The Giants won a hard fought, see-saw battle that went into extra innings to come away with a 3 games to 1 series win over the rival Dodgers and a 7-3 record on their epic 10 game road trip that started last weekend in Atlanta. Key Lines:
Angel Pagan- 2 for 3, 2B, 2 BB, Assist(home). BA= .314. The Giants have a lot of contributors right now, but I think Pagan has been the MVP of this team so far and he certainly was today getting on base 4 times, scoring 3 times and cutting down a run at home plate(although it was stupid for the Dodgers to send AGone there).
Buster Posey- 2 for 4, BB. BA= .306. Buster's BA has been climbing again. On base 3 more times in this game.
Pablo Sandoval- 3 for 5, 2B. BA= .189. Although the hits were not that impressive, they were hits. Hopefully this is Sandoval's season breakout. The Giants need his bat now that Belt is out for an extended period.
Brandon Hicks- 1 for 4, HR(7), HBP. BA= .200. Hicks rises up and takes the Dodgers' ace deep to put the Giants up by 1 in the top of the 7'th after the Dodgers had taken a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the 6'th. He's become the Dan Uggla that some Giants fans have been pining for, for years!
Tim Hudson- 6 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K, GO/AO= 15/0! ERA= 2.09. Even when he is maybe not at his best, the Giants know they are going to get a battle out of Huddy no matter who he is going up against. 15 groundball outs! That is unreal!
Jeremy Affeldt- 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 1.38. 2 big outs from Affeldt open the bottom of the 7'th.
Santiago Casilla- 1.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 0.81. Yet another appearance of more than 1 IP from Casilla.
Sergio Romo- 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 2 K's, BS(1), W(3-0). ERA= 2.60. Romo was due for a BS. He got strike 1 on Hanley with a slider over the middle of the plate. He needed to move the next one to the outside corner, but hung it over the middle and Hanley made him pay sending it to extra innings.
Jean Machi- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's, Save(1). ERA= 0.49. The Giants mounted an unlikely 3 run rally off Kenley Jansen in the top of the 10'th to take the final lead. Machi came in and managed to make it a nail biter as he allowed 2 runners to reach base then wild-pitched them to 2'nd and 3'rd. Not that those runners meant anything, but the tying run was at the plate twice in the inning.
The Rockies lost to Cincy 4-1, so the Giants come home from the 10 game roadie leading the NL West by 2 games. The Dodgers fall 4.5 games out of the lead in 3'rd place. The Padres topped the Marlins 5-4 to remain 6.5 games out of the lead in 4'th place and the last place D'Backs beat the ChiSox 5-1 to remain 10 games out.
The Giants now come home, but there is no rest for the weary as they immediately start a 7 game home stand against the Braves and Marlins. The Braves will be looking to avenge the sweep the Giants put on them in ATL and the Marlins, who always give the Giants fits, are no pushovers this year.
Tim Lincecum faces Gavin Floyd in Game 1 tomorrow night.
Gotta be excited about how the Giants are playing right now. If this road trip didn't get your juices flowing, not sure what will.
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Hicks, Morse and Hudson...nice additions.
ReplyDeleteBTW, how is Scutaro? Is he getting close at all? When will we see him this year?
I read recently that Scutaro is feeling better, but is still a ways off from starting to play in rehab games.
DeleteI heard the same, and the status is still the same: Scutaro can play one game fine, but it is playing consecutive days that is not working for him.
DeleteGiven how well Hicks is working out, I don't see how the Giants don't just keep him on the DL all season - he'll probably never be fully healthy, he's been dealing with this problem forever because of his uneven legs - then bring him in September to deliver key pinch-hits and perhaps take a bench role in the playoffs, certainly nobody is doing it great so far for us on the bench other than Hanchez, they could leave Adrianza off the playoff roster as they won't need to fear losing him.
Poor Hudson. That's two victories the bullpen has cost Hudson this year. For having such a weak offensive bench, the Giants seem to pull out some late innings games. Feast or famine with Hicks. The Giants have seemed to have gotten back to the that determination not to lose... Hope and believe...
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That was a wild game.. Thought the Giants had no chance with that bomb squad lineup they had full of sub 200 batting averages, wonder what Hudson was thinking after seeing the lineup.. Then Posey hits into the DP and Panda hits the RBI double in the 1st inning.. Should have known then that we're in for a crazy game... Scully mentioned that Hicks stunning HR was the 2nd that Kershaw has given up his entire career on his curve ball.. That's amazing in itself.. Crawford's sparking play going in the hole in the 7th inning to rob Hanley had to make ESPN's defensive highlight reel.. Agreed, that they do have a weak offensive bench after Hector.. Hope they find more ways to fit Hector into the starting lineup with Belt out, like this guy coming to the plate with runners in scoring position better then some of their regular position players..
ReplyDeleteLG
Interesting that they went with Colvin after Belt went down - sort of another all-or-nothing reputation. I was hoping they'd go Susac and get him in behind the dish occasionally. Morse is starting to slow down a bit, pitchers probably making some adjustments and its his turn to figure it out. If Pablo can get out of this funk, I like this team. No way we win this game in the past, we were too dependent on pitching, but now we have a handful of hackers and one of them seems to run into a long ball almost every day right now!
DeleteThat's a good reason to keep him on the bench, so that when RISP comes up, Bochy can insert him in. Which is perfect since he's a SH.
DeleteIn any case, not going to happen if they stick to the plan to start Morse at 1B full-time, no defensive pulls late in games, as Hector starting usually means Posey starting at 1B or resting on the bench.
Yes the Giants are looking like a top team right now (one if not the favorite in my opinion). Hope I see more Hector and Buster than Arias or Blanco out there, right both are pretty much useless.
ReplyDeleteDoc, have you heard any news on Scutaro? I haven't heard any, looking more like a Huff, Freddy Sanchez situation of his.
See my response to the first comment above on Scutaro. I read recently that he is feeling better, but still no close to playing in games.
DeleteI note that Ken Rosenthal today (12 May) writes that Bochy is the best manager in the game. That doesn't make it so, but it suggests how plausible the flat, outright statement is.
ReplyDeleteHe is certainly one of the best, if not THE best. IMO, Bruce Bochy and Brian Sabean are both 1 more WS win away from the HOF.
DeleteAgreed, one more World Championship should seal the deal for them in the HOF. And I can't imagine any manager being better, few (probably none) managers can add four wins regularly to their team by any metric like Bochy can.
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