Not that a loss was totally unexpected tonight but the Giants broke down in every phase of the game in a blowout loss which, OK, maybe they just needed to get that out of their system. Key Lines:
Matt Chapman 3B- 2 for 3, SB(5, 2 E. BA= .210. I saw the first error charged to Chapman and I would call it highly questionable. It was a little squibber with a long of english on it and out in no-man's land more in front of shortstop. It did not look like he could have gotten off a throw in time to get the runner even if handled cleanly. I didn't see the second error but by that time the game was out of control.
Luis Matos RF- 1 for 4, HR(3) R, 2 RBI. BA= .200. Matos is 4 for 9 with a double and 2 HR's over his last 3 games.
Landen Roupp RHP- 5 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K's, 6/2 GO/AO. ERA= 4.89. There was nothing flukey about the double and HR Roupp gave up in the third inning but even though I don't think Chapman should have been charged with an error on his play, it was still a flukey inning for Roupp who struck out the first two batters then gave up the "error"/squibber followed by a humpback liner that barely got over Christian Koss's glove at 2B. A stolen base and a line drive single by Swanson scored two. The Giants trailed 4-2 and never recovered. Credit to Roupp for getting out of the inning and hanging in there for a scoreless 5'th.
Hayden Birdsong RHP- 0.1 IP, 2 H, 5 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 0 K. ERA= 1.47. Birdsong gave up a leadoff HR to Carson Kelly C who has been quite the revelation for the Cubs. Pete Crow-Armstrong CF followed with a groundball single then all hell broke loose with consecutive errors by Adames and Chapman which started a whole cascade of events to blow the game wide open.
Spencer Bivens RHP- 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 4/0 GO/AO. ERA= 3.12. Bivens allowed a couple of inherited runners to score but then settled down and finished the game while letting the rest of the bullpen live to fight another day.
The Loss drops the Giants record to 22-14.
Justin Verlander RHP tries to even the series tomorrow facing Colin Rea RHP.
Three more strikeouts for Ramos. Tough to have your leadoff hitter whiff three out of four times at the plate. I hope Roupp at least showed enough early in this game to earn one more start ... before the pressure to move Harrison/Birdsong into the rotation intensifies even more.
ReplyDeleteBirdsong didn't exactly force the issue last night.
DeleteI would try a bullpen game with Roupp in the bulk role to see if that helps him a bit
DeleteAs I have said, hell will freeze over before we see an opener in the Buster Posey Era.
Deletehopefully, it's melvin making the decision on things like bullpen games. i prefer pobos to be hands off with the managers when it comes to lineup cards.
DeleteI could see a bullpen game or two in a dire emergency in the dog days but I'll say it again. We will not see an Opener/Bulk Innings setup in the Buster Posey Era.
DeleteBuster said that Bob Melvin is the manager and lineups and in-game decisions are up to the field manager. That being said, the Giants do employ a director of baseball strategy to help Melvin but I think that strategy coach seems to have a different role than Kai Correa, who seemed more like a proxy for Zaidi. I also can see a bullpen game in a dire emergency but only after other options are exhausted.
DeleteWhy, for a team that individually does fairly well against LHP, collectively they are patsies?
ReplyDelete2-9 for the year, yet they can field a team of RHB plus Lee who hits lefties better than righties: what gives?
Will Jerar Encarnación help? In limited PAs, he's never hit a HR against a LHP.
Can we hope it resolves itself when the sample size is larger than 11 of 36 games?
It better, or there will be disappointment.
Again.
The Giants have some righty batters with reverse splits and some that just aren't that good.
DeleteStatistically unlikely breakouts of Kelly and PCA make one wonder if they have adopted cutting-edge diets of some sort.
ReplyDeleteCarson Kelly was a guy I thought was a breakout candidate and wanted the Giants to sign him a back up to Bailey but he was looking for a starting gig and ultimately got a bigger contract than the Giants would have considered. On top of that it would be cool to have four Carsons in the organization. I think PCA was a pretty well known breakout candidate.
DeleteArmstrong is a bonafide superstar in the making. Remember that, during the Cubs deadline fire sale of 2021, he was traded to the Cubs in exchange for Baez, Trevor Williams, and cash. And he's going to keep getting better.
ReplyDeleteI agree.
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