get a jump on that ball last night? He's obviously been studying angles off the bat and routes to the ball. Right now, Of course it never hurts for a young player on the bubble to expand their positional repertoire. Doesn't mean he's going to be the starting LF on opening day or even the backup or third string.
DeleteAngel RHB's got 2 IF singles in 9th off lefty specialist Lopez -- ok, Bochy just wants him to get innings.
ReplyDeletePartch got nobody out, and winner scored.
Kieschnick is 3-8, 1 double for the Spring.
His hit, in the 8th was another IF variety, altogether there were at least 2 IF singles hit to Duvall at 3rd.
There must be method to this, are the Giants hoping someone will like Duvall? So far it's mostly been opposing pitchers.