Game Wrap 9/4/2017: Rockies 4 Giants 3

Denard Span and Joe Panik accounted for all the Giants runs.  Chris Stratton and a parade of relievers kept the Giants in the game, but they could not overcome the wind and Joe West in the bottom of the 9'th inning for a tough luck loss.  Key Lines:

Denard Span CF- 3 for 4, 2B, HR(10).  BA= .267.  Span's dinger in the 3'rd inning drove in the Giants 2'nd run.  His double in the 6'th set up the 3'rd as he scored on Joe Panik's single.  His 10'th HR leaves him 1 short of his career high set last season.

Joe Panik 2B- 3 for 4, HR(10).  BA= .272.  Panik seems to be doing a better job of looking for inside pitches and turning on them.  That approach has given him 4 HR's in his last 14 games.  10 ties his career high.

Pablo Sandoval 3B- 0 for 4.  BA= .204.  Not sure how much longer you keep the Pablo audition going.  I guess the only other candidate is Ryder Jones and he's getting all the AB's he can handle at 1B, so it's not like Pabs is blocking anyone right now, but the Giants can't be thinking there is any possibility of him starting 2018 as their 3B, they just can't!  His current 0 for 33 skid is 4 short of Johnny Lemaster's 37 consecutive outs.  Yeah, Johnny Lemaster!

Chris Stratton RHP- 4 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 4 K's, GO/AO= 5/1.  ERA= 4.10.  Not much of a line, but I thought Stratton showed a lot of heart hanging in there and not letting himself and his team get blown out early.  His ability to put the ball on the ground and get a key K kept it close.

Mark Melancon RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 3.99.  It was reported before the game by Baggs that Melancon will definitely undergo a surgical procedure to relieve something called Exertional Compartment Syndrome, but he wants to keep pitching and have it done early in the offseason.  Recovery time is projected to be 2-3 months.  OK, I understand that he's not going to further injure himself by continuing to pitch and I understand that timetable gives him plenty of time to get ready for next season.  My problem is recoveries do not always follow the schedule.  Why not give yourself an extra month's margin of error?  It's not like he's pitching for anything at this point.

Joe West Umpire- I've never liked Joe West's strike zones, or much of anything about Joe West for that matter.  Today he was the latest poster boy for electronic strike zones.  Early in the game, he was calling pitches 4 inches off the plate strikes.  In the deciding bottom of the ninth, 3 of the 4 pitches Steven Okert threw to Gerardo Parra were well within the PitchFx strike zone.  I won't even argue that PitchFx is the ultimate authority as Shawn Estes was.  West would have called at least 2 of those pitches strikes earlier in the game.  Even Duane Kuiper, who defended West, admitted his strike zone shrunk late in the game.  My problem is I am not sure it shrunk equally for both teams.

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Ty Blach faces Giants Killer Tyler Chatwood tomorrow evening in game 2 of the series.

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Matt Cain reportedly did not make the trip to Denver to attend to a personal matter.  

Austin Slater will get a callup now that the minor league season is over.  Reyes Maronta may also get a call.