I was feeling bad about attending Friday's game and missing Kyle Harrison's start but the Padres HR barrage was unabated and Young Kyle was torched for 4 in a loss that was not as close as the score looks. Key Lines:
Kyle Harrison LHP- 5.2 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 4.70. I had a bad headache from the drive up from San Diego and caffeine deficiency so was having trouble concentrating on the game but Harrison's command was just a little off from his last start and the Padres, despite all their underachieving, still have an elite lineup with 9 hitters who can go deep at any time. The 3 solo shots in the first 2 innings could be overcome but the 3-run bomb by Garrett Cooper in the 6'th was the crusher.
Add in the 2 HR's Tristan Beck RHP gave up on Friday and the Padres hit 6 dingers in 2 games. How is a lineup like that not running up neck and neck with the Dodgers?
The Giants are somehow still tied for the last Wild Card playoff spot with the D'Backs and Reds.
Alex Cobb RHP tries for a split of the 4-game series today against Seth Lugo RHP.
Churn Watch(Sept 1): Brandon Crawford SS was activated from the IL and Keaton Winn RHP was recalled from AAA Sacramento. Winn previously spent some time on the AAA IL with elbow soreness, a scare since he is post-TJ surgery but he seems to be fine now after no structural damage found. No corresponding moves due to roster expansion.
I was at the game and I thought the same thing, how could the Padres not be at or near the top? It may be good if we don't make the WC because the line up out there for us now would get crushed. They just look lost as a team. Kap also should have pulled Harrison before the Cooper home run. Wouldn't have changed the end result probably but he shouldn't have been surprised at the HR either. Tough to watch right now even with the occasional win.
ReplyDeleteBilly Baseball
I agree, you could see that HR from Cooper coming on. Not surprising at all when he connected.
DeleteInteresting contrast where the Giants stretch out their minor league starting pitchers to go no more then 4 or 5 innings or have a max pitch count, and see Harrison try to go 6-7 innings the last 2 starts . Not questioning it, since they're probably trying to prevent injury. I was surprised Kap left him in to pitch to Cooper, but Harrison will learn from this.
ReplyDeleteIf you'd be so kind, please permit a small rant about the handling of pitchers. Last week Harrison threw a great game and went more innings with more pitches than his usual this year in AAA. The next day Cobb came close to a no-hitter but threw more pitches than any game this year by about 30. When I heard they were keeping both on four-days rest before their next starts I was troubled. I'm not a baseball coach, a trainer, a physiologist or anything, but I've casually watched baseball for well over a half century and have a large if unfocused database of experience suggesting that pitchers need an extra day or two to recover from such performances, even if you are trying to stretch them out. Otherwise they tend to get beat up but good in their next start. Harrison got beat up last night. As I write this in the 4th inning, Cobb has been pulled after 3 with 4 ER in and 58 pitches thrown.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that Kapler would respond that the numbers don't support my conclusion, which is just based on intuition at this point. But he and Zaidi I fear are subject to the tyranny of the readily measurable. There is only so much slicing and dicing one can do with data sets to obtain reliable guidance in specific, narrow settings, and gut-level experience often provides a better guide.
To my dying day I will be forever convinced that both Timmy's and Cainer's careers were shortened by their no-hitters/perfect game.
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