Madison Bumgarner threw his best game of the young season but made the fatal mistake of giving up runs and the Giants went down to defeat in Washington. Credit is due to the Nationals for pitching well, fielding beautifully, and capitalizing on a late misplay by Miguel Tejada to wrap up the win and the series.
Tom Gorzelanny and Drew Storen combined on a three-hit shutout. Aaron Rowand led off the game with a double and the lineup's failure to bring him home was a harbinger of doom. The Giants have scored 99 runs on the season in 28 games but only 21 in the last 10. Not surprisingly, they are 3-7 in that span.
The bad starts that plagued them against Atlanta were not the issue in Washington. Jonathan Sanchez looked terrible, but only gave up one unearned run in 5 IP, and the Giants won that game. The final line (IP/R) for the three losses isn't bad: Tim 7/3, Cain 6/3, and MadBum 7/2. There ought to have been at least one more win out of that, all it would have required was the vaunted "league average" offense. It wasn't that long ago the team boasted a 4.33 per game run scoring rate. That was 10 games ago, the same 10 mentioned above with the 21 runs scored and the 3-7 record. It's ugly. The team needs Pablo Sandoval and Andres Torres. The team needs Aubrey Huff to start hitting. I was going to mention Tejada, but Miggy is at least over .200, something Huff needs to work on.
Brandon Belt is 11-for-24 at Fresno and rolling out a Bondsian .458/.594/.833 line.
Just sayin'.
--M.C.
5 comments:
It is somewhat incorrect to say that Madison Bumgarner made the mistake of giving up runs. With two outs in the seventh, Miguel Tejada let one go under his glove, Flem and the other announcers insisted that it should have been an error, easily playable. After that he gave up hits, to score the runners, but the real mistake was Tejada's.
I suppose even throwing a shutout is no guarantee of victory. I saw the play on TV, Tejada should have made it, it was ruled a hit but was more properly an error. Note I called it a "misplay."
I always get on Giants pitchers for giving up runs. I learned that with Cain. No excuses. Throw shutouts. Don't expect any help from those fellows with pieces of wood.
I understand that the play was changed to an error, Bumgarner has no earned runs in seven innings pitched. Regardless of the error, however, he did give up several hits afterwards, resulting in the two runs. Having to get four outs in an inning is tough, and maybe doesn't merit an "earnie" but giving up runs is still giving up runs. Giants pitchers don't just have to be better than the opposition with this kind of offense, they have to be much better.
Bad things happen when I watch the Giants on TV. I could have watched the whole game yesterday but I thought I'd do the team a favor and go out to lunch instead. Driving home I put on KNBR and find that MadBum is finally having an outstanding game. I get home and turn on the TV. The first thing I see is the ball going under Tejada's glove. Then hit, hit hit. I'm not making this up.
I'm afraid to watch.
@Brother Bob: Ever since I became a fan, something has always happened to Pablo. Last year he had a subpar season (compared to his 2009 standard) and this year he gets hurt.
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