Derek Holland gave up a 3-run jack to Nolan Arenado in the first inning, but settled down to complete 5 and the Giants offense and bullpen picked him up for the W. Key Lines:
Gorkys Hernandez CF- 0 for 4, BB. BA= .300. After a string of 5 multi-hit games, Gorkys is 0 for 8 in his last 2. He did draw a bases-loaded walk to drive in a run and made a nice diving catch in CF to preserve the Giants lead in Holland's last inning, the 5'th.
Buster Posey C- 2 for 4, BB. BA= .299. Buster hit .329 for the month of May. He had just 3 hitless games in the month, but this was his first must-hit game since May 19.
Andrew McCutchen RF- 2 for 5, 2B. BA= .246. Cutch was 5 for 13 in the 3 game series.
Evan Longoria 3B- 1 for 5, 3B. BA= .262. Longoria is hitting .323 over his last 7 games and .317 over his last 15. He went 6 for 14 in the 3 game series.
Brandon Crawford SS- 2 for 5. BA= .307. At the 1/3 mark of the season, Crawford has an fWAR of 1.4.
Mac Williamson LF- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .286. Mac had a bit of an adjustment coming off the DL but seems more comfortable his last 2 games with 3 doubles out of 4 hits in 8 AB's. A productive Mac makes this a lineup to be reckoned with.
Pablo Sandoval 2B- 1 for 2, BB. BA= .263. Pabs got the start at 2B after Kelby's horrific game. I don't see any errors in the boxscore. Ironically, Kelby came in as a defensive replacement and got a hit of his own.
Derek Holland LHP- 5 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 0 K, GO/AO= 8/2. ERA= 4.94. The offense and bullpen picked him up for the W, but you're not going to win many game spotting the opposing team 3 runs in the first inning, which seems to happen with Holland and several Giants SP's a lot.
Bullpen- 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K's. Reyes Moronta, Tony Watson, Sam Dyson and Hunter Strickland pitched 1 scoreless inning each with Strick getting his 11'th Save. Have to say, Bochy has found a way to nurse his bullpen through a long stretch of short starts from the rotation. How long can he keep that going? Hopefully Bumgarner's return will take some heat off the pen.
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With the Win, the Giants gain a game on the NL West leading Rockies but remain in 4'th place, 4 games behind in the standings. The D'Backs lost and remain 1.5 games behind in 2'nd place. The Dodgers pounded the Phillies 8-2 and are 3.5 games behind in 3'rd place. The Last Place Padres won and are 6.5 games off the pace.
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The Giants get a day off at home to recuperate from the road trip before starting a homestand Friday with Chris Stratton facing Nick Pivetta of the Phillies.
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The Giants got good news on Jeff Samardzija as his MRI showed no structural damage in the shoulder. His DL stay is expected to be short. Tyler Beede was called up for this game, but immediately optioned back to Sacramento. Mark Melancon will be evaluated and possibly come off the DL for the weekend series.
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Sandoval: He didn't make any errors. But his limited experience/range was evident as he couldn't make a tough play that ended leading to an RBI single. He wouldn't have gotten an out, but if he would smothered it, I think the runner holds. I think he also kind of muffed a double-play, but I might be thinking of his first 2nd-base start.
ReplyDeleteStrickland: So everybody on Twitter was 'don't pitch to Arenado.' Or 'walk Arenado.' But he popped him up. One thing I've been noticing is he gets ahead with 2 strikes then tries to nibble and puts himself in a bad position. There's nibbling strategy, and I understand it, but I think he nibbles too much.
Arenado: Williamson runs well for a big man. Arenado gunned him down on that dribbler, something I don't think a lot of 3rd basemen could have done. My first thought was 'wow' and my second was 'I really miss Matt Williams...'
If only 5 innings per start is expected, only 4 starters are needed. In 20 team games, they each would have 5 starts and 25 innings (~200 IP/year) which is what is wanted from a 5-man rotation.
ReplyDeleteThis allows an extra reliever, 8 or 9 depending on how many pitchers are on the 25-man roster. the relievers only work an inning every other game, so there are always fresh pitchers, and they will pitch regularly.
A la Tampa Bay, when an opposing lineup has a decided RH or LH bias at the top, a "reliever" could be a 1 inning starter.
Bumgarner wouldn't like it, but it does give the starters 40+ starts a year, fewer innings, and less stressful games where 100 pitches are approached or exceeded.
Where would 8 reliable RP come from for the Giants who only have Strickland, Watson, Smith, Dyson, and Moronta? How about Melancon, Ray Black, and Tyler Rogers?
The "current" 5 starters for the Giants are averaging 5 IP (49 starts excluding Cueto and Beede).
Even with Bumgarner back, Giants are hard pressed to find 4 reliable starters in June among Holland, Stratton, Suarez, Blach, Samardzija, and Rodriguez. Will adding Cueto in July help? Maybe to get 4 starters!
Yeah, if Mac can hit really well, that could push our offense into the top tier of the NL.
ReplyDeleteGood interview with Andrew Baggerly yesterday with Tolbert and Lund. He did not sound very optimistic about the Giants going forward.
ReplyDelete