Game wrap 4/22/2021: Giants 3 Marlins 0

 The Giants offense put up a 3-spot in the bottom of the first inning then went back to sleep.  That was enough to win the game as Curt Casali C caught became just the 5'th MLB catcher since 1900 to catch 5 consecutive shutouts and the first to do it with 5 different SP's.  Game Notes:

Casali has been the coldest Giants hitter but drove in 2 of the 3 runs with a single to left to cap the first inning rally.

The rally started with 2 outs on a double by Mike Yastrzemski RF.  After a walk to Evan Longoria 3B, Darin Ruf LF/1B smoked a ball at 109.9 MPH directly over the head of the LF for a double driving in YtY and setting up Casali's 2-run single.

The injuries keep piling up.  Longo left the game with a tight hamstring which Kap described as being "not too bad."  

Aaron Sanchez RHP went 5 innings and allowed just two baserunners despite a fairly dramatic drop in FB velocity averaging just 88 MPH topping out at 90.  After the game Kap indicated Sanchez is not 100% physically which raises all kind of additional questions starting with why is he still pitching?

Gregory Santos RHP was called up to replace Donovan Solano IF on the active roster.  His FB was 10 MPH faster than Sanchez' but it was the slider that was the revelation as he threw it for strikes and out of the zone for swings and misses.  Santos struck out the first two batters he faced and got a GO to end the 6'th inning.

Jake McGee LHP worked a perfect 9'th inning with 3 K's for his 7'th Save.  Of note was his increased use of the slider which clearly worked to get those Marlins hitters off "dead red" like they were in Miami.

There was a "support bunny" in the stands, quite a large one!  Maybe it was also a Magic Bunny and kept the magic going for the Giants.  I'm thinking the players might want to get together and find a way to keep that bunny coming back every game, at least until they lose again.

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Alex Wood LHP tries to keep his magic going tonight as he draws the start against Sandy Alcantara RHP.

Game Wrap 4/21/2020: Phillies 6 Giants 5

The Giants took a lead with a 4-spot in the 7'th inning and looked like they were once again headed for a come-from-behind win, but there's a reason why Bryce Harper(Phillies RF) is making all that money.  He tied the game on a HR off Camilo Doval RHP in the bottom of the inning, then drew a leadoff walk in the 9'th and came around for the walk-off win to spoil Giants fans dreams of a sweep.  Game Notes:

Alex Dickerson LF had 3 singles and raised his BA to .239.  He also made an error in LF leading to an unearned run that was ultimately the difference in the game.

Darin Ruf PH has a job with the Giants to be a potent bat off the bench.  He does that well an popped a 3-run HR batting for the pitcher in the 7'th.  Would you rather have him do things like this off the bench or do it more often as a DH?  

Anthony DeSclafani RHP was only able to go 4 IP allowing 3 runs which probably put more pressure on a tired bullpen than they could handle.  

Camilo Doval RHP gave up his first MLB run but it was a HR by Harper who has hit a lot of those.  Stil, it was on what looked like a hanging breaking ball.

Wandy Peralta LHP has been used quite a bit.  He's won 2 games and saved 2 but he lost this one after coming into a tied game in the 9'th inning.

Mickey Moniak CF was the #1 overall draft pick in 2016 and has been widely derided as a bust.  He's still just 23 years old and hit his first MLB HR, a 3-run jack, in the second inning.

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Donovan Solano 2B pulled up with a sore calf and will likely miss some time, maybe on the IL.  Brandon Crawford SS came out as a precaution after tweaking his side.  Giants are much thinner at SS than 2B.  Fortunately it sounds like Crawford is OK.  

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It's nice to have the favorable time difference flying back across the country.  Hopefully the lads got home in time for a good night's sleep because they start a homestand tonight agains the Marlins in what will be a 4 game weekend series in Oracle Park.  Aaron Sanchez RHP faces soft tossing Daniel Castano LHP in Game 1.  Probably not much rest for the bullpen as Sanchez is not known for going deep into games.

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mlb.com has a mock draft up with the Giants selecting Sam Bachman RHP out of Miami(Ohio) at #14 overall.  Bachman is 6'1", 235 lbs. and has a grade 70 FB with a 65 Slider to back it up and a decent changeup for a third usable pitch.  

Game Wrap 4/20/2021: Giants 10 Phillies 7

 Buster Posey C had his biggest game in 5 years and the Giants offense exploded for 6 runs in the 8'th inning for a come-from-behind win as it was the offense' turn to pick up the pitching.   Game Notes:

Buster Posey!  Where have you been and what took you so long?  OK, nevermind.  Just happy to have you back!  3 hits, 2 HR's, raised is season BA to .316.  Statistically his best game since hitting 2 HR's in Coor's Field in 2016.  That's 5 years, folks, 5 years!.  He sure picked a heckuva game to announce he is back as the Giants pitching faltered and needed that run support.

The 8'th inning outburst featured a pair of 3-run HR's, one from Alex Dickerson LF and the other from Wilmer Flores PH/2B.

Tommy LaStella 2B added a 2-run HR of his own.

Logan Webb RHP had a rough return to the rotation allowing 7 hits and 2 BB's for 4 runs in 4 IP.  Webb will probably get one more chance to get his ship headed in the right direction but will likely be either back to the bullpen or out to Alternative Camp as soon as Johnny Cueto RHP comes off the IL.

Jarlin Garcia LHP gave up 2 runs in his first inning of work but came back out to pitch a scoreless 6'th inning.  Gotta wonder how long his leash is right now too.

Jake McGee LHP pitched the 9'th inning despite no Save situation.  He gave up a run on a HR.

Brandon Belt 1B who carried the Giants offense for a couple of games, left this one late with a "tight quad".  We'll probably have a better idea of how much time he'll miss today.

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The Giants guaranteed themselves a series win and no worse than a split for the road trip, both very good things!  Anthony DeSclafani RHP goes for the sweeeeep tomorrow afternoon, well, morning out here on the left coast facing Zach Eflin RHP.

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As I am sure all you longtime Giants prospect watchers know by now, the tragic life of former Giants prospect Gustavo Cabrera ended this week at age 25 due to COVID 19.  It's very hard to wrap my head around how a young man with that much innate talent could have that many staggeringly bad things happen to him, apparently through no fault of his own.

Game Wrap 4/19/2021: Giants 2 Phillies 0

The Giants followed the same playbook as Sunday's game.  Get a run(or two) on the board early and let the pitchers shut it down the rest of the way.  Game Notes:

The big blows were a 2-out double by Evan Longoria 3B in the third inning followed by a blast from Brandon Belt 1B.  Belt got a very late start to spring training so a slow start was not unexpected.  He seems to be coming out of that with 2 doubles and 2 HR's in his last 3 games. 

Giants ace, Kevin Gausman RHP was not his sharpest today allowing a total of 10 baserunners in 6 IP, but he savvily navigated his way through the congestion on the bases to record 6 innings of shutout ball on 108 pitches.  I'd say that qualifies as a day's work and a Quality Start. Gausman has an ERA of 2.34 through 4 Starts.

The bullpen shut it down once again, this time for 3 IP 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's.  Matt Wisler RHP pitched a scoreless 7'th inning.  Camilo Doval RHP kept the good vibes going with another scoreless inning, albeit with no K's.  Wandy Peralta LHP got the Save Opp and didn't blow it.  It was his second Save of the season to go with 2 W's.  Hmm....That's actually a valuable fantasy baseball asset there!

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Before the game, the Giants sent Chadwick Tromp C and Steven Duggar CF out and brought up Trevor Gott RHP and Sam Selman LHP.  Neither of them got into the game.  There will have to be another move tomorrow if Logan Webb RHP comes off the COVID IL as expected to start game 2 of the series against Zach Wheeler RHP.

Game Wrap 4/18/2021: Giants 1 Marlins 0

An unearned run scored in the third inning as all Alex Wood LHP and four relievers needed to avert a series sweep and send the team off to Philadelphia on a high note.  Game Notes:

Alex Wood made his season debut after undergoing a medical procedure to relieve nerve pain in his lower back.  When he's healthy, Wood is an ace-quality pitcher.  He sure looked healthy today!  5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K's, GO/AO= 7/1, 61 pitches.  Kap lifted him for Wilmer Flores PH with the bases loaded and 2 outs in the top of the 6'th inning.  That was a decision that could have been second guessed if the bullpen had another bad game, but it's doubtful Wood was going beyond 5 IP anyway and the bullpen was nails the rest of the way.

The combined bullpen line was 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R 0 BB, 5 K's.  4 perfect innings.  The big news was an electric MLB debut by Camilo Doval RHP who drew a loud F-bomb from the first batter he faced, Jesus Aguilar 1B,  after striking him out on 3 pitches.  I mean, grab some pine meat!  Doval comes at batters from a low arm slot. Which produces a lot of lateral movement on the slider.  Think Sergio Romo but with a 98 MPH FB!  IDK if that bad boy is a no-dot slider like Romo's but the arm slot and movement are similar.  

 Tyler Rogers RHP got his first Save of the season with 3 GO's in the 9'th inning.  Rogers unscored on in his last 6 appearances covering 7 IP.  His overall GO/AO is a dominant 2.00.  Over his last 3 appearances his GO/AO= 8/0.  

The Giants lone run scored in the 3'rd inning after Brandon Belt 1B smoked a 2-out groundball through Jesus Aguilar's legs(yikes!) for an error to get Tommy La Stella 3B to 2B for Alex Dickerson LF to single him home.

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The Giants move on to Philadelphia for a 3 game set against the Phillies.  Kevin Gausman RHP get the first game against Chase Anderson RHP.

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The Giants placed Logan Webb RHP and Jake McGee LHP on the COVID IL due to vaccine reactions.  Those moves made room for Alex Wood and Chadwick Tromp C.  Since it was COVID IL, Webb and McGee can be activated anytime.  Webb will almost certainly make his start game 2 of the Phillies series on Tuesday.  Tromp will be sent down as soon as Buster Posey C is ready to go.  Posey reportedly felt significantly better from his elbow contusion today.  Got all that? Good!

Game Wrap 4/17/2021: Marlins 7 Giants 6(10 Innings)

This was a game the Giants probably had no business winning anyway after being completely dominated by Sandy Alcantara RHP for the first 6 innings.  But after a 5-run outburst in the 7'th inning started by Brandon Belt 1B's HR and capped by Austin Slater PH/CF's 3-run blast to straightaway CF, it should have been a cruise to the finish.  It wasn't because the Giants Closer is a one-dimensional pitcher and it caught up with him in the 9'th inning.  

 Jake McGee has a very good fastball which he throws over 90% of the time.  I'm not saying he shouldn't.  He's a lot more successful than most pitchers with it and very likely more successful with that approach than if he threw it less.  Before today's game he's been able to simply blow it by hitters with location and movement.  What was different today was the Marlins lineup which is full of young, fast-twitch hitters who were sitting "dead red" and knew they didn't need to worry about being crossed up.  Add in a bit of just slightly subpar command and boom!  A two-run lead disappears.

Maybe McGee just had an off day or maybe he's going to have to make an adjustment it's not apparent he is capable of making now that hitters around the league are lying in wait for the FB.

Game Wrap 4/16/2021: Marlins 4 Giants 1

The Giants offense failed to support another fine start by Anthony DeSclafani RHP and the bullpen lost it in the bottom of the 8'th inning on a 3-run HR by Starling Marte CF.  Game Notes:

Mike Yastrzemski RF doubled and tripled for the only Giants XBH's.  He scored on Evan Longoria 3B's single in the 4'th inning.  He was left stranded after the triple. 

DeSclafani allowed just 1 run in 6 IP in his 3'rd Start of the season.  He's pitched like an ace with a 1.06 ERA over 17 IP.  

Matt Wisler RHP retired the first 4 batters he faced but was lifted after walking Jesus Aguilar PH with 1 out in the 8'th.  Wandy Peralta LHP then gave up a single to the lefty hitting Corey Dickerson LF and Marte followed with a bomb to left-CF.  Game over!

Seems like Miami has been a tough stop for the Giants from day one of the Marlins franchise.

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Aaron Sanchez RHP tries to get the Giants back on track in game 2 of the series tomorrow facing Sandy Alcantara RHP.  Game time is 3:10 PM PDT.  

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I am excited to read the Giants called up Camilo Doval RHP from the Alternate Site to replace Johnny Cueto RHP on the 26-man Active Roster.  Doval will pitch out of the bullpen while Logan Webb RHP moves back to the rotation.  Cueto is on the 10-day IL and is expected to miss just two Starts.