The Giants offense awoke from a deep slumber to score 4 runs in the 8'th and 9'th innings to tie the score at 4-4, but the D'Backs came back to win it in extra innings. Key Lines:
Angel Pagan- 2 for 5, 2B. BA= .293. Pagan has made himself into a tough out. He may not walk as much as you'd like a leadoff batter to, but he sees pitches an grinds out AB's.
Brandon Belt- 2 for 2, HR(1). BA= .222. Belt almost brought the house down with a game tying 2 run dinger in the bottom of the 9'th. Alas, it ended up going for naught. Belt now is 3 for 3 since his batting practice with Bruce Bochy.
Brandon Crawford- 1 for 5, 3B. BA= .296. Crawford continues to be dangerous and create runs at the bottom of the Giants lineup.
Matt Cain- 6 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 6.59. I know Baggs said it's not a velocity problem, but Cainer rarely breaks 91 on the gun anymore. He just can't get away with location mistakes like he could when he could pump 93-96 for 7 or 8 innings.
Despite the Loss, the Giants gained 0.5 games on the Rockies who lost both ends of a doubleheader to the Braves, leaving the Giants 0.5 games out of first place. The D'Backs are now 2 games behind the Rockies. The Dodgers topped the Mets 7-2 behind Clayton Kershaw and are now 3.5 games back of the lead. The Padres lost again putting them 8 games back in last place in the NL West.
Madison Bumgarner takes on Ian Kennedy who always seems to be tough on the Giants tomorrow afternoon.
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man, that was a sloppy 11th
ReplyDeletestill trying to figure out why flan sent pablo in the 10th
scoots seems to be pressing. he hasnt gotten a rest...maybe tomorrow
wonder if cain the horse has finally been broken...lots of innings on that arm. could be fatigue, could be mechanical
win or lose...still fun team to watch
bacci
I would not call Cain broken down. There has been a steady erosion of his velocity over the years and he has incorporated increased use of breaking pitches and changeups. His breaking pitches have improved a lot and they enable him to get more K's and even be dominant when everything is working right. The problem is he has to be more consistent with locating the fastball that now rarely gets above 91 and he can't hang his breaking pitches as often, because the mistakes go a long way.
DeleteSo, what I am trying to say is that Cain is facing the same crossroads that many pitchers face as they get older which is how to maintain effectiveness with diminished velocity. He is still learning to become more of a finesse pitcher. It could take another year or two to complete that process.
DeleteThat's Fate.
DeleteFate compels you to decide on whether to sign him long term, or not, as he is about to transition to another type of pitcher.
It could be that that other type is what true pitching is about, instead of simply relying on velocity and just a thrower. But you have to decide now....before the process is completed.
Errors. Last night our usually excellent defense fell apart. Error on the first play of the night set a really bad tone. Hopefully it wont happen again.
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