Ford Proctor joined a fairly impressive list of Forever Giants whose first MLB HR was a grand slam while wearing a Giants uniform and Carlos Rodon extended his lead among Giants pitchers with the most double digit strikeouts in one season while pitching 6 shutout innings. Giants win their 9'th game out their last 10 and stave off mathematical elimination from the postseason for at least one more day.
Ford Proctor 2B- 1 for 2, HR(1). BA= .200. Proctor's slam came in the second inning after the Giants had already scored one run on Austin Wynns C's bloop single. Proctor was first pitch swinging and launched it to the oppo field. He could not contain his excitement as he fairly danced around the bases. He became the 16'th Giants player to hit a grand slam HR for their first MLB HR. I don't have the complete list but I know it includes Bobby Bonds, Brandon Crawford and the unforgettable Brian Dallimore and Kelby Tomlinson. I heard Bonds grand slam against the Dodgers on the radio broadcast and caught the other three live on TV so this makes 5 times it's happened in a game I was either listening to on radio or watching on TV.
So, who is Ford Proctor, you ask? Well, just the latest guy to wash up on shore in The Churn. Here's Gabe Kapler's quote, "It's sometimes worth it to churn through some players to find those diamonds." Proctor was acquired from the Rays earlier this season for Jeremy Walker RHP. I am sure you remember Jeremy Walker.
Carlos Rodon LHP- 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 10 K's. Rodon was once again dominant. He now has 11 games with double digit K's this season giving him a 2-game lead on Tim Lincecum RHP and Jason Schmidt RHP. He also is now the NL leader in K's for the season with 5 more than Corbin Burnes RHP. He will need 14 K's in his final start to tie Madison Bumgarner LHP for the franchise record for K's in a season by a LHP. FZ, can we please keep him?
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The Giants start their penultimate series and final home series tonight against the D'Backs with Alex Cobb RHP facing Merrill Kelly RHP. Kelly has absolutely crushed the Giants this season in 5 prior starts, so it's time to break out agains him. It is also Willie Mac Award night which is always a special moment.
Funny team! They aren't as bad as they looked in July and August and not as good as they looked/lock in April and September.
ReplyDeleteThey do show how deep the chasm between LA and them: Take out the Dodger series, the Giants are 13-2 against the Cubs, Snakes, and Rox since September 10th. They handle lesser teams okay, but not very good teams like the Dodgers.
They will have two months this year well above .500: the first and the last! Not just above .500, SF was .667 in April and are thus far .630 in September.
What the heck happened in between?
The disasters were July and August when they dropped 13 games to .500 – if they had maintained just 50-50 they “could” be 13 over now with the #3 wildcard and just a few games behind San Diego, another good team.
They are not a “bad” team and only a couple of offensive studs and reliable RP’s away from being a lot closer to the Dodgers, not better, but competitive.
Giants have 4 non-pitching positions to improve, the 4 corners which are wide-open, plus get a defensive CFer. Oh yeah, they have one but he has no power!
Do they really need it there? Can they put it in the corners? Or, would Nimmo bring enough “D” to CF and some pop?