Madison Bumgarner threw seven innings last night and allowed six hits, one a solo homer by Curt Casali, out-pitching Johnny Cueto and leading the D-Backs to a win. Casali was charged with a weird error in the 2nd that contributed to the scoring when he accidentally touched a loose ball with his mask. That advanced the baserunners and they both later scored. He pulled off his mask to find a pitch in the dirt and wound up using it to block the ball, which is illegal.The Giants hit some balls hard but had nothing to show for it, and Arizona got a few breaks on some dinkers, but that's baseball. Cueto walked four batters--including Bumgarner, who later scored--in his five frames and that's never good. Aaron Sanchez pitched the final three innings and he also walked four batters but did not allow any runs. Giants pitchers have been really good this year not allowing bases on balls and that needs to continue. The Astros blanked the Dodgers in LA so the lead stays at 3-1/2 games.
Kevin Gausman goes tonight, 6:40 PT.
Go Giants!
--M.C.
2 comments:
The ball seemed to have already stopped. Putting the mask over it seemed as if he put his mask over a dead ball. He did not use the mask to stop the ball from moving. I wondered if the rule should have applied. Using the mask to stop the ball, or block the ball while in his hand and not on his face would have been a violation but I am not so sure that the rule interpretation met with the intent of the rule. It was interesting that the first place teams in the N.L. each lost to the last place teams on Tuesday. It was an underdog bettors paradise. One did not see Bumgarner complaining about calls yesterday as he did so often when he was on the giants. It seems pitchers moving away from that giants uniform, allows them not to get so squeezed by the men in uniform behind the plate. Hopefully the giants can get back to their winning ways on Wednesday. Giants did hit into quite a bit of bad luck on Tuesday.
The ball was still moving. It looked like Casali did it unconsciously--a momentary lapse of concentration. I could see where you would want to corral a rolling ball, it's a baseball player's instinct, like when a batter sometimes uses his bat to stop a loose ball from getting away. The umpire had to make the call, it was a clear violation of the rule regardless of the catcher's intent (or lack of intent). Just shows how focused you have to be every second when you are on the field, even a tiny moment of inattention can lead to a big mistake.
The Giants need Gausman to get his mojo going again. Starting pitching fueled the strong start to the season but the rotation has been a little shaky in the second half, it's time to get that turned around!
Post a Comment