Spencer Howard pitched 4.2 sensational innings to enable a 9'th inning comeback, walkoff win for the Giants. Key Lines:
Heliot Ramos CF- 3 for 4, 2B, BB. BA= .301. Nice resiliency from Ramos who came in with a 1 for 22 slump. Again, when your #2 hitter has 4 Total Bases and reaches base 4 times and does not figure in the scoring. something is wrong.
Matt Chapman 3B- 2 for 4, 2B, HR(9). BA= .233. Chapman is 4 for 10 with 2 walks over his last 3 games. Hopefully the start of an extended hot streak.
Nick Ahmed SS- 1 for 2, HR(1), 2 BB. BA= .250. Ahmed made a weird play that kind of ruined Raymond Burgos' debut but made up for his with a HR to narrow the gap to 4-2. Ahmed has turned out to be a pretty solid addition. I can think of worse scenarios than he and Wisely platooning SS the rest of the season.
Spencer Bivens RHP- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 3.38. Bivens looked great and probably bought himself another refill on his cup of coffee.
Raymond Burgos LHP- 1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 K. ERA= 9.00. with his family in the stands cheering him on, Burgos immediately ran into bad BABIP luck when Bellinger squibbed one down the 3B line for a hit to lead off the inning. Then there was the weird Ahmed play. Burgos did a good job to pitch his way out of the inning with just 1 run damage. He threw 25 pitches which is probably why he didn't come out for a second inning of work. He's been working 3-inning stints in AAA so should be able to go multiple innings. He showed a nice 3 pitch mix which could even work as a SP.
Spencer Howard RHP- 4.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K's. ERA= 3.80. Talk about buying yourself a refill on your cup of coffee! Howard proved that 4.2 innings of shutout ball at the end of the game can be as valuable as at the begininng, maybe more? Wow! What a clutch, determined performance. Brings back memories of Ryan Vogelsong just a bit?
Despite the Win, the Giants remain 3 games behind in the Wild Card playoff race..
The Giants and Cubs go at it again tomorrow evening with TBD facing TBD again.
Had given up and gone to bed! Came out to see the end...
ReplyDeleteluke jackson's roster spot is in jeopardy at this point. 6.46 ERA isn't gonna cut it and with austin warren nearing a return, i think it's going to be time to cut their losses with jackson. i think howard should be on the roster for the long haul, swingmen are the hardest role to fill and howard may be the swingman we are looking for. i do think it's to consider reinserting howard back in the rotation on the next go around.
ReplyDeleteYou have to get to 13/14 pitchers without him and until the rotation is "fixed" that will be difficult.
DeleteThat said, CBS Sports says Whisenhunt gets the start today (they also said that yesterday and it didn't happen), so someone is likely to get replaced: who has options?
Brooks was DFA'd yesterday for Burgos, what card will FZ pull today?
Thingees gonna happen with Wade and SP changes pending this week, could well be Jackson.
Ha! FZ pulled Mason Black's card and sent Burgos back to Sacramento. Why?
DeleteLuke Jackson is either good or bad and not between. Unfortunately, this was 2-in-a-row bad outings, although the Giants managed to pull this one out. Once the rotation is settled (if ever), he is on thin ice if Roupp, Bivens, Howard, or Burgos gets the 8th RP (to go along with 5 SPs and 1 Closer).
ReplyDeleteaustin warren is also nearing a return and looked good in his rehab, jackson is on borrowed time.
DeleteGrant Brisbee has a primer on the 40-man roster (who is on it and why) and the Giant crunch coming as has been alluded to on Doc's Blog.
ReplyDelete(Brisbee writes for The Athletic which isn't fan friendly unless you pony up a few bucks to read stuff that is often interesting but it will never ever take the place of The Blog by Doc!)
It's about what to do to who when Beck, Cobb, Ray, Murphy, and a couple others come off the 60-day IL. It's worth a read if you're willing to have sympathy for FZ. For the many who regurgitate on ThingsFZ, you will like the conundrum that adds fuel to your Zaidi bonfire.
Thahk you for the kind words.
DeleteWhat do we want: Snell to go or to stay?
ReplyDeleteGiants' fans argument to stay: he just might be worth $30,000,000 next year instead of not being worth what the Giants are paying Keaton Winn this year ($743,750).
Argument to go: Yeah, he was never worth that kind of money!
Of course, it's not up to us, 100% it's whatever Blake wants.
Personal vote: STAY, he has a tendency to follow up a bad year (2017 & 2022) with a CYA year.
OTOH, there were bad years following bad years, too.
I am in the STAY line.
Delete