Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Game Wrap 7/1/2015: Marlins 6 Giants 5

A walkoff 3 run HR off the bat of Justin Bour snatched away a Win the Giants appeared to have safely tucked away.  Key Lines:

Angel Pagan- 2 for 5.  BA= .266.  Pagan showed some signs of life.

Joe Panik- 2 for 5.  BA= .314.  Panik continued to pepper the field with hits.

Matt Duffy- 2 for 5, 2B.  BA= .300.  The top 3 batters went 6 for 15 for a BA and OBP of .400.

Buster Posey- 1 for 2.  BA= .304.  Buster took a foul tip square to the jaw area of the face mask.  He initially stayed in game but then came out after things didn't feel quite right.  He reportedly passed his initial concussion tests.

Brandon Belt- 1 for 3, 2B, SF, SB(3).  BA= .265.  Belt getting it going on a consistent basis would be nice.

Brandon Crawford- 1 for 4, HR(11).  BA= .270.  Crawford's dinger was an impressive blast in that the wall where it left the park is approximately 400 ft from home plate and it cleared by a healthy margin.

Gregor Blanco- 3 for 4.  BA= .314.  Blanco reportedly has struck up a friendship with Nori Aoki and credits Aoki with helping him with his swing and approach at the plate.  It appears to be paying off.

Chris Heston- 6 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 1 K, GO/AO= 11/1.  ERA= 3.78.  Hesto Presto didn't have the strikeout stuff and had a bit of a wild hair, but 4 big GIDP's kept him in this one.

Hunter Strickland- 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 2.55.  Strickland seems to be settling in as a reliable MLB reliever.  The way Casilla is going, he may need to move into more of a high stress role.

Santiago Casilla- 0.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 0 K.  ERA= 3.03.  It often takes Casilla a batter or two to find his command.  The first two batters got basehits because Casilla could not find the strike zone and had to groove pitches.  That brought up Bour, who is basically good for just one thing, hitting dingers and he did just that for a walk-off 3 run job that was a crusher.

The Loss will likely leave the Giants 2.5 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West.

Matt Cain makes his long awaited 2015 debut facing an equally long awaited Jose Fernandez in an afternoon contest tomorrow to try to salvage one game out of the series.

4 comments:

  1. I would not be surprised to see the Giants add another bullpen arm come the trade deadline. Casilla has not been as reliable as he has been in the past nor has Affeldt. Romo has his balky knee and Machi is on borrowed time. Even though the Giants have some young arms in the minors, I think they go out and get another veteran. No reason to lose the game tonight.

    Billy Baseball

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  2. As much as I want to be negative and scream about burning down the pen and starting over after what happened yesterday, I have to remind myself that the Giants have only 5 blown saves in 26 opportunities for the year. Which ranks them 7th in save effectiveness. Which is pretty good. And certainly better than the Dodgers who are 26th... Despite all the love FanGraphs gave the Dodgers (they're doing it right!!!!) and how much they crap on the Giants (0 WAR bullpen!!!)...

    However, the BSV is falling (mostly) on one person and, at this point in time, so I'd rather see Strickland in the role that Casilla is currently occupying. Maybe Strickland can do it, maybe he can't. But Casilla is marginal as a closer. He blows too many saves and of the pitchers who have had the Top-20 save opportunities in 2015, he is tied for the the 2nd worst save percentage (83% (also 83% in 2014)) Only Robertson (White Sox -- 16 of 20) is worse of the Top-20.

    And while it may be just two or three games... That can easily be the difference in making the playoffs this year or not making the playoffs. And I'd rather make the playoffs than fall a half-game short because we blew two or three too many saves out of loyalty.

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  3. Apparently Giants signed \Lucius Fox reported $6.5 Million signing bonus.

    Richard in Winnipeg

    July 2, 2015 at 7:04 AM

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  4. That is a ton of cash for a youngster! Lets hope he breaks our bad luck with premium international FA. Apparently We're neck and neck with the dogturds for the rights to ink cuban OF tool shed Eddy Julio Martinez. We beat them out for this kid so there seems to be hope.

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