Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Game Wrap 5/1/2018: Padres 3 Giants 2

The Padres turned the tables on the Giants with a 9'th inning HR by Eric Hosmer to spoil a Quality Start by rookie Andrew Suarez.  Key Lines:

Buster Posey C- 2 for 3, 2B, BB.  BA= .286.  Buster had been in a bit of a funk, but seems to be coming out of it.  He's hitting .348 over his last 7 games, .218 over his last 15.

Alen Hanson 2B- 1 for 4, SB(2).  BA= .231.  Hanson made a baserunning blunder when he tried to steal 3B with 2 outs in game 1 of the series, but his speed and heads up baserunning helped create a run in this one.  After a leadoff single in the 7'th inning and Andrew Suarez trying to sacrifice him to 2B, Hosmer started his charge too early which allowed Hanson to get a walking start.  He hesitated for a second but then took off and easily beat the throwdown.  Suarez then failed to get the bunt down  and struck out, but Hanson was able to score from 2B on McCutchen's single to LF.  Color me intrigued by Hanson's speed and his willingness to use it.

Andrew Suarez LHP- 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 5 K's.  ERA= 4.38.  Suarez helped his fine effort by inducing 3 GIDP's.  With Johnny Cueto going on the DL, I'm guessing Suarez hangs around awhile.  He definitely deserves a longer look after this fine start.

Hunter Strickland RHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 0 K.  ERA= 1.84.  Maybe it was because it was not a Save situation or maybe he's just been overworked, but Strickland's FB looked a bit lifeless out there. Hosmer took a hanging FB(can you hang a FB?) the other way for a game-winning dinger off the Giants closer.

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The Loss dropped the Giants to 6.5 games behind the NL West leading D'Backs who edged out the Dodgers 4-3.  The Rockies topped the Cubs 3-1 to jump over the Giants into 2'nd place, 6 games behind the D'Backs.  The 4'th place Dodgers are now 9 games behind while the Padres remain 11 games behind in last place.

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Lefty Derek Holland tries for a series win today against lefty Clayton Richard who always seems to pitch the Giants tough.

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Johnny Cueto was placed on the DL with elbow inflammation so Suarez may be hangin around awhile.

8 comments:

  1. Bochy said Johnny Cueto pitched through soreness his past two starts. Doc, what does your experience tell you? Tommy John? It seems that had the news of the MRI results

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  2. Wow..talk about the opposite of what the Giants needed to have happen for their off-season plan to contend come to fruition...They needed every thing to break right....but...Melancon, Madbum, Shark, Cueto1.0,, Pence ( I know), Panick, A hot Williamson, now Cueto again?..Hard to keep battling like the Giants have been (hats off) if this just goes on and on..Hope it's only a short term thing for Cueto because it will be awfully hard to win with a starting staff of Shark, Stratton, Blach, Suarez and Holland..OTOH, a healthy staff of Madbum, Cuto, Shark, Stratton, Blach/Suarez?? Have to keep the fingers crossed...

    SteveVA

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  3. I will broadcast my ignorance and ask, do 32 year old pitchers get Tommy John surgery? -e

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    1. Tommy John was 31, pretty close to it. He was born in '43 and blew his elbow in '74. And I'm sure plenty more 30+ guys have had it done.

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  4. Now that we're through April I looked at the stats this afternoon.

    The position players have accumulated 2.0 fWAR among them. Brandon Belt is 1.2 of that total. In 5 games Williamson is 4th in positional WAR with 0.4; a .789 SLG will do that for you... OTOH, Jackson & Pence both have -0.7 fWAR and I think it's really time to move Duggar up and bite the bullet on players and contracts.

    The pitchers have accumulated 2.2 fWAR among them. Cueto leads with 0.9 fWAR in just 5 starts. Stratton has been strong (0.5 in 6 starts), Blach has been fine (0.3 in 7 starts). Watson has the most as a reliever - 0.6 in 13 appearances. Holland, for all we complain about him, has a better fWAR (0.2) than Samardzija (0.0), Beede (needs more salt, 0.0) and Suarez (0.0). Osich, Gearrin & Dyson all have negative fWARs.

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  5. Cueto to visit Dr. Andrews for a second opinion on his elbow problem.

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