Matt Cain pitched 6 shutout innings and the Giants offense scored twice to eke out a narrow win over the Bad Guys. Key Lines:
Hunter Pence RF- 2 for 4. BA= .315. Pence is basically a slap hitter right now, but that can be useful at the top of the order and nobody else was getting leadoff done.
Brandon Belt 1B- 1 for 3, BB. BA= .246. Not sure what Belt has become other than a walk machine, but an OBP of .360 will play in the 2-hole.
Brandon Crawford SS- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .264. Crawford had the only XBH in the game for the Giants.
Christian Arroyo 3B- 0 for 4. BA= .000. OK here it comes! In 1951, the New York Giants started the season 6-13. On May 24, they called up a rookie named Willie Mays who was hitting .477 in AAA. The Giants assigned him #24 and Mays went 0 for 4 that day. In fact, he went 0 for his first 12 after the callup. He went on to win Rookie of the Year and the Giants won the NL Pennant. On April 24, 2017, the Giants record sat at 6-13. They called up a rookie named Christian Arroyo who was hitting .446 in AAA. He went 0 for 4, but the Giants beat the Dodgers that day….OK, you get the picture! It's not quite a complete parallel but there are too many #24's and the number 4 and 0 for 4's going on here to be just a coincidence, right?
Joe Panik 2B- 1 for 2, SF. BA= .339. Panik just keeps chugging away. I've said he's a future batting champion. I'll stick with that.
Matt Cain RHP- 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 2.42. Matt Cain has always struggled against the Dodgers, even when he was the ace of the staff. Not in this one! The downer in this one is Cainer came out of the game after his hammy started barking at him again. Stay tuned on THAT front! We may see Tyler Beede in the rotation sooner than later.
Mark Melancon RHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, Save(4). ERA= 3.18. The ERA is whittling down and Melancon is back on the Save track.
*********************************************************************************
With the Win, the Giants improved their record to 7-13 but they remained in last place, 7 games behind the first place Roaring Rockies who beat the Nationals 8-4. The Dangerous D'Backs kept pace in second place with a 7-6 win over the Pathetic Padres. The D'Backs remain 1.5 games behind the Rocks while the Padres slipped to 6.5 games back in 4'th place. The Dodgers Loss left them 5 games off the pace in 3'rd place and the Rockies and D'Backs already have some pretty serious separation from the rest of the NL West.
*********************************************************************************
Ty Blach tries to reprise his end-of-season start against Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers in Game 2.
*********************************************************************************
In other pre-game roster moves, the Giants DFA'd Chris Marrero and placed Aaron Hill on the DL with a forearm strain. They also recalled OF Drew Stubbs who started in CF and batted 8'th in this game. I presume Will Smith went on the 60 day DL to create the second open roster spot.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Looks like it may be time for me to ask the waiter for more hot sauce for the crow I'm about to eat regarding Cain. Cain looks like he may be back. Last night he pitched way better than I have seen him pitch in a looooooong time. His stuff was breaking, accurate and he only needed 70 pitches to get thru 7 innings. The game doesn't look to big for Arroyo. Looks like he belongs. How about Posey gunning down baserunners left and right. Lets go Blach, next man up! Beat L.A.!
ReplyDeleteI still don't trust him. He had good periods last year. Like I said a week ago, he's got to do it through June before I'll believe he's finally gotten over the hump.
DeleteAs I have said many times, it all comes down to health with Cain. His early exit with the hammy last night does not bode well.
DeleteIIRC, his hammy was what sent him to the DL when he was putting it together last year.
DeleteGotta say, I trust Cain to pitch well at this point. But, like Dr B said, it'll come down to his health. Not sure I trust his health...
ReplyDelete