Conner Menez pitched 5 solid innings in his MLB debut and the bullpen picked it up for 7 more sensational innings of pitching. It all finally paid off when Mike Yastrzemski hit an opposite field walk-off HR in the 12'th inning to send everyone home happy. Key Lines:
Buster Posey C- 2 for 3, 2B, BB, HBP. BA= .260. Buster scored both Giants runs in the first 9 innings. The HBP by reliever Seth Lugo definitely caught the attention of Madison Bumgarner and the Giants pitchers who undoubtedly filed it away for future reference. Lugo first threw one right at Buster's earhole. Buster ducked forward while reflexively throwing the bat up in his right hand. The ball struck the bat for a foul strike. The very next pitch came in just under his chin. It hit Buster in the hand or arm and caromed off his right shoulder. The TV camera panned over to Bummy, Shaun Anderson and a couple other pitchers in the dugout. Yeah, they were definitely paying attention. Just another interesting subplot to the game which makes baseball so interesting.
Zach Green 3B- 2 for 3, 2B. BA= .667. Zach Green made his presence in the lineup felt almost immediately. His single in the 2'nd inning put Buster Posey in scoring position for Brandon Crawford to drive in with another single. Greenie drove Buster in himself in the 4'th inning as he followed up Buster's ground-rule double with a double down he LF line.
Mike Yastrzemski LF/CF- 1 for 4, HR(8), BB. BA= .259. YtY earned the ol' Gatorade Bath when he lifted one into the LF stands for the walk-off in the 12'th.
Conner Menez LHP- 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 3.60. Menez got some help in the first inning from a sensational catch by Kevin Pillar in shallow R-CF and a questionable baserunning decision by JD Davis who was on 2B and was out by a mile at 3B. Menez then gave up 2 dingers in the 2'nd inning and you had to be thinking, "well, he has some interesting stuff, but maybe he needs to polish it up a bit more." Instead, he came back out for the 3'rd inning and struck out the side and then pretty much breezed through the 4'th and 5'th innings. Just a guess, but I bet he had a hard 5-inning limit from the get-go because he was definitely not laboring at that point.
As for stuff, his delivery looks a lot like Ty Blach's with a quick windup that is on the awkward side, with a quick arm acceleration that seems to create some deception. The FB is 92-94 with command to both sides of the plate and both up and down in the zone. It's a swing and miss pitch, especially when up in the zone. He backs the FB up with a tight breaking ball and a changeup that seems to have good deception and keeps hitters off balance.
Bullpen- 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K's. I keep hearing and reading comments about the Giants trading bullpen pieces but not Bumgarner. I don't think they should trade either Bumgarner or relievers if they want to stay in the Wild Card race, but if it did come down to one or the other, I think I might trade Bummy and keep the relievers. This team would be nowhere and ain't goin' nowhere without this bullpen! Yeah, they have some bullpen depth in AAA, but there is a reason those pitchers are in Sacramento and not San Francisco right now.
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The Win got the Giants back to .500 and 2.5 games behind the BrewCrew for the 2'nd Wild Card spot and 3 games behind the Nationals for the first slot.
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Shaun Anderson tries to improve on his last start tomorrow evening facing the Cubs and fellow rookie RHP Alec Mills.
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I agree they can't trade Madbum or the front line relievers if they want to stay in it. Can you believe they're going with 3 rookie starting pitchers, which is a good reason in itself not to trade Madbum. I see a difference between Zaidi and the previous regime that he seems to make baseball moves with the present and future in mind. Example bringing up young pitchers like Menez and DFA Holland. Time will tell if this was the right move. It takes some guts to go with 3 rookie starting pitchers while you're in the wild card race. Go Giants! The 10 days before the trade deadline will be interesting. Buster Olney said the team to watch at the deadline is the Giants.
ReplyDeleteAlso it was an enjoyable game today with 2 players Menez and Green having successful MLB debuts in front of their proud families, very cool watching their interviews and of course the game ended magically on Yaz's walk off dinger!
ReplyDeleteCubs are hot also.
ReplyDelete1st game likely to determine who wins the series.
2nd game is Bumgarner (v Darvish), 3rd is against Lester -- he's tough on Giants.
100 games into the season, and we're exactly 50-50...so it's not "California Dreaming" or "We're doomed". All options are still valid.
ReplyDeleteOne key point is that this roster that's been winning lately is very different than the roster that was losing early. So Farhan is looking good so far.
Going forward, I'd love to see us 'buy' for "Bochy's last ride". But I can understand selling for the future.