We have endured the East Coast and LA bias from national networks for so long they’re irrelevant to us. In fact sometimes it feels better to ride the role of underdog, knowing we have the most experienced, smartest and most tightly knit coaching staff in all the majors.
The mainstream sports media and the hulking brutes of NYC and Chicago always count us out. They have no comprehension of the nuances of the game or teamwork.
They counted us out when we were chasing the D-Backs in ’10 and again vs. the then-Champion Phillies and again in the World Series – even after seeing what MadBum, Timmy and the Beard could do. Not to mention the quietly peerless Buster Posey.
They counted us out when Melky went down for PED use, and we all agreed WE wouldn’t allow him back for the playoffs – though we could have – but rather try to soldier on. This one is always my favorite of the three, because of Pablo’s 3HR, with two off Verlander (him saying “wow,” watching the second one go out – best bad ball hitter ever: Pablo Sandoval). How Romo dismissed Cabrera is maybe my favorite SFGiants WS moment ever.
Then in 2014, they counted us out as a wild card has-been! and we just Madbummed the shit out of them. They counted us out against the Darlings of the Nation and we sent MadBum out to finish them off in their house.
So we are USED to being the ones counted OUT.
But what we know is different. We know we have Rags, Skip, Bam-Bam and Wotus in place. We know that losing Flan for the more conservative Kelly is really just an adjustment, not a loss. We have a Hall of Fame manager who has been through it all.
We know these guys know how to win with their backs against the wall. We know if we just get in to the playoffs, we have as a good a chance as any and a better chance than most because we have CHAMPIONS BLOOD.
I for one, believe that the moves we made are good moves. It hurts so much to have lost Vogey and Petit and Duffy. It hurts a LOT.
But I understand what Evans and Sabean are trying to do and I approve. These are aggressive and expensive moves – Samardzija and Cueto were $90million! We’ve never paid that kinda money for two players before. Duffy was just awesome in Panda’s place for a critical WS series year and more. But I get the trade. Getting the right puzzle pieces is hella expensive.
Here’s what I know: they can’t win if we don’t believe.
and I do.
I believe in this team of managers, coaches and players. I think the new guys need to tune in to a culture of winning and realize that petty losses should be dumped immediately. This is a tightrope walk, not whack-a-mole.
I know Posey, Pence, Bcraw, Belt, Panik, Pagan, D-Span, Nunez and our pitchers that rake can get out of this slump and start producing like the machine they were earlier in the season. It’s all about getting hot at the right time and we have the machine that can do that.
We dispensed with injuries to Pence and Panik and Pagan early so they are ready and playing well.
We dealt for better – read more experienced – pitching help for the bullpen and starters. We’re doing all the right things.
(EXCEPT I STILL REALLY THINK WE OUGHTA BAT THE SP IN THE 8 SPOT AND LET PAGAN AND D-SPAN BECOME BACK-TO-BACK LEADOFF HITTERS).
When the Miami Marlins came to town last year with Matt Cain on the mound, my son and I took his grandmother visiting from India. Here they are after the game, and you can see the Marlins crushed us 7-2:
In fact, Miami historically score a lot of runs at AT&T and have forced the Giants to do the same to get their wins. So yesterday, after Matt Cain fell behind early 1-4, it looked like the same old script: Cain gets behind early, gets no run support, but settles in and quiets the opponent, scattering a few more hits, only to lose because the Giants can’t plate any runners.
BUT WAIT!
Not this time. Even with Belt out, the Giants lineup looked daunting and filled with guys who have been hitting this year: Pence, Morse, Colvin, Posey … and even Sandoval, who entered the game with a slump-breaking six game hitting streak. It looked on paper like a lineup that could, possibly, maybe, finally produce run support for Cain.
Flashback for Perspective
Five years ago, in 2009, when the Giants at (79-66) were chasing the Rockies (82-64) and a shot at the Wild Card for the playoffs, we were within a game and a half with a three game series at AT&T on tap. A sweep would put the Giants in first, my favorite Giant, Matt Cain was on the mound, and it was as close as we had been all year. So I took my son (that little cute guy in the photo there) for his first night game.
Cain followed his incredibly consistent modus operandi: scattering five hits and four runs (via two homers) across six innings. The Giants had runners in scoring position in the 9th down 4-3 and Nate Schierholtz struck out to end the game. This was close as we would get to the playoffs … until the next year when we won it all. : )
But as we all know that game was not only typical of what happened to Matt Cain all that year long, it has continued to this day. The poor guy hasn’t had a win all season because the Giants sometimes can’t score even one bloody run for him.
I want to be honest … it physically hurts when I think what we have done to Matt Cain’s win-loss record. This guy should be HoF bound and may not make it on any ballot because of that win-loss record. That is why he is my favorite Giant … because I know I’m going to be spending the rest of my days arguing for his election to Cooperstown.
But unless you’re the New York Yankees, or now, the Dodgers or Angels, help for the batting order requires an incremental build up of bats over a few off-seasons. To his great credit, Giants GM Brian Sabean has worked at it: Fontenot and Ross during the season of 2010; Melky, Pagan and Blanco in the offseason and Scutaro and Pence during the season of 2012; and now Michael Morse – the biggest bat of all – in 2014.
Cost Effective? Shoot “Mr. CE” should be Sabean’s nickname. With two rings in four years, he has out-Moneyballed Billy Beane.
So last night, when the Giants bats fought back from a 1-4 deficit to take a 6-4 lead for Matt Cain, I almost wept … years in the making.
Hunter Pence was 3 for 5 and scored three runs. Michael Morse crushed an opposite field home run to right and Buster Posey drilled the go-ahead two-run double to give the Giants the lead they would never relinquish. Way to go Gerald! The increasingly impressive ‘pen did the rest.
And though he wasn’t as much of a factor, Pablo did extend his streak with a hit that advanced Hunter Pence to third and later in the game moved Posey there on a deep sac fly. Posey would score on a Morse single.
This was a significant come from behind win for the Giants.
I really should make mention of Pagan’s at-bat that may have saved this game … but instead I will let El Lefty Malo do it.
There were some negatives: Pablo had another errant throw. We got lucky a ball that hit Pence on the foot (which would have been an automatic out) went unobserved by the refs (and that there is as yet no replay). But all those fall under Category 4: Take Advantage of Others’ Mistakes.
As you must have read by now, staff ace Tim Hudson has been scratched tonight for a minor injury that is basically a “rest scratch” for the oldest guy on staff. Yusmeirio Petit will get his second emergency start of the season. He has been up and down and we are starting to develop a really team-oriented approach to the early season, so I LOVE this: keeping Petit from getting cold and resting the old guy with potential to get injured. It’s just like spelling Pagan and letting Blanco develop in case it has to happen more often. These are all moves that create a 25-man roster that can win any game, with any lineup.
I am starting to get really good feelings about this season. Yesterday, when Cain was down 1-4, for the first time this season, I broke out:
The Necklace.
After I put it on, we swarmed back to win.
We have never lost the season or the World Series when either my son or I wear The Necklace every game day.
Game one of this series was a doozy. A great pitching duel with crisp defense and good baseball all around. National League Ball. Again here’s the diagnosis I came up with last year of the Giants’ basic strategy:
1. Starting Pitching Hangs in There, ‘Pen Holds
2. Score Just Enough Runs
3. Play Crisp Defense
4. Take Advantage of Opponents Mistakes
and yesterday, it worked.
Tim Lincecum found himself starting the Braves Series in Atlanta facing the strong lefty Mike Minor, who was making his season debut after enduring several weeks off from baseball due to a urinary tract procedure.
Minor was cleared to play and given a minor league start to ensure he was all right. But in that start he gave up four home runs. Though Braves staff felt he looked good in general, it was a concern. Angel Pagan made sure they stayed concerned, by smashing a homer off him in the lead off at-bat of Game one, Giants up 1-0.
Minor was quick to settle down and rarely gave the Giants opportunities, though when they got them, the G-men continued to fail to plate runners in scoring position. This game would be decided by homers once again – a recurring theme in Giants’ wins this season (credit due to Morse, Belt, Pagan and Posey).
Tim Lincecum hung in there and showed command. He kept the ball down and looked like he was putting it where he wanted it. In the third he threw a pitch down and out and it was popped up into center field. Immediately after the ball hit the bat, Timmy pointed up and looked down, confident the ball wasn’t leaving the park. It showed an increasing confidence in his command.
Tim pitched his way out of jams twice and went six innings, giving up just one run off six hits. He had only four strikeouts, instead relying on his command to generate ground outs and popups. This was what we have been looking for from Lincecum: to turn to other options than a strikeout fastball, to work out the hitter and force him into a 3rd strike mistake like a weakly hit ball.
After Pagan’s homer, Michael Morse added a solo shot to give the Giants the 2-1 lead they would never relinquish, but it was a tense affair.
The Braves stranded 12 runners and were 1 for 9 with RISP. Timmy’s pitching at key moments wasn’t the only reason why. Brandon Crawford provided the crisp defense in this one. He made several good plays and one monstrous one that saved an inning. Crawford slapped down a hard driven liner and picked it up and fired it to first to end an inning and in another made a leaping throw to get the runner. Then there was this gem in the 9th:
Jeremy Affeldt entered in the 7th and was good again, getting two quick outs, but giving up a hit. Santiago Casilla came in and slowly, his way, picked up the third out and manhandled the 8th inning.
Sergio Romo struggled at the very end of this one again, giving up a walk and a steal. But as Marty said, “He was working.” With two-out and one on in scoring position, and the score 2-1, Giants, Sergio Romo battled with the Braves best hitter Justin Upton.
On a 3-2 count and after several foul balls, Romo froze Upton with a fastball to win it. Dave Flemming made an awesome call, “strike three called on a fastball in-there! and … shades of Miguel Cabrera in the World Series …”
It was a great pitching duel, with only the two home runs given up by the just-returned Mike Minor being the difference.
Brian Sabean looks like a genius right now for picking up Hudson and Morse in the off season. This week they looked AWESOME.
Game Two later today will be considerably tougher for the Giants as they face the Braves’ ace, Julio Teheran (2-1) – a big, hard-throwing right hander who has 26 strikeouts in the young season and boasts a 1.47 ERA.
Pitching for the Giants today, it’s the up-and-down Ryan Vogelsong. It’s very difficult to tell which Vogey we’re going to get nowadays. When he feels steady and gets support he can go six innings, but when he implodes he does so badly. Hopefully Yusmeiro Petit will be available if necessary, but I hate thinking like that.
These games are my favorite kind of baseball – National League pitching duels requiring alculated management, situational hitting and crisp defense. Looking forward to another good one. #RallyEnchiladas #RallyVogey #BeatATL
Tim Hudson was incredible. He averaged only ten pitches an inning over eight innings during which he allowed one run amongst five hits. It was a stunning display of command over himself and control of an opponent’s lineup.
Thus, in the top of the 9th, with a 3-1 lead, Hudson faced the possibility of averaging ten pitches or less in a complete game. With the pitch count so low, Bruce Bochy left him in.
As Dave Flemming put it, on the radio, live: “Why not? He’s only thrown 80 pitches.”
Hudson quickly sat down the first two batters of the 9th on six pitches. Then he had a two strike count on the Padres Yasmani Grandal when he sent an 87mph cutter down the gut that Grandal timed perfectly, connected on wholly and sent into McCovey Cove – a solo shot. Hudson’s 89th pitch ended his night, one out shy of a CG.
That condemnable 30th Splash Hit by an Opponent was retrieved by kayaker Mark Busch:
I hope Mark’s dog rips that thing to shreds.
Because, as Alex Pavlovic of the Mercury News tweeted it best:
“If Grandal swings through that last one, Hudson has himself an 89-pitch complete game.”
Sergio Romo came in to get the one-out save, his seventh, and this one was in the books as another outstanding performance by the SP who must be considered the Giants’ ace of 2014 thus far, Tim Hudson.
The Giants’ offense did score twice early. A Michael Morse double was plated by a Posey RBI in the first. Then in the second, The Giants made it 2-0 on a solo shot by the increasingly impressive Brandon Hicks.
Hicks’ homer was hit right handed, inside-out to deep RF – only Bonds ever did that kind of stuff at AT&T. It blew minds. But afterward, the Giants struggled to support Hudson at the plate.
Padres lefty Robbie Erlin settled down and he found a groove. Pitchers love our park and often play to our level of pitching competition. It’s an issue. It means we have to fight, scrap and hustle – with knowledge of our park they don’t have – to produce runs.
The Giants had RISP on three occasions and blew them all. The worst was a leadoff triple by Brandon Crawford in the 4th, when he was left stranded by a clunky, sputtering Giant offense. But in the previous inning the Giants had Morse and Belt on 2nd and 3rd with two out and could do nothing.
Luckily, Buster Posey singled in Arias (who had doubled in the 7th) to provide an insurance run that would prove to be necessary. Had Buster not hit that RBI late in the game, Grandal’s massive splash hit would’ve tied it up!
The Padres’ bullpen is decent and will fight in extra innings to steal wins. We could have easily been involved in a dog fight again on a night when Tim Hudson was throwing like Greg Maddux.
Point being, the Giants need to be more consistent about situational hitting with runners in scoring position. After Buster’s RBI single, with runners in the corners, Morse struck out, failing to get Pence home from third.
Team RISP: 3-for-11. Team LOB: 7
ugh. Mark my words: whichever team – Dodgers, Giants or Colorado – plays smart, crisp baseball and hustles most for 50/50 games, will take the NL West. The SF Giants shot at being that team will depend on sacs, bunts, steals and hits with runners in scoring position.
On the bright side, as May begins, the Giants (17-11) lead the division by one and a half games over the Dodgers. On the road for our first two weeks of this month we face the Braves, Pirates and Dodgers next.
It’s time to tighten up the hitting in these batter-friendly parks and to continue hitting well against the nemesis in LA. I’d love to see us take 6 out of 9. Go Giants!
After Cody Ross and Fontenot in 2010 and Scutaro and Theriot in 2012, this looks like a pattern: Morse and Hudson in 2014. Hmm. “World Series Champions 2014,” has a nice ring to it.
(photo by McCovey Cove Dave @mccoveycovedave – whose sign they use for Opponents Splash Hits)
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
Save for Ryan Vogelsong’s fifth inning implosion that lost game one of these four with the Atlanta Braves, this series was a smile that became a grin as everything from starting pitching to batting came together.
Starting Pitching
Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner and Tim Lincecum were all dominant in their performances against the Braves, limiting them to less than a single handful of runs spread across three days and quieting the bats of the Upton family and McCann, Uggla and the Braves’ vaunted rookie Andrelton Simmons.
Only Ryan Vogelsong’s mechanical issues marred what was otherwise an ideal rotation for San Francisco. It might be time to consider changing the order and moving Vogey up to third, so Zito falls between Vogey and Lincecum. I think Vogelsong is suffering for some reason by being in a different position in the order than last year. GBC proposes:
Cain Bumgarner, Vogelsong, Zito, Lincecum
– which alternates lefties as well.
The other starters were golden: Matt Cain found his groove. Bumgarner was typically consistent and had a season-high 11 strikeouts in beating the Braves for the first time in his young career. Tim Lincecum struck out seven and felt he was hitting spots he had been seeking for some weeks, calling it a good start. The team backed him up with three home runs, making the start considerably more comfortable.
Relief Pitching
Because the starters went so deep, the relievers weren’t needed as much in the last three games. But Lopez, Affeldt and Kontos did their jobs well. Romo picked up another save.
Santiago Casilla is needing more rest and it makes sense. I said at the beginning of the year that as a member of the World Baseball Classic Champion Dominicanas, Casilla has played more intense ball than most this spring. We should give him as many days off as possible.
Chad Gaudin could be a problem. He doesn’t look like he has command. Bay City Ball and BASG have commented on this recently as well.
Hitting
wow. multiple home runs including a splash hit on Mother’s Day by Pablo Sandoval, homers by Scutaro, Belt.
Gregor Blanco took over the platoon from Torres amidst game two of the series – starting off as a pinch hitter – and immediately went 2 for 2 and drove in four runs. He was excited to play and ready to go. This platoon reminds me of the one Affeldt and Lopez were in as lefty relievers in 2010 – each pushing the other to perform better.
Against Atlanta, El Tiburon Blanco was 3 for 9 with a double and a triple and he drove in five runs. Torres got rest and some time to calm down, which seems to be an issue when he plays too many games in a row.
Pablo, Pence, Posey and Pagan are all hitting. It looks like it’s straight out of the playbook: leadoff hits, sac flies and bunts to move runners, steals here and there, doubling in runners in scoring position, homers!
Belt is finding his groove. Brandon Crawford cooled a little, but had a double and a couple of rbi’s versus Maholm in Game 3. Marco Scutaro is right back on track. Giants hitting looked GREAT against Atlanta – scored 26 runs over four days!
A turning point series in that we lost out of the gate but then turned it around to win the next three. The team seemed fit and in tune. We now own the second best record in the National League. But the team I have been most afraid of since the beginning of the year, the St. Louis Cardinals, are still better.
The Cards look a lot like us in form and came into our house and took the home opening series. They have a chip on their shoulder: the Triple Kiss that got by poor Pete Kozma.
Right now I am most concerned about our abilities against the Cards, Reds and Nats.
The Padres were preyed upon by the Giants, who were licking their wounds after being swept in Milwaukee in games which exploded the ERAs of Barry Zito and Matt Cain.
So the Giants relished the opportunity to face a weak opponent back at home in the friendly, wide-open spaces of AT&T – they were eager to do what they do so well they’re the World Series Champs.
The formula is clear: pitching, defense, just enough hits and taking advantage of opponents’ mistakes. We should stop calling Giants Baseball “Torture,” because it’s the Giants’ method that creates the tension. They want to set the conditions taut and then to play crisp, so the other team will make a mistake first.
Giants Ball is small ball with four basic priorities. The simple formula applied effectively, can be beautiful. In order of importance:
1. Pitching – quality starters and a stable pen. The Giants rely heavily on starting pitching and on the bullpen. Bochy continues to improve at making the necessary moves to prevent runs from crossing the plate.
2. Crisp Defense – Marty Lurie on Bench Coach Ron Wotus: “What Ronnie said was, ‘If you get a double-play ball you better turn it. (beat) That’s the difference between a pennant winning team and another team.'”
3. Just Enough Hits – situational hits to produce “just enough” runs. It’s a different philosophy … think Just Enough Hits as opposed to Murderer’s Rows. We keep mowing down Murderer’s Rows in the World Series. Pitching wins out over a month of postseason play. All you need is just enough hits.
Jon Miller: “Sandoval is now hitting a *cool* five fifty with runners in scoring position. Pablo’s playing the chauffeur telling those runners in scoring position, hop in, I’m driving you home.”
4. Take Advantage of Opponents Mistakes
Some may think of plays that result from opponents errors as lucky, but when you play tight, crisp, team ball like this, you create conditions by which to seize upon errors of the opponent.
It’s a plan that’s going to generally result in close games. Lurie: 14 of 19 games have been decided by less than 3 runs and the Giants are 10-4 in those games.” We’ll take that!
So quit chewing your nails and get used to it. Learn to enjoy the chess match from the defensive perspective, let’s talk pen vs. pen.
I joined Marty Lurie on the Post Game to talk about that and other joys of small ball … and it was fun:
Thanks, Marty!
The highlight of the weekend was Angel Pagan’s walkoff double on Friday night. Though the Giants had to come from behind and score late to win it, the score was low because the pitchers were doing their thing.
Pitching
Giants starting pitchers gave up two runs over 27 innings and had two shutouts.
Bumgarner got tagged by Chase Headley for those runs, which was an anomaly in his pitching. Otherwise he was on target and the team didn’t let him get the loss: Pagan’s walk-off prevented it.
Tim Lincecum’s performance was dominant – with eight strikeouts over 6 innings – and the Giants’ system worked most efficiently in Game Two. Pablo Sandoval’s two run homer was all the scoring we needed and all we got. Mijares, Casilla and Romo cleaned up, held and closed.
In Game Three, Bruce Bochy left Barry Zito in through the 7th, which, if it were Bumgarner or Cain I would consider exactly the wrong move (please see other posts) … but Zeets is a special case, pitching perhaps the best of his life. He wants and deserves the innings. He was, to borrow Marty Lurie’s word for it, “electrifying” – seven shutout innings on 102 pitches with 71 strikes and pitched a great game.
Chad Gaudin came in with a five run lead and in a non-save situation maintained the shutout for the final two innings. The bullpen is really starting to gel.
Hitting
Pablo Sandoval and Buster Posey each had a two-run homer in the series: Buster’s first home run of the year and Panda’s game two decider. The Giants have hit 11 Home runs, and I believe that’s 3rd worst in the Major Leagues – Just Enough Hits as opposed to Murderer’s Rows.
In the absence of power, key hits are what’s important and several guys on the team are doing the job to create a collective effort – a different hero every night.
Pablo’s bat has woken up after back-to-back, 0-fer nights and he is now leading the team and ranked int he league in RBIs, hitting .550 with RISP, which prompted Jon Miller to remark: “Pablo’s playing the chauffeur telling those runners in scoring position, ‘Hop in, I’m driving you home.'”
Angel Pagan won Game One with that walk-off double but has been getting other key hits throughout the young season. Last year he tied the 109-year-old Giants record for home hit streak and he seems focused on breaking it this year. He and Andres Torres have been picking up the pace to get on base as Marco Scutaro starts to find his stride.
Hunter Pence has been getting key hits as well and has four home runs to lead all Giants. Brandon Crawford is having his best year hitting in the majors thus far, threatening to end the season as a .300+ hitter and a Gold Glove winner.
Zito is getting calculated, intentional hits: well-executed bunts, infield hits and even a base hit swinging that looked great. Bay City Ball has a great piece about where Barry Zito’s hits go. Hint: the same way all the time.
Nick Noonan continues to show presence that’s unusual for a rookie – key pinch hits, solid infield work. Brandon Belt has been streaky, still looking for his swing. The negative comments on a hole in his swing get ugly. I still have faith.
This was a good series against a weak opponent that featured pitching and just enough hits by the Giants.
An excellent game in which everything came together to end in a walkoff double by Angel Pagan and the Giants win 3-2. Buster Posey had a deep double, which hopefully will help him up out of his slump.
Bochy pulled Bumgarner in the 6th, middle and late relief did their job, and Santiago Casilla got the win.
Pablo Sandoval and Brandon Crawford, sadly, had their 11-game hit streaks ended, but this one was Giants Baseball all the way.
Let Cain and Bumgarner go six innings for the quality start and then pull them as standard procedure for a few months, maybe even the whole first half of the season.
This provides two benefits: rest for their arms over the long season and opportunities to develop middle, long and late relief.
One reason I started GBC was to capture memories of crazy weekends that get lost in the rapid, fluid pool of information we all swim through, hoping to memory-hole it prosaically but concisely for reference.
The Windy City
This was the earliest in a regular season that these two clubs ever played at Wrigley Field in the long, storied history of the NY/SF Giants vs. the Chicago Cubs.
The as-yet-unrefurbished park in early Spring and the weather were significant factors. It was 40 degrees when the Giants got off the team bus on Thursday, with icy rain. It was cold, wet, icy and even snowy at moments over the series.
There was no ivy on the wall and the exposed brick damaged Angel Pagan who ran into it and was forced to sit out the rest of one game. This broke up his seven game hit streak. Mike Krukow made an impassioned plea to put padding on the walls at Wrigley. The stadium is currently undergoing a 5-year, $300 million renovation.
There were errors galore in this series, many of which would define the losses for the Cubs.
But an indicator of the conditions is that the errors included Brandon Crawford’s first of the year. The young shortstop has been brilliant and was rock solid barring the error. Brandon is also having continued success at the plate: the weekend series featured his opposite field home run that decided game 1. [Bochy put Crawford in the 2 spot, resting Scutaro – a sweet piece of managing to test out possibilities].
All errors were superseded by the astonishingly bad Wild Pitch/Passed Ball/Balk Parade that lost the last game of the series for Chicago. The hapless Cubs tied a major league record for Wild Pitches in an inning (5) and in the same inning balked in a run! Jon Miller commented, “The last time I saw this many wild pitches was when I watched my ten-year old in a little league game.”
The Giants came from behind in all three victories and though they scored 23 runs in the four games, the lone home run came in the top of the ninth of the last game in dramatic fashion when down a run with two outs in the top of the ninth, ‘The Reverend,’ Hunter Pence, 30 years and a day old, ripped a solo shot to tie the game and take it to the tenth, allowing the Giants to win 10-7 and Sergio Romo to record his seventh save (7-1).
The Giants only loss, in Game Two, came on a pop fly that was carried by the wind of Chicago out of the park – resulting in Sergio Romo’s first missed save.
Since the series was all day games and the last game against Colorado at AT&T was also, the Giants played five straight day games for the first time in 17 years.
A Note on Defense and Nick Noonan
The weather was horrible and it made it hard to play. While the Giants made their share of mistakes, they also performed admirably under the conditions. Great catches by Pagan, Pablo, Blanco and Pence were keys to ending innings.
Nick Noonan’s first start was amazing: it started with his first error, a result of the horrible conditions and one of the first plays of the series, costing the team a run. But he quickly got past it and then shone in his debut going 3 for 4, recording his first hits and earning his first RBI’s.
In 2 games in Chicago, Nick Noonan had 4 hits in 6 at bats, scoring twice and knocking in two runs. In the last game, Noonan pinch hit for Lincecum, and hit a two-run single for the Giants first lead (5-4)! Great work, Nick – MAJOR LEAGUE HIT.
Hitting
The Giants were down and up in the series and developed situational hitting and better performance as the series wore on. They took advantage of Cubs mistakes by the end of the series to win it by being the better team, but they won by slim margins and were forced to fight back with good hitting, base running and defense.
Though the Giants were short on power and struggled with runners in scoring position much of the time, they made key hits.
Brandon Crawford, Gregor Blanco, Hunter Pence and Angel Pagan deserve particular mention. Hunter Pence legged it out to first to prevent double-plays several times. Pagan hustled (he also over-hustled, but that’s what we want from our lead-off man, El Caballero Loco). Crawford’s opposite field home run was a game-winner, but he was equally good getting RBI’s and key hits in the last two games.
Unfortunately, Hector Sanchez is the glaring issue at the plate. But he is a catcher. We are absurdly privileged to have Buster Posey as our catcher – an anomaly in terms of hitting ability. Most teams have a catcher they have to hide in the order because hitting isn’t what they’re on the team to do.
The problem is the absence of his bat coupled with the impression that Tim Lincecum doesn’t want to be caught by Posey. We say there is no conspiracy. Bochy knew he had to rest Posey from catching at least one game in the rotation. Lincecum got matched up with Sanchez early, and it’s better to be consistent, at least at first, especially if there are extenuating circumstances – like Brandon Belt’s stomach virus or Panda’s elbow, or Pagan running into a wall.
Sanchez slumping looks way worse than he is in this context.
Brandon Belt broke out of his slump with a key double in the top of the eighth with two out that gave the Giants the lead in Game Two. Unfortunately the wind carried a pop fly out of the park and Sergio Romo recorded his first missed save.
Starting Pitching
Poor Matt Cain. We had better start a Hall of Fame campaign for The Big Horse now because we have cheated this stable, big, powerful right-hander of run support for Wins for seven years and we did it again in this series – against a weaker opponent! Granted the weather was a factor, but Matt Cain remains winless in the early season.
Madison Bumgarner took his win, but was left in too long, resulting in the two-run homer that marred his otherwise great performance.
Tim Lincecum had his FreakOUT inning but then settled down and retired batters until the Giants could catch up. The formula worked to protect Tim: great defense, situational hitting and taking advantage of Cub mistakes.
Relief
Santiago Casilla glittered in relief Saturday night. The World Baseball Classic Champion pitched two scoreless innings to register his first save of 2013.
George Kontos handled business in Game Four, pitching a scoreless tenth to get the win and set up Sergio Romo, who picked up his seventh save in the bottom of the tenth.
Romo’s sole missed save was burdened with conditional problems – he was forced to go into Game Two suddenly on short warm-up because the Giants took the lead suddenly, with two outs in the 8th on a two-out double by Brandon Belt. Rushed in, Romo dealt and a pop fly turned into a wind-assisted homer.
I blame us:
Want this posted by 9am so I am ending here but wow! What a series with the Cubs in Chicago!
The Rockies have been a punching bag for the Giants in recent years and Colorado’s been particularly good for Barry Zito. After yesterday’s game, Zeets’ option is now making national press like this from NBC’s Matthew Pouliot:
“Including last year’s postseason, the Giants are riding a streak of 16 straight victories with Barry Zito on the mound. The left-hander pitched seven scoreless innings and went 2-for-3 with two runs scored Wednesday in a 10-0 drubbing of the Rockies. Zito posted a 1.69 ERA in his three postseason starts last year, and he’s yet to allow a run in 14 innings in 2013.
“Perhaps no one but me is thinking of next year right now, but at the rate Zito is going, the Giants might actually pick up his $18 million option for 2014, a possibility that would have seemed preposterous at pretty much any point since the first year of his seven-year, $126 million contract.”
We’ve been discussing Zito’s option in local press for a week, including CA Sportswriter of the Year Tim Kawakami’s piece and this guy claims, “perhaps no one but me is thinking of next year right now” wow.
Batting
This from Noey Kupchan of AP sums it up nicely:
“After hitting .224 and scoring 15 runs during a 3-3 start, San Francisco (6-3) found its offense during a three-game sweep of Colorado. The Giants hit .365 and outscored the Rockies 23-8, including Wednesday’s 10-0 win. Buster Posey and Andres Torres both went 3 for 5 and drove in a combined five runs for San Francisco, which went 7 for 18 with runners in scoring position.”
7/18 with RISP still isn’t 50% of the time, but it’s a damn sight better than 0 for 7.
Game One homers by Pence and Panda and Game Three situational hitting resulted in big wins for the Giants, but Game Two was perhaps the best victory.
With Tim Lincecum on the mound, The Giants fells behind early and were down 6 – 2 before rallying to win it behind Brandon Crawford’s opposite field three-run homer followed by excellent situational hitting from Scutaro and Pence – who tied the game with a bunt to advance the runner and an RBI single, respectively. Andres Torres pinch-hit to get aboard and Angel Pagan drove in the winning run. It was great to see the Giants make the comeback and to win with good hitting.
The 10-0 blowout was all about Barry Zito – who has been sensational on the mound since August of last year. But he was also 2-3 at the plate. What if he keeps this up? Could the guy bat .200+? Continue getting shutouts, wins and hit? Let’s hope so because it has been a joy to watch and the feeling of redemption every time is epic.
Way to go Barry – everybody’s talking about how you have more hits than Heyward and they haven’t even noticed the scoreless inning streak!
Relief
Santiago Casilla had a very rough outing in the Opening Series in Los Angeles, after being a key member of the bullpen for the World Baseball Classic Championship Team from the Dominican Republic. He had a wild pitch that scored a run in LA and looked generally uncomfortable.
Not so Tuesday as Casilla pitched a scoreless 8th inning to set up Sergio Romo, who struck out two in the 9th inning to pick up his fifth save.
Romo is looking sharp and staying ahead of batters. His play prompted Jon Miller to declare the other day, “There’s a little bit of Eckersley in him.”
Javier Lopez and Chad Gaudin had 3-up, 3-down innings in relief of Zito, with each recording a strikeout.
MTK The Writist 