Matt Chapman's two home runs were not enough to carry a struggling lineup and, in my opinion, a less than well-managed bullpen game by Bob Melvin. Key Lines:
Willy Adames SS- 2 for 5, R. BA= .233. One of Adames' singles came with 2 outs and ahead of Chapman's second HR. He also made a tremendous throw from deep in the hole to rob a hitter of an infield hit.
Matt Chapman 3B- 2 for 5, 2 HR(16), 2 R, 3 RBI. BA= .243. Chapman was pretty much the offense for a struggling lineup. Chapman is batting .370 with 4 HR over his last 7 games.
Matt Gage LHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 0.00. Wow! Matt Gage went on a long journey and came back a lights-out lefty reliever. Gage was the opener and looked sensational against three really good hitters and he threw just 10 pitches. Now I know the top 3 hitters were L, S, L and the next 3 batters were R, L, R but if you know you are likely to be scrambling for innings later in the game why not try to get another inning out of a hot, well-rested pitcher?
Spencer Bivens RHP- 3 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 3 K's, 5/0 GO/AO. ERA= 4.58. I guess the plan for Bivens this season is to pitch him until his arm falls off. Bivens gave 3 nice innings of work. I couldn't believe it when he came out for the 5'th inning(his 4'th inning). If there is one pitcher who BoMel has overused it's Bivens. Bivens predictably gave up B2B doubles to open the 5'th inning and BoMel not only didn't get any more outs out of him but he gave up a run in the process. On the live broadcast interview from the dugout, BoMel said the plan was to get 60 pitches out of Bivens. He started the inning at 53. Maybe if he had let Gage try to eat some outs in the first inning he wouldn't have felt like he had to squeeze those last 7 pitches out of Bivens?
Randy Rodriguez RHP- 1.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 1.20. Can't fault BoMel here. Rodriguez has been solid all season. Just had an off appearance.
Tristan Beck RHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K. ERA= 4.91. The plan was for Beck to pitch just one inning? Another head scratcher.
Sean Hjelle RHP- 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 0 K. ERA= 7.80. I've been a huge advocate for Sean Hjelle but even I have seen enough of him. He might be dealing with some off-field issues that are distracting him too. Next?!
The Giants announced that Carson Whisenhunt LHP is getting called up to make his first MLB start tomorrow night facing the Pirates and Mitch Keller RHP who has some buzz as a possible trade deadline target for multiple teams.
I'd DFA Hjelle at this point. Mason Black can't be any worse.
ReplyDelete...or Braxton Roxby or Trent Harris or Joel Peguero....
Delete... or Kai-Wei Teng!
DeleteI think Hjelle gets the DFA for Whisenhunt today
DeleteGiants went 0-23 RISP this weekend. That's hard to do and explain. Good to see Chapman getting hot and I see Birdsong pitched good in AAA.. Trade deadline should be interesting. Chapman, Adames, and Devers won't be traded since Buster acquired them. Lee won't be traded since he's popular and has a big contract signed by FZ. I'm wondering if Heliot Ramos could be moved in the right deal. Is Buster happy with him in leftfield due to his below average defense? But he's a homegrown player.
ReplyDeleteChapman, Adames, Devers and Lee won't be traded because nobody wants any part of those contracts. While it's fun for us prospect watchers to see "homegrown" players make good, there is nothing sacred about them. In the end it's all about putting the best team on the field that fits into the team's payroll budget.
DeleteA lot of people seemed to think that the Giants got Devers "cheap," that it was a very good deal fro SF, even with the length and size of the contract.
DeleteIF it was a good deal, it seems that someone else might want him in a comparable transaction.
Not that Buster would do that, but it would be feasible, no?
Although Adames scuffled for most of the year he has picked up. Was it a serious overpay? Because you have to overpay to get hitters to come to SF?
DeleteWho are these people you speak of who thought they got Devers "cheap"? I am quite sure none of those contracts is tradable at this trade deadline. Yes, that could change by next trade deadline.
I think Posey wants to acquire more contact hitters to add to Devers and the others he signed anyway. Isiah Kiner Falifa would be a nice pickup not sure but I think he'd be a rental.
DeleteThe Giants seem to have warning track power.
ReplyDeleteHow about a fence 5 - 10 feet in front of the fence?
For the Giants AB's and remove it for the other team's AB's just to make it fair. LOL!
DeleteApologies for veering from baseball, but the LouSeal HOF spin at yesterday's game was ridiculously fun. The montage of mascots (the Crazy Crab, the Philly Fanatic, Lou Seal's parents, Boomer, etc.) were there. The Giant's players gave deadpan testimonials on the scoreboard (Brett Wiseley' s "Lou Seal is an iconic figure," being the funniest). The Squid Games "Seal Game red-light/green light" were all amusing as our boys on the field flailed with RISP. The parody of the recently exposed couple having an affair at a Coldplay concert with the Crazy Crab and Lou Seal's mother being caught making out on the Kiss Cam was hilarious. The funniest non-baseball thing I have ever seen at a game.
ReplyDeleteAs far as baseball was concerned, it seemed the home plate umpire had an extreme expanded strike zone for both teams which made it very difficult to hit against Edwin Diaz' 98-99 MPH fastballs at the end of the game. I was sitting 8 rows off the field behind the Mets dugout, so could see high strikes and outside the zone strikes being called. I would like to see what his rating was for the game. Bring on the robot-ump!
Of the 4 players who have played 2B this year — Fitz (63), Koss (41), Schmitt (48), and Wisely (19) — who has been the best?
ReplyDeleteNumbers shown are actual games the players appeared in.
OPS+: 80, 92, 101, & 83, respectively.
dWAR: 1.0, 0.4, 0.1, 0.2,
Games appearing @ 2B are 63, 26, 15, & 13.
Schmitt leads OPS+
Fitz leads dWAR and Games played total and @ 2B
Christian Koss put up 0.4 dWAR in 1/3 the number of games and has the second best OPS+. He's my pick.
DeletePlus I thought he put up the most consistently competitive PA's.
DeleteMy pick also.
DeleteThey're all close in age. Fitz is the oldest, about 1½ years senior to the youngest, Wisely. Koss is 27½.
Koss is on the IL but is playing for Sac. And hitting well.
I’m getting really tired watching BoMel fail to maximize the talent. That’s certainly something Kapler was able to do.
ReplyDeleteNot only is BoMel misusing Bivens, but he also is abusing Rodriguez. Even an all-star has to be managed properly!
ReplyDeleteThe Giants don't advance their runners, not just runners in scoring position, but runners on 1B also.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Chapman provided all the scoring, he also left many runners on base, including the bottom of the 9th when he and Adames struck out with the bases loaded. Adames and Bailey each failed to advance 5 runners. You cannot knock the guy who hits 2 HRs and gets all the RBIs but Chapman struck out the other 3 ABs.
Lee, Ramos, and Devers were 0-10 at the top of the l/u, Bailey and Wisely were 0-7 at the bottom. Combine them, the 5 batter, IN-A-ROW, from Bailey to Devers, were 0-17.
YtY, in the middle of the 4 players who got hits, was 0-3.
BoMel deserves questioning on his handling of the pitchers in this game, but his credible line-up failed.
We could see a game with Bryan Reynolds, Alexander Canario, and Andrew McCutchen in it.
ReplyDeleteThe latter two of them are starting tonight.