Boxscore
Chris Heston put his infield to work tonight and they delivered of course, turning three double plays. Brandon Crawford put the hurt into one for the game-breaking bomb, and the 'pen did the rest for another Giants win. They gained a half game on the idle Dodgers with the 4-2 victory. Hest-o was neat-o again, and just like our man carmot said he is up there with the league's elites. What a treat to watch--did you see those two strikeouts in the 7th? BCraw also walked later and scored on a clutch pinch-double by Gregor Blanco to earn hitter's honors for the evening. Blanco was batting for Heston. Hunter Strickland looked deadly in the 8th, and Sergio Romo took the 9th, giving the regular man a break.
Matt Cain tomorrow. Go Giants!
--M.C.
12 comments:
Looks as if he enhanced his effort in the 7th as he
looked better in the 7th than in the rest of the game.
The Brewer's TV announcers compared him to a young
Maddox. Cuzzi again tries to screw the giants twice
on running plays, reminding us of the call on Ishikawa
a few years ago. He called Duffy out when he was safe,
and Gomez safe when he was out. Cuzzi needs to go down
to a minor league crew. Stratton who has been erratic
in the minors pitched another nice game for Sacramento.
It seems as if he is figuring it out, at least more of the
time than in the past.
I still say this is a longshot and hard to believe, but Cole Hamels is a beast.
No one but me will likely miss Joaquin Arias as I love all those marginal guys who fight for the last roster spot. (He was DFA's to make room for Aoki.) Adios, Joaquin, thanks for being on the Giants! I guess I have to start learning to properly pronounce "Ehire."
Hamels would be the guy to get but I feel like this is largely a press release to drive up the price. The two teams that have shown consistent interest are Texas and the doggers. What a coincidence that the Astros and Giants are the other suitors. I want him bad but it would shock me if they did it. And, yes, I happily trade Susac (with others too) in order to get a couple years of Hamels.
No, I will not miss Arias. He has not helped the team and during the 25 man roster time it is really uncool for him to take up a spot. He was a great Giant, part of our dynasty that they can never take away. I would love to shake his hand and tell him how great he was BUT I do not want him on my team. Good luck, Joaquin (cool name) and Go Ehire (cooler name).
Great game AGAIN last night. Not only do we WIN ALOT but we play good, exciting baseball. We also force the other team into big, BAD mistakes. Two games in a row, MVP Buster Posey guns down stupid base stealers in the NINTH INNING!!! Do you think ANYONE will do that again this year? And have you noticed that we are much better at replay review than any other team we ever play. Do we lead the league in over turned calls or what? Last night was a perfect example as we were 2-0 and the Brewers lost theirs early, then one at the end. It was amusing to see Gomez get pissy at the replay. The umps had to toss him for being such a child, but we did their manager have to get himself chucked too? They looked silly at the end.
About the bullpen: Congrats to Romo but it is time to make him a righty specialist. Lefties are at about .500 and take massive swings. Righties still look confused. He is no longer just a 8 inning guy, he needs to be used more carefully than that. Actually I think I would consider using Sergio in a trade if he would get someone interested (maybe a contender in the AL needs another weird reliever). And the reason Sergio is not a keystone of my bullpen anymore is that...
Hunter Strickland is an animal! He was awe inspiring last night. Nasty slider thing combined with a 99 MPH fastball at the knees. He made their best hitters (lile Lucroy) look over matched. It looked like he took over the set up role to me. In fact, it would not surprise me if he takes over the closer job before the season ends. All you guys that can not forgive and forget, better get over it soon or you are going to miss something special.
And, finally, what can one say about Chris Heston? It did not seem like he had good command early and I actually thought it was going to fall apart. But he got tough and, as was pointed out, he finished like a GOD. I am so impressed by pretty much everything about him. He even hits people very well! Yesterday he plugged someone diving into first base!!!
I will miss Arias. He had some important Regular Season & Post-Season hits for us over the years, , filled in during important periods when others were injured, while playing capably at various positions. On the other hand, who is ever actually gone? Ishikawa came back. Now, there are noises that Morse may be making his way back. We have DFA's people before who end up accepting Minor League assignments - not sure that anyone will be knocking down walls to sign him up. I fully expect to see Arias again in a Giants' uniform, either this season or in the future.
I think in part time low sample size play Arias may look worse than he actually
is. He is our Kershaw Killer. Also our Koby Bryant look alike. He is a decent
fielder who can play several positions, and at times he can go on a bit of a hot
streak at the plate. Hard to judge a guys hitting who plays about once every
ten days. Adrianza by the way, has looked terrible at the plate lately, despite
his decent hitting for Sacramento this year.
I agree about Boch and the replay reviews--he's the best. Shawon Dunston, still contributing! And what was that attempted steal in the 9th? Yikes. Giants play clean ball and if you can do that consistently you will win games as other teams will inevitably make mistakes. The Giants put a lot or pressure on other teams because they execute, i.e. catch the ball and throw the ball and catch the ball! Plus the defense is exceptional overall, the team really values fielding, and it makes the pitchers better.
Hamels is from SoCal (and his nickname supposedly is "Hollywood") so I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up in LA. Just massively disappointed. Do us all a favor, Colbert, follow Tulo to Toronto (if you don't come to SF, that is). And yes his name is Colbert.
Looks like Zobrist is going to KC.
And, Jean Machi was picked up by Boston.
I agree with others here, Heston looked best in the 7th. Another great performance, even though his stuff didn't quite seem to be at his best for much of the game. Crawford, wow. This Giants team is getting contributions from so many.
M.C., Ron, and nomisnala: it seems common for fans to be "in the moment" of "what have you done for us lately?" Yeah, I think it was time for Arias to part ways. But, there is no denying he should get some respect for how he helped win two rings. Every player counts. That's part of what makes winning so special. He hit .476/.500/.571/1.071 in 17 games from 8/19-9/15 last season. We just barely squeaked into the Wild Card game. Doesn't that contribution help just the same as Peavy or Duffy or Panik?
All of it mattered. I appreciate that you get some great Giants fans here who can temper things into reasonable terms, without having to extend out to the fringes of bashing. I don't understand the venom of fans who need to snark a parting shot of "good riddance" or "about time." How about saying, "thank you for being a great Giant." Same as Machi and others before him.
Loved the game last night. Seemed like the park had a near-playoff vibe. (But no, I wasn't at the game). Lots of energy: Heston, Crawford, Duffy, Blanco, the stolen base call reversals, Strickland, Romo. Awesome game. Cheers.
Machi made some big pitches for the Giants. I'm glad he got picked up. Arias got the assist for out #27 in Cain's perfecto. That was a tough play and he made a perfect throw.
Tonight Cain is muy imperfecto and the Giants can't fookin' hit.
Funny how it's just just small sample size for Arias, but Adrianza in even smaller sample size ("lately") looked terrible.
Arias added some good plays and hits for the Giants over the years, but it was time to move on, as he wasn't hitting or fielding all that well anymore (somehow other players are able to field and hit well enough with sporadic bench play, lets get them instead). And Adrianza should be one of the new MI bench players, and given the chance to show off what he can do when he gets sporadic play. With Panik out, he'll get some regular play (Bochy will hopefully rest Crawford and Duffy in succession to give Adrianza even more consecutive starts and get his bat going; last season when he got regular starts over an extended period, he hit nicely). And at worse, he should be a great defensive replacement for any of the infield spots.
Machi also did some good stuff for the Giants too, but he hasn't been all that good for about a season now, and, as noted, Strickland is ready for his closeup. And regarding replacing some of Romo's appearances, I would put out Kontos as someone who should get more leveraged situations as well.
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