As the 2016 season inches its way to its inevitable, disappointing conclusion, the Giants picked up a win in Arizona after twice blowing leads. The game went 12 innings, by which time even the Chronicle had lost interest. The sports page features the Cal football team in a preview of today's game, the A's, the Raiders and the 49ers. I can't blame them.
Madison Bumgarner pitched the opening 6 innings. He allowed 4 runs, 3 of them on 2 home runs. Balls fly in Arizona. Maddy threw 110 pitches, gave up 6 hits, struck out 9 and walked 1. After the top of the 7th inning, he stood to get a W if the Giants could have held a 5 - 4 margin. That evaporated quickly under George Kontos. Kontos was given a blown save according to the ESPN box (can you get one of those in the 7th inning? was it a blown hold? a blowhole?). He was followed by an inning each from Romo and Strickland, then, in the 10th, the Giants scored on a Pence double and a wild pitch. Casilla gave up a home run, to that guy Lamb again, then made it through the rest of the 10th. Joe Nathan pitched the 11th. In the 12th, Belt walked, followed by a single from Joe Panik. Kelby Tomlinson singled up the center for another go-ahead run.
In the 12th, the Giants brought Cory Gearrin in to pitch. He struck out Owings, then was parked in left field for Lopez to pitch to Lamb, who walked. Then Gearrin was brought back to pitch and Gorkys was brought into play left. Gearrin finished the inning for a save. That's why your box shows Gearrin for a full inning with a save, followed by Lopez. Joe Nathan got the win. The Giants used 8 pitchers and 11 position players. Span and Posey were 0 for 6, Pagan got 1 hit and Crawford was 0 for 5. However, Pence was 4 for 5 with 2 doubles, Belt was 2 for 3 with 3 walks, and Panik and Nunez both got 2 hits. Giants win 7 - 6 and took over 5 hours to do so. The doggers lost and the Cardinals and Mets both won.
4 comments:
Madison Bumgarner is 9th on the list of Giants' all time strikeouts leaders. That trails Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum. He currently leads the league in innings pitched with 199. Madison Bumgarner is only 27.
He is The Franchise these days!
Giants bullpen is a goddamn mess. Nice to see Belt hitting well.
The biggest story of that crazy, sloppy, exciting game was Hunter Pence. That single game performance is one of the best I've witnessed EVER. And it happened in pretty much a must win game. He drives me crazy on a regular basis, but then he goes and does something like this. A force of nature. I think I'll go look at that catch again.
Belt does deserve credit for a great game too. I realize I dumped on him pretty good, guess his monsterous decline has hit me hard. I thought he could be counted on for 1B quality production, that he would compete in a very competitive position. And he did, until the ASB. Now it is anybody's guess. And, no matter how he finishes, his numbers will be nothing to get thrilled about. And, YES, he might end up as one of our best this year, and, YES, that does show how weak we have been.
So many factors play into our woes. The bullpen loses are certainly heart breaking and confidence destroying. Yet the total lack of late scoring (or any scoring for awhile there) is equally to blame. The changes to the team, although seemingly well thought out, didn't seem to help at all. So much to discuss. Yippee.
In SacTown. Hopefully I'll see game and post/vlog. We need some of that JohnnyC Joy. Go Giants!
I had to come post, love the title!
We are still in it. It's like the other year where we had huge lead, lost it but made the playoffs anyway via WC. Plus, I refuse to believe LA is so good without Kershaw!
Yes, Kontos was in save situation, he could have theoretically pitched the rest of the game and get a save.
Belt is Belt, hot and cold. He has mostly been above average 1B for career though, take good with the bad. Plus his numbers would be even better if you take out times he played while still suffering from concussion.
And we knew Core Four won't last forever, and that there will be a painful transition as the new young guys figure out how to pitch in majors like they did in minors.
The key for me is we have a rotation, at its best, could sweep through series like nothing. And the bullpen as frustrating as it has been, can be pretty good when going right. And the hitting we know is good when all in sync and doing what we know they can. Only question is can they do it in the short time left in the season? Until now, the answer had been no, but these were two good wins, albeit bad competition except when one notes that it is in AZ and Lamb OWNS Cassilla.
And JohnnyC brought the joy!
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