Thursday, June 23, 2016

Game Wrap 6/22/2016: Giants 7 Pirates 6

Jeff Samardzija had his worse start of the season as the Giants fell behind 6-1 after 3 innings, but the bullpen, led by Derek Law pitching in his hometown, stopped the bleeding and then shut it down for the remaining 6 inning while the offense chipped away for an improbable come-from-behind win.  Key Lines:

Denard Span- 2 for 5.  BA= .256.  Span is 5 for 11 after getting a 1 game breather on Sunday in St. Petersburg, FL.

Joe Panik- 1 for 4, BB.  BA= .259.  Per Bill Laskey, Panik has 3 GW Hits this road trip.

Buster Posey- 1 for 4, 2B, BB.  BA= .277.  Buster got the last out of the game for the Giants on a perfect throw to the bag to nail John Jaso on a strike-em-out, throw-em-out, then did a rare fist pump with his mask and helmet askew.  If the helmet hadn't been in the way, I think we might have seen him saying "not havin it!"

Mac Williamson- 1 for 2, 3 BB.  BA= .182.  Mac's single through the hole on the left side had an exit velocity of 115 MPH.

Ramiro Pena- 1 for 5, 2B.  BA= .462.  So far, the Pena/Gillaspie platoon is working to perfection.  Pena is a switch-hitter to boot and got a hit from each side of the plate in this game.

Jeff Samardzija- 3 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 3.59.  Samardzija has all but abandoned his offspeed stuff and is down to a FB and Cutter for all practical purposed.  That can work if he has good command and keeps the ball at the knees, but uncoiling out of the back turn is causing him to open up too soon and that is elevating the pitches where they are getting hammered.  Giants pitcher whisperers have their work cut out for them.

Derek Law- 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 2.49.  The Law came in and restored order…er laid down the Law… or something.  This was in front of his family in his hometown and he was electric stopping the Pirates in their tracks and buying time for the Giants offense.

Josh Osich- 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 3.74.  This was Osich's best appearance of the season and one of the few times he's filled the Jeremy Affeldt role of a lefty reliever who can go more than 1 inning.  Let's hope this is the start of many more.

Cory Gearrin- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 2.30  Where, oh where would the Giants be without Cory Gearrin?

Santiago Casilla- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, Save(15).  ERA= 2.57.  Casilla did his part on the strike-em-out, throw-em-out by blowing a FB by Gregory Polanco who had a huge night and had already battled Casilla for several pitches.

Bullpen- 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K's.  The Bullpen's composite line was the equivalent of a dominant start, a truly herculean performance.

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The Win kept the Giants 5.5 games ahead of the Dodgers in the NL West as the Bad Guys won another come from behind game from the Nats to sweep their 3 game series and extend the Dodgers win streak to 6 games.  Gotta be really disappointed at the way the Nationals laid down and died in front of the Dodgers there.

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Albert Suarez tries goes for a series win against Jonathan Niese on getaway day tomorrow.

3 comments:

  1. The National collapse was especially egregious with Puig legging a little league HR as Michael Taylor let the ground ball which had first just been out of Espinosa's reach and rolled under Taylor's glove all the way to the wall, then the relay was bobbled. Wasn't the only time Taylor took his eye off the ball: 5 K's in 5 AB's, too. Have a day, Michael!

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  2. The Nats are a bunch of chokers. Doesn't bode well for a post season attempt with Dusty at the helm.

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  3. Gotta say that I'm particularly happy with the way the Giants are plugging guys in. After years of people bashing on the farm system, this year is showing the Giants know their prospects way better than others do. In the pen, we've plugged in Gearrin and Osich. In the MIF, we've plugged in Kelby, Pena and Gillispe. Of, Parker and Mac. Catcher, Susac goes down and Brown steps in. Even the SP, with Suarez we've managed to find new pieces to replace old and/or hurt pieces. That is the mark of good management (and while same may say we got lucky with minor league signings and only some of those noted are true farm prospects, I think at some point when you continually make good signings to bolster the minor league teams, that counts too).

    Plus, we have a boat load of pretty nice talent coming up other than the OF, where Parker and Mac have not yet made their mark. Love the pitching pipeline. And I'm moderately hopeful Parker has started to figure it out. At this point, while I think everyone is saying we need to trade, I really don't see it. We have RP help coming in with Romo (not sure who goes down?) and Parker is giving enough production that, coupled with Pagan, and then guys like Posey, Crawford and Panik finally getting into form, we have enough offense and plenty of defense. Don't see the need to mortgage the farm for what is likely only a couple of weeks especially when we're still playing very well. If anything, the only place I see is a SP since I'm not sure if Suarez is a long term answer (he strikes me as more like Petit--great long man, and we need that too), but we still have Blackburn, Meija and Heston in AAA (with Beede and Gagne in AA) and I'm not sure who we get that fits in better.

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