Thursday, August 8, 2019

Malaise Snapped

This is why you don't trade Madison Bumgarner for a hope and a prayer and a PTBNL.

The Giants had not won since the last time Madison pitched, although the last time he did not get a decision.  That was at Curs Field in Denver, when the Giants scored runs in the 8th inning, after Madison was out of the game, to beat the Rockies.  Then came a loss, and 3 more at home to the Nats in which the Giants were simply unable to compete.

Tonight, Madison took a no-hitter into the 6th inning.  He was removed after 7 innings and 85 pitches, having surrendered exactly 1 hit, 0 runs and 1 walk.  Not sure why he was taken out at all, the announcers speculated that it was because they wanted to get Will Smith some work.  Madison had 1 hit in 1 official at bat, and 2 walks and scored a run.  That was primarily because the Phils were simply not going to let him beat them with a home run.

The Giants scored 5 runs, 3 rbi's for Yaz on a double and a home run, Belt had an rbi (and Pillar scored on a wild pitch).  Final score, Giants 5, Phils 0.

Aaron Nola is a serious stud.  That the Giants got to him (he lasted 5 innings) is an accomplishment in itself.  Now, can they act like a winning team again, or was this a one-off?  We'll find out tomorrow.  It would sure help to get a decent start though.  Those have been too rare of late.

7 comments:

M.C. O'Connor said...

Poor starts and no hitting means you lose games. In July the team averaged almost six runs per game (144/25 or 5.72 rpg) and gave up only about four (98/25 or 3.92 rpg). That's a winning combo. Lately the starters have not been able to keep a lid on things and the bats have gone cold.

Last night was great. Nice effort from Bum on both sides of the ball. Yaz' homer was really jacked. I thought the double he hit was a routine out but it just kept carrying. Of his 59 hits, 26 are for extra bases.

Let's hope they can get a hot streak going and get to a .500 record again.

M.C. O'Connor said...

You noticed we had a new OF, Joey Rickard. He was picked up off the waiver wire in June and has been at AAA. He's 28 and has over 900 PA in the bigs. He plays all three OF positions, that's probably why he was called up over Chris Shaw or Jaylin Davis.

Zo said...

Jaylin Davis has 47 games in AAA, total. Chris Shaw just got promoted to AAA. As much as we are excited to see these future stars, their stardom is very probably still very much future.
Rickard (once again, a who-the-fuck-is-that guy) was pretty hot at AAA before the call up, plus his (as you mention) versatility.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Giants caught some lightning-in-a-bottle with Dickerson and Yaz. Maybe a guy like Rickard or Davis can have a similar good stretch at some point in this last 1/3 of the season. It would really help!

campanari said...

Lightning in a bottle? I think the high voltage/wattage/amperage is between the ears of Farhan Zaidi, isn’t it? Look how Vogt is doing with us, and Gerber in AAA. For Davis or McCarthy or Rickard to pan out is more like lightning and a church steeple than in a bottle.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Vogt has turned out to be a great move. They were willing to hang on to him all through his injury and it has paid off. He's a good hitter and a great platoon player for Posey.

I think the FZ approach is continuous upgrading. There's no set roster, it is always in flux. Eventually you'll turn over enough rocks and you'll find a gold nugget!

nomisnala said...

Washington throws some mediocre starters at the giants and they all look like Cy Young. The Phillies toss a legitimate stud starter at the giants, and they handle him scoring more runs than they did in the entire Washington Nationals series.