Coming out of the opening series of the season, the big question was, are the Dodgers really that good, or are the Padres really that bad? The Dodgers were coming off the utter and complete destruction of a Padres team that appears to have hit rock bottom and then some. I ran into a Dodger fan friend at Starbucks during lunch hour. He was practically jumping out of his skin with excitement. When he said the Dodgers needed 6 shutout innings from Alex Wood, I didn't even know they were 6 innings away from setting a record for consecutive scoreless innings to start a season. I just said, "yeah, well, the Giants will get to him sooner than that."
By the end of the 4'th inning, I was starting to sweat that one out and I still didn't know about the record. I mean geez, what if Dave Cameron is right and the Dodgers are one of the greatest teams to every play the game? Maybe everything I think I know about talent evaluation and how teams should be put together is wrong? Then, the Giants offense broke through, and then the floodgates opened. Gotta say, bursting the Dodgers bubble and exposing the weakness that is their pitching not named Kershaw was one of the sweeter Giants wins over da Bums I can remember. Key Lines:
Denard Span- 1 for 5. BA= .286. Good to see Span back in the lineup after missing a game with flu symptoms. Thankfully, Giants players who have had this virus seem to be recovering quickly. Oh, and Span is going to rack up some serious counting stats with Pagan hitting in front of him out of the 9 hole.
Joe Panik- 3 for 5, 3B. BA= .353. Quick Fantasy Focus: I dropped Cesar Hernandez today and picked up Joe Panik. I mean, F stolen bases. If I really believe Panik has a chance to win a batting title, and I do, then he's going to be a more valuable fantasy player then Enrique Hernandez, SB's notwithstanding!
Buster Posey- 3 for 5, 2B. BA= .357. Except Buster just might have something to say about Panik winning any batting titles!
Hunter Pence- 1 for 4, HR(1), BB. BA= .294. Pence has been just a big frustrating to watch so far, but no matter how much he's out of whack, he's always dangerous. Pedro Baez threw him a hanging slider and Hunter Pence's eyes got really big and he un…loaded! Grand slam HR. What's more, the game was still actually close until Pence put it away for good here.
Angel Pagan- 2 for 4. BA= .333. Pagan seems to have found a new lease on life playing LF and hitting 9'th in the batting order. Maybe Bochy did one of his legendary sell jobs? Or maybe moving to LF and hitting 9'th gave Angel something to prove? Or maybe he's just in the final year of his contract? Or maybe he's just finally healthy? Whatever, Pagan seems to be back as the dynamic player who ran up an fWAR of 4.7 in 2012.
Jake Peavy- 5 IP, 10 H, 4 R, 0 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 7.20. Peavy struggled mightily and seemed like he was no match for the rampaging Dodgers. That's an awful lot of hits to give up, but Jake gets credit for hanging tough and keeping the Dodgers within hailing distance.
Chris Heston- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 0.00. Heston's first appearance of the season and it was a key shutdown inning after the Giants had scored 3 in the bottom of the 5'th. They went on to score 4 more in the 6'th inning to make Heston the Winning Pitcher.
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The Win evened the Giants record with the Dodgers at 3-1 atop the NL West. The Rockies were idle and occupy 3'rd place with a 2-1 record. The D'Backs got outslugged by the Cubs, 10-6, to drop further into 4'th place at 1-3 with the Pathetic, Pathetic Padres bring up the rear of the division at 0-3.
The Win not only regained a share of first place, it punctured the aura of invincibility that seemed to be quickly building up around the Dodgers. Hey, maybe they aren't all that and the Padres are just really THAT bad!
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Matt Cain takes the mound tomorrow night facing Dodgers rookie Ross Stripling who is being pressed into service due to all the injuries to their pitching staff. Big, big test for Matt Cain, though.
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That bunt though! When "Tommy," as Bochy calls him, dropped down that textbook perfect push bunt (Kuip called it a "pearl" I believe), and left the Bums all just standing there looking at each other, you could sense it coming on. That was the spark that ignited the firestorm that followed as the other guys just kept pouring on the gas.
ReplyDeleteReally, all three guys off the bench contributed. Adrianza dropped down a good bunt to move a runner, and Blanco singled.
Pence looked like a drunk in a bar fight all day. He just kept flailing away, and the ball managed to dodge every swing except that one, and . . . BOOM! Pence knocked it cold outta the park!
These guys are flat out good, and it's going to be a great season!
What about Tomlinsons bunt single, I thought that was what set the mood for the outburst. He will be key in getting guys some rest and taking advantage of his opportunities whether with his bat,glove,or legs.
ReplyDeleteI thought Peavy wasn't exactly sharp, but got victimized by some minor Giants feilding issues. While neither were egregious failures, I think Pagan misplayed the double a bit, not a lot, but enough. And Panik getting drawn off the bag with a high throw on that DP certainly didn't help. Anyway, nothing major, just a few little things that made a big difference to Peavy's line.
ReplyDeleteThe Padres are that bad, though they some good players. And to think before 2015 all the talking heads were putting them ahead of the Giants because of their new 'brilliant & sexy' GM making all those 'brilliant' trades and FA signings... My brother-in-law (my wife's family is from SD) is not too happy with the new GM or the Padres.
Fantasy: I also picked up Panik as a FA (before the season started). I would have drafted him but I had Dozier (power), Eduardo Escobar (super utility) and another power 2B (though on the decline Phillips - CIN). Anyway, Panik has been my second most productive offensive player after Story of the Rockies even beating out Ortiz and Bautista. You can be sure he'll be drafted next year. No messing around, the guy is 100% for real.
Now I'm trying figure out if I was smart drop Khris Davis for Steven Sousa. I think I am. While it's early I don't think Davis is going to have the break-out I was hoping for. Meanwhile, Sousa is very 'toolsy' (25-to-30 HR power, 20+ steals) but was held back last year, in part, with a lot of injuries. I think he's a lot like Joc Pederson -- power, steals but low average with a high K-rate, but unlike Davis I'm thinking he's going to break out under the tutelage of Barry Bonds.