Sunday, April 29, 2018

The Giants are a .500 Ball Club

And that's good, because they are improving!  The Giants won against LA today, 4 - 2, to take the series 3 games of 4 and climb to .500.  That makes them 6 - 4 against the NL champions with 9 games remaining in the remaining 5/6  of the season.  Crazy to play one team so much at the beginning of the year, right?  But if LA gets in gear, which really hasn't happened yet, maybe it works in the Giants' favor.  Or maybe the Giants will turn out to be a pretty decent club.

That makes 3 series in a row.  Mark doesn't like to talk about last year, but I am still trying to purge last year's stain on my psyche, so I would note that the Giants actually won 3 series in a row last year, against Cincinnati, this team and St. Louis in May.  But they never won 4 series in a row.  BEAT the Padres!

Ty Blach vs Kenta Maeda.  Maeda gave up 3 to the Giants in the 1st - Posey doubled with 2 outs, Belt walked, and Evan Longoria homered.  The Giants added 1 in the 3rd, Posey scoring from 1st on a deep Brandon Belt double off the bricks in right center.  Ty Blach pitched much, much, much better than in his previous start.  He gave up a run in the 6th, and came out to pitch the 7th, but gave up a broken bat single so was pulled for Sam Dyson after 87 pitches.  A high bouncer to Dyson enabled Muncy to reach second because it took so long to come down and then a single to the outfield scored the doggers' 2nd run.  That run is charged to Blach, but it is an example of how unfair that can be.  It was a ball that was so punk that it put Muncy on base, then a double play ball that bounced too high to be playable at second.  Dyson then slammed the door on that comeback attempt, though, and Watson made quick work of the 8th.  Strickland seemed to lack control except with his fastball, but managed to finish the game without allowing a baserunner.

You see the wisdom of Bochy's use of pitchers (and the wisdom of yesterday evening's and today's starters to get us some innings).  We won 3 of the 4 games:
Game 1: Holland (3.1 IP), Johnson, Gearrin, Dyson, Watson, Strickland.
Game 2: Stratton (1.1 IP), Gomez, Law, Gearrin, Panda.
Game 3: Cueto (6 IP), Moronta, Dyson, Snelton, Strickland.
Game 4: Blach (6 IP), Dyson, Watson, Strickland.

Did I mention that we beat LA 3 of 4?  Johnny Cueto is leading the National League in ERA.  I'm feeling better about this club, and it starts with the bullpen.  The feeling of impending doom is gone.


7 comments:

M.C. O'Connor said...

Hey maybe I should take 1000-mile weekend road trips more often. Anything to help our boys take 3 of 4. I was at a wedding. The bride was the daughter of an old pal (roomie from Cal) so I was the Father of the Bride's Best Man. He needed one--it can be stressful being the FotB. Good times, but now I'm back. Let's keep this winning thing going!

campanari said...

Well, that’s fitting: wedding vows are kissing cousins to fandom, no? “Raising Matt Cain” keeps fealty to the Giants for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in the shadow of the Disabled List, and in the precariousness of health, sub signo Ligamenti Anterioris Cruciati, &c. &c.

It’s pleasing to think that the Giants have got to .500 while almost none of their players are exceeding historical expectations (Belt, two of the CF platoon) and a good number should regress upward toward their historical mean (Crawford, McCutchen, Jackson, Posey, maybe Pence). With Smith returning in a couple of days to replace a shifting cast of erratic bullpenners, and in another month Bumgarner’s being able to return, we ought omnibus paribus to be decidedly better than we are now. In this rosiness of spirit, I’m inclined to put Stratton’s disaster on Saturday to his exhaustion—emotional and physical—from his trip for the birth of his baby daughter, and to think of it, pending further proof, as an anomaly rather than as a foretaste of sour days to come.

Zo said...

Stratton's young - he'll blow other games, but, Saturday aside, he looks like the real deal. Andrew Suarez will be on the club in San Diego, scheduled to pitch Tuesday. Smardjy goes tonight. Joe Panik may need surgery, Bochy hints that he may be out for awhile.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Always nice to add a little Latin to our discussions. Eamus, O Gigantes!

M.C. O'Connor said...

A tidbit from the inimitable Henry Beard:

Lex clavatoris designati rescindenda est.

(The DH rule has got to go.)

nomisnala said...

We are a 500 club, but now we have to play the lowly padres, who just kill the giants

nomisnala said...

Just finished watching the game. Despite a brutal strike call to Belt on the 3-1 count, he still walked, and the giants at least for one day, broke the Padre curse.