Game Summary:
The Giants lost a tense and rather poorly played game today, 3-2 to the Marlins. Tim Lincecum's nifty little win streak died, yet he basically kept it close. Although Buster Posey tried to win it alone, he got absolutely no help from the bottom two thirds of the batting order. Costly wild pitches, terrible base running, silly balks, and some of the worst pitches you will ever see....this game had it all! Yuck.
Tim Facts:
Start #20 Loss (9-6, 3.68) 7 innings 5 hits 3 runs 3 earned runs 2 walks 7 strikeouts 1 hr
It is possible that the 0-2 pitch that McGehee crushed was one of the worst pitches Tim has ever thrown. I will let someone other poor soul research that one. Lincecum actually threw MANY horrible pitches today and got away with almost all of them. I recall their 1B hitting 2 foul homers on hangers in the same AB. Of course we lost it on a wild pitch, but that wasn't even a horrible pitch...exactly. A tough loss, yet he hung in there, lasted seven and didn't crumble. I'm still very optimistic that Tim will do well against the doggers next Friday.
High and/or Lowlights:
ONE for TWENTY ONE from the four spot down. Barely a hard hit ball! Our bench killed us tonight. In fact, it could be argued they have been a key reason for our collapse. I've been trying to get a better attitude about Hector but right now I'm thinking TRADE BAIT. He is young, so someone might be tempted. Arias may be able to play many spots but none of them at replacement level. Obviously changing our bench around now is probably not sexy but if this comes down to one or two games, it could be the difference maker.
Brandon Belt out with a concussion for a week. More pressure on a weak bench! Great!
14 comments:
Yeah there's no doubt the production from the subs has been below expected. Arias is a better hitter than that--we've seen it. But he's fallen off the map entirely this season. Hanchez seems to get the bat going and the glove going at different times. I felt bad for him on the WP that let in the go-ahead run. That was a tough one, and he'd made the plays on all the other ones! Despite hitting worse every season so far, he strikes me as exactly the player that will break out if the Giants trade him. I think if any of the catching prospects were close to ready they'd be getting a chance. They must not be.
Blanco has not put it together at all, and Panik is still just a rookie. Colvin is the only one resembling a ML "replacement" level player!
Bummer loss after two good wins. Marlins ran themselves into outs and probably cost themselves two runs. Giants had a chance to "get the kill" today and petered out.
A J Piersynski recently released ... just saying.
Actually, just kidding ... I know that you guys were questioning my sanity there for a second. (Mark's sanity recently called into question after his Uggla commentary - blccch! Washed up & with a bad attitude.)
I don't think that Hanchez is going to be 'breaking out' anywhere, so I'm OK w/ dealing him, but who can we get who would be better?
I want to get Mr. Versatility, Ben Zobrist.
It was a poorly played game. We missed out on one more run after Posey's double, and that might have been the difference.
Sabean has to do some sideways trade to get the bench going. This dog just isn't hunting.
Susac might be ready soon.
It seemed Tim was spent after 6 innings. I guess Bochy gave him a vote of confidence by sending him out for the 7th, but it felt liked a mistake at the time, and it turned out to be one.
Matt on DL! I was afraid of that when they changed the order. Oh shit...more test of our depth.
I'm not surprised--expecting surgery this off-season.
And I'm not crazy:
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/07/giants-sign-dan-uggla.html
Maybe you AND Brian Sabean are crazy. This guy's been hitting .160 for over a season-and-a-half. Could be a big boost for the Fresno Grizzlies. Otherwise, the Giants had better keep looking (as also mentioned in the MLB Trade Rumors article). Zobrist!
And, David Price! Not sure how we can engineer that one, but we should at least give it a try with Matt now laid up.
The Giants traded their #1 prospect (Zack Wheeler) for two months of Carlos Beltran in 2011 and that, shall we say, did not work out. I doubt they will try that again. David's Price will be way, way too high, and the Giants no longer have a "can't-miss" arm like Wheeler. Kyle Crick is still walking 5+ guys per 9. Ben Zobrist is a lot more likely!
As far as Uggla goes, I did not advocate for him (re-read what I said), but simply read the writing on the wall which said "Uggla cut loose" and "Giants desperate for 2B help." The math was obvious, Uggla is no-risk and costs only a roster spot. You never know, a guy can have two months of good ball left in him, happens all the time. Pat Burrell, anyone? That being said, I don't expect much. But grabbing him off the scrap heap seemed like something Sabes would do. They must not think Panik is seasoned enough and that Scutaro will be healthy enough.
Uggla is having a bad season and bad attitude, but I would put that as partly because he hasn't been happy in Atlanta.
His value comes from what he did in 2012-2013. Sure, not, up to his prior value, but compared to what we have gotten from 2B, that would be great. Then you got the upside if the coaches can figure out how to fix his mechanics (if it's even fixable).
And that is a possibility, I think, as his BABIP has been lower than career and his peripherals until this season has been right around his career levels. So 2012-2013 is probably his new level of production, 2014 could be just bad luck combined in a toxic stew of bad work environment, and if we get his 2012-2013, that would be great for the league minimum pro-rated pay.
Not so good when you are paying $15M per season, but great for us if he can figure things out.
I'm late on this, so it's a little hindsight, but Blanco is hitting .829 OPS in his past 10 appearances. Even up to this game, he just ended a 6 game hitting streak, and even including this game, hitting .318/.375/.364/.739 in the 7 games. That's what he can do regularly if he can focus on it, I think.
His problem is his mindset. I wish someone on the Giants would just remind him before each AB: your best asset is getting on base. You are not a power hitter, like you might think you are when you are playing in the Venezuelan Winter League, here in the majors you are an on-base machine with speed, capitalize on that.
You can just see that happening in his games, no player gets hot and cold like that because of league adjustments and so forth, at least I don't believe it, he's been his own worse enemy, thinking he's a homerun power hitter.
Panik had actually been hitting OK for a while before his injury (too bad about that, I wanted to see if he could continue). OK, not great, 600's OPS, not bad for a bench player. He already has 6 multi-hit games in only 17 starts and full games. He just needs more balls falling in, his 89% contact rate normally results in a much higher BA and he has 5 walks vs. only 7 strikeouts, a great ratio that only the best hitters can do.
Those are numbers put up by proven hitters like Scutaro. I think he just needs experience and he'll be OK up here, with the main issue being whether he's another Burriss who can't hit for much power. That would hurt his chances greatly, but you got to start somewhere.
Adrianza has a 7 game hit streak if you go just by his starts (OK, just got a hit, 8 game streak to drive in the tying run).
Since June began, he has hit .326/.392/.413/.805 with 83% contact rate (around average) and 4 walks to 8 K's, pretty good (even better if not for the 3 K's in the last two game, plus one today).
And he plays sterling defense at 2B and SS, unlike the other MIs on the roster. Both Arias and Scutaro are not that good defensively up the middle, Arias is only good at 3B per the defensive stats.
And this is backed up by how well he did in AAA last season. His main problem coming up the minors has been that he was a boy among men, many years younger than the players in the league, and that is still true this season in the majors, but he seems to be figuring some things out.
These are the reasons why the Giants have been keeping him around on the roster, instead of risking DFAing him.
Ugh, Adrianza has an injury, and neither Panik nor Scutaro are 100%. We'll see if it's serious. Anyone for Morse handling SS? :^)
OK, he seems to be OK (or at least in better shape than Panik or Scutaro :^)
IF Susac has not had injury after injury, year after year, he might have pushed his way to the majors by now, as I think Sanchez has options still (well, at least one).
But I like Sanchez. He's a backup catcher. Find me a backup catcher who has been better in the last three seasons. He should be up there.
Moreover, he's a switch-hitting C, so that gives Bochy options off the bench.
One thing I like is that even though he is not a regular, he is regularly among the Top 5 on the team, each month, in RBI's. Sure, part of that is opportunity, but he's been delivering when given the opportunity, as he hits much better when men are on base and when RISP.
He's also getting beat up by having to catch Lincecum. Look at what happened to Posey last season when he caught Lincecum regularly. Maybe Sanchez would do better without the pounding he gets from Timmy. And Timmy or no Timmy, he's getting hit in the head a lot too, there has been talk in the media about whether concussion are hurting him.
What I'm hoping for is that Susac play well enough that he could "platoon" with Hanchez at the catcher's position next season, freeing Posey to move to another position for 2015.
Then Sabean is not forced to sign Sandoval, if he signs for an appropriate deal given his performances, then he could play 3B and Posey 1B, Belt LF, and if Sandoval's agent continues to play his hand wrong, Sabean will move on quickly, shift Posey to 3B, keep Belt at 1B, and probably resign Morse for LF.
Susac just had that bad June, but has been great in April, May and so far in July, he could be ready by next season.
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