Monday, July 26, 2010

Just short

Aaron Rowand's pinch-hit homer in the 7th was barely legal, surviving the video review for lack of evidence. That made it 3-2 Marlins. The Giants solved Ricky Nolasco by getting him out of the game. It took three Florida relievers to finish the inning. A late run off Guillermo Mota made it 4-2, just enough to survive the Giants run in the 9th. A phenom by the name of Mike Stanton (who's only 20) showed off his chops with a homer in the 5th and the big two-out RBI double in the 8th. Impressive-looking kid--he's listed at linebacker size (6-5, 235). He was drafted in the 2nd round (#76) of the 2007 amateur draft--the Giants took Madison Bumgarner in the 1st round (#10) that year. They also took Tim Alderson (#22), Wendell Fairley (#29), Nick Noonan (#32), Jackson Williams (#43), and Charlie Culberson (#51). Guess you can't win them all. Stanton has not dazzled like Buster, but he's got a ton of power (89 HR in 324 minor-league games), and looks like a keeper.

That was the 100th game of the season. A 34-28 record (.548) in the final 62 games would put the Giants at 90 wins. It wasn't too long ago that it took .581 to get there. See what a 16-6 July will do for you? Tomorrow Matt Cain matches up with Josh Johnson. I got to see Johnson pitch last July (SF 3-0 win behind Zito), and he's a big fella, too (6-7, 250). Guess they like 'em king-size in Florida. You could make a case that he's the best pitcher in the NL right now, if not all of baseball. Should be a great match-up.

While you are on FanGraphs ooh-ing and aah-ing over Josh Johnson, read the piece by Matt Klaassen on Andres Torres. What a great story this guy is! He made another awesome catch in CF tonight.

--M.C.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I already read the article, it was a nice read.

I feel good and unfortunately just could not capitalize on mistakes and/or opportunities (also decision making could have gone smoother). It sucks being so close just to lose. I like when they get the loss over with instead of giving me hope till the last at bat. Although, at the same time, I guess that's just part of the charm. From the 4th inning, I could tell that this would become a loss but alas, I could not turn away for long.

Even though Josh Johnson has been the best pitcher in baseball this year (I'll admit it), bad luck seems to happen for us and it seems to spread.

Ron said...

The Minor Leagues - you gotta love them ...

FRESNO, CA - The Fresno Grizzlies announced today that Thursday, July 22nd has been declared Rule 8.06 Night at Chukchansi Park. In recognition of the arcane rule cited by San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy in the dramatic ninth inning of the Giants' 7-5 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium Tuesday night, Grizzlies fans in attendance will have the opportunity to score a free ticket to a future home game at Chukchansi Park.
On Tuesday night, acting Dodgers manager Don Mattingly made a visit to reliever Jonathan Broxton on the pitcher's mound. Upon returning towards the dugout, and after leaving the 18-foot mound circle, Mattingly doubled back to speak to Broxton again, thereby constituting a second visit. This required Broxton to be removed from the game, pursuant to Official Baseball Rule 8.06 (b):

A second trip to the same pitcher in the same inning will cause this pitcher's automatic removal from the game;

On Rule 8.06 Night this Thursday, the Grizzlies will be rewarding their fans instead of punishing them for a second visit. Any fan who purchases a ticket to Thursday's game (first visit), then makes a return trip to the box office that night (second visit), bringing his or her game ticket back to the window and mentioning Rule 8.06, will receive a free ticket to either the Tuesday, July 27 or Wednesday, July 28 home games against the Tacoma Rainiers.