Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Giants Slide Past Dodgers

SF 2  LA 1
If the Giants want to serve notice to the rest of the NL West that they are indeed contenders there's no better way than to beat the Dodgers in LA. For the second straight night they rallied in the 9th inning for a stirring win and have put themselves in position for a sweep. And a sweep is what it will take. At this point in the season the Giants have to think about winning streaks. The Dodgers have been vulnerable since their ace closer Kenley Jansen went on the disabled list--tonight's defeat was their 5th in a row--and they've had a hard time finding his replacement, giving up runs in the 9th in their last four games.

Alen Hanson gets the hero's wreath for delivering both RBI hits, one from the right side (off Alex Wood in the 2nd) and one from the left side (off Kenta Maeda in the 9th). Nick Hundley and Yasiel Puig got into it in the 7th and both were ejected. It seemed that Hundley took exception to Puig's antics (gee, that's news) and gave him an earful to which Puig responded by throwing punches. The Giants weren't happy that Hundley had to go and felt it was Puig's problem all the way, but the umps had their say and that was that. Fortunately the Giants won the game and the Dodgers couldn't boast about how the fight fired them up. They did come back in the 8th to tie it up after being behind 1-0 all night, but that only set up the Giants last at-bat heroics. Brandon Belt returned from the DL and entered the game when Hundley left (Buster was at first and had to move to catcher) and wound up getting a hit and scoring the winning run. Nice to see him back.

Derek Holland goes tomorrow night. The Dodgers have struggled lately against lefty starters, let's hope that continues. GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

20 comments:

russian river said...

Nail biter extraordinaire........GIANTS's WIN!
Beat LA, Beat LA, Beat LA!
Duck the Fodgers!

M.C. O'Connor said...

Two best wins of the year back-to-back!

Brother Bob said...

This is more like it. Great starting pitching, great endings. Nick Hundley is the man. Puig is a giant steaming sack of crap. Also, I'm a big Alen Hanson fan. I even learned to spell his name right.

Zo said...

Suarez was rocky in the first, but one of the non-DRod rooks putting up 0's was the best boost the Giants could have.

JC Parsons said...

Boy howdy, when the doggers bullpen goes bad, it REALLY goes bad. Isn’t that like 4 straight ninth inning implosions? I bet they wish they still had Watson. Boohoo.
You can put me in the Hanson fan club too. Getting both RBI’s in a big game against the doggers is just more evidence that he may be the real deal. On the other hand, I’m completely unsold on Austin Slater. And last night may have been the final straw for me. In the last two innings alone he botched a fly all in left ( a tough chance for sure ), made a terrible throw home that had to be cut off, failed to bunt in a huge situation, and, finally, got thrown out at home ( by a mile ) for the last out. Do that against the Brewers and I’m disappointed but do it against LA and you are on my list.
I’m not sure why Suarez and Rodriguez are so effective but they are clearly bright lights for the season. I will be honest and admit that I haven’t been too thrilled. After all we are talking about third and fourth starters. Whoppee. But they are good. Very good at times. Maybe the upside is more than a #3 starter...

M.C. O'Connor said...

Hanson never really hit before but maybe he's putting his game together at age 25--after all he's only had a season's worth of ML PAs (500) in his career. He's been in pro ball since he was 17. Shows the value of patience! His speed is spectacular, if he can hit close to what he's done so far (110 OPS+) for a whole season he could be a real find. Seems like he's been in the thick of a lot of big moments. Slater is 25 as well, but has half the ML time of Hanson. He's been getting on base, but it seems like his hitting stroke isn't there yet. Two teams (PIT and CWS) gave up on Hanson. I'm not ready to give up on Slater, sometimes it just takes a little more seasoning. After all Hanson had over 800 games in the minors. Slater was an amateur (3 seasons at Stanford) for much of his development and had fewer than 400 games in the minors. Maybe he'll find himself like Hanson apparently has.

I'm sort of surprised the Twins gave up on D-Rod. It's not like they are swimming in "#3 starters" or that his minors record was not up to snuff. He's the best pitcher on the Giants RIGHT NOW and would be the best pitcher in Minnesota, too, even with half the starts! I think he's very exciting regardless of how he projects for the future. Geez, he's pitching with poise and skill and winning games. What do we want? The Giants need good pitchers! Does Alen Hanson project to be a star? I don't know, but the Giants certainly need good hitters. Is his .284/.307/.474 slash line sustainable? Are we penciling him in to start next season? Tough questions, no easy answers. Hanson sure is fun to watch, I'll say that.

Dodgers just won in the 12th. Too bad. Great play from Gorkys and Buster to make that out at home. Man, Posey is such a great fielder. And a huge homer from Cutch--the Giants have a real shortage of power and it was great to see a big bomb in a big spot. But they could not score--again--and wasted a chance at a sweep. Dodgers put guys on in every frame and finally won by attrition. Giants really need some goddamn hitting, this was a winnable game. The FNG (Casey Kelly) gave up the winning rally.


nomisnala said...

The next day the giants 2 through 5 hitters go 1 for 20. The giants give up 14 hits, and double digit walks and lose 4-3 in extras. Dodgers had men on base all game long, giants had a few guys get on. Somehow the giants managed to make it an interesting game. I want electronic balls and strikes, especially in dodger giant series.

Brother Bob said...

McCutcheon looks like he enjoys being a Dodger-Beater. Too bad his 3-run homer wasn't quite enough. It made for a good game though. I didn't stay awake for the sad ending.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Adam Jones just cleared waivers. Does this have any significance for the Giants trading McCutchen?

Zo said...

Andrew McCutcheon is hitting just a hair over .250. His slugging is .415 and he is projected to finish with less than 20 hr. He will be a free agent after this season. What do you think he is worth? Adam Jones looks, statistically, like the same guy, not an upgrade.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Jones: .285/.317/.438 for 107 OPS+ and 0.8 fWAR, 33 yo, $17M
Cutch: .253/.353/.415 for 108 OPS+ and 0.6 fWAR, 31 yo, $15M

I see them as comparable players in terms of the waiver/trade/post-season eligibility deadline goes. (I'm not looking for the Giants to acquire more old players!) If Jones can go unclaimed then perhaps so can Cutch. He's not "worth" much on the trade market, and the Giants tend to hold on to guys rather than throw in the towel on the season, so I don't think he's going anywhere. But they have to think about it. If the team bottoms out before the end of the month and a playoff team needs an OF would the Giants try to move him? He'd have to pass through waivers, and his salary, even pro-rated, makes him expensive, and any trade return would be minimal, but . . .

I think the most likely thing is that the Giants will hang around the fringes of the race into September which would make any horse-trading moot. And they won't (I hope) make him a Qualifying Offer which would mean no free agent compensation. It's only a question of whether the marginal return for him would be worth the waiver dance. With Pence's $18.5M coming off the book would they look to retain Cutch assuming he'd sign a "cheap" deal like 2yr, $10M? That strikes me as a very Giants-y kind of move, paying for a few year of VSC from a likeable, marketable player who will at least deliver league-average performance. Someone like Slater or another youngster might fall flat completely and they'd need an old pro that Boch can run out there every day. Not that I think they SHOULD retain Cutch, just that I think they like to have guys like him around.


Ron said...

Interesting that you talk about 'Giants-y' moves. In my opinion, the 'Giants Method' has essentially failed for 4 consecutive Seasons now - making the playoffs in 2016 was a useless & humiliating aberration. Is it time for a new model? New Front Office & Field Management? I think so.

M.C. O'Connor said...

"Useless and humiliating aberration?" Seriously? Making the playoffs is a BAD THING? You got some 'splainin' to do, man. In 60 years in SF the team has made the post-season 12 times, 11 in my "era" as a fan. I got excited about every one of them. The only chance you get to win the World Series is to make the damn playoffs!

There are plenty of things to complain about the team, you get no argument there. I'm not defending "The Giants Way", just describing what I see. As much as we all like to talk about rebuilds and tear-downs and yadda-yadda-yadda I've yet to see this ownership-management group go down that road. Not saying it can't happen, but I've seen nothing so far that says it will. I suppose if they tank it in September that might change, but Larry Baer does not strike me as the excitable type.

Looks like the only good thing about 2018 is over and done with--Dereck Rodriguez goes to the DL. That's a real shame, he has been a lot of fun to watch and has pitched beautifully. Supposedly he got hurt in the Puig-Hundley fracas. God I hate "benches-clearing incidents."

Ron said...

We sucked in 2015, we scraped in in 2016 (but, predictably made fools of ourselves because of our fragile & mis-managed bullpen), we were legendarily bad in 2017, & we are mediocre in 2018. I don't really care about my first few exruciating decades of fan-dom - times are different now, & rich Teams playing in rich Cities should never suck ... not for one year ... definitely not for 4 consecutive years. (Plus, I was trying to be a little provocative w/ my comments, because the blog has become too measured & reasoned.)

Having said that, just like I said last year, I fear for Bochy's health. For that reason alone, he should just hang it up, having been the most accomplished Manager in SF Giants history.

The Dereck Rodriguez getting hurt in a stupid Puig-induced scrum thing is just f-ing typical. Supposedly, it's a minor strain - hope so - he's a bright spot.

El said...

Still think Cleve picks up Cutch at end of August.
AL central is secured, so they fill a desperate OF need @ 1 month salary.

G's get 2+ million off books, and could sign him off-season @ 2 yrs 10 mil if they like.


Brother Bob said...

Well I know I'm never measured or reasonable.

Zo said...

Fucking Puig. That guy owns us so hard. Every fucking time he acts like a dick, it winds up hurting us worse than it hurts the smog suckers. And his mustache looks stupid.

M.C. O'Connor said...

If the Giants had been schoolteachers, they'd have know that you have to ignore the goofball who acts out. Hundley may not have thrown a punch, but it is pretty obvious he talked some smack and equally as obvious that he was trying to get Puig to lose his cool. Hey, it worked. But it was an epic fail for the team. Just let Puig be Puig. Who gives a shit if he acts like a douche? Winning baseball teams just play--they don't let the other guys set the agenda. Puig has gotten under Bumgarner's skin and now Hundley's skin. He's laughing all the way to the bank. LA can afford to lose him for a couple of days. Getting our best young player hurt in a pointless "fracas" is bad business.

Yes, the Giants suck, and with this payroll they ought not to. What can you do? Get pissed off? Sure, I suppose, but I'm still going to get excited about the good shit. You guys must have seen the throw-and-tag from Gorkys to Buster to get the out at the plate in LA. Was that a great fucking play or what?!?!?

Zo said...

23 innings, 2 for 38 from our 3, 4, 5 and 6 hitters.

nomisnala said...

McCutchen is 3 or 4 years younger than Markakis. Since when is 31 an old player, especially for an outfielder. As far as run production is concerned, he has been our most productive player despite his dropoff in average and power. Apparently he is hitting the ball as hard as ever. Giant players need to adjust to the shifts.