There were at least 2 or 3 bright spots in another otherwise dismal loss. Key Lines:
Evan Longoria 3B- 2 for 4, HR(13. BA= .249. Giants are stuck with Longoria's contract for a few years, so we might as well hope games like this are a sign he still has some gas left in the tank.
Austin Slater 1B- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .273. Austin Slater was going good as recently as Augusta 11 when he went 1 for 3 and his BA was .308. He then went 0 for 11 over his next 3 games. This was his first start in the field since. I think some of the criticism we are seeing and hearing of Bochy and Giants management a bit shrill and unfair, but I have no idea what they are doing with Austin Slater. Maybe an 0 for 11 deserves a day off to recoup, but otherwise he needs to be out there everyday building up AB's and experience.
Chris Stratton RHP- 6.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 5.37. Stratton credits Ryan Vogelsong with helping him make a mechanical adjustment which led to 2 strong starts for Sacramento and today's QS. Stratton took a shutout into the 7'th inning before faltering, but a strong finish by him would expand Giants pitching options for next season.
*********************************************************************************
The D'Backs, Rockies and Dodgers are all still playing as of this writing with the Giants sitting 8 games behind the D'Backs for the NL West lead.
*********************************************************************************
Casey Kelly gets the start tomorrow evening against Thor who has not been unhittable in the month of August, which means he will be against the Giants.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Giants are talking about shutting down Posey for the season to get hip surgery. I'm seeing this happen. Might as well see if Aramis Garcia can take over as a backup next season.
ReplyDeletei think they shut posey down once mccutchen is traded to free up space on the 40-man roster without going over the cbt for ronnie freeman. i see freeman, hundley, and garcia splitting reps during september. they need to go out and sign a bridge catcher this offseason until bart is ready. posey needs to be playing at first base next season and belt moves to left field if he isn't moved this offseason. they need to think of posey's long term health at this point.
DeleteToo bad they can't afford to bring someone else up to the big club until they clear some cap space (since they don't want to go ever). That means they need to trade someone to take money off the books. This is a problem the FO has know about for a while and yet they sat on their hands (you choose the reason(s) why.
DeleteThis Slater ordeal has turned me into wanting changes with Bochy and Evans. Everytime a kid comes along the Giants play these head games until the kid gives up. Instead we have to endure Gorkys' .133 Avg for August... Bochy stands there like a lump and inspires nothing but sunflower seeds... The core kids and their influence on incoming players with their underdog attitude won ALL 3 of the WS with Bochy standing there leaning on the dugout rail. This farm system is nothing better than a Little League draft... Since 2010, how many #1 drafts have made a difference. Panik, who I like is injury prone. As much as I wanted Shaw to succeed, I'm scared of him. Duggar is okay, but he has to improve next year.. BART in Short Season, is a effing joke... Maybe Bart gets one month Augusta and then San Jose for this year... I have a sincere question for you? Do you think that this losing mentality by being on losing teams in the farm system has an effect on the players growth? Augusta started out on fire with those young pitchers, but it seems in early May that someone flipped a switch and the pitching staff disintegrated. Coaching? The bottomline is something happened during the All Star break 2016 and it is still there.... I love my Giants, but the are becoming indifferent to losing and winning...
ReplyDeleteTacklebox
Hey Tacklebox, good to hear from you. Hey everybody! Long ago and far away, Tacklebox and I sat together at a game in Adelanto, CA with a cold wind blowing. Buster Posey was catching for the Giants, Madison Bumgarner was charting pitches in the stands and a 4'th round draft pick named Brandon Crawford was playing SS. We watched Crawford run down a ball in the bullpen area down the LF line and make an off-balance throw on a line that carried all the way to home plate. We just looked at each other and said almost in unison, "now THAT was a big league throw!" Man, I'll never forget that!
DeleteAs for your question: I don't think winning and losing in the minor leagues has much importance. You can win, at least in the lower minors, but stocking teams with older players, but it doesn't mean anything for the future of the organization. I always look at individual performances. Let's just take San Jose: They are losing, but Sandro Fabian is getting A+ AB's at age 20. Jalen Miller is showing he's a prospect at age 21. Logan Webb graduated to AA and is looking like a potential #2-3 SP.
In Augusta, Heliot Ramos is hitting under .250 but he's gotten a full season's of AB's in a challenging environment at age 18. Could the GJ's have a better record with a 22 yo playing CF? Probably but the organization would be worse off.
One thing Bobby Evans and John Barr have done over the past 2-3 seasons is make the Giants farm teams in the lower minors younger and more athletic. That has created a 'doughnut hole" in the mid-upper minors as older prospects have graduated or otherwise left the organization. This has created the impression of a bad farm system, when IMO it is actually stronger than it was a few years ago.
One more thought: If the farm system is so terrible, how has it produced Slater, Duggar, D'Rod, Suarez and Moronta in 1 season? Even Chris Stratton is showing signs of life again!(although I'm not sure why it took so long and Ryan Vogelsong to figure out what his mechanical problem was). BTW, Chris Stratton is one reason why it's still too soon to give up on Tyler Beede.
But yeah, I'm not sure why Gorkys is still getting playing time over Austin Slater. That's frustrating!
Or Duggar -- let him take his lumps -- not saying he would have made the catch that Gorkys muffed in left-center in the 7th, but if that ball is caught there is no Met rally.
DeleteDoesn't excuse the Giants juggerNOT offense -- consisting of 2 hits each by Longo and Slater plus a leadoff walk to McCutchen.
Didn't everyone love the allstar D when Hernandez, McCutchen, and d'Arnaud let the pop fall precisely in the center of the three of them -- which any of the 3 could have caught! Or did all three lose the ball in the lights?
And poor ole Hunter, even his arm is gone! Was this a "courtesy-start" for old-time sake, or was there a master plan with a 2 new tires (Slater & Hanson) and 6 retreads on this very tired old bus?
As soon as the brains decide to stick a knife in Buster's hip, the Giants may not win another game. Whether he hits or not, he is the indispensable man on the field.
I'm off to Europe Friday for the rest of the season, I can handle 2 more disappointments, not 20 or so come-from-ahead losses in the last 35 games. Fortunately, the Padres have secured last place so the off-season grand acquisitions will have improved SF from last to next-to-last!
Go giants!
(Small g intended)
isn't that the truth - to have pity on Pence - to play him out of pity
Deletedoes he deserve a start? I am afraid not
in times like these- I root for players over teams - happy that Daniel Murphy has landed on the Cubs - was never a Cubs fan before, Go Cubs!
You like Daniel Murphy? Why, may I ask?
DeleteAs usual, one inning too long! Save the bullpen for the play-offs?
ReplyDeleteWhat's wrong with "you're out when the first batter gets on" (in the 7th inning?
No, it must be let's see how he gets out of it? Single -- BAM -- double, SF, single. Goodbye lead!
Another All-Star lineup! BB does love his 30-and-over crew!
I'd say Duggar makes the catch. He's allowed no routine flies to hit the ground, only one 3-star catch, with the rest of the hits that he's allowed have been 4-star catches or harder. And darn few of those. Whereas Hernandez has let many 'routine' flies drop and is pretty hit-or-miss on the 4-star catches.
ReplyDeleteStill, they're both miles ahead of McCutchen who is the worst fielder on the team and struggles with the '2-star' catches Duggar makes with little apparent effort. Even Pence, worn-out as he is, grades out as a neutral OFer. If he could hit half-a-lick, he'd better in RF than McCutchen.
Cutch cleared waivers. So, yeah, the Giants can’t give him away.
DeleteI wonder how many Giants could clear waivers right now.