The Giants went to an opposite extreme in this game getting into a slugging contest with the Rockies, which usually turns out badly for them in Coors Field. Instead, it was the Giants who outslugged the Rockies hitting 6 out of the 9 HR's in the game. Key Lines:
Hunter Pence- 3 for 4, 2B, 2 BB. BA= .238. Just what the doctor ordered for the Rev's slumping bat. He got on base in his last 5 PA's.
Brandon Belt- 1 for 5, HR(7), BB. BA= .299. First Giants player since Barry Bonds to hit 7 HR's in his first 21 games.
Michael Morse- 2 for 4, 2 HR(5). BA= .279. This is what the Giants got Morse to do. Now, just stay healthy all year, please?
Hector Sanchez- 2 for 6, 2 HR(2). BA= .161. The second one was a grand slam that put the Giants up by 4. It turned out Romo gave back 2 of those, so it's a good thing it was for 4 runs.
Brandon Hicks- 3 for 6, 2B, HR(2). BA= .250. Hicks has been the best hitter of the second basemen so far, by far.
Matt Cain- 6 IP, 10 H, 7 R, 3 BB, 4 K. ERA= 4.35. Cain gave up 5 runs in the first 2 innings, but battled it out for 6 full. He also got 2 hits and scored a run.
Jeremy Affeldt- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 0.00. Affeldt has been a different pitcher since coming off the DL, and that is a good thing. This is the guy who helped the Giants win 2 WS titles.
With the Win, the Giants upped their record to 12-10, 0.5 games behind the Dodgers pending the outcome of their game with the Phillies which the Dodgers are leading 4-2 in the 8'th inning. The Rockies slipped back behind the Giants by 0.5 games with an 11-10 record while the Padres lost to the Brewers 5-2 and stand in 4'th place at 10-12. The D'Backs topped the Cubs 7-5 to improve their last place record to 6-18.
The Giants get tomorrow off and come home to a weekend interleague series against the Cleveland Indians with Tim Hudson drawing the Friday night start against Carlos Carrasco.
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ReplyDeleteAs if the D'Backs did not have enough problems already, Mark Trumbo has been diagnosed with a stress fracture in his foot, an injury that cost him 6 months in 2011.
Michael Pineda has been drawing rave reviews for his slider since the beginning of spring training. Now we know why. Last start a close up photo clearly showed pine tar on his wrist. Last night, he was ejected in the second inning after a glob of the stuff was found on the back of his neck.
This is what a fully healthy Affeldt can do. And he admittedly recently that he hasn't been fully healthy since 2009 or 10. I assume he's now using his brace full-time, he's going to be invaluable in the bullpen for us, being the closer before the closer for us, as he's been for us since we signed him. He's been exactly what Fangraphs said he was when he was a free agent before signing with the Giants, a lower cost closer-caliber reliever, they nailed that perfectly.
ReplyDeleteHuh? Was that a bit of satire there, o/c? Because if it wasn't, maybe you could post a link or maybe write an entire post about it on your site. I don't recall Fangraphs ever saying that signing a reliever for anything more than minimum salary was a good idea, unless of course Billy Beane did it. As for low cost, I don't recall what Affeldt originally signed for, but that was quite a long time ago. I would not call $15 M over 3 years to be exactly low cost for a reliever. Yes, Affeldt has done some very good things for the Giants. He's had his ups and downs but his ups have been instrumental in helping the Giants win 2 World Series. He has not been inexpensive, though! And before we get carried away here, he's appeared in what, 3 games since coming off the DL? Let's see him do this for a month or two before we get too carried away, not that he hasn't done it in the past.
DeleteAffeldt has had a couple contracts added onto and some options, its hard to recall exactly without going to Cots, but he signed originally for 3.5MM and no less than snarky Keith Law said it was a bargain. he's always been expensive for the Giants, and he's been a big part of the 2 rings. Its nice that he's been in the French Vanilla for six years now, he's been a big comfort in the pen, along with the gas can outings and freak injuries. Good Giant.
DeleteI agree. Maybe it is a semantics issue here, but in my mind, inexpensive is not the same thing as a good value. Affeldt has not been inexpensive compared to other relievers, but he has been a good value.
DeleteNice to see the long homers from a variety of sources. Still torture, the Giant's way.
ReplyDeleteRichard in Winnipeg
The Padres' Josh Johnson is to get another surgery.
ReplyDeleteA new book: Medicine Ball - how a team can gain competitive advantage bargain hunting with superior medical analysis.
It seems every year, you can get formerly good or even very good players cheaply as they seek to come back from injury.
If you know your stuff, via your professional medical advisors, relative to other teams, you will have an edge there, perhaps not always, but more often than not.
You still want to develop your own cheap (and good) players from within, which might take years, but this should be one more route in smart baseball money allocation.
I used to think post-TJ pitchers were good values because they rarely had recurrences and they often pitch just as well or better after the surgery as before. We are currently in the midst of an absolute epidemic of TJ redos. Gotta wonder why we are seeing it all of a sudden now, when it has been so successful in the past. New/different surgeon? Different technique? Less caution post surgery? Gotta be an explanation out there. It seems to be more than just coincidental.
DeleteI wonder if the evolution of the pitcher has moved in a direction that is more harmful to the arm??? Are the technics today damaging young arms inadvertently??? I truly believe that sometimes when a kid starts out a certain way of throwing, that changing him too much can hurt.
ReplyDeleteI also believe these kids don't throw enough and especially, do not take care of their bodies as well as the lack of stretching... Just an opinion..
I don't have the numbers but it seems like a high percentage of the TJ surgeries are done on very high velocity pitchers, so I'm betting that either it is simply a function of velocity or the pitchers are doing something mechanically to increase velocity that also increased strain on the elbow.
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