The Giants offense came to life with a 5-run 8'th inning to break open another tight pitching duel between Jeff Samardzija and Andrew Cashner. Key Lines:
Denard Span- 2 for 5, 2B. BA= .257. Span's single through the left side drove in Gregor Blanco for the first run of the game in the 3'rd inning. Blanco was safe on the review after being initially called out at the plate.
Matt Duffy- 1 for 3, 2B, BB. BA= .246. The Padres are playing some really odd OF defenses in this series and the Giants are making them pay. On Duffy's double, the CF was playing at one end of the CF fence and the LF was stationed at the other end. Duffy's ball split the uprights and would have been easily caught in anything close to a conventional alignment.
Buster Posey- 1 for 3, 2B, BB. BA= .265. Giants desperately need Buster's bat to come alive. He drove in the go-ahead run with a line drive into the LF corner for the 2B.
Brandon Crawford- 2 for 3, 3B, BB. BA= .256. Another case where the Padres OF defensive alignment burned them. Kemp was stationed waaay up in Triples Alley, about where he was on Pence's pop-fly double in game 1. Crawford burned him by turning on a pitch and driving it to the straightaway RF wall. Again, the ball kicked away from Kemp and Crawford went all the way to 3B for a 3-run triple.
Jarrett Parker- 1 for 4, HR(1). BA= .250. Parker's dinger came in garbage time in the 8'th with the score already 6-1, but can we pleeeease have Parker in the lineup every single game that Pagan is on the DL and just see what happens? Parker may have helped his cause with Bochy more with a defensive play he made in the first inning than with the dinger. Matt Kemp crushed one off the top of the LF fence down by the foul pole. Parker got a good carom, turned and in one motion threw a strike to 2B where Panik put a perfect tag on Kemp. So, how long have I been telling you Parker has a cannon for an arm?
Gregor Blanco- 2 for 4. BA= .235. Roberto Kelly sent Blanco home from 2B on Span's shallow GB single to left in the 3'rd inning. It did not look like a good decision from the get-go and Kuiper said so on the broadcast as Blanco came down the line. Blanco looked out and the ump called him out, but the Giants challenged and the replay clearly showed his trailing foot touching home plate just ahead of the tag.
Jeff Samardzija- 6.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 7 K's. ERA= 2.54. Wow! Great start by Samardzija and you'd have to rate it as below average for what the Giants starters have been putting up. That's how good this rotation has been!
Josh Osich- 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K. ERA= 2.30. Samardzija got 2 quick outs in the top of the 7'th, but then gave up a single to Alexei Ramirez and walked Christian Bethancourt. With his pitch count at 105 and 2 LH hitters coming up, Bochy went to Josh Osich. Osich got a dribbler up the line from John Jay but stumbled in front of Jay while trying to pick up the ball. Osich was called for interference but once Osich muffed the pickup, Jay was going to beat it out. That loaded the bases and presented a test for Osich, who is still a relatively young pitcher. He responded by calmly inducing a groundball from Alexei Amarista to end the threat.
Matt Kemp- Kemp had a rough night and is having a rough series and has obviously lost a step or 3 or 4, but I guess that isn't really news. The Padres obviously feel they have to cheat him waaaay into Triples Alley, and he just isn't fast enough to cover RF from out there. Then, in addition to the Parker throw nailing him at 2B on a ball to the LF corner, Kemp hit one of his own into Triples Alley that bounced away from Gregor Blanco. Blanco stayed after it, hit the relay man(not sure if it was Panik or Crawford). Kemp looked like he beat the relay throw at 3B, but the Giants challenged. As soon as Kemp saw the replay on the scoreboard, he knew he was out and the umps confirmed it a few seconds later. You had to feel a bit sorry for Kemp, but he had no reason to try to stretch it into a triple with his team trailing by 2 runs.
Instant Replay- The Giants have lost some tough challenges this season, but they sure benefitted in this game with Blanco's score at home plate and Kemp's out at 3B. Both calls had big impact on the game and both got it right.
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The Win kept the Giants 4.5 games ahead of the second place Dodgers, who beat the Reds 8-2, in the NL West. The 3'rd place Rockies lost to the BoSox 8-3 to fall 6 games off the pace. The D'Backs were pounded by the Pirates 12-1 and are now 7.5 games back in 4'th place while the Padres are 9.5 games behind in last place.
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Jake Peavy goes for another sweeeeep of the Padres today facing James Shields in an afternoon game.
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Doc, regarding Kemp, I share most of your sentiments. That being said, I cannot fault Kemp for legging it out for three. He saw the ball kick away from MLB's best 4th OFer, and if not for superb hustle from the Great White Shark and an exemplary relay throw from Panik to Matt Duffy! (kudos to him for the tag as well), he would have been safe. Big Mo was shifting if the Pads favor and having a runner at 3B would have "caused the manager's stomach to grumble" as Kuip put it last night.
ReplyDeleteKemp has had a particularly frustrating series, but to be thrown out advancing twice in the same game on awesome relay throws has to be an uncommon occurrence.
Regardless, I am glad that the G-Men won and swept the series this afternoon. And they keep the lead over the Hated Ones.
Good stuff. Let's Go Giants!
NWGiantsFan
DtF!!!