Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Shark Cruises

SF 9  COL 2
Jeff Samardzija continued his excellent pitching with another strong start and the Giants scored nine runs to whip the Rockies. Colorado visited Los Angeles over the weekend and got their asses kicked so this is a good time for the Giants to pile on. It's only the second win for the team against ten losses versus the purple-clads. And only the sixth win in the month of June. But a win is a win. The lineup produced steady results, scoring in the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 7th and 8th innings. The Shark is now posting a 2.96 xFIP, his best ever, and a 3.38 FIP, his second-best (he finished 2014 at 3.20). They don't match his 4.63 ERA (he's had four starts with 6 or more runs allowed) but otherwise he's on to something. His strikeouts are off the charts (10.03/9) and he's only walked 13 people in 16 starts (1.11/9). He's giving up the long ball, but who isn't, especially on this team, but he's eating innings with the best (105 is 5th behind Sale, Kershaw, Scherzer, and Santana) and is rated at 2.2 WAR which is the best by far on the staff (and 14th in baseball).

--M.C.


p.s. Buster Posey's .347/.424/.536 (.948 OPS) rates a 152 OPS+ his highest since his MVP year (171) in 2012 and well above his career (137) mark.

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