Saturday, July 9, 2016

Game Wrap 7/9/2016: Giants 4 D'Backs 2

Jake Peavy huffed and puffed his way through 86 pitches in 4.1 IP, but left the game with a 4-2 lead and the bullpen shut it down from there.  Key Lines:

Denard Span- 0 for 4.  BA= .246.  Span is 0 for 9 since returning to the lineup, which makes you wonder if he's OK physically.

Angel Pagan- 2 for 4, SB(8).  BA= .288.  Pagan scored the Giants first run on Brandon Belt's triple and remains a dynamic player when healthy.

Brandon Belt- 2 for 4, 3B.  BA= .301.  Belt is now tied for the team lead with 5 triples, one short of his previous season high.  He also leads the team in doubles with 27, 12 short of his previous season high of 39 in 2013.  He is on pace to surpass both of those marks by a fair margin.  Oh, and Belt won the balloting for the final All-Star Game roster spot.

Grant Green- 1 for 2, HR(1).  BA= .300.  Green continues to contribute.  There is talk of Kelby Tomlinson being optioned when he comes off the DL which would allow Green to stay on the active roster.  Green grew up in SoCal but his father is from the Bay Area, so Green grew up a Giants fan.  His family was in the stands to watch him play today.  That must be a thrill for both him and his pop.

Ruben Tejada- 1 for 2, 2B, BB.  BA= .177.  Tejada's BA still looks anemic, but he has gotten a few key hits of late.

Jake Peavy- 4.1 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 5.09.  Not a pretty line, but you don't always need a QS to help your team.  Peavy left the game with the lead and the bullpen held it.

Bullpen- 4.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's.  Bochy was pushing the right buttons today.  He used his two lefty relievers for one batter each, both times it was Jake Lamb and they got him out both times.  Albert Suarez had a shaky inning, but struck out Goldy with 2 runners on base.  Romo pitched a perfect 8'th inning again and you have to think if Romo can nail down that 8'th inning, the rest of the bullpen will be so much better too.  Casilla got his 21'st Save.

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The Win kept the Giants 6.5 games ahead of the Dodgers in the NL West after the Bad Guys topped the Padres 4-3 in Chavez Ravine.  The Giants are also guaranteed to go into the All-Star break with the best record in baseball.  The mighty Cubs got pasted by the Pirates again 12-6 and have now lost 5 in a row and 9 of 10 and don't have even the second best record in MLB anymore!

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Madison Bumgarner tries to close out the official first half with a sweeeeep facing Archie Bradley tomorrow afternoon.

3 comments:

  1. Span is striking out at a rate, 13.7%, higher than any since 2008. I too wonder if something's physically wrong with him, both on offense and defense. He's been worth only .5 fWAR so far, way below his historical productivity.

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  2. The Giants have faced more LHP than normal which may account for Span's lower numbers.
    For Span the R-L ratio in 2016 is 19:12. For career it's 28:12 which is a big difference.
    Span historically hits LHP more than 20 points worse than RHP (.268:.291)
    He also strikes out against LHP at 15.4% rate.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for bringing up a factor that hadn't occurred to me. But although the gap between LH and RH has become a chasm, .215 vs .266, the K rate is the same, 14% vs 13.5%. His BA vs RH has sunk to the figure you give for his BA vs LH, and it seems to be there, according to your stats, that he's striking out so much more. I no longer believe, after seeing your evidence, that the Giants ought to send him to have his eyes examined. Still seems as though there's something wrong with him, however.

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