A grand slam home run by Jorge Soler in the 8'th inning was not enough to overcome a deficit created by shaky pitching by a couple of recently called up pitchers who were not helped by defensive errors leading to 2 Unearned Runs. Key Lines:
Brett Wisely SS- 2 for 3, BB. BA= .299. Wisely continues to stand in the gap at SS and leadoff spot but did not figure into the scoring in this one due lack of support from subsequent lineup spots.
Jorge Soler DH- 1 for 4, HR(9). BA= .224. After a rough first two months in a Giants uniform, Soler's slash line for June is .298/.403/.526. If he keeps doing that, the Giants will be OK.
Spencer Bivens RHP- 2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K. ERA- 5.40. Bivens navigated the 2'nd and 3'rd inning without any damage, but then gave up B2B homers to start the 4'th. He walked the next batter and Melvin brought in Sean Hjelle. That runner later scored on a double error by Matt Chapman adding a critical unearned run to Bivens' line.
Spencer Howard RHP- 1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 4.86. This is a rough line but there seems to be some very shaky fielding and bad BABIP luck involved. After Nico Hoerner's leadoff ground-rule double, Suzuki struck out. Cody Bellinger singled on groundball deflected by Wilmer Flores to Thairo Estrada. After a SB, walk and K, Swanson drove in 1 run with a line drive single to CF but then there is this entry in the play log: "Dansby Swanson advances to 2'nd base on a caught stealing error by Wilmer Flores, assist to catcher Patrick Bailey to shortstop Brett Wisely." Then the next entry is "Michael Busch singles on a line drive to shorstop Brett Wisely, deflected by left fielder Austin Slater. Dansby Swanson to 3'rd". I can't even visualize what all happened here but that has to be one of the wierdest play logs for an inning in my recent memory. Interesting that Howard ended up striking out the side. Guess he figured he had to!
The Dodgers also lost so the Giants stay 9.5 games behind the NL West leaders but fall to 1 game off the Wild Card playoff chase.
The Giants play the Cardinals tomorrow evening at Rickwood Field in Birmingham AL where Willie Mays began his professional baseball career. Keaton Winn RHP faces Andre Pallante RHP.
time to pull the plug on trenton brooks. i'd bring up blake sabol tomorrow as the extra player and option brooks after the birmingham game. i think it is time to give tommy romero consideration to start with the bullpen starting look overworked from all the innings pitch.
ReplyDeleteHas it become "bring in the clowns"?
ReplyDeleteSlater has his OBP up to .375 which puts him 2nd on the active roster. Are there still many who want to DFA him?
Still 13 NL teams in the hunt for the Post Season, Giants are a game behind the Cardinals (and Washington), and, after the Rickwood Field game against the Cardinals, Giants get Friday off to rest the 'pen, then have a weekend pair in St Louis with Hicks (for 5 innings) and Webb for 7 (or 8?).
Can they win a pair to even the road trip at 3-3?
Giants are #1 & a tie for #2 in pitchers with the most appearances (games) in Major League Baseball: Walker with 38 and Tyler Rogers with 37. Miller is tied for 4th with 36 games. Taylor Rogers is tied for #47 with 31 appearances, Doval is tied for #47 with 30 games. If Hjelle's minor league appearances are added in, he is just 2 short of Doval and is being used now as often as the giants' leaders.
At this rate Walker will get 82 games for the season, Tyler Rogers 80, Miller 78, Taylor Rogers 67, and Doval 65. Hjelle, at current usage, will exceed Doval.
The MLB leader last year was 78 appearances. The Giants could have 3 projected at that number this year. All 3 pitched yesterday.
Is it going to get worse? Hicks is 1 inning short of his most ever IPs and he was 6 years younger. Harrison will exceed his most innings pitched well before the end of the season.
Snell, Ray, and Cobb can't come soon enough!
One of the Giants problems is their most recent cleanup hitter in his last 11 games is slashing .146/.300/.171/.471
ReplyDeleteIn 50 PA he has 1 2B, 0 HR's and 2 RBI's.
The worst part of this? He's probably the best choice! Go Bob!
Giants don't bunt.
ReplyDeleteThey are 'way down the list in sacrifices, tied for 12th in the NL. Who has the same or fewer? LA, Philadelphia, and Atlanta who are 3 of the 4 teams with the most HRs. We know why they don't bunt!
Tonight in the game with StL, in the 4th inning, down 2 runs, with one out, the Giants had runners on 1st and 2nd with Ahmed coming up. With the top of the lineup to follow, and arguably, the Giants 2 best hitters, was that a time to move them into scoring position? Ahmed is a good bunter, he might even beat it out. If you watched the game you saw the inevitable DP.
My Padre fan friends hated Bob Melvin because he would never bunt the designated runner up in extra-innings. Re. runners at 1'st and 2'nd: I think bunting them up is a good play with no outs but not so much with one out.
DeleteI was surprised when the Fox TV guy pointed out that Chapman now has more errors in 2024 than he had in all of 2023 … he commented that Chapman’s defense has to be a disappointment to the Giants’ brass so far this season. Is this true, and if so, why are Giants analysts on TV always crowing about his defense?
ReplyDeleteI would say yes, Chapman's D has not been quite what I was expecting but despite the errors he is a positive defender at 3B by UZR/Fangraphs. Giants brass should not regret signing him because the alternative was J. D. Davis and look what happened to him(and I admit I was wrong about him vs Chapman).
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