The Giants failed to score after Brandon Belt's 3 run HR in the top of the first inning while the D'Backs chipped away at Matt Cain and JC Gutierrez with the help of some questionable umpiring to pull out the win. Key Lines:
Brandon Belt- 2 for 4, HR(2). BA= .556. Belt is being much more aggressive early in the counts and is getting some good pitches to hit. 2 dingerz in 2 games!
Matt Cain- 5 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K. ERA= 3.60. In a way, Cain's stuff might have been too good as his slider had all kinds of movement on it in two planes. That movement might have made it harder to command and he might have been a little too stubborn in trying to establish it. The result was a huge percentage of his 100 pitches out of the stretch. Still, had it not been for 2 very questionable umpiring calls in the 4'th inning, he might have pulled a Win out of this one. With AJ Pollack at first, Cain appeared to pick him off with the ump starting to pull the trigger on an Out call, but then called him safe. The replay appeared to show Belt taking him on the upper arm before his hand hit the bag, but I have to admit the replays were inconclusive. Having used up their replay appeal, the Giants could not ask for one then 2 plays later, Pollack scored on a passed ball by Buster Posey, but on replays appeared to hit Matt Cain's glove on top of the plate with his foot before he touched home plate. The ump called him safe.
JC Gutierrez- 2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 K. Cain left the game after 5 due to the pitch count. Gutierrez promptly coughed it up. He had a very good FB, but kept hanging breaking balls and the D'backs kept hammering them. Kruk did a great job explaining that if you want to pitch backward, you better make sure you get the breaking ball over for a strike, otherwise you are sitting 2-0 after 2 breaking balls and everybody in the ballpark knows you have to throw a FB for a strike on the next pitch, maybe the next two pitches!
The loss evens the Giants record at 1-1 and they fall 1 game behind the Dodgers who topped the Padres 3-2 to run their record to 3-1. The Padres stayed even with the Giants, tied for 2'nd place in the NL West. The D'Backs got their first win and are 2 games off the pace in 4'th place at 1-3, while the Rockies lost to the Marlins for the second straight game to fall to 0-2, in last place by percentage points.
Tim Hudson makes his Giants regular season debut tomorrow evening facing Trevor Cahill.
Around the League:
Brian Wilson goes on the DL with nerve irritation in his elbow. THAT is not good after 2 TJ's. He definitely did not look right on Sunday night in San Diego.
The Dodgers also announced that Clayton Kershaw would begin a "submaximal throwing program expected to last 2-3 weeks which likely puts his return to the Dodgers' rotation into May.
Catcher Wilson Ramos of the Nationals, who has missed a ton of time to injury in the last 2 seasons now is believed to have a hamate injury in his wrist and may need surgery.
Bobby Parnell, Mets closer, has a partial tear of the "medial collateral ligament" of his right elbow. I'm no orthopedist nor anatomist, but the ulna is on the medial aspect of the elbow, so I'm taking this to be another name for a UCL tear.
Jose Reyes, the glass man who plays on concrete, hit the 15 day DL after just one AB due to a hammy.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
doc, are you surprised that the giants were on the losing end of the first glitch in the new replay system?
ReplyDeletecould be the first time in mlb history, where a player was out twice in the same inning and still scored
there were also two calls that bochy couldve called replay on and chose not to
one he shouldve even have to
why the mlb hasnt instituted the same tech that tennis uses to call balls foul and out (laser) is beyond me
the "human element" in the 21st century, is a total joke....and umps continue to get worse and worse, in their play calling ability
so far this season, i have been wrong about belt and thats a good thing'
craw still seeing the ball well
and im am sure that we will see a ton of movement in the pen, over the first two months
re parnell....he was complaining about arm stiffness prior to the game....good job by the mets training staff in taking that lightly
re wilson....boo friggin hoo
re kershaw...to the southland press idiots....no guys, kershaw's issues have nothing at all to do with the plane ride, too and from australia....
well, rubber game tomorrow and then its time to face the evil ones
bacci
Great comments, Bacci. You're on fire today! It's a 4 gamer in the desert, though.
DeleteHurting your arm on a plane ride? That's Affeldt's next mission for an unlikely injury, not Kershaw's thing.
Deleteugggh
Deleteim out of the loop
reading through my comments, i can see how tired i was when i wrote them
btw, the called strike 3 that ended the game..wasnt
dont know if we will see it in our lifetime, but i do believe that umpiring may end up going fully automated
the game is just too fast and the current state of umpiring is just too flawed
i see the bums are starting to do real promos this season
they have taken a page from the minors and are having 3 post game movie nights...good way to improve on the family atmosphere (i still wont go attend games there)
and the other promo, still shows them with head placed firmly up butt
alan thicke's kid is doing a concert....before a game against the giants
BEFORE???
thats just frickin silly
ok....with a 4 game series, lets hope the giants get out of the desert at least at 500
i think the snakes are not as bad as they look on paper
and how did you like the stros rockin the yanks?
i said it last season that i thought the stros were building a team the correct way.
bacci
Astros are getting in good position to have a harmonic convergence when all those #1 overall draft picks hit. Kind of like the Giants of 2008 and 2009 got themselves in great position to take full advantage of Timmy, Bummy and Buster.
DeleteDrB Timmy, Bummy, Cain and Buster are superstars. Giants were extremely lucky to get these players that were/are not only good but superstars. Look at Tampa they got Price and Longoria but not 4 like the Giants did through the draft. Is a once in a lifetime thing. The Astros and Cubs think they can do this too but while these players may end being very good they are still a longshot to reach superstardom like the Giants players did.
DeleteWe'll see how it all plays out in Houston and ChiTown. At least they are following the same blueprint. It doesn't always work that way, though.
DeleteWasn't Wilson Ramos the guy that got kidnapped in Venezuela a few years ago?
ReplyDeleteNo wonder Gutierrez was available as a minor free agent: gas can. Giants are just going to have to survive the first half of April while the starters get their command and their legs. Then Gutierrez can be jettisoned. We'll see about Huff. I'm guessing Huddy does well tonight and Huff gets the call when Lincecum doesn't go past 5 tomorrow.
What'd you think about balls & strikes, doc? Lot of people bitching and moaning, but I thought the Dbacks consistency to the corners won them a few pitches off the plate. That's baseball, IMO, hypnotizing the blue. And Cooper loves the punch out. The last pitch of the game was probably the most questionable, one every pitcher would love to have.
I thought the strike zone was inconsistent, but inconsistent on both sides.
DeleteYeah, I think that's right about Ramos.
DeleteWhat'd you think of the 8th inning guy for the Dbacks, Harris?
ReplyDeletePoor man's Rivera? 91-92 cutter after cutter.
Very poor man's. I felt like the Giants almost got to him. BTW, Prado didn't make any fantastic plays at 3B, but he made a whole bunch of very good ones.
DeleteOK team! Got this from Alex Pavlovic on Giants Extra but it's priceless! Quote from Jeremy Affeldt on his knee injury which is apparently a recurrence of something from 2012: "The question was, why weren't you wearing the brace. I didn't have an answer. The look I got was not a friendly one!"……... LOL!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteJC Gutierrez sucks... and not just because of last night. He's been a gas can his whole career! I get wanting to see what an out of options guy can do, but he needs to be on the first train out of SF the second Affedlt is ready.
ReplyDeleteI hope they don't sit on their hands while we have some awesome BP talent just waiting in the high minors. Wanting two long men is understandable given the ? in our rotation, but if Petit continues throwing batting practice like he did in game 1 then he needs to be on that same train as JC.
That game was generally frustrating in a lot of ways. The Giants failing to score after a great first inning. The blown calls. The good plays against us. But I would also add, the strikeouts in the 9th inning. Belt K'd on a decent pitch. Then Perez strikes out looking on a FB? I know he is young and it is early in the season, but I teach the 10 year olds on my little league team that you can't end a game looking.
ReplyDeletePerez struck out looking twice - the earlier one with less than two outs and man on third, I believe.
DeleteNot a good night for him or the team.
That pen of ours is going to be a work in progress all year. Sabean is going to have to deal some farmhands if we're in contention. I would have liked to have Law instead of Gutierrez, I think there isn't enough of a book on Law, he could have a bit of success before the brutal adjustments and counter-adjustments kick in. Gas can bullpen = no fun. But Matt Cain was working hard as well, and the Giants hitters decided to get docile after a nice 1st inning. Excited to see Huddy for today's game.
ReplyDeleteUggh. Don't like losing by snoozing. 4 up and pissed it away.
ReplyDeleteThe pen needs to be shutdown from the fifth inning on. This one of the Giants hidden strengths in the past few years, to bring in closer stuff relievers from the 5th inning on. When you're up by four you got to stomp on the snakes.
I think Huddy gets Giants starters past the 6th inning tonight.
It would be interesting to see how people replay challenge calls.
ReplyDeleteClose game, looking like a pitching duel - challenge an iffy call in the 3rd or 4th?
Waiting till late in the game?