Sunday, September 16, 2012

Magic Number: Nine

Giants lose but gain anyway as the punchless LAtriners got beat in extras. The Pirates, Brewers, and Dodgers are all within three games of the Wild Card leading Cardinals. That's the second wild card mind you, as the Braves seem to have the first one close to sewn up. They are 6-1/2 up in that race, and curiously, 6-1/2 back of the Nationals. The countdown really starts when the Magic Number is single digits and that's where things stand after a weekend of getting outscored in Arizona. Giants come home for ten games starting tomorrow: four against the Rockies, three against the Padres, and three against the Diamondbacks. Ten chances to knock down number nine. LA travels tomorrow and starts a nine-game road trip in the same stretch to Washington, Cincinnati, and San Diego. Nine chances to get that nine whittled down by losing. I like those odds. The Dodgers are a losing team (44-56) since they hit their high-water mark (32-15, up by 7-1/2) on May 27th. I sure would like to see the Giants clinch before their final road trip (six games in SD and LA). I think it would be a good chance to rest the starters. Speaking of resting the starters, I think Ryan Vogelsong could use a day off. Or two. Seriously, sit the guy down. Skip a start. He's scheduled for two on the home stand (Friday the 21st and Thursday the 27th) and for the second game (Tuesday October 2nd) in the final series in LA.

Get it done, Giants!

--M.C.

2 comments:

Brother Bob said...

Vogelsong took the lead in the Not-Gonna-Be-A-Starter-In-The-Post-Season race. Just as he was consistently good in the first half of the season, he is now consistently bad. I agree, give him a week off and see if that helps. If not, it's gotta be "What have you done for us lately?"

nomisnala said...

His stuff does not look that much different from the first half to the second half. They have to figure out what is going wrong, and what had been going right. His speed, velocity and control seem to be very similar during the great streak, and during the bad streak. He was consistently awesome until August, and now he is consistently bad. At least for Vogelsong we can say he is consistent. I think his downturn has been baffling. Its not just regression to the mean, he still looks quite good throwing nice pitches to the corners, but the results have been devastating.