Same song second verse, could get better but it's gonna get worse......It was deja vu all over again out at AT&T Park as the Giants and Madison Bumgarner took a 1-0 lead into the 8'th inning only to have a previously dominant reliever give up a 2-run game-winning HR for their second crushing loss in 2 games. Key Lines:
Madison Bumgarner LHP- 7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K"s. ERA= 2.69. Almost vintage Bummy, turned a 1-0 lead over to the bullpen only to see it come to naught. Hopefully this is a sign that he's turned a corner and he will get better run and bullpen support in future games.
Ray Black RHP- 1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 3.86. Black had pitched 10.1 consecutive shutout innings in dominant fashion. He struck out 2 batters this inning but also gave up 3 hits, the second one being a dinger to AAAA player Tyler White who is a classic bad-bodied Moneyball slugger.
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Still waiting the outcomes of the D'Backs and Dodgers games(it looks like the Snakes will lose and the Dodgers win). Giants sit 6.5 games out of first place and 6.5 games out of the Wild Card pending the outcome of those games.
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The Giants get a day off at home before starting a 4-gamer against the Pirates on Thursday, 8/9 with Andrew Suarez trying to right his ship facing Ivan Nova.
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Baseball is a cruel game.
ReplyDelete14 Innings of shut-out baseball by D-Rod and Mad-Bum. Two losses on two blown saves. The Giants are now, officially, the worst 'save' bullpen in MLB with a 50.98% save percentage. Which is about 4% less than the next worst. In context, MLB average is just over 66%. For some context:
ReplyDelete2010 78% (#1)
2011 79% (#4)
2012 80% (#3)
2013 76% (#5)
2014 72% (#11)
2015 73% (#9)
2016 59% (#25)
2017 59% (#25)
So, there it is... And making the whole situation grind my teeth just a little bit more... Kyle Crick: 45 appearances, 43 innings, 2-1, 10 holds, 2 saves, 1 blown save, 2.09 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and a 1.2 bWAR for the Pirates. And he's just 25. We could have used a player like that. He wouldn't be the best in the bullpen, but he'd have been better than Melancon, Dyson & Strickland.
Yeah, but hindsight is 20-20.
DeleteThere was also a chance he pitched like 12 innings this year with 7Ks and 16BBs. End of career. I've been really happy having McCutchen, and would be only moderately happy having Crick as a round 1 reliever, and another absolutely atrocious year in RF for the Giants..
There was probably a very strong chance in the SF organization that Crick would have bounced up and down to Sac in favour of Melancon Dyson and Strickland and pitched only 12 MLB innings and continued to be uncomfortable and unreliable. Play the kids and let them settle in!
DeleteAnd Austin Slater wouldn't be atrocious in RF...
DeleteMoronta- 51.1 IP, ERA= 1.75.
DeleteWill Smith- 36.1 IP, ERA= 1.98
Tony Watson- 49.2 IP, 1.99 IP.
Hunter Strickland- 31.2 IP, 2.84 ERA.
Sam Dyson- 53. 2 IP, ERA= 2.85.
I can see the Giants thought Kyle Crick was expendable even if they really liked him.
As for Slater and RF, coming off the injury and surgery, there is no way the Giants could count on him to be a starting OF in 2018.
Except I wasn't using hindsight. Now without going into a big lecture, I saw this as a bad deal because McCutchen has had multiple knee injures which have developed into some chronic knee problems which have been sapping him as a player and turned him into the non-difference maker that he is. It's most obvious in his defense, but it's affected his offense and base-running as well.
DeleteAnd it has been for years now. His decline into second-tier from elite was fairly precipitous. After his first two years averaging about 3.7 fWAR, he stepped up big-time in 2011. From 2011 through 2015 he produced 34.4 fWAR -- that's 6.9 per season. That was second to only Mike Trout over that time.
But chronic and repeated knee injuries sapped him. From 2016 to now, he's produced 6.1 fWAR over 2 2/3 seasons -- 2.3 per season. That's good enough to put you around the #100 position in fWAR on any given year.
OK, fair warning, Moses. I'll post this so you can defend your point, but this is the last Cutch-hating rag I am going to post. We all have figured out you hate the guy.
DeleteWe all know what he can and can't do and what his shortcomings are. I just don't understand the need to hammer it home day after day after day.
You still haven't given us a plausible better alternative for RF for the Giants in 2018. When you do, as long as you submit it in a respectful manner, I'll post that.
Timely hitting seems to be the problem for the team, right now. Hanson's leadoff triple being stranded comes to mind. Duggar pops out. Pence strikes out. All they needed was a ball hit in the air or on the ground. Perhaps a squeeze bunt. Was very frustrating. There was an insurance run that they needed.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the pitch selection against White after going 0-2 with two 100 mph fastballs. You want to tell me that he wouldn't have waved at an 80mph changeup? Again, frustrating.
Interesting analysis in McC Chon today on Giants MLB leading 25 blown saves:
ReplyDeleteSF has won more than half the games (13-12) in which a BS was recorded.
Giants are 3-1 for both Strickland and Moronta when the two have blown saves.
In a second article, the question have the Giants’ pitchers been better or worse than the rest of the league at executing properly when the odds are in their favor (“pitcher’s counts” of 0-1, 0-2, and 1-2 counts) is answered. Conclusion:
"So, at least this year, the Giants have had a few hiccups, but not nearly as bad as most of the league has had it."
McC-C has a 3rd write-up on 1 run is not enough against the Astros.
So, DrB and the other Chron tells you all you need to know about this series!
4.0 runs scored per game is less than the Giants scored last year (!) so the mutilated pitching is doing something right, while the offense is not scoring although it is averaging 0.1 hits per game more than last year (8.6 v 8.5).
It's quite easy to say that you "should" get a runner home form 3rd with less than 2 outs, but the Astros themselves showed how difficult it can be, getting a runner out at the plate from 3rd TWICE in one inning!
A final stat about hitting with a runner on 3rd: there is a Giant who is 3-33 this year with a runner on 3rd (all conditions of other runners on base and number of outs).
Now 3-34
Deleteif d'arnaud has to miss time, i think ryder jones could be summonsed to give him reps at first base and start evaluating talent for 2019
ReplyDelete