Game Wrap 4/7/2021: Giants 3 Padres 2

The Giants got another ace start from Kevin Gausman RHP and a home run from Darin Ruf LF to set up a tight extra-inning win.  Game Notes:  

 The bullpen blew another potential Win after a dominant Kevin Gausman performance:  7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 K's.  This time, though his effort was not in vain as the Giants were the team to take advantage of the "designated runner at second base" extra-inning rule and come away with both the game and series wins.

The Giants have not had many offensive bright spots so far, but two they have had, Evan Longoria 3B and Ruf combined for 4 hits and a walk in 10 PA's.  They accounted for both of the Giants runs in the regulation 9 innings in the second inning against Blake Snell LHP when Longo led off with a double and Ruf homered one out later. Stay hot, guys!  Gotta think the rest of the lineup kicks into gear soon.

Hot tip for fantasy baseball players:  Out of 88 MLB games played so far relievers were credited with the W in 45 of them.  If you play in a K/9 league, you just might be better off rostering a bunch of non-closer relievers with SP eligibility than stocking up and streaming SP's.  

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The Giants get a much needed day off at home before the Home Opener Friday night agains the Rockies.  SP's have not been named but it's Johnny Cueto RHP's turn in the rotation.

Game Wrap 4/6/2021: Padres 3 Giants 1

Giants bats mostly flailed at a steady stream of junkballs from Yu Darvish RHP while Matt Wisler RHP's slider-heavy approach once again failed to impress opposing hitters.   Game Notes:

Kruk and Kuip pointed out that the solo HR by Brandon Crawford SS in the third inning came of the last fastball Darvish would throw for a strike all evening.  Giants hitters couldn't hit his offspeed stuff and couldn't lay off enough to force him to go back to the FB.  

Aaron Sanchez RHP looked really good for 4 innings spotting a FB that went 91-93 MPH on both sides of the plate mixed in with effective offspeed stuff.  He lost velocity in the 5'th inning and the Padres hitters squared him up but some nice BABIP luck got him through the inning.  Nice start to the season for Sanchez considering he only pitched 5.2 innings all spring.

Matt Wisler RHP was once again ineffective with his one-trick-pony slider approach.  I'm no pitching coach or scout, but that pitch just does not look effective enough to be a stand alone pitch for anybody.  Maybe he'll find some bite to the slider and be an effective hold guy but right now he looks like he could be one of the first guys in the pen who are replaced.

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Giants ace Kevin Gausman RHP tries for a series win today vs Blake Snell LHP.

Game Wrap 4/5/2021: Giants 3 Padres 2

The Giants hit three solo home runs, got strong pitching and survived a nail biter finish, while the Padres may have lost much more than the game with an apparent serious injury to young superstar Fernando Tatis Jr.  Game Notes:

Darin Ruf LF showed why the Giants wanted to hang onto him as he started in LF against the lefty SP and homered to CF to start the Giants scoring in the 2'nd inning.  

Evan Longoria 3B hit his 3'rd HR of the young season and I believe all three have been out to the opposite field.

Mike Yastrzemski PH struggled in the first series in Seattle but hit a HR to straightaway CF in a PH appearance for the game winner in the 7'th inning.

Anthony DeSclafani RHP did not have great command but made pitches while allowing just 1 run in 5 IP.  

Jake McGee LHP made his second Save a nail biter with a walk and HBP ahead of Tommy Pham.  Gotta say, I thought Pham's drive to CF for the final out was gone as it came off the bat.  Whew!  

Fernando Tatis Jr SS(Padres) appeared to be badly fooled on a breaking ball for a swinging strike three in the third inning and hyperextended on the backswing.  He immediately crumpled to the ground and appeared to be in extreme pain reminiscent of Reyes Moronta RHP in 2019.  Like Moronta, Tatis Jr. appeared to be holding his elbow or wrist but the injury was to his left shoulder.  Word is a subluxation aka dislocation.  He apparently has a history of multiple smaller subluxation incidents so we'll see how this one plays out, but you have to wonder about a more serious structural tear with the way he went down.

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Aaron Sanchez RHP gets the final call for the rotation tonight facing Yu Darvish RHP in Game 2 of the series.

Game Wrap 4/3/2021: Mariners 4 Giants 0

Logan Webb RHP pitched essentially the same game as Johnny Cueto RHP the night before.  The difference was Cueto got excellent run support while Webb got none.  Game Notes:

 In addition to the standard line, Webb had a 9/1 GO/AO.

I mentioned in the preview yesterday that I wanted the Giants to sign Chris Flexen RHP.  Well, now that you all want to know who Chris Flexen, let's take a deeper dive into why I wanted him to be a Giant.  Flexen came up through the Mets organization after being drafted out of HS in 2012:

He had 3 seasons of experience at AAA and pitched really well there.  In 2019 he went 5-3, 4.46, 10.53 K/9, 2.40 BB/9, FIP= 3.98, xFIP= 3.88.  Short stints with the Mets did not go as well with ERA's of 7.88, 12.79, 6.59, but in a total of 68 IP over 3 seasons.  What caught my eye was an average FB velocity of 94.3 mph in the 2019 MLB cameo.

He pitched for the KBO in 2020 and put up really good numbers:  8-4, 3.01, 10.18 K/9, 2.31 BB/9, FIP= 2.74.   

So to recap, we had a solid minor league track record, strong FB velocity for a SP and experience in Asia which often forces a pitcher to polish up their game. Oh, and he's still just 26 yo.  The Mariners must have been looking at the same things because they gave him a 2-year contract for $4.75 M with a club option for 2023.  

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The Giants have Easter Sunday off before heading to San Diego for an early 3-game test against the Padres.  Anthony DeSclafani RHP faces Adrian Morejon LHP in Game 1 Monday evening.

Game Wrap 4/2/2021: Giants 6 Mariners 3

Johnny Cueto RHP looked like he was going to be on the losing end of a blowout after 3 innings but got stronger as the game progressed and fell one out short of a Quality Start.  The bats did their thing and the bullpen was stellar.  Game Notes:

Donovan Solano 2B hit over .300 the past two seasons and is back at it again.  "Donnie Barrels" rapped out 3 hits including a scorching double down the LF line that drove in the go-ahead runs.  Is there another Silver Slugger Award in his future? 

Just when it looked like Buster Posey C's third inning HR was going to be the Giants scoring, Evan Longoria 3B unleashed his second oppo field HR of the season to tie the game at 3 in the 6'th.

Austin Slater LF/CF looked like he wasn't seeing the ball well going 0 for 5 with 3 K's.

YtY RF is 0 for 9 with a walk over the first two game and I wonder if the hand contusion is bothering him.  I thought he looked a bit more comfortable at the plate in this game than Opening Day.

Cueto wasn't fooling anyone in the 2'nd and 3'rd innings but found the right mix of pitches, velocity and tempo and kept the game within reach through 5.2 IP.  

Memo to Kap:  If you bring in a reliever to finish an inning and their stuff looks good and they end the inning with a K, you might want to send them back out to start the next inning.  That's what he did with Wandy Peralta LHP in the 7'th inning. Peralta responded by dominating with exceptional looking stuff.  

Jake McGee LHP has been unhittable in two 1-inning appearances so far.  He nailed down the Save dominant fashion last night.  BTW, McGee is one of my Closers for my fantasy team.

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Logan Webb RHP tries to build on his spring training success tonight facing Chris Flexen RHP, a dude who I wanted the Giants to sign.  Game time is an hour earlier at 6:10 PM.

Opening Day Game Wrap 4/1/2021: Mariners 8 Giants 7

 The Giants have had some spectacular bullpen meltdowns over the years.  I suppose if I think long and hard enough this one might not make the top 10 but wow, that was an implosion!  Game Notes:

So, the first Burning Question I posed yesterday was, "Is Kevin Gausman RHP an ace?"  Well, he sure pitched like one in this game: Shutout ball for 6 innings.  1 runs allowed in 6.2 IP with 4 baserunners.  If he keeps pitching like this, he'll win his share of games although I am not overly sanguine about FZ and Kap solving their bullpen situation.  I mean, you get what you pay for.

4 players hit solo HR's, Austin Slater LF, Alex Dickerson PH/LF, Evan Longoria 3B, Buster Posey C.  Longoria keeps his hot spring going into the season.  When was the last time you saw Buster pull a ball over the LF fence?  

Donovan Solano 2B and Wilmer Flores DH had 4 hits between them, 3 doubles.

YtY looked like his hand was not 100% which made him overmatched at the plate. If that is the case, it might be better to give him a few more days to get right.  He's their best player when healthy, but he's not helping when he looks like he did last night.

Bullpen:  You had to have a feeling this was all headed south about one batter into Jarlin Garcia LHP's appearance.  All I can say is I don't think the current group is quite this bad and I'm pretty sure this is not the bullpen they are going to finish the season with.  IMO, they did not even bring their best options north out of spring training due to FZ's obsession with inventory preservation.  I get inventory preservation, but that only works if the inventory you put on the shelf is as good or better than what you keep in the warehouse.

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The Giants face another LHP in Game two tonight with Johnny Cueto RHP looking to re-establish himself as an ace against Yusei Kikuchi LHP.

Thoughts on Opening Day and the 2021 Baseball Season

I'm excited because Opening Day game is a night game.  They are almost always day games and I forget to take a vacation day so miss the game due to work.  I get to watch this one!  With that, I offer some burning questions for Giants fans for the 2021 season.

Is Kevin Gausman RHP an ace?

Will Logan Webb RHP break out?

Is Buster Posey C done?

Do the Giants have enough depth at shortstop?

Will the lineup(s) continue to hit like they did last year?

Can the Giants finish in third place in the NL West and still make the playoffs?

Can the Gants coaching staff work their magic again and revive the careers of Anthony DeSclafani RHP and Aaron Sanchez RHP?

Does Heliot Ramos OF or Joey Bart C have a chance to win ROY?

Can we get enough people vaccinated in time to avoid the "Fourth Wave" of COVID and finally get back to close to normal attendance at ballparks?

What is your burning question for the Giants in 2021?