The Giants delivered a stirring come-from-behind victory in Milwaukee today, taking two of three from the NL Central-leading Brewers. Brandon Belt hit another homer, this one a game-tying two-run blast in the 7th, and Tommy La Stella got another big hit, this one the game-winner in the 8th. Zack Littell starred out of the 'pen, getting the final six outs, with some help from a baserunning mistake. The Giants turned two when Eduardo Escobar failed to re-touch second base on a long fly out!
Johnny Cueto managed 5-1/3 and was charged with all four runs--one of them scored on a wild pitch by Jose Alvarez who finished the frame. Tony Watson worked the 7th, striking out two, before Littell's first-ever MLB save. Darin Ruf hit a homer in the 1st and also walked twice, Brandon Crawford had two hits and a run scored, and LaMonte Wade, Jr. had a hit, a walk, and a run scored.
Today was another huge win. The Giants continue to play great baseball, even on the road. The Brewers are a tough opponent and the games were tightly-contested. This team continues to feature its depth and show its tenacity. They are 30 games over .500 (71-41) and there are 50 games left in the season.
Off-day tomorrow and then a nine-game homestand starting Tuesday night at 6:45 against the Diamondbacks. Looks like it will be Alex Wood with Kevin Gausman getting an extra day.
Go Giants!
--M.C.
8 comments:
Did not look as if the diamondbacks fielded their best line up today behind Bumgarner against the Pads. Bumgarner pitched a good game in a two to zip loss.
On the Giants’ DFA of Aaron Sanchez: this puzzled some “hecklers.” But since S has no options, the only way to remove him from the roster was to DFA him; and for the team’s bullpen needs, they preferred Brebbia—Sanchez reportedly and maybe actually wants to be a starter, not a reliever, whereas Brebbia has always been a relief specialist. The Giants additionally have just added Matt Shoemaker and Tyler Chatwood to the organization, as spot starters and experienced relievers, so that there’s an alternative if in fact Sanchez doesn’t make it through waivers and get rehired on a minor league contract.
Yeah I saw the Shoemaker and Chatwood stories, we may see one of those guys yet. The Dodgers just signed Cole Hamels!
I was surprised about Sanchez because it seems like they put a lot of time and effort into him. I knew he had no options left and he'd have to go through waivers to stay with the club so the DFA was their only choice to free up the roster spot. But I did not expect such a quick decision on him, I thought he'd get another start.
It did seem surprising, as Brebbia is also not completely healthy after his surgery. Sanchez according to WAR has been a 0.7 WAR pitcher this year in limited innings. Wood is a 0.8 WAR pitcher or 0.9 WAR pitcher depending on whose stats one looks at. Or perhaps it shows how flawed WAR is as a stat. I do not know what happened behind closed doors, but when it comes to just looking at best player, and best player options, compared to who else is available, the move is surprising. Even though his fastball velocity is down, he still seemed to find a way to get outs.
As Roger Munter notes (in his wonderful blog/newsletter They’re R Giants), Sanchez can’t be traded, since he’s been on the 40-man and post-Deadline waiver acquisitions are now disallowed. As a free agent, he may re-sign with the Giants. Also I note from Munter’s reports, that Chatwood and Shoemaker were both unimpressive in their debuts for Sacramento.
Fangraphs says Wood has been worth 1.3 WAR, and Sanchez 0.4.
ESPN has Wood as 0.8 WAR and Sanchez as 0.7 WAR. Nice to know that WAR is not always calculated using the same criteria.
Baseball-Reference has its own version of WAR, often abbreviated bWAR.
FanGraphs WAR is usually abbreviated fWAR.
WAR is very useful as a thumbnail sketch that sums up the whole player. It's an estimate of his "value." I don't get too fussy about decimal/fractional WAR, I think in whole numbers, there's too much uncertainty otherwise. WAR has a cumulative component--playing time matters. It works best for starters and regulars.
Average starters and regulars are roughly 2 WAR players. A 4-WAR player is really good. A 6-WAR player is an MVP candidate. A large fraction (35-40%) of MLB players will finish the year as 0-1 WAR players.
It's always hard to capture relief pitcher value, which is why a lot of people prefer "underlying" metrics like K/9, BB/9, H/9, HR/9, etc. A reliever with 1 or 1+ WAR is kicking ass.
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