The Giants put a lot of guys on base last night and had lots of chances to score but hit into four double plays and could not get the big run-scoring hit to get past Arizona. They fought back from an early deficit and had the bases loaded with no outs in the 8th, down by a run, but failed to get it done. Mauricio Dubon made a Little League mistake on the bases and turned a pop out by Alex Dickerson into a double play and that took the momentum out of that potential rally. Steven Duggar was at third base and feinted toward home (the fly ball was too shallow to score on) to draw the throw, unfortunately all he did was deke his teammate! Dubon broke for third and got hung up when the ball came back to the cutoff man. Dubon made a poor decision on a throw from centerfield earlier in the game that contributed to a run by the Diamonbacks. He looks good as an outfielder and seems to have the range and athleticism for the position but he is still really raw as a player.
Tyler Anderson gave up four runs in his four innings and Sam Coonrod got lit up for two more in his 1/3 inning of relief and that was enough. The 'pen did fine the rest of the way with Sam Selman delivering a very sharp six-out stint that gave the home squad a fighting chance. Five runs ought to be enough for a win but the lack of consistent pitching keeps the Giants struggling to reach a .500 record.
Brandon Belt was hitting .128/.227/.231 on August 15th. He got three hits the next day and has gone on a tear since and is now slashing .341/.429/.659 for a 1.088 OPS! FanGraphs rates him at 1.3 WAR and Baseball-Reference says 1.2, in either case he's second on the team to Mike Yastrzemski (2.4f, 2.2b).
Madison Bumgarner faces his old team at 6:15 tonight. Trevor Cahill gets the call.
GO GIANTS!
--M.C.
4 comments:
Good reading from Joel Sherman on ideas for the future of baseball. (Hat tip: Baseball Musings) If you are a traditionalist you probably won't like it, but I think there are pieces worth discussing. For one, the 7-inning double-header may be gaining traction. DHs aren't scheduled any more but maybe they could be with a tweak like this one. Having a taxi squad (and extra pitcher and catcher, for example) for use in a DH could make them more workable, right now you get an extra guy.
I think the other DH, the designated hitter, will become universal. I know--"the horror, the horror!"--but we may have to live with it.
Also this magic runner in extras is getting a lot of play and there seems to be a positive feeling growing about it. I'd prefer to see it implemented in the 12th, that way the home team has a chance to bat their whole lineup one time through (3 in the 9th, 3 in the 10th, 3 in the l1th) before the magic runner is applied. In the playoffs you'd still play "traditional" extras, but in the regular season it could be easily applied.
Integration, television, and free agency brought massive changes to the game, and now we see the impacts of analytics and biomechanics, for example, so it's not like baseball has been the same since the beginning. Even the things we have counted on, like the "integrity" of the baseball, are in serious doubt. The modern game has revealed a large variation in the ball's physical properties, with some batches livelier than others for example. The manufacturing techniques can be improved to reduce the variation, but balls are made from natural materials like cowhide, cork, and wool yarn so there is a source of variation that is hard to control. Not to mention things like the use of humidors because of stadia in environmentally challenging places (arid desert and high elevation).
2020 has certainly been WEIRD! But I'm glad we have baseball, no matter how poorly the Giants play!
For folks worried about the the Three True Outcomes (BB, SO, HR) dominating baseball, it would not be hard to fix that. If you can "juice" the ball you can "deaden" it as well, so changing the ball (or the bats!) to make the bat-ball collision less elastic ("squishier") you could conceivably alter the game to more "old-school" style with spray hitters, base stealing, and bunting emerging again. You could also lower the mound.
And I have not even mentioned the biggest possible change to baseball EVER: robot umps. I'm skeptical of the technology being ready, but I get the feeling baseball wants to deploy it in beta-form in multiple locations real soon with the intention of fast-tracking it to the majors.
Anyway, these are just random thoughts on a day I'm stuck inside because of the wildfire smoke (and the mercury racing to 100!).
You didn't mention the odd use of notes taken from the back pocket of the pitcher. I think we decided it was a way to avoid sign stealing; perhaps another change for the future.
Indeed.
Post a Comment