This game had familiar storyline as the offense failed to take advantage of a terrific pitching performance by Derek Holland and the bullpen. Key Lines:
Austin Slater RF- 2 for 5. BA= .282. Slater had 2 of the Giants 3 hits. He was batting 2'nd in the lineup, ahead of Evan Longoria. Unfortunately neither of his hits came before Longo's dinger. Slater's OF struggles continued as he got a late jump on an RBI double by Tomas Nido which drove in the tying run in the 5'th that eventually allowed the Mets to take the game into extra innings and ultimately win. It was not an easy ball to catch by any stretch, but I would say Gregor Blanco in his prime would have almost certainly gotten to it.
Evan Longoria 3B- 1 for 4, HR(15). BA= .244. Despite the dinger, Longo is hitting just .160 over his last 7 games and .186 over his last 15. The dinger was the Giants lone run in the game. Longo and Austin Slater combined for all 3 of the Giants hits over 11 innings. The Giants only added 2 BB's to that total.
Derek Holland LHP- 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 3.56. This was Holland's 2'nd QS start in a row. He has 9 on the season out of 26 Starts, which doesn't seem so good, but he has 8 other Starts in which he went at least 5 IP while allowing 3 runs or less which kept the Giants in a lot of those games. Giants are 14-12 in Holland's Starts but 4 of those losses occurred in his first 4 Starts of the season which makes them 14-8 in his Starts since April 21.
Bullpen- 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 7 K's. Will Smith and Reyes Moronta did not allow a hit and each struck out 2 batters in their 1-inning stints. Hunter Strickland's big mistake was allowing a leadoff double to Wilmer Flores in the 11'th. He advanced to 3B on a groundout and scored on Todd Frazier's SF.
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The Dodgers beat the D'Backs to move into a tie for the NL West lead, 6.5 games ahead of the Giants. The Rockies topped the Padres and trail the co-leaders by 0.5 games.
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Chris Stratton tries to keep his good vibes going as well as trying for a series win facing Thor who hasn't been quite Thor-like this season.
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Strickland: When I saw him take the mound I said to myself 'game over.' Sure enough, hard-hit liner to RF for a double. Base-runner advancing grounder. Sac fly.
ReplyDeleteSlater: I'm not so sure Blanco would have gotten that though there is precedent with Matt Cain's perfect game saving catch. As for the double, it looked close on TV (and I was like 'why didn't he catch it') until you saw the side-view. Then not so close.
Holland: Poor guy. Pitched pretty well, and managed a great bunt to advance the runner, but the Giants couldn't hit.
The video does not show Slater from the crack of the bat, but the Mets TV announcer said he got a late jump and by the time the camera panned to the OF, Slater was just then starting to go back on the ball. Again, hard to say, but perhaps with a better read off the bat, he could have gotten to it.
DeleteI was listening to Krukow and seeing their side-view replay. Krukow was of the opinion that it wasn't catchable. And I've watched the MLB.COM replay, it really looked (to me) that he moved the second he saw the ball come off the bat and that he was moving before Nido completed his swing and left the batter's box, so unless he could see the future, I don't see how he was late.
DeleteBut to give you an idea how hard it was hit, it was past second base in the air before Nido completed his swing and left batter's box. It was a very hard hit with a low launch angle going away from Slater. I give credit to Nido on that double.
I guess we all have our biases.
DeleteThat double was roped for sure. Did Statcast offer a probability of being caught?
DeleteI'm just reporting what the announcer said on the video linked to the boxscore and what I saw on the video. Not saying Austin Slater is a bad OF or that he definitely should have caught it. Just asking a question.
DeleteIt's interesting that the Mets PBP announcer said he "got a late jump" and Krukow said it wasn't catchable. It is possible they are both right. I do think it is possible that an exceptional defensive OF like Gregor Blanco in his prime might have caught it, but that is pure speculation and I really have no way of knowing for sure.
On the thread, Slater should have caught it or Strickland let it happen.
ReplyDeleteHow about the Giants offense stinks?
Read on knbr.com that Hunter Strickland has been coping with ulcerative colitis for the past 2 seasons. It said some cases could be life threatening so I hope he takes care of himself, wow, I thought his outburst were caused by immaturity, maybe I'll cut him some slack.
ReplyDeleteLG
I'm not sure what Ulcerative Colitis has to do with his outburst. It may affect his stamina and performance, and It can be a frustrating disease to deal with, but I don't really see a connection to throwing at Bryce Harper for no reason or breaking his hand hitting a wall.
Delete