The Giants looked like they had this one won so many times, but couldn't hold a lead to save their lives as the pitching failed to take advantage of one of the best offensive games by Giants hitters in recent memory. Key Lines:
Nori Aoki- 2 for 5, 2B. BA= .310. Aoki as back in the leadoff spot after Pagan was scratched for a painful knee. If Pagan is still having this much trouble with the knee, I'm thinking he should maybe go on the DL and try to get it completely well.
Buster Posey- 2 for 6, HR(16). BA= .327. LOL Buster Posey trying to keep up with Brandon Crawford for the team HR lead.
Brandon Crawford- 2 for 5, 2 HR(18), BB. BA= .266. Brian Sabean predicted a breakout season for Crawford and look what we have here!
Ehire Adrianza- 1 for 3, 2 BB. BA= .143. With Joe Panik going on the DL with a bad back, Adrianza will battle Kelby Tomlinson for PT at 2B plus he will spell Brandon Crawford at SS. You knew Panik had to go on the DL when we learned yesterday that Aoki was the back up 2B. Hope this is not a long term debilitating injury for Panik.
Kelby Tomlinson- 1 for 1. BA= 1.000. A successful MLB debut for the current favorite Giants prospect. Even better, his family was there and got to see it. He came around to score what appeared to be the winning run in the top of the 12'th, but the Giants gave it back in the bottom of the inning and lost the game.
Matt Cain- 5 IP, 10 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 1 K. ERA= 4.91. Cain pitched 5 innings of shutout ball while the Giants batters built a 6-0 lead. The 1 K maybe should have been a clue that this could unravel pretty fast, and it did in the 6'th as Cain pitched to 4 batters and failed to retire any. The hits included a 3 run dinger. You kind of had to have an uneasy feeling about this game after that turn of events.
Hunter Strickland- 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 0 K. ERA= 1.86. Strickland give up his first dinger of the season.
Santiago Casilla- 0.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 0 K, BS(5). ERA= 3.32. Casilla looked better in his last appearance but has been shaky for about a month. He gave up the tying dinger to none other than AJ Pierzynski here.
Ryan Vogelsong- 0.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K. ERA= 4.16. Brandon Crawford allowed the first batter of the bottom of the 12'th to get on via a throwing error. Vogey, perhaps distracted by the error, then gave up the game winning dinger to someone named Adonis Garcia. Adonis!
The Loss dropped the Giants to a full 3 games behind the Dodgers for the lead in the NL West. It also dropped them 0.5 games behind the Cubs in the race for the last Wild Card playoff spot.
Jake Peavy tries to get the Giants back on the winning track tomorrow evening facing Shelby Miller.
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Casilla continues to be mediocre for his role. With an 85% success rate, he's one of the poorer closers. A top-half closer will close at 90%, or better. Elites will close at 95% or better. With 5 blown saves, he's tied for the lead in blown saves. With a WHIP near 1.5, he's one of the poorest WHIP-stat closers in MLB with only Axlford of the Rockies being worse in this statistic. His strike-out rate is ok. However, the .267 BA against is the worst of the 'qualified' closers in the majors.
ReplyDeleteIn short, last night is too common an occurrence for a team that has playoff aspirations. The Giants can live with a 1-in-20 blown saves closer because, realistically, that's about as good you're going to get in the long-run. But a guy who blows 3-in-20 saves is a closing liability that demands an upgrade if you're serious about making the play-offs and advancing therein.
And while I know Bochy likes to let his veterans 'work it out.' This isn't a top-flight guy struggling. This is what he is. And I wish he'd make a change to Strickland who, despite the homer last night, has been pitching incredibly well and has, in my book, earned the promotion.
I don't disagree with any of that which is why I was pushing hard for a shut-down closer at the trade deadline.
DeleteI felt like I had been hit in the nuts when AJ hit that HR in the 9th. Anyone but him!
ReplyDeleteNot sure at this point if getting an established closer is still an option but the bullpen needs something. Casilla is just not the guy and Vogey, while a battler, does not seem to be comfortable or even accepted the bullpen role yet. Romo got lucky last night too as he missed location on a couple of pitches even though he pitched through it.
Hoping we keep grinding it out through this stretch and we start to get some of these close games.
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