R.A. Dickey did it all today, mesmerizing Giants hitters with his arsenal of drunken butterflies for 8-1/3 as well as executing a perfect butcher-boy RBI double in the fateful 5th. Barry Zito didn't pitch badly, but got burned by a couple of walks and two two-out hits, one by former Giant Mark DeRosa. He also failed to keep an eye on Jose Bautista who stole two bases in that same 5th and ultimately scored. That was it--one bad inning and the game was effectively over. Dickey had the ball diving and corkscrewing and the local lads were over-matched. Giants have another off-day and then head to Arizona for a showdown Friday night with the division-leading Diamondbacks. Lefty phenom Patrick Corbin is 9-0 and has allowed only 18 runs in 11 starts (74-1/3 IP). Matt Cain gets the call for San Francisco, he's allowed 46 runs, the third-most in the NL (behind Wily Peralta and Edwin Jackson). I never thought I'd type that sentence. Oddly, today's winning knuckleballer and 2012 NL Cy Young Award winner has allowed 47 runs this season. It's an upside-down world, my friends.
GO GIANTS!
--M.C.
10 comments:
Giants got all of one hit before the ninth inning. Then, after one more single and a walk, Dickey was pulled. He threw all of about 88 pitches in the first eight innings. Tough to win when you can't generate an offense. So our record against the AL is now 2 - 6.
Here's the best take on the Biogenesis scandal I've read so far:
http://www.thenation.com/blog/174655/decriminalize-game-solution-baseballs-drug-wars
It's from Dave Zirin, sports-writing's token lefty.
Sounds like stuff I've said before. Since the game sucked, maybe we can talk about something else.
Here is a pretty good take from Deadspin: http://deadspin.com/10-or-so-thoughts-on-biogenesis-a-scandal-for-all-the-511484352. Apparently Melky and Bartolo Colon are both among the suspected players. If so, they would be out for a long time.
There are a lot of people that want baseball to be "clean" as difficult to define as that may be. I think that's legitimate. Unfortunately, the case needs to be made by more than rumor and suggestion, otherwise the prosecuting authority, MLB, is no cleaner than users. Unfortunately, in today's pile-on internet rush to publish, you get tried in the court of public opinion on the internet before there is ever a case to be made. Guilt by piling-on helps verify guilt by flimsy evidence and vice-versa. If there are really 50 players and MLB acts without sound evidence, this has the potential to do much more damage to the game than drugs would.
Damn Knuckler.
Giants pitchers tend to screw up at least for one big inning. They don't hold runners well, and they allow runners to advance on too many wild pitches and passed balls, especially in close games. Secondly, they have allowed opposing pitchers way too many key hits this year that have lead to the giants losing. And, any year when Jerome Williams would be the ace of the staff if he were still a giant, does not bode well for Lincecum, Cain, Bumgarner, Zito, and (Vogey/Gaudin). Its time to wake up, and acknowledge that winning in 2010 and 2012 does not assure any automatic wins in 2013. The guys have to wake up and play, especially the starting pitchers.
Here's an article about Matt Cain and his struggles this season.
I like the Deadspin article. My sentiments exactly. I'm really going to get tired of PEDs in the next few weeks if this Biogenesis thing comes to the fore. My god, baseball has very strict testing and serious consequences, something "everybody" supposedly wanted, and now, it seems, it's not enough. People apparently want blood and they want heads to roll.
I was thinking about the Giants' staff "having pitched late into the post season" last year as some sort of rationale for this year's slump. But then I thought - the Tigers' pitching staff threw almost as many games as the Giants' (although not as well). (The Tigers, however, played a 4 game ALCS). 3 of the 4 starters have a lower era than they did last season: Scherzer 3.42 vs 3.74, Sanchez 2.65 vs 2.86, Fister 3.27 vs 3.45. Only Verlander has a worse era, 3.70 vs 2.64. Verlander had an outstanding season last year, and the others are probably not statisically signficant in their differnce, but it would seem as though, by comparison, the Giants problems are not a result of the post-season.
http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/mlb/events/draft/y2013/draftlive_app.jsp
Giants take a high school SS, Christian Arroyo, with their first pick, number 25 overall.
What it means, I do not know.
All the "experts" hate the pick. He's verbally committed to Stanford, but maybe being a 1st-rounder and getting some bonus money changes that. They have a great baseball program there, so maybe this kid is a real talent. Giants are working "outside the box" on this one.
There's probably only a handful of "can't miss" prospects in any draft, the rest is throwing darts and hoping they hit the board. Lots of good players emerge from the pool of unknowns (Albert Pujols was a 13th rounder). Giants have had a good run since Barr has taken over, so I'm going to enjoy our newest Giants and look forward to seeing them progress through the system.
Shankbone over at YGLTK says "I like Arroyo a lot."
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