You could call this one Wild Timmy's Wild Ride, or The Wizard of the Bullpen, or The Bottom of the Order Strikes Again, or Pablo Has No Strike Zone. Key Lines:
Pablo Sandoval- 1 for 4, HR(1). BA= .273. Pablo took a pitch that was neck high and just lined it to deep right. It skipped off the top of the padded wall and well back into the RF pavilion seats. Beckett and the Dodgers had to be talking to themselves after that. Gotta say, I've been watching Pablo closely since he was in A ball in San Jose. HE WILL NEVER BE THIN, GUYS! But, he is also far from his peak weight.
Hunter Pence- 1 for 4, HR(1). BA= .273. Pence had looked particularly terrible on his first two swings, obviously trying to jerk them out to LF. Not sure if he really made an adjustment on the third swing, but he did catch the ball flush on the barrelhead and it went out to right-center on a line.
Blanco, Crawford, Lincecum- 2 for 8, 2B. The bottom of the order is what started the ball rolling downhill against Beckett. Blanco Singled, Crawford doubled. Timmy then followed with a sensational AB in which he forced Beckett to throw 7 pitches and grounding it up the middle for an RBI groundout. I tell you, the bottom of the Giants order, including the pitchers has become an offensive force to be reckoned with. They have turned themselves into tough, tough outs. Demoralizing to the opposing pitcher and running up their pitch counts.
Hector Sanchez- 1 for 3. BA= .333. Gotta say, Hector had a rough day behind the plate and may well have contributed to Timmy's command problems. Many more games like this and we could see him down in Fresno with Quiroz as the backup.
Tim Lincecum- 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 7 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 0.00. Wow! Is that ERA ever deceiving! Timmy was a wild as a hare out there, but somehow managed to make enough big pitches to make it through 5 with the game still under control.
George Kontos- 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K. ERA= 16.20. After Opening Day, a lot of managers might not have called on Kontos in this situation, but he has become something of kryptonite for Matt Kemp and didn't disappoint here. Bases loaded, no outs. Kemp hits into the DP, Lopez comes in to gets AGone. Inning over!
Chad Gaudin- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 0.00. Gaudin showed the tremendous value of being able to go multiple innings, whether it is early in the game or late. This effort got the game to Romo in the 9'th.
Sergio Romo- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, Save(2). ERA= 0.00. Romo showed his is firmly esconced in the traditional closer role as the first two batters he faced were the LH batting AGone and Ethier. Romo made it look easy.
Bruce Bochy- masterful bullpen management here, especially the 6'th inning to get out of the no-out bases loaded jam with just 1 run allowed after Mijares loaded them up.
With the Win, the Giants get away from LA with a series win and that is a whole lot better than the way they started last year. They are tied with the D'Backs and Colorado for first place in the NL West while the Dodgers are a game behind and the Rockies bring up the rear at 0-2, 1.5 games behind.
They now get Thursday off to prepare the weekend long celebration in front of the Cards. Couldn't they have postponed at least one of the ceremonies long enough to do it in front of the Dodgers? Now THAT would be sweet! Barry Zito will go against Jake Westbrook after the flag raising Friday night. Since Zito is starting that day, I think it is safe to presume it won't be him raising the flag. I'll handicap it as 1. Romo 2. Cain 3. Vogie 4. Affeldt.
Too bad the Cardinals also get a day off to recover from their 16 inning marathon loss to the D'Backs in Arizona.
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Timmy is one scary dude. Starters still have not given up an earned run yet though.
ReplyDeleteOver and under when we will see Runzler for Mijares?
i was reading reports about pablo when he was in augusta...when they were still touting him as the ambidextrous catcher...he wasnt thin then
ReplyDeletebut there is a difference between thick and fat...and fat causes issues as the season grinds on, especially in the more humid climates.
gonna keep beating this dead horse...i put the onus on teams. put more money into the minors so that guys dont find themselves eating at every greasy spoon in the minors. dietary habits are learned. so are workout habits. but cant do much on the per diem the kids or clubbies get
hector didnt get enough chances behind the plate during st. he is basically in extended right now...in the mlb...he will be given april at the very least.
is it that masterful to leave mijares in to almost implode? kontos was great
great double by craw and that play up the middle to get carl???? made vin's toupe spin
nice way to start out the season
now, time to raise the flag and get the rings...in front of the cards once again....could life be sweeter?
ONE FLAP DOWN
bacci
Pablo has never been simply thick. He's always been fat, and he's been significantly fatter at times in the past than he is now. He was also fat long before he started making bus trips in the minors. I would never sign Pablo to a contract longer than 3 years.
DeleteI think Boch played it right with Mijares. You have to get through the string of LH hitters before you bring in the righty to face Kemp then go to the second LHP to face AGone and Ethier.
Agree Crawford came up huge in this game, both at the plate and in the field.
I'm not sure it could get sweeter than raising the flag against the Cards with Don Carlos and Matt Holliday looking on. You think Shawshank will wink at him real quick when he gets his ring? Barry Zito is going to get some massive ovations, what a redemption.
ReplyDeleteAs far as that game last night, great move by Bochy to get The Spartan's (my buddy's new nickname for Kontos, he feels the Greek is too plain) confidence back. And a very nice welcome to the Gints performance by the Cajun.
Bacci - I disagree about the diet thing in this case. Panda has plenty of money to pay for a trainer, a chef or a diet specialist. The fact he said he'll be in shape in 2 years (hey, he's a FA, what a coincidence!) rankles a bit. Still, you can never count him out because that swing he puts on is unique and truly special. I have no idea what to do with Timmy or Panda, I think they are both complex situations, the Giants have their hands full with both. Nice that they powered us to a series win in Chavez Ravine though.
ONE FLAP DOWN.
I thought Hector had caught Timmy quite a bit last year. Are there reasons for why we think Hector may contribute to Timmy's wildness?
ReplyDeleteHe is not a good framer. Umps will not give the close call if the catcher looks like he was surprised by the pitch location.
DeleteSpecifically from last night, Timmeh was visibly frustrated after the PB. Timmeh was almost showing him up on the field by swearing emphatically after. That was not a good thing for Timmeh to do.
Good thing Posey wasn't catching him last night. Think of the ridiculous conclusions we would have reached then.
DeleteIn Hector's defense, I don't think Timmy ever had any idea where the ball going. The ball was entering the strike zone by random chance. Pretty tough to frame pitches and not look surprised by location in that situation.
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