A 2-run HR by Angel Pagan in the second inning and a solo shot by Buster Posey an inning later staked Jake Peavy to a 3-1 lead which Peavy and the bullpen made stand up. Key Lines:
Angel Pagan- 2 for 4, 2B, HR(4). BA= .289. Pagan is not just hitting. He's hitting with authority. As I have said many times, when he does that, he is a dynamic player.
Buster Posey- 1 for 3, HR(10). BA= .291. Buster his hitting .346 over his last 7 games, .340 over his last 15 and .324 over his last 30. According to Baggs, he is hitting over .400 over his last 20 games.
Jake Peavy- 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 5.04. Peavy had to pitch his way out of one big jam in the second inning after he balked in the only run he allowed with the bases loaded. He managed to get himself out of the inning without any more damage done and was otherwise masterful. He got an ovations as he walked off the field in the 7'th inning.
Sergio Romo- 0.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K. ERA= 2.45. Romo's command appeared to be a bit off, but the ball movement looked good.
Josh Osich- 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K's. ERA= 4.21. Osich again trusted his stuff and got CarGo to ground out on just one pitch, a nasty 2-seamer at the knees.
Santiago Casilla- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's, Save(20). ERA= 3.07. This was Casilla's best appearance in awhile, at least that I can remember. Might be in the running for best inning by him on the season. RH batters were just not seeing the cutter on the outside corner and the curveball was freezing hitters and dropping in for strikes.
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The Win kept the Giants 5 games ahead of the Dodgers in the NL West as the Hated Ones outscored the Orioles 7-5 in Chavez Ravine.
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Madison Bumgarner takes the mound for Game 2 of the series tomorrow facing Tyler Chatwood, who has been tough on the Giants.
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In a bit of a surprise, Albert Suarez was optioned to Sacramento to create room on the active roster for Romo. Mike Broadway was DFA'd. Man, that is rough for Suarez after the way that dude has pitched. I hope it was a temporary move due to the fact he started and went 6 innings in his start yesterday and wouldn't be available to pitch for 4 days anyway.
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I wasn't terribly surprised with Broadway. I know a lot of people like him, but to me he seems to be awfully hit-able for someone who throws a 96 MPH two-seamer. Still, you never know.
ReplyDeleteOTOH, Suarez did get me by surprise. He throws five pitches (Cut FB, SI, CU, SL, CH) and mixes them quite a bit to keep hitters off him. And while he's not over-powering or particularly special, he's done a good job down there and I wasn't thinking that he was going down until after the All-Star break as Cain has only just started his rehab assignment (pitching on the 2nd - 3 hits, 2 ER & 6 SO in 3.1 innings).
An aside: With 53 wins the Giants lead the MLB in wins. With a .624 winning percentage, they're 2nd. THey've done much of it with upto 4 called-ip AAA players (from a farm system they constantly denigrate) starting games which is, traditionally, a huge burden for a club to overcome. Yet, they're getting zero respect in national media which are enamoured with the Cubs and, to spice it up for the AL, the Indians.
With Pagan hitting well and assuming the other outfielders get healthy, can he be a trade chip? Maybe get a useful bullpen arm out of him, some bench strength or some minor league depth? I don't see the Giants re-signing him and might not be a bad idea to get something for him if possible.
ReplyDeleteBilly Baseball
I too am happily surprised by the Giants' extraordinary success, given their missing Pence and Cain and Romo, and two stellar infielders plus those infielders' two opening-day backups. But as to their media respect, the most recent rankings in Bleacher Reports had them as #1 in MLB. I haven't seen them below #3 anywhere in a long while.
ReplyDeleteAlso, as to Suarez, I thought the idea was to give him work in Sacramento, since the Giants can use the day off on Thursday to skip his turn, thereby getting another Bumgarner start before the ASG. If this is the plan, Suarez would return to be the long man and spot starter after the AS break, when Cain should be ready. Sending Suarez down is then for his benefit. Bochy certainly sounded as though he wants Suarez around.
ReplyDelete