The Gianst took advantage of a terrible, non-reviewable umpiring mistake and Matt Cain recovered from a rocky start to notch his first Win of the season in a come-from-behind Giants victory. Key Lines:
Angel Pagan- 2 for 4, BB, SB(9). BA= .327. Pagan's 10 pitch AB which ended in a walk to lead off the 6'th inning started the Giants winning rally.
Hunter Pence= 3 for 5, 2B. BA= .283. Pence continued his hot hitting, but one of his hits was tainted by a bad umpiring call that went his way. After Pagan walked to lead off the 6'th inning, Pence hit a dribbler up the 1B line that clearly hit his left foot in fair territory about a fourth of the way up the line, and it caromed into foul territory. The ump ruled it a foul ball. Marlins Manager Mike Redmond came out and asked for a review but was told that foul balls inside the bases are not reviewable. The umps did huddle but nobody overturned the call. On the next pitch, Pence lined a single to RF sending Pagan to 3B. Buster Posey followed with a drive to the deepest part of Triples Alley to easily drive in both Pagan and Pence. Posey eventually came around to score too and that was the winning rally.
Buster Posey- 1 for 5, 2B. BA= .292. Not much of a line by Buster's standards, but the double was absolutely crushed to the deepest part of Triples Alley and drove in the tying and go-ahead runs.
Michael Morse- 3 for 4, HR(10). BA= .270. The HR was to RF, which is widely considered to be almost impossible for RH hitters. Morse says it's no problem for him, and apparently it isn't. This one did not even look like he got all of it as it looked more like a popup off the bat. Morse is now tied for 6'th in MLB in HR's, 8'th in RBI's and 14'th in wRC+, yet he is ranked just 114 in fWAR. OK, he has missed a couple in LF that Gregor Blanco probably would have had, he has been way more valuable to the Giants than a 0.4 fWAR! It would appear to me that this is one case where fWAR gives too much weight to defense and too much negative weight to the LF position. BTW, Morse is on a pace to hit 40 HR's and he just might if he stays healthy all year.
Tyler Colvin- 2 for 4, 2 2B. BA= .462. Talk about catching lightning in a bottle! Colvin now has 4 doubles, a triple and a HR in just 3 starts since getting called up. Remember he is a former first round draft pick and at one point in his career not that long ago looked poised for a big breakout.
Matt Cain- 7.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 7 K's. ERA= 4.33. No Caining in this one. Cain allowed 4 runs in the first 3 innings and things weren't looking good when the score was 3-0 and 4-1 and Eovaldi was throwing Beebees. Cainer settled down and pitched shutout ball for the next 4.2 IP and the Giants offense picked him up, with a little help from the umpires.
Sergio Romo- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, Save(14). ERA= 2.33. Romo was looking a bit tired at the end of the road trip, but he looked strong tonight. The no-dot slider was crackling through the strike zone and he was leaning on it a bit more than he did on the road trip. The salary drive rolls on. Romo is gonna get paid!
Carter Capps(Rockies)- 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 1.00. This is the second time we've seen a hard throwing RP take skip steps off the rubber before delivering his pitches in the last 2 weeks. The other is Jordan Walden of the Braves who does it more obviously. I know there has been some debate about whether Timmy's long stride where he back foot drags forward by almost a foot from the rubber is a legal pitch or not, but Timmy never plants the back foot again. Capps and Walden hop off the rubber and their foot comes back down on the dirt in front of the rubber before they even start to bring their arm forward. Kruk and Kuip did not mention it last night, but in Walden's case Kruk said he definitely thought it was in illegal delivery. Not sure why it's not being discussed more.
The Win extended the Giants lead in the NL West to 4 full games over the Rockies who were idle and to 5 games over the third place Dodgers who were also idle. The 4'th place Padres beat Cincinnati 6-1 to remain 7 games off the pace. The last place D'Backs were idle to fall 11.5 games back.
Tim Hudson will miss tonight's start due to a left hip strain. Yusmeiro Petit gets the ball facing RHP Henderson Alvarez.
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So, that's what a homerun hitting offense looks like.
ReplyDeleteWith a deep batter order, hitters take turns getting hot and the show goes on. Today Hicks, tomorrow Pence and the day after Colvin, and so on...
I still would like to see Duvall get a crack at it sometime while Belt is out. Can't argue with Colvin's production right now, though obviously it won't continue at this pace. Always fun to see a new face on the big league team.
ReplyDeleteColvin has run hot and cold in his career. Here are his OPS's since 2010:
Delete2010 Cubs .816
2011 Cubs .510
2012 Rockies .858
2013 Rockies .472
I think injuries may have played a role in his down years. Obviously, we see statistical proof here that he's going to have a huge season this year. LOL!
I in part agree on Duvall. To me,the issue isn't so much Colvin or not (although I admit I'm not yet on the band wagon). To me the issue is Panda or not, and what better way to see if we need to sign Panda than to give Duvall a little flier at 1b. I recognize that we would have a problem, though, if we kept Colvin and called up Duvall, without cutting or sending someone down. That would require a shorter pen, and Bochy clearly doesn't want to do that. Perhpas you do that short term once e get through the games with no days off, so the pen isn't getting tired. But as long as your reserves are Colvin, Blanco, EA, Aroas and Hector, you have no room. And, as between Colvin v. Duvall, I lean Colvin; we have options at 1b, we have no great options in OF
DeletePiLamBear
I say just ride Colvin till he cools off then you can start considering other options, but he is a guy who has hit over .800 OPS twice at the MLB level.
Deleteand both his.800 OPs years were even years and the same years that the Giants were World Champions. Just saying..................
DeleteIt is not just a shorter pen, but the Giants would have to DFA someone in order to give Duvall a flier, i.e. lose someone who is performing well on the off chance that a prospect might do well.
DeleteAnd that is the main problem, who do they lose, not that Bochy would be unhappy with one less reliever, they are currently carrying one more reliever than they usually do, and therefore one less bench player. That gets hard with one - Hanchez - the backup catcher being held off just in case they need to replace Posey, leaving a 3 man bench. If only the relief pitchers were hitters as well!
What happened to "Down on the Farm' today?
ReplyDeleteWorking on it now. I was exhausted last night and did not have time to write both posts this morning.
DeleteDrB are you concerned with Matt Cain
ReplyDeleteNot really. He had plenty of life on the FB last night, 92-93. Once he got his location with it down, he was fine. The other thing to remember about last night's start is the weather at AT&T. When it is warm, the park plays very hitter-friendly. I did not see Dietrich's HR but Garrett Jones definitely did not get all of his and neither did Morse's. The ball just carried unusually well to RF last night.
DeleteI'm hoping that Cain is just suffering from conditioning, but if Colvin and Morse stay healthy the other teams just might be getting a little smaller in the rearview mirror....I hate when the Giants play the Marlins and Padres... Those pests don't seem to get the right Giants script...
ReplyDeleteTbox
Well, Cainer went 7.2 IP, threw over 110 pitches and got stronger as the game went on, so I don't think conditioning is an issue.
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