Final games of road trips are tough and the Giants stayed true to form with a listless performance. Key Lines:
Heliot Ramos LF- 2 for 3, 2B, BB. BA= .273. It looked like the Giants might have something going in the 8'th inning when Ramos double scored YtY with no outs, but his front foot came off the bag before his back foot hit it and he was ruled out on the replay. Plays like that are probably the single biggest unintended consequence of instant replay.
The Giants lineup managed just 6 other baserunners and struck out 17 times. More on that later.
Mason Black RHP- 2.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 5 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 6.44. Black did not have command of his pitches in his final start of the season.
Camilo Doval RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 5.05. When you can throw a baseball over 100 MPH, you don't have to nibble at the strike zone. It sure looks like someone or something finally convinced Doval to just aim for the middle of the zone when he throws that heater early in the count and it happened during a game delay two games ago. You could almost see the lighbulb go on in his head!
Zach Gallen RHP- 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 11 K's, GO/AO= 6/0. ERA= 3.65. Gallen may not be quite an ace but he's a good tough veteran pitcher. Whether it was a splitter, changeup or curveball, whatever he was throwing for a secondary pitch was running up to the plate and dropping off a table and the home plate ump expanded the bottom of the zone for him. That stuff is almost impossible to hit for any lineup. So that's part of the explanation for 11 of the 17 K's.
The Giants go 7-2 on the road trip but are just 2-9 in final games of road trips on the season. The Giants get a day off at home before starting their final series of the season against the Cardinals Friday night with Landon Roupp RHP facing Miles Mikolas RHP.
"You could almost see the lighbulb go on in his head!"
ReplyDeleteWell put!
Bodes well for next year.
Or a profitable trade?
Giants should not sell low on him. Quality is expensive.
Perhaps they should make overslides non-reviewable: let the umpire's call stand, or maybe an umpire's conference if the overslide is egregious and miss-called.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to compare YtY's and Conforto's 2024 season: Defense goes to YtY (although not as much as we fans think), offense to Conforto.
ReplyDeleteSpotrak has Conforto's market value next year at $4.7M.
YtY received $7.9M last year and will get a bump in arbitration.
Spotrak market value for all Free Agents:
https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/market-value/_
Stathead YtY-CConforto head-to-head comparison:
https://stathead.com/baseball/versus-finder.cgi?player_id2=yastrz001mic&year_min=2024&player_id1=confor001mic&seasons_type=forall&request=1&utm_campaign=2023_01_wdgt_player_comparison&utm_source=br&utm_medium=sr_xsite&utm_id=confomi01
FWIW. the home and away splits are pretty extreme for 2025, with YtY's being much more favorable than Conforto's at home.
DeleteBlack still needs a little salt in Sacramento to start 2025. The secondary adjustments are a good sign but, still has work to do in the minors. Doval is someone I would dangle for a bat this offseason.
ReplyDeleteDespite the loss, I have to tip my hat to the Giants players for the way they have fought and played the last 9 game against PO teams. Both the vets and the kids, and the staff too. They could have treated it like garbage time (which it is in the standings) but didn't
ReplyDeleteStill, to me, the play of vets like Conforto, Canha, Yaz, Wade, Encarnaicon are all meaningless. I would hope only 1 of the 5 is back next year.
The important part is the young guys finishing strong , especially after some valleys (Ramos). Really good to see FITZ, RAMOS, SCHMIDT and even BAILEY finishing strong and hope it continues this weekend.
On the mound, ditto for Walker, Beck, Miller and Both ROUP and BIRDSONG (what are the odds that these were the two young guys to take the biggest steps forward??) Whisenhunt also had a great last start for SAC. And let's hope that DOVAL, who is still young, has it straightened/figured out..I don't expect him back with Melvin as manager, but hopefully a strong trade asset.
On the young guys, he troubling ones are the injuries/lack of performance by Harrison and Hicks/Ray (both expected) and the utter wasted seasons of Lucianno and Matos...Do they become trade fodder?
I have no illusions that this team is as good as it has played recently (7-2), and the Giant front office better not either, and they need at least 2 impact position players and 1-2 pitchers (so much depends on Snell) but winning at least 2 out of 3 this weekend would be a good way to end the season.
And god does it suck watching the Dodgers, Padres and Dbacks make the POs and looking like locks for the next few years. I truly detest the arrogance and attitude of the Padres and hate them even more than the Bums. When will the Giants reach that level of significance again? First step is getting rid of FZ as head honcho and finding somebody who knows how to put together a winner in the Major Leagues.
SteveVA
And the one we hope is back is Encarnacion
DeleteBecause of the day off today, the rotation against St Louis could be, with 5th-day starting, Roupp, Snell, and Webb, giving 82 wins a real shot.
ReplyDeleteRoupp has pitched well since his return August 9, as good or better than any Starter the Giants have: 30.1 IP, 3 ER (including relief roles), scoreless in last 2 starts.
Since his return in July, Snell has been as good as he ever was: he's 5-0, and the Giants are 12-2 in his starts.
And Webb the Ace could pitch with normal rest, maybe to make the difference between 81-81 and 82-80.
Is it important? Probably not, but it might shut up some of the boo-birds that post here and on The Athletic, and even on many Giants sites including a couple of "Doc's Favorites" (listed on the left above).
Booooo
DeleteSteveVA
Wonder if "Pat the Bat" is going to be the sacrificial lamb when the season is over?
ReplyDeleteToday The Athletic's Katey Woo published a severe hit-piece on the Cardinals all attributed to "unnamed sources" pummeling their failure to invest in development as the team fails to make the playoffs for 2 consecutive years after 4 straight years making the post season.
ReplyDeleteThe Cardinals, since 2000, are 2-2 in the World Series with 16 post season appearances.
The Giants, since 2000, are 3-1 in the World Series with 8 post season appearances.
St Louis (81-78) is 2 games ahead of San Francisco (79-80) as the pair open a 3-game series tonight, with a myriad of possibilities as each team tries to salvage what they can for 2024.
Maybe.
Will the Giants put forth the best they have to win?
After their pathetic performance Wednesday, are they going to be the 7-1 road team (before Wednesday) or the lackluster team that lost 5 of 6 @ home prior to the victorious road trip?
We will know in just 56 hours.
Link to Katie Woo's column:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5798267/2024/09/27/st-louis-cardinals-jordan-walker-john-mozeliak/
The Athletic does have a paywall but sometimes they will let the reader read one column.
An article like this by Brisbee/Baggarly would appease many of the Giants (un) Faithful.
OTOH, we might read Grant's article today, The San Francisco Giants (still) need a superstar hitter, and dream about achieving that goal.