Sunday, June 11, 2017

Game Wrap 6/11/2017: Giants 13 Twins 8

The Giants erupted for 9 runs in the 7'th and 8'th innings to blow open a game they were trailing 5-4 then held on for a W in a game that seemed closer than the final score would indicate.  Key Lines:

Kelby Tomlinson SS- 2 for 4, BB.  BA= .308.  How can you not love Kelby Tomlinson?  His career BA was .298 with an OBP of .356 coming into this game, mostly in a utility/complementary role.  Shame on the Giants if they ever send him down to the minors again!

Eduardo Nunez 3B- 3 for 5, 2 2B, SB(17).  BA= .300.  Unless the Giants have designs on extending him before he hits free agency, Nunez is shaping up to be their most valuable trade chip at the deadline.

Buster Posey 1B- 3 for 5, 2B.  BA= .347.  Buster played 1B against as the Giants fielded an all-RH hitting lineup.  Buster continues to be on pace for his best season since 2012.  His GO/AO is currently 1.04, the lowest of his career.

Hunter Pence RF- 3 for 5, 3 2B.  BA= .239.  Pence has always been streaky even when he was putting up remarkably consistent season stats from year to year.  Giants need to get the big guy going.  Maybe this game is his breakout?  Now, just stay healthy!

Austin Slater LF- 3 for 5, 2B, 3B.  BA= .320.  Slater moves up to #7 in the lineup.  Woo hoo!  Look who is suddenly hitting .320!  Slater looks like he's been gaining confidence game by game and this should be a huge confidence booster.  It is critical that the Giants identify their LF of the future this season so they do not feel pressure to go outside the organization for one this offseason.  Maybe it will be Slater?

Matt Cain RHP- 4.1 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 5.22.  Cainer is looking more and more done.  Not much the Giants can do but keep running him out there at least until Bummy gets back.  Tyler Beede does not seem quite ready to move up.

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Giants get a day off at home on Draft Day before starting a 2-game interleague series against their 2014 WS rivals the KC Royals.

9 comments:

  1. So will the Giants keep Blach in the rotation when Madbum gets back and have three lefties in the bullpen? What would Nunez value be on the trade market, prospect or current big leaguer?

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    1. I read a Pav's post that implied it wasn't going to be Blach. But we'll see.

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  2. Right on Doc! Shame on the Giants if they send Kelby down again!

    I read this just today. I didn't take the time to verify it all, but even if half of it is accurate, we have us a keeper in this kid!

    "Just to prove how rare Tomlinson’s performance has been, I researched how many players in the National League have hit at least .300 since 2015 with a minimum of 300 at-bats. The list?

    Daniel Murphy – 2x All-Star, Silver Slugger
    Joey Votto – 2010 NL MVP, 4x All-Star
    DJ LeMahieu – 2016 NL Batting Champion, 2015 All-Star
    Charlie Blackmon – 2014 All-Star, 2016 Silver Slugger
    Paul Goldschmidt – 4x All-Star, 2x Silver Slugger
    A.J. Pollack – 2015 All-Star
    Buster Posey – 2012 MVP, 2012 NL Batting Champ, 4x All-Star
    Dee Gordon – 2015 NL Batting Champ, 2x All-Star
    Cory Seager – 2016 Rookie of the Year, 2016 All-Star/Silver Slugger
    Trea Turner – Runner-Up Rookie of the Year, 2x Rookie of the Month
    Troy Tulowitzki – 5x All-Star, 2x Silver Slugger
    Kelby Tomlinson

    In total, the 11 players in front of Tomlinson have combined for 2 MVPs, 25 All-Star Games, and 6 Silver Sluggers. Even Tomlinson’s on-base percentage ranks 30th best of 214 players. For a team that has the 3rd lowest team batting average (.233) and 2nd lowest team on-base percentage in ALL of Major League Baseball, wouldn’t Kelby Tomlinson be a player who could help? Maybe he doesn’t pass the eye-test or do anything flashy, but the fact of the matter is that he can hit, and his track record compared to the best hitters in the game proves that."

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  3. Here's the link that contains the entire article about Slater and Tomlinson. http://straight108.com/2017/06/11/kelby/

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  4. Enjoyed reading all of the posts about the top draft prospects. I'll enjoy the suspense when the Giants turn to draft comes up. Thanks.

    LG

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  5. I still vaguely remember DrBs (I think it was you) post where wrote about talking to Kelby Tomlinson's parents while he was still in the minors (AA I think) but had a call-up or something. Anyway, it was a few years ago and I don't remember exactly what you told them, but it seemed like y0ou were both kind and honest (which can be tough to do).

    Anyway, since then Tomlinson (irrationally perhaps) has been one of my favorite prospects/players to pull for... And I was ****ed when they sent him down to keep Marrero (Japan), Hill (.178) and Ruggiano (.217) coupled with not giving Slater a chance when Williamson & Parker went down...

    Also, FWIW, I plagiarized part of Nutz4RVA post on Tomlinson and put it out there via Facebook. I didn't credit him directly but I did say I plagiarized it. I didn't link it back to the blog as I'm not sure if you'd have been okay with a link (and possible scrutiny) and I doubt it generates much traffic since it was on yesterdays' game and people move on...

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    1. I think I said something about Kelby being deserving but being blocked at the MLB level and how he had to wait for a possible injury or trade or something. At least that is how I remember it. If so, I wasn't too far off.

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    2. Something like that. At that point I didn't even have him on my radar, but once you wrote that post I looked at him and just thought the world of him. He always seemed like he was an underdog and I root hard for them.

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  6. Hill has some history facing Vargas but he's 0-3 in 2017 and is batting .184 for the season.
    Tomlinson is 0-0 against Vargas but has a career .300 average and is .308 in 2017.
    Hope the hunch with Hill or take the tangible with Tomlinson?
    For a team that has woefully whiffed 2017, I'd say bundle the best bet(s)!

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