The Giants got toonder from Mac Williamson's bat and a gritty Start from Chris Stratton to top the Nationals in AT&T Park. Key Lines:
Buster Posey C- 2 for 3, 2B, BB. BA= .282. Buster has always worked his way out of slumps by hitting the ball to RF, and that's what he did twice tonight with clear intent.
Brandon Belt 1B- 1 for 3, 2B, BB. BA= .290. I gotta admit, I find Brandon Belt to be a frustrating hitter to watch even though I admit numbers don't lie and he's much more valuable than he appears to a lot of fans. What drives me nuts about Belt is here is a guy with long arms, who uses a long handled bat who insists on standing over the plate in the batter's box while gripping the bat down on the knob. Now, Barry Bonds used to stand over the plate too, but he used a shorter bat AND he choked up on it! The barrel of the bat was right over the plate. Belt covers the plate with his hands and bat handle! Anyway, I was happy to see him turn on a pitch and drive it down into the RF corner to set up the Giants first run with a double in the 4'th inning that put runners on 2'nd and 3'rd.
Mac Williamson LF- 1 for 4, HR(2). BA= .267. Mac Daddy did a good job of putting the ball in play after Belt's 4'th inning double, driving in the run when Wilmer Difo's Fielder's Choice went awry at home plate. He came up again in the 6'th after a Brandon Belt walk and greeted Shawn Kelly with a monster shot to R-CF that cleared the 421 ft sign with 43 feet to spare. Just to show you how hard Mad hit it, Bryce Harper thought he hit one out to LF later in the game only to watch it die on the warning track. His exit velocity on the HR in Anaheim on Friday night was 114 MPH. This one was 111 MPH. Mac could be seen later in the dugout having a long conversation with Hunter Pence.
Chris Stratton RHP- 6.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 2.32. Stratton once again threw darts with his FB mixing in just enough curveballs and changeups to keep the Nationals' batters off balance. He was put to the test in the 6'th inning when he was already showing signs of tiring. Evan Longoria dropped a pop-up in foul territory to prolong Bryce Harper's AB which ended with a BB. The next batter, Ryan Zimmerman hit a line drive right at Andrew McCutchen that hit off the edge of his glove for a 2-base error to put runners at 2'nd and 3'rd with 1 out. Stratton proceeded to strike out Matt Adams and got Matt Wieters on a routine flyout to CF to get out of the jam. The look of relief on Cutch's face was amazing to see and Longoria was all smiles with a pat on the back on the way to the dugout. Man, talk about ARRIVING in the major leagues! For some reason, Bochy thought it was a good idea to send Stratton back out to start the 7'th inning. He was clearly gassed, but gutted his way to 2 outs while Michael Taylor worked his way around the bases after drawing a leadoff walk. Boch finally came and got Stratton after Trea Turner's 2-out single through the left side hole.
Tony Watson LHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 0.84. Watson was helped by the park when the first batter he faced, Bryce Harper, hit what he thought was a HR to LF only to see it die on the warning track. He then gave up a hard single to Ryan Zimmerman, struck out Matt Adams and got Matt Wieters on a hard liner to Mac in LF.
Hunter Strickland RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's, Save(4). ERA= 1.80. Strickland came in for the Save and could not find home plate. With Bryce Harper looming as the 6'th batter of the inning, Strick fell behind the next 3 batters but managed to come back for a ground-out and 2 K's for his 4'th Save.
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The Win allowed the Giants to gain a half game on the NL West leading D'backs. They remain in 4'th place, 5.5 games behind the leaders. The Dodgers edged out the Marlins 2-1 to jump over the Reeling Rockies who were crushed by the Padres 13-5. The Dodgers trail the D'Backs by 4 games while the Rockies drop into 4'th place, 4.5 games behind. The Last Place Padres gained a half game and are 7.5 games out.
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Ty Blach tries to clinch the Giants second series win tonight facing RHP Tanner Roark.
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Williamson: According to Statcast, the Williamson 464' HR was the longest opposite-field HR hit by a RH itter since they started tracking in 2015. It's also the 4th longest HR of the year (so far). The power is definitely real and he's definitely got it harnessed. To go with it, he's feilding well. Not elite fielding, but well nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteBryce Harper: Yeah, LH power & AT&T. Just because it'd be a HR anywhere else, doesn't mean that cold maritime air and onshore breeze is going to let it be a HR here... You can take 15-to-20 feet off your expectations of everything you hit in the air during most night games.
McCutchen: Yes, he sucks with the glove. And has for years. He was lazy and didn't get in front of the ball like they teach in Little League and then took a late stab at it while being out of position. That was a simple, routine fly that anyone could field and he could have cost the Giants the game with that play.
Cutch does not “suck with the glove”. He did miss a routine play. Pence did the same the other night. It happens. His range in right has been great so far.
DeleteIn a tiny sample size, Cutch's UZR/150 is a +13.2 so far this season.
DeleteTo MosesZD's point, McCutchen has not been good on fielding plays, per the DRS methodology, all through his career. Cost on average one win per season (or 10 runs per season on average, for his 9 seasons in CF), which is pretty bad. He appears to know this, mentioning it in an interview this spring, he laughed about it, but he clearly was hurt by it.
DeleteHowever, in very extreme SSS, his play in RF has been very good per DRS, over a season, about 1.5 wins per season good, with Pirates and Giants. He already has 2 DRS in RF this season, which would already rank as tied for second best during a season for him in his tenth MLB season. He could play average and get zero the rest of the season, and still be tied for second best in his career. So, for whatever reason, he fields better in RF than he has in CF.
Ideally, he probably should have been moved to RF (if not LF like Bonds was), early in his career, as his arm was not that good in CF (his limitations has cost his team a full win over his career). Then again, it cost only about one run per season, so it was not like he was the worse in CF, in terms of arm. He's been okay so far in RF, so perhaps his arm is good enough there.
That's a good point that I have not seen much anywhere yet, thanks for bringing it up MosesZD, that Williamson plays LF well. I had noticed that he had some good advanced fielding stats in his previous seasons in LF, and he has continued it (albeit, extreme SSS) this season. Still, so far in his career, he has been fielding at a +26 runs seasonal rate in LF, which would make our defense plus plus once Duggar comes up to play CF. And that's beyond anything he would add offensively, which, of course, is all we think about with Mac, but he's been special defensively in LF.
DeleteMeanwhile Pence has never been measured as good defensively per the advanced fielding stats like DRS.
Another reason why Williamson should hold the starting job even if Pence returns healthy and hitting, he provides a lot of value so far just from fielding in LF, and perhaps a whole lot more offensively, if he can keep on hitting.
Which I feel bad about, as Pence has been great for the franchise, heck, beyond great, he has imprinted his mark on our franchise in a way most homegrowns have not. And I don't feel that his time is up, but I do feel his time with the Giants is up.
But I can't imagine the Giants trading him, after all that he's done for the team. I'm hoping his rah-rah attitude isn't all sheen and that he will step aside and take a bench role while Mac is raking and even when Mac is struggling, as long as he's not hopelessly lost.
That's the thing, I see all this anger at the Giants for sitting Williamson previously, but after looking at his stats and usage, basically the Giants started him when he was in a groove and hitting, then he got injured, and later, when he wasn't used much, well, he wasn't even hitting in the minors but they brought him up because they needed a body. After seeing how the Giants handled Belt and Crawford (and Schierholtz and other prospects), I believe they will give hitters a chance when they are on, and will continue to give them chances when they are not, but at some point, you need to move on for the good of the team, and that upsets people.
In addition, as we have seen with Williamson before, he would get going and then get injured, we might still need Pence later in the season, due to injury. Sure, Slater is around as well, but he was injured as well last season too, and both are in their mid-20's, health will not improve as they get older. So I would prefer keeping Pence around, he would be a great bat to have off the bench (assuming he can keep his hitting stroke, that's the biggest worry since he's got such an odd stroke that he might need to keep going by playing), and would pair nicely with Sandoval as power bats off the bench.
That’s skewed to his 14-15 seasons. His first 5 years, his DRS total was -5. Essentially, he was average. Yes, he should have been moved earlier, but saying he was always bad with the glove is hyperbolic.
DeleteHe most certainly does suck with the glove. Over the past two years prior to his becoming a Giant he's been the worst CFer in the entire MLB. As a Giant he's already caused one-game loss-error and just about punked the Giants in last night. And there have been other poor fielding plays.
DeleteSo far this year:
5-star catch opportunities: 0-4
4-star catch opportunities: 1-4
3-star catch opportunities: 2-2
2-star catch opportunities: 4-5
1-star catch opportunities: 2-2
Outs-above-average: -1 making him tied for 129th among outfielders.
That doesn't include last night's flub. That was from yesterday.
Stratton has done a nice job so far; as has the entire pitching staff.
ReplyDeleteERA
Giants 3.29 , 2nd overall NL West 3rd overall the National League
Giving the team a chance to win.
Richard In Winnipeg
It's the Giants formula for winning in this golden era. Go Giants!!!
DeleteWhat a game! Seems like a game they can build upon.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering about Stratton too. Bochy clearly do not believe that 100 pitches is automatic decline of a pitcher, Giants too. A couple of starts ago, the media noted that Stratton had not gotten into the 7th before. And now this is his 3rd time pitching into the 7th, plus he was stretched out to 109 pitches, the most this season. 110 was the max he reached last season, in the majors (in the minors in 2017, his max was 76, so they pushed him last season too), so perhaps Bochy was stretching him out so that he won't be as gassed later in the season, building up his stamina.
That's what I like about Bochy. He is not stuck on orthodoxy, like 100 pitches or 3rd time through the lineup or bunting and stolen bases. He will push the player to see how far the player can go and achieve. And he picks and chooses when he does that. If the score was 2-1, I would bet that he would have went to the bullpen right away, but with 4-1 lead, he could push Stratton to test his limits, without putting the win at great risk, since he trusts his bullpen to cover.
Bochy (and the Giants) appear to believe like the Braves long time pitching coach, Leo Mazzone, that pitchers need to exert themselves to build muscle and can get stronger through this, whereas the rest of the majors treat pitchers like fragile porcelain dolls that will break under stress. Which is as taught by Baseball Prospectus for the past 20 years or so, and argued against vociferously by Bill James - does he do it any other way? - in his book on pitching, with their rebuttal published too, though he had the final say. I personally think BP damaged baseball by their theoretical war against pitch count (as they had no real evidence that pitch count kills careers, that I could recall). Makes me think of the short story, Harrison Bergeron, where a superman was handicapped by a society that wanted to make everyone average and equal.
Who knows whose right? The Giants pushed Lincecum and Cain, and both had shortened career, basically ending in their late 20's. Then again, maybe the Giants pushed them to heights that they might not have achieved elsewhere, Lincecum was viewed as too short/small by most teams, hence why he fell in the draft to us, and probably would have been pigeon-holed as a reliever/closer. Cain had elbow problems from the get-go, but his malady was managed pretty well by both until the Perfect Game, which unfortunately was the demarcation between Good Cain and Bad Cain. Given that the scouting community (as represented by Baseball America's rankings), never ranked Cain all that high as a prospect, the Giants got a heck of a lot more of out him, especially considering that the Dodgers had a long stream of pitchers rated/ranked higher than Cain all while he was a prospect, and yet he had the best career by far than any of those Dodger prospects, most of whom washed out. So who knows?
I think it was OK for Bochy to let Stratton show what he is made of by letting him work his way out of the 6'th inning jam that was not of his making. Stratton has been pitching like an ace and that's what aces do. It was kind of a statement inning, "hey! I'm an ace!". I would not have sent him back out for the 7'th as he was already starting to sail his pitches in the 6'th which is a sign of fatigue. I get that Boch had a 3-run cushion to work with, but the fatigue factor is why I would have taken him out after the stressful 6'th inning.
DeleteYeah, I understand your concern. I have no idea which is best, only know that I don't like how BP forced every pitcher to be viewed as damaged goods and treated with kid gloves. So I appreciate your comment, as I was not watching the game but following via twitter.
DeleteWhat I recall from exercising in the gym (which was not frequent :^), I was told to push through my fatigue and to do another one. I appreciate that pitching is a whole different world, but that seems to be, for better or worse, what the Giants do. And that was what I was getting at, since I don't know what's exactly right.
Some telling stats I saw on Twitter last night.
ReplyDeleteOne was a list of Giants homers by highest exit velocity. Williamson was first on the list, for the Statcast era of recording such data, with his 114.2 MPH homer. However, who was 2, 3, 4, 5? Hunter Pence.
That hints at the next bit of stat: among hardest hit balls, Williamson is already in the atmosphere, stratosphere, of the top hitters in baseball because of that 114 MPH and other hard hits. While he didn't reach the 115 MPH club, of which few belong (one tweeter, from MLB Statcast crew, has a man-crush on Franchy Cabrera of the Padres, as he's already among the leaders, even though he was just brought up), he is up there already.
If he continues hitting like this, I don't see how Pence is returned back to the lineup. But I could see Bochy swapping in Pence if Williamson has a cold spell like he (and most Giants prospects) seem to have and that would raise the hackles of many. We'll see, as Mac does seem different, perhaps he's finally found the key.
Oh, and about my stats on Stratton in my other comment, made a mistake, looking in the wrong column, his max in minors was 111 pitches, reached in his last minor league start, and he had a total of 6 starts of 100 or more pitches thrown in the minors last season, most near the end of his stint in the minors. Apologies.
To me, as a self-proclaimed "realist", it seems to me that Mac truly has turned a corner. I could be wrong, but his new swing, dominance in AAA and the fact that it's brought immediate impact to the MLB team speaks volumes of the difference between old Mac & new MAC.
DeleteCount me as holding a ticket aboard the Mac Will bandwagon.
We knew Mac had developed when we saw him hit bombs in Spring Training. FO played it "safe" by stashing him in AAA. Giants have a slugger on their hands. Reading McC C. comments - posters said the HR last night landed in places where few hit them - Bonds, Goldschmidt, Sosa. How far is the Coke Bottle from Home Plate? It is not just the runs on the board either - he provides a positive jolt of energy to the entire bench. I will be watching every box score all year to see if he can keep this up because I think he can keep it up.
DeleteMac-Stratton have much in common. Top picks from 2012 class that were considered top prospects then considered lost, some would say washed up. Now rejuvenated and leading the team.
ReplyDelete"Just" 36,983 last night against super Harper and struggling Nats -- who now have a worse record than the resurgent Giants!
ReplyDeleteSince the home opening 2 games with the Mariners and the opening home weekend against the Dodgers, SF has failed to draw 40,000.
Most likely just weekday scheduling but against West leaders AZ and potentially potent Nationals, it's somewhat disappointing with the stars, payroll, and improved play (4-2 last 6 games) and a series win in Anaheim.
Seeing NL's best player go 0-2 (should have been 0-3) and looming in the 9th should have been worth a look especially after the nifty series with a good Angel team featuring AL's best player.
What's with Crawford's bat?
ReplyDeleteHis D is still a strong positive, but can that make up for a near Mendoza BA, and just .050 for the last week?
Just SSS or does he have an "undisclosed" problem?
Probably mostly sample size.
DeletePence and Sandoval as power bats off the bench
ReplyDeleteOGC, with all due respect, neither one of them are that anymore.
Pablo in SF:
ReplyDelete2017 .225 .263 .375 .638
2018 .200 .250 .367 .617
190-AB 11-2B 6-HR 40K 10BB
Just a total waste of a roster spot.