The Giants combined a strong start for Tim Lincecum with a sustained hitting attack and made this an easy win, except for some mild torture in the 9'th inning. Key Lines:
Norichika Aoki- 2 for 5, SB(4). BA= .346. Aoki's magic show rolls on.
Buster Posey- 2 for 4. BA= .250. Buster took some extra BP before the game, something he rarely does.
Andrew Susac- 2 for 3, BB. BA= .429. Play Susac until he cools off!
Justin Maxwell- 2 for 3, 3B, HR(1), BB. BA= .318. Um….and where has Maxwell been all this time? I have been as big a Blanco supporter as anyone, maybe more, but on a team this power challenged and with as little to lose at this point, I think you've gotta try to catch the kind of lightning in a bottle Maxwell can give you. Blanco just can't give you the dinger potential!
Brandon Crawford- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .224. I don't know if it was a called play or if Crawford was on his own, but the bunt single with a runner on 3B and 2 outs was about as gutsy as they come, and Crawford beat it out to drive in the first run of the game.
Tim Lincecum- 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 2.00. Boy, the Giants needed a strong start from Lincecum and Timmy delivered. Now the Giants can't get swept and they had to avoid that to keep their season alive, IMO.
The Giants record improved to 5-10. They now trail the NL West leading Dodgers, with a record of 9-4, by 5 games. The Padres pulled into a first place tie with the Dodgers with a come-from-behind win over the Rockies. The Rockies and D'Backs both fell to 7-7 and a 3'rd place tie with losses.
Tomorrow night, Madison Bumgarner and Clayton Kershaw face off in a battle of aces with both pitchers still trying to find their stride this season.
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It's amazing how many contributions the Giants have gotten against LA from the unsung-type players, even just in the past few years. Pat the Bat, Brett Pill, Brandon Hicks, Guillermo Quiroz have all stepped up HUGE in this rivalry, and now you can add Maxwell to the list. Doesn't matter what month it is; you earn double points for coming through against the Dodgers. DrB, you were one of the first (and maybe ONLY) people talking about Maxwell as a potential contributor when the Giants signed him. About two weeks into spring, there was no doubt to me that he'd make the club... and now it looks like he's forcing himself into a greater role.
ReplyDeleteDidn't think I'd be saying this about a month ago, but the optimal Giants lineup right now does NOT include Brandon Belt. Definitely not against lefties anyway. And in my opinion, it doesn't include McGehee either. The way the Giants have started this season, you could do a lot worse than running out a lineup like this every night:
Aoki
Panik
Pagan
Posey
Maxwell
Duffy
Susac
Crawford
Thanks Covechatter. I've always had a feeling Maxwell was on the verge of being a really good player if he could just avoid injuries and get enough PA's to get a decent sample size. I really liked him as a no-risk offseason signing by the Giants.
DeleteBelt's bat seemed to be coming around the last couple of games, but I think Susac at C with Posey at 1B is better offensively than Posey at C and Belt at 1B. Belt looked like a statue in LF, so yeah, maybe no place for Belt right now. Agreed on McGehee who just looks miserable out there. I don't know if he's hurting or out of shape or depressed or all 3, but he just looks like being on the field is the last place in the world he wants to be. Very bad body language!
Yeah, been thinking about McGehee. He hasn't looked comfortable from the time I saw him at the Town Meetings this past off-season. I wrote that off to his natural demeanor. But maybe it's more.
DeleteFirst off, a guy trying to rebuild his MLB value as hitter certainly does NOT want to be traded to a pitcher's park. So maybe he wasn't thrilled with the trade.
Also his demeanor reminds me of Edgardo Alfonso. That guy almost NEVER smiled, never looked like he wanted to be here.
And, as you pointed out, couple that with:
A tough start
Replacing Pablo
Having Duffy barking at his heels
Gotta figure the G's are going to let him run for another month, month-and-a-half before they make a move.
I really like the way Justin Maxwell looked at the plate last night. He was seeing and tracking the ball really well. He also handled himself well in RF with of course the highlight catch where his knee smashed against the concrete part of the wall. Let's see how he looks against Kershaw tonight.
ReplyDeleteI think the issue with Belt is whether Posey is really our long term first base man. If he is, then Belt is a prime candidate to be moved when he's got one year left on his arbitratrion. However, he needs to be healthy and have some ABs to make that work. Not sure how you do that, unless we just think there is a team that will take him given his potential (maybe the Yankees or BoSox, but who knows if they have any talent we want).
ReplyDeleteI personally think Maxwell needs to play every day until Pence is back. We need to figure out what he can do.
Love Timmy stepping up. A rotation of that Timmy, MadBum and Heston is not bad. If we can get Cain back, that is actually pretty good. Of course, what we do with Huddy and Peavy (and Vogelson) is an issue. Pen looks good and the kids in the minors put us in really good shape.
What's wrong with Hudson? He's been OK so far, probably still needed some spring training due to his late start, and he got BABIPed in his last start.
DeleteI'm not sure why everyone is so down on Belt. He's been one of our best hitters the past few years, he has been better than Sandoval, certainly, and was one of the team offensive leaders last spring when he was HBP and DLed. Then he had a nice spring but lost his feel for his batting when he had to sit out his groin injury. Those are bad, you can't do anything with your legs for fear of re-pulling it and setting your recovery back. I wouldn't trade him unless we got a pretty sure thing top of rotation starting pitcher.
Ground probably covered before, but could Susac play 3rd? Would that kill his value? Would his defense be worse than McGee? Doing this could get his bat in the lineup.
ReplyDeleteAngels picked up Gary Brown. Wonder if he'll stick.
ReplyDelete