The Tigers took advantage of subpar command by Hayden Birdsong and the Giants lineup futility continued unabated in another loss without much of a fight. Key Lines:
Jung Hoo Lee CF and Wilmer Flores DH had two hits each. Matt Chapman had the only other Giants hit in the game. They had no XBH's. The #5-9 batters in the lineup went a combined 0 for 16 with 2 walks. That won't get it done and that's become a typical box score for the Giants.
Hayden Birdsong RHP- 4.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 2.48. As Hunter Pence noted in the broadcast booth, Birdsong seemed to have good secondary pitches and good life on the fastball but the fastball command was off. Still, he only allowed 1 run through 4 innings. He allowed the first two batters of the 5'th inning to reach base which brought in Erik Miller LHP who gave up a walk and a soft line-drive single which plated the winning runs.
Spencer Bivens RHP pitched 2 scoreless frames and Jordan Hicks RHP had a scoreless 8'th inning.
Keider Montero RHP- 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 4.54. Montero came in with an ERA over 5. He benefitted from a generous strike zone by Home Plate Umpire Phil Cuzzi and had good command of a wipeout slider the Giants hitters didn't see well. But we're saying that about a lot of pitchers to face the Giants recently.
Since the 3-homer game by Wilmer Flores against the A's on 5/16, the Giants have scored more than 3 runs twice in 9 games and lost one of those. They scored 3 runs three times, 1 run three times and got shut out once. They averaged 2.22 runs per game. Amazingly, they are 5-4 over that stretch.
The Giants try to regroup tomorrow behind Logan Webb RHP against Jack Flaherty RHP in what could be another tough matchup.
There needs to be a shakeup in the batting order with moving up Fitz and moving down Adames and Chapman. I think it's also time to send Matos to Sacramento and call up McCray, at least McCray is a better defensive outfielder.
ReplyDeleteMcCray shouldnt be called up just to be a backup at this point. He’s struggling hitting and he’s still young enough where there’s potential if he gets more seasoning in the minors. Even though he’s likely to be only a future back up
DeleteOF due to speed and strong defense, he has shown hitting potential in the lower minors even though he’s hitting poorly in AAA. Giants aren’t a World Series caliber team so no need to rush this dude into a back up OF role. Jerar
is the guy who is going to take Matos spot and Wade Meckler if he can ever get healthy should ideally be ahead of McCray due to his strong hitting ability, which the giants need more of. They don’t need more players who can’t hit
Agree it's not fair to young hitters with potential to bring them up to only play once a week. If McCray comes up he needs to play RF every day and let YtY back up all 3 OF positions. If a young OF plays every day I think it's better to be McCray since he bats left and is a better defender but agree he should not come up and play as infrequently as Matos has.
DeleteRock and a hard place right now with the fourth outfielder. Matos batting .147 is not gonna cut it and if isn't gonna play everyday, send him down. Hitting wise McCray is not going to be ideal but, it's at least a stopgap solution until the trade deadline. I think Rhys Hopkins is guy to watch as in terms of a rental option at first if Milwaukee decides to sell at the deadline.
DeleteLook at the number of popups. Chapman and Adames are looking homerun every time up. Probably Flores, too. If a pitcher knows that you're looking for a homerun, they'll absolutely feast on you. Good pitching beats good hitting. Just not if backed by an anemic offense.
ReplyDeleteI think both Chapman and more so Adames are feeling the pressure of their contracts and trying to do too much.
DeleteYou don't want to be a Starter and put a couple people on base when your manager has no faith in you.
ReplyDeleteMevin brings in a lefty to face the lefty in the 5th but Detroit pinch hits a RHB and everything goes wrong.
Miller allows Birdsong's runners to score, so he, Miller, skates, Birdsong gets the loss, and Melvin shows why he rarely wins really important games, not that this game was so important, since the Giants' offense is so predictably bad they'll win and lose a lot of close games.
The Giants may make the Playoffs, their pitching is possibly good enough, and there are enough bad teams for the Giants to beat up on, but unless Adames starts hitting (Bailey could help here) and Encarnación is better than he's ever been, the Giants are punchless and predictable but still may get a Ticket.
I am pretty sure at least 90% of managers in this day and age would have taken Birdsong out when Melvin did. Miller didn't execute. Miller has a lot of talent but as Hunter Pence pointed out, he has a long history of walking too many batters.
DeleteI think it's time to platoon Huff and Bailey until Bailey gets above the Mendoza line. Sam Huff has played decent and has earned the right to more playing time until Bailey gets back on track.
DeleteThe impotence of the Giants offense is staggering and hard to watch---especially the futility of Chapman and Adames together with Wade, Baily and Yaz sinking back to his level (Flores likely follow). The worst part is their are zero answers internally. This EXPECTED problem should have been dealt with in the off season but that is bridge under water.
ReplyDeleteWhat do they do now when every night the pitchers, who have done great, have zero margin of error and there is so much pressure on young arms? The best they can do first (and likley will do) is make MATOS the sacrificial lamb and pick name out of a hat.
Other then that, POSEY has to decide how long he will/can wait before dealing young pitching depth for offensive help. They better have options under consideration, at least internally.
SteveVA
It's a hard problem to fix with just 1 or 2 lineup upgrades unless you are counting on a upgrade having a multiplier effect by taking some pressure off the rest of the lineup which is a notion that stats don't support. Having said that, a serious lefty bat capable of batting cleanup somewhere between Adames, Chapman and Wilmer would help a lot. Not sure there are any such bats available at any price, though.
DeleteChapman and Adames not living up to their mega contracts. Losing my respect. Not that they care. But they are the ones the team planned to depend on.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure they deserve losing your respect. If anything it looks to me like they are trying too hard possibly due to classic post-contract pressure to perform. Adames definitely looks like he's trying to hit it out of the park on every pitch.
DeleteI have respect for both players, they try their best to be a good player and a good leader...but...really..it's all about production...CHAPMAN's struggles really don't surprise me...it's close to his norm over the last 4 years except for two hot stretches, including the one 2nd half last year that got him the hige extenstion that the GIANTS may live to regret.....The surprising one is ADAMES at the plate...I think there is something to the "trying to to do much" and be everything all at once AND living up to the contract.
DeleteThose two being their best at the plate would go a logn way. Still, it's a pop gun offense even with things going well.
SteveVA
It’s still early. Adames came a little over-hyped, but he’s better than his start in a new home might suggest. And Chapman is proving to be what Posey knew he’s been in the recent past. After a fast start, Yaz is back to his history of inconsistent hitting. Fitz just hasn’t shown much, but he’s been hurt. If anything, I’d move Yaz to open up more opportunities for younger players. Once Encarnacion gets going, I’d think Wade will have to be put through waivers. He apparently made some changes to his swing during the offseason, and the Giants coaches are trying to get him back to his old mechanics. He just looks lost at the plate. The Giants are still in a tight fight with LA and SD.
ReplyDeleteAgreed its still early. Some hitters get hot when summer comes around. I can see some hitters in my fantasy league starting to pick it up while some struggle.. The Giants have been doing ok 2 wins and 2 losses on this. Road trip and 5 and 4 on last homestead tied for 2nd with padres. Buster wanted a team built around pitching, defense and timely hitting and that's the team they have. Looks like the only position they need to upgrade is 1st base. We will see if FO can pull off a big trade to help offense. Its seems much harder to make big trades these days. As for today I thought Birdsong did ok until he ran out of gas, due to being in the process of building up to starter workloads.
DeleteEveryone is counting on Encarnacion, but if you look at his stats, he has only played in 2 games in his rehab. He was eligible to come off the IL today but obviously did not. What is the story, and has he had a serious setback?
ReplyDeleteI agree Encarnacion is more of a guy you hope to catch lightning in a bottle with than any lock for an upgrade.
DeleteI mean there are some intriguing tools there but he was far from a sure thing before he got hurt.
DeleteI totally agree, but there is radio silence about where he is in his recovery.
DeleteGiants have averaged under 2 runs a game during their last 10 (including Monday), yet are 6-4 in that time.
ReplyDeleteThe pitching has been really good.
DeleteAlmost forgot I read an article a few days ago in mlb rumors that Nathaniel Lowe is drawing early trade interest. Makes sense for Giants if Nats make him available. Teams don't like to make key players available this early.
ReplyDeleteLowe is an interesting bat. His numbers are down this year but still a lot better than LMWJ and he bats lefty.
DeleteMatos is the type of hitter who needs to play every day. Send him down to Sacramento and let him play every day until he gets his swing and pitch recognition back. If he is called back up, he should be put in one of the outfield positions and play every day. He's just not a bench player who gets an occasional start.
ReplyDeleteI think any young hitter just trying to break in would struggle in Matos' role. Whether he can ever break through and be a starting OF at the MLB level is still an open question.
DeleteYesterday seems to have been a tipping point!
ReplyDeleteHatchets are out, perhaps because this was potentially a good offensive day against a pitcher who has been knocked around lately.
Truth is, SF has been a .500 team, 19-19, since Game 16, Monday, Apr 14, when they were 8 over @ 12-4.
If the Giants can maintain .500 ball the rest of the season, and you would think with their pitching that should be possible, it's at least an improvement of 5 games over last year which might equate to adding Adames but more likely because of a complete season from Ray and Lee. Getting to 12 or more games over and a playoff birth, is going to take help from Adames and a more consistent output from Chapman.
Or a trade?
DeleteExtending Baseball-Reference's bWAR to a full season, the Giants have at most 5 position players who will be above 2.0, which they deem a "Starter" (Chapman, Lee, YtY, Fitz, and Ramos). Flores at 0.5 bWAR to date is on the edge but he does lead SF in HRs.
On the pitching side, Ray and Webb are "Starter" SPs, and 4 RPs could qualify as B-R "Starter"), and you'd hope Verlander, Walker, and even Hicks might recover from 0 and below.
Probably need a trade or some significant recoveries to have any certainty of making the Playoffs.
There was never certainty in making the playoffs for any of the 3 championship teams. If you are expecting that, you are following the wrong team.
DeleteCertainty is never until you clinch
Delete