The Giants were not built on 3-true outcome guys, where the players swing for the fence and if they hit the ball, it stands a good chance of going out. They were built of a philosophy of a bunch of guys hitting, all together, to produce runs. Today they got 5 hits spread over the game and didn't look particularly good at the plate in their first test of 2019 in San Diego. The net result: San Diego 2, Giants 0.
5 hits isn't going to do it. Brandon Belt, for one, needs to hit - he looked particularly inept (which he can do from time to time). Buster Posey got 1, but was immediately erased on a fielder's choice. Brandon Crawford got 1, Evan Longoria got 2, and Madison Bumgarner got 1, but was quickly picked off. Add 1 walk, by Connor Joe, and that describes the Giants familiarity with the basepaths.
It's too bad, because Madison Bumgarner pitched a great game. 7 innings, 9 strike outs, only 1 walk. A lot of swinging strikes. He only gave up 5 hits, 1 of those a solo shot by Wil Myers, and 1 was an rbi single to Wil Myers. Madison succeeded in putting Manny Machado down 3 times, 2 of them on strikeouts. Nick Vincent threw a hitless 8th.
Aren't hitters supposed to be ahead of pitchers early in the season? Well, the doggers hit 8 home runs today, hanging 7 runs on Greinke in 3 2/3 innings, and 12 runs total. They won the National League last year and have a couple of rookies set to crack their roster. The Giants will see them in their next series, then Tampa Bay at home followed by San Diego again and Colorado. That's 14 games against NL West teams in the first 17. A chance for the Giants to prove they aren't a lost cause this season, but it will take a bit of scoring to do it.
5 comments:
At least it was a quick death, only 2:18. (Look no further, Rob Manfred!)
Bum was great, that was nice to see.
I am an unapologetic Madbum fanatic. He was wonderful and I enjoyed that a ton. Hope the whole no hitting thing doesn't get out of hand.
Giants had picked up C Tom Murphy when the Rockies released him, they then traded Murphy to the Mariners for a 20-year old RHP named Jesus Ozoria. He's from the DR and has 65 IP of experience in the Dominican Summer League. They have not said where he'll be assigned--maybe Salem-Keizer Volcanoes in the Northwest League (short-season class-A).
There's some interest in the Giants Augusta GreenJackets pitching staff (South Atlantic League, class-A), among those who follow such things. The group is Sean Hjelle, Gregory Santos, Jake Wong, Juan De Paula, Seth Corry, and Blake Rivera. An organizational re-build (something the Giants are doing at every level but the majors) is an under-the-radar sort of thing, but will (we hope) pay off in two ways. One is obvious--develop some ML-ready talent! The other is trade chips. The Giants have not acquired much in trade lately because they don't have the minor-league depth to deal away top prospects. Let's hope that's changing under FZ.
I love MadBum, too. I hope they don't trade him. Every pundit in the USA is predicting/expecting such a move this July.
the giants hitting is feckless. Maybe we should have eased the rookies in.
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