Blogger's Note

I will be away from my computer from now until Friday, May 6.  I may be able to make a few posts during this time, but no guarantees.

Thanks for reading, everybody!

DrB

Down on the Farm: 4/27/2016

AAA  Sacramento River Cats were idle.

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AA  Bowie Baysox defeated the Richmond Flying Squirrels 6-3:

Ali Castillo 2B- 3 for 4, 2 2B, SB(2).  BA= .353.
Ryder Jones 3B- 2 for 4, 2B.  BA= .286.
Tyler Horan CF(CF?)- 2 for 3, HR(2), BB.  BA= .346.
Chase Johnson RHP- 4.2 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 5 K's.  ERA= 6.00.
Christian Jones LHP- 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 7.00.
Big Dan Slania RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.   ERA= 0.82.

Ali Castillo was a minor league FA sign.  He is supposed to be a magical fielder.  I can see Tyler Horan gaining more PT.  The CF next to his hame got my attention.  Somehow I don't think CF is his ticket to the major leagues although he is quite fast for a big guy.

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High A  San Jose Giants beat the Stockton Ports 4-2:

CJ Hinojosa SS- 1 for 2, 2 BB, SB(1).  BA= .333.
Chris Shaw 1B- 2 for 4.  BA= .328.
Jose Vizcaino Jr. 3B- 2 for 4.  BA= .274.
Jason Forjet RHP- 6.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 5.02.
Reyes Maronta RHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 4.50.
Rodolfo Martinez RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, Save(5).  ERA= 1.23.

Forjet bounces back from a disaster start, but doesn't have the K pitch going.

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Low A  Kannapolis Intimidators edged out the Augusta Greenjackets 4-3:

Phil Bickford RHP- 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K's.  ERA= 3.48.
Ryan Koziol RHP- 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 4.97.

No BABIP excuses tonight.  7 innings of pure dominance out of Phil Bickford.  Woo hoo!

Game Wrap 4/27/2016: Giants 13 Padres 9

Yesterday, the Giants won a pitcher's duel.  Today, they won by a football score.  What a multifaceted team!  Key Lines:

Joe Panik- 2 for 5, 2B, BB.  BA= .284.  Panik is hitting .345 over his last 7 games.  Still think he's a candidate to win the batting title.

Matt Duffy- 3 for 4, 3B.  BA= .261.  Duffman is hitting .357 over his last 7 games.

Brandon Belt- 3 for 4, 2B, 3B, SF.  BA= .303.  With Buster Posey getting the day off, The Belter batted cleanup and cleaned up with 5 RBI's on the day.  That helped my fantasy team a lot.  So did Joe Panik.  Oh, and Matt Kemp looks like he just doesn't run very fast out on RF.

Hunter Pence- 3 for 3, 3B 2 BB.  BA= .293.  The 2-5 batters in the lineup went a combined 11 for 16 with 5 XBH's and 3 BB's.

Trevor Brown- 2 for 4, BB.  BA= .286.  Brown continues to provide surprisingly good offense on days when Buster needs a rest.

Jeff Samardzija- 1 for 3.  BA= .250.  Shark seems to have caught the hitting bug from the other Giants pitchers.  That is a good bug to get.  He's already exceeded his single season career RBI high by 2.  5 of his 15 total RBI's for his career have come already this season.

Gregor Blanco- 1 for 1, BB.  BA= .333.  No disrespect to Angel Pagan, who has been just fine in LF this season, but is there a better defensive LF in all of baseball than Gregor Blanco?  And no, I'm not forgetting Alex Gordon.   I can't believe how much ground he covered and how quickly to get to Derek Norris' drive into left-CF to rob him of a surefire XBH.  I mean, that one ranks right up there with the Matt Cain perfect game preserver catch!

Jeff Samardzija- 5.2 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 7 K's.  ERA= 3.86.  Samardzija may have been iced in the dugout a couple of times because the Giants half of the innings lasted so darn long!  As Shark said though, it's a great problem to have.

Cory Gearrin- 1. 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 2.61.  Where would the Giants be without Cory Gearrin right now?

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The Win, coupled with the Dodgers 2-0 loss to the Marlins and the D'Backs 11-4 loss to the Cardinals left the Giants in second place, just 0.5 games behind the NL West leading Dodgers.  The D'Backs drop to 3'rd place, still 1.5 games behind.  the Rockies are sitting 2 games behind in 4'th place pending the outcome of their game against the Pirates and the Padres remain 5 games behind in last place.

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The Giants have a travel day tomorrow and head to the Big Apple to take on last year's defending NL Pennant Winners.  Jake Peavy draws game 1 Friday facing rookie Steven Matz.  The Giants also face Jake DeGrom and Thor in the series, so it's gonna be tough.

Down on the Farm: 4/26/2016

AAA  Sacramento River Cats blanked the Tacoma Rainiers 1-0:

Ramiro Pena 2B- 2 for 4, HR(1), SB(2).  BA= .317.
Albert Suarez RHP- 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 2.37.

Albert Suarez is 26 years old.  The Giants signed him as a minor league FA out of the Angels organization.  He's never pitched badly in the minors and sometimes has been very good.  He had a 2.98 ERA for the AA Arkansas Travelers last year.  Perhaps his relatively low K rates coupled with a strong flyball tendency has kept him from being promoted in the past?

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AA Richmond Flying Squirrels topped the Bowie Baysox 6-4:

Rando Moreno 2B- 2 for 5, 2B.  BA= .310
Christian Arroyo SS- 2 for 3, 2B, BB, SF.  BA= .304.
Hunter Cole RF- 2 for 5, 2B.  BA= .224.
Tyler Horan DH- 3 for 4.  BA= .304.
Adalberto Mejia LHP- 0.2 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 4.41.
Ray Black RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's, Save(3).  ERA= 5.87.

Cole is hitting .297 over his last 10 games.  Horan is making the most of limited playing time.  He has just 23 AB's in 14 Games Played.  Disaster Start for Mejia who could not get out of the first inning.

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High A  San Jose Giants pounded the Stockton Ports 11-2:

Ronnie Jebavy CF- 2 for 5, 2B, HBP.  BA= .224.
Aramis Garcia C- 3 for 5.  BA= .302.
Steven Duggar RF- 2 for 4, 2B, BB.  BA= .316.
Jose Vizcaino Jr. 3B- 3 for 4, BB.  BA= .259.
Mark Reyes LHP- 7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 4 K's.  ERA= 6.75.
Dusten Knight RHP- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K's.  ERA= 8.00.

Ronnie Jebavy is hitting .275 over his last 10 games.  Viz Jr has a 5 game hitting streak in which he is 10 for 21 with a HR.

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Low A  Kannapolis Intimidators beat the Augusta Greenjackets 7-5:

Lucius Fox SS- 1 for 4, HR(2).  BA= .163.
Dylan Davis RF- 1 for 3, BB.  BA= .313.
Michael Santos RHP- 6 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 6 K's.  ERA= 4.35.
Matthew Pope RHP- 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K's.  ERA= 9.00.

Game Wrap 4/26/2016: Giants 1 Padres 0

The 5'th inning was pivotal in this game as the Padres had a safe call overturned to take away a run and the Giants scored what ended up as the only run of the game in the bottom of the inning on an RBI double by Denard Span.  The biggest story of the game, though, was the CG shutout pitched by Johnny Cueto who served notice that he is now at least the co-ace of the pitching staff.  Key Lines:

Johnny Cueto- 9 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 11 K's.  ERA= 2.65.  Man, is it ever fun to watch this guy pitch!  He works fast and has a different look on every delivery, mixing hesitations of varying lengths with quick pitches, mixing pitch types, mixing velocities on each pitch type.  He threw 119 pitches in the game and it's possible that no two were exactly alike.  And how valuable is a 1-0 shutout?  In my mind, to be an ace of a rotation, you need at least 1 CG 1-0 shutout on your resume and Cueto checked that box last night.  I would rate him as at least the co-ace of the staff now along with Madison Bumgarner.

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The Win, coupled with the Marlins beating Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers 6-3 and the D'Backs 8-2 loss to the Cardinals, boosted the Giants into a second place tie in the NL West with the D'Backs, 1.5 games behind the first place Dodgers.  Andrew McCutchen hit 3 HR's for the Pirates in a 9-4 win over the Rockies who fell to 4'th place while remaining 2.5 games behind the Dodgers while the Last Place Padres remained 5 games off the pace.

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Jeff Samardzija tries to show he is a 3'rd co-ace this afternoon by closing out the homestand with a W facing Andrew Cashner.

Down on the Farm: 4/25/2016

AAA  Tacoma Rainiers pounded the Sacramento River Cats 7-1:

NTSH

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AA  Richmond Flying Squirrels outscored the Bowie Baysox 8-6:

Austin Slater CF- 3 for 4, SB(2).  BA= .224.
Ryder Jones 3B- 2 for 5.  BA= .275.
Ali Castillo 2B- 4 for 5.  BA= .300.
Tyler Beede RHP- 6 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 4 K's, GO/AO= 6/0.  ERA= 4.71.

Not much to comment on here.  Beede continues to be OK, but not showing the kind of dominance you want to see from a former first round draft pick.

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High A  San Jose Giants were idle.

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Low A  Augusta Greenjackets were idle.

Game Wrap 4/25/2016: Giants 5 Padres 4

The Giants got a strong start from Madison Bumgarner, avoided a bullpen meltdown and held on to win a marathon game.  Key Lines:

Joe Panik- 3 for 5, 3B(3).  BA= .288.  Panik is 7 for 13 in his last 3 games and hitting .357 over his last 7.

Buster Posey- 2 for 4, HR(3).  BA= .279.  Buster is hitting .310 over his last 7 games.

Hunter Pence- 1 for 3, HR(4), SF.  BA= .263.  Pence is hitting .304 over his last 7 games and hit a HR in his second consecutive game.

Brandon Belt- 0 for 1, 3 BB.  BA= .275.  Belt has 3 AB and 5 BB's in his last 3 games.  That's one way to beat the shift.

Madison Bumgarner- 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 9 K's.  ERA= 3.64.  I've seen him more dominant, but the K's were there.

Santiago Casilla- 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's, Save(4).  ERA= 2.35.  Casilla gets Save #100 with the Giants.  He got the last out of the 8'th inning with runners at 2'nd and 3'rd so it was a lot more than just a Save.  He got out of a high leverage situation plus tacked on a standard Save and Bochy has a ton of work ahead of him to sort out the setup situation, at least until Romo gets back.

Pace of Play- This was an 8.5 inning game that took 3 hours and 47 minutes to play meaning it went way past my usual bedtime even watching on TV.  Most fans at the ballpark likely did not get home until close to midnight.  Factors:  1. Giants fouled off a ton of pitches and ran Pomeranz' pitch count to 101 after 4.1 IP.  The Padres threw a total of 177 pitches in the game and the Giants 165.  Target pitch count would be 135 per 9 innings, so there were 72 more pitches thrown in this game than the normal target.  That has clearly become a successful batting strategy for the Giants and more the norm around MLB.  2.  Bochy used 4 pitchers to get 3 outs between Bumgarner and Casilla.  Each pitching change took extra time.  3.  There were a bunch of challenges at the end.  IMO, the league is sending a strong message that calls on the field are not going to be overturned unless the ump made an egregious error on the call, but there's no penalty for reviews from the 7'th inning on.  Maybe that needs to change?

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The Win allowed the Giants to gain a game on the Dodgers, who lost to the Marlins 3-2.  The Giants are now 2.5 games back and tied with the Rockies who lost to the Pirates 6-1.  The D'Backs outslugged the Cardinals 12-7 and are 1.5 games back in second place.  The Padres bring up the rear of the NL West at a 4 game deficit.

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Johnny Cueto tries to extend his string of Quality Starts tonight facing James Shields.

Down on the Farm: 4/24/2016

AAA Sacramento River Cats pounded the Tacoma Rainers 10-5(Game called in the bottom of the 6'th inning due to weather):

Gorkys Hernandez CF- 3 for 4, SB(2).  BA= .231.
Mac Williamson RF- 3 for 3, 2 2B, SF.  BA= .385.
Grant Green 2B- 2 for 3, BB, SB(2).  BA= .262.
Chris Stratton RHP- 5 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 7.59.

I don't think the PCL can contain Mac Williamson!  He already had 7 RBI's by the time the game was called with probably 2 AB's left in a full 9 inning contest.  Another meh start for Stratton.  Just not a lot here to inspire confidence in his ability to take it to the next level.

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AA Altoona Curve edged out the Richmond Flying Squirrels 2-1:

Kyle Crick RHP- 5.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 5 BB, 5 K's.  ERA= 4.70.
Ray Black RHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 6.75.

Still a walk an inning for Cricky.  These patterns are so hard to overcome!  Black is chipping away at an ERA ballooned by a couple of disaster appearances.

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High A  San Jose Giants crushed the Modesto Nuts 12-4:

Johneshwy Fargas LF- 2 for 5.  BA= .232.
Ronnie Jebavy CF- 2 for 5, 2B.  BA= .208.
CJ Hinojosa SS- 4 for 5, 2B.  BA= .358.
Chris Shaw 1B- 3 for 4, 2B, HR(2), BB.  BA= .327.
Jose Vizcaino Jr.- 2 for 5, 2B.  BA= .222.
Jonah Arenado DH- 3 for 5, HR(3).  BA= .306.
Jordan Johnson RHP- 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K's.  ERA= 2.00.

I'm most intrigued by what Arenado is showing at the plate in high A ball at age 21(league average age= 22.7.  Not a huge difference, but Jonah is approximately the 15'th youngest position player in the league by my count).  Jonah also has 6 hits in 9 AB's with 2 HR's in his last 2 games.

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Low A  Charleston River Dogs topped the Augusta Greenjackets 5-4:

Seth Harrison CF- 2 for 4, 2B, SB(3).  BA= .269.
Dylan Davis DH- 2 for 3, BB.  BA= .311.
Manuel Geraldo SS- 3 for 4.  BA= .196.
Mac Marshall LHP- 3 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 3.97.
Michael Connolly RHP- 4 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 2.84.
Caleb Smith RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 5.06.

Geraldo is hitting .273 over his last 10 games.  Caleb Smith's overall line is 5.1 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 8 K's, but if you take out his second appearance in which he gave up all 3 of his runs, his line is 4.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 Ks.  Someone to keep an eye on going forward.

Game Wrap 4/24/2016: Marlins 5 Giants 4

The Giants couldn't keep the line moving enough today and scored just 4 runs despite getting 18 runners on base.  The left 111 on, erased 3 more on GIDP's and fell short of a series sweep against the Marlins as JT Realmuto hit a late HR of Josh Osich for the game winner.  Key Lines:

Angel Pagan LF- 2 for 5.  BA= .333.  Pagan continues to pepper the field with hits.  He also GIDP'd with the bases loaded and nobody out and he also lost a ball in the sun with his sunglasses up on his cap.  I guess with Pagan, you take the good with the bad.  Leave it to Baggs to point out the bad.

Joe Panik- 2 for 5, 3B.  BA= .267.  Panik was 5 for 13 for the series.

Hunter Pence- 2 for 4, HR(3), BB.  BA= .260.  Pence was 5 for 12 in the series.

Gregor Blanco- 2 for 3, BB.  BA= .320.  Blanco started in CF then moved to LF when Span stayed in the game after PH.

Matt Cain- 5.2 IP, 10 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 4 K's.  ERA= 6.43.  Not pretty, but some signs of progress here, not the least of which he made it out of the 5'th inning without the wheels coming off.  He threw 99 pitches.  Maybe the stamina is building up?

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The Loss, coupled with the Dodgers 12-10 win over the Rockies left the Giants in 4'th place, 3.5 games behind the NL West leaders.  The Rockies are 2.5 games back as are the D'Backs after they lost to the Pirates 12-10.  The Padres also lost to fall 5 games off the pace.

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The Pesky Padres come to town tomorrow evening for the start of a 3 game series with Madison Bumgarner facing Drew Pomeranz who can be very tough when he's on.

Down on the Farm: 4/23/2016

AAA  Sacramento River Cats defeated the Tacoma Rainiers 8-4:

Ryan Lollis 1B- 3 for 5, 2B.  BA= .320.
Andrew Susac DH- 3 for 5, 2B, HR(1).  BA= .278.
Mac Williamson RF- 2 for 3, 2B, 2 BB, Assist(2B).  BA= .333.
Jarrett Parker LF- 1 for 4, HR(2), BB.  BA= .158.
Hak-Ju Lee SS- 2 for 3, BB.  BA= .315.
Ty Blach LHP- 5 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 5.95.
Chris Heston RHP- 4 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 4 K's, GO/AO= 7/0.  ERA= 4.50.

Susac has been out again with a scap muscle strain, whatever that is.  He's back at DH for the time being and is expected to start catching again soon.  Gotta think that sometime, somehow we are going to see Mac back in SF and starting games in LF before the season is over.

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AA  Altoona Curve 5  Richmond Flying Squirrels 4

Ryder Jones 3B- 2 for 4, 2B.  BA= .283.
Matt Winn C- 2 for 4, HR(2).  BA= .277.
Matt Gage LHP- 6 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 7.24.
Dan Slania RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K.  ERA= 1.00.
Jake Smith RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 9.82.

Ryder Jones is quietly keeping his head above water in the big, bad EL.  Still not walking much, but maintaining a respectable BA with a SLG of .417 to go with it.  Winn hits his second dinger in as many games.

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High A  Modesto Nuts outslugged the San Jose Giants 12-9:

Chris Shaw 1B- 2 for 4, 2B, HR(1).  BA= .294.
Aramis Garcia C- 2 for 4, HR(1).  BA= .263.
Jonah Arenado 1B- 3 for 4, HR(2).  BA= .273.
Jose Vizcaino Jr 3B- 2 for 4, HR(1).  BA= .204.

Another guy who is quietly keeping his head above water is Jonah Arenado in the Cal League.  He's got it tough there, competing with Shaw, Viz Jr and others for PT at 1B, 3B and DH.

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Low A  Charleston River Dogs beat the Augusta Greenjackets 5-2(completion of suspended game from 4/22):

Dylan Davis RF- 2 for 4, 2B.  BA= .273.
Manuel Geraldo 3B- 2 for 3.  BA= .163.
Grant Watson LHP- 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 1.32.

Watson's innings were from 4/22.

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Low A  Charleston River Dogs edged out the Augusta Greenjackets 5-4:

Seth Harrison CF- 1 for 4, HR(1).  BA= .250.
Dylan Davis RF- 2 for 3, HR(4).  BA= .293.
Kelvin Beltre 3B- 1 for 3, HR(2). BA= .235.
Cory Taylor RHP- 4 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 0 BB, 7 K's.  ERA= 3.60.

The challenge for Dylan Davis will be to maintain the BA along with the power over a full season.  Cory Taylor is the jumbo sized RHP out of Dallas Baptist.  He now has 17 K's against 3 BB's in 10 IP on the season with a 1.60 GO/AO.

Game Wrap 4/23/2016: Giants 8 Marlins 2

Jake Peavy went a strong 7 innings and helped himself with the bat as the Giants offense picked up where it left off yesterday and pummeled the ace of the Marlins staff, Jose Fernandez.  Key Lines:

Denard Span- 2 for 5.  BA= .251.  Span got two hits but also was  CS twice. although the second of those was a highly questionable call that got reviewed.  It looked like he was actually safe, but the call probably came down to whether the glove was on him for the split second his foot came off the bag, an unintended consequence of Instant Replay I really hate.

Joe Panik- 2 for 3, BB.  Panik seems to have gotten his groove back.

Matt Duffy=- 3 for 4.  BA= .250.  Speaking of getting one's groove back….This was Duffy's Bobblehead Night and he made the most of it with 3 basehits.  He's going the other way, staying within himself like he did all last year.  The HR's will come, but even if they don't, Duffy is more valuable hitting singles and doubles than going for a limited number of dingers.

Buster Posey- 1 for 4.  BA= .250.  Not much of a line, but Posey's 9 pitch AB ending in an RBI single may have been the back-breaker for Fernandez.  You knew he was beatable and probably would not go deep into the game right there.

Gregor Blanco- 2 for 3, 2 3B, BB.  BA= .273.  The best 4'th OF in baseball!  Blanco also made a couple of very nifty catches in LF.  One, a twisting job in front of the wall and the other sticking with a pop foul that looked like it was well out of play, but the wind blew it back onto the field for the catch and the out.

Jake Peavy- 1 for 2.  BA= .600.  OK, I have to ask.  How on Earth can Peavy be such a good hitter if he's as blind as everybody says he is?  Something is not adding up here.  I mean, Peavy's hot hitting goes back to the end of last year, not just the last 2 games.

Jake Peavy- 7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 4 K's, GO/AO= 8/2.  ERA= 6.86.  We know from the last two seasons that when Peavy is feeling good, he can be a very effective pitcher for song stretches.  Maybe this is the beginning of one of those stretches?  Oh, and he also made a terrific fielding play going to his knees to throw out a runner to first on a dribbler off to the left of the mound.

Hunter Strickland- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 3.38.  Strickland faced the 2,3 and 4 hitters in the Marlins lineup, Ozuna, Yelich and Stanton.  Hot knife through butter!  Strickland looked completely dominant.

Kruk and Kuip-  The 2 buddies were in rare form tonight.  Just one example of the LOLs:  The camera showed an early middle aged couple wearing matching bright orange onesies in the stands.  Kuip:  "Do you have a onesie at home?"  Kruk:  "No, I do not!"  Kuip:  "Yeah, I'm not a onesie guy myself." Kruk:  Well, they are and they are pulling it off!  10 LOLs!

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The Win improved the Giants record to 9-10.  They remain in 4'th place, 2.5 games behind the NL West leading Dodgers who topped the Rockies behind Kenta Maeda 4-1.  The Rockies fell into a second place tie with the D'Backs who beat the Pirates 7-1, 1.5 games out of first place.  The last place Padres sank further into the cellar with an 11-2 shellacking a the hands of the Cardinals.  The Pathetic Ones are now 4 games off the pace.

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Matt Cain tries for a series sweep tomorrow against LHP Adam Conley.

Fantasy Focus: Time for Kevin Gausman

Keven Gausman will be recalled from a rehab assignment on Monday to start a game for the Baltimore Orioles.  If you manage a fantasy baseball team, this should be of great interest to you.  Gausman has been a highly touted pitching prospect seemingly forever.  He has tremendous stuff and excellent peripheral stats both in the minors and in 3 partial MLB seasons.  What is not so great is his ERA which has lagged behind other indicators.  He's still just 25 years old, so a lot of people were predicting a major breakout this year.  Then, right at the end of spring training, he came up with a sore shoulder with no structural damage and went on the DL.  He has now completed 3 minor league rehab starts and is ready to go.

I wrote about Gausman as a possible breakout candidate this offseason.  Just to review, here are his cumulative MLB stats in parts of 3 seasons so far:  14-19, 4.21, 7.63 K/9, 2.63 BB/9, FIP= 3.80, xFIP= 3.72.  Last year's line was 4-7, 4.25, 8.25 K/9, 2.32 BB/9, FIP= 4.10, xFIP= 3.80.  His FB averaged over 95 MPH last year which puts him up in elite territory.  In his 3 rehab starts at 3 levels, he's pitched 11 innings while allowing 4 ER, 5 BB, 19 K.  In his last rehab start at AAA level, he went 5.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 9 K's.

He is a particularly inviting add for this week in H2H leagues as he will start twice.  Whether you go after him probably depends on how much faith you put in peripheral stats.  All indicators are that he's underperformed so far.  With a good  hitting team to back him up, he should generate Wins as well as lots of K's with a low WHIP.  The ERA?  We'll have to see on that!  I just added him to my Savvy Vets roster while dropping Chris Bassitt.

Down on the Farm: 4/22/2016

AAA  Sacramento River Cats defeated the Las Vegas 51's 3-1:

Mac Williamson RF- 2 for 4, 2 HR(4), SB(1).  BA= .303.
Mitch Delfino 3B- 1 for 3, HR(1), BB.  BA= .238.
Clayton Blackburn RHP- 8.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 2 K's, GO/AO= 12/5.  ERA= 2.89.

Mac did not seem to get rusty sitting on the bench for a week in SF.  Blackburn's stamina seems to be back to full strength after an early season flu attack.

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AA Altoona Curve pounded the Richmond Flying Squirrels 10-2:

Christian Arroyo SS- 1 for 3, 3B.  BA= .295.
Matt Winn C- 2 for 3, 2B, HR(1), BB.  BA= .256.
Joan Gregorio RHP- 6 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 8 K's.  ERA= 1.69.

Arroyo left the game early.  Gregorio had a QS with dominant K/BB.  In 3 starts this season, Gregorio has 21 K's against 5 BB's in 16 IP.

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High A  Modesto Nuts topped the San Jose Giants 4-1:

Ronnie Jebavy CF- 2 for 4, 2B.  BA= .188.
Jose Vizcaino Jr DH- 2 for 4, 2B.  BA= .178.
Sam Coonrod RHP- 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K's, GO/AO= 8/0.  ERA= 0.00.
Pat Young RHP- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 1.80.
Rodolfo Martinez RHP- 0.1 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 0 K.  ERA= 1.69.

This was Coonrod's second start of the season.  He's pitched 9 scoreless innings.  Oddly, he did not have a K or BB in his first 4 inning stint.  Rodolfo has his first Blown Save of the season.

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Augusta Greenjackets vs Charleston River Dogs suspended after 3 innings with the score 0-0:

Grant Watson LHP- 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 1.32.

Game Wrap 4/22/2016: Giants 8 Marlins 1

Jeff Samardzija got strong offensive support up and down the Giants lineup, including from his own bat, and pitched a dominant start to lead the Giants to an easy win against a team that has given them trouble in the past.  Key Lines:

Denard Span- 2 for 2, 2 BB, Sac.  BA= .250.  Span has a .347 overall OBP with a .469 over his last 10 games.

Buster Posey- 2 for 4, BB.  BA= .273.  Posey had been slumping badly ever since taking a foul tip off the bat of Chase Utley in LA.  After taking Thursday off, he had 2 hard singles through the left side.  Posey getting multiple basehits is generally a sign that his bat is heating up.

Hunter Pence- 2 for 4, 2B, BB.  BA= .246.  Pence has been struggling at the plate to and seemed to break out of it in this game.

Brandon Crawford- 2 for 3, 2 2B, 2 BB.  BA= .246.  Yet another quiet bat came to life with Crawford's big night.

Jeff Samardzija- 2 for 3, 2B.  BA= .231.  The double came with the bases loaded and cleared them for 3 RBI's. The earlier single extended a rally.

Jeff Samardzija- 7.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 5 K's, GO/AO=11/4.  ERA= 3.00.  Shark needed just 6 pitches to get through the first inning.  The Giants got him a 3 run lead in the bottom of the first and he cruised the rest of the night.  According to Fangraphs, Shark is averaging 93.7 MPH on the FB and 91.8 on the cutter, which is one nasty pitch!

Javier Lopez- 0.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K.  ERA= 9.82.  Bochy obviously wanted Lopez to face a tough LH batter in a low leverage situation, so he came in with 2 outs in the 8'th and nobody on to face Christian Yelich.  I don't know what he threw to Yelich.  Was that a slider he didn't get a grip on, or a really bad hanging curveball?  Whatever it was, it deserved to be punished and Yelich obliged by sending it off the RF wall.  Ironically, Lopez came back to strike out the RH hitting Giancarlo Stanton on hard back foot sliders.  As Vin Scully would say, "go figure!"

Mike Broadway- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 0.00.  Another guy Boch wanted to see in a low leverage situation and Broadway pitched a nice 9'th inning.

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With the Win, the Giants improved their record to 8-10 but remained in 4'th place, 2.5 games behind the Dodgers who lost to the Rockies in Coors Field. The Rockies are in second place 0.5 games behind the Dodgers.  The D'Backs lost to the Pirates 8-7 and are 1.5 games behind the leaders.  The Padres topped the Cardinals 4-1 and are in last place, 3 games behind the Dodgers and just a half game behind the Giants.  BTW, if the season ended today, the Rockies at 9-7 would have the first WC spot.

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Jake Peavy draws a tough assignment today facing Jose Fernandez in a 6:05 PM start.

Fantasy Focus: Erasmo Ramirez' Unique Value

Erasmo Ramirez might be one of the most interesting pitchers out there right now, both from a real-life and fantasy baseball perspective.  Ramirez has long been a darling of the saber crowd for his nice peripheral stats in the minor leagues.  He failed to break through with the Mariners in several years of trying and they finally traded him to the Tampa Bay Rays.  He had a terrific season with the Rays last year racking up 11 Wins with a 3.75 ERA and a low WHIP of 1.13.  He was in line to be the Rays 5'th starter this year and drew a lot of interest as a late round fantasy draft prospect.  Then, the Rays decided they did not need a 5'th starter for the first month of the season and announced Ramirez would be pitching long relief out of the bullpen except for an occasional spot start until late April.

What Ramirez has accomplished with that role is nothing short of remarkable.  In 6 appearances with just one start, he's already racked up 4 Wins which is tied for the MLB lead with Chris Sale and Jake Arrieta.   He's pitched 14 innings with just 1 BB and 12 K's for an ERA of 1.29 and WHIP of 0.71.

Erasmo Ramirez probably doesn't fit on every fantasy team, but in deeper leagues he can be plugged into a P roster slot where it doesn't matter whether he is starting or relieving.  He will be getting more starts starting in late April/early May but will probably continue to be a swing pitcher.  The Rays are one of those teams that believes most SP's should only face the lineup twice in a game, so a long reliever/swing man is going to get a lot of work and have lots of opportunities for Wins.  He's available in my league and probably is in yours too.  Go get him!

Down on the Farm: 4/21/2016

AAA  Sacramento River Cats defeated the Las Vegas 51's 3-1:

Gorkys Hernandez CF- 2 for 4, HR(1).  BA= .211.
Albert(Not Andrew) Suarez RHP- 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 K's.  ERA= 3.46.
Duke Welker RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 0.00.

Albert Suarez is the dude who hung around major league camp in spring training getting lit up pretty much every time he went out to the mound.  Maybe the Giants saw something and got him straightened out?

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AA Richmond Flying Squirrels topped the Altoona Curve 5-1:

Rando Moreno SS- 2 for 5, 2B.  BA= .383.
Christian Arroyo 3B- 2 for 5, 2B.  BA= .293.
Chase Johnson RHP- 5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 2 K's, GO/AO= 12/1.  ERA= 4.05.
Christian Jones LHP- 2.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K.  ERA= 8.10.
Ray Black RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 7.94.

Arroyo getting some reps at 3B.  Not many K's for Chase Johnson, but dominant GB tendency.

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High A  San Jose Giants cracked the Modesto Nuts 5-2:

Chris Shaw 1B- 1 for 3, 2B, SF.  BA= .302.
Steven Duggar RF- 2 for 3, 2B, BB, SB(2).  BA= .364.
Brandon Bednar 2B- 3 for 4, SB(3).  BA= .268.
Andrew Suarez LHP- 7 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 9 K's, GO/AO= 8/3.  ERA= 3.38.

Andrew Suarez is the guy the Giants drafted in the second round out of Miami last year who we think will be a fast mover in the system.   Dominant start here.

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Low A  Augusta Greenjackets beat the Charleston River Dogs 5-2:

Seth Harrison CF- 2 for 5, 3B.  BA= .244.
Dillon Dobson 1B- 2 for 5.  BA= .339.
Kelvin Beltre 3B- 2 for 3, HBP, SB(1).  BA= .229.
Logan Webb RHP- 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 4 K's.  ERA= 3.21.
Tyler Cyr RHP- 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K's.  ERA= 1.35.

Cyr now has 22 K's against 4 BB's in 13.1 IP in 5 appearances.

Game Wrap 4/21/2016: D'Backs 6 Giants 2

An anemic Giants offense could not take advantage of another QS, this one by Johnny Cueto, as the D'Backs completed a 4 game sweep of the Giants in AT&T Park.  Key Lines:

Denard Span- 0 for 2, 2 BB, SB(2).  BA= .226.  That's a great line for a leadoff hitter.

Matt Duffy- 2 for 4.  BA= .234.   Duffman now has 3 2-hit games in a row.

Johnny Cueto- 7 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 3.49.  Not a great start, but a good one.  Offense has to allow you to win some of these.

*********************************************************************************

The Loss drops the Giants in to a temporary last place tie with the Padres who are losing by a big margin to the Pirates, so the Giants will remain in 4'th place, 0.5 games out of the cellar.  The Dodgers won again in extra innings against the Braves and now lead the NL West by 1.5 games over the Rockies and D'Backs.

*********************************************************************************

Jeff Samardzija will start off the new series against the Miami Marlins tomorrow evening facing Jared Cosart.  The Marlins have a long history of giving the Giants rough series.

Down on the Farm: 4/20/2016

AAA  Las Vegas 51's stomped the Sacramento River Cats 9-3:

Conor Gillaspie 1B- 2 for 5, 2B.  BA= .314.
Jarrett Parker RF- 1 for 4, HR(1).  BA= .152.
Matt Lujan LHP- 4 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 6 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 4.85.
Jake Dunning RHP- 2.1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 2.08.

Lujan was uncharacteristically wild.

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AA  Richmond Flying Squirrels edged out the Reading Fightin' Phils 3-2 in 11 innings:

Ricky Oropesa 1B- 2 for 5, HR(5).  BA= .212.
Rando Moreno SS- 3 for 4.  BA= .381.
Adalberto Mejia LHP- 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 7 K's.  ERA= 2.30.
Dan Slania RHP- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 1.13.

Ricky's dinger was a walkoff job.  Mejia now has 19 K's against just 4 BB's in 15.2 IP in 3 starts.  Slania has 11 K's against just 1 BB in 8 IP, in 5 appearances.

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High A  Lake Elsinore Storm blew away the San Jose Giants 17-3:

Ronnie Jebavy CF- 1 for 2, 3B, BB, HBP.  BA= .171.

Nothing else to see here.

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Low A Augusta Greenjackets downed the Rome Braves 9-5:

Lucious Fox SS- 0 for 3, BB, SB(5), Sac.  BA= .188.
Jalen Miller 2B- 2 for 3, SF.  BA= .298.
Dillon Dobson 1B- 2 for 4, HR(5).  BA= .333.
Dylan Davis RF- 2 for 4, 2 HR(3).  BA= .277.
Gustavo Cabrera LF- 1 for 3, 2B, BB.  BA= .364.
Jean Angomas CF- 2 for 4, 2B, 3B.  BA= .194.
Phil Bickford RHP- 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 8 K's.  ERA= 5.27.
Michael Connolly RHP- 3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K's.  ERA= 3.12.

Bickford has a 24/4 K/BB in 13.2 IP.

Game Wrap 4/20/2016: D'Backs 2 Giants 1

For the second game in a row, one mistake pitch by Madison Bumgarner cost him and the Giants the game as an otherwise dominant start went to waste.  Key Lines:

Matt Duffy- 2 for 4, 2 2B.  BA= .217.  One silver lining was the second good offensive game for Matt Duffy since taking a day off to clear his mind and work on some mechanics.

Gregor Blanco- 2 for 4, 3B.  BA= .222.  Blanco continues to make the most of opportunities despite never getting enough respect to get a regular starting gig.  His triple in the 7'th set up the only run the Giants would score in the game.

Madison Bumgarner- 7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 8 K's.  ERA= 3.91.  Bumgarner actually slightly outpitched  Greinke for 6 innings, but left a breaking ball up and away to Welington Castillo in the 7'th and Castillo took it deep to the left-CF corner for the only runs the D'Backs would score and the ballgame.

Derek Law- 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K.  ERA= 0.00.  Law gave up a leadoff double to Jake Lamb, who destroyed the Giants in this series, but Law caught a break when Jean Segura tried to bunt and the ball stopped about a foot in front of the plate.  Posey jumped out and fired a throw to third in time to nail Lamb to convert a runner at second with no outs into a runner at first with 1 out situation.  Law then allowed another single by Brandon Drury but got Paul Goldschmidt and Yasmany Tomas on weak comebackers to end the threat.  Nice work to dig out of the jam by Law!

*********************************************************************************

The Loss dropped the Giants into 4'th place in the NL West, 2.5 games behind the leading Dodgers who topped ATL 5-3 in extra innings.  The Rockies lost and are 1 game behind in second place while the D'Backs move up to 3'rd place, 1.5 games behind the leaders.  The last place Padres beat the Pirates 8-2 to remain 3 games off the pace, so the Giants are now just 0.5 games out of last place in the NL West.  The Giants have lost 4 games in a row and 7 of their last 8.

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Johnny Cueto tries to stave off a 4 game series sweep today facing Shelby Miller who is off to a rough start to the season, but seems to have some ownage on the Giants.

Down on the Farm: 4/19/2016

AAA  Sacramento River Cats pounded the Las Vegas 51's 12-1:

Gorkys Hernandez CF- 3 for 6.  BA= .204.
Grant Green 2B- 2 for 3, 2B, HR(1), 2 BB.  BA= .289.
Hak-Ju Lee SS- 3 for 5, HR(2).  BA= .295.
Mitch Delfino 1B- 2 for 5.  BA= .235.
Chris Stratton RHP- 5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 7.16.

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AA  Reading Fightin' Phils downed the Richmond Flying Squirrels 5-4:

Rando Moreno 2B- 2 for 4, 2B.  BA= .342.
Tyler Horan PH- 1 for 1, HR(1).  BA= .231.
Tyler Beede RHP- 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 6 K's, GO/AO= 6/2.  ERA= 4.20.
Ray Black RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 7.16.

A report linked by Covechatter has Beede's FB consistently hitting the mid-90's.  Black continues to struggle with his control.

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High A  San Jose Giants topped the Lake Elsinore Storm 5-4:

CJ Hinojosa SS- 2 for 4, 2B, BB.  BA= .344.
Chris Shaw 1B- 2 for 4, HBP.  BA= .297.
Steven Duggar RF- 2 for 5, 3B.  BA= .350.
Pat Young RHP- 2.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 2.25.
Reyes Maronta RHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 3.60.
Rodolfo Martinez RHP- 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, Save(4).  ERA= 0.00.

Hinojosa and Duggar have been the early season hitting stars for the Little Giants.

*********************************************************************************

Low A Augusta Greenjackets edged out the Rome Braves 3-2:

Lucious Fox SS- 1 for 3, BB.  BA= .207.
Dillon Dobson 1B-  2 for 4, 2B.  BA= .319.
Kelvin Beltre 3B- 2 for 3, HBP.  BA= .220.
Michael Santos RHP- 6.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K's, GO/AO= 11/5.  ERA= 3.68.
Connor Kaden RHP- 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K.  ERA= 3.38.

Game Wrap 4/2016: D'Backs 3 Giants 0

Steven Okert's long awaited MLB debut ended up as the highlight of an otherwise downer game for the Giants as the 5'th inning ambushed Matt Cain for the second start in a row.  Key Lines:

Matt Duffy- 2 for 3, BB.  BA= .196.  Nice game at the plate for Duffman after taking a day to clear his head and work on some mechanical things in the batting cage.

Matt Cain- 4.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 4 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 6.46.  For the second start in a row, Matt Cain took a no-hitter into the 5'th inning and then fell apart.  The bullpen blanked the D'Backs the rest of the way, but the Giants offense could not muster an XBH against Robbie Ray and that was the ballgame.  I would say for Cain's next start, Boch better plan on having someone ready in the bullpen by the first batter of the 5'th inning and Cain comes out as soon as a hitter reaches base, maybe 2, but the leash needs to be short from the start of the 5'th inning.

Mike Broadway- 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 0.00.  Broadway got the callup along with Okert when George Kontos hit the DL and Chris Heston got sent down to Sacramento.  Broadway throws hard, but has had problems with command at the MLB level which has resulted in his stuff being hittable.  Bochy envisions him and Okert being the tandem long relievers, the reasoning being two 2-inning pitchers are better than one 4-inning guy.

Steven Okert- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 0.00.  This was supposed to happen last year, but got delayed when Josh Osich passed him on the depth chart like he was standing still. Okert had gone 2+ innings in his last 2 appearances for Sacramento, and got the call when the decision was made to send Hesto down.  He certainly took a big first step in grabbing this opportunity by the throat and not letting go with 2 impressive innings of work.  Brandon Crawford and Matt Duffy made a couple of MLB defensive plays behind him which he took note of.

*********************************************************************************

The Loss dropped the Giants into a 3'rd/4'th place tie with the D'Backs in the NL West, 1.5 games behind the Rockies and Dodgers who both lost.  The Padres lost to the Pirates 5-4 and are in last place, 3 games behind the leaders.

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Madison Bumgarner tries to be the stopper this afternoon against Zack Greinke who cannot be counted on to continue his early season struggles.

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As mentioned in the Game Wrap, Chris Heston was demoted to Sacramento after getting torched in his last 2 appearances.  It was a lot to ask of him to become a long reliever especially coming into games with runners on base.  He'll go back to starting in Sacramento and await opportunities that will likely open up in the Giants rotation as the season progresses.

Down on the Farm: 4/18/2016

AAA  Salt Lake City Bees stung the Sacramento River Cats again 6-2:

Braulio Lara LHP- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 1.29.
Jake Dunning RHP- 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 2.84.

A couple of relievers who could be in line for a callup.  They would both require movement on the 40 man roster.  Ian Gardeck can be moved to the 60 day DL.

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AA Reading Fightin' Phils downed the Richmond Flying Squirrels 6-2:

Hunter Cole RF- 2 for 4, 2B.  BA= .184.
Ryder Jones 3B- 2 for 4.  BA= .289.
Rando Moreno 2B- 2 for 3.  BA= .324.
Kyle Crick RHP- 4.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 5 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 5.59
Mike Kickham LHP- 2.1 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 0 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 7.20.

Not what we were hoping to see from either Crick or Kickham here.

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High A  Inland Empire edged out the San Jose Giants 1-0:

CJ Hinojosa SS- 1 for 3, 2B, BB.  BA= .321.
Jordan Johnson RHP- 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 2 K's, GO/AO= 12/3.  ERA= 3.00.

Hinojosa has looked good in the field and at the plate in the early going for SJ.  Johnson was the tough luck loser here.

*********************************************************************************

Low A  Augusta Greejackets beat the Rome Braves 5-2:

Lucious Fox SS- 1 for 2, 2B, BB.  BA= .192.
Dylan Davis RF- 2 for 2, 2B, 2 BB.  BA= .275.
Gustavo Cabrera LF- 2 for 4, 2B, SB(1).  BA= .500.
Mac Marshall LHP- 4.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 6 K's.  ERA= 4.32.
Jake McCasland RHP- 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 0.00.

Gustavo finally makes his 2016 debut and it was a success!  Let's keep our fingers crossed that he can stay on the field the rest of the season.

Game Wrap 4/18/2016: D'Backs 9 Giants 7

A rare warm night at the ballpark combined with an ump with a tight strike zone to make this game feel like it was being played in Arizona.  The bullpen blew 2 leads and finally the game in the 11'th inning.  Key Lines:

Denard Span- 2 for 4, 3B, 2 BB.  BA= .245.  Span was on base 4 times, but his CS in the first inning may have  cost the Giants 1 or more runs.

Joe Panik- 1 for 6, HR(3).  BA= .250.  It might not have gone out on another night, but Joe's HR was a monster shot to well back in the seats near the deepest part of the ballpark right where Triples Alley begins.  The CW on Panik has been that he does not have enough power to be the next Chase Utley in his prime, but this kid has some serious pop in his bat.

Jake Peavy- 1 for 2, BB.  BA= .667.  For a guy who supposedly can't see the catcher's fingers, Peavy sure seems to have a good eye at the plate.  He just spit on a whole bunch of breaking pitches that most pitchers would have swung at and worked 2 great AB's into a single up the middle and a bases-loaded walk.  The walk, in particular saved Bochy's questionable strategy of letting him bat with 2 outs in the bottom of the 5'th.  Peavy was terrific at the plate in the second half last year too.

Angel Pagan- 3 for 5, 2B.  BA= .380.  Pagan's bases-loaded single after Peavy's bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the 5'th gave the Giants a 6-2 lead that should have stood up.  The man is playing like he wants another contract.

Jake Peavy- 5 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 0 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 9.00.  Not a great line, but it looked a lot better until he gave up a single and triple to lead off the top of the 6'th inning.  Before that, he did a nice job of limiting the damage to 1 run out of a no-out bases-loaded jam in the first inning.  The FB was hitting 90 MPH with good location.  As mentioned, he had to navigate a very tight strike zone by the home plate ump.

Cory Gearrin- 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 0.00.  Relievers tend to be a fungible lot and Gearrin looks like he might be this year's pop-up mainstay.

Hunter Strickland- 1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 5.06.  The strike zone may have been an issue here, but when you throw 97 MPH, you should be able to overcome something like a tight strike zone. The way the D'Backs were laying off breaking balls, you had to wonder if they were stealing signs or reading tips.  It wasn't just one pitcher, though, so if they were reading tips, it was off the catcher.

Santiago Casilla- 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 3.38.  Lamb's game tying dinger wouldn't have gone out in typical weather, but it might have in Arizona.

Derek Law- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 0.00.  Did Derek Law just jump ahead of Strickland on the closer depth chart?

Chris Heston- 0.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 0 K's, 3 WP's.  ERA= 10.80.  So far, Heston is looking more like the second half guy from last year, which is not a good thing.

*********************************************************************************

The Loss dropped the Giants to 1.5 games behind the Dodgers and 1.0 games behind the Rockies in the NL West while the D'Backs gained a half game to 2.5 games off the pace.  Dodgers, Rockies and Padres were all idle.

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Matt Cain tries to keep the Giants hope for a series win alive against a tough lefty in Robbie Ray tonight.

*********************************************************************************

George Kontos, a stalwart in last year's bullpen, hit the DL with a flexor strain. We'll see who takes his place.

Down on the Farm: 4/17/2016

AAA  Salt Lake City Bees stung the Sacramento River Cats 5-4 in 10 innings:

Jarrett Parker RF- 1 for 4, 2B.  BA= .132.
Mitch Delfino 3B- 2 for 4.  BA= .250.
Darren Ford LF- 2 for 5.  BA= .280.
Clayton Blackburn RHP- 4.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 4 K's.  ERA= 4.35.
Steven Okert LHP- 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 2.70.
Mike Broadway RHP- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 5.40.

Parker is sporting a K rate of almost 50%, 19 against just 2 BB's in 38 AB's.  Okert has been excellent with 8 K's and 0 BB's in 6.2 IP in 4 appearances.

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AA  Altoona Curve took the Richmond Flying Squirrels 5-3:

Rando Moreno SS- 1 for 3, 2B, BB.  BA= .290.
Matt Gage LHP- 5.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 8.22.

Gage's first start of the season was a disaster, so this was a nice bounceback start.

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High A  San Jose Giants pounded the Inland Empire 66'ers 11-7:

Johneshwy Fargas RF- 1 for 4, BB, SB(4).  BA= .207.
Ronnie Jebavy CF- 3 for 5, BB, SB(1).  BA= .161.
Steven Duggar DH- 4 for 6, 2B, 2 HR(4).  BA= .375.
Cristian Paulino LF- 2 for 5, 2 SB(2).  BA= .167.
Richard Rodriguez SS- 3 for 5, SB(1).  BA= .333.
DJ Snelton LHP- 5 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K's, GO/AO= 10/1.  ERA= 1.80.
Martin Agosta RHP- 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 0.00.
Rodolfo Martinez RHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K.  ERA= 0.00.

Duggar has been THE breakout hitting start so far this season.  Is 2-3 inning reliever becoming a specialty?

*********************************************************************************

Low A  Charleston River Dogs topped the Augusta Greenjackets 2-1:

Seth Harrison CF- 2 for 4, SB(2).  BA= .233.
Cory Taylor RHP- 4 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 K's.  ERA= 0.00.
Tyler Cyr RHP- 3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K's, GO/AO= 7/0.  ERA= 1.74.

Taylor went 2 IP in his first start, 4 today.  Cyr has 17 K's against 3 BB's in 10 IP in 4 appearances.  Again, is 2-3 inning reliever becoming a specialty?

Game Wrap 4/17/2016: Dodgers 3 Giants 1

5:00 PM games on  the west coast are pretty much unfair to hitters, and this evening's game was no exception as Jeff Samardzija and Kenta Maeda hooked up in a tight pitcher's duel that was eventually won by Maeda and the Dodgers with the only scoring through 6 innings coming on 2 mistake pitches, 1 by each pitcher.  The difference being Shark's mistake came with a runner on base.  Yeah, the Dodgers tacked on an insurance run, but the ballgame was decided by those two pitches.  Key Lines:

Joe Panik- 1 for 3, HR(2), BB.  BA= .261.  When Panik turns on a mistake pitch and pulls it, it goes a long way.

Jeff Samardzija- 6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 3 K's, GO/AO= 7/2.  ERA= 3.72.  Samardzija was strong through 4.2 IP, then served up a mistake to Joc Pederson who hit it a long way with a runner on base.  Ballgame.  Shark later failed to execute a sacrifice bunt that turned into an inning-ending DP.  He was already PO'd at himself for giving up the dinger and he seemed to lose focus after the failed bunt and didn't retire anyone in the 7'th inning.  A wasted opportunity on multiple levels.

Josh Osich- 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K.  ERA= 2.57.  Osich is quietly becoming one of the more reliable options out of the bullpen.  We should start seeing him in higher leverage situations soon.

Denard Span, Buster Posey, Matt Duffy- these 3 batters, in particular looked like they weren't seeing Maeda very well.  Probably nobody was in the shadows of the early innings, but these 3 guys looked more lost than the rest.  Buster did hit a hard low liner through the hole off Kenley Jansen to lead off the 9'th inning, only to get forced out at 2B on a bouncer by Pence.

Umpire-  Samardzija got a bit frustrated with the ump at one point.  Based on the strike zone monitor on the TV, you could see why as the ump was inconsistent on pitches just off the plate, calling approximately 50% of them strikes.  I would say he was actually a pitcher's ump in this game because pretty much everything within the zone was called a strike and about half of those just outside the zone.  I would say the inconsistency was approximately equal on both sides.

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The Loss drops the Giants back into 3'rd place, 1 game behind the Dodgers who lead the NL West.  The Rockies blanked the Cubs 2-0 behind the pitching of Redlands, CA product Tyler Chatwood to gain 2'nd place, 0.5 games back.  The D'Backs beat the Padres 7-3 to move into 4'th place, 3 games behind the leaders while the Padres bring up the rear, 4 games back.

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The Giants open a homestand against the D'Backs tomorrow night with Jake Peavy facing newly called up Archie Bradley.

Down on the Farm: 4/16/2016

AAA  Salt Lake City Bees swarmed the Sacramento River Cats 10-5:

Conor Gillaspie 3B- 2 for 4.  BA= .324.

Nothing else to see here.

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AA  Altoona Curve scored 3 runs in the top of the 9'th inning to shutout the Richmond Flying Squirrels 3-0:

Joan Gregorio RHP- 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K's.  ERA= 0.00.
Ray Black RHP- 0.2 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 1 K.   ERA= 9.82.

Breakout season for Gregorio if he stays healthy.  He's allowed just the 2 hits in 10 IP with 13 K's and 4 BB's in 2 starts.  Black's control issues surface again.

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High A  Inland Empire 66'ers blanked the San Jose Giants 4-0:

Sam Coonrod RHP- 4 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K.  ERA= 0.00.

The Little Giants managed just 2 hits on the night.

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Low A  Charleston River Dogs topped the Augusta Greenjackets 5-3 in 14 innings:

Kelvin Beltre 3B- 2 for 6, 2B.  BA= .200.
Dillon Dobson 1B- 2 for 6, HR(4).  BA= .297.
Grant Watson LHP-  5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 6 K's.  ERA= 1.69.
Ryan Halstead RHP- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 0.00.

Dylan Davis pitched the last 2 innings for the Greenjackets allowing the 2 winning runs.  The Greenjackets struck out 23 times in the game including 11 in 3.2 IP by River Dogs reliever Travis Hissong.  Credit to Covechatter for picking that one up.

Game Wrap 4/16/2016: Giants 4 Dodgers 3

The Giants seemed to be cruising to an easy win behind Johnny Cueto's terrific pitching, then had to hold off a late Dodger surge including a chest pain inducing 9'th inning from Santiago Casilla to squeak by the Dodgers in LA.  Key Lines:

Denard Span- 1 for 4, BB, SB(2).  BA= .244.  If Span were to put up this line every night, he'd finish with a darn good season.

Joe Panik- 2 for 5.  BA= .256.  Panik appears to be feeling better from his hip bruise.

Brandon Crawford- 1 for 3, 2B, BB.  BA= .250.  There are two things that will make a player rush back from an injury:  A really good performance by his replacement and a really bad one.  In this case, the Giants desperately needed Crawford's steady hand back at SS.  He ended up with the only XBH of the game for the Giants.

Johnny Cueto- 7.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 7 K's, GO/AO= 10/0.  ERA= 3.38.  Another splendid performance by Cueto who threw 109 pitches each one seemingly with a different wrinkle in his delivery.  His FB velocity was reportedly up to 95 MPH.

Javier Lopez- 0.0 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 0 K.  ERA= 13.50.  Lopez messed the bed and failed to even record an out for what seems like the 5'th or 6'th time this season already and he's giving up shots to lefty batters to boot!  The Giants need him to figure out whatever is wrong ASAP as they need that lefty matchup out of the pen.  PS:  It's actually the 3'rd time in 6 appearances that Lopez has failed to record an out this season.  He has allowed 5 hits in 9 AB to LH batters.

Santiago Casilla- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, Save(1).  ERA= 2.08.  It seems like it's never easy with Casilla who has always taken a batter or two to find his groove.  Tonight, he gave everybody chest pain when he gave up a leadoff double to Yasmani Grandal bringing back memories of a Blown Save against these very Dodgers in Game 2 of the last Dodger series in AT&T Park 8 days ago.  Things were not looking any better after Kike Hernandez advanced Grandal to 3B with a soft groundout to Matt Duffy.  Joc Pederson reduced the threat level a lot by popping out to Matt Duffy in foul territory failing to bring in the run.  That brought up Yasiel Puig as a PH.  The plan, obviously, was to jam Puig with hard stuff in tight and he flied out to Pagan to end the game.

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The Win brings the Giants back into a first place tie with the Dodgers atop the NL West with 7-5 records.  The Rockies lost the Cubs 6-2 to fall 0.5 games back in 3'rd place.  The 4'th place D'Backs and last place Padres are battling into extra innings at 3-3.

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Jeff Samardzija makes his first start against the Dodgers as a Giant tomorrow afternoon facing Kenta Maeda who is still something of an unknown quantity.  It will be hot and the ball will be lively tomorrow in an afternoon game with a strong offshore flow going here in SoCal.

Down on the Farm: 4/15/2016

AAA  Salt Lake City Bees stung the Sacramento River Cats 4-3 in 10 innings:

Conor Gillaspie 3B- 1 for 4, HR(1).  BA= .303.
Matt Lujan LHP- 5.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 4 K's.  ERA= 3.00.
Duke Welker LHP- 1. 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 0.00.
Jake Dunning RHP- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 3.60.

Welker is a recent minor league FA signing.  I remember this guy from when he was a draft prospect at Univ. of Arkansas.  He's a 6'7" 220 lb RHP drafted in 2007 by the Pirates in the second round, #68 overall.  He kicked around the Pirates minor league system until 2014 when he was released after undergoing Tommy John surgery.  This was his first professional action since then.  Looking back at his minor league numbers, he always had decent K rates and was right around a 9 K/9 in 2012 and 2013.  His walk rates were inconsistent and often too high.  I like this signing. If he is healthy and the Giants can show him how to throw strikes, he could be a sleeper along the lines of Ryan Vogelsong.

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AA  Richmond Flying Squirrels edged out the Altoona Curve 3-2:

Chase Johnson RHP- 4 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 5 K's.  ERA= 5.63.
Mike Kickham LHP- 2.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 0.00.
Tyler Rogers RHP- 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 0.00.
Jake Smith RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 0.00.

Mike Kickham is trying to resurrect his pro career with another gig in the Giants organization.  Last year's SJ bullpen is picking up where it left off last year, except at a higher level.

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High A  Inland Empire 66'ers beat the San Jose Giants 4-2 on a windy night in the IE:

CJ Hinojosa SS- 2 for 4, 2B.  BA= .364.
Andrew Suarez LHP- 4 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K's.  ERA= 5.00.
Pat Young RHP- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 3.38.
Jeff Soptic RHP- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K's.  ERA= 3.86.

Nothing to comment on here.

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Low A  Augusta Greenjackets outscored the Charleston River Dogs 8-7:

Tyler Brown 2B- 2 for 3, BB, SB(2).  BA= .286.
Dylan Davis RF- 2 for 4, 2B, HR(1).  BA= .265.
Jean Angomas LF- 1 for 3, 2B, BB, SB(4).  BA= .227.
Logan Webb RHP- 4 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 3.38.
Ryan Halstead RHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, Save(1).  ERA= 0.00.

Angomas looks like a dynamic player if he can hit a bit more.  Fun fact:  Angomas is Edwin Encarnacion's cousin(I think).  According to David Lee of the Augusta Chronicle(found link on Covechatter), Webb's FB sat 88-90 with peak of 91 MPH.  He rates his changeup as a potential 5+, whatever that means(I think it's good).

Game Wrap 4/15/2016: Dodgers 7 Giants 4

Madison Bumgarner fell victim to the longball and poor defense behind him as the Dodgers cruised to an easy win in Dodger Stadium.  Key Lines:

Angel Pagan- 2 for 4.  BA= .385.  Pagan continues to be a bright spot which complicates potential playing time for Mac Williamson.

Buster Posey- 0 for 4.  BA= .290.  It's my belief that nagging injuries impact the game much more than we know, and much more than the sabermetric crowd would like to admit.  Buster is 0 of 8 since coming back from a bruised foot.

Kelby Tomlinson- 0 for 3, 2 E.  BA= .167.  Adrianza's loss  is going to hurt, more on defense than offense.

Mac Williamson- 0 for 1.  BA= .000.  Mac gets the call to replace Adrianza, but Big Mac can't play or 3B.  He did give Clayton Kershaw a spirited AB forcing him to throw 9 pitches.  The Giants need more AB's like that every time they face Kershaw.

Madison Bumgarner- 5 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 7 K's.  ERA= 4.50.  Again, the peripherals look good, but ownage is apparently ownage.  Enrique "Kike" Hernandez apparently owns Bummy and took him deep twice in one game.  I mean, when does that ever happen?  Some shaky D from the Giants 3'rd string SS didn't help either.

Derek Law- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 0.00.  Derek Law makes his much anticipated MLB debut, at least anticipated by us prospect watchers.  He did not disappoint, showing nasty stuff while striking out the side in the 7'th inning.  It's just 1 game, but I don't think any of us are surprised.  Put Law in the short list for Giants Closer of the future.

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The Loss dropped the Giants record to 6-5 and into 3'rd place in the NL West. The Dodgers are in first place at 7-4 while the Rockies topped the Cubs 6-1 to move past the Giants with a 6-4 record.  In a battle of last place teams, the D'Backs beat the Padres leaving the Snakes at 4-7, 3 games behind the Dodgers and the Pathetic Padres at 3-8, 4 games back.

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Johnny Cueto tries to be the stopper and break the Giants 3 game losing streak against Scott Kazmir tonight in Dodger Stadium.  It's Santa Ana weather in SoCal this weekend, so Dodger Stadium is going to play like a bandbox.

Down on the Farm: 4/14/2016

AAA  Las Vegas 51's downed the Sacramento River Cats 6-2:

Ramiro Pena 2B- 2 for 4, 2B.  BA= .370.
Hak-Ju Lee SS- 3 for 4, 2B, HR(1).  BA= .391.
Chris Stratton RHP- 5 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 6 K's.  ERA= 9.82.
Mike Broadway RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 9.00.
Clayton Blackburn RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K's.  ERA= 3.00.

At the rate the injuries are piling up for the Giants, Pena and Lee could be getting called up soon.  More BABIP weirdness from Stratton.  Broadway is a candidate to replace Romo on the 25 man roster.  Blackburn was just getting in some work after missing his start with a GI virus.

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AA  Richmond Flying Squirrels squeaked past the Altoona Curve 2-1:

Myles Schroder LF- 2 for 4, 2B.  BA= .300.
Adalberto Mejia LHP- 4.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 K's.  ERA= 6.30.
Jose Casilla RHP- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 0.00.
Dan Slania RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 0.00
Ray Black RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 3.00.

Ray Black is the guy I'd like to see called up to replace Romo.  How fun would that be?

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High A  San Jose Giants topped the Inland Empire 66'ers 4-2(I attended this game):

Steven Duggar RF- 2 for 4, 2B, HR(1). BA= .350.  Duggar was the hitting star of the game staking the Giants to an early lead with a solo HR over the R-CF fence in the top of the first inning and later splitting the gap for a double.

CJ Hinojosa SS- 1 for 3, BB.  BA= .333.  Hinojosa ranged all the way into the 66'ers bullpen area behind the warmup mound to catch a long foul pop-up.  His other plays on the night were fairly routine, but that was definitely a big league play.  Kinda reminded me of Brandon Crawford in High Desert a few years ago.

Jose Vizcaino Jr. 3B- 0 for 3, BB, SB(2).  BA= .222.  Viz Jr also made a big league play on a dribbler just to the left of the mound.  He came charging in, barehanded it and just got the runner at 1B.  I thought it was going to be a hit all the way, so he really showed me something there.  He's got the size of a 3B, and the athleticism of a SS.  Now, if he can hit…..

Jason Forjet RHP- 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K's.  ERA= 0.00.  I've liked Forjet from his numbers, but had not seen any kind of scouting report on him.  He's kind of average in size for a pitcher, maybe slightly on the small size.  His FB sits 88-90 MPH.  He was able to command it at the knees and up in the zone, although big league hitters probably would have laid off some of those high fastballs the 66'er hitters swung through on.  He complemented the FB with a sharp slider at 80-82 MPH and a slow curve at 73 MPH which he threw just often enough to keep hitters off balance.  I like Forject as a sleeper in the system and I think he should be pitching in AA now.

Dusten Knight RHP- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 0.00.  Knight was similar to Forjet.  FB 88-90 MPH with a sharp breaking ball.

Reyes Maronta RHP- 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 6.00.  Maronta looks like a clone of Jean Machi.  Impressive velocity at 92-96 MPH, more 95's than any other single number on the radar gun.  He had obvious command issues but got out of the inning nicely with 2 K's.  He showed a wicked breaking ball that served as a wipeout pitch on the 2 K's.  If I'm an opposing scout, Maronta is on my list of potential targets in a deadline trade.

Rodolfo Martinez RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's, Save(3).  ERA= 0.00.  They turned off the stadium gun in the top of the 9'th inning.  I tried to sneak up behind a scout with a gun but couldn't see the numbers.  Comparing  Martinez FB to Maronta's, it was at least as fast, probably a tick or two faster, with much better command.  He also showed command of breaking stuff and the IE hitters were completely overmatched.  Martinez is one guy I would hope is untouchable at the deadline.  He's a future MLB closer in my book.

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Low A  Charleston River Dogs defeated the Augusta Greenjackets 3-1:

Kelvin Beltre 3B- 1 for 4, 2B.  BA= .200.
Phil Bickford RHP- 4 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 6 K's.  ERA= 5.19.
Tyler Cyr RHP- 3 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K's.  ERA= 1.23.

Bickford now has 16 K's against 2 BB's in 8.2 IP.  Cyr has 15 K's against 2 BB's in 7.1 IP in 3 appearances.

Game Wrap 4/14/2016: Rockies 11 Giants 6

The Giants have had many a nightmare inning in Coors Field, but I'm not sure any of them beat today's 5'th inning in which the Rockies scored 9 runs to ruin what had looked like Matt Cain's best performance since 2012.  Key Lines:

Denard Span- 2 for 5.  BA= .244.  Span seems to be heating up and none too soon.

Brandon Belt- 2 for 4, HR(3).  BA= .333.  Belt remains on track for a big breakout season.

Ehire Adrianza-  1 for 2, 2B.  Adrianza certainly seems like a different hitter this year.  Unfortunately, he had to come out of the game after fouling a ball off his foot.  X-rays were negative.

Matt Cain- 4.2 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 1 BB, 7 K's.  ERA= 6.75.  Cain went into the 5'th inning having allowed just 1 hit and 0 walks with 5 K's.  I didn't see the game, but reports are that his stuff looked great.  Then…the wheels just came off.  He started allowing base hit after base hit and just could not shut it off.  It didn't get any better after Chris Heston relieved him and the Rockies plated 3 more runs charged to him.  Almost any way you look at the peripherals and context of this game, Cain pitched much better than his score and ERA would indicate.  I'll just chalk this up to Coors Field voodoo and wait for his next start to pass any judgement.

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The Loss dropped the Giants back into a first place tie with the Dodgers in the NL West with 6-4 records.  The Rockies are just a half game back at 5-4.  The D'Backs lost to the Dodgers 5-2 while the Padres struck out 16 times against Vince Velasquez of the Phillies and lost 3-0.  The D'Backs and Padres are 3 games off the pace at 3-7.

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The Giants start a 3 game weekend series against the Dodgers in LA tomorrow evening with Madison Bumgarner facing Clayton Kershaw once again.

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Sergio Romo was placed on the 15 day DL with a flexor tendon strain.  Matt Cain lost 3 months with one of those last year.

Joe Panik was held out of this game with a hip bruise after his tumbling attempt at a catch in game 2 of the series.

Brandon Crawford left todays game with a hip flexor strain.  He's had those before and has not missed much time with them.  He probably won't play tomorrow at any rate with Kershaw on the mound for the Dodgers.

We already mentioned Adrianza's sore foot.  Posey's foot was well enough to play today, but he might not have been at 100%.

Down on the Farm: 4/13/2016

AAA  Sacramento River Cats beat the Las Vegas 51's 6-1:

Ramiro Pena 2B- 2 for 5, BB.  BA= .348.
Conor Gillaspie 3B- 5 for 5, 2 2B.  BA= .320.
Hak-Ju Lee SS- 1 for 3, 2B, 2 BB.  BA= .316.
Vin Mazzaro RHP- 4 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 0.00.
Braulio Lara LHP- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 0.00.
Steven Okert LHP- 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 4.50.

Gillaspie has a big day.  Mazzaro got the start in place of Clayton Blackburn who was out with a GI virus.

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AA  Reading Fightin' Phils defeated the Richmond Flying Squirrels 6-4:

Myles Schroder LF- 2 for 4, 2B.  BA= .269.
Matt Winn C- 2 for 4.  BA= .318.
Rando Moreno 2B- 3 for 4.  BA= .300.
Tyler Beede RHP- 5 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 4 K's.  ERA= 4.50.
Dan Slania RHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 0.00.

Not much to comment on here.

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High A  Visalia Rawhide whipped the San Jose Giants 8-4:

Johneshwy Fargas CF- 0 for 3, 2 BB, SB(2).  BA= .286.
Chris Shaw DH- 2 for 4, 2B.  BA= .313.

Not much to comment on here either.

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Low A Augusta Greenjackets topped the Lexington Legends 6-4:

Jalen Miller 2B- 3 for 5, 2 2B. BA= .423.
Dillon Dobson 1B- 1 for 3, 2B, SF.  BA= .280.
Seth Harrison CF- 1 for 3, 2B, BB.  BA= .250.
Michael Santos RHP- 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 6 K's.  ERA= 5.40.

Miller stays red hot.  Nice recovery start from Santos.

Game Wrap 4/13/2016: Rockies 10 Giants 6

The Giants showed just how terrific Jeff Samardzija's pitching was in the series opener as the Rockies offense went into high gear and helped the Giants set a very dubious team record for XBH's allowed in 1 game, 12 in all.   The onslaught overwhelmed a decent showing by the Giants offense.  Coors Field.  Key Lines:

Denard Span- 1 for 3, 2B, BB.  BA= .222.  Maybe this will be the start of a hot streak for Span who has struggled a bit in the early going.

Brandon Belt- 2 for 4, HR(2),  BA= .313.  Belt continues to be hot with his second dinger of the season narrowing the Rockies lead to 7-6 after 8 innings.

Angel Pagan- 1 for 2, 2 BB.  BA= .387.  Pagan stays hot and scores a run.

Trevor Brown- 2 for 4, 2B.  BA= .417.  Speaking of staying hot……Brownie is giving Buster Posey the luxury of longer to heal the bruised foot before he goes back out and starts irritating it in the squat.

Jake Peavy- 4 IP, 11 H, 6 R, 1 BB, 5 K's.  ERA= 10.00.  Peavy mades some good pitches, but every, and I mean every, time he made a location mistake, the Rockies jumped all over it.  At one point, Dave Righetti went out to see if he could help.  Peavy was clearly frustrated, gesturing, spreading his arms out like he was saying "what can I do?"  We'll chalk it up to Coors Field for now, but yeah, we'd like to see Peavy settled down and pitch some better games here.

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The Loss drops the Giants record to 6-3.  They lead the Dodgers in the NL West by 1.5 games pending the outcome of the Dodgers-D'Backs game.  If the Dodgers lose, the Rockies move up to 2'nd place at 4-4.   Meanwhile, the Padres lost again to the Phillies 2-1 and are at 3-5.

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Matt Cain pitches the rubber game of the series tomorrow afternoon facing Jorge De La Rosa.  Cainer might want to bring his best stuff with him, because you do not want to face this Rockies lineup in Coors Field without it.

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As mentioned, Buster Posey got another day off due to his sore foot.  He may not play in the series finale either.  The foot reportedly is making normal progress though, so they aren't too worried about a hiding fracture.

Sergio Romo has a sore elbow again.  He flew back to SF for tests.

Down on the Farm: 4/12/2016

AAA  Sacramento River Cats won their first game of the season 5-4 over the Las Vegas 51's:

Gorkys Hernandez CF- 1 for 3, 2 BB.  BA= .235.
Ryan Lollis 1B- 1 for 3, 2B, BB.  BA= .211.
Mac Williamson RF- 3 for 5, Assist(2B).  BA= .292.
Miguel Olivo C- 2 for 4, HR(1), BB.  .250.
Ty Blach LHP- 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 7 K's.  ERA= 4.63.

Mac shows he can hit for average too.  Much improved Blach start from Opening Day.

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AA Richmond Flying Squirrels topped the Reading Fightin' Phils 7-5:

Christian Arroyo SS- 2 for 5, 2B.  BA= .417.
Austin Slater CF- 2 for 3, 2B, HR(2), 2 BB.  BA= .381.
Ricky Oropesa 1B- 2 for 5, HR(4).  BA= .292.
Kyle Crick RHP- 5 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 2 K's, GO/AO= 8/2.  ERA= 7.20.
Tyler Rogers RHP- 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 0.00.
Tyler Mizenko RHP- 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 2.70.
Ray Black RHP- 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 3 K's, Save(1).  ERA= 4.50.

Austin Slater showing some power we haven't seen before.  OK, I think we see some progress for Cricky focusing on just 2 BB's and the nice GB ratio.  The ERA will eventually take care of itself.

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High A  San Jose Giants outscored the Visalia Rawhide 8-5:

Chris Shaw 1B- 3 for 4, 2B.  BA= .250.
Aramis Garcia C- 3 for 4.  BA= .400.
Johneshwy Fargas LF- 1 for 3, 3B, SB(1), Assist(2B).  BA= .364.
Jordan Johnson RHP- 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 5 K's.  ERA= 5.40.
Martin Agosta RHP- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 0.00.
Rodolfo Martinez RHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, Save(1).  ERA= 0.00.

Fargas has 3 triples in 3 games.

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Low A  Lexington Legends came roaring back in the suspended game from 4/11 to edge the Augusta Greenjackets 9-8:

Jalen Miller DH- 2 for 5.  BA= .353.
Dillon Dobson 1B- 2 for 5, 2B, HR(2).  BA= .250.
Dylan Davis LF- 2 for 4, 3B.  BA= .300.
Seth Harrison RF- 2 for 4, 2B.  BA= .286.
Cory Taylor RHP- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 0.00.
Conner Kaden RHP- 3 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 1.50.
Ryan Halstead RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 0.00.

Taylor's start was cut short by the weather related suspension of the game.

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Low A  Lexington Legends defeated the Augusta Greenjackets 4-3(7 innings):

Lucious Fox DH- 1 for 3, BB, 2 SB(4).  BA= .190.
Jalen Miller 2B- 2 for 4, SB(1).  BA= .381.
Dillon Dobson 1B- 1 for 2, HR(3), 2 BB.  BA= .273.
Jean Angomas LF- 2 for 3, SB(3).  BA= .200.
Mac Marshall LHP- 4 IP, 3 H, 5 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 6.75.

Miller and Dobson stay hot for Augusta.

Game Wrap 4/12/2016: Giants 7 Rockies 2

Jeff Samardzija cooled off Trevor Story and the Rockies bats while Hunter Pence and Trevor Brown, that's right, Brown, led the Giants offense in an easy win at Coors Field.  Key Lines:

Hunter Pence- 2 for 5, HR(2).  BA= .276.  The impressive part of the HR ball was the battle Pence gave Rockies starter Tyler Chatwood before he connected.  Chatwood had 2 strikes on him and kept throwing Pence stuff off the plate and Pence just kept barely fouling pitches off until Chatwood finally came into the zone and Pence was ready when he did.  Very impressive AB!

Angel Pagan- 3 for 4, SB(1), Assist(home).  BA= .379.  Pagan stays hot with 3 singles and a SB.  The assist was preceded by a misjudge/miscommunication on a shallow pop fly that dropped in.  Pagan kept after it and recovered in time to make a throw to the plate.  It was a bit offline on the 1B side, but Trevor Brown made a nice, diving swipe tag to get the runner and prevent more damage.

Trevor Brown- 2 for 4, 2 HR(3).  BA= .375.  Brown got the unexpected start when Posey came up with a sore foot, a residual from a foul tip off the bat of Chase Utley over the weekend.  Brownie did it all in this game:  Handled Samardzija like a veteran, made a nice defensive play at the plate and hit 2 home runs.  That's right, 2 home runs.  They both came with a runner on base(Brown and Pence drove in all 7 of the Giants runs).  Brown and Posey could be seen talking in the dugout prior to the first HR AB.  Buster was telling him to shorten up his swing against Chatwood's inside pitches.  Brownie took the advice and executed perfectly, drawing his hands in and pulling the ball to LF.  The next AB, as the 8'th hitter, Brownie figured he'd be getting a lot of breaking stuff away.  He made the adjustment and took a pitch that got a little too fat over the outside corner deep.  Stay hot, kid!

Jeff Samardzija- 8 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 5 K's, GO/AO= 9/5.  ERA= 3.38.  Samardzija pitched the way I've always said you have to pitch in Coors Field.  Pound the zone with all hard stuff all the time to the 4 corners of the strike zone.  Don't be afraid to go up in the zone.  You might give up an occasional solo dinger, but you'll get a lot more outs.  4 seam, 2-seam, cutter, those were 3 of his 4 pitches and he mixed them up masterfully.

The Giants got the book on Trevor Story.  All 7 of his early season dingers were on middle-in pitches, so Shark rode the outside corner with all 3 FB's, but mostly cutters and Story could not adjust.  0 for 4 with 3 K's.  Hat trick!

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The Win gave the Giants a 6-2 record and extended the their lead in the NL West to 2 games over the Dodgers as da bums lost their home opener to the D'Backs 4-2 after leading 1-0 after 6 innings.  Seem familiar?  The Dodgers bullpen is really getting exposed here in the early going, and it that really a surprise?  With the loss, the Rockies dropped to third place at 3-4, 2.5 games behind the Giants.  The D'Backs moved into a 4'th place tie with the Padres at 3-5,  3 games behind, while the Pathetic Ones lost to the Pathetic Phillies 3-0.

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Jake Peavy takes on Jordan Lyles in game 2 of the series tomorrow evening.

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The Giants set a franchise record with home runs in each of their first 8 games of the season.  They are tied for the MLB lead in dingers with with Rockies at 17.  They've gotten HR's from 11 different players and from all 9 spots in the lineup.

Down on the Farm: 4/11/2016

AAA  Las Vegas 51's defeated the Sacramento River Cats 5-2:

Ryan Lollis 1B- 2 for 4, 3B.  BA= .188.
Hak-Ju Lee SS- 2 for 4, 3B.  BA= .313.
Ricky Romero LHP- 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K's, GO/AO= 6/1.  ERA= 0.00.

Cats are now 0-5 on the season.  Lee and Romero maybe made some progress in trying to rebuild their careers.

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AA  Reading Fightin' Phils downed the Richmond Flying Squirrels 8-5:

Myles Schroder LF- 2 for 4 2B, Assist(2B).  BA= .235.
Christian Arroyo SS- 2 for 4, 2B.  BA= .421.
Austin Slater CF- 3 for 4, HR(1).  BA= .333.
Matt Gage LHP- 2 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 31.50.
Christian Jones LHP- 3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 13.50.
JP Crawford SS(Phils)- 3 for 5, 2B.  BA= .313.

Arroyo stays hot.  Look who is playing CF for the Flying Squirrels!  Some folks wondered why I ranked Austin Slater above Hunter Cole in my Top 50 Giants Prospects.  I just felt he was the better athlete and the more versatile player with approximately equal bat, but possibly more upside with the bat.  We'll see how it plays out.  Rough, rough start for the big lefty, Matt Gage.  Christian Jones makes a nice recovery from his first rough outing.

JP Crawford is one of the elite prospects in the game, the Philadelphia Phillies SS of the future.

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High A  Visalia Rawhide topped the San Jose Giants 6-5:

Steven Duggar RF- 2 for 3, HR(1), 2 BB, SB(1).  BA= .500.
Aramis Garcia C- 1 for 4, 2B, BB.  BA= .167.
Johneshwy Fargas LF- 1 for 4, 3B.  BA= .375.
Jonah Arenado DH- 2 for 4, HR(1).  BA= .250.
DJ Snelton LHP- 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K's.  ERA= 0.00.

Wrenzie has a nice interview with Steven Duggar in his blog linked to the left.  He's apparently worked on taking some of the extraneous movements out of his swing.  He's a tremendous athlete.  If he can hit, he'll go far.

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Low A Augusta Greenjackets vs Lexington Legends suspended after 2 innings with the GJ's leading 7-0:

Lucious Fox SS- 0 for 2, SB(1).  BA= .200.
Jalen Miller DH- 2 for 2.  BA= .429.
Dillon Dobson 1B- 1 for 2, HR(1).  BA= .235.
Dylan Davis RF- 1 for 2, 3B.  BA= .294.
Tyler Brown 2B- 1 for 1, 2B.  BA= .273.
Cory Taylor RHP- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 0.00.

It looked like the Greenjackets might struggle to score runs early in the season with so many inexperienced kids on the team.   So far, that has not been the case.  Jalen Miller, in particular has been red hot, but Fox and Beltre have had their moments too.

Down on the Farm: 4/10/2016

AAA  Salt Lake City Bees completed a 4 game sweep of the Sacramento River Cats 7-4:

Gorkys Hernandez CF- 2 for 4, BB, Assist.  BA= .273.
Ramiro Pena 2B- 2 for 5, SB(1).  BA= .357.
Mac Williamson DH- 1 for 3, HR(2), BB.  BA= .267.

Big Mac connects for his second dinger of the season.  The rest of this team looked pretty dismal.  We'll see if the pitching gets better at home.

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AA  Richmond Flying Squirrels were idle.

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High A  San Jose Giants vs Lancaster Jethawks postponed.

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Low A  Augusta Greenjackets swarmed the Rome Braves 9-2:

Jalen Miller 2B- 2 for 5, 3B.  BA= .333.
Kelvin Beltre 3B- 2 for 5, HR(1).  BA= .286.
Grant Watson LHP- 5.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 1.59.
Tyler Cyr RHP- 2.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 4 K's.  ERA= 2.08.

Encouraging starts to the season from Lucious Fox, Jalen Miller and Kelvin Beltre.  Cyr has 9 K's against 1 BB in 4.1 IP in 2 appearances.

Game Wrap 4/10/2016: Giants 9 Dodgers 6

The Dodgers jumped on Johnny Cueto and jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but the Giants offense was there to pick Cueto up and he settled down to pitch 6 more excellent innings and the Giants ended up winning going away.  Key Lines:

Denard Span- 2 for 5.  BA= .214.  Span had been scuffling and started this game 0 for 3, but finished with 2 hits including one in the middle of the winning rally in the 6'th inning.

Joe Panik- 1 for 5, 2B.  BA= .269.  Panik was also 0 for his first 3 AB, but then was the centerpiece of the winning 3-run rally with a long double to the left-CF corner that drove in 2 runs. He later scored on Pence's Sac Fly.

Buster Posey- 2 for 5, HR(2).  BA= .391.  Posey hasn't made a lot of noise so far, but he's off to a terrific start.  The BA speaks for itself and since the Giants have now played 1/23 of their games, he's on trace to hit 46 HR's.

Hunter Pence- 1 for 2, BB, SF.  BA= .250.  Pence helps the Giants win in so many ways.  This line doesn't look like much, but he scored 2 runs and drove in 1.

Brandon Belt- 2 for 3, HR(1), BB.  BA= .292.  Belt has a terrible history facing Clayton Kershaw, but does just fine against other LHP's.  He took Kazmir deep to straightaway CF in this one.

Matt Duffy- 2 for 3, 2B, HBP.  BA= .241.  Duffy has been scuffling, but this was a good game to get your BA well in.

Angel Pagan- 2 for 4, 2B, HR(1).  BA= .320.  Pagan is on fire.  The whole batting 9'th thing seems to be to his liking.  I have a question though.  If the whole idea of this is to have Pagan to get on base and start rallies in front of Span, why wouldn't you want him to do it in the first inning too?

Johnny Cueto- 7 IP, 10 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 8 K's.  ERA= 4.50.  Cueto gave up 5 of his 10 hits in the first inning.  At least 3 of those could be considered bad BABIP luck as their was a soft line drive, a seeing-eye groundball by Trayce Thompson that apparently beat some sort of shift, or maybe it was because Belt was holding a runner at first?  There was also a bunt RBI single by Austin Barnes.  After that, Cueto settled down and allows just 5 H, 1 R, 1 BB over the next 6 innings with 8 K's. All in all, he threw 104 pitches in his 7 innings which is just 2 more than Bumgarner threw in 5 innings yesterday.  So, I'm just going to chalk up the first inning to BABIP luck and the typical Giants-Dodgers craziness.

Santiago Casilla- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, Save(2).  ERA= 2.70.  A little better than yesterday's appearance, but a 3 run lead will generally allow him to pitch with more confidence.

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So, the Giants win the 4 game barnburner of a series 3-1.  They came from behind in all 4 games except the Dodgers came back themselves in game 3.  The Giants come out of their first series with the Dodgers leading them and the NL West by 1 game with a 5-2 record(BTW, by the same math the projects 46 HR's for Buster Posey, the Giants are on a pace to win 115 games).  The Dodgers are in second place with a 4-3 record.  The Rockies topped the Padres 6-3 to even their record at 3-3 in 3'rd place, 1.5 games behind the Giants.  The Padres are 2-4, 2.5 games back in 4'th place while the D'Backs lost again to the Cubbies 7-3 and bring up the rear at 2-5, 3 games behind the Giants pace.

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The Giants are off tomorrow before starting a series against the Rockies in Coors Field where they will try to cool off Trevor Story.  Jeff Samardzija gets the first start of the series on Tuesday evening.

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Nomar Mazara got called up by the Rangers a bit earlier than expected when Shin-Soo Choo went on the DL with an oblique strain.  In his first MLB game, he went 3 for 4 with a HR, the 3 hits coming in his first 3 PA's.  With another hit, he would have joined Willie McCovey and Derrick Gibson as the only MLB players to get 4 hits in 4 PA's in their MLB debut.  I picked him up for my Savvy Vets fantasy team and dropped Billy Burns who seems to have lost his starting CF gig in Oakland to Coco Crisp.

Fantasy Focus: Savvy Vets Makes a Trade

My Savvy Vets fantasy baseball team completed a trade this morning sending out RHP Danny Santana and getting back SS Troy Tulowitzki.  Tulo is currently the #66 ranked player in Yahoo leagues while Santana is #83. It will take 2 days for the trade to complete as a 6/10 no vote by the league can block the trade.  I don't foresee that happening.  For analysis sake, here is my pre-trade roster:

C    JT Realmuto
1B  Paul Goldschmidt
2B  Joe Panik
3B  Mike Moustakas
SS   Addison Russell
IF  Brandon Belt
OF  Bryce Harper
OF  Justin Upton
OF  Carlos Gomez
UT  Billy Burns
UT  Steven Souza
SP  Stephen Strasburg
SP  Cole Hamels
SP  Garrett Richards
SP  Danny Santana
SP  Raisel Iglesias
RP Sean Doolittle
RP Roberto Osuna
RP Dellin Betances
P    Arodys Vizcaino
P    Ryan Madson
BN Marcus Stroman
BN Carlos Rodon
BN Aaron Sanchez
BN Cody Anderson
BN Vince Velasquez
DL Ben Revere

As you can see, my SP's are really deep but my offense after Harper and Goldy is weak.  I haven't decided yet just how to deploy Tulo.  I will probably just drop Russell.  He's really struggled so far this season and is stuck in the 8 hole of the Cubs' lineup.  On the other hand, I hate to give up on his upside. and could drop either Burns or Souza and put Tulo in a UT slot.  Other options to upgrade the UT slots  include 2B Johnathan Schoop or Denard Span who are both available on the FA market.  If I want to roll the dice on upside, Nomar Mazara got the callup today from the Rangers after Shin-Soo Choo went on the DL.  Not sure if Mazara might get sent back down when Choo comes off the DL, but if he plays up to his potential, he ain't going back down.  I like Burnsy for his SB's but he's splitting PT with Coco Crisp in Oakland.  In a relatively shallow league and with 4 out of 5 offensive categories being counting stats, your players have to be out there everyday.

As for Santana's SP slot, there are several solid options available on the FA market and I have my sights set on Jose Berrios who should be an early callup for the Twins.