The Giants played their best game of the season dominating the Phillies in every phase of the game behind 6.2 shut out innings from Robbie Ray. Key Lines:
Willy Adames SS- 2 for 4, 2 2B, R. BA= .239. Adames has 4 doubles in 8 AB's over his last two game at the top of the order. More of that, please!
Matt Chapman 3B- 3 for 4, 2B, R, RBI. BA= .304. Chapman is batting .357 in April with 4 multi-hit games out of 7 and 4 XBH's.
Casey Schmitt DH- 1 for 3, 2B, BB, R. BA= .280. Schmitt raised his BA from .158 over his last two games(the last time he played was 4/2 against the Mets).
Daniel Susac C- 3 for 4, 3B, R, 2 RBI. BA= .857. I think we have ourselves a catcher controversy. It may be a flash in the pan, but so far Susac is tearing the cover off the ball, and did all spring training too. Plus, he's more than holding his own on defense in an admittedly very small sample.
Robbie Ray LHP- 6.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K's. ERA= 2.08. Gutsy start from Ray who didn't get any breathing room until after his 5'th inning. The walks were a bit unsettling but he was able to reach back for a little extra when he had to. I'm still on board with Ray having a career season in the walk year of his contract.
Ryan Walker RHP- 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K. ERA= 4.15. Walker got a wild hair up his nose at several points but managed to pull it in when he had to. He got the final out of the 7'th and then pitched a scoreless 8'th before the lineup scored a couple of insurance runs.
Keaton Winn RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K. ERA= 5.06. Winn had a 6-run lead to work with but made a nice recovery from his last disaster appearance.
The Giants improved their record to 4-8. They remain in last place in the NL West, 5.5 games behind the Dodgers and 3 games behind in the Wild Card standings.
They have a chance to win a series tomorrow afternoon with Tyler Mahle RHP facing Aaron Nola RHP.
Where did that come from?..Great RAY type outing by RAY and the two leaders hitting at the same time (along with ARRAEZ of course)..Giants need more of that as well as more fundamentally and defensive sound play like last night...AFter all, BUSTER, for better or worse, was/is counting on the old way of character, grit, defense and fundamentals. But you still have to hit (hear that OF??).
ReplyDeleteSteveVA
"Giants need a 2B who can hit nest season"? I am intrigued by Dayson Croes as well, but you don't think they'll engage Arraez longetr term?
ReplyDeleteArraez is on a 1 year contract and he'll be looking to test his value on the open market if he has a strong season.
DeleteDark Horse Candidate: Nate Furman currently at AAA. He's not so long on the tooth as a prospect, and he's been consistently way above average offensively. Came over in a Buster trade last year. Her seemed unphased by the increasing challenges at each level.
DeleteThis felt like the A-Team: George Peppard says "I love it when a plan comes together." It's a small sample size but Susac certainly looks promising. Have we ever seen two Giants catchers share time close to 50-50 before? I can't remember that much in recent memory. It appears that TV will continue to mix and match in the bullpen to see what he has early in the season. He saved Tidwell and Miller who seem to be the prime people to keep the lead.
ReplyDeleteSusac should definitely get a lot more time at catcher to see if the hitting is for real. Bailey’s defense is fantastic but it’s still not good enough to make up for being an automatic out in the lineup with no pop and no on base ability. Of Susac is for real, he should absolutely start over Bailey period, as long as the defense is good enough. Guys that can’t hit in this league but play great defense usually end up as bench players. It’s just the reality. Gotta hit at least a little bit in this league
ReplyDeleteI witnessed Patrick Bailey's walk-off inside the par home run last year. I have had him on a long leash because of his defense and the walk-off HR. However, that leash has run out of rope for me. Brian Sabean believed in giving a guy enough rope til he hangs himself. Could they get a return by trading him? The Yankees, Blue Jays, Rangers, anywhere?
ReplyDeleteOr keep Bailey and use him strategically. Bailey has historically floundered in the second half of seasons. Playing him less might get more out of him offensively.