Saturday, September 10, 2016

Game Wrap 9/10/2016: Giants 11 D'Backs 3

This game went pretty much the way Bobby Evans and Brian Sabean drew it up in the offseason:  The Giants offense kept the line moving and Johnny Cueto dominated the D'Backs hitters for 7 innings.  Key Lines:

Angel Pagan- 3 for 5, 3B.  BA= .281.  Like most of the Giants lineup, Pagan had been in a bit of a slump which he broke out of today.  The ball he hit for a triple was a low liner that carried over the head of Brito in CF.  It was hit about as hard as a ball can be hit.

Buster Posey- 2 for 4, 3B, BB.  BA= .287.  Buster needed a multi-hit game and got one tonight.  He'll likely get a rest day tomorrow.

Brandon Crawford- 2 for 5, 2B.  BA= .269.  The first 4 batters in the lineup went 1 for 22 last night.  Tonight they went 8 for 19.

Hunter Pence- 3 for 3, HR(11), 2 BB.  BA= .293.  Pence is red hot with 10 hits in 13 AB's over his last 3 games.  If the Giants end up in the postseason and you are looking for the spark that turned the season around, look no further than Pence's last 3 games.

Brandon Belt- 1 for 5, 2B.  BA= .271.  The double was initially called a HR on a mammoth shot to left of straightaway CF.  On replay, the ball was about a foot short and bounced up off a metal bracing on the fence below the padded yellow line.  Since it was not a ground rule double, the umps had to decide how far runners could advance.  Belt was properly placed at 2B and Pence properly scored.

Joe Panik- 3 for 5, 2 2B.  BA= .256.  Panik was doing Panik's thing, hitting the gaps and keeping the line moving.

Eduardo Nunez- 3 for 4, BB, SB(36).  BA= .284.  Nunez is growing on me.  He's getting lots of hits and playing terrific D at 3B.  Giants have their 3B for next season while Christian Arroyo gets some more salt in Sacramento.

Johnny Cueto- 1 for 3, Sac.  BA= .111.  Cueto helped himself with the bat driving in a run with a single and then laying down a very good sac bunt with 2 strikes later in the game.

Johnny Cueto- 7 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 6 K's, GO/AO= 13/1.  ERA= 2.90.  Cueto delivers a dominant start.  He had the D'Backs hitters killing worms, or whatever lurks under the ground in Arizona, all night.

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The Dodgers blanked the Marlins 5-0 as Rich Hill did not allow a baserunner in 7 innings of work, so the Bad Guys remain 4 games ahead of the Giants in the NL West.  The Cardinals came from behind to beat the BrewCrew 2-1 to remain 1 game behind the Giants for the first Wild Card playoff spot.  The Mets lost to fall  1.5 games behind the Giants for the 2'nd spot.

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Matt Moore tries for a series sweep against Zack Greinke tomorrow afternoon.

6 comments:

  1. maybe i was wrong. maybe the even year mojo isnt dead yet. and im not talking about the win, im talking about what roberts did in lifting hill
    there are a lot of talking heads agreeing with the move, but perfect games dont happen all the time and im sure that hill would have preferred going into the record books as having one of those rather than being the only pitcher in history having thrown 7 perfect innings and then lifted....i saw the pic of his face...he looked shell shocked.
    sometimes the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many....spock (see how i got trek in there? happy 50th bday)

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    1. Given Hill's health history, Roberts made the right move.

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    2. Although he had only thrown 89 pitches and his problem was a blister not an arm issue...

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    3. First of all, blisters have been known to keep pitchers on the DL for months. The Dodgers need HIll for ROS and for the postseason.

      Secondly, you never know how the blister might affect his delivery and make him more susceptible to an arm injury.

      Thirdly, if you wait until the arm develops symptoms it's likely too late.

      Robers made the right call.

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  2. On Nunez, I agree: he's up from 1.2 fWAR when he came to us, to 2.4 now; and a lot of that has to do with his fielding, which has risen from -0.5 fWAR, I think, to 3.4 in the past month and a half. We got him as a pretty bad third baseman over his career, and have turned him--or he has turned himself--into someone who can replace Duffy without the Giants' defense being hurt. He is also remarkably fast.

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