Giants hitters were not able to overcome a subpar performance from the pitchers and settled for a split of their 6 game road trip. Key Lines:
Gregor Blanco- 3 for 5. BA= .254. Blanco seems to be out of his slump. .290 over his last 10 games with an additional 5 BB's. 6 for his last 13
Brandon Crawford- 2 for 4, HR(8), BB. BA= .274. Crawford's season just keeps getting better. He came into this game with a fWAR of 2.4 which only got better.
Brandon Belt- 0 for 5, 2 K's. BA= .274. So much for the perfect 3 hole hitter thing. Belt was the black hole in the lineup today as 6 of the top 7 batters reached base twice and 4 of them reached base 3 times. 18 baserunners with 2 dingers and 3 doubles should score more than 5 runs. If you want to know why they didn't, you will quickly find Belt's line in the boxscore.
Hunter Pence- 2 for 5, HR(15). BA= .282. The Rev is hitting .357 over his last 10 games, .348 since the All-Star Break. He is on pace to finish at or near his career averages.
Pablo Sandoval- 2 for 5, 2B. BA= .268. Sandoval is now up to .343 over his last 10 games after going 0 for 9 for the first 3 of those. He has an additional 7 BB's over his last 10 games.
Hector Sanchez- 2 for 3, 2B, 2 BB. BA= .246. The Hector! Since the rest of the season should be for evaluation, I would be in favor of resting Buster more as well as playing him at 1B more and getting The Hector more work behind the plate. Sanchez also needs to move in with Pablo and double Luis Sandoval's salary as a personal chef.
Roger Kieschnick- 1 for 2, 2 BB. BA= .245. Roger K is hitting just .143 over his last 10, but is certainly not swinging wildly. He has 6 BB's in his last 4 games with just 1 K. Giants need to keep running him out there and see where this leads.
Madison Bumgarner- 5 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 2.87. An un-Bummy line.
Giants now come home for a 7 game homestand starting with 3 games against the BoSox which should be a popular series to get tickets for. Tim Lincecum faces Jon Lester in the first game tomorrow night.
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I agree that Hector needs more work behind the plate. Looking back at his career stats he hasn't played much since he split time between A/AAA/ and majors in 2011. He was Buster's backup in 2012 and battled injuries in 2013. I'm excited that Hector is a SH offensive 1st catcher, but I'm wondering if he spent enough time in the minors to develop his defensive skills. If he doesn't develop his defensive skills enough, I can't see him being more then a career backup.
ReplyDeleteI'll get into the Giants draft position more maybe 25 games from now, and if they still have a shot at a top 10 pick, I'll be on the lookout for a to 10 draft prospect rankings!
LG
Wow, way to throw Belt under the bus. The team was 1 for 11 in RISP. Belt had a bad game, but putting all the blame on Belt is beyond any rationale.
ReplyDeleteDid I put all the blame on Belt? Go back and read my game wrap. Yes, it THIS game Belt was a big part of the reason why they lost. The Game Wrap is for THIS game. I do believe I mentioned something about the pitching too. Geez, people! If you have read anything at all on this blog over the last 3 seasons, I think I have been as balanced as anyone on Brandon Belt. He has is strong points and his not so good ones. He has his good games and he has his stinkers. I am not throwing him under the bus any more than I am throwing Madison Bumgarner or the pitching staff under the bus. If he has a good game tomorrow, his name will be right there in the Key Lines with the praise that is due him.
DeleteYou clearly said "so much for the perfect 3 hole hitter thing." That sounds awfully like you're saying he's not right for the spot, even though he's had one bad game in his last 15 or so. Also failing to mention that the rest of the team did nothing with RISP.
DeleteAgain, you must not read much of my stuff, or you would recognize my ironic sense of humor that is maybe a little off kilter. It's just a bit ironic that the very day after I sang his praises as the PERFECT 3-hole hitter, he would lay down a stinker like this, don't you think? That is ALL I was getting at. Come on, people! I know it's been a tough season but lighten up just a bit, please!
DeleteYou know how it goes with Belt fanboys. Point out any flaw, or mention a poor play/game without putting all the blame on Bochy, and you're labeled a hater. It's not like you piled on by mentioning his throwing error.
DeletePeter
Belt went 0 for 5 and left 5 runners on base which led the team. He came up to bat twice with runners on 1st and 2nd base in the 5th and 8th inning and failed to deliver. I read the same game wrap and came away with the impression that Belt had a bad game thats all. Baseball is a team game, so for those who think the game wrap is placing all the blame on Belt are reading too much into it in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteWith Lester starting tomorrow, does Belt start? The Giants gotta win tomorrow because the Red Sox will be tired from playing in the Sunday night game.
LG
Thank you, LG.
DeleteHere's the thing. Yes, there was plenty of blame to go around in this one, but when a player is the only one of the 8 starting position players to fail to reach base and the only one of the first 7 to not reach base twice, then the line stands out a bit, don't you think? I just found it ironic and a bit humorous that just yesterday I was saying Belt is the PERFECT 3-hole hitter and today he is the only player who fails to get on base and the only one in the first 7 batters to not get on base at least twice. So I was a bit irrationally exuberant about him yesterday and a bit harsh on him today. That's all, folks, that's all!!
I know this is a serious blog. I strive for it to be a serious blog and for people to take it seriously. But, that does not mean that every single line I write is going to have some deep meaning or is some big pronouncement. I try to have some fun with it too. In fact, the whole point of the blog is for it to be a hobby and recreation for me. Believe, me, the day it stops being fun is the day I will shut it down! So please, while we are all serious Giants fans, please do not take every word of every sentence I write and pick it apart like it's some passage of scripture or a Supreme Court decision!
I'll admit that I was going to note the Belt thing and agree that I'm probably a bit too wrapped up and need to lighten up. Thanks for the reminder and for the great handling of your blog, I look forward to reading it every day, good news or bad. Keep up the great work!
ReplyDeleteI have to wonder about Pablo's oldest brother: did he want to be a chef and that dovetails nicely into his little brother's needs, or did he do that to help his bro? Either way, finally Sandoval is getting help with his nutrition that he needs. Too bad he didn't hang out with Zito and Wilson a few years back, Zito had packets of food sent to him, Wilson picked up on that too.
Speaking of Wilson, it appears that he's still mad at the Giants given his comments twisting the situation that the Giants felt obliged to present their side of the story. I guess we've seen the last of him as a Giant, or did he play enough to qualify for the Giants Wall of Fame? Hopefully.
That's been encouraging of Roger K to see all the walks, though obviously we want his power eventually. More encouraging, in his last four starts, 6 walks only 1 K, showing that he's got a pretty good view of the strike zone and that pitchers are not giving him many strikes to swing at. Still for the ones he is swinging at, only 2 for 11, with a triple. But with 6 walks, that's a .471 OBP in the four games. That gives him an .835 OPS as well. SSS, but rooks got to start somewhere. In contrast, in his prior 6 appearances with 5 starts, 12 K's in 17 ABs, only 2 hits and 1 BB, so no wonder pitchers were not giving him anything good to swing at the past few games. They were pitching him to make him prove that he can hold off from swinging at balls.
But he's going to have to start hitting more else Pill's going to start getting LF starts. And if he continues to not do that well, maybe the Giants decided to start Belt in LF and let Pill start at 1B.
About Posey, Bochy has said that given Belt's good hitting, he's probably giving Posey complete days rest instead of starting him at 1B. If Pill ends up starting at 1B, then they probably start Posey at 1B again.
Un-Bumgarner line, but he's had a nice string, he's not going to be perfect. Time for him to start another good string to last to the end of the season, hopefully.
It was quite obvious a long time ago that Brian Wilson craves attention. I think we can expect a lot more outrageous things from him in the future. Wouldn't shock me if he dyed his beard blue! Hey Brian! I thought of of first! I think he's already tied it into a rat-tail.
DeleteI am cautiously encouraged by Roger K's walks, but yeah, it's an extremely small sample size and as we've learned from Belt's experience, going up there looking to take a walk is not always a good thing.
As Posey progresses in his 8 year contract and as he comes out of his current slump, the Giants are going to have to find alternative ways of getting him in the lineup besides as the starting catcher. That's the reality and given the magnitude of his talent and the Giants commitment to him, he's going to be the priority. Corollary: If Belt wants to play every day, he's going to need to be able to play some LF.
I was thinking Brian Bocock was the learning experience that walks is not always good. But the difference is that both Bocock and Belt, while taking balls and getting walks, was also striking out a ton. I know it's small samples, but I'm encouraged that Roger K was able to go from 12 K's in 17AB to 1 K in 11 AB. I know there's no way he'll keep up that walk rate, so the thing that got my attention was really his 1 K in 11 AB. He has to continue this for a long time for it to be a skill, but ya gotta start somewhere. And the extremes of the two was catching as well.
DeleteI think Brian Bocock is a permanent joke punchline for GIants fans into perpetuity.
DeleteIf Brandon Belt would just toughen up a bit so he could be super duper awesome and the ability to turn every post into a rat-cluster-bad words comin'...
ReplyDeleteI had no problem interpreting, after a few days off. First I read that DrB called him the perfect 3-hole guy, then in this post he said he done screwed the pooch. That's funny, you could call it an ugly-finder, or a jinx, or what not.
If Hector and Pablo take their conditioning seriously, they might have better results. Too bad we have to watch it all unfold the hard way. Just a frustrating season. The Dodgers refuse to lose, no ground gained even though the Gigantes are playing well. (5-5 = well in this star crossed charade). Still behind the Pads and Rocks, but I don't expect that to stick.
Exactly! It was almost like I jinxed Belt with my irrational exuberance the day before. That was really the point of my comment. I guess it didn't come across the way I wanted, at least to some of the readers. Where is BLSL when we need him?
DeleteWell, in my defense, I've been battling a bug for the past week, and I think I picked up another one over the weekend, my brain has not been at its best.
DeleteUgh, not that again, I'm done with that discussion with BLSL.
I think it's pretty clear that if Pablo takes his conditioning more seriously, he will have better results. The major issue is keeping him healthy. He was just getting over his DL stint and hitting well in late July (.344/.416/.547/.962 in 18 games), when he injured his foot and had to start from scratch again in August, and now he's hitting again since August 11th. These injuries just seem to set his bat backwards until he finds it again.
If he can stay healthy and Belt's bat can stay in sync with his mechanics, that's going to be a big help to climbing back up to .500 this season, plus getting Bochy back over .500 for his managerial career again. He just reached .500 again last season, after being much under for a number of years. He was above leading up to his SD NL Pennant in 1998, but the losses in 1999 to 2003 really set him back, then taking over the Giants in 2007 and 2008, dropped him further down.
Dodgers have been mad crazy good!!! I knew that they were winning, but was unaware until digging in that they have been batshoot good for like two months! They reached their low on June 21, 30-42, which is not that long ago, but they have been 42-9 since. Playing totally over their heads, and will eventually come back down to earth, they are not that good.
But some teams have road hot streaks like this into the playoffs, and win it all. I guess the good news of this is that Sheriff Ned and Deputy Donny will probably keep their jobs for another year, maybe get a contract extension out of it.
I'm not so sure the Dodgers aren't that good. They've spent a lot of money and gotten talent in return. It was always a matter of whether they could put it together on the field. To just dismiss the Dodgers as playing over their heads strikes me as somewhat wishful thinking.
DeleteOh, and while I don't think Pablo's wrist problems in the past were weight related, there is a high probability that is foot problems this year were. Taking some of that weight off may help keep those from recurring.
DeleteWell, we'll find out how it rolls, they are playoff bound. Hanley Ramirez has really turned his game around from last year. The Dodgers have some good pitching, it will be interesting to see if Greinke turns into a headcase in the post-season, and how Ryu holds up. He seems hittable, but he is also a cool customer under duress. The two biggest surprises (besides Puig) have been Hanley and Ryu. They have played quite well this year and are big pieces.
DeleteRyu didn't surprise me. I caught one of his Spring Training games on TV, posted a fairly in-depth analysis here (totally out-of-character for me). My (troubling) conclusion at the time was that this guy has outstanding command (with 4 pitches, to both sides of the plate, as well as vertical: true corner pitcher.) Shiny, shiny polish on the guy. His stuff won't dazzle you. But he does not make many mistakes.
DeleteHanley, though, has been a big shock to me. The ball is jumping off his bat. This was NOT happening in FLA, or even last year in LA.
But you had to know Hanley had it in him somewhere to go off like this. I mean, he's done it before.
DeleteNo team is 42-9 good, no team.
DeleteSo they are playing waaay over their heads right now. Remember, this is basically the same team that was under 500 not that long ago, their pitching was a consistent 3.8 or so ERA for the first three months of the season, and the offense was not that good either, and there were not many guys playing under expectations either. Hanley has returned to goodness, Puig too, though I wonder if his outburst against the media was the beginning of the cracks in his armor. But the rest of the lineup has been hitting well where they were hitting their career numbers before. And the bullpen is not going to maintain a 1-something ERA for the rest of the season, nor will the rotation keep its ERA in the low twos overall. They are not that good, to my point.
So maybe they stay hot for a while, but they will revert at some point. They are a good team with Hanley and Puig hitting, but the rest of the club is pretty ordinary beyond Kershaw and the hitters, and Greinke and their closer, and Ryu. Good, not 42-9 good.
Yeah, they aren't very good except for Hanley, Puig, Kershaw, Greinke, Jansen, Ryu.......
Deleteogc,
You are looking at this through orange colored glasses. Yeah, maybe they won't keep up a 42-9 pace indefinitely, but they don't have to. They were WAY underperforming early in the season so you can't expect them to go back to that either.
I have said it all along, even when they were going bad. The Dodgers are the team to beat this year and probably will be for the forseeable future. That is the reality us Giants fans are going to have to adjust to. The Dodgers are the Yankees of the National League or the Yankees of the West or the Baseball Lakers, however you want to describe it. Doesn't mean they are going to win the WS every year, but they are going to be the team everybody else has to try to beat.