Game Wrap 7/11/2015: Giants 8 Phillies 5

The Giants torched the Phillies bullpen after a curious decision by their manager, for a come-from-behind win.  Key Lines:

Angel Pagan- 1 for 5, 2B.  BA= .265.  Not the most impressive looking line, but the double came in the middle of the Giants 6'th inning rally and was pulled smartly down the RF line from the left side of the plate, a vintage Pagan swing that we have not been seeing for awhile.

Matt Duffy- 3 for 5, 2B, 3B.  BA= .298.  Another almost cycle for Duffy who has the 6'th highest fWAR of all MLB third basemen at 2.6.

Buster Posey- 3 for 5.  BA= .308.  2 of Buster's hits were groundball bleeders that never got completely out of the IF.  I think he will take them.   He looked a bit better running down to 1B, but is still obviously protecting the hammy.

Hunter Pence- 0 for 5.  BA= .273.  Not a good line, but at least 2 of the outs were on hard hit line drives that went right at fielders.

Brandon Belt- 2 for 4, 2B.  BA= .279.  Belt's BA is on the rise again and he continues to play a mean defensive 3B.  The value of Belt's D was illustrated by contrast when Ryan Howard booted a ground ball in the 7'th by Adrianza that allowed an additional run to score.  In Howard's defense, the ball did take a funny hop and the baserunner was kind of in the way, so it was not a slam dunk that Belt would have made the play. Howard did get charged with the E though.

Brandon Crawford- 3 for 4, 3B.  BA= .262.  Crawford has kind of short, thick legs and a rather plodding gait that is faster than it looks.  He looks funny running out triples, but there is nothing funny about the way he drives balls into gaps.

Gregor Blanco- 2 for 3, BB.  BA= .313.  Didn't Blanco bunt for a basehit the other night?  Kruk or Kuip mentioned that he needs to do that more often.  One of his hits in this game was a drag bunt that hugged the chalk down the 1B line, hit a pebble that had been disrupted by a previous baserunner which kicked it onto the grass on the fair side of the line.  The ball came to a complete stop before anyone could pick it up and Blanco beat it out with no play at 1B.  He also made several nice catches in LF.

Ryan Vogelsong- 5.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 5 K's.  ERA= 4.23.  Vogey kind of dodged trouble until the 6'th inning when he gave up 2 dingers and the Phillies took a 4-1 lead.  Fortunately for him and the Giants, the Phillies manager decided he was not going to take the chance that his starter would do the same thing.

Pete Mackanin(Phillies Interim Manager)- Phillies SP David Buchanan had scattered hits and stranded baserunners all game, but had thrown just 72 pitches and was sitting with a 4-1 lead going to the bottom of the 6'th inning.  Maybe Mackanin is following the trend of pulling SP's after going through the lineup 2 times or maybe he was spooked by the 3 LH batters the Giants had coming up in the 6'th.  For whatever reason, he did not let Buchanan come out for the 6'th inning, replacing him with LHP Jake Diekman.  After Belt grounded out, Crawford singled and Blanco reached on his bunt single.  When Maxwell was announced as the PH for Osich, Mackanin pulled Diekman for a RHP.  Maxwell made the second out, but Pagan followed with his double into the RF corner and the comeback was on.

 The Win cut the Giants deficit in the NL West to 4.5 games as the Dodgers lost to the BrewCrew 7-1.  The Giants also now trail in the Wild Card race by 2 games after the Cubs lost to the crosstown rival ChiSox.

Chris Heston tries to close out the official first half with a series sweep today facing former Dodger Chad Billingsly trying to come back from a series of injuries including TJ surgery.