Sunday, August 19, 2018

Game Wrap 8/19/2018: Reds 11 Giants 4

Well, rock bottom got a little deeper in this game that was not nearly as close as the score might lead you to believe.  A truly wretched performance to cap off a sweep at the hands of one of the worst teams in MLB.  Key Lines:

Steven Duggar CF- 2 for 4, 2 2B.  BA= .265.  Duggar was as doubles machine in Sacramento before his call up.  He hasn't slowed down in the majors with 11 in 122 PA which projects to about 55 over 600 PA's.  His actual combined number is 38 in 438 PA between AAA and MLB.  This might have been the lone bright spot from today's game.

Andrew Suarez LHP- 2.2 IP, 7 H, 7 R. 5 ER, 2 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 4.68.  Most young pitchers who find early success at the MLB level eventually hit a wall, whether from fatigue or from advance scouts "getting a book" on them.  Suarez definitely hit some sort of wall in the 3'rd inning after pitching 2 scoreless frames.  It wasn't much of a game after that as the score reached 9-1 before the Giants scored 3 more in garbage time.

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The Loss drops the Giants 8 games off the pace set by NL West co-leaders, D'Backs and Rockies.

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The Giants road trip moves on to New York for a 4 gamer against another bad team with Derek Holland facing former Giants first round draft pick and prospect, Zack Wheeler.

13 comments:

  1. With this sweep, the Giants are closer to 13th place (being passed by the Reds and the Mets) than to a Wild Card slot or the the NL West lead.

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  2. Rock Bottom: We're still 13 games ahead of the Padres. Couldn't say that last year when we were 5+ games behind them and they were beating us like a rented mule... :)

    Reload vs Rebuild: From the beginning I was 'rebuild' not 'reload.' As the expression goes, this team was 'too long for Dick, to short for Richard.' Those extra games we won by trading only hurt us in the draft while damaging our farm system's potential.

    As it is, if the season ended today, we'd be drafting 12th instead of somewhere between 6-10. And while that's not a huge swing, it is significant to both bust-rate and future 'superior player' success.


    Silver Lining: The Dodgers are 1.5 games back in the Wild Card race which is, currently, in a three-way tie between the Rockies, Phillies & Brewers. All of whom I'll be pulling for the rest of the season because, let's face it, after Giants winning, Dodgers losing is the best thing about baseball.

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    1. drafting 12th! LOL. it will be 6th by Oct 1! Maybe better!

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    2. It may not be 6th, but it will be higher than 12th. 8th or 9th may be best case. Hoping for one or two key International signings to supplement the June draft.

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  3. One series does not a season make, but it sure sounds like a death knell.
    The bell is tolling for someone -- would "firing" Bochy wake the Giants up, wouldn't the players KNOW that they got him canned.
    It surely worked for StL: when Matheny was replaced, Cardinals have gone 21-11 since losing to the Reds on July 14th.
    There's nothing wrong with the Giants that a 15-game win streak wouldn't cure -- LOL!

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    1. bochy is not getting fired in season. i see bochy mulling retirement this offseason with the writing on the wall this offseason. larry baer has to start getting a list managerial candidate to potentially replace bochy this offseason, should he decide to retire.

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    2. So, I live in St. Louis and one of my BB friends was dancing with joy over Matheny being fired. He speculated Bochy might go, but I pointed out he has just one year left on his contract and he's a HOF manager who brought 3 WS to the club and will probably finish-out as a lame-duck.

      I could be wrong.

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    3. No way the Giants fire Bochy mid-season.

      At most (and I'm hoping for it) is the Giants force some kind of retirement in the off-season where Boch accepts some special overseer role, and he collects the rest of his contract that way. Think Righetti.

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  4. Since the break, the Giants are either dead last, or just ahead of the lowly Marlins in the NL in every offensive category. The team is 1) expensive, and 2) aging, not a good combination. To their credit, the Giants have battled their butts off, and that should not be ignored. The Giants young pitchers have stepped up and given it their very best. As Doc points out above, Suarez has probably hit a wall. But, that does not diminish the contribution he has made. Suarez, Rodriguez (in a big way), Black, Montoya and even Blach have shown signs that they can be important pieces going forward.

    Now, it's time for the baseball guys to make smart baseball decisions. With the Dodgers, and all their money in our division, reloading is a fools errand. The organization needs, make that NEEDS, a significant infusion of young talent. The Longoria, Cueto and Shark contracts are going hurt for a while. Trading Bumgarner (one of my favorite Giants of all-time) is an absolute MUST - a year late, unfortunately. Moving other quality players to lighten the payroll load may be necessary, as well. The question is, does management have the courage to do what is necessary?

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    1. The thing about the Dodgers is, they haven't dropped the money hammer yet.

      Let's see their move when they reset the Luxury Tax.

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  5. The Giants signed free agents, they made trades; and they promoted players from the minors. The Giants also have had numerous injuries. It all adds up to a team that will not make the playoffs but be out of prime draft position. As a fan that attends maybe 1-2 games a year, it's easy for me to say that it's rebuild not re-tool. But really, we've seen this movie over and over the past few years: the team doesn't score runs! Make that 1 run. They make reclamation projects look like Cy Young winners. Truth be told, it's a bit strange how consistently the Giants have been sub standard at run production.

    Madison Bumgarner is my hero. Can't imagine him in another uniform. But for the first time, I'm thinking...

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  6. Ray Black optioned to Sac -- they'll be pitching Stratton and Kelly and anyone else that can pitch or play 2B so they'll need a lot of relief -- Black shuldn't be expected to soak up innings.
    Isn't time to sit Cutch and Pence and even Gorkys and see what Slater, Duggar, and Hanson can do in the OF? The 3 of them are for sure going to be on the 2019 Giants -- the other 3? Not so sure.

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