Jerar Encarnacion said to heck with bunts, I'm gonna win this SOB with one swing of the bat.....and he did just that(IDK if he really said that or not but it makes a good opening line). Key Lines:
Tyler Fitzgerald SS- 2 for 4. BA= .316. The Giants had some baserunning misadventures early in the game including a CS by Fitz. He also got doubled off 1B on a wild pop up by Mark Canha that looked like it was going to drop but was caught at the last second by the pitcher, Sears, on what looked like a no-look catch.
Heliot Ramos LF- 1 for 4, HR(18). BA= .279. Ramos has been scuffling at the plate with a .172 BA over his last 7 games and .213 over his last 15. He got the Giants their only run in the first 9 innings with an enormous blast to dead CF, 448 ft!
Jerar "Why Do I Want To Call Him Juan?" Encarnacion DH- 2 for 4, HR(2). BA= .255.
Can Jerar make us forget Jorge Soler was the DH? He sure tried today as he came up in the 10'th inning and advanced the runner at 2B all the way home as well as himself with a HR blast to lead off the inning. He also singled off the LF wall in the 2'nd inning but got thrown out trying for a double one of several aforementioned baserunning misadventures on the day.
Blake Snell LHP- 7 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 10 K's. ERA= 3.67. Snell lost his no-hit bid in the 3'rd inning but again had magical stuff. His command faltered just a bit in the 6'th and 7'th but he pitched his way out of both jams with just 1 run damage. That looked like it might be the cause of a losing effort until Ramos unloaded his bomb. Kruk thought the ump was squeezing Snell in the 6'th and 7'th but the calls I saw looked correct and there was even one pitch called a strike that clearly wasn't and got Mark Kotsay thrown out of game for arguing.
Ryan Walker RHP- 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 2.10. You can't be a Giants Closer without delivering torture. After allowing the designated runner to score Walker had the bases loaded with just one out. Not to worry, he struck out Bleday and Andujar to end the game.
Despite the Win, the Giants remain 4 games behind the Braves for the last Wild Card playoff spot.
The Giants start a 3-game series against a pathetically terrible White Sox team tomorrow evening with Kyle Harrison LHP facing Jonathan Cannon RHP who, you guessed it, I have never heard of before and who has a 3.46 ERA over his last 7 games.
To be fair to Kruk, he was referring to the pitch location that was called strikes earlier in the game were no longer being called strikes for Snell in the 6th. Were they actually strikes, no, but you could consider it being squeezed when the strike zone changes during the game. I'm glad the Giants were able to pull this one out.
ReplyDeleteMLB competition committee may be discussing adding a suspension to any player or manger who uses technology to argue balls and strikes next season.
ReplyDeleteJoey Bart has a .532 slugging percentage in over 173 at bats with the Pirates, 12 home runs and 36 RBIS while Patrick Bailey is at 326 at bats and a paltry 7 home runs and 38 RBIs. Bart is looking like a stud with the bat in the limited but not too limited sample size while Bailey has been a bust as a hitter with us over two seasons. The worse part is they didn’t even have to chose between them both. Farhan chose to sign an injury prone journey man catcher to a multi year deal….and he’s been hurt all year.
ReplyDeleteFrustrating. I don't have time to go back and look up my comments from the spring but I think I advocated for keeping both Bailey and Bart.
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