The Giants needed a Stopper today. Although it was not a dominant performance, Young Dereck Rodriguez stepped up and got it done to end the Giants 4 game losing streak. Key Lines:
Andrew McCutchen RF- 1 for 3, BB. BA= .258. Cutch has been scuffling along with most of the Giants lineup of late. He drove in the winning run with a hard single through the left-side hole to drive in Hunter Pence from 2B.
Pablo Sandoval 3B- 1 for 3, HR(7), BB. BA= .253. Pabs hit an opposite field dinger that probably would not have gone out on a colder night, but got some carry and barely cleared he LF wall to give the Giants a short-lived 2-1 lead in the 6'th inning.
Dereck Rodriguez RHP- 6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 1 K, GO/AO= 11/2. ERA= 3.09. Young Dereck didn't have much of a curveball all night, so made do by spotting his fastball to the 4 corners of the strike zone and by inducing a lot of groundball outs. Credit for getting it done without his secondary stuff. Based on performance, he and Andrew Suarez should be the #4 and #5 SP's with Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija back, assuming they both stay back.
Will Smith LHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, Save(3). ERA= 1.07. Smith had to face the #3, #4 and #5 hitters all from the right side of the plate in the 9'th inning. He made it look easy, although he got Yadier Molina to reach just enough to keep it in the park to lead off the inning.
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The Giants remain 3.5 games behind the D'Backs to topped the Padres 3-1. The Dodgers are leading the Angels 2-1 in he 9'th inning and sit 0.5 games behind he D'Backs pending the final. The Rockies are leading the Mariners and sit 4 games behind the leaders pending the final. The Padres fall 11.5 games behind in last place.
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Jeff Sanardzija returns from the DL to face Carlos Martinez tomorrow afternoon.
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It sure is nice to have Pence and Cutch come through - and I sure hope Rodriguez and Suarez stay. Cueto and Bum will be fine and Shark might be a decent #5, we'll see. Have they DFA'd Jackson yet?
ReplyDeleteKenley had the Angels (bases empty) down to their last strike in the 9th and the wheels came off. Looks like both Grandal and Puig had errors as the Angels walked it off on the Dodgers.
ReplyDeleteHa ha ha ha ha... That put a smile on my face!
DeleteOutfield: If we had three good gloves out there, I'm thinking there was a good chance for a shut-out. Maybe not. But I didn't like what I saw.
ReplyDeleteCrawford: Loved the way he erased that potential run at the plate.
Rodriguez: He didn't fall apart despite his secondary pitches working well. The kid has earned his spot. And what a welcome surprise he's been.
Panik: He's headed to the DL. Groin strain. That's why he slowed down rounding second and pulled up at third last night. It wasn't gutless 3B coaching or poor baserunning. Hanson will probably be his replacement, which is a good thing for OF defense at least because Hanson is terrible in the OF. Maybe they'll call up Mac...
Hopefully Slater finally gets his chance at some consistent starts, now that Hanson should be on the infield
ReplyDeleteYoung Dereck didn't have much of a curveball all night -- didn't have much of an outfield either!
ReplyDeletePoor play in left and right cost him the 2 runs he "gave" up.
Cutch "made up" for his misjudgements and flailings at the plate with the single to drive in the winner.
Today might be a good day to get LF bleacher seats and TAKE YOUR GLOVES! Cardinal batting practice begins at 1:05...