The Giants broke out the longball against the Dodgers with 3 solo dingers and backed it up with great pitching. Key Lines:
Joe Panik 2B- 1 for 3. BA= .471. Panik continues to swing a hot bat. He was charge with an error that was probably more Jae-Gyun Hwang's fault and a wide throw.
Brandon Belt 1B- 1 for 3, 3B. BA= .222. Belt's triple drove in Panik with the Giants first run.
Mac Williamson LF- 1 for 4, HR(2). BA= .286. Williamson homers for the second game in a row. Seems to me that if the season started tomorrow, Mac would win the starting LF job.
Chris Marrero DH- 1 for 3, HR(3). BA= .238. Marrero lead the team in spring HR's. Not sure where he fits on an Opening Day Roster, but he is definitely stating his case.
Jae-Gyun Hwang 3B- 1 for 3, HR(2). BA= .313. Speaking of stating his case....Hwang backed up his dinger with a diving stop and throw out, although he did make a bad throw to 2B with Panik getting charge with the error. If Hwan keeps this up, Bochy and Evans are going to have one tough decision to make at 3B. Nunez and Gillaspie have both been out with shoulder/arm soreness although neither situation seems serious enough to jeopardize being ready for Opening Day. I am starting to believe Hwang has the highest ceiling of any of the 3B candidates. If he wins the starting 3B job with Mac in LF, would a 5-man bench of Hundley, Nunez, Gillaspie, Marrero and Gorkys Hernandez fly? Just working through all the possibilities give me a headache!
The kids continued to make noise as Ryder Jones(.333), Christian Arroyo(.400) and Aramis Garcia(.333) all went 1 for 1.
Matt Moore LHP- 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 6.43. Moore allowed some baserunners but pitched out of the jams with the help of the K's. The beats had stories about his improvement after he junked his 2-seamer for his cutter at the urging of Rags and Buster Posey.
Tyler Beede RHP- 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 0.00. Beede continues to pitch well. He now has 6 scoreless IP this spring.
George Kontos, Neil Ramirez and Jose Dominguez all pitched scoreless frames and the final 1 or 2 bullpen spots are going to be just as gut wrenching as the 3B, LF and bench decisions.
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The Giants face Team Puerto Rico tomorrow with Jeff Samardzija getting the start. The Giants are expected to start most of their regulars.
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Hwang: Well, if he makes the team we have walk-up music read for him: Everybody Have Fun Tonight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoXu6QmxpJE
ReplyDeletePanik: Looks like those eye exercises have paid huge dividends and we can expect him to be the .300 hitter he is instead of the concussed, blurred vision guy he was last year.
Williamson: Funny the difference a week makes. Last week Parker was dialed in and looking to run away with the job. Williamson is like 'not so fast!' and surged while Parker has stumbled badly.
Moore: 5K's. Sweet.
Beede: I'm really hoping he forces the #5 starter issue and wins the force. But the rational part of my brain says, he's getting close, but he's not there yet.
Bench: Not sure what to think of that.
Good problems! Think about having to find the best among a bunch of bad numbers!
ReplyDeleteYour 8-5 RH team, doc, would be a reversal, of sorts, for the Giants. Probably good against LHP -- except Kershaw!
Whoever the 5th starter is, he'll be (at best) a 7K/9 (+/-), & hopefully a low BB/9.
7:40 AM Alex Pavlovic:
ReplyDelete48 minutes ago: Nunez finally cleared to play third base. Gillaspie (sore arm) also back on lineup sheet.
Interesting (and salty -- cover your ears if you read it outloud!) comments from J. D. Martinez on his new swing:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/j-d-martinez-debunks-conventional-wisdom-thinks-a-tipping-point-is-near/
So what happens to a ground ball pitcher when a batter has changed his swing to hit a fly ball?