There was a hint of playoff atmosphere in the air as the leaders of the NL West and NL East squared off. The Giants got solo home runs from Angel Pagan and Michael Morse. Tim Lincecum and 3 relievers made the 2 runs stand up. Key Lines:
Angel Pagan- 1 for 4, HR(3). BA= .337. Mike Minor is a guy who likes to get ahead in the count then finish you off with nasty offspeed stuff. The Giants appeared to be hunting for fastballs over the plate early in the count. Pagan drove the second pitch of the game into the LF seats for his second leadoff HR in 3 games.
Michael Morse- 2 for 4, HR(7). BA= .311. Morse went to RF for his HR and did not appear to get it all. He is just so strong! Morse also went a long way to catch a blooper down the LF line that could have caused all kinds of trouble, and he made at least one other good catch in the OF. This deal is looking better all the time. Just stay healthy!
Brandon Crawford- 1 for 3, BB. BA= .262. OBP= .366. Crawford is listed in Fangraphs as having a negative UZR. That is not passing my eye test right now! Crawford made a several sensational plays tonight including one where he ranged into the OF grass on a grounder by Andrelton Simmons who is no slowpoke. Crawford just whirled in one motion and threw to first with plenty on it and had Simmons easily. He looks a bit trimmer in the legs this year and seems to be moving better in the field. Of course, having fingers that don't hurt helps too!
Tim Lincecum- 6 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 4 K. ERA= 5.12. Timmy was a little erratic, but did a good job of keeping his focus with runners on base and pitched his way out of the jams for the QS.
Sergio Romo- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, Save(8). ERA= 2.19. Romo created a bit of drama, but his strikeout of Justin Upton for the final out brought back memories of his K of Miggy Cabrera to end the 2012 WS. Romo has more weapons than his slider and he has ice water in his veins. The FB on the inside corner that locked up Upton was the second gutsiest pitch I've seen him throw after the FB that struck out Miggy. Don't forget, Romo is a FA at the end of the season.
Jordan Walden(Braves)- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 K. ERA= 1.59. How is Walden's delivery allowed? He takes a full hop off his back foot and it lands 6-8 inches in front of the rubber before his front foot lands and before his arm starts to come forward. Kruk and Kuip dissected it on TV including slo mo and concluded it is definitely an illegal delivery. On the other hand, I assume Bochy knows the rules as well as anybody and never raised an objection. I know there were questions early in Timmy's career about whether he was jumping off the rubber so maybe Bochy doesn't want to stir anything up? He couldn't have helped be notice because it is one of the oddest deliveries you will see and it is not subtle!
The Win improved the NL West leading Giants record to 18-11. The Rockies clobbered Zack Wheeler and the Mets 10-3 to take over second place, 1 game back. The Dodgers lost to the Marlins 6-3 to fall into 3'rd place, 1.5 games behind. The Padres lost to the D'backs and are in 4'th place, 5.5 games behind while the cellar dwelling D'Backs stayed 9.5 games back with a 10-22 record.
Ryan Vogelsong takes the mound tomorrow evening facing Julio Teheran in the second game of the weekend series.
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How many pitchers have the guts to throw a 87MPH FB down the middle to close out the ballgame?
ReplyDeleteJ. Upton was a Cabera popsicle on that pitch.
Marty Laurie, postgame, was asking is Romo too small/weak to close? No UZR on guts, but if there was, Romo's is off the charts. Really not everyone has to be 6'-6' 220, to throw a FB in the 9th inning.
Romo is our closer, loud and proud, baby. BTW nice walk-off yelling from Romo and Hector.
Morse is one strong dude! Right now I'm resigning Morse over Panda. He just needs an animal mascot. Maybe just The Animal.
Love beating the Chop in Atlanta...Go Giants!
Seems like Morse gets...The Moose mascot. Like it!
DeleteI love beating the chop as well. Remember Timmy's reaction to it in 2010? That was priceless. As was Dirty and Timmy's high five as the rally came to fruition. Love this team.
DeleteMorse is setting himself up for a nice payday. He made a great running catch, it appears that the Gigantes had him positioned in a bit. These little hints should tell the Stats crowd a story, but they'd rather stick to the old "Blanco is worth 2.5 WAR those guys are idiots" dialogue. Meanwhile, Juan Perez gets subbed in as usual...
Giants are a nice blend of old school and new school. They aren't perfect, but no team is. This stretch of baseball, since TImmy and Cain busted through, has been extremely entertaining. I think we have a shot this year.
DrB in all seriousness Belt is toast. They found another weakness. He is done
ReplyDeleteIn all seriousness, that is a ridiculous take! He needs to make another readjustment. It remains to be seen if he can or not. It is way too early to call him toast!
DeleteRidiculous indeed! The pitches Belt is whiffing on now aren't pitches new to him nor has he become too physically hampered to hit them, as some players become, for example, as they age. New pitches or ones that one used to be able to hit but now for physical reasons can't--those might mark one as toast. But the overwhelming likelihood is that Belt has developed one or more bad habits at the plate, and perhaps in addition has started to press from anxiety. These problems are almost certainly remediable.
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