Game Wrap 7/8/2017: Marlins 5 Giants 4

The Giants fell behind early and a late comeback fell short.  Sound familiar?  Key Lines:

Brandon Belt 1B- 2 for 4, 2 2B.  BA= .240.  Belt is hitting .321 in 7 games in July so far.

Gorkys Hernandez LF- 0 for 3.  BA= .234.  Hernandez has been hitting better for about 6 weeks now and probably gave the Giants the best chance of winning this game, but let's be clear here.  Winning THIS GAME is not what the Giants should be worrying about.  If the Giants have designs on getting back into contention for 2018, they HAVE to find a LF who can hit with power AND play at least average defense at the position.  Gorkys Hernandez is not that player!  Mac Williamson MIGHT be that player.  Yes, he seemed out of whack down in AAA since coming back from a muscle pull somewhere in his body, but he needs to be playing every day to get back in whack.  If the Giants have run out of bodies and have to roster him, then put him out there and see what happens.

Miguel Gomez PH- 0 for 1.  BA= .000.  Gomez PH for Hernandez in the 9'th.  In his first MLB AB the night before, he swung at the first pitch and hit a screamer out to Giancarlo Stanton who was stationed deep in Triples Alley.  This time, Gomez let a slider go by for strike one then looked like a rookie on two nasty, nasty pitches from Marlins Closer, AJ Ramos then grimaced on the way back to the dugout.  Welcome to the big leagues, kid!

Jeff Samardzija RHP- 7 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 5 K's, GO/AO= 11/0.  ERA= 4.58.  Once again, by his peripherals, Samardzija should have pitched a shutout, or at least a QS.  He fell short of that due to a combination of occasional poor command within the strike zone and bad BABIP luck such as two ground balls that barely eluded Joe Panik's glove.  In fairness, those were both hard hit groundballs but yeah, a couple of inches to the left and they Panik would have made both plays.

Speaking of Samardzija, the Cubs are apparently desperate enough for a controlled SP that they are considering trading one of their young position players to get one.  Problem is, when you go down the list of young position players at the MLB level it's hard to see one any GM would be willing to trade.

Samardzija is controlled but for a high salary.  Maybe the Cubs might package Eloy Jimenez with a couple of pitching prospects?  What if they could get both Shark and Denard Span in the deal?  Not very likely?  OK, just let me dream about Eloy Jimenez in a Giants uniform.

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Johnny Cueto moves up in the rotation and bumps Matt Cain for the final start before the All-Star Break.  There is only one reason why the Giants would do this that I can think of:  Prove Cueto is healthy to potential trade partners and give him an extra start to showcase him.   ....unless the Giants think it's really important to win that last game of the official first half, in which case I am worried.

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Bad news for Austin Slater, although probably not much of a surprise.  Torn Adductor muscle.  Out 2-3 months.  In other words, the rest of the season.