The Giants roughed up Astros ace Framber Valdez LHP for 5 runs in the first two innings and the pitching held on to complete a swweeeep of the 3-game road series. Key Lines:
Heliot Ramos LF- 1 for 5, 2B, 4 K's, 2 RBI. BA= .269. Heliot hasn't been making a lot of contact but he's made the most of it as he extended his season-opening streak of consecutive games with an XBH to 6 tying him with Felipe Alou for the team record. That's probably not sustainable unless he can better control the strike zone. For now, it's worth an OPS of 1.000.
Wilmer Flores DH- 1 for 4, HR(4), 2 RBI. BA= .227. Speaking of making the most of it....it looks like the Bob Melvin found his dedicated DH. If he can stay healthy, Wilmer is well on his way to 30 HR.
Luis Matos CF- 2 for 3, HR(1), BB, R, RBI. BA= .400. Matos started in CF for Jung Hoo Lee who got the day off against a tough lefty. Matos had another strong game highlighted by a long HR to L-CF that had to be reviewed to see it bounced off the cream colored tile above the yellow HR line which at that spot in the ballpark is way up there!
Lamonte Wade Jr PH/1B- 1 for 1, HR(1). BA= .059. First hit of the season for LMWJ. In fact, first time on-base. Except for Tuesday's game he's been hitting the ball hard with regularity, just right at fielders so it was a matter of time all along. The solo HR extended the Giants lead to 6-3 giving the bullpen a little more breathing room.
Landen Roupp RHP- 4 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 4 BB, 8 K's. ERA= 6.75. As you can see from the 8 K's, Roupp had fantastic stuff with crazy movement. The big movement might have contributed to inconsistent command that got him in trouble more than once. He was hurt in the 5'th inning by a pop up in front of home plate nobody called for and Matt Chapman had to come racing in from 3B and missed a diving catch which put runners at first and second with no outs. Roupp walked the next batter and was done for the day.
Randy Rodriguez 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 0.00. Rodriguez had the unenviable task of coming in to face Yordan Alvarez with the bases loaded and no outs. It looked like he might strike him out but Alvarez dug out a backfoot slider that didn't quite get far enough down or inside and golfed it into RF for a 2-run single still with no outs and runners at the corners. Rodriguez then bore down and went pop-up, K and K to get out of the inning with just the 2 runs scored and the Giants lead still intact at 5-3.
Hayden Birdsong RHP- 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 0.00. Birdsong made his first appearance of the season. Although his command also came and went several times he flashed great stuff and hit 98 MPH on the radar gun for 2 scoreless frames.
Tyler Rogers RHP and Camilo Doval RHP pitched a scoreless inning each with Doval recording his second Save. There were four Save Opportunities on the road trip with Doval and Ryan Walker RHP getting 2 each.
The Win improves the Giants record to 5-1. OK team, chew on this awhile: Thanks to McCovey Chronicles BlueSky feed for these states but over the last 4 seasons 11 teams have started the season at least 5-1 over their first 6 games. 10 of those 11 teams finished with winning records. 8 of 11 made the postseason and 7 of 11 won at least 90 games. Also, per Joaquin Ruiz of NBCSports Bay Area the last two times the Giants started the season 5-1 they ended those seasons with parades.
The Giants get tomorrow off with their families to prep for the Home Opener Friday against the Mariners with Justin Verlander RHP facing Bryce Miller RHP.
Roupp pitched well for his 1st start. 8 strikeouts is nothing to sneeze at. Maybe he pitches thru 5 innings if the plays were made on the infield pop fly and Alvarez 2 run single past Schmidt at 1st base. Interesting to see him pitch for the 1st time, he looks to have legit stuff and his delivery can come from a difficult arm angle. I'd be surprised if they keep Birdsong in the bullpen for much longer. He has a great arm and might be better off if he goes back to AAA and get stretched out as a starting pitcher.. Great start or Giants going 5 and 1 on the road!
ReplyDeleteYeah, 5-1 Leads every other division. But the NL West, insanely hot. 25-7. Wow.
ReplyDeleteThe Bold Prediction that had come across my mind (but failed to mention here) was that the NL West takes all 3 Wild Cards. Fun, at least early on, that that actually seems plausible.
I saw Roupp's performance on GameDay. Was a bit disappointed. Everything screamed "junk baller". It seemed that his strikeouts were all on bad balls, outside of the strike zone. I didn't have much faith in him. Didn't see many fastball. In contrast with Birdsong. Perhaps the naked eye reveals what I perceived was/is wrong. Hope so.
ReplyDeleteHa ha! Whattheck were you looking at? Per statcast Roupp's FB/Sinker averaged 93.6 MPH. The spin rate on his curveball was 3000 rpm. Out of 83 pitches there were zero barrels. How is that a junkballer?
DeleteYep, watched the game...Roupp was consistently hitting 93. I don't remember him really getting above or below that much with his FBs.
DeleteSo, I guess "junkballer" is a subjective term, often used derisively, for which whoever uses it can make up whatever definition they want. My definition of a junkballer is someone with below average velocity on the fastball and an arsenal of average to below-average secondary pitches none of which can be reliably used to get outs. These pitchers rely on the BABIP gods for survival and and their main use is to eat innings at the back end of a rotation.
DeleteExamples of such pitchers are Kyle Hendricks, Ty Blach and Barry Zito(the later years). There actually aren't many "junkballers" in the league anymore as the game has moved dramatically toward velocity. They used to be much more common.
BTW, per Statcast, Roupp threw 38% "Sinkers" with an average velocity of 93.6 MPH(actually a 2-seam fastball). He threw 41% curveballs with an average RPM of 3000. Those are not "junk" pitches.
I am more than happy with both ROUPP and BIRDSONG.. Roupp had amazing stuff in a tricky start against the ASTROS and did great until hitting the wall in the 5tth .And Birdsong with two solid inning in relief for a kid that is not a reliever? both deserve more and more chances..Can the Giants give it to them with a healthy rotation??.And the Bullpen continues to be lights out....every one of them
ReplyDeleteIs this the year MATOS becomes a consistent Major Leaguer joining RAMOS???
Of course, the Dodgers and Padres are getting all the press with barely a peep about the Giants starts ....but the Giants opening 5-1 on THE ROAD in hitters parks like Cincy and Houston may even be more impressive then the other two winning at HOME.
Giants just need to keep playing Giant baseball at HOME starting Friday
SteveVA
Giants are home for 3-each games with Seattle (3-6) and Cincy (2-4) who are on their first road trip(s) of the season.
ReplyDeleteThen a dreaded Eastern trip for 3-each with the Yankees and Phillies.
Will Melvin use this day off to jump Webb again which would guarantee him starts against both NY and Philly?