Saturday, September 17, 2016

Game Wrap 9/17/2016: Cardinals 3 Giants 2

This game will be remembered for a curious piece of managing by Bruce Bochy in the 9'th inning as the Giants failed to capitalize on a terrific start by Jeff Samardzija and failed to hold yet another 9'th inning lead.  Key Lines:

Brandon Belt- 1 for 3, 2B, BB.  BA= .273.  Belt seems to have gotten his stroke back.  He doubled to the CF wall to drive in the Giants first run after Hunter Pence singled to open the second inning.

Jeff Samardzija- 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 4 K's, GO/AO= 12/0.  ERA= 3.97.  Samardzija was killing worms at AT&T Park.  Although the K/BB left something to be desired, the groundballs got him 3 GIDP's and he got the Giants into the 7'th inning with a lead.

Bruce Bochy- I thought it was odd when Bochy had both Romo and Casilla warming up for the 9'th inning.  I couldn't believe he would bring Casilla back as the closer already.  I knew the Cardinals had 3 RH batters coming up, so I was relieved when I  saw Romo coming in.  He made Piscotty reach for a slider for a weak flyball  to LF that Brandon Crawford ran a long way to make a circus catch on.  He then got Jedd Gyorko to reach for another slider but Gyorko managed to square it up enough for a weak line drive to LF for a hit.  The next batter was Yadier Molina who apparently owns Sergio Romo with a .500 BA against him.  Bochy went to Casilla who on paper was a better matchup.  You could hear a lot of murmuring and some scattered boos in the crowd as Casilla came in.  Casilla was the same Casilla we've seen all season.  He made a couple of good pitches, but had no command of others and walked Molina.  He then almost hit Randall Grichuk not once, but twice before allowing a hard groundball single up the middle to drive in the tying run and put the winning run at 3B.  Matt Reynolds came in to face the LH hitting Kolton Wong who hit a flyball far enough to drive in Pinch Runner Jose Martinez for the game winner.  

I have to admit, Bochy was in a spot, and it appears the decision to have Casilla pitch to Molina was made even before the inning started.  I also admit that if Grichuk's ball was 6 inches to the left, it's a GIDP, game over.  I just think Casilla is so freaked out by the closer role that prior matchup stats don't mean much and maybe there was another guy in the pen who could have pitched to Molina and Grichuk?

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The Dodgers won in Arizona and gain a game on the Giants for a 5 game lead in the NL West.  Curtis Granderson hit a game tying HR in extra innings against the Twins then hit a game winner his next time up, so the Mets are now tied with the Giants for the first Wild Card playoff spot.  The Giants still lead the Cardinals by 2 games for the second Wild Card spot.

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Albert Suarez takes the mound tomorrow facing rookie phenom Alex Reyes.

14 comments:

  1. I wonder if Bochy's reputation as a master at handling a bullpen will take a hit after this season? The sad part is I don't see a better option to replace Casilla in this bullpen.

    LG

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    1. So far, I would say it's more on the bullpen pitchers for not executing.

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    2. …but the decision to bring in Casilla last night was definitely a head scratcher for me.

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  2. I thought it was curious too when Bochy brought Casilla in after Romo looked pretty good just giving up a weak hit by Gyorko. But I don't blame Bochy for this. It's squarely on the front office to have in place an effective closer for a world series contending team, and for several years they've been trying to skate by with Casilla and are now paying the price for it. Smh

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    1. In defense of the front office, the last time they spent big on a closer, they got burned badly with Armando Benitez. Stats based analysts tend downplay the importance of closers and criticize teams that spend big on them. You can also point to 2012 and 2014 as examples of the Giants winning it all by just putting whoever was hot in the position.

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    2. Hope they didn't give up too much of their trade assets at the deadline to get a closer in the off season. They gave up a lot for a setup lefty reliever(Will Smith) and a SP (Matt Moore) who reminds me a lot of Shawn Estes. Good stuff/control issues but put up mediocre won/loss records.

      LG

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  3. Maybe leaving Romo in to pitch to Molina was the better option. Romo has closer experience.

    LG

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    1. My thought was that Molina is low risk for hitting a HR in that situation. Even if he gets a hit or draws a walk, you still have Romo to pitch to Grichuk, which definitely seems like a better matchup than Casilla vs Grichuk. If Bochy was dead set that he did not want Romo to face Molina, then what about Gearrin or Strickland or Cain or Peavy?

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  4. It was an amazing game. Awesome catch as well as overall defense by Crawford. Shark pitch really good to keep the momentum going. 2 outs away from a win. Then to the dismay of every Giants fan Bochy called Casilla in. I can't remember the last time a Giants player was booed at AT&T like that before he played. I hate to admit it, I just started laughing in frustration and thought there goes the ballgame. Then I got angry afterwards when it actually happened. Angrier as a fan than I have been in a long time. Why? Why does Bochy keep putting Casilla in? Why is he so blind when it comes to Casilla? Especially at pivotal times in a game at the expense of the rest of the team. The thing I can't understand is how Bochy was quick to pull Romo out, but waited a batter too late to pull out Casilla. As soon as Casilla threw that ugly way outside pitch to Molina, you knew he was done and he should have been pulled. Why didn't Bochy have another pitcher ready? He had a pitcher who is not reliable on the mound, but no one on standby just in case? Its September, the Giants have a ton of pitchers at there disposal and the Giants are in a playoff race were every game matters. The Giants are trying to keep the momentum they desperately need going, so why go to a choke artist? I just hope this game doesn't break the momentum the Giants were starting to have. Also, I can't believe how dead Span's throwing arm is and how 3B coach Kelly fails to command runners in scoring position. Could he of not signaled to Nunez to round third for home instead of sliding into third? That said. Time to pick it up Suarez! Go Giants!

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    1. I can't really argue with any of that, Erik. I had pretty much the same reaction while watching the game including the thought that Casilla should have been pulled after that horrible pitch to Molina. I agree, that last time I can remember Giants fans booing the entrance of a relief pitcher goes all the way back to Armando Benitez.

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  5. That's his 9th blown save. His save percentage is under 80%. He should not, under any circumstances, get the ball again. Just set him down and let him rot in the bench. The worst part is, if he were a decent closer, not elite, just decent, we'd be in a hot-race with the Dodgers, not 5 games back.

    Beyond that, I would have left Law in. There is just nobody I have more confidence in than Law. In fact, it'd be fair to say I have little confidence in anyone but Law right now. The bottom-line is the bullpen has been a stinking pile of 'suck' for most the season and the numbers bear it out (These numbers are three days old and I took them from an article):

    2016 Giants: 67 save opportunities … 58% converted. (39 for 67.)
    2014 Giants: 64 save opportunities… 72% converted. (48 for 64.)
    2012 Giants: 67 save opportunities… 79% converted. (53 of 67.)
    2010 Giants: 73 save opportunities… 78% converted. (58 of 73.)

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    1. Love Law, but maybe the fact that he is just off the DL makes the Giants want to limit the number of pitches he throws in any one appearance? IDK.

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  6. 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position, and 2 runs on 7 hits, a walk, and an error won't win a lot of games.
    Casilla was the same Casilla, but a little offense over a tiny offense would have helped.
    Someone is certifiably insane to expect a different result doing the same thing, according to no less than Albert Einstein.

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    1. Good point about the offense. I hear what you are saying re. Einstein quote, but that is a hugely overused cliche' taken out of context. If you flip a coin 6 times and get heads 6 times it is perfectly reasonable and mathematically sound to think you flip it long enough, you'll eventually get a string of tails, or you might start to think there is something wrong with the coin.

      Maybe that's the analogy here. This has happened enough, especially of late that you might stop thinking Casilla's problems are due to bad BABIP luck and start thinking there is either something mentally or physically causing his meltdowns.

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