Game Wrap 5/28/2016: Giants 10 Rockies 5

The Giants bullpen coughed up a 4-1 lead given to them by Madison Bumgarner after 6 innings,  but then the Giants offense came roaring back to life in the 8'th inning led by Buster Posey's second 3-run dinger of the game.  Giants win going away!  Key Lines:

Gregor Blanco- 2 for 5, CS(2).  BA= .253.  I'm going to focus on the CS here.  Blanco was initially called safe by the second base umpire.  The Rockies appealed because, well, they were getting close enough to the 7'th inning they didn't have anything to lose.  The replay on TV clearly showed Blanco's foot beating the tag, but was inconclusive about whether his foot may have come off for a split second while popping up.  The TV review crew has additional angles to look at and his foot could have come off, but if it did, it was for no more than a few millimeters and a fraction of a second.

Dave Flemming was more vocal in his displeasure with the call than Krukow.  Flemming kept saying his understanding was they were not going to call runners out in those situations this year and indeed, it does seem that there have been fewer "ticky-tack" overturns this year than last.  On the other hand, I don't recall there ever being an announcement like that from the league.  What I do agree with Flemming about is that if this is the new normal and runners are going to get called out for split-second departures from the bag on slides, it will have enormous unintended consequences, probably already has.

First of all, I think you will gradually see pop-up slides disappear from the game as runners make more and more effort to make sure their foot stays on the bag after an initially successful slide.  Secondly, runners are going to have to dig in and make sure their momentum gets stopped before their front foot goes past the bag and to make sure their front foot does not bounce up off the ground from the impact of the slide.  That, in turn, will lead to an increase in ankle injuries on slides.  Both of these unintended consequences will lead to less offense in a game that currently needs more, not less, offense.

Matt Duffy- 2 for 4, 2B, HBP.  BA= .250.  Nobody needed a big offensive day more than Matt Duffy. He got on base 3 times with an XBH.  That would qualify as a big offensive day.

Buster Posey- 2 for 5, 2 HR(7).  BA= .268.  The Giants need to get Buster going on offense.  Coors Field or not, this was a welcome game for the big guy.  One 3-run dinger will generally win you a ballgame.  2 almost guarantees it, except in Coors Field.  This was Buster's second 6-RBI game of his career, the first coming in his rookie season, 2010, in Milwaukee.  Remember that?  I know I sure do!

Brandon Belt- 3 for 5, 2 2B.  BA= .286.  Belt twice pulled the ball smartly down the RF line beating the OF shift which  usually shades him opposite of the IF shift.  He might not be quite as fast on the bases as he normally is, but otherwise showed no ill-effects from the ankle sprain he suffered….sliding into 2B a couple of games ago.

Hunter Pence- 2 for 5.  BA= .295.  Pence looked very gimpy running down the 1B line on his second hit.  Wouldn't shock me if he misses more time or even hits the DL.

Jarrett Parker- 2 for 5, 2B.  BA= .263.  Love Parker's swagger and the fire in his eyes when he comes to the plate.  Dude knows it's his time and knows he's ready.  With Pagan on the DL and Pence literally 1 step away, Parker should be out there every day for the next 2 weeks.  Let's see if he can win the job permanently in that time.

Madison Bumgarner- 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 6 K's.  ERA= 2.12.  Bumgarner sailed into the 6'th inning with a fairly low pitch count.  Arenado led off the inning with a hard single up the middle.  CarGo then parachuted one into no man's land in LF to put runners on first and second.  Mark Reynolds then worked a 10 pitch AB for a walk to load them up with no outs.  It took Bummy another 8 pitches to strike out Ryan Raburn, but then he got some help on defense with a terrific GIDP off Christhian Adames to get him out of the jam, but by now his pitch count was up to 105 and he had to turn it over to a very shaky bullpen that coughed up the lead in the bottom of the 7'th inning.

Cory Gearrin- 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 2.95.  Where would this team be without Cory Gearrin?  He came in and finally put out the fire in the 7'th, and then pitched a shut down inning in the 8'th after the Giants big top of the inning.  Gearrin even contributed to the the offensive explosion.   With runners on first and second, Bochy asked him if he could get a bunt down.  Gearrin said he could, but was overwhelmed by the first pitch.  The bunt sign came off and Bochy said he was hoping he would just take a K and leave it up to Blanco, who was the next batter.  Instead, Gearrin swing and shot a grounder through the hole in the right side to load the bases and set up 3 more runs in the inning.

Santiago Casilla- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 1.74.  This was a non-save situation, although a 5-run lead probably SHOULD be a save situation in Coors Field!  Albert Suarez was not available due to the 5 innings of work on Friday and the only other non-SP on the bench was newcomer Chris Stratton. After seeing what happened in the 7'th inning, Bochy was not going to use Stratton to protect ANY lead if he could help it.  So, Casilla got the call and calmly worked his way through the 2-5 batters in the Rockies lineup to put it away.

Defense- Remember when the Saber crowd used to derisively talk about "saving countless runs on defense?"  Well, how many runs has the Giants defense saved in this 14 Wins in 16 games run?  I know I've lost count!  In this game alone, Matt Duffy made a whirling stab of a hard shot and got up in time to throw the runner out.  That throw might have pulled most 1B off the bag, but Belt made a nice streeeetch to keep his toe on.  Crawford and Panik turned an extremely difficult DP on Adames to get Bummy out of the 6'th inning and again, Belt save the play on a long stretch.  Panik made a diving stop on a high bouncer by Parra, who is not a slow runner, and got up in time to throw him out, drawing a stare of admiration from Parra.  Then, in the 9'th inning, Crawford ranged into the hole and launched a missile to Belt to nail Arenado which drew another stare of admiration.  That is 7 great defensive plays right there and that does not count several nice catches and throws from OF's.

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The Win kept the Giants lead in the NL West at 4.5 games over the  Dodgers.  Thor got thrown out of the Mets-Dodgers game for throwing behind Chase Utley and the Dodgers jumped on the Mets relievers for  a 9-1 win.  The 3'rd place Rockies fell back to 6.5 games down after the Loss.  The D'Backs topped the Padres 8-7 to leave the 2 laggard teams 9 and 10.5 games down respectively.

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Johnny Cueto tries to tame Coors Field for the series win today against lefty Chris Rusin.

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Speaking of saving countless runs on defense, get a load of this!  The Dodgers have apparently been using laser rangefinders to stake out defensive positions prior to games.  Ken Rosenthal reports they took it a step further in New York by putting down some sort of physical markers on the field so the OF's could find their positions in the game.  When the New York grounds crew objected, they were told if the markers were removed, the Dodgers OF's would dig holes in the grass.  The grounds crew reported this to the Mets who instructed them to remove any markers they could find and called the league office.  They were told the Dodgers could use the laser rangefinders before the game, but not during the game.  I'm guessing we haven't heard the last of this.  Can you imagine if they try that stunt their next trip to San Francisco?  Whoo boy!  Here's my take:  If I'm Rob Manfred, I rule they can use the rangefinders before the game, but cannot place physical markers on the field and they cannot intentionally vandalize the field to make their own marks.  Not sure how you enforce all that, but if they don't, then it seems opposing teams will have no choice but to dig their own holes to try to confuse the Dodgers OF's as to whose hole is whose!  As if the Dodgers weren't already insufferable enough…...!  Speaking of insufferable, I expect to see a Fangraphs article by Dave Cameron defending the markers on the field.  Just one more reason to hate the Dodgers more than ever, which is not easy given how long and how much I've hated them since, oh, about 1965.