The Giants followed up their hot start to last night's game with a feeble finish and the Rockies pounced on them for a 5-3 comeback win. It was another confounding and disappointing effort from starter Carlos Rodón who threw 50 pitches in the first two frames. Colorado hitters tagged him for 33 foul balls in his four innings! Rodón is so finely-tuned that if he's off by a hair's breadth he can't get anyone out. We knew his was a high-risk singing but the upside is so compelling that it's easy to see why Farhan & Co. were willing to do it. Even with the poor start the Giants lineup managed only two hits after the 1st inning and that just isn't going to work against major league teams. I guess we can be thankful we aren't the Phillies with their inflated payroll and sub-.500 record or the Angels with the two most exciting talents in the game (Trout and Ohtani) and their 13-game losing streak. Both clubs fired their managers. It's never good when a manager can't make it through the first third of the season! And it's not like those guys were chumps--both Girardi and Maddon have strong track records of success.
The Giants aren't going to fire anyone anytime soon, they just aren't wired that way, but it has been a frustrating start to the season. Injuries have taken their toll, to be sure, but other than the opening weeks the team has mostly played below their capabilities. It is difficult to put a finger on the real problem as it appears to be team-wide. I suppose it's the inconsistency that sticks out. The bullpen is perhaps the biggest culprit but the starters have not helped them out by putting down more quality starts. And it's clear the fielding has not been up to snuff. The team's FIP (3.50) is fourth-best in MLB and it's a full run lower than the 4.59 runs allowed per game (22nd). Too many bases and runs are given away by poor play. There's no doubt some of that is bad luck. We've seen a lot of dinks and dunks kill the club and one can only hope that the bounces start to go the other way real soon. The staff has mostly done a good job of getting ground balls and limiting big hits. It's just not working out!
The hitters are still putting up a decent line (105 OPS+, 5.11 rpg) but, like last night, seem to disappear for big stretches. The Rockies allow the most runs in MLB but the Giants could not sustain the effort and take advantage. Again, inconsistency.
There is plenty of baseball left. The Best Team in the Universe may be in LA but even the Dodgers have under-performed (there are three teams with a better record!) and the Giants are still within striking distance in the West. I'm looking forward to seeing some better outcomes real soon.
A big shout-out to long-time RMC commenter nomisnala for the thoughtful and passionate contributions to our little group! Thanks for always being on hand to keep the discussion rolling. And a hat-tip to The Mystic Zo for chipping in when I was gone--you need to do that more often. You don't have to wait for when I'm away from my desk!
Alex Wood gets the ball at 6:45 (PT) tonight.
Go Giants!
--M.C.
4 comments:
Here's an excerpt from Baggs' article on The Athletic that looks at the Giants season so far:
. . . The Giants are getting precisely the kind of contact that they want. Only the Dodgers are getting softer contact than the Giants, whose opponents’ average exit velocity is 87.5 mph. Only the Yankees and Brewers have been better at avoiding the fat part of the bat than the Giants, whose opponents’ 4.2 percent barrel rate is the third lowest in the majors. No staff is better than the Giants at getting groundballs. Their 9-degree average launch angle is the lowest in the majors and their 0.93 ground ball/fly ball ratio is the highest.
And the Blackmon homer was just the fifth three-run shot that Giants pitchers have allowed this season. Giants pitchers still haven’t allowed a grand slam, either. They entered the day tied for the fewest home runs allowed in the major leagues with two or more runners on base. Their staff-wide philosophy is to reduce damage and their pitchers have remained among the best in baseball at doing just that. The Giants have scored 123 runs on homers while allowing just 72 runs on homers, more or less reestablishing one of their most important advantages from last year’s 107-win season. Giants pitchers don’t get beat by a damaging shot like Blackmon’s very often.
But it’s those other balls in play — the bleeders, the tweeners, the skipping groundballs down the lines and up the middle and past the reach of outstretched gloves — that continue to add up. They’re costing the Giants runs. And even when they don’t cost them runs, they’re resulting in higher pitch counts, more pitching changes and more taxing, inefficient innings.
In terms of defensive efficiency, a plain accounting of how often balls in play are converted to outs, the Giants’ .673 percentage is better than only the Rockies and Nationals and 26 points lower than the major league average. Last year, with many of the same range-challenged players, they finished with the sixth-best defensive efficiency (.707) and outperformed the major-league average (.699).
The Giants are beating themselves. The fielding has not backed up the pitching. Maybe other teams have noticed the lack of range and decided that just putting balls in play will be their best bet. Before Blackmon's homer there were two singles that bounced through the infield. Bad luck is certainly a part of it but overall the fielding has not been there this season.
Joey Bart sent down to AAA.
Giants acquire 31-year old RH C Austin Wynns from Philly for 25-year old LHP Michael Plassmeyer who is at AAA Sacto.
Wynns is from Poway and played ball at Cal State Fresno. He was at AAA Lehigh but has some ML experience with Baltimore.
Sign of panic?
No. They stuck with Bart a lot longer than I expected. He has options remaining so it doesn't hurt to send him down.
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