The Giants got an excellent start from Barry Zito and a nails effort from the bullpen. Hector Sanchez hit a walk-off bases-loaded single in the 10'th inning and the Giants got that Marlins monkey off their backs with a much needed win. Key lines:
Gregor Blanco- 3 for 5, 2B. BA= .300. Blanco's second 3-hit game in a row. He's hitting .462 over his last 10 games and where would this team be without him? His WAR must have taken a jump these last 2 games!
Hector Sanchez- 1 for 1. BA= .219. The Hector has 4 hits in his last 10 AB's, 3 for his last 5. He looks to be in much better shape than earlier in the season and even than last year. Quiroz had a great spring, but has not looked so good over the last couple of months. I'll take The Hector, thank you!
Barry Zito- 7 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 4.40. It didn't look so good after the Marlins scored a run in the first inning, but Zeets settled down and pitched a fine game to keep the Giants in it late. Nice job! With Zito, it is so hard to forget his disaster starts because they are so bad, but once again, his good starts are much more numerous than his bad ones. So far this season, Zito has had 10 Quality or near-Quality Starts against just 4 "Disaster" starts. In those 10 "good" starts, he has an ERA of 1.89! In one of his 4 "Disaster" starts, he gave up 5 unearned runs and just 1 Earned Run in 3.2 IP, so he really has had just 3 "Disaster" starts that were his fault. At this point, I would say he is solidly on track to have his option picked up or else his contract renegotiated and extended at the end of the season.
Sergio Romo- 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 2.40. Clutch effort from Romo in a non-Save situation.
Sandy Rosario- 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 2.84. Rosario has been lights out since being recalled from Fresno. 10 IP, 2 ER, 14 K's against 4 BB. I think Rosario is going to prove to be another long term keeper found in the dumpster. Love his stuff! I think he might even be used as a starter if worse came to worse.
The Win allowed the Giants to keep pace with the NL West leading D'Backs who topped the Reds 4-3, 3 games back in 2'nd place. The Padres lost to the Last Place Dodgers 6-1 to fall 3.5 games back in 3'rd place. The Rockies beat the Nationals 7-1 to remain 4 games behind the leaders in 4'th place while the Dodgers stayed 9.5 games back.
Matt Cain tries to salvage a split in the 4 game series and a winning homestand facing Nate Eovaldi at AT&T Park tomorrow afternoon.
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Needed that win desperately. Great effort by a cast of characters. Glad Pence made that catch. Rosario was fiery and has good stuff. Great looking pickup for sure.
ReplyDeleteZito was a horse. Its pretty amazing how much Zito has grown on all fans. Where there used to be some pretty bitter moments now there are standing ovations. That's been one of my favorite stories in the past two years.
But Blanco is right up there too. What a likeable guy, fast as hell, great defender and he has some nifty pop and knows how to get into the alleys. Its guys like these that really make me question all the anger over the draft. The Giants just snagged a couple of youths we'll have no idea about for a while, and they have guys out scouting indy ball, winter leagues, b-list colleges... These are great stories, and really fun players to root for. Getting unearthed by our guys, being given amazing chances and delivering amazing results.
Too bad people can't be happy. I sure am happy for Hector Sanchez. You know, saber snarkers, you cannot draw a walk when teams are coming at you. It just isn't possible in the majors, where pitchers have amazing control and amazing tricks. Good for Hector to get into better shape, shake some rust off his bat and come back ready to grab chances.
Please bring your A Game Matty, and lets get a split off of this miserable franchise.
While it is realistically not possible to say that Zito's contract has been good for the Giants, it has been far from a disaster. Except for 2011, he has been healthy and shown up for every start. He has eaten a lot of innings over the years. Early in the contract, he was a lightning rod that took scrutiny and pressure away from Matt Cain. Despite the cost, he has not been an "albatross" because the Giants won 2 World Series with him on the roster and his salary on the payroll. If you look at his QS in 2010, he did make a significant contribution to the 2010 championship even if he was not on the postseason roster. His contribution to the 2012 championship was huge.
DeleteNow, if you had asked most fans prior to 2010 if they would be willing to pay $127 M to one player if they knew that player would be a major contributor to just one championship, even if all the other years were a waste, most would have said yes. Remember, before 2010, the Giants had NEVER won a championship in SF.
On top of all that, Barry Zito has been through some very tough times, including the humiliation of being left off the postseason roster in 2010 and very rough treatment by the fans. If he's ever complained about it, he has done it privately to people who would not report it. Dude has conducted himself like a true professional and with a mental toughness and unselfishness that is very rare in athletes these days.
I do not see Zito's option being picked up by the Giants (probably only if they win the WS and Zito comes up big time again).
DeleteTo me, more likely is that they renegotiate that buyout clause of $8m and work from there towards an extension, maybe 3yrs/$24-30m?
Am looking at a Kyle Lohse sort of extension or lesser. If he keeps up those home/road splits thats going to hurt him big time in whatever contract negotiations he's having with the giants or another team.
Btw, I do understand that Zito has been very valuable for the giants these last couple of years or so but regardless of that the contract is going to be one of the worse, top 20 for sure. You look at his stats and he's never had an ERA of less than 4 thats pretty unacceptable for a $20m guy.
Another thing is, is this really Zito's fault or the Giants who overpaid for his services? Was he really worth a $127m contract when he was a free agent (remember that baseball was different those days these huge contracts weren't giving out like a piece of cake)
I think they will probably renegotiate too, however, you have to remember they have to pay him $7 M regardless, so the difference between his option salary and buyout is just $12 M. That is right about the cost of getting an alternative on the market who will give you 18-20 QS in a season. Barring a complete collapse in the second half, I believe there is a high probability that Zito is a Giant next year, one way or another.
DeleteThe Zito contract isn't on the same par with Mike Hampton or Kevin Brown or Jason Schmidt for that matter. There might be a new examination of how stats are evaluated in the next few years which would show that pretty clearly. The best thing for Zito is his stellar performances in the 2012 postseason. He can end any smack talk immediately with a quick mention of that, not that he would mellow avocado eatin' guy that he is. Zito is either really good or really bad, not much in between. That's life on the margins with a 86 MPH heater. But when he has his locations and that curve ball comes out to play, he can be a great pitcher still. Learning to pitch backwards is an art, and it takes a lot of confidence and experience.
DeleteI'm sure the best feeling of redemption for Zito was having his entire team chanting his name as they celebrated the championship. Unlike "fans" on the interwebz, these guys know what's what.
Remember the rules of Zito: Pitch to contact (avoid walks), keep the ball down, build a lead, bring the curve ball out to play, profit.
DeleteDrB is right on with these #s on the contract, and we've been saying that for over a year now in this joint. The Zito story has a few more months or another year to play out on that contract. And that's the proper analysis - 18-20 QS from your 5th guy where he allows 0-2 runs (which is what 2012 Barry did)? I'll take that in a heartbeat. And I'm pretty sure FO's would too.
The ability to take the bump every 5 days, as Zito has done all of his career except for the 2011 freak injury car crash/ankle turn, is a very underrated aspect that gets overlooked by armchairs but is very valued by GMs. And I might have to add that OGC has defended Zito as I've attacked him some, because I'm impatient as all get out, and I wasn't happy with the 2012 spring training results. Few were.
I was of course glad to see this win, too; but still more encouraged by the run of good games from our starters, Cain, Bumgarner, Gaudin (for as long as he pitched), Lincecum, and now Zito. While the Chicken Littles on various blog sites couldn't unfix their desperate eyes from the dark heavens, and amid all the calls for our getting Nolasco or Norris or No-Matter-Who, ll five of the rotation came through at least one time. This gives me hope that the Giants' greatest point of concern may be solving itself, as our pitching gets back to what we have reasonably enough taken as the norm for it.
ReplyDeleteWe're in a virtual tie for the best BA in the NL (StL .276, Giants .273, Rockies .270), among three teams more or less tied for third in OPS, and fifth in RS (among four teams between 312 and 319, following three teams with distinctly better RS)--this despite our having a park factor that inhibits scoring. If the pitching now reverts to pre-season expectations, and we are no more damaged by injuries than our rivals, we should have a very pleasing summer ahead.
I'll stand by this smug? appraisal even after the disgraceful performance today . . .
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