It was the Giants turn to hit solo HR's in Dodger Stadium which picked up a bad inning by Hunter Pence and Johnny Cueto as the Giants hung on to ensure they would not be swept in the 3-game series. Key Lines:
Austin Slater RF- 2 for 5, 2 HR(2). BA= .310. Austin Slater appears to be carving out a role for himself even if it's the short end of a platoon. Hey! The NL West is very lefty heavy so it's not as small a role as it might be somewhere else. The power to CF was impressive and against the Dodgers and Kershaw!
Donovan Solano 2B- 3 for 5, 2B. BA= .462. So, what does Donnie Barrels need to do to hit .400 on the season? Hit .380 the rest of the way. Likely? Probably not. Doable? Definitely!
Mike Yastrzemski CF/LF- 2 for 5, 2B, HR(4). BA= .321. Guess who the MLB fWAR leader is right now? YtY, that's who! He hit his dinger off a pretty good lefty in Clayton Kershaw to boot.
Hunter Pence LF- 1 for 3. BA= .063. Pence got his second hit of the season and scored the ultimate winning run, but he also caused Johnny Cueto to give up his first hit when he completely lost a high flyball in the lights. Cueto seemed to fall apart after that and the lead almost evaporated when Justin Turner followed with a 3-run blast.
Johnny Cueto RHP- 5.2 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 5.40. Cueto pitched much better than the line looks as he allowed just 1 walk and no hits through 5 innings. Things understandably fell apart after Pence lost the flyball in the lights to end the string of no-hit innings. BTW, there was no way Cueto was going to pitch a CG no-hitter. Those days ended with Bruce Bochy's retirement.
Tyler Rogers RHP- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 10.13. This is what FZ and Kap envisioned for Rogers, but this is the first time he really delivered two innings to get the game to the Closer.
Trevor Gott RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, Save(4). ERA= 1.80. Gott seems to be first in line for Saves right now.
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The Win improves the Giants record to 7-9 and in 9'th place in the NL. Top 8 places get a playoff spot.
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Kevin Gausman tries to give the Giants a series win today facing Walker Buehler in a battle of RHP's.
Mike Pence?? Freudian slip Doc!! :)
ReplyDeleteIf I were American I would be voting for Sleepy Joe and Kamala!
Richard in Winnipeg
I am with you Richard
DeleteBrutal mistake, but calling hunter "mike pence" is going too far lol
ReplyDeleteIs the Mike Pence as "Fraudian" slip
ReplyDeleteDr. B,
ReplyDeleteHunter, not Mike, Pence!! Or are you slipping in a joke?
As always, thanks for the blog. Much appreciated.
Ha ha! Fixed! I guess the common thread is both Pence's are brutal at their job right now.
ReplyDeleteAnd in once case, dude has a job without a description and he can't even do that well!
DeleteWhich one would that be?
DeleteWhen Kapler wants a RHB team he gets down to Pence or Ruf in the OF and Dubon & Solano up the middle — not a dream defense.
ReplyDeleteBR gives Yaz a negative dWAR — seems tight.
Cueto was noticeably hobbling the last few batters — took some guts for Kapler to stick with him against Turner. Or given the 'pen, maybe that was his best choice.
With Muncy @ .169, Bellinger @ .167, Barnes @ .091, Hernandez @ .255, Taylor (not Seager) @ SS, and Kershaw struggling, the Dodgers don't look like the 1927 Yankees. Time catching up?
Joey Bart could be playing LF and Pence could be selling coffee, just sayin'
DeleteYolmer Sanchez could be defensive 2B with Dubon SS and Pablo could be selling pancakes, just sayin' that too
DeleteRHB lineup with Dubon + Yolmer defensive up the middle and move Solano to DH?
DeleteNobody wants to watch Pence and Sandoval becoming old and useless - it's not entertaining
Yaz is such a great story. That’s all. The story is great enough all by itself.
ReplyDeleteGo Giants!
YtY is indeed an amazing story to watch unfold in front of our eyes. We are blessed to be able to witness it and just take it in and appreciate it.
DeleteMike Yastrzemski is the best thing the Giants have going.
ReplyDeleteHe doesn't start arbitration until 2023.
Giants have control until he's old enough to have grandchildren.
How great is that?
Well, he'll be 30 in 2 weeks.
By the time the Giants have developed a team around him, he'll be close to mid-30's and highly likely to be in decline.
Is it time to move him?
A MLB Top 10 prospect? A Top 20?
In a word, yes. Really good player. Great story. But, if he can return a top arm and a lotto ticket prospect at the deadline, make the move.
DeleteI wonder how Jaylin Davis is doing at the camp. He is the only RHB who can play outfield I can think of. (Bart is another story)
ReplyDeletePence's mistake was brutal. The sample size is not very small any more. I can live with that. But was the missed ball due to lack of focus? I cannot live with that. Of course I am speculating, but it does not look good.
Giants are 3-3 against the Dodgers. In LA.
ReplyDeleteAll wins are 1-run games.
Rivalry? Only 5 of the active Giants are from their amateur draft. A 6th original Giant, Sandoval, showed his colors in 2014.