Chris Heston had a QS while Matt Duffy and Brandon Crawford let the offense as the Giants won their 6'th game in a row. Key Lines:
Matt Duffy- 3 for 4, 2B, SB(4). BA= .307. Duffy is hot, but he's pretty much always hot. .320 over his last 7 games, .333 over his last 15 and .314 over his last 30 games coming into tonight's game. Just a remarkable story that the rest of baseball is starting to notice.
Brandon Crawford- 1 for 2, HR(15), BB. BA= .270. Speaking of hot, Crawford takes over the team lead in HR's breaking a tie with Buster Posey. His dinger tonight went out near the deepest part of the yard out where the CF fence meets the brick wall. Crawford is hitting .320 over his last 7 games coming into tonight.
Gregor Blanco- 1 for 1, 2B. BA= .295. Blanco becomes the 4'th OF again with the return of Nori Aoki, but he drove in a key insurance run with a double through the left-CF gap as a PH driving in Brandon Crawford all the way from 1B.
Chris Heston- 7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 4 K's, GO/AO= 9/4. ERA= 3.14. A QS for Heston who was helped by 3 GIDP's. Interesting note in Extra Giants that Brett Bochy lobbied his dad on Heston's behalf when the Giants needed to call someone up.
Hunter Strickland- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 1.80. Strickland was overpowering in the 8'th inning. Wouldn't shock me if he's the closer by the end of the season.
Sergio Romo- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's, Save(2). ERA= 4.26. The leadoff batter, Carlos Gomez, cued one off the end of the bat and Brandon Belt couldn't handle the spinning top for an error. Gomez then helped Romo out of the jam by getting thrown out on a steal attempt on a call that was overturned by instant replay. More on that later.
Phil Cuzzi- Oh man! This was pure schadenfreud. Phil Cuzzi has made so many terrible calls against the Giants over the years. Well, he can still call terrible balls and strikes, but he can't get away with it on other calls now that we have instant replay. First, in the bottom of the 8'th inning, he called Matt Duffy out on a SB attempt. Instant replay showed him to be safe as the 2B failed to make a tag. Then, in the top of the 9'th, he called Gomez safe and instant replay showed him to be out as his hand hit the bag a split second after the tag was placed. In Cuzzi's defense, both of these plays were tough calls, but it was payback time and it felt really good. Gomez reaction to the instant replay call got him thrown out of the game which led to Brewers Manager, Craig Counsell, getting tossed for the first time in his entire baseball career. It was pure comedy to watch, but I think we can all understand the frustration in Beertown.
The Win moved the Giants to 0.5 games behind the NL West leading Dodgers while they remain 2.5 games ahead of the Cubs for the final Wild Card playoff berth.
Matt Cain takes on Willy Peralta tomorrow evening in Game 2 of the series.
The Giants surprisingly DFA'd Joaquin Arias to make room for Nori Aoki's return. Bruce Bochy said it was a tough decision, but the Giants apparently don't want to lose Adrianza and they felt he would not pass through waivers again.
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And Cuzzi's not even the worst umpire. Joe West takes that honor as being the most consistently bad ball/strike caller in MLB never mind the player polls, scuffling with managers and players and some of the worst blown calls in baseball.
ReplyDeleteEverybody has their least favorite ump. For me Angel Hernandez has pretty consistently underwhelmed and been pretty pissy in confrontations with players and managers.
ReplyDeleteCuzzi has a special history with the Giants. There was the infamous blown call at home plate before they had instant replay. I think it was Ishikawa who should have scored the tying run in that one. Then earlier this year, Bochy got tossed for unloading on Cuzzi's ball/strike calling and PitchFx seemed to back up Bochy's contention that they were not being called accurately and by a large margin. I'm guessing neither Cuzzi nor Bochy and the Giants had forgotten that when Boch was winning those replay calls last night.
DeleteIt was Ishikawa and he does have a long history of screwing the Giants, why they assigned him to our games, I don't know. West and angel are pretty bad too.
DeleteNot shocked that Arias is gone, shocked he lasted this long.
LOVE the infield of Belt-Panic-Craw-Duffy but with the dog days of summer coming up and something like 28 straight games, these guys are gonna need breaks (like Panik right now)....
ReplyDeleteBut all the Giants have right now is Adrianza who I don't trust as anything more than a late inning guy,...Barring a trade, do you guys think Cabrera and Frandsen and maybe even Tomlison can do the trick? Or do you think a trade here is mandatory?
I guess the Giants have to prioritize where they want to get stronger---A top SP? IF depth? Left handed Reliever and/or closer?....I think with Aoki and pence back, they will leave the OF alone.--I'm fine with that,.
Be an interesting few days..
SteveVA
I would prioritize the Giants needs as follows: 1. #2 or better SP. 2. Shutdown closer. 3. Utility upgrade.
DeleteLooks like Zobrist is off the market. Giants are rumored to be in contention for Cole Hamels.
I don't think there is any reason to trade for back up depth when you've got Kelby there in AAA having a Duffy-esque season. They would have to release Maxwell or a pitcher though to bring him up. Once Susac gets back, and they have a catcher that they don't mind starting, Belt can be relieved by Posey (and Posey can also get break).
ReplyDeleteLooking to next season, it would behoove Hector to spend the winter in Venezuela learning to play 3B, which I suspect he could do proficiently. It would make him much more likely to stick as a third catcher and backup at 3B/1B.
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