Brandon Crawford was a one man offense for the Giants today and gave them a big enough lead to overcome a shaky 9'th inning from Sam Dyson. Key Lines:
Brandon Crawford SS- 3 for 3, 2 2B, 3B, BB. BA= .313. Crawford had been in an 0 for 18 and 3 for 34 slump prior to today's breakout. His throwing error on a slow grounder in the 9'th led to 1 extra run for the Padres. He also whiffed on a pop-up to not-so-short CF that maybe should have been caught by the CF.
Austin Slater PH- 0 for 0, SF. BA= .273. Slater was called up before the game to replace the struggling Mac Williamson, but in true Bruce Bochy fashion will be a bat off the bench. He had a productive PA in this game. In Boch's defense, apparently the plan is to start Alen Hanson in LF. Seeing if he can sustain what he's done this season is a worthy goal.
Andrew Suarez LHP- 5.2 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 4 K's, GO/AO= 8/1. ERA= 4.43. Suarez has been getting better with experience. His ERA is 2.86 for the month of June. His peripheral stats are stronger than his season ERA: 61 K with 13 BB in 65 IP with a strong GO/AO= 1.57. His FIP and xFIP remain more than 1 run lower than his ERA. I'm guessing he and Dereck Rodriguez will get sent down when Jeff Samardzija and Johnny Cueto come off the DL, but they certainly give the Giants depth in the rotation if further injuries or meltdowns occur.
Sam Dyson RHP- 1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 3.12. Mark Melancon may have taken a step closer to regaining his Closer role with this performance by Dyson. In Dyson's defense, only one of the hits was hard hit. The other 2 were the pop up that fell in CF and the dribbler that Crawford should have eaten. Those are pure BABIP luck specials and were likely a result of Dyson making good pitches which induced the soft contact. I'll give him a pass on this appearance.
Matt Strahm LHP(Padres)- 3.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 5 K's. ERA- 2.28. Jordan Lyles was a very late scratch with "forearm tightness". Strahm has been used as an "opener" for several games, so there was some speculation by Kruk and Kuip that this may have been some gamesmanship by Padres Manager Andy Green, who...shall we say.....seems to really enjoy managing! Lyles is listed in the boxscore so he apparently was not eligible to re-enter the game, which would tend to go against the gamesmanship theory. It will be worth watching whether Lyles hits the DL or at least misses a start. If Lyles does go on the DL, Strahm may be worth a look by fantasy baseball players.
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The Win allowed the Giants to reclaim 3'rd place in the NL West from the Rockies who lost to the Marlins. The D'Backs and Dodgers both won. The D'Backs remain in first place with the Dodgers trailing by 3, the Giants by 5, Rockies by 5.5 and the Padres by 9.5.
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Dereck Rodriguez tries for a win of the 4 game series tomorrow afternoon facing lefty Eric Lauer.
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I'm rooting for Mac, it's unfortunate that he got the concussion after only a handful of games, so we didn't get a chance to see what he could do with a bigger sample size of games. Maybe playing everyday in AAA is the best thing for him to regain his stroke. I'd like to see Hanson get more playing time.
ReplyDeleteNice to see Crawford have a good game. I wondered if having the pending birth of his 4th child on his mind caused him to go in a temporary slump.
LG
His pre- and post-partum slumps, and Stratton’s post-partum slump earlier this season suggest that when one’s mind is split between baseballl and something more important than baseball, and when one has a sleep deficit to boot, the quality of one’s play is likely to suffer. The Giants seem not to have thought that some special handling for fathers-to-be or new fathers would have helped Stratton or Crawford, and thereby the team; if there in fact was none, I wonder (cautiously) about the wisdom of that.
DeleteHenry Schulman: Bochy not giving up on Pence, Jackson. “You never forget the history of these players and the heart they have.” Bochy said Mac needs to play every day to regain timing, confidence.”
ReplyDeleteSo Bochy! So Giant! So frustrating! BUT, it IS the right thing.
(As long as it doesn't interfere with winning)
Yeah, I don't know about Pence and Jackson. I'm OK with seeing if Hanson can sustain his goodness and LF is the obvious place where he can play, but if not Hanson, then I would put my vote 100% for another Austin Slater trial out there.
DeleteBy God, if Bochy plays Pence/Jackson over Slater/Hernandez through the next month and those two worn veterans keep hitting .200....I mean, we'll just have to throw him over the ocean side of the Golden Gate, won't we??!
DeleteRain, love that you specify the side of the bridge for tossing non-compliant Bochy off of...
DeleteJust to be clear, these “threats” are figuratively speaking, of course.
DeletePence and Jackson are not equivalent.
DeletePence has earned some slack -- if August comes and the Giants are within striking distance, then take another look.
Jackson? He was signed when someone was 6 martinis past sentient being and has played like he belonged on Casey Stengel's 1962 Mets. DFA him and clear a spot on the 40-man roster to taxi Duggar up once a fortnight to spell Hernández.
McCutchen in CF could not be worse than Jakson.
Look at what Jackson did last year with/for the Indians. If you do, he won’t look quite so much like the result of someone’s inadvertent twitch that hit the Sign button when the Giants officialdom had the DTs. One problem with him is that, inexplicably, he was kept in CF rather than being used to spell the three starters. That’s not his fault. The rest of the problems with him are, though; and like you, I wish he were gone, with Slater taking the role that he was supposed to fill.
DeleteI understand Hanson over Slater. Hanson has more speed and more power to go along with his .299 BA. I don't understand Pence & Jackson over anyone.
ReplyDeleteJackson, who was once (years ago) a great defensive CFer with a bottom-of-the-order bat has become a Span or Pagan in the field and is flailing around at the plate. And Pence... Well, time rests for no man and players seldom go out on top. And accepting that is something that fans and management have to do, no matter how painful.
Baseball history is full of examples of managers waiting until it's too late to make the needed changes because 'of the past.' And it looks to me that we're seeing that right now,.
Whenever I really hate a lineup, it seems to do OK.
ReplyDeleteThus, the Giants should win today!