The Giants threw a shutout against the Dodgers this afternoon in San Francisco. It was the tenth anniversary of Matt Cain's perfect game so it was fitting that the pitchers shined. Carlos Rodón allowed only two hits and three walks in his six innings, whiffing eight in the process, and turned the ball over to the 'pen after 98 pitches. He was not exactly efficient (34 balls, 17 fouls) but he was effective. John Brebbia gave up a hit and a walk in the 7th but kept LA off the board. A great play on a pop-up by Wilmer Flores behind third base helped him out. Brebbia induced a Mookie Betts grounder to end the inning. In the 8th Dominic Leone gave up two hits but did not allow a run. Again a big fielding play--this time Austin Slater backing up Yaz in right-center--helped him out. Leone struck out Chris Taylor with two on to close the frame. The last three outs belonged to Jake McGee and he dispatched Cody Bellinger, Max Muncy, and Austin Barnes on nine pitches.
The Dodgers pitched well, too. Austin Slater led off the game for the Giants and homered off Julio Urías. Darin Ruf struck out (one of ten by Urías) but Mike Yastrzemski launched another homer. That 2-0 lead held up the rest of the way. Both teams only managed five hits apiece. The Giants had some chances late against Evan Phillips, Alex Vesia, and Brusdar Graterol but were stymied each time.
It was an exceptional weekend of winning baseball for the home squad. They looked flat against the last-place Rockies but found their groove against the first-place Dodgers. The Giants are 17-13 at home, 16-13 on the road, and 17-15 against good (above .500) teams. Since they are 33-26 overall (.559) they must be 16-11 against bad (below .500) teams. It looks like the Giants are pretty much the same team all the time! The 37-23 Dodgers are still in first place but the 37-24 Padres are only a half game back. The third-place Giants are 3-1/2 games back in the West and have the ninth-best record in MLB.
Three more games remain on the homestand. The Kansas City Royals come to town for night games on Monday and Tuesday (6:45 PT) followed by a day game (12:45) on Wednesday. Thursday is a travel day. Alex Wood starts tomorrow. Logan Webb is scheduled for Tuesday.
Go Giants!
--M.C.
4 comments:
As far as pitch efficiency goes, one bad call may have cost Rodon about 10 pitches and possibly an inning. A called strike 3 on a beautiful slider to freeman which caught quite a bit of the plate was called a ball and he later walked him. then to get the additional out he threw at least 7 more pitches. what made it even worse was Pederson was called out on an identical pitch. It was a strike in both cases, but Freeman received a gift. I thought it could come back to haunt us, but it did not.
What a series! There's nothing quite like a sweep of LA. Every game was thrilling. The bullpen made it "torture," but they came through when it counted.
It was a great weekend of baseball for Giants fans, that's for sure. We needed a pick-me-up after the last few weeks of maddeningly inconsistent play.
The Giants, and Rodon in particular, like to throw their 4-seamers (big heat) at the top of the zone. Rodon was not getting those calls early in the game but it seemed like the ump called more high strikes later. I remember that call on Freeman, that did extend the inning.
I get mad about the umpiring but then I realize there are probably no other humans on the planet that could even get close to what they do. They are making judgments at the very limit of human perception. The good ones are right 95-96% of the time. The bad ones are only about 92-93%!
I think a robo-ump is inevitable, and probably a good thing. Modern umps will not just apply the rules and run the games but also interface with the technology that's recording the action in order to make the best calls. Strikes and balls should be consistent regardless of how one draws the strike zone. A robo-ump can be reprogrammed to adjust the size of the zone and implemented across the game quickly. MLB deadened the ball and cracked down on sticky stuff and there has been a noticeable decrease in homers, strikeouts, and walks and an increase in balls in play and other hits (1B, 2B, 3B). So the "tweaking" appears to be working, or at least moving the game in the intended direction (more action, fewer three true outcomes).
The next change to come, before robo-umps, will be a pitch clock. Man, some of the pitchers (on both sides) this weekend worked WAY TOO SLOWLY. Get the fucking ball and throw the fucking ball. And keep batters in the damn box. Get ready for a pitch clock. Next year might be too soon for the old guys but by 2024 I'm willing to bet it will be part of MLB games. There's already an existing hack in amateur ball: if a pitcher steps off and fakes a throw to a base the clock gets reset. So with a guy on the next pitch could still take an eternity! It will be interesting to see how MLB goes about it.
Many of the umps are very good. I get less happy when some of them seem to make their mistakes in a given game in a one sided manor. If they make similar mistakes, and very few on either side it is not as bad. But when the mistakes seem to predominate in favor of one side it is maddening.
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