Tim Hudson delivered one of the best starts of this dismal month of Giants baseball and added two hits including a home run to lead the team to victory. The 6-2 win evened up the series. Chris Heston--who could really use an outing like Hudson's--goes tonight. I didn't see it coming. I was not looking forward to watching a 40-year old log his last few trips to the mound before retirement. I was sure he was going to get hammered. But that's why they actually play the game instead of let guys like me predict the outcome. It was a fine performance by the whole team and was marred only by Brandon Crawford leaving the game. He is day-to-day.
The Giants have played 139 games and have 23 remaining. They are 8-1/2 behind the Dodgers who have 24 to play. They are nine behind the Cubs for the wild card--Chicago has 25 games left. Whipping out my slide rule I figure the Giants need to play about .850 ball to have a chance. Them's some long odds, man! Interestingly, the Giants have "underperformed" a bit. They had a losing record in August (13-16) despite scoring more runs (124) than they allowed (114). Overall they've scored 591 runs and allowed 535, that yields a Pythagorean record of 76-63, four games better than where they are (72-67). I'm sure we can come up with a suitable set of reasons for that. Perhaps we should look at the 16-22 record in one-run games.
GO GIANTS!
--M.C.
10 comments:
When a team wins a lot of one run games usually the manager gets much of the credit.
When they lose a lot of one run games, does the manager get much of the blame? Giants
have found new ways to lose games this year. To not score when they have opportunities,
and to allow the opposition runs when the opportunities are slim. Giants have a good young
pen who are getting experience. The future should be bright if this team can stay healthy, and we could put together a formidable rotation for next year.
The score was 2-1 again.
Question-of-the-Day: Why do Teams keep making stupid decisions about Yoenis Cespedes? The guy just produces & produces, yet he has been traded for various stiffs & rentals. I'd have to say that he's the best all-round position-playing Cuban in MLB (Aroldis Chapman being the best Cuban Pitcher) - sorry, Yasiel Puig & Jose Abreu, but I think that Cespedes has been better. So, why the consecutive bad decisions by Oakland, Boston, & Detroit?
@nomisnala
Yeah, I wonder about that, too! Bochy has a history of "overperforming" his Pythagorean and having a good record in 1-run games. I believe OGC has done a bit of research on that very topic. This has been a frustrating season, the Giants indeed have found new ways to lose. But I like the what I see for next year as well. Just gotta keep the guys healthy!
@Ron
Cespedes is that perfect tradeable player, that's why he keeps getting traded! Kind of like Reggie Sanders and Marlon Byrd. Seriously, the Tigers had to get something for him, he's a free agent at the end of the year. Their 2015 is a big disappointment. He's killing it right now--he'll get a big 4-5 year deal this off-season from some team.
And, Oakland & Boston traded him why?
The Reggie Sanders comparison seems pretty accurate. Marlon Byrd is a bit far-fetched - he has not put together the kind of career that Sanders did or that Cespedes will.
Met a former sports agent (his CV checked out) who lunches with BillyB every few weeks.
He said look for Cespedes to sign with Oakland as he loves and misses the Cuban community there.
I was surprised too.
Well, Oakland traded him for pitching. It didn't work out, but it is hard to argue with trading for starters. The Giants record this season is mostly due to the lack of starting depth. Cespedes is a terrific player, but you know as well as I do that slugging OFs are one of those "final pieces", not the foundation. The Mets already had a good team, that's why he's making such an impact on the race.
Back to Oakland? Wow. BillyB is one of a kind!
Boston traded Cespedes for Porcello, which was a bust. But Cespedes was not performing well there so at least that's kinda understandable. That team really tanked after winning the Series in 2013, and it seems like they've made a host of bad moves. I'm a believer in the notion that a move can be right in concept but bad in result. Like the Giants getting Mike Leake. The results aren't there, but it was an obvious team need to try to upgrade the staff. The Peavy move last year was similar, but it paid off.
Gregor Blanco added to the long list of battered Giants.
Bummer. Blanco is one of my favorite guys. You know how I love unsung heroes. Sure seems like an unusually large DL this season. Get well soon, Gregor.
Let it be known that the Miracle Comeback of '15 began on Sept 11. If Peavy can survive 7 innings, anything is possible.
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