Mike Kickham's debut had some promising moments, but ultimately came unraveled when he couldn't find his way out of trouble in the 3'rd inning. The rest of the game was a snoozer. Key Lines:
Marco Scutaro- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .327. Scutaro's amazing hit parade continues. He just makes it look so easy!
Hunter Pence- 2 for 4, HR(8). BA= .277. Pence is heating up, but his solo blast was too little, too late in this one.
Mike Kickham- 2.1 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 15.43. Despite the terrible line on paper, I saw a lot to be encouraged about here. He's got a bit of an awkward looking delivery with some herky-jerkiness and some flying elbows. With the crossover step, hitters have a bit of a challenge picking up the ball. The FB had plenty of velocity going 91-94 MPH, mostly 92, 93. The curve and slider had sharp breaks and excellent depth. The change looks like it has potential, but he had trouble bringing it into the strike zone. He was not nearly as wild as the numbers would indicate. He didn't get some close calls. A's hitters, as you might expect, took a lot of pitches that other teams' hitters might have swung at. In the end, he just didn't have the veteran moxie to pitch his way out of trouble. Isn't that pretty much what we prognosticated in our Thoughts on Mike Kickham? If he can hang onto his confidence, this kid has the stuff to pitch in the big leagues!
With the Loss, the Giants fall to 2 games behind the idle D'Backs and into a tie for second place in the NL West with the Rockies, who topped the 'Stros 2-1. The Padres beat the Mariners 6-1 and are 6.5 games behind the leaders while the Dodgers blanked the Angels 3-0 and are 7 games back in last place.
Tim Lincecum takes the mound tomorrow evening in AT&T Park facing Lefty Tommy Milone.
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i was working during the vast majority of the game, so i couldnt watch...but i did follow on gameday (through phone)
ReplyDeletenot sure if gameday is totally accurate, but seems like the ump was calling a lot of k's...bb's...especially those that actually caught the corners....and not just for kickham....according to the gameday, gaudin walked in the 5th run on 4 consecutive k's
the kid said he learned a lot from his outing....im wondering if he meant that he learned that mlb umps arent much better than those in the pcl
bacci
Based on the interview I read after his start, he sounded like he was still confident and ready for his next start. I was very encouraged by his start as well, he showed a lot of stuff early on, but just couldn't survive his first big rally. But there's no shame in that, many before him didn't either. I'm looking forward to his next start, though with his short outing, unfortunately, the Giants are not sure when he will get that, at least based on their post-game comments. Hopefully, to your point in the other thread, they are doing that to help him not stress out too much between starts. Else, we might see Loux in the next start.
ReplyDeleteKickham is the anti-Madbum in terms of delivery. All those extra ticks though might serve him well. I actually think Bochy might have facilitated his pre-mature demise by ordering that intentional walk. Kickham was starting to struggle with the zone as it was and with the intentional walk put a guy with command issues in his debut in a high stress situation with bases loaded. Predictably he walks the run in. Might have been a good strategy from a baseball standpoint but not from managing a young pitcher in my opinion. Still would like to see what the kid can do with another outing.
ReplyDeleteI think you could argue the intentional walk both ways. I know I had a bad feeling about it when it happened. I guess it comes down to whether you think the kid is more able to pitch for the strikeout with runners on 2'nd and 3'rd or go for the groundball with the bases juiced. Tough situation either way.
DeleteThe other tipping point that I question is the HR pitch to Norris. Kickham put the pitch exactly where Posey had his glove which just happened to be right in Norris' wheelhouse. Gotta question the pitch calling there.
Looks like his stay is short: Kickham has been optioned back to Fresno and the familiar Ramon Ramirez has been brought up, I would think that he's here to help replace Casilla. However, another 40-man roster move has to be made and moving Surkamp to the 60-day was the easy move, though I suppose they could do the same for Abreu as he's nearing 60-days anyway. They could also activate him and drop him if he's healthy but just rehabbing. But no move announced concurrently, so apparently they have to think about it.
ReplyDeleteBaggarly noted that Kickham could return for Sunday's start if Pagan goes on the DL which would allow the Giants to call him back (much like Machi), but otherwise he would need to wait the full 10 days to return, so the Giants could go with Gaudin next Sunday or perhaps call up Loux to take a start, like he did last season.
Bochy in a video interview on CSN noted that Kickham has "good stuff".
Hopefully Kickham can take away the positives out of the experience. He was able to show off MLB caliber stuff. He got his feet wet in some typical situations he will have to learn how to pitch his way out of in the future. He got added to the 40 man roster.
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