Saturday, June 27, 2015

Game Wrap 6/27/2015: Giants 7 Rockies 5

The Rockies have a scare middle of the lineup, but today the Giants 3, 4 and 5 hitters, Matt Duffy, Buster Posey and Andrew Susac drove in all 7 of the Giants runs in a come-from-behind win at AT&T Park.  Key Lines:

Matt Duffy- 3 for 4, 2B, HR(7).  BA= .294.  Wow!  We here at When the Giants Come To Town knew Duffy was good awhile back when he was still in the minors, but he just keeps growing right in front of our eyes!  The power is for real with a wiry strength that gives him tremendous leverage on the ball.  He also has an incredible mental approach.  Case in point:  After hitting the HR to left-center earlier in the game agains the soft-tossing lefty, he came up against Rafael Betancourt who is well known to wear out the outside corner of the plate.  So, what does Matt Duffy do?  He shoots one down the RF line into the corner for a double!  Matt Duffy!!

Buster Posey- 2 for 3, 2B, BB.  BA= .297.  Buster drilled a double off the CF wall that a fan interfered with.  The hit drove in 2 runs to tie the game at 3.  The Rockies appealed.  On replay, it was ruled that the fan indeed interfered, but both runs would have scored anyway.  Buster now has 9 big Ribeyes in his last 4 games.

Andrew Susac- 2 for 4, 2B.  BA= .288.  Susac came up with the bases loaded and the Giants trailing by a run.  Rafael Betancourt had intentionally walked Buster Posey with an open base.  Susac got a rare Betancourt pitch in the inner half and hammered it down the 3B line clearing the bases.  Susac also made several fine athletic defensive plays and nursed Santiago Casilla through a very tough and rocky 9'th inning.  Between Susac's growth and the injuries, Susac has forced the issue, proving to the Giants that having him catch, with Buster moving to 1B and Belt to LF is the best option, at least until Aoki and Pence come back.

Casey McGehee- 0 for 1, GIDP(15).  BA= .213.  McGehee was sent up to PH for with 1 out and runners at first and second.  You just knew the outcome of that AB!  McGehee now has 15 GIDP's in 138 PA's.  AJ Pierzynzki holds the record with 27, but those 27 came in 510 PA's.  Just for a point of reference, McGehee is on a pace for 61 in 600 PA's, which of course he will not get this season.  I know Casey is a good guy.  I know the Giants have $4 M invested in him.  I believe he is giving it 100% out there.  It just isn't happening for him.  He can only play 1 position that has been totally taken over by Matt Duffy.  He is a liability as a PH anytime there is a runner at first base.  I have to believe that either Kelby Tomlinson or Ehire Adrianza would be more valuable if nothing else for their speed and ability to play more than 1 position.  Time to call it a sunk cost and move on.  The kids have delivered for the Giants time and again.  Let's give another one a shot.

Tim Lincecum- 1.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 4.13.  Hate to say it, but the liner Timmy took off his right forearm might be what won this game for the Giants.   There is no telling how many runs the Rockies might have scored had he stayed in the game!  After the game, Bochy pretty much said Timmy didn't have it and all but said he was going to be put on the DL, as much to clear his head as to heal the forearm.  That solves at least one dilemma the Giants have with Matt Cain and Jake Peavy coming back.  Since pitching 7 shutout innings against the Dodgers on May 20, Timmy has a 7.53 ERA over the next 7 games with 0 QS's and just one game in which he completed 6 IP.  We'll see if some time off followed by a probable move to the bullpen helps but this looks like it might be about it for Timmy's career as a San Francisco Giant, great as it has been.

Yusmeiro Petit- 4.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 0 K.  ERA= 4.11.  Petit has been the forgotten man in the Giants bullpen, but this is why they keep him around.  Yes, he gave up 2 runs later in his appearance that put the Giants behind again, but he stopped the early bleeding, limited the damage and burned up a bunch if innings.

George Kontos- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K.  ERA= 1.66.  Kontos continues to be a workhorse in middle relief and get the job done.  Where would the Giants be without his contributions this year?

Sergio Romo- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 4.01.  Romo looked much healthier today, so his trick knee must have settled down quickly as it has in the past.

Santiago Casilla- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, Save(20)- ERA= 2.17.  Casilla was wild early in the 9'th inning and issued a leadoff walk to Charlie Blackmon.  The key AB of the inning was Tulo's in which Casilla threw 6 consecutive curveballs around about 3 mound conferences with Andrew Susac.  High drama!  He gutted through the inning and thanks to some great positioning by Crawford to rob CarGo on a shot up the middle, got the Save and the Giants got the Win.

The Win drew the Giants to 1 game behind the Dodgers in the NL West as Clayton Kershaw was, once again, a hard luck loser, this time against Miami.  Kershaw struck out 9 and allowed 1 ER but 2 more unearned runs cost him a 3-2 loss.  The Giants are tied with the Cubs for the final Wild Card playoff spot with the Cubs trailing the Cardinals 6-1 in their game.

Madison Bumgarner goes for the series win tomorrow afternoon facing Kyle Kendrick.

14 comments:

  1. game ball to pagan for gutting out what mustve been a very painful day

    i feel bad for casey, but giants really need to dfa him asap

    as usual, when woody is in the house, luck comes to the giants

    looks like the org wont have to scramble to figure out what to do to make room for both peavy and cain....both timmy and huddy can go to the dl and vogey stays in the rotation

    all the scouts were right about timmy....but he did help bring the giants 3 rings, has 2 cy youngs and 2 no nos....his star burned bright and fast and he will go down in history as one of the greatest giants ever

    what happens after that will determine whether the org will have to make a deal for an sp

    woody mentioned something about an aurellia wedding? is richie renewing his vows, cuz neither of his boys are old enough to be getting married

    bacci

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  2. Oh, and as of today, the Giants have 3 starting homegrown position players, Panik, Duffy and Susac, who do not yet have a full season of MLB experience. They have accumulated a combined fWAR of 5.2 which projects to more than 3 fWAR per player over a full season. That total is likely to be higher if they all keep up their current level of production as Duffy did not get a starting job until close to a month into the season and Susac will almost certainly see increased playing time in the second half.

    "Nuclear wasteland" indeed!!

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    1. i think the org has some of the best scouts in the game and has evolved to have one of the better development systems

      im kinda sad that pat decided to quit scouting, although i do understand, as its a very hard life

      bacci

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  3. Mc Gehee double plays is the same as Aaron Rowand's strikeouts from sliders in the dirt. You just know it's coming! What about Frandsen? I think I like a swap of Frandsen for Mc Gehee. Tough to bring yoots up to be a bench player. Like for them to continue to develop and get at bats everyday. Great comeback win for Giants.

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    1. Frandsen would be OK, but you could have said the same thing about Susac and Duffy at the beginning of the season. I might have said something like that about them myself!

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    2. Frandsen would be OK, but over the years his fielding, according to Fangraphs, has been mediocre. Adrianza produced a 2.8 defensive fWAR in a quite limited time last year, and he has been hitting well in AAA, albeit with the very high BABIP that he has had in AAA all three part-seasons he's played at that level. I'd look forward to his giving Crawford some regular rest, such as Bochy has declared would be Google for Crawford but that the team's needs and player personnel keep denying him.

      Given that the age of the Giants' pitchers, at least, means that the team needs an expanded pitching staff, the bench is shrunken. Having half of its members as hapless as Arias and McGehee has been a weakness of the team this year, and has taxed the regulars. It seems to me that both strengthening the bench and giving the stronger, more trustworthy players more time on the field, would improve the team's stamina and maybe prevent potholes and bogs in their so far uneven level of play. Adrianza looks to me like a stronger, more versatile player than Frandsen just now.

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  4. Tomlinson and Williamson will be nice upgrades to our bench.We should see Tomlinson first.I read somewhere that he's developing a reputation as a tough out.He has good speed.That's exactly what we need off the bench.Adrianza looks like he's having a solid year in Sacramento.He could be ready to replace Kobe.Because of injury.We might see Williamson sooner than we thought.All the reports on Williamson have been good.Good arm,good speed,solid glove,solid AB's.Both guys are ready for the call up.All we need these kids to do is come off the bench and play their game.

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  5. Both MacGhee and Arias are wasted roster spots. I'd rather see Ehire and Duvall. At least Duvall could run into one everyone once in awhile.
    Timmy solved the Giants problem today but he is creating a Timmy problem. I am not sure I'd even trust him coming out of the pen at this point

    Billy Baseball

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    1. I don't think it's likely we'll see Duvall back anytime soon. He's hitting just .152 for the month of June.

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  6. Great time to be a Giants fan! Homegrown infield, only one in the majors! Some very nice draft picks coming alive, and some more on their way. With trade demands insane, the best talent locked up, you absolutely have to look to farm system development to make up the difference. If you want to chuckle, go look up Sandoval's and then Duffy's stats. That's a lot of cabbage down the drain in Beantown.

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    1. Boston is a great example of why there is more to analysis than WAR scores and projection systems. A lot of analysts at some familiar websites looked at Pablo's numbers in SF, projected them to a more hitter-friendly environment and declared it a good deal for the BoSox. What they forgot to look at was the history of Pablo's weight issues and what might happen in that area of his life once he had a long-term contract in hand. They did the same thing with Hanley Ramirez and failed to factor in his extensive injury history and the fact he had never played LF and was likely to hate playing the position and how that would impact his overall game.

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  7. Matt Duffy, the next Matt Carpenter? We have this rep of developing pitchers, but have done nothing but pump out hitters for the last 5 years. Yet we get no love. Analyst slob over the "cardinal way" and tout the dogturds finances, yet here we are out preforming both organizations and we still get the short end of the stick. Maybe one day people will learn...

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  8. In the end analysis, we don't get anyone's steenk-ing approval. We just get rings.

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  9. This reminds me of the funny ad Affeldt did with a kid, about how the Giants are the same like other people, they put their rings on one at a time, at which point he flashed his three rings on fingers.

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