The Giants fell behind early in this one and the offense had no fight as the Marlins cruised to an easy win. Key Lines:
Denard Span CF- 1 for 4, HR(6). BA= .287. Span's splash hit HR in the 9'th inning was too little, too late. IDK why more LH hitters try to pull the ball in the air in AT&T. If you hit it in that corner and hit stays fair, it will go. Maybe they do and it's just easier said than done?
Joe Panik 2B- 2 for 4, 2 2B. BA= .280. Span and Panik had 3 of the Giants 5 hits and all 3 were XBH's. Belt and Posey added a single each.
Austin Slater LF- 0 for 3. BA= .290. No we likely know the reason why Slater was slumping. That right hip flexor never stopped bothering him. In his final AB, he pulled up about 3/4 of the way to 1B and it did not look good. He was clutching the right groin area and had to be helped off the field. You can't always tell on these by the initial reaction but my guess is 4-6 weeks on the DL.
Not sure who there is left to call up. Parker and Williamson have been scuffling over in Sacramento. Chris Shaw is not on the 40 man roster. Gorkys Hernandez has been hitting pretty good lately. He could just step in. Buster Posey could play 1B more often with Brandon Belt moving to OF. Jae Hwang could play 1B with Gillespie taking 3B and Belt in LF. Calixte could play the OF, but probably would not start.
Matt Moore- 3.1 IP, 12 H, 5 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 6.04. It was not Moore's fault that leadoff batter Gordon beat out a fairly routine grounder to the right side to lead off the game but that put him in the stretch and he has struggled in that mode now for awhile. The game was essentially over when second batter, Giancarlo Stanton hit one into the RF pavilion.
I did not see the first part of the game, but in videos of Stanton's HR and Riddle's 2-run single, neither hitter looked even slightly fooled. I'm not an expert on pitch tipping by any means. I'll just say that Rene Rivera sure looked like he knew what was coming on his 2 dingers in New York and Stanton and Riddle did not look fooled on their hits in this game.
Miguel Gomez PH- 0 for 1. BA= .000. It was an out, but he squared it up. Would have been a double in most parks but Stanton was guarding Triples Alley and the ball carried right to him.
Josh Osich LHP- 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 4.33. Osich's ERA reached a peak of 4.98 on 6/25. He's allowed 1 ER in 5.2 IP in 4 appearances since. He is featuring a 3-pitch mix and I was impressed by his command of the curveball and how off balance the Marlins looked on it in this one.
Kyle Crick RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 3.52. The key for Cricky is having confidence in his stuff. He seems to be gaining that with each appearance.
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Jeff Samardzija tries to even the series tonight after Barry Bonds is honored with a plaque on the Giants Wall of Fame. Shark will be facing lefty Chris O'Grady who appears to be making his MLB debut.
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I stopped watching after the 2nd inning. I almost never turn off a game before its over. Moore is the most infuriating pitcher the Giants have. He has shown flashes that he can be a world beater, but aside from a few games, has basically stunk so far this season. Now Slater is out? This will be interesting. Its almost like the Giants are destined to get a top 5 pick in next year's draft.
ReplyDeleteUnless it is 50% BABIP, it's not apparent how this sunk ship gets 30 wins better next year.
ReplyDeleteHealthy Bumgarner, Smith, and Melancon will help, but are Bum, Shark, Moore, Blach, and Beede/Suarez/??? a formidable rotation? Will it doesn't come down to Stratton!
The BP could be bolstered with S & M healthy, but that only preserves a win, it doesn't create it.
Older Span, Pence, and Hernandez won't be any better. Young Slater may be the real deal but one OFer does not a team make. If what the Giants are showing now is what they have next year, it's not an upgrade.
Infield remains fairly OK with multiple candidates for 3rd, much like this year's ill-fated multiple candidates for LF.
What is certain, Posey needs a real threat behind him so he doesn't need to press and opposing pitchers have to address him.
If the answers are coming from the Top 10 Prospects, 20 wins better would be an accomplishment.
But, maybe it IS BABIP!
The team needs to get better and find some power for 3B and LF and a SP replacement for Cueto. Hopefully can come from internal options, but they likely need to sign to trade for a good SP this offseason.
DeleteHard to quantify the impact of bad BABIP luck but by my estimate it accounts for about 50% of the Giants awfulness this season.
Big question for Giants pitching gurus and brass: Try to fix Matt Moore or dump him? They have the rest of this year to work on a fix and then decide.
DeleteI'm burying this:
DeleteYour comments are about all that's left that's useful to read about the Giants this year.
How many times can we ask, is this the bottom? Can it get any worse? Is there anyone anywhere that can help?
It's ironical, sort of, when my wife and I planned an extended vacation for September-October this year, it was, from kids, relatives, and friends, you're gonna miss the Giants finish and post season!
Ha! I'll be checking on-line while sipping wine in the Alsace, Rhine, and Mosel!