Wow! The Giants have a farm team called the Volcanoes, but today their offense, after rumbling for a couple of weeks, exploded in an epic eruption like Mt. St. Helens. Brandon Crawford led the way with 5 hits and 8 RBI's. Oh, and Jeff Samardzija pitched a Quality Start, but that's an afterthought compared to the offensive outburst. Key Lines:
Brandon Belt 1B- 2 for 3, BB. BA= .244. It's probably no accident that the Giants offense has shifted gears since moving their best OBP guy to leadoff. Seems like maybe the stats guys finally got through to Boch. I guess old dogs can learn new tricks after all!
Buster Posey C- 2 for 5, HR(5). BA= .259. Nice road trip for Buster with 5 hits in 15 AB's and 2 HR's in 3 games behind the dish. The rest at the All-Star Break and the extra days off afforded by Steven Vogt seem to be paying off in a stronger base at the plate.
Alex Dickerson LF- 3 for 5, 2 2B, BB. BA= .311. Also no accident the Giants offense shifted gears when Alex Dickerson arrived on the scene. Dude can hit! Just hope he sticks around awhile and stays healthy.
Brandon Crawford SS- 5 for 6, 2 HR(8). BA= .239. To say Brandon Crawford is having a nice road trip is an extreme understatement. Wow! He's been obviously putting together better PA's going back to before the All-Star Break and now it's paying off in hits and HR's. He tied a SF Giants record previously held by Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda with the 8 RBI's in one game. Mays and Cepeda both did it in 1961. I'd say that is pretty elite company there!
Mike Yastrzemski RF/CF- 4 for 6, 2B, HR(6). BA= .246. YtY has been scuffling but was not going to be denied part of the action in this stat padder of a game.
Kevin Pillar CF- 2 for 5, 2 2B. BA= .249. Second consecutive 2-hit game for Pillar.
Joe Panik 2B- 2 for 5, 2B. BA= .230. The only member of the 8 position players in the starting lineup to not get a hit was Pablo Sandoval. Everyone else had at least 2 hits with only Brandon Belt not recording an XBH.
Jeff Samardzija RHP- 6.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 9 K's. ERA= 3.93. Shark is on fire! In 3 July Starts, his line is 3-0, 1.66, 21.2 IP, 3 BB, 17 K.
Ray Black RHP- 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 4.50. That's a pretty typical Ray Black line. He's been called up and optioned back out twice in the past 2 days as he was sent back down between games of the DH.
Sam Coonrod RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K. ERA= 2.25. Not sure where Coonrod fits in all the roster shuffling but I have to say he has looked good in a very SSS at the MLB level.
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In contrasting thr two games, one thing that I enjoyed was, after back to back singles for Belt and Posey, leading off the game, Pablo came up and laid down a sacrifice bunt. It lead to the huge inning. By contrast, Yaz came up in game two, in a similar situation, and proceeded to strikeout. The team came away from that one with no runs. I loved that Pablo did that.
ReplyDeleteI think Sandoval was bunting for a base hit -- pretty unusual for a #3 hitter to be bunting in the 1st inning with no outs.
ReplyDeleteOf all Giant "qualifiers" he has the best BA on the team.
Going into the game, against Marquez, Sandoval was, 4-7 with a HR and a 2B.
Sacrificing, except for pitchers, like intentional walks (except in front of a pitcher with 2 outs), is really old school. It's getting very rare in the American League.
Some teams have all but eliminated intentional walks because they actually, statistically, lead to more runs scored by the team getting the IBB.
After all, getting on base is a lot harder than getting an out.
The Astros (almost) never walk anybody.
https://www.mlb.com/news/say-farewell-to-the-intentional-walk