The Giants won a see-saw battle in a game that left pitchers on both teams visibly frustrated by the umpire's miniscule strike zone. Key Lines:
Hunter Pence- 3 for 4, HR(4), BB, SB(3). BA= .288. Apparently The Reverend is becoming known among Giants fans by a much less dignified nickname, Under Pants. There were orange undies glued upside down to the tops of caps in the stands today, much to the delight of Kruk and Kuip. Pence is on a pace to hit 48 HR's and 36 SB's on the season. Hey, he's playing for a contract!
Gregor Blanco- 2 for 5, 2 2B. BA= .281. Blanco had two very key hits and made some sparkling plays in the OF.
Hector Sanchez- 2 for 5. BA= .214. Sanchez started the winning rally with a 1 out single in the 10'th.
Brandon Crawford- 1 for 3, BB, HBP. BA= .286. Crawford was, once again, a tough out in the 8-hole and had several sparkling plays in the field including a sliding catch down the LF line that had to be seen to be believed.
Nick Noonan- 1 for 1. BA= .500. Noonan rapped a 2 run single in the top of the 6'th inning to help get the Giants back into this one. Even giving them a temporary 5-4 lead.
Tim Lincecum- 5 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 5.63. I knew it might be a tough day for Timmy when I heard Kruk discussing this umps K-zone in the top of the first. When Timmy gave up 2 dingers and 4 runs to the first 5 batters of the game, I was about this close to thinking this game might be better off with less of my involvement in it. I'll give credit to Timmy for hanging on and getting through 4 more innings while limiting the damage.
George Kontos- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 7.71. Kontos had a huge inning in front of his homies.
Sergio Romo- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, Save(7). ERA= 2.35. Romo certainly wasn't fooling anyone. It did not look good after he gave up a leadoff double to Soriano. Fortunately he had a 3 run lead to work with and the next two balls were smoked but right at fielders including the second one right back at Romo. This outing was a perfect example of why Saves are probably a grossly overrated statistic.
Bottom of the order watch: The 6-9 spots in the order, including PH, went 7 for 19 with 3 BB's and 1 HBP.
The Win improves the Giants record to 9-4. They win a 4 game series in Chicago for the first time since 1998 or something like that. The D'Backs defeated the Dodgers 1-0 to remain 0.5 games behind the NL West leading Giants. The Rockies edged San Diego 2-1 and are also 0.5 games back. The Dodgers dropped 1 game off the pace with their loss while the Pathetic Padres fall 6.5 games off the pace in last place at 2-10.
The Giants have tomorrow off before starting a 3 game series in Milwaukee, where Buster Posey's bat has come alive in the past. Barry Zito gets game 1 Tuesday night facing Wily Peralta.
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Down to our last strike and Hunter Pence comes knocking. Sweet. 9-4 start sounds good to me. Beat up on the bad teams, that's what good teams do. This is a very good team.
ReplyDeleteThe best part is I'm with Alex Pavlovic and don't think this team is hitting on 8 cylinders yet. Pence has been great. The bottom of the order has been very good. I think they can continue to be very good. When Buster kicks it into gear, watch out! Not sure if Belt will bust out or not but if he does, this team will be a juggernaut on offense.
DeleteThe Giants are playing like a defending WS champ, coming from behind in several games, a good sign.
ReplyDeleteIt sounded like Timmy had better command, but got burned on two hanging changeups. Its too early for me to give up on him having a good year.
The bullpen needs to get it together. They had 2 blown saves this series but were saved by Pence's magic in the 9th inning. Maybe they were hurt by the conditions at Wrigley?
Noonan's 2 run hit was the key hit for me. The outcome might have been different if he didn't come through there. Good for the kid!
The Brewers had a come from behind win too against the Cards. We'll see if that gives them momentum for the Giants series.
LG
Noonan's hit was huge, for sure. I continue to be stoked over the performance of the bottom of the order. I think the Giants just might have the best 6-9 hitters in the lineup in the NL.
Deleteall i wanted from this team is for them to be entertaining...and they are. if i wasnt sure that the rev was gonna price himself out of the sf market,i would be screaming for sabey sabes to give him a long term...but he will and thats that.
ReplyDeletea bit concerned about the pitching. but most of these guys have logged a lot of extra innings and there really isnt much one can do but pray
in other news, i heard eric davis on espn radio earlier today, discussing 42 and the lack of african americans in the mlb, and he said basically what has been said in the past...that while focusing on foreign markets, the mlb dropped the ball in the usa...and he added a caveat. the lack of fathers in african american homes...no one is there to toss the ball to jr. which leads to something he didnt mention. while eric is an exec with the reds...where are all the african american execs in the mlb? cannot tell me there arent enough who are qualified.
gotta thank the snakes for making the atl a powerhouse in the east.
the a's are still not drawing and i really dont blame the fans...i wouldnt go where i wasnt wanted...even if the team is playing well
nice to see nate doing well and even showing real emotion when he got his ring.
ive really gotta know when the fo's are gonna rise up and demand a change in how games are being umped. the ever changing k-zone is a joke and still too many calls are being blown on the base paths.
and now i will leave you with a brilliant baseball bit by the late, great, insane jonathan winters...who i was lucky enough to see live at the hungry i reunion back in the 80's...rest well big fellow
bacci
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxhS6wp0MeE
I"m afraid that all the Giants are gonna get out of Under Pants at the end of the season is a supplemental round draft pick. But he already gave them a WS ring and If he has a career year playing for a contract and they win another one, well, I'd have to say that is one of the best trades in Giants history! He will have given them plenty.
DeleteI agree about MLB dropping the ball with young African American athletes. Urban Youth Academy has helped some. I've noticed in the last 2-3 years a significant uptick in African-American 5 toolers in the draft. Last year there were several: Buxton, Courtney Hawkins, Addison Russell immediately come to mind, but there were more down in the draft too.
Agree that I'm glad to see Nate doing well.
I think the Giants might be able to survive one starter going down, but if two were to bite the dust, it would be real tough. I think Gaudin could be a decent starter. Alex P suggested Casilla might have enough pitches to be a starter. Hopefully someone in the minors catches helium.
In this year's draft, there is JP Crawford, Phil Ervin, Austin Wilson, Josh Hart, Justin Wilson and quite a few other African-American players who should go pretty high.
DeleteOh, and Conor Gillaspie is off to a nice start for the South Siders and appears to have won the starting 3B gig there, at least for now. It's good that some of these former Giants prospects are doing well after being traded. It helps keep other teams interested in trading with the Giants for kids that are blocked in SF.
Delete2012 draft also had Victor Roache, Marcus Stroman, Lewis Brinson all in the first round. Lots of African American talent. This year its the Georgia preps baby! Travis Demerritte and Terry McClure! Dominic Smith gets the hype in California but Kevin Franklin should get a look. Speedy OF types abound as well, like Matthew McPherson, a Maryland prep who's the fastest guy in the draft.
DeleteI want Selig & Co to fix up the Compton stadium. Its definitely seen better days.
Good for Conor G, although this is most likely because of Gordon Beckham's injury, they switch Keppinger to 2B (good luck with fellas!). That is a defensively power challenged infield with some good OBP. Grass is greener Gints interwebzers always wanted to go after Alexei Ramirez. I'll take Crawford at the minimum salary, thanks very much.