Everything went right for the Giants today except Ryan Walker's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad 9'th inning which kind of ruined it for everybody else too. Key Lines:
Heliot Ramos LF- 2 for 3, 2B, 2 BB, R. BA= .231. I guess the fact that Ramos was the leadoff batter and he only had 1 run scored to show for getting on base 4 times is proof Walker's bad inning was not the only thing that wasn't right with this game. But Ramos had a nice game which I think is a good sign for the Giants.
Willy Adames SS- 2 for 5, 2 RBI. BA= .202. Adames has to start building his season from somewhere and a couple of RBI singles is a good place to start.
Tyler Fitzgerald 2B- 1 for 2, 2 BB, SB(5), R. BA= .302. Fitz continues to play solid baseball since his hitting lesson with Barry Bonds.
David Villar 1B- 1 for 4, R. BA= .250. Villar is back! He was added back to the 40 man roster and recalled from AAA Sacramento after Casey Schmitt IF was placed on the IL with an oblique strain. Jerar Encarnacion was moved from the 10-day IL to the 60-Day IL to make room on the 40-man roster for Villar. In addition to the line drive single, Villar hit a ball hard up the middle that was caught by the pitcher to rob him of another hit.
Sam Huff C- 2 for 3, HR(1), BB, R, 2 RBI. BA= .190. This is the kind of game the Giants hoped for when they claimed Huff off waivers from the Rangers in the offseason and made him the backup catcher out of spring training.
Justin Verlander RHP- 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 5.47. Verlander did not allow a baserunner through 3 innings. He got out of a bases-loaded jam in the 4'th inning and gave up a leadoff solo HR to Zach Neto in the 5'th. All said, a much cleaner start than any of his first four, but he continues to labor when he has to pitch out of the stretch.
Ryan Walker RHP- 0.1 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 1 K. ERA= 5.40. To my eye, Walker has not been as sharp as last season all through the spring but up to this point he converted 15 consecutive Save Opportunities dating back to last season so I suppose he was due. After scoreless frames from Camilo Doval RHP and Tyler Rogers RHP, Walker started the bottom of the 9'th by walking Mike Trout who he seemed to be pitching too carefully to. I understand it's not great to start your inning by giving up a leadoff HR to Trout but that would probably have been better than walking him which started a whole cascade of negative events. Two soft singles loaded the bases then a HBP drove in Trout for the first run. You could definitely sense what came next as Jo Adell doubled down the LF line driving in all 3 runners for the walk-off win.
A Word To The Wise: Do not go to a day baseball game in SoCal even on a seemingly mild spring day unless you are sure your seats are out of the sun. Ugh!
The Giants conclude a very long 10-game road trip with a 5-5 record. Their overall record stands at 14-8. Hopefully they get back home this evening in time to restful night before getting back after in tomorrow evening against the Brewers with Robbie Ray LHP facing Quinn Priester RHP.
after walker hit the batter, i wanted j.p. martinez to go out and at least give him a talk to calm him down. this loss is on melvin, you need to get someone to calm your closer down when they are erratic.
ReplyDeleteI noticed Melvin said in the presser that Walker seemed off from the first batter which begs the question, why didn't he get Randy Rodriguez or Birdsong up and go get Walker as soon as he could? And/or why didn't he send the pitching coach out to find out if there was a physical issue?
DeleteAgreed JP Martinez should have gone out to calm Walker down, but I still put the blame on Walker for not doing his job. I'm concerned that Walker blew a save so early in the season so maybe the closer role could turn into a concern as the season goes along.
DeleteDoval!
DeleteLast 4 outings: 4 innings, 1 walk, 0 hits — has he found himself?
This loss was more disappointing then most because your closer couldn't hold a 3 run lead, took away Verlanders 1st win as a Giant, and stole the spotlight from Sam Huff whose homer was the biggest hit of the game. Until the save was blown. If Walker blows a couple more games, I wouldn't sleep on Dovall getting the closer job back if he does a good job in setup role.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Doc, Walker hasn't looked the same this season. On the other hand, not sure I'd trust Dovall as the definitive closer.
ReplyDeletei would monitor hicks closely as a starter, if hicks starts looking like he's running out of gas midseason, i'd pitch the idea of using hicks as a closer should walker struggles continue. i have a bad feeling that walker is pitching hurt and may need an IL stint at some point.
Deletevery disappointing loss..and not good signs with WALKER..but I'll take the 5-5 road trip....but..if the bats (All OFs outside of Yaz/Lee; the 1B/DH an C) don't start waking up, it's going to be to way too much pressure on the Pitching staff, both the starters and relief corp..Speaking of starters, great to see VERLANDER put a good start together and maybe the start of a string for him...
ReplyDeleteHow much more of a rope does MATOS get?
Brewers with Turang and Frelick love to run, run, run..Even with his bat in the gutter, Bailey can be very important.
SteveVA
Tough question on Matos. Maybe he needs to get more abs to get back on track in the minors. I'm sure he's happy to be in the majors, but must be hard for a young player to stay sharp after playing maybe 2 games a week. If he's sent to AAA, who can they callup to take his place? Luciano had a good week. But last I checked he's hitting only 230 BA
DeleteHow does one analytically assess the value of a manager? Not sure it's doable. If nothing else I would prefer he was at least invisible but for the third time this season, I'm asking myself what Melvin was thinking in a game, 2 of them losses. I was not impressed last year and I'm less impressed this year. And I'm not the type to rail against managers for the very reason I mentioned in my opening sentence but I feel (key word - nothing analytical here) that Melvin is dead average and failing to make the imaginative move. And yeah, players are paid to perform, etc. -es
ReplyDeleteA baseball manager's first job is to keep 26 guys from killing each other in the clubhouse. At least Melvin seems to be pretty good at that. He's not Bruce Bochy when it comes to game management, but Boch is one of the best of all time. I think whatever he did or didn't do in yesterday's game had a minimal impact on the outcome. Ryan Walker got some bad breaks and failed to overcome them which a great closer should be able to do. What that says about Walker's future as Closer remains to be seen. I don't think he should lose the role over one bad outcome.
DeleteI do think Melvin has done a good job of holding the SP's feet to the fire almost forcing them to get deeper into games. That approach produces bumps and bruises along the way but should pay off in a stronger, healthier bullpen as the season unfolds.
Delete"Do not go to a day baseball game in SoCal even on a seemingly mild spring day unless you are sure your seats are out of the sun."
ReplyDeleteDitto Sacramento!
Lee went 0-5 -- put him on the same bus outahere with Walker
ReplyDelete