4 GIDP's kept the Giants lineup from capitalizing on 9 hits and 12 baserunners in a game that led to some second-guessing for Manager Tony Vitello. Key Lines:
Jung Hoo Lee RF- 1 for 3, 2B, BB, R. BA= .100. The top of the lineup did what it's supposed to do in the third inning when Lee doubled to lead off and Matt Chapman singled him home.
Luis Arraez 2B- 2 for 4, SB(1). BA= .273.
Rafael Devers DH- 2 for 4, 2B. BA= .250. When the 3 and 4 hitters go 4 for 8 with a double and a SB and yet have 0 R and 0 RBI, something is seriously messed up.
Tyler Mahle RHP- 4 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 5 K's. Mahle did not pitch poorly but threw 80 pitches in 4 innings.
Ryan Borucki LHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 5.40. This is where the 3 batter rule bites. Borucki easily got two outs against lefty batters which brought up Aaron Judge with another lefty batter, Cody Bellinger, on deck. There is a lot of talk about how Tony Vitello should have put up 4 fingers but Bellinger historically has a pretty severe reverse split and savages LHP's. As it turned out Judge homered and Bellinger popped out. IMO Vitello showed his rookiness by not being forceful enough in pointing that out in his postgame presser.
Tony Vitello Manager- Another critique comes from letting Jung Hoo Lee bat against Tim Hill LHP in the 7'th inning. Again, most managers are not going to pinch-hit in a 2-out, no runners on base situation. Then there was Jared Oliva pinch-running for Adames in the 9'th which is defendable but it comes after Adames was lowered to #6 in the batting order amid rumors of some friction between him and Vitello. Adames just said he was surprised about getting taken out. Then there was Patrick Bailey batting with one out and runners at 1B and 2B and GIDPing, but Bailey was batting left against David Bednar RHP and there were no lefty batters on the bench.
The Giants and Tony Vitello have a day off in San Diego to think about it all.
Landen Roupp RHP starts game 1 of the series on Monday against Walker Buehler RHP which is another opportunity for second-guessing all by itself.
I wonder if Vitello told Borucki not to throw any strikes to Judge. Regardless, he threw a batting-practice FB that Kristian Koss would have hit out.
ReplyDeleteMy least favorite was failing to have Bader bunt with two on and no outs in the ninth.
Not a good start for Vitello.
After watching Adames continue to swing away no matter what the pitch count or game situation, I'm kind of liking the fact that Vitello seems to be trying to actually coach him up ... and not treating him like a big ticket star on this team. He is something like 0-11 at the plate ... not a good start!
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