Or at least, I hope so. Filling in for MOC, he should be back tomorrow. The Giants turned in their 11th loss in 13 games since the ASB Friday, Smardjy giving up 4 runs, which was plenty. Joe Panik came back from injury, but was unable to contribute offensively. As was true for pretty much everyone else. 1 -1 until the 5th, when the Nats pushed 1 across, 2 - 1. Righetti visited the mound to tell Smardjy not to throw Daniel Murphy a strike, so he set it on a tee for him. Tripled and he could pull into 3rd as he was slowing down. Giants were 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position and they hit into that rarest of plays, a triple play. Rarer than that, a 3 - 5 (or 3 - 3 - 5) triple play, apparently the first one ever recorded in major league baseball. I find that somewhat hard to believe, but it just seemed to capture the way the Giants have been going. Bases loaded in the 7th. Crawford did not hit a ground ball to 2nd for a DP, nothing like that. No, a freaky triple play, and it was over in one swing of the bat. Also, apparently, the first one the Nats had ever recorded. Runners on again in the 9th, but, again, no cigar.
Snakebit or just plain sucky? You decide. But today, the Giants came back with a 5 - 3 victory. Jake Peavy started, only went 4 and gave up all 3 Nats runs. He was followed by fng Matt Reynolds, Strickland, Law, Lopez, Romo and Casilla. And Hunter Pence came back! He had a double and walked. FNG Eduardo Nunez came through with 2 hits, including a 2-rbi double! Buster Posey had 2 hits and a walk, and threw out 2 runners, including Bryce Harper by a finger. Giants only 2 for 12 with RISP (I think), but still, 5 runs! The Giants have scored 5 runs in a game 3 times since the ASB, but 2 of those efforts were losses.
So, maybe, just maybe, this stretch of bad, bad baseball is behind us. Or at least, that is my most fervent hope. At least for a day, you could believe it.
4 comments:
How good have the Giants been with runners in scoring position since the All Star Break? Not very. 1 each game vs San Diego (3 for 24), for 3 losses. 0/3 vs Boston, then 3/14 in the game in which the Giants scored 7 but gave up 11. 3/31 vs NY, 1 each game even though the Giants won game #2. 1/6 vs Cincinnati in the first game, followed by 5/16 in the game they won, followed by a game in which they had 0 RISP (but 1 run on a Gillespie hr). 0/9, 1/5 and 2/13 vs the Nats, so far. 18/121, or .149.
And we gained a game on LA Darkness! Seems like an eon since we won on a day when they lost.
Sunday, bottom of the 5th -a classic sequence where Bumgarner, pinch-hitting for Cain (who has a no-hitter going), Madbum smacks a liner to the right field wall and has an easy double. Who goes in to pinch run but pitcher Samrdzija, who soon scores on a wild throwing error. Giants Baseball!
'Sources' would have you believe that we are trying to get left-handed Starting Pitcher Matt Moore from Tampa or Tampa Bay or whatever they're called these days. 'Sources' would also have you believe that we are still dabbling in the Jay Bruce market, but that the Mets look the most likely to go in that direction.
Matt Moore is a decent Pitcher & probably most famous for having started & pitching well in the recent Exhibition Game in Havana.
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