The Giants momentum from the Dodgers series did not carry over into Coors Field as Chris Heston's BABIP luck ran out and the Giants had a relapse of LOBitis. Key Lines:
Gregor Blanco- 2 for 5, 2B. BA= .239. Aoki gets the day off with Blanco getting the start in LF.
Joe Panik- 2 for 5, 2B. BA= .303. Panik has raised his BA from a nadir of .176 on 4/15 to .303 in just 8 games. He is 14 for 32 in that span.
Angel Pagan- 2 for 4. BA= .329. Pagan has certainly seemed to fully recover from an early season back scare and has been one of the Giants steadiest performers.
Brandon Belt- 3 for 3, 2B, BB. BA= .238. Belt has a 5 game hit streak since his BA hit .077. He is 8 for 16 in that stretch.
Justin Maxwell- 2 for 3, HR(2), BB. BA= .333. I think it's safe to say Maxwell is going to be in the lineup until he cools off or Pence comes back. He might stay longer if he keeps hitting like this.
Chris Heston- 5.1 IP, 11 H, 6 R, 1 BB, 4 K's, GO/AO= 7/0. ERA= 2.77. Heston was due for a BABIP fueled regression. His BB's, K's, and GO/AO all look pretty much the same as his first 3 starts. He gave up a HR, but it was a solo job. So, BABIP it is. Coors Field has a way of doing that to a pitcher who depends on a lot of ball movement to succeed.
Tim Hudson, another guy who has trouble in Coors Field for obvious reasons, faces Jorge De La Rosa in Game 2 tomorrow evening.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This one really seemed like a game where the luck/breaks were against us. The rocks made a couple of defensive gems (Arenado especially), and we had several hard hit balls right at someone, while Blanco came up an inch short of one at the wall. Just one or two plays breaking differently, and the game goes our way.
ReplyDeleteWhich happens a lot in baseball.
I figured, sooner or later, Heston would get some BABIP regression. And, of course, Coors Field is really tough place on pitchers who rely on movement and ground-ball contact for outs instead of strike-outs. Still, I like his pitching.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to see at least some of the hitting is coming around, especially Belt. If we could get McGehee, Posey & Crawford on track things, I think, would be looking pretty golden.
And Maxwell... What a surprise. I still have a hard time believing that his prior coaches didn't notice he'd been changing his swing every year, killing his consistency at the plate. And I can only hope that's the true answer versus a coincidental streak because while he's no gold glove, he's a fairly good fielder and someone who projects out to 20-to-25 HR a year without being a defensive liability is not to be sneezed at.
Anyway, even with the loss, things are looking better through the 'We Swept the Dodgers" goggles of earlier in the week. :)
I think it might be more than just Maxwell's swing. He's always been a 3 true outcomes hitter which means he may have been too selective early in counts. I believe Bam Bam has worked with him to look for pitches to hit early in the count in order to stay out of 2-strike counts.
DeleteWith 4 .300 hitters in the lineup and BELT RISING and Crawford clutch, why are the other 2 so necessary? Because they hit into dp's? Posey's wasn't his falt and one of McGehee's could have been a double and scored some runs, but it is what it is.
ReplyDeleteWhen we cheered for more Dodger dp's, we got iot smacked on us in Colorado.
If you hit the ball well, good things should happen. As long as the other team doesn't hit the ball better.