Sunday, April 15, 2018

Game Wrap 4/15/2018: Padres 10 Giants 1

The Giants broke down in all facets of the game, hitting, defense, starting pitching, relief pitching, in a lopsided loss to the Padres.  Key Lines:

Evan Longoria 3B- 1 for 3, 2B.  BA= .204.  Longoria's bat seems to be coming to life.  That is a good thing.

Tyler Beede RHP- 3.2 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 6 K's.  ERA= 8.22.  Beede clearly needs more salt, but we'll focus on the 6 K's and say the stuff is there if it can be further refined.  Control/command continues to be an issue.

Josh Osich LHP- 1.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 6.14.  Osich was on fire in spring training and it seems to carry over into his first appearance of the season, but now it's the same old Josh Osich.  Hard to comprehend why he is not more effective with a FB that averages almost 96 MPH, but the numbers don't seem to lie.

Derek Law RHP- 1.1 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K's.   ERA= 5.40.  Another frustrating guy who runs hot and cold and seems to have the stuff to be much better.

Hunter Strickland RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K.  ERA= 1.29.  Strick just needed some work.  At least he turned in a scoreless frame.

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The Loss dropped the Giants into 5'th place in the NL West, percentage points behind the Padres at 5 games behind the D'Backs who lost to the Dodgers today.  The 2'nd place Rockies topped the Nationals 6-5 to gain a game and now trail the Snakes by 3.  The Last Place Dodgers(not sure how much longer I can write that, but love it!) are just 0.5 games behind the Giants.

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The Giants have a day off on the road before starting a 3 game series in Arizona on Tuesday with Johnny Cueto scheduled to start against Patrick Corbin.

15 comments:

  1. i think osich will be dfa'd once will smith is activated. he's had too many opportunities and may need of change of scenery. okert hasn't look great and snelton isn't ready yet but, could be september call up.

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  2. Any team is going to struggle losing their top 3 SP's, closer, and top lefty reliever. Do think this can get better if they get their pitching back healthy and they start hitting with RISP. The encouraging sign is Strickland and Watson doing good shoring up the backend of the pen, while Melancon and Smith are out. Maybe Mac, Duggar, or Slater could be part of the solution in the OF. I think Cutch and Jackson will be ok, but sorry to say Pence looks shaky. If Mac continues to hit 2 weeks from now, hope he gets the callup. I expected Beede to be a little better coming out of a major college program Vanderbilt as a 1st rd pick and spending 3 yrs in the minors so far. He looks like far from a sure thing of making it in the big leagues so far.

    LG

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    1. Well, we can point to Chris Stratton as an example of a college pitcher, first round draft pick who figured it out late. The worrisome thing about Beede is he's still battling pretty much the same issues as he had in college that made him drop in the draft.

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    2. If you're referring to his command issues, then I share your concern. Maybe an overreaction on my part since Beede still has time to figure it out. Its a challenge for young pitchers to do well in MLB and it takes patience. I remember watching a good young Braves pitcher on TV get shelled in his MLB debut, his name was Tom Glavine.

      LG

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    3. In good news, Cueto is supposed to be coming back and Samardzija is not that far off.

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  3. After delivering THE RBI, Belt took a strike 3 (again) with RISP.
    I am one of those dumfounded by him, shouldn't he be trying to get those runners home, perhaps extending the zone an inch or 2?
    As long as the Giants don't get too far behind, they can tread water (if losing 3 of 4 to SD is treading) and we can watch veterans Jackson and Pence play while the young outfield cavalry in Sacramento tear up the league. I just hope they save some hits for the show.

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    1. Yeah, I'm afraid Belt has developed a certain rep with the umps around the league and he is not going to get calls on close pitches with 2 strikes until he starts swinging at a few and not acting quite so entitled.

      It's good to be selective, but it's possible to be too selective in certain situations.

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    2. The frustrating thing is this is not new. Those of us who see Belt as less valuable than his saber numbers suggest focus on this very thing with Belt. Sometimes he is correct, and gets rung up on a ball. Sometimes not, and stands and watches a close third strike.

      And the thing is, even if draws the walk, it usually doesn't drive in the run. So, his "success" does not really help. At least not much. I view it as just passing the responsibility to the next guy.

      Now, he's got to know this. Which leaves me with two broad theories on why he CONTINUES to try to work walks in RBI situations. Either he refuses to adjust or he is UNABLE to adjust (He can't hit pitches outside of the zone). I keep hoping that it's the first one and someday he may finally try to change his approach. But maybe it's the 2nd. The guy does not have the ability to expand his zone.

      What Belt proponents (and I know there are a lot of them here) continually laud is his value, most easily seen in his OPS numbers. For 30 HR potential guy, it's frustrating that he derives too much of that value from O, not enough from the S. He is an average first baseman overall, but his value is propped up by the wrong stat.

      He is a corner guy on a team that desperately needs a power/RBI guy. He bats 2nd. It doesn't fit the expectation of a 1st Baseman, it doesn't fit our needs, and I truly believe it's far below his abilities. And the best we can do with him is bat him 2nd and hope he can get on base.

      Doc, I think you hit on what is now becoming a reputation issue with the umpires. Belt's reaction to close pitches being called 3rd strikes is one that does seem entitled. And that's just going to encourage umpires to call more and more close pitches for the pitcher.

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    3. it's like the guy that gets run down in the pedestrian crosswalk, insisting he's in the right...

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  4. What if they fine Belt $1000 every time he takes strike 3 looking - he might start protecting that plate. This is feeling like last year, a different way to lose every day. Now they have to sweep Arizona just to get back to .500 ...

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  5. Beede: His pitches, when they go where he wants them, are pretty solid. 6Ks in 3.2 innings is nothing to sneeze at. But his control is still problematic and too many 0-2 and 1-2 counts turned into hits and/or walks.

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    1. I guess Bochy is seeing the same things we are seeing from Beede. Boch said Beede has been instructed to work on making better quality pitches early in the count. No get-em-in early strikes. He's also been instructed to develop a put away pitch to finish off hitters who have 2 strikes. Those are not small tasks and they will take time, but are doable.

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    2. I can see him with his stuff potentially as a set up / closer!

      Richard in Winnipeg

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  6. Second guessing draft picks is an easy thing to do but let me say that after his second year at Vanderbilt, one could see a first rounder, no question but his last year with the Commodores revealed all the issues he's dealing with today. I find a simultaneous high strike out and hit rate a curious thing and it could show that Beede is offering up quality pitches from time to time or does it simply reveal the more aggressive nature of batters in recent years and they just go up there hacking?

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  7. Beede seemed to control his soft stuff, but he has no control of his FB. Not going to be successful in the bigs when you can't locate your fastball, and he had the same problem in his first start in single A this year. Depressing I'm pretty down on him

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