Luis Matos gave Giants fans reason for optimism with a 3-run HR in the second inning only to see it slip away in the late innings. Key Lines:
Heliot Ramos LF- 2 for 4, SB(1). BA= .333. Ramos' hard single through the left side drove in a go-ahead run in the 6'th only to see the Dodgers even it up again in the 7'th. He later beat out a squib ground ball to the right side on sheer speed and hustle. He ultimately may not be the star we all hope he will, but for now he has injected some athleticism and hustle into a team that sorely lacked both.
Blake Sabol C- 1 for 2. BA= .381. I have to question Melvin pinch-hitting for Sabol with Jakson Reetz against a LHP. 1. Reetz just looks overmatched at the plate and should only be an emergency catcher until Bailey can return. 2. Reetz came up later against a RHP in a situation where you would much rather have Sabol up there and again looked overmatched.
Luis Matos CF- 1 for 4, HR(1). BA= .125. Kid gets called up and beats the Dodgers with a 3-run HR. Great story that could have happened but it didn't.
Jordan Hicks RHP- 5 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 4 K's, GO/AO= 8/1. ERA= 2.44. Ideally you would like one more inning out of Hicks but the Dodgers are a tough, tough lineup and Hicks was a gamer through 5. He left the game with the lead.
Bullpen: Tyler Rogers RHP and Camilo Doval RHP pitched scoreless frames but the Dodgers chipped away at Luke Jackson RHP, Erik Miller LHP and Taylor Rogers LHP. Doval only threw 8 pitches in a dominating 9'th inning. Yes, I know Taylor Rogers is a LHP and lefty batters Ohtani and Freeman were leading off the 10'th but really? You're taking out your Closer who was painting corners with 102 MPH fastballs for Taylor Rogers? I'll second guess Melvin on this one too.
Umpire: I have to confess I wasn't watching the the first part of the game that close but in a span of 4 Giants batters in the 8'th and 9'th innings, the home plate ump called strikes on 3 pitches that were balls, Admittedly they were within 1 ball width of the strike zone but if we accept the frame on the TV as the true strike zone, there was space between the inner edge of the ball and the edge of the strike zone. To my eye they looked like balls regardless of the frame. None of the 3 pitches conclusively made the difference between those batters reaching base or not but it definitely made it harder and none of them reached.
The Loss dropped the Giants 9 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West but they remain 2.5 games behind in the Wild Card race.
Keaton Winn RHP tries to get his season back on track and the Giants their first win of the season against the Dodgers tomorrow evening facing Gavin Stone RHP.
Churn Watch:
As expected, Luis Matos got the call up to replace Jung Hoo Lee who went on the IL. Lee's prognosis is still unsettled but shoulder separations almost always come with collateral damage so anything less than at least 60 days would be a shock.
Mason Black RHP was optioned to AAA Sacramento and Nick Avila RHP was recalled to replace him. That's a signal the Giants expect Blake Snell LHP back before Black's next turn in the rotation. I think most Giants fans would rather see Black in the bullpen than Avila but Black started Sunday so would not be available for several days.
I was disappointed to see Eric Miller give up that late homer on his breaking ball to Hernandez, should have challenged him with high 90's fastball. Steve Sax currently Sacramento River cats color analyst gave an interesting scouting report on Heliot Ramos on papa and lund show.. He likes him as a player and thinks he's ready this time to show what he can do if given a MLB opportunity. He's only 24 years so still young
ReplyDeleteI didn't like pinch-hitting Reetz for Sabol either. Tough call on replacing Doval for the 10th inning. Doval got 4 outs on Sunday and if you ask him to get 6 outs tonight in a tie game, tonight he probably wouldn't be available tomorrow. Since he pitched 1 inning instead, maybe he can pitch tomorrow if the Giants have a lead.
ReplyDeletesabol needs to improve his defense as a catcher or they may need to look for a defensive backup catcher on the trade route and they need to look for a veteran lefty to take some of the work off miller in the pen on the trade route.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Doc on both decisions that the Giants made. One being not letting Doval pitch another inning. Like you said, he only threw 8 pitches. Also, Reetz did look bad up there at the plate. I loved seeing Matos crank that 3 run homer, but was not impressed with his play in the outfield. Two key hits that went over his head led to the Giants losing. The first, Matos definitely got a late jump on. I believe it was Lux' ground rule double that knocked in a run). The second was Will Smith's double that knocked in the two go-ahead runs in the tenth. Matos was a bit turned around on that one. I could not help but think that Jung Ho Lee would have caught both of those. Hoping he plays better defense than that going forward. This game showed how much defense plays in the outcome. Two wild pitches, the error by Casey Schmidt when they had Ohtani picked off and Matos' play in center. Conversely, the catch that Yaz made on the Mookie line drive was incredible. -Derald Cook
ReplyDeleteAt least the game was exciting! The youth movement is really all we have to look forward to at this point and they are more entertaining than watching the below average cast Farhan has put together. I’m really ok with a rebuild even if it means trading our best players like Camilo and Webb. We aren’t going to win with those guys but they might bring us back a few young prospects who end up being stars seeing as we don’t have anyone like that currently in our system. We have plenty of pitching but can’t seem to develop stars on offense so it’s time to trade for a few guys who have a chance to anchor the offense for years to come!
ReplyDeleteIs the problem "the below average cast Farhan has put together" or that these professional ball players aren't hitting.
DeleteGiants should have hired a GM with a better crystal ball!
Ultimately it's the GM's job to have a crystal ball, fair or not.
DeleteHow long will it take Melvin to realize that Matos cannot play CF?
DeleteLosses have no Fathers!
ReplyDeleteYou won't win many games with 4 runs against a team that averages >5 runs per game.
Giants have scored 3-4-4-4 against LA, given up 8-5-5-6
Giants also have 7 players on the IL plus Bailey who is day-to-day, most of whom are vital to SF's success.
Melvin is unlikely to win any awards this year, but the injuries are not his fault
Top 100 prospects was updated on MLB recently and sad to see only 3 Giants on the list with the highest being Luciano at 45. Eldridge is on there way down the list but other than those 2 no other offensive prospects. This team needs offensive stars and I don’t even have faith that Luciano will be one. Maybe Arias or Martin in 4-5 years will become those guys but that’s a long time to wait and lofty expectations. There may not be a better time then now to sell high and get the pieces we are missing on offense. Wouldn’t mind 2 years of top 10 draft picks either to help build a core that can be ready to contribute in 3-4 years when our window has a chance to open back up. This strategy that Farhan sold ownership on clearly isn’t working!
ReplyDeleteI have to say I am pretty unimpressed with Melvin as a manager. I think with Bochy we understood what he was good bullpen management, the team loved him, and he was always the smartest manager in the postseason. Kapler's strengths were also similarly obvious he ran the numbers to the T.
ReplyDeleteI don't really see the +++ value of Melvin. My guess is that it is in the clubhouse rather than on the field? But I have failed to see it so far.
- Fan
Matos cannot play CF! Yaz in CF with this l-u, bad Monday, worse Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteGiants lineup is nearly guaranteed to go 3 up, 3 down in the 1st, Wade will lead off 2nd.
Does the strategy of putting low BA batters (.208, .244, .207) with correspondingly low OBP (.276, .270, ,257) high in the lineup mean they are expected to start hitting?
ReplyDeleteOr is it recognizing that the Giants can't hit?