I figured this would be a tough game for the Giants lineup when I saw Marcus Stroman RHP was the SP for the Cubs. That turned out to be the case as a 3-spot by the Cubs in the 7'th inning was too much for the Giants bats to overcome. Key Lines.
Joc Pederson DH- 4 for 4. BA= .260. Unfortunately, Joc did not get much help from the rest of the lineup. A single in the third inning advanced Lamonte Wade Jr 1B to 2B setting up Thairo Estrada 2B for an RBI double. Joc later drove in Brandon Crawford SS with an IF single after an overturned challenge play at 1B.
Anthony DeSclafani RHP= 6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 3.89. Tony D pitched better than the line looks. He allowed the first two batters to reach base in the 7'th which brought in Ryan Walker RHP. Some weirdness ensued but Walker was not as sharp as we've seen him and allowed both of his inherited runners to score plus one more.
Tristan Beck RHP- 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 3.68. I would really like to see Beck get a start, or at least be a primary bulk-innings guy. His ERA over his last 7 games is 2.95.
If the Giants make a move before the trade deadline, what they need is an "RBI guy" – whatever that is!
ReplyDeleteEstrada did knock in one run last night, but he left many more as
Wade & Pederson reached base 6 times in front of him, scoring once.
In the 2nd guessing department, the Giants don't bunt much but had a good opportunity in the 1st inning as Wade & Peterson got on base ahead of Estrada, knowing that he doesn't bat well in that situation (1 for 18, .056). Although he killed that opportunity, the batters behind Estrada were 2 for 16, stranding 7 batters and driving home none with Conforto missing many opportunities
The Giants do bunt a lot, just not many straight sac bunts.
DeleteCan Schmitt learn that MLB pitchers are smart: they aren't going to throw him strikes as long as he is willing to chase balls out of the strike zone? He is 3-28 in his last 30 PAs. 7 Ks, 0 walks, and just 1 walk in his 107 ML PAs.
ReplyDeleteSchmitt looks lost at the plate right now and if you look up his minor league stats, he's always drawn walks in the low single digit percents. Sadly, the Casey Schmitt era might already be over.
DeleteIt seems he "can" hit pitches out of the strike zone but not from crafty major leaguers whose 3-4 inches out of the strike zone become 6-7 inches out when they get to the plate.
DeleteWade has significantly cut his strike outs, and many of them will become balls not strikes when the umpire 14% miss call rate is eliminated – that's the average, some are worse!
https://www.bu.edu/articles/2019/mlb-umpires-strike-zone-accuracy/ :
This human element of the game adds color but it comes at a high cost: too many mistakes. In 2018, MLB umpires made 34,294 incorrect ball and strike calls for an average of 14 per game or 1.6 per inning. Many umpires well exceeded this number. Some of these flubbed calls were game changing.