Questionable game management spoiled a triumphant performance by Sean Manaea in one of the more heartbreaking Giants losses you will see. Key Lines:
Lamonte Wade Jr 1B- 2 for 4, HR(1). BA= .261. After Royals SP Brady Singer went 9 up, 9 down first time through the order, LMWJ opened the scoring with a scorching line drive that barely cleared the RF arcade and carried all the way to the water for the 97'th splash hit in the history of Oracle Park. He did let a ball go through the wickets on defense but was not charged with an error and the play did not figure in the scoring. I still see some grumbling on other sites about LMWJ playing 1B and leading off but it's hard to imagine anyone else doing a better job of either so far.
Thairo Estrada 2B- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .414. Thairo is not going to hit .400 on the season but did I say he was primed for a breakout?
Brandon Crawford SS- 2 for 4. BA= .200. Nice recovery from a tough day at the plate yesterday but he joined Estrada and Blake Sabol C in 3 consecutive K's with the bases loaded in the 8'th inning to end the Giants last, best hope of winning the game.
Sean Manaea LHP- 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 8 K's. ERA= 4.50. Terrific start for Manaea who looked every bit the former first round draft pick. The silver lining here is if he keeps this up, the Giants should be OK in the long run of the season.
Ross Stripling RHP- 1.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 10.80. In Kap's and Stripling's defense here, the pitch Salvy Perez golfed over the LF wall to tie the game would have ended the inning against almost any other batter not named Pablo Sandoval. It was a humpback splitter or knuckle curve that was literally at shoestring level when the bat made contact. On the other hand, I and everybody in the stadium including Mike Krukow felt apprehensive about Stripling facing Salvy there. I am not sure a tandem/long reliever option is indicated at all in that situation. Brebbia, Tyler Rogers and Scott Alexander were all rested and all more familiar and suited to preserving late-inning leads. It just smacks of Kap having a new toy to play with and feeling overconfident in a 5-1 lead. On the other hand, Stripling is a guy they obviously signed because they expect him to execute and if you only look at the one pitch he did and got beat on his pitch. To me the process of getting there is the more questionable part.
Camilo Doval RHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 6.00. Doval allowed the first two batters he faced to reach base. He looked like he might get out of it with a GIDP but that put a runner at 3B who scored on a WP. I don't think you can pin this one on Sabol as the batter had do the hot foot to keep it from hitting his feet.
Anthony DeSclafani RHP tries to salvage a game out of the series tomorrow afternoon against Kris Bubic LHP.
The Giants did not mess around with Roberto Perez C as they sent him straight to the 60-day IL with a rotator cuff strain to make room for Austin Wynns C on the 40-man roster. Meanwhile Joey Bart C made his first rehab start for the AAA Sacramento River Cats tonight as did Gary Sanchez C who was the DH in that game. Q: Would just giving Joey Bart at least 2 months to learn on the job be any worse than what they have gotten out of the C position so far?
Agreed when Kap didn't bring in a late inning reliever like Brebbia or the Rogers twins to pitch to Perez, he managed the inning like a meaningless early regular season game. I didn't get it so it was frustrating. Perez has been a home run leader for the Royals, surprised he didn't change pitchers there. Hope Kap figures out his pitching staff. I'm telling myself they will win games later in the season that they should have lost, so it all evens out. They have a bullpen that shouldn't blow late inning leads too often. Hope they bounce back tomorrow
ReplyDeleteYep, I agree with this assessment.
DeleteFO may have to take a brian sabean approach at this year's trade deadline and acquire talent from selling teams that have team control.
ReplyDeleteThe top of the 8th (and the 9th) perhaps weren't as depressing as the top of the 9th October 11, 2016, or the 9th (top & bottom) October 14th, 2021, but last night was unwarranted, unforgettable, and unforgivable!
ReplyDeleteOnce the Royals scored in the 7th to make it 5-2 it was a Save situation. In a Save situation, shouldn't you use the guys that make a living on that, not an SP you want to stretch out or something?
Had to feel sorry for the post game crew...
Disclaimer: It's only been a few games so the sample size is way too small, and with injuries the situation may work itself out anyways but: I don't love the piggyback starters so far.
ReplyDeleteManaea looked bad when he came in late in the game, Stripling has a bad outing, etc. These guys are starters and their entire routine is effected by coming into games late. It's not like having a opener where they get the same pregame routine. Manaea was playing long toss before the game when he entered in relief earlier in the season.
Also, they obviously will start more then they pitch out of the pen, but you are paying them starter money. Every starting pitcher they are doing this with would be paid as a top 10 relief arm my annual salary if you compare their contracts to bullpen arms. Why not just get elite relief pitchers if this was the plan?
It's early, maybe they look like geniuses 3 months from now but the early returns don't look good.
Wade has a .485 OBP, highest on the club. If you want to win, he's your lead-off hitter until he cools down and someone else rises. I may not care for players who MUST be platooned, but if they're properly filling their role at any given moment, I don't have a problem. I do have a problem, now that we have a DH, that he's on the field. But at least at 1B his defensive damage will be limited compared to the OF where multiple blunders that lead to losses have been glossed over by his fans who can see no flaws.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Stripling/Manea situation... I get it. People, understandably, are not happy with the 3-wood over the fence, but Kapler needs to find out what they can give him. And, despite Spring Training, he doesn't really know. During Spring Training players play against a mix of minor and major league players and the levels generally average out to AA/AAA level competition. There's no real way coming out Spring Training with two pitchers with issues that he's never managed before that Kapler can know what he's got with them. These are MLB pitchers and even poor MLB pitchers can usually beat AAA guys.
So he has to find out. Hopefully the process won't be so painful in the future. But I can't really fault him. Sooner or later he's going to have to play them. May as well do it early and correct now than wait until it's too late.
2nd guesses are free, here's one:
DeleteIf Kapler wanted to see Stripling extended (again) why not against Chicago when ahead 11-3 rather than Junis 4 innings, then Brebbia, then Beaty (!).
Perhaps he forgot how bad Stripling was in NY...
OTOH one of the greatest ever Giant relief jobs was done by Bumgarner in Game 7 2014 WS
ReplyDelete