The Giants got back in the win column last night behind a strong start from Kevin Gausman and homers by Donovan Solano and Alex Dickerson. The 7-1 victory featured the return of Tommy La Stella who had two hits and two walks and a nice bounceback by reliever Jay Jackson who struck out three of the four batters he faced in his inning of work.
Last night was also Game 108, the end of the sixth seasonal inning, which means we are two-thirds of the way through. Only 54 games remain. The Giants are in first place by 3-1/2 games over the Dodgers and their 68-40 (.630) record is tops in MLB.
The Giants have been remarkably consistent, as you can see above, with a winning record in each of the 18-game divisions. If you look at monthly results you see the same thing: April 16-10, May 18-10, June 16-9, and July 15-10. They are now 3-1 in August and 11-8 since the Break. If they want to finish with 100 wins (wouldn't that be something?) they need to go 32-22 (.593) the rest of the way. So, can they play .600 ball for two more months?
Anthony DeScalfani was placed on the 10-day IL but Kap says he only expects him to miss one start which will likely go to Aaron Sanchez. Conner Menez was DFA'd--he was at AAA but on the 40-man roster. Brandon Belt should be activated today or tomorrow with Kevin Gausman going on paternity leave. When he returns the roster crunch will hit. Someone will have to get sent down! It's a good thing when such decisions are painful, it means you have a deep ballclub.
Alex Wood this afternoon at 12:40 PT.
Go Giants!
--M.C.
update: Giants win 5-4 in 10 innings. Down 4-0 the Giants rallied in the 9th to tie it and won it in the 10th. Arizona starter Merrill Kelly was dominant through the first eight frames but the Diamondbacks bullpen couldn't get it done. LaMonte Wade had the game-tying hit and Kris Bryant the game-winner. Logan Webb gets the start in Milwaukee tomorrow at 5:10 PT. GO GIANTS!
9 comments:
I hope the paternity leave, and prior the leave because his wife was ill during the labor ordeal, that it does not affect Gausman's pitching. Jackson tried not to hang any sliders this time. He did hang one, but it was a bit inside and it was pulled foul. Although I do not have twitter, I heard that Jackson was attacked brutally on twitter. Glad that he had an excellent bounce back performance. Some of the issue was that he seemed to have temporarily lost his slider, and again the management philosophy is to put the pitcher right back in the next opportunity. He had not worked out the issue, and the same poor results happened twice in a row. If he can keep that pitch working, he will show that he is more than a journeyman ball player. If he cannot we will learn why. His fastball looks like a very good pitch on its own merits.
I am not totally sure how accurate the Arizona announcers on the radio are but before the game they stated that the giants are 28-9 in games that Casali started. They also said he has the best cERA in baseball at 2.73. Nevertheless, the ball is just not bouncing the giants way so far into the fifth inning. Arizona is doing a great job in positioning their fielders. Of interest the ball four for the walk bringing in a run, seemed to be a pitch definitely in the strike zone. Of similar interest, the Marlin's radio announcer said a bad call vs. the Mets on a 3-2 pitch that should have been a strike, yielded a walk to the Marlins, and the Marlins rallied after that. He said, one pitch can change a game, and the players know it. And he said that is what makes baseball such a great game and so exciting. I prefer good calls, and game outcomes not to be determined by umpire mistakes.
There's a lot of randomness in sports. Baseball fans have to live with a lot of randomness. It would be great to have a more predictable, consistent strike zone, but whether the tech they have right now can really pull it off remains to be seen. I'm skeptical. But I've no doubt the robo-ump will be here soon. I suspect human umpires are likely at their limit as to what they can discern. It's hard to see those things in real time and make the correct call.
When we were younger we were led to believe that umpire accuracy was close to 99 percent plus. That errors were rare, and when one occurred it was a big deal and made news. Today with the amazing large high definition TV's and strike box technology, it makes it easier to see that 99 percent is a pipe dream. Also the rules for plays to be reviewed is an admission that calls are wrong quite frequently, at least enough that teams should get a chance to have bad calls overturned in every game. Maybe if we saw the games in fuzzy black and white on smaller screens, only the worst calls would be obvious. We know that the majority of the MLB umpires are among the best of the best, but all the fans and players know of a few that are just not up to snuff. If it all evened out, it would seem as if it is part of the game, but we know it does not always even out. Amazing comeback today. Years ago, today's starting pitcher for the Dbacks would have been given the opportunity to start the ninth inning and possibly complete the game. Today we had the chance to watch another teams starter leave with a 4 run lead, and one inning to go, and watch his W, turn into a no decision, and eventually a team loss.
Yeah it's all about TV. We can see it all in high-def super slo-mo and it shows that there are limits to real-time human perception.
The game was the best comeback since 1993 and the best on the road since 1989. Both of those years featured really good Giants teams!
Interesting FanGraphs article about late-inning leads that says it is getting harder for teams to hold such leads, that blown saves and blown "holds" are on the rise.
That matches with what I been feeling about this year. Bullpens are more volatile and closer/setup man roles are spread around more. Starters don't go as deep so more bullpen arms are needed and thus more late-inning match-ups feature mid-level relievers, not always the high-leverage guys.
Baseball is on pace for a record number (~750) of blown saves this season.
So, I think we have to hold on to our hats the rest of the way. There are going to be a lot of nail-biting finishes, late blown leads, and miraculous comebacks.
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/late-inning-leads-are-becoming-less-secure/
Sorry I didn't put the link in properly.
The must pitch to 3 men rule for relievers in an inning definitely has an effect. It would probably drive a manager like Felipe Alou to insanity. Throwing in that one ultra effective Loogy Like the Giants did with Javy Lopez, was key in many of their post season wins. Those baseball analysts that have diminished the importance of a good bullpen and have it as the last item teams need when they are putting together a roster, are making a big mistake. Yesterday the giants bullpen did not give up a hit. Two walks I think by Leone, but otherwise they pitched 6 Y. Petit type of innings.
The three batter rule was supposed to speed up games but of course it had little effect on that. The worst outcome is when a guy clearly has nothing and you have to leave him in for two more batters. That's just stupid. Otherwise, I don't think the rule has had much impact on the game. Late-inning high-leverage situations are still exciting and tactically interesting. We all loved Javy Lopez, of course, but teams were moving away from LOOGYs anyway as roster spots have become too important and relief pitchers are being used more and more.
I don't know which baseball analysts are saying bullpens aren't important, everything I read is pointing the opposite way. The "third-time-through-the-order penalty" is now accepted baseball knowledge and starters are throwing fewer innings, and since strikeouts are up that means pitch counts are up, too. Bullpens are bigger now and relievers throw a larger share of a team's innings.
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