The Giants jumped on Dodgers starter Kenta Maeda for 5 runs in the first 2 innings and never looked back as Matt Moore stifled the Dodgers lineup for 8 innings. Key Lines:
Denard Span- 3 for 5, 3B. BA= .266. Span seems to be thriving in a platoon system and I think it's more than just him not facing lefty pitchers as much. He looks like he feels better out there with the extra rest. He's hitting .321 over his last 7 games and .308 over his last 15. He looked faster in the OF too!
Brandon Belt- 2 for 4, 2B, BB. BA= .275. Say what you will about Brandon Belt and this season, but he set new personal highs in PA's(by a wide margin), doubles, triples, XBH's, OBP and RBI's and tied for his personal best in Runs. He came into this game with a fWAR of 4.3 which has a dollar value of $33.2 M or almost half of the total value of the 5 year contract he signed at the beginning of the season.
Buster Posey- 3 for 5. BA= .288. Buster finishes the season strong. Pitchers seem noticeably more comfortable with him behind the plate.
Hunter Pence- 1 for 5. BA= .289. Pence took a lot of wild swings in this series and Vin Scully rode him mercilessly for it. He punched a single to RF to drive in an insurance run and later came around to score a run of his own.
Angel Pagan- 3 for 4, 2B. BA= .277. Pagan is steady as she goes. He had a slump early in September but came back strong in the last 2 weeks. We'll talk about next season later.
Matt Moore- 8 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 4.08. He's been more dominant, but he was rock solid today. He gave up all 3 of the hits in the 4'th inning when the Dodgers scored a run. He got out of it when Denard Span tracked down a long flyball at the warning track in CF by Joc Pederson. That was the only time the Dodgers threatened all game. Take away 2 disaster starts out of 13 he made for the Giants, his ERA in the other 11 was 2.63. He gives the Giants a 4'th SP capable of shutting down an opposing team in the playoffs. Not sure other Postseason teams have that kind of SP. Maybe the Cubs? Of course it will only matter if they can get by the WC game where SP depth doesn't count for squat!
Sergio Romo- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 2.64. Not even close to a Save situation. Not sure why Romo was out there unless Bochy didn't want him idle for 3 days before the WC? Anyway, once again, Romo looks like a new pitcher against LH batters!
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The Win clinched sole possession of the final Wild Card playoff spot. They finish 4 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West.
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The Giants get a day off to savor their win before heading east to New York for the Wild Card Game on Wednesday, 10/5/2016 with Madison Bumgarner facing Noah "Thor" Syndergaard. Win or go home!
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One of Moore's two disaster starts was at Coors, where he said he couldn't adjust his breaking balls--I assume because of the altitude--and left some out over the plate. One can assume that he will learn with a bit of experience to make that adjustment.
ReplyDeleteTrue. I think the other was in LA where he said he was trying to do too much.
DeleteI believe the teams have a 25-mqan roster specifically for this one wild-card game, no? Would the Giants leave a couple of starters off that roster in order to bring in a couple more position players?
ReplyDeleteGiants in the playoffs. Giants sweep L.A. Life is good. I wonder when they come out with the playoff roster?
ReplyDeleteThe WC is a one-game post season "series" and gets its own 25-man roster from the 40-man roster on August 31. There is an exception about replacing an injured player but someone on the 60-day DL cannot be added until completing the 60 days.
ReplyDeleteIt would seem that pitchers who positively won't be used after Bumgarner, allowing for 20 innings and lots of switches for matchups, the roster should have extra bats.
Nunez, according to Pav, is out, but Gillaspie has earned the position for this game. Glad Syndergaard is a RHP. Backup 3Bman? Adrianza. Tomlinson could play 3rd if necessary.
Hernandez has earned it, too, but Span with 2 days off is the CFer against RHP. Gorkys is the 4th OFer.
The extra IFers and OFers after the starters/backups should be there for their bats.
why do i have this feeling that were fat tommy the bums' manager, the final 3 games may have played out a bit differently?
ReplyDeletebest parts of yesterday's game. scully chatting with mays before the game and reminding him that he was always his favorite player...and then recalling specific moments of mays history that no one else talks about. scully in the booth with his entire clan. scully pondering pence and craw's bad day at the plate. scully's final sign-off
now there is nothing good about the bums...the nats are gonna sweep em
should be an interesting play-in game in ny
bacci
Assuming we beat the Mets, our four best pitchers Post-All Star:
ReplyDelete10 Cueto, J SF 5 4 3.26
11 Samardzija, J SF 3 6 3.66
12 Bumgarner, M SF 5 5 3.80
13 Moore, M SF 6 5 4.08
And Last 30 Days:
6 Cueto, J SF 4 0 1.78
8 Samardzija, J SF 1 2 2.48
11 Bumgarner, M SF 1 1 4.09
16 Moore, M SF 4 2 5.17
I know many will feel that it's sacrilege, but I'd go with Cueto. He's got the hottest hand. And he'd be ready for Game 4 against the Cubs.
kinda ot, but maybe not. reports are that the marlins have fired bonds. this despite the marlins hitting better as a team this season and finishing 4th in overall ba. loria is the best owner ever.
ReplyDeletereally hope the giants reach out to bonds to ask him to come on board as a special assistant to work with bam bam. it would be crazy to let this talent go to waste...or to another team...if he wants to stay in the game
bacci