Saturday, April 1, 2017

Bay Bridge Series Game Wrap 4/1/2017: Giants 6 A's 3

Nick Hundley hit a grand slam HR and Justin Ruggiano added a 2-run dinger to back some strong work from pitchers ticketed to start the season in the minor leagues.  Key Lines:

Justin Ruggiano RF- 1 for 2, HR(3).  BA= .268.  I know Gorkys Hernandez is the superior defender here, but Ruggiano is not terrible and has a lot more RH power than Gorkys.  Will Ruggy accept a minor league assignment?

Nick Hundley C- 2 for 4, HR(3).  BA= .326.  Will Hundley be able to maintain his offensive edge with intermittent work backing up Buster?

Tyler Beede RHP- 4 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 5 K's.  ERA= 2.03.  Beeded dominated the first two innings.  Then, Marcus Semien beat out a slow bouncer to 3B that Conor Gillaspie could have played better.  Beeded seemed to temporarily lose command out of the stretch which resulted in a single by Alonso and a double to Matt Joyce to drive in the two runs.  Other than that little hiccup, Beede was terrific.  His best pitch appeared to be an 11-5 curveball that he was able to drop on the armside corner of the plate.  I would say a couple of those strikes were generous calls from the home plate ump.

Kyle Crick RHP- 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 1.04.  Cricky finishes up a fine spring.  Let's see if he can keep it going in the regular minor league season.

Reyes Maronta RHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 0.00.  Bold prediction:  Maronta pitches for the MLB Giants sometime this season.

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The Giants start the season tomorrow afternoon with Madison Bumgarner getting the start in Arizona against Zack Greinke.

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In somewhat of a surprise, Neil Ramirez makes the roster as a relief pitcher in place of LHP Steven Okert. who seemed like a lock because of his left-handedness.  Ty Blach will be the only LHP in he bullpen to start the season.

5 comments:

  1. Crick: It's nice to see Crick actually move forward. I just hope it lasts and he's turned the corner.

    Maronata: Yeah, that's a mighty bold prediction considering he was at San Jose last year. But from what I've read, if he refines his pitches a bit, he's full-on closer material.

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  2. At the game today...first, great to spend $50 bucks and sit first row behind the visitor's (Giants) dugout. Second, spent the first two innings waiting in line outside because some management idiot setup all the food trucks blocking the main gates - this does not happen @24 Willie Mays Plaza. Made the SWEEP all the more sweet, tho.

    Game thoughts: Beede will be a stud. Watching him command speeds, movement, location, along with mound presence - impressive. When Rags coaches this kid up, he will be a star. Yes, the ump did give him the high strike, but he used it.

    Crick was shockingly good. He got on top of the batters right away and didn't give in. Maybe there is something to build on after all.

    Maronta is a bulldog with hard n heavy stuff. Agree with Doc B, he will be in the Bigs this year.

    Roster moves - The Giants will be in a dogfight for the Western Division and/or Wildcard. Will taking vets (Hill, Cain) over better performing youth (Kelby, Blach/Beede) and keeping spring performance (RHP Ramirez) over superior LHP performance with options (Okert), lose the Giants the one or two game winning season margin? Evans is playing with fire here.

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    1. You have to remember that they still have the kids who are just a phone call away. If they put the kids on the 25 man and then they didn't perform or got injured, who backs THEM up? The Giants took at look at how the Dodgers managed their depth last year and are stepping up that part of their game. So, now all the people who complained bitterly about the Giants lack of depth last year, better not be complaining now about them making use of options to maintain the depth they acquired in the offseason.

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  3. One thing you can say about the Giants spring training was the future looks good as most of the Giants prospects performed really good and got some valuable experience. Position players Arroyo, Slater, Duggar, and Jones (Doc's boy had a good spring.) showed up and balled. With an additional good showing from Gomez who has not played AA level ball yet, but hit well. While pitching prospects Beede, Stratton ( Except for his last outing), Moronta, C. Johnson, and Slania, albeit small sample sizes, showed promise. There was even a positive showing for Kyle Crick who might be back from the dead. Call ups this September should be exciting. The Giants have better overall positional depth, vets look healthier and in better shape, Melancon looks awesome, and the top 4 starting pitchers are probably better than any other teams top 4 including the Cubs and Mets (Who have never been healthy so I don't understand the praise they get.). Bold prediction- The Giants win the west and snap the Dodgers division win streak, and the Giants over the Indians in the World Series.

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  4. Black and Gardeck DFAed today. Not exactly surprising, but kind of disappointing.

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