Thursday, May 19, 2016

Eight

3-1 win in SD
Jeff Samardzija did his best. Came close to matching his mates with another complete game, one-run performance. Ol' Boch had other ideas and pulled his man after eight with a 3-1 lead and 105 pitches thrown. I suppose he got to use Kelby Tomlinson and Santiago Casilla, both needing the work, but it was hard to swallow The Shark sitting in that situation. I don't normally question the boss but I'd have given him a shot to finish it. You could argue that it was his best start of the season so far, and that he'd yet to finish one, but the inscrutable big-headed one was happy with the three hits, no walks, and eight strikeouts.

As it was Lady Luck smiled upon the subs, Kelby whiffing but getting to first via the catcher mishandling strike three. Casilla, naturally, scared us crapless with his usual antics, blowing guys away amidst guys raking him. It took a snappy grab from Joe Panik (who had four hits) to get the final out.

Giants win their eighth straight with another fine effort by their starter. Clutch dinger from BCraw--again. Padres score one run in each of the three games. With the four wins in Phoenix the Giants come home with a clean road sheet: 7-0.

America's darlings, the first-place Chicago Cubs, come to San Francisco for the weekend. They throw über-ace Jake Arrieta on Friday night and fancy-pants southpaw Jon Lester on Saturday. The Giants counter with VSC-meisters Jake Peavy and Matt Cain. I say the Giants have them just where they want them! (Remember the goofy start times on the weekend to accommodate national TV.)

Way to go, Giants! Keep on rollin'!!

--M.C.

5 comments:

M.C. O'Connor said...

There's a tweet from Baggs in the sidebar noting that Jeff Samardzija leads all of baseball in pitches thrown with 970.

I'd say that's reason enough for Boch to sit him.

Ron said...

Arrietta v. Peavy reminds me of Gooden v. Gott back in 1984 - the outcome?:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SFN/SFN198508310.shtml

We can take this pud!

Ron said...

1985, that is.

M.C. O'Connor said...

That was the crappiest San Francisco Giants team EVER!! And the year before was the second-crappiest. Man, that was a long time ago.


Zo said...

Giants haven't swept a 7 game road trip since 1913, according to the announcers.

Also, I would like to take note of the pitching the last 8 games:
A total of 14 runs allowed in 8 games (1.75).
A total of 10 runs allowed in the 7 game road trip (1.43).
7 runs allowed in 4 games in Arizona.
3 runs allowed (1 per game) in San Diego. That's some good pitching!

Cubs struggling as of late. They just lost 2 of 3 to Milwaukee, before which they lost 2 of 3 to Pittsburgh, before which they lost 3 (and had 1 postponed) against San Diego. So, 2 wins in their last 9 games! Hubris, Cubs fans!