Coors Field giveth and Coors Field taketh. The Giants lost a Coors Field Special with a 3-run meltdown in the 9'th inning to lose out on what a few innings earlier looked like a sure sweep of the series. Key Lines:
Wilmer Flores DH- 2 for 5, 2B, R. BA= .259. Wilmer was one of just two Giants with multiple hits or an XBH. The lineup strung together 5 singles while putting up a 4-spot in the second inning.
Dominic Smith 1B- 3 for 5, HR(1), BB, 3 R, 3 RBI. BA= .320. Smith must have read what steveVA said about him yesterday and said, "we'll fix THAT!". Huge game for and yes, we'll take a few more of those against LA this weekend. His 3-run HR in the 5'th inning gave the Giants a 7-2 lead which in any other park is an almost sure win but it's nothing in Coors Field.
Hayden Birdsong RHP- 6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 2.79. A Quality Start for Birdsong who got to 104 pitches. Considering the environment a big league start.
Sean Hjelle RHP- 0.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 0 K. ERA= 4.50. Hjelle got the first batter on a fly out to CF but then went soft GB single, walk, double to Thairo Estrada. That was enough for Bob Melvin who brought in Erik Miller for the last two outs. I got to thinking, even though Hjelle lives on ground ball outs, he shouldn't be that affected by Coors Field. Standing at 6' 11", on a mound with an upright, over-the-top delivery he's basically spiking the ball into the strike zone more than depending on sinking action which is more dependent on air resistance and gravity.
Ryan Walker RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 4.56. A dominant, clean 8'th inning for Walker.
Randy Rodriguez RHP- 0.2 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K. ERA= 0.90. OK, putting two runners on by walks is not good pitching but Rodriguez should have been out of the inning with a Save were it not for a throwing error by Casey Schmitt. And yes, Matt Chapman sometimes makes throwing errors too. Rough day for Randy Rodriguez and for Casey Schmitt.
The Giants were fortunate to get wins in the first two games of the series and a series win, so hard to complain too loudly over a Coors Field special.
They move on to Los Angeles to take on the Hated Ones with Logan Webb RHP facing Yoshinobu Yamamoto RHP in game 1 in a battle of aces. And it's still OK to hate the Dodgers but take it easy on Los Angeles. We're traumatized down here right now and baseball might not be the #1 thing on our minds.
I've been secretly harboring "WHY don't the Giants try Rodriguez in the closer role?" questions. So, I definitely got mine today. LOL.
ReplyDeleteI'm from NorCal originally, but, without a doubt we're all Californians right now. I hope this madness resolves soon. Trying to stay apolitical here and send true and sincere good vibes to everyone. I hope you and yours are okay, Doc.
Hah, thanks for the call out in your write up Doc! I feel like Steve martin in The Jerk when his name made it into the Phone Book!! :).. I deserve it and can take it! Still, season long I don't think he's an answer as a starting of even platoon 1B ifff the Giants are in on the PO chase 100%. Good game for him though..
ReplyDeleteAs far as RROD, those games happen in Colorado..and it was also bound to happen soon for RROD somewhere/anywhere....Just that the timing sucks!..Without Bailey and Chapman gonna be real hard for the Giants not to get swept in LA.....I'll be more than fine with 1 win in the series, Hope Webb is at his best tonight. Giants have a penchant for coming back from heart breaking losses, so maybe that happens tonight..
SteveVA
The 2025 Rodriguez is not the 2024 Rodriguez, but last year he had trouble at Coors Field, giving up 3 ER in 3⅓ innings.
ReplyDeleteAs Doc pointed out, the error was decisive, but 2 hits and 2 walks are a lot to give up and not get 4 outs.
Melvin might have been a bit guilty by leaving Rodriguez in the game long enough to throw 43 pitches, 14 more than the most he had previously thrown this year, even including the 3 times he pitched more than 1 inning.
ReplyDeleteIn 2024, when he threw more than 40 pitches, which he did 7 times, they were for more than 2.0 innings in every instance.
Rodriguez labored through out his appearance yesterday:
The first out was Lee's excellent catch near the wall, deep in left center.
Estrada's double was a well hit drive, also deep.
Those two drives and the two walks were before Schmitt's error.
The single strikeout took 6 pitches.
The winning hit came on a 3-2 count, bases loaded, on a must-get-it-in pitch or the tying run would have been walked in.
Blaming Melvin sounds a little extreme, but maybe managers should know when to get off the pot?
DeleteHe's not Bruce Bochy and never will be, but In general I think Melvin has handled the pitching quite well, especially in pushing SP's to get deeper into games and preserving bullpen arms. The Closer carousel is more about pitchers not executing in the role than any glaring mismanagement.
DeleteWalker threw 8 pitches. Wonder whether him going back out for 9th was considered.
ReplyDeleteBesides a rental to platoon with Smith at IB, Baggs noted the Giants might want to upgrade at the trade deadline for an upgrade at 2B since Fitz hasn’t come close to returning to the hitting form he showed during a 52-game stretch last season that made 2024 seen so promising. Maybe Fitz’s long-term place in the lineup will be as a super utility type … he also mentioned the Giants would like to find a platoon partner for Yaz, either in the minors or via trade. Baggs suspects Posey is prioritizing what young arms might be made available. It looks like potential trade partners will want two, not one for anyone substantial.
ReplyDeleteI noticed Meckler getting reps at 2B.
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