Sunday, August 6, 2017

Comeback!

The Giants beat the Diamondbacks in 10 innings last night 5-4 after falling behind 4-0 in the 6th. There have not been a lot of wins this season and there have been even fewer of the come-from-behind variety. So, let's take a moment to enjoy it. Chris Stratton took Matt Cain's spot in the rotation and George Kontos' spot on the roster and he delivered a rookie-level start with 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 4 W, and 4 K. He threw 95 pitches to 24 batters. Stratton was the team's first-round pick in 2012 (#20), a draft notable for the "new generation" of spectacular shortstops (Carlos Correa #1, Addison Russell #11, and Corey Seager #18). He's thrown almost 700 innings in the minors and has yet to show the dominance he flashed at Mississippi State when he was a consensus All-American. Nonetheless he's produced solid results over his 119 starts and at 26-going-on-27 it is time to see what he can do in the bigs. Pitchers from that 2012 first-round bunch that have delivered over 5.0 bWAR are Kevin Gausman (#4), Michael Wacha (#19), Marcus Stroman (#22), and Lance McCullers (#41, a supplemental pick).

The other item of note was of course the appearance of Pablo Sandoval at the hot corner. He made a throwing error that led to a run but also had a leadoff double to start the Giants scoring in the 7th. It's hard to believe he is only turning 31 this week. Seems like he's been around a long time, then again he did make his debut at the tender age of 22 in 2008. The stars of that 2008 club were Tim Lincecum, now out of of baseball, and Matt Cain, probably not far behind him. Brian Wilson, Sergio Romo, and Jonathan Sanchez were also on that team. Ten years is a long time in baseball.

Jeff Samardzija today. Giants have 43 wins, they need 20 more.

--M.C.

2 comments:

M.C. O'Connor said...

Brandon Crawford cleared revocable waivers. I don't know why the Giants would put him on the list--he is now tradeable--as Sabes said not long ago that he was one of three "untouchable" players along with Bumgarner and Posey. Maybe they were just testing the trade waters in preparation for a different move. I'm not sure I understand all the August trade stuff.

Here's the link:

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/08/10-veterans-clear-revocable-waivers.html

M.C. O'Connor said...

Jon Miller, in the midst of one his annoying, pointless asides on the broadcast today, talked about a line MARLON BRANDO delivered in "Casablanca." Stick to baseball, man.