A HR by Brandon Crawford and a double by Hunter Pence were the big hits to back the pitching of Jeff Samardzija and 4 Giants relievers in a squeaker of a win. Key Lines:
Denard Span CF- 2 for 4, SB(3). BA= .305. Will Span steal more than 20 bases this season?
Brandon Crawford SS- 1 for 3, HR, BB. BA= .235. Crawford has increased his fWAR every year of his career. Is his peak year still ahead of him? 5.8 is a big number to try to top.
Hunter Pence RF- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .190. Tough spring for Pence, but maybe he is rounding into form just in time? After the A's tied the score in the top of the 8'th, Pence doubled Brandon Belt to 3B and Belt eventually scored the winning run on a force out by Eduardo Nunez.
Jeff Samardzija RHP- 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 6.20. The first part of the spring was really ugly for Shark, but he's kicked it up a notch his last two starts and looks like he's primed for a great season.
Neil Ramirez RHP- 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 3.18. Seems like Cory Gearrin will make the team at Ramirez' expense. Does Neil stay on in Sacramento and hope for a midseason opportunity?
Steven Okert LHP- 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 0.93. Okert caps a fine spring by striking out a batter to finish an inning. He'll be the lefty specialist.
Hunter Strickland RHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K. ERA= 4.35. Jaff Decker doubled in Mark Canha who had reached on a throwing error by Nunez.
Derek Law RHP- 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 5.06. It wasn't pretty, but it got the job done. Probably a good thing Kontos has stepped up to be the likely 8'th inning man and let Law and Strickland hone their games in lower leverage situations.
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Tyler Beede gets the start in the final practice game in the Coliseum as the Giants want to give him the experience of pitching in a MLB stadium in front of a big crowd. He will face A's #4 and #5 starters Andrew Triggs and Raul Alcantara.
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I think Beede gets first call if anything happens then he will prove he's here to stay.
ReplyDeleteBCraw tops 5.8 WAR and the Giants get to the post-season, that's an MVP type year. I mean 5.8 fWAR was high enough for 4th in NL last season, behind Bryant, Seager, and Freeman.
ReplyDeleteHill over Tomlinson?
ReplyDeleteThat's Bochy bias.
Has nothing to do with ability, promise, potential, or the FUTURE.
Has everything to do with an old man with old bias.
BS!
I doubt it was Bochy's decision alone. Bobby Evans was the guy who signed all these veteran IF's, which clearly signaled a desire to upgrade over Tomlinson. I agree that it's debatable whether Aaron Hill is an upgrade, but he does have more pop in his bat and the Giants were clearly looking for RH power off the bench. The other factor is depth preservation. Tomlinson has an option which enables the Giants to stash him in Sacramento whereas if they kept Tomlinson, they would have almost certainly lost Hill from the organization.
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