First of all, I just want to say I don't t think it's fair that the game balls used when the Giants bat are kept in a freezer and the ones when the Orioles bat are kept in an oven. With that out of the way, This game was not as close as the score as Matt Cain had a bad start and the Giants offense continued to reside in the deep freeze. The result was I had to drink a strong cup of tea to stay awake to watch a stupefyingly boring game. Apparently the fans at the park felt the same way as the stands were all but empty by 9'th inning. Key Lines:
Matt Cain- 4 IP, 11 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 7 K's. ERA= 5.47. Cain came out of the gate with a very good curveball which he used to get the 7 K's, so it's not like he was devoid of stuff. He just didn't command the fastball and got way too many up in the zone and out over the plate. Yes, there was some BABIPing here, but for the most part, the Orioles hitters jumped on mistakes and hit them hard, the hardest being Mark Trumbo's 2-run shot that landed on the plaza above the LF bleachers. Lesson: The Orioles live and die by the HR. Do not go near the inner half of the plate unless you are going to be at east 4 inches off of it inside!
George Kontos- 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K. ERA= 2.11. Is it just me or starting with the extra inning win in Miami, has Bochy gone away from the mix and max, 1 batter at a time, no more than 1 inning per reliever strategy? That was actually Ron Wotus who managed that game, but was it part of a larger strategy? Kontos goes 3 shutout innings here and Peavy adds 2 more.
Jake Peavy- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 5.35. Yes it was mop-up time, but Peavy looked great. He was relaxed, throwing easy, great movement on his pitches. Maybe he's gotten his R&R and is ready to trade places with Cain so Cainer can find his command out of the bullpen?
*********************************************************************************
The Dodgers lost to the Pirates 5-1 so the Giants remain in sole possession of first place, 1 game ahead of the Bad Guys in the NL West.
It's Gaylord Perry day at 24 Willie Mays Plaza and they'll be unveiling a statue of Ol' Gaylord. Very nice interview over on Giants Extra linked to the left.
*********************************************************************************
Madison Bumgarner will be looking for some run support tonight as he tries to even the series against Kevin Gausman.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
well, at least olympians from the bay area did stuff to cheer. pretty cool that michelle carter, the daughter of niner great, michael carter, became the first us woman to win gold in the shot put and also made history by making her and her dad the first father and daughter to medal in the same sport
ReplyDeleteMichelle lobbed a helluva last throw. Seemed like a nice kid with a nice family, too. For those of us who remember, her dad was a huge part of multiple Super Bowl teams -- she seems to have inherited his heart.
ReplyDeleteAs for Cain, Lord save us from the eternal waiting for him to pull it together. Sure there's an occasional promising outing but the "real" Cain never arrives. This may be the real Cain, I fear. One of my co-workers has long maintained that, once Cain moved to Atherton and started wearing cashmere, he lost his edge. Maybe so. In any event, I have to think that unless Cain improves this year, someone among Blach, Blackburn, Beede, etc. should be allowed to take over the 5 spot in the rotation and the team will just eat that last year of the big contract.
Peavy, on the other hand, is starting to show that he might be able to salvage two or three more years as a reliever. He's looked pretty good -- and as you say more relaxed -- out there in such settings. But his contract ends this year in any event.
I think the mileage on his arm finally caught up with Cain. If you want to go back and read my reaction to his contract, I cautioned that it could well end badly due to the mileage on his arm.
Delete