Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Tight Game, Good Series

You say you want a well pitched game?  You got one today.  Here is the starter's line: 7 innings, 4 hits, 1 run (earned), 2 BB and 5 K.  Which starter?  Take your pick, the lines are the same (actually, the Nats' Gio Gonzalez went 7 1/3).    The Giants' Madison Bumgarner rebounded from a bad Colorado game and threw 115 pitches, 74 for strikes.  Gonzalez threw 116, with 73 reported as strikes, although it seemed at the time like most everything he threw was a strike.  Madison gave up a home run, though, to Bryce Harper in the 6th inning, and the Giants squeezed one across on when Gonzalez walked Angel Pagan in the 8th, then Drew Storen (Stanford man) walked Scutaro and gave up a run-scoring single to Buster Posey.  The Giants' relief was good, but not perfect, as Jeremy Affeldt, the sixth pitcher on the day, gave up a double to Harper and then a single to Ian Desmond in the 10th.  The Giants could not score against Rafael Soriano in the bottom of the 10th.

I think my blog-mates have expressed a great sense of relief in seeing a quality start.  The Giants (and Nats) played error-free ball today.  Gonzalez was dealing, tough not to see the Giants hit, but seeing good pitching made up for it.  Jeez, what is with this Harper guy?  He's good, and so are the Nats, in spite of the fact that they have stumbled out of the gate a bit.  The Giants have already beaten them more than they did all of 2012.  The Giants do not play tomorrow.  That allows them to start Matt and Madison on normal rest without another starter and gives Tim and Barry an extra day, then they will be on a 5th day next time around.  No real travel either.  So far, Matt and Madison have reacted well to the friendly enclave of ATT Park.  Let's show the Rockies some of the Giants that was missing at Cuurs.

5 comments:

M.C. O'Connor said...

Yeah, it's always better when the ro' puts together quality starts. Rack up those innings, lads. I love watching this club. I've never been so relaxed and confident with a Giants team. You know that they will always bounce back and that they will always have a chance.

All knotted up among three teams in the West: SF/CO/AZ 26-21.

nomisnala said...

The guys that made the difference in a close game on Tuesday, did not start on Wednesday. I guess they needed a rest. Supposedly a one day rest on Thursday is not enough. Vogey sparked the rally with his one armed cheer.

M.C. O'Connor said...

I like that. I'm going to start "one-arming" when I cheer for the Giants.

You have to love Bumgarner. Here's a bit from Baggs:

Did the pitchers have any kind of meeting to remind themselves what was expected of them?

“No,” Bumgarner said. “There’s no need to say stuff we already know.”

Brother Bob said...

Scutaro's 19 game hitting streak ended when the game ended. Isn't he great? You could say that he was THE difference last season.

Zo said...

Scutaro's streak ended when he took a walk to push Pagan to second, which resulted in the tie score.