Game Wrap 7/24/2020: Dodgers 9 Giants 1

These Game Wraps try to highlight positive performances by Giants players even in losses.  This game is tough to write about because there was exactly one positive performance in the game.  One!  I think I'll have to get used to it because I'm getting the feeling there are more games like this coming down the road. 

The Giants lineup mustered just 4 hits, the fielders made 4 errors and every pitcher gave up at least one run, well Rico Garcia wasn't charged with a run but he gave up the hit that drove one in.  So what was the one positive?  An opposite field HR by Jaylin Davis which will make readers who are Jaylin Davis fans like me very happy.  Key Lines:

Jaylin Davis RF- 1 for 3, HR(1).  BA= .333.  IMO, Davis needs to be out there in RF every day against both RHP and LHP.  Gabe Kapler's explanation?  Davis has a reverse split and Dodger SP Ross Stripling also has a reverse split.  OK then.  If Jaylin Davis emerges as a "keeper" this season, it will be a successful season in my book no matter what the W-L record ends up as.

Tyler Anderson LHP- 1.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 3 BB,  0 K.  ERA= 10.80.  Was Anderson a starter or an opener?  A bulk inning guy or a one-plus?  Maybe the plan was to tandem start him and Kevin Gausman but the plan got derailed by poor pitching from Anderson?  Using an opener to try to force the Dodgers into an unfavorable lineup against a "bulk" pitcher seems a bit futile since the Dodgers are able to alternate R-L through their whole lineup and their hitters don't have big splits.  That's exactly what they did and the Giants had no answer.  The only concession Dave Roberts had to make was moving the RH hitting Mookie Betts to the top of the order when he got the official word late in the afternoon.  Moving Mookie Betts is not exactly a negative for Roberts.

Kevin Gausman RHP- 4 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 4.50.  Here's another problem with the bulk-innings role:  Gausman entered the game in the third inning trailing 2-1.  I wondered how he felt about that.  Wouldn't he much rather start the game in the first inning when the score is at least tied?  Presumably your bulk innings guys are also your best pitchers.  If not, why would you not want your best pitchers getting the most innings?  Statistically in MLB the team that scores first wins 70% of the time, so bringing in one of your bulk pitchers after you've fallen behind seems like less than optimal use of player resources.

Max Muncy 1B(Dodgers)- 3 for 4, 2B, 2 HR(2).  BA= .500.  It's really, really hard to express how much I hate Max Muncy.....as a Dodgers player of course, not as a person.  Then again, maybe he's also not a good person after the way he taunted MadBum about fishing the ball out of the water or whatever he said a couple of years ago.  But hate is a strong word, so no, I won't say I hate him as a person.  As a Dodgers player though?  Yeah I really really hate Max Muncy!

Ross Stripling RHP(Dodgers)- 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 7 K's.  ERA= 1.29.  Stripling was supposed to be in an Angels uniform this season and would have been were it not for a busted trade.  He resurfaces as the Dodgers SP in game 2 of the season and totally dominated.  The Giants hitters didn't do much to make it a harder assignment. I lost track of how many high fastballs well above the strike zone they swung and missed at.  And what's with the Giants thinking they can't get more than 4 innings out of their bulk guys this early?  There were a whole bunch of quality starts across baseball yesterday with Kyle Hendricks of the Cubs pitching a Complete Game on 103 pitches.

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The Giants will break out their vs Lefty platoon this afternoon against Alex Wood.  The Giants starter/opener is TBD, but Jeff Samardzija is about the only "bulk innings" guy they have left and I'm not sure how on board he is with this whole scheme.  Maybe the fun part of this season is trying to guess which Giants pitcher will show up on the mound in the first inning of each game?