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M.T. Karthik

~ midcareer archive, 1977 – 2017 plus 2022

M.T. Karthik

Monthly Archives: April 2014

State of the Giants at the End of April; Huddy Takes on Pads in Rubber Match

30 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by mtk in PreGame GBCs

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baseball, diego, erlin, Francisco, giants, Hudson, match, mlb, padres, preview, rubber, San, series

Yesterday Matt Cain was scratched from the lineup because he cut his finger trying  to catch a kitchen knife he’d dropped, on a day when Brandon Belt was off for rest – which gave Giants fans pause for concern; an emergency start without Posey behind the plate nor Belt at first.

But Yusmeiro Petit came in well-rested off the bench and had a great start. The Giants bats woke up and the Giants shutout the Padres 6-0, to even the series. The system responded very effectively to what will be a one-start absence by the big horse and gives confidence in at least one SP from the bench for an emergency start or a horrible outing (such as Petit’s last performance recovering for Vogey).

Petit held the Padres to three hits over six innings and struck out four. Jean Machi held them scoreless for two more and Sergio Romo kept them blanked to get his eighth save. Home runs by Buster Posey and Angel Pagan – who lead the team in RBIs – and clutch hitting in the form of a 3RBI single by Hector Sanchez, provided the runs.

Giants ace Tim Hudson goes tonight versus the Padres lefty Robbie Erlin and the batting lineup is absent Angel Pagan and Pablo Sandoval.

1. Juan Perez (R) CF
2. Hunter Pence (R) RF
3. Buster Posey (R) C
4. Michael Morse (R) LF
5. Brandon Belt (L) 1B
6. Brandon Hicks (R) 2B
7. Brandon Crawford (L) SS
8. Joaquin Arias (R) 3B
9. Tim Hudson (R) P

 

If Huddy can get the win it will be the NL West leading Giants’ sixth win in seven games, and second series win in a row including the sweep of the Indians.

The only blemish was the 4-6 loss to the Padres on Sunday when Madison Bumgarner looked completely out of sorts and was touched up for it. The bats just couldn’t get going.

The Giants lead the division by half a game and have shared it equally with the Dodgers. They often look good but an honest look at them at the end of April reveals:

Some problems:

* Belt, Posey and Pence are still only hitting around .250

* Pablo Sandoval continues to languish at the plate (.177). Worse, his distracted play in the field resulted in Sandoval having more errors (4) than homers(2) or even RBIs (3) until very recently. (Now 6RBIs)

* Timely hitting appears for the Giants in a game with steals, bunts and sacs moving guys over but then it disappears entirely for several games. The situational hitting lacks consistency and no single order seems to be better than any other.

On the bright side:

* Hector Sanchez is playing better

* Michael Morse has been very good at the plate and decent in the field – platooning him in and out works well late in games, too.

* The defense, particularly the infield, has been much more crisp. Brandon Hicks has been a welcome surprise at replacing Marco Scutaro, whom it seems may never make it back to the lineup: the back problems just aren’t getting better from what I hear. But the Brandons are playing better together weekly. Arias will need to play some 3B to spell Sandoval and that gives Hicks more playing time, and right now it’s working out well.

The Giants just barely lead the Rockies and Dodgers in what is turning out to be a pretty good NL West division. It was great to sweep the Indians and get crucial Inter-league wins. But the Giants need to get wins against the Pads and D-backs consistently to set the pace against the Dodgers or even the Rockies.

Padres quality bullpen and good hitting will put them in the spoiler role against all three top teams. It isn’t just Tim Lincecum’s nemesis Paul Goldschmidt that puts D-Backs sweeps in jeopardy. The Giants haven’t produced runs against Arizona consistently and have had lapses in defense that cost them close games. Close games, games against weaker teams and Inter-league series are all going to be “50/50 games” for the Dodgers, Giants and Rockies in pursuit of the Division lead.

Whoever plays smart, crisp baseball and hustles the most will take the division – and the SF Giants have an excellent shot at being that team.

 

Vogey QS, Brandon Hicks Walkoff HR Giants Sweep Indians

28 Monday Apr 2014

Posted by mtk in Post Game Blasts, walkoffs

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AT&T, cleveland, giants, Hicks, hr, mlb, park, sf, vogelsong, walkoff

yeah. great way to start the Interleague action.

Three run homer for Brandon Hicks with two out in the bottom of the ninth.

Ryan Vogelsong had a major bounce-back game, throwing seven shutout innings, his longest start of the season. Vogey gave up two hits, both to Michael Bourn, walked two and struck out six.

The Indians SP Salazar was brilliant in this one. But Brandon Hicks ended it with his first major league walkoff.

Giants 4, Indians 1

The Old Vogey and The New Brandon: Giants Win 4-1

28 Monday Apr 2014

Posted by mtk in Post Game Blasts

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baseball, Brandon, cleveland, Francisco, giants, Hicks, Indians, mlb, San

The Giants won this one on the strength of Ryan Vogelsong’s arm – much needed. Vogelsong threw a shutout through seven, his longest start of the season. He gave up only  two hits, both to Michael Bourn, and he walked two and struck out six. It was a dominant quality start.

Pablo Sandoval’s bat woke up and he got on board twice with base hits, but the day belonged to Brandon Hicks who hit a three-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning to give the  Giants a 4-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians, completing a three-game sweep.

The first interleague series was a good one for the Giants who produced runs when necessary and pitched and played defense to suit their park.

Just enough runs.

The bats worked.

The Dodgers lost in Colorado 6-1, so the Giants now have a full game lead over the division.

 

Giants Score 4 Runs in 5th Inning, Beat Indians 5-3

27 Sunday Apr 2014

Posted by mtk in Post Game Blasts

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AT&T, baseball, blanco, cleveland, Francisco, giants, gutierrez, Indians, Lincecum, machi, mlb, morse, park, pence, runs, San, sf, Tim

Tim Lincecum struggled from the beginning of this one, giving up 9 hits and 3 runs in 4 and 2/3 and leaving the bases juiced with two outs for Juan Gutierrez, who struck out one batter and left the game.

The Giants put together a four run 5th after and the bullpen secured the victory. Jean Machi, Jeremy Affeldt and Sergio Romo all did their jobs, so Gutierrez got the win, though he pitched only one third of an inning, the 4th. Romo collected his 6th save.

The four-run 5th was the result of timely hits and a sacrifice as the Giants moved runners along. Gregor Blanco singled, scoring Michael Morse. A sacrifice fly by Angel Pagan scored Brandon Crawford and advanced Brandon Hicks and Blanco. Then Hunter Pence drove Blanco and Hicks in with a shallow single. Just like that the Giants who were down 3-0 with the bases loaded full of Indians, found themselves up 4-3.

Buster Posey tacked on a solo home run in the 6th inning to make it 5-3.

 

 

 

Giants Beat Indians 5-1, First Interleague Game Win of 2014

26 Saturday Apr 2014

Posted by mtk in Post Game Blasts

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

5-1, Al, american, angel, baseball, cleveland, Francisco, game, giants, Hudson, Indians, interleague, League, mlb, National, one, pagan, San, series, Tim

I didn’t see this game, but I’m trying to make at least a placeholder on the blog for every Giants game this season.

From the papers I gather that Angel Pagan had a great game at the plate and running the base paths, with two singles, a steal and two runs scored.

Tim Hudson continues his steady, consistent pitching for the Giants. He went 7+ and allowed only one run. Huddy is averaging 5Ks a game!

The Giants won in their first Interleague game, 5-1, and the Dodgers lost in 11 last night so we are back in first place by half a game.

Go Giants!

[the comment below is the comment below]

mtk

I happened to be at the game last night. The buzz where I was sitting centered around the Mike Morse homer in the 421 area of the park. A big blast! Hudson’s steady pitching–I believe he had a 5 pitch, 3 up, 3 down inning. Very cool to watch. Last but not least, Pablo legging out a triple with a thunderous belly flop into third base and no throw from the defense.

The Kuiper home run video, bobble head and interviews were fun too. Check out the Kuiper video —csnbayarea.com. Cheers

Andre Reynier

Bochy Ejected, Sanchez GS, as Giants Outlast Rockies, 12-10 in 11 Innings

23 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by mtk in Post Game Blasts

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11th, affeldt, balk, baseball, belt, blackmon, Bob, Brandon, Casilla, charlie, coors, davidson, derby, eleventh, field, Francisco, game, giants, grand, Hector, home, homers, jeremy, justin, long, michael, mlb, morneau, morse, rockies, run, runs, San, sanchez, santiago, sf, slam, towering, tulowitzki

Giants 12, Colorado 10 at Coors Field

The wind and altitude collaborated to help the ball out of the yard at Coors Field, but most of the nine homers in this one were towers of power that traveled 420+ feet. Troy Tulowitzki started it with a two-run blast in the first. Michael Morse answered with a 455′ solo shot in the top of the second.

The day turned into a Home Run Derby between the Rockies and Giants. In total nine balls left the yard. In a burst of offense that’s been missing for days, the G-men hit six of them.

Giants LF Michael Morse smashed two, for his 7th multi-home-run game. Later, Hector Sanchez would join that club for the first time in his career in dramatic fashion. Sanchez went yard twice late in the game, both times to give the Giants the lead, the second time, a grand slam in the 11th to put the Giants ahead for good. It was a clutch performance by Hector who has been ridden by fans, broadcasters and some press recently; made the whipping boy and scapegoat for losses. Redemption.

This was a wild one.

The Giants fell behind early to the long ball, 5-1, and then fought back with homers of their own. Brandon Hicks’ solo big fly in the top of the 3rd made it 5-2 Rockies. Then Pence and Cain both singled and Morse’s second homer in as many at-bats, a deep shot 450′ to center, brought them home to tie it 5-5. ESPN and Alex Pavlovic have it that Morse is “just the third player since 2006 to hit multiple 450-foot homers in one game.”

The Giants were looking for more when Manager Bruce Bochy was ejected from the game in the top of the 4th for arguing a called third strike that resulted in a strike ’em out, throw ’em out inning-ending double play. With one out and Brandon Crawford on, Brandon Hicks had a full count and Rockies SP Tyler Chatwood looked shaky.

The call was very questionable. From Crawford’s view, running, having taken off from first, Chatwood’s 3-2 pitch to Hicks was so clearly a ball  that he slowed up on the base path thinking Hicks had drawn the walk. By the time he realized it was a called strike, catcher Wilin Rosario was up making the throw. Crawford was easily out at second. Hicks confronted the ump angrily. Bochy raced out to argue to prevent the enraged Brandon Hicks from being ejected, and was ejected himself.

Blackmon homered in the bottom of the 4th and the Giants fell behind 6-5, but Matt Cain found a groove. Throwing 93mph darts, Cain held serve in the 5th and 6th. He looked in control.

With Hunter Pence on in the top of the seventh by virtue of a walk, Brandon Belt launched his league-leading 7th home run into the Colorado evening and gave Cain and the San Francisco Giants the lead 7-6.

Acting Manager Ron Wotus then did his best Bruce Bochy imitation and loyally left Cain in for the bottom of the 7th. The bullpen was fully rested having not worked at all the night before (Bumgarner CG), yet Wotus left Cain in. While it was true, Cain had looked strong in the  previous two innings, they had been long innings and his pitch count was high. Leaving Cain in destroyed poor Matt’s chance to leave the game leading, in line to get his first win of the season.

In the bottom of the 7th with the one run lead, Cain gave up a walk, a steal, a liner that tied the game 7-7, and another walk, before being pulled for Jeremy Affeldt; another no decision for Matt Cain, but this time with seven runs on the board. It just slipped away.

It must be said, Affeldt was very good again. Affeldt’s first start Sunday against the Padres was excellent – three up, three down – and today in Colorado his command was evident. Jeremy looks better than he has in a long time. Stable, secure, strong.

The Giants once again grabbed the lead with the long ball, going up 8-7 on Hector Sanchez’s first homer, a solo shot in the 8th, only to see the Rockies tie it up 8-8 because of a balk.

Balkin’ Bob Davidson was the ump at 3rd in the 8th. He called Santiago Casilla for a balk when, twice in a row, Casilla made the same small move with LeMahieu on 2nd. The balk sent DJ LeMahieu to third with one out from where he scored on a Charlie Blackmon ground out against Casilla. It was an acceptable balk call. Casilla was doing some kind of shoulder shimmy thing. But it cost us the lead.

The contest was slow, long and nerve-wracking as neither team could put the other away. But the Giants ‘pen handled the extra frames well. Jeremy Affeldt, Javier Lopez and Jean Machi kept the Rockies off the board in the 7th, 9th and 10th.

Even after Sanchez’s grand slam, which made it 12 – 8, victory was unsure. Sergio Romo gave up a single to Tulowitzki and a two-run homer to Justin Morneau in the bottom half of the 11th frame and subsequently let Drew Stubbs single making it 12 – 10 with the tying run at the plate. Romo managed to force a ground out and a game-ending double play to get the Giants out of Colorado with at least one win.

Hunter Pence was 3 for 4 and crossed the plate three times. Matt Cain singled twice and scored a run, helping his own cause, but he wouldn’t get the win. That would land in the hands of the Giants’ fourth reliever, Jean Machi, who is now 4-0 and leads the majors in victories.

 

Giants Incapable of Scoring 2 Runs in Colorado, Lose 2-1

23 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by mtk in Post Game Blasts

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Tags

2-1, colorado, giants, loss, mlb, rockies, sf

Angel Pagan went 0 for 5 with 3 strikeouts. Franklin Morales outdueled Madison Bumgarner and a solo shot from Hunter Pence was all the scoring the G-men could come up with.

They gave up two homers, which was just enough to suffer another loss despite another excellent pitching performance.

Giant bats are fast asleep and the team has sunk in the standings to third behind Colorado

Colorado Goes Yard on Vogey, Giants; Rockies Win 8 – 2

22 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by mtk in Post Game Blasts

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sfg, sfgiants

Vogelsong yanked after 1 and a third – giving up three homers and five runs. Huff gets out of 2nd with a DP but then gets injured legging out his first major league hit. Petit saves the day with long relief, but the Giants give up two more homers.

Pagan thrown out for arguing a called third strike.

ugh.

 

Timmy Goes Six, Fans Seven, Giants Beat Padres 4-3

20 Sunday Apr 2014

Posted by mtk in Commentary

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4-3, 4-6-3, 420, 7, bday, beat, belt, Brandon, double, DP, first, George, giants, gift, happy, Hicks, high, homer, k's, Kelly, Lincecum, padres, play, pockets, Posey, qs, quality, Romo, spirit, start, strikeouts, struggles, Tim, win

As I Stepped Into the Pub, Buster Hit a 2-Run Homer …

It was incredible. The sun was shining into the doorway and as my foot hit the bright rectangle of light on the floor in the doorway, I heard the crack of the bat! I turned to the screen and saw Posey put Tim Lincecum ahead early. 2-0 Giants.

Timmy stayed in ’til the 7th giving up three runs, the last a solo shot in the 7th to bring the Padres within a run, 4-3. Then the bullpen handled the business, though Romo was shaky in closing and that made it interesting. Lots of crisp defense, double plays. Great game.

It was very much like last year today against the Pads:  A Timmy Quality Start (@SD4/21/13) in which he struck out 8 and got the shutout. Except there was more action on the basepaths. Buster made a tag at the plate that was called “safe” then reversed when challenged. He also gunned down a runner trying to steal second with a fluid rise and extremely accurate throw. MVP-type day for Gerald.

I started up this blog again with a mic check because of the torture of this past week.

Matt Cain remains my favorite Giant for seven years now and I feel terrible that we struggle to provide even two runs when necessary to get him these wins. #CainedAgain has become a thing. (sigh) Once again this week Cain was great. Bumgarner, too. Huddy – near perfect. and then the bats? (cricket sounds).

In that piece last year, I came up with what I see as Bruce Bochy’s basic formula for victory for the pitching/batting mix of our team, our budget and our pitcher’s ballpark. Thought I’d apply it to today’s game just for kicks.

1. Pitching

a. quality start  – Timmy, with a 2-run lead hung in there for a quality start (“one pitch too many” Marty said, and I like it). 7 Ks. Marty called it “acceptable, but I’d say not only consistent – look at the performance one year earlier (link above) – but he looked like he was in control and doing what he wanted to be doing. He kept the ball down. They swung at balls in the dirt because they assumed it was going to rise. Tim looked stable. Should NOT have sent him out there for the 7th. Should have left Matt Cain in the other day, should NOT have left Timmy in today.

b. stable relief pitching – Pen was good. Machi did his job. It was Affeldt’s first start and Jeremy was good. Looked solid, comfortable and handled it: 3 up 3 down.

2. sharp defense – must make mention of Hicks-to-Crawford-to-Belt 4-6-3 DP! beautiful! Hicks was textbook. Way too good to make a “Brandons” joke.

3. situational hits for “just enough” runs – Timmy’s bunt was perfect. That is the baseball we’ve been missing: bunts, sacrifices, moving guys  over and driving ’em in. Once Pagan did drive him in, however … back to (cricket sounds) not another hit!

4. take advantage of opponents mistakes – not many of these today.

HOWEVER

I think this year “just enough runs” is NOT going to cut it. We desperately need more: more situational hits to move people along, more hits with RISP, more early leads and more runs, in general.

GM Brian Sabean should be commended for doing what we all hoped: namely going after and locking up bats we can afford, including a true platoon in left with the addition of Morse. Torres/Blanco wasn’t a platoon since they’re so similar, so Mr. Sabean got a power guy, a hitter to pair with Blanco. He signed everybody. So that even without Marco Scutaro:

WE HAVE SIX GUYS WHO COULD POTENTIALLY HIT .300!

POSEY, PENCE, MORSE, SANDOVAL, PAGAN AND BELT

and Crawford, Blanco and Sanchez should be able to hit at least .230

An important point is that our pitchers are decent hitters, arguably good hitters. This is going to mean a whole lot against the American League in our pursuit of wins.

Recently I’ve read articles LA is using millions to go after “pitchers who rake.” We don’t need to.

Our defense shows brilliance one day and then utter idiocy the next, but it’s early and they seem like a crisp, capable group. Scutaro was struggling to make plays at the end of the year. To his credit, Hicks is a sharp addition. Love Brandon Hicks.

Happy Birthday Brandon Belt. My wish for you is that you are graced by the spirit of my second favorite Giants 1B, Long George High Pockets Kelly.  A HoFer who led the league in RBIs twice – once driving in 136 runs – and led the league in homers with 21 in 1921, thereby keeping Rogers Hornsby from the Triple Crown.

Brandon, High Pockets won two World Series, just like you. The Giants need to use the trip to Colorado to get the bats going again. Looking forward to altitude homers.

 

Screeeeeeeee! Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!

19 Saturday Apr 2014

Posted by mtk in Post Game Blasts

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2014, april, check, early, gbc, microphone, season, thunk

… this thing on?

man, haven’t written anything here since last year.

all right well

it’s 2014 and the Giants started with massive hitting and have now slumped hard into a drought of epic proportions.

Matt Cain and Tim Hudson and Madison Bumgarner all gave great performances this week and the G-men could do nothing with the bats to get the wins. sigh.

 

Gotta wake up the bats so I am waking up the blog.

M.T. Karthik

This blog archives early work of M.T. Karthik, who took every photograph and shot all the video here unless otherwise credited.

Performances and installations are posted by date of execution.

Writing appears in whatever form it was originally or, as in the case of poems or journal entries, retyped faithfully from print.

all of it is © M.T. Karthik

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