A couple of funny things happened on the way to a Jack Flaherty no-hitter agains the Giants: 1. Jeff Samardzija matched him goose egg for goose egg for 7 innings. 2. Evan Longoria broke up the no-no with 1 out in the 7'th inning with a solo HR that proved to be the only run of the game. Key Lines:
Evan Longoria 3B- 1 for 3, HR(12). BA= .238. Now THAT's the way to break up a no-hitter! Longo's Longball landed half way up the LF bleachers. He's hitting .400 with 5 HR's in his last 7 games.
Jeff Samardzija RHP- 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 4.01. It wasn't a big strikeout game and the GO/AO= 7/6 and there were some hard hit balls by the Cardinals that found gloves, particularly Kevin Pillar's, but man, we'll all take it! After the bullpen was called on early due to Bummy's injury yesterday, Shark knew he needed got get deep into this game and he went 7 full innings. This is the Shark the Giants signed to a 5 year/$90 M contract.
Sam Dyson RHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 2.30. Dyson worked 2 innings last night but now has the All-Star break to rest up.
Will Smith LHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, Save(23). ERA= 1.98. Smith also worked last night in a non-Save situation. He gets the Save here and is off to the All-Star Game. Go Will Smith!
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The Giants finish the traditional first half on a high note. They have won 5 of 7 games in July and 7 of their last 10. They are just 5.5 games behind in the Wild Card race. For the first time in a long while, this team looks like they want to be out on the field and are excited about playing and winning. Tough to measure attitude but it makes all the difference in the world.
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The Giants now get 4 days off although they may wish they could just keep on playing. They start the second half with a road trip to Milwaukee and Colorado which will include a doubleheader on Monday July 15 to make up a previous rainout. The trade deadline will be looming bigger by the day. Farhan Zaidi spoke with reporters before today's game and was non-committal regarding whether he would be buying or selling, but indicated he is encouraged by the team's performance over the past 5 weeks. Tough decisions! That road trip out of the gate could determine which direction Farhan decides to go.
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Okay, maybe it's time to reject the dominant paradigm...
ReplyDeletePerhaps the Giants should be both buyers AND sellers. It's a very odd mix of players who may be available around the league, so there may be some bargains. The obvious 'chips' that the Giants can offer may not get the kind of return we want, but we'll take a good trade. What we don't want is a bad trade.
The truth is that this team really isn't as bad as they looked early in the season. Not "California Dreaming" here, but there may be parts of this team that will be part of the next (hopefully) winning Giants team.
So my hope is that Mr. Zaidi will only take the good deals, and avoid the bad deals. If only it were that easy.
Life without Bryce Harper?
ReplyDeleteNats moved ahead of Phils with great June and July.
And have enough pitching to to win from the road WC -- if they beef up the bullpen.
Are 2nd and short the Giants Achilles heel?
Longo looks like he is turning it around. What a jolt that would be for team.
DeleteVogt is wonderful fill in for Posey and bat off the bench.
Belt is treading water - neither carrying team nor sinking it.
Yes - Craw and Panik so far are not carrying their weight. Did you see how many SS the team signed out of draft? and in International Draft? Team is addressing the weak SS/2B combo. Avelino to be recalled before season over.
Belt is still the team leader in OBP.
DeleteHe needs a contact hitter behind him and not a DP machine.
Solano, Pillar, and Panik make contact, Yaz, Sandoval, and Slater not so much, and Posey hits into too many inning killer double plays.
Dickerson, Longo, and Pablo while they're still hitting.
This is still a team that needs to nurture its opportunities, not to waste runners.
If Longo starts hitting Long Balls then all bets are off - meaning I think they have decent chance of taking Wild Card 2 if they held onto their bullpen. A lineup with Slater / Dickerson / Panda / Longo / Pillar slashing baseballs all over the field could put up 4 and 5 runs a game.
ReplyDeleteIt would be fun to neither add nor sell and stand pat and see what this team can really do.
Longo HAS started hitting long balls - but rather than stand pat they should DFA Pomeranz and Melancon and call up Menez and Selman -- DFA Tyler Austin and bring up Zach Green -- Samardjiza pitching great now, so is Bumgarner, Anderson and Beede just need Menez as #5 starter. They're going to get offers they can't refuse for Smith and Watson - but can keep Dyson or Moronta for closer and bring back the Rule 5 lefty Bergen to take Watson's place.
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