jeeezus h. Arizona got 43 hits in the past three games. They won again tonight, fortunately, San Diego also won so the smog-suckers improbably do not pick up any ground on the Giants before this weekend's series. We have to play Arizona 6 more games this year. It seems like all they did was hit the ball and run the bases. Goldschmidt and Hill got 6 and 7 hits in the series, seems like they were constantly stinging the ball. Many of the snakes' hits were not cheapies, either. Trevor Cahill pitched tonight against Madison Bumgarner. Maddy picked up his third loss in a row. He gave up a run right away, and then went 6.1 innings and gave up 4 runs, more than enough for Arizona. The Giants did not get a hit until the seventh, did not have a base runner until the sixth. They struck out 8 times, which surprised me because every time I looked at the TV, they were walking away from the plate with the bat on their shoulder, so I expected at least 12.
That momentum from the really good road trip? Gone. Madison Bumgarner has given up 13 earned runs in the last 16.2 innings he has pitched. That's not real good. He has picked up an L in his last three starts. Here is something else alarming: Since Barry Zito threw 8 innings August 23, no starter has made it through the seventh inning, with one exception, Matt Cain on August 28. He went 7.1. That is 12 games, twice through our rotation plus two, with only one seven inning game. Bochy has had somewhat of a quick hook, and we have some extra arms now that it is September, but come on. Jean Machi looked great his first appearance, since then, not so much. I guess there is a reason the guy is a 30 year old minor league call up. In spite of the fact that we played 30 innings in 3 days, we used 24 pitchers. 24!
4 comments:
Thank goodness for the 40-man roster. The starters are feeling it, but they will get the their groove back. AZ had something to prove, and since they are damn close to out of it they are playing spoiler, much like SD. They have a good hitting club. Giants will have to have a fresher game plan and execute their pitches better next time around. The off-day is a good thing, eh?
The pressure is on LA to make up ground. Giants just have to "hold serve" this weekend. The club should be relaxed and confident. Dodgers were 32-19 at the end of May, and are 41-46 since then. Giants: 27-24 and 50-36. Giants are better. Giants will prevail.
Doyers have 24 games left. I thought you were looking at magic #s before I read the post.
4.5 up with 24 to play (and one less loss on our side). It would be nice to go 14-10. Anything better than that is gravy. Pitchers gotta get yelled at though, this aggression cannot stand, man.
Dodgers did just as bad as the giants. I do worry about starting the series vs. the bums with Lincecum, but maybe he will surprise me. He could not even beat the dodgers in 2011 when he was still good. Phil Cuzzi, was the homeplate ump last night I think. He gave a sinker ball pitcher a strike zone that was a strike below the knees before the ball started to sink. It was a zone made for the Zona starter. Our hitters were flummoxed. I remember watching Valenzuela's no hitter vs the Cards. The ump gave him at least 6 inches outside of the outside corner and he took full advantage. The Cards were miffed. I remember the Livan Hernandez playoff game for the Marlins against the Braves, when Livan was given a big strike zone, and the Braves who routinely benefited from a big strike zone, were the biggest whiners when the cards were turned against them. It was the game that put Livan on the map.
I remember watching Maddux, although he was good enough to expand the strike zone by pushing on the edges of it. By the end of the game, he would have at least 6 inches off the plate. We need our starters to shine up the brass balls and step up. Think of it this way - if the Giants take one game this weekend, the doggers leave town 3.5 back. Anything better and they are further back than they are now. We should not be intimidated by them, they lost Billingsley, who scares me a good deal more than Beckett and Blanton.
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