The Giants played their 36th game last night thus finishing their second seasonal inning. They went 10-8 in the first and have followed that with a 13-5 run to stand at 23-13, the best record in the majors. A .639 win percentage projects to a final total of 103 wins! Wouldn't that be something?
Currently the team is 11th among thirty teams in runs scored per game at 4.17, just a hair under the MLB average of 4.18 rpg. Even better, they are fifth-best in runs allowed at 3.42, with only the Braves, Cardinals, Reds and Athletics ahead of them. Nice balance, eh?
The Giants also rank 11th in wRC+ (101), 18th in wOBA (.311) and 6th in OPS+. They are 11th-best in FIP (3.58) but their xFIP ranks them 7th-best overall. Saber-stats tERA and SIERA rate the team's pitching staff 8th- and 9th-best respectively. The average MLB team slash line is .250/.317/.389 (.706) and the Giants are running out a .238/.309/.400 (.709) which conforms to what we've seen--not a lot of hits or walks but a lot of power and thus plenty of runs (150, 9th-best overall). The Giants have 19 Quality Starts which puts them in the middle of the pack, but a 3.01 ERA (third-best) and .681 OPS against (9th-best).
I think we've seen the Giants benefit from playing in their run-suppressing home park (10-5 record, +15 run difference, 3.93 rpg), and from increased scoring on the road (13-8, +12 run difference, 4.33 rpg). The club is really doing good things on defense: B-R has a stat called "defensive efficiency" and the Giants rate fifth-best by that metric. Traditional stats like errors and fielding percentage put them in the middle of the pack, but the "eye-test" says the Giants are getting big plays from key fielders (like the incredible B-Craw) and the defensive shifts are paying off. Let's hope that continues.
--M.C.
3 comments:
Baggs gives the roster rundown:
Tyler Colvin up, Scutaro to 60-day DL, Morse to get the bulk of the starts at 1B.
Tyler Colvin has almost 1200 ML PA and .743 OPS including 47 HR with Cubs and Rockies.
Colvin is 27 and was a 1st round pick in 2006 (13th overall). That draft also produced Evan Longoria, Tim Lincecum, Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer. You have to like the guy's pedigree even if the ML results aren't there (yet). Maybe he can be another Sabean reclamation project!
Sabean and Bochy reclamation! I recall reading somewhere about how Bochy seems to help hitters that join his team improve some. And just from interviews, I get the sense that he knows what he's talking about.
Colvin seems to be like Hicks: lots of K's but lots of power. But he don't get a lot of walks, that's what hurts him a lot.
But the way Belt was hitting this year, he wasn't getting a lot of walks either, but lots of K's and homers.
He was a top prospect for the Cubbies for a while (I picked him up for my fantasy keeper league even). So, yeah, you gotta likc his pedigree.
Hopefully he's reaching his physical prime and can start to do things in the league, sometimes players just need that extra to stick.
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