The Giants suffered yet another crushing defeat as the bullpen failed to hold a 5-3 lead in the 9'th inning in Coors Field. Key Lines:
Buster Posey- 2 for 4, 2B, SF. BA= .289. A productive night at the plate for Buster.
Hunter Pence- 3 for 5, 2B. BA= .278. Nice night out of the cleanup spot for Pence.
Gorkys Hernandez- 2 for 4, 2B, HR(1). BA= .292. We probably can't expect this kind of hitting from Hernandez, but he did hit over .300 with some power on the season in Sacramento. The really exciting thing to watch him do is go after balls in CF which we haven't seen in the last few seasons. He has some kind of range out there!
Brandon Belt- 2 for 3, HR(15), BB. BA= .269. Belt has had other good games that were false starts in the second half. Maybe this is the start of something better?
Albert Suarez- 5 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 4.37. Pretty standard start for Suarez. If the Giants got 5 innings with 3 runs allowed out of the #5 starter every game all season, I'm sure they would take it.
Steven Okert- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 4.15. Okert looked really good including a strikeout of the fearsome Arenado. Good FB movement with decent command, great movement of the slider and pulled the string on a changeup or 2.
Santiago Casilla- 0.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 3.52. Arenado led off the inning with a massive HR. Casilla got the next batter but then gave up a single to CF. Bochy brought in Osich to face the left-handed PH Blackmon. Not sure how Casilla gets a Hold when he was charged with allowing the tying run. What a ridiculous stat!
Josh Osich- 0.0, 0 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 0 K. ERA= 4.26. Osich hit Blackmon with a pitch, which he definitely did not want to do, or at least should not have wanted to do. Here's the thing. Just before Osich drilled him with what looked an awful lot like a purpose pitch, Blackmon had called time which the ump granted after Osich had started his delivery. Did anyone else see the look on Bochy's face in the dugout? It was like "WTF, did he do that on purpose?" I'm guessing we'll never know.
Joe Nathan- 0.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K. ERA= 0.00. Inneresting that Bochy went to Nathan for the Save Opp here. The first hit was a Coors Field special, a pop fly that fell in front of Pagan and Hernandez in no-man's land in left-CF. The game winner was a no-doubter off the bat of Christhian Adames that clanged off the RF wall.
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The Loss dropped the Giants 5 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West and 0.5 games behind the Cardinals in the race for the first Wild Card Playoff spot. They are 0.5 games ahead of the Mets for the second Wild Card spot. Time is running out to turn this around.
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The Giants get a day off to lick their wounds before starting a 3 game weekend series in Arizona with the top of the rotation lined up.
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last night was the end of the season...there will be no miracle finish for this team
ReplyDeletein tuesday night's game, casilla got away with throwing a hanger. that alone would have kept me from using him again in the series....unless we were talking about extra frames
the season is over because the mets pretty much have a cake walk through the rest of september and the giants do not and the only way the giants make it is if they can win all their games without having to depend on the pen in the 8th and the 9th
in other news, duffy to have season ending Achilles surgery. i wish him the best, but we saw what happened to kfran after his achilles surgery and as far as i can see, no way can duffy continue playing on turf...so maybe the rays would be open to sending him back
strasberg came off the dl for the nats....and didnt get out of the 3rd, when he felt something and grimaced...they definitely rushed him back and that may have cost them a good run to the ws
baseball is beautiful, but it is also a very cruel game
bacci
That was depressing as it gets.
DeleteBochy wants to keep Casilla in his game plan -- at least he did. Maybe not now. I think this was a trial for Nathan, maybe a prayer, that wasn't answered.
Giants have NO closer, not nobody that has the stuff AND the mentality AND BB's confidence. Or the fans.
Unless they move whoever is the best first inning STARTER into the role and patch the rotation. That would be a daring gambit. It maybe time for a crazy idea because what's happening isn't working.
The cardinals lost. Giants should still be ahead of them. Small victory, yes, but something.
ReplyDeleteGotta agree. No end in sight and we're out of time.
ReplyDeleteI echo all the sentiments here. The Giants have run out of time to stop the death spiral.
ReplyDeleteA team can survive one bad month of play, but not two or more. It's gone on so long, this team has no confidence and I doubt they'll get it back in time.
I realize this may be an unpopular opinion and possibly unfair, but for a long time I've felt that Belt is kind of clubhouse cancer. Prior to signing his big extension I think the team wasn't too affected by it, but once he officially became a fixture on the team I really believe it has had a significant effect on the team.
ReplyDeleteEvery time a runner is thrown out at first and I watch Belt catch the ball and throw it around the horn I kind of cringe. His body language is just sooo awkward. Even at the plate, you can tell he is so unsure of himself and lacks self confidence. Lots of guys aren't so sure of themselves but I can't quite put my finger on it with Belt. Either he has it to a much greater degree or it's the way he deals with it that is very unusual.
I really think it's the reason the Giants are in such a funk, and I wonder if I'm the only one who's noticed this about Belt or if others have thought the same thing.
Leads the team in HRs and OBP...GG caliber defense, one of the best 1B in MLB. Yeah...really dragging down the team. What has he ever done to make anyone think he was a clubhouse cancer, seems to get along with everyone. I don't understand the Belt hating...I guess he's the cause of all the world's problems.
DeleteHis stats are above average, for a 1B, but a lot of that was from the 1st half. The last 2 months he has a .740 OPS, whereas the first 3 months he had close to a .900 OPS. He runs real hot and cold too. Also, he gets a lot of "empty" hits in my opinion, unlike Crawford for example who seems to get way more clutch hits and RBIs. I rarely think to myself after a game, "man, Belt was really huge in that win." And, in my opinion, his intangibles are an issue which brings the value of his stats down, to maybe just an average or possibly below average 1B. Maybe I'm wrong, but there's always this sense I get about the guy. And I think he's a good guy deep down and tries his best to be a good teammate/player etc. It's like he tries too hard or something
DeleteSeems like the Belt Wars are heating up again. For some reason, Brandon Belt is easily the most polarizing player, at least to fans, I can remember. Giants fans either love the guy or hate him. Me? I like to think I'm somewhere in between. I think he is a good player who does some things very well, but he does and doesn't do other things that I find most frustrating to watch. Maybe that is why he is so polarizing? Different fans and analysts value different things about a player. Here is a partial list of things I like about Brandon Belt:
DeleteHe is a patient hitter who might be the best on the team at turning an 0-2 count into a walk.
He has some power, particularly gap power.
He's a big target at 1B who prevents a lot of throwing errors on the part of the other infielders, so in that way he makes his teammates better.
He's got a great throwing arm for a first baseman.
Here are some of the things that drive me crazy about Brandon Belt:
I still think he stands way too close to the plate. Pitches down the middle of the strike zone are on his hands, for crying out loud! He's a pull hitter who ties himself up on the inner half of the plate, the pitches he should be pulling into the Cove.
The slumpy shoulders. Agree with Bacci. The guy has terrible body language.
Sometimes he just looks lost, like he has no clue where he is or what he is doing.
As for his contract, the contract is reasonable for what he gives. The only part of the contract I don't like is I don't want it to block another option should one become available. I don't know if Chris Shaw is the guy or not, but if he is, I would hate for Belt's contract to be the reason he hits 35 HR's for some other team.
Totally agree with the looking lost and slumpy shoulders. The majority of Giants fans may agree that he has poor body language, but a lot of people may not think it's such a big deal. I think it is, especially when you get a big long term extension (he'll make 16 mil from 2018-2021) because the other guys now look at you as a fixture on the team. I've always been a big believer in chemistry and intangibles having a real effect in pro sports. Hey, look at Buster Posey if you don't think body language and intangibles have an impact. Or the Dodgers. They've had almost a super team the last several years but consistently come up short. Most of us bring up their chemistry as being real bad as an explanation. Same goes for Belt and I think once he signed that extension and officially became a mainstay on the team, it's had an effect on the team. I mean, wouldn't we agree the last couple months have been more a mental issue with the team than a talent issue? Because this team is definitely better than how they've been playing, and it's been too long to simply write off as a slump.
DeleteBrandon Crawford may have a legitimate gripe that Belt got a slightly bigger contract, but otherwise, I don't know that I buy into a theory that the a long term contract for Belt suddenly became a cancer on the rest of the team. If you are looking for a chemistry explanation, I would say trading Matt Duffy probably had a much bigger negative impact than anything Belt is doing.
DeleteI think it's illogical to blame the Giants woes on Belt.
DeleteBelt isn't to blame for the bullpen's failure to hold leads.
Belt isn't to blame for the fact Jeff Samardzija was a guaranteed loss for over 2+ months.
Belt isn't too blame for the fact we lost Hunter Pence to injury for most of the season.
Belt isn't to blame that Cueto hasn't been stellar (though not bad) since the All-Star break.
Belt isn't to blame for Panik's injury problems and lack of production.
Belt isn't to blame for Posey's power outage in the second half.
The reality is that most of the Giants players have not performed in the second half. To blame it all on Belt is extreme in my opinion. Yes, he does share some blame in that he was an offensive anchor during the first half and hasn't kept up his torrid pace. But he is not THE problem. And the idea of him being a "clubhouse cancer" is something I have never heard reported on before.
Look, you don't have to like Belt. But he is a good player; the 6th best 1B by fWAR in the majors this year. I think that says a lot about his contribution to the team right there.
Geez people...it's not even close to over. Yes they've been falling like a rock, but they still lead the WC. 4 games left against the Cards, 6 against the Dodgers. Anything can happen, it's not like they are 5 games back of the WC with three teams to jump over. Turn it around in AZ, play decent the rest of the year and they are in the playoffs. Even if it's as a WC it's not like they haven't been able to make that work out before...Stranger things have happened...
ReplyDeleteI agree it's too early to throw in the towel and stranger things have happened, but they have a week or less to get this turned around and I see no signs of that happening at this time.
DeleteIs Rod Beck available for a Minor League Contract? Or Robb Nen? Brian Wilson? We sure do have some closers that can give new meaning to "Torture..."
ReplyDeleteI think I will need to take more Nitro like all the other seasons...
Everyday I say now or never, but the next day I repeat it.
ReplyDeleteThat day is looming, it can't be far away. A week? Then SF starts the WC critical 4-game series with StL. Or after that for the first of 6 games with LA?
Doc is probably right: a week or less. With no momentum, heart-breaking 9th inning meltdowns, and, according to some, Belt fatigue, here we go!
For sure, the IFers love throwing to the Big Guy at 1st!
Short term stats don't mean much, if anything, even 15 games, but here's how the Giants have done post ASG and post trade deadline:
Post ASG to Trade deadline (7/14-7/31), 15 games: 4-11 .267
Since Trade deadline (8/1-9/8), 34 games: 13-21 .382
It's hard to believe the Giants have done a little "better" in the last 6 weeks than they did coming out of the ASG with the rotation set, lots of momentum, and 3 games with SD.
Well, that's why they play the games and September 8th is a good day to turn the ship around!
It's been a very rough stretch since the All-Star game for the Giants.
ReplyDelete