I can't pin this one on closer Camilo Doval even though he gets tagged with the loss. The Giants lineup just can't score enough runs to support their pitchers. And Doval has been heroically good; perhaps he's just fatigued or is over-exposed. You can't expect the bullpen to keep shouldering the load all season long. They've kept the team's head above water most of the year. Kap & Co. deserve a lot of credit for getting the team to this place with only two starters, a disappearing offense, and a boatload of rookies.
Speaking of rookies, Kyle Harrison's debut has been hyped and over-hyped. He can't "save the season" fer chrissakes, nor can he do anything except be Kyle Fecking Harrison. Today he gave up a two-run homer to Bryce Harper, a former phenom himself, and there is no shame in that. He also whiffed five guys in 3-1/3, that's half of the ten outs he got. The young southpaw threw 65 pitches and hit one batter and walked one batter, yielding five hits and two runs. What's weird is that he dominated the Phillies right-handed hitters but had trouble with the lefties! Regardless, welcome to The Show, kid! Just be yourself and keep throwing strikes!
I'm pretty excited that they finally called him up. He's not going to move the needle a whole lot because even in the best-case scenario he'll get six starts (maybe seven) with 36 games to play. He'll be limited with pitch counts and whatnot so the most important thing is that he gets some seasoning and tackles his command issues. That will get him in proper shape for 2024.
The getaway game is 1:05 PT tomorrow. Alex Cobb is listed as the starter.
Go Giants!
--M.C.
p.s. Tonight was Game 126 which is 7/9 of the season, the completion of the seventh seasonal inning. You can see that the Giants have really hit a wall in the second half. Here is the breakdown:
That's 65-61 (.516), tied now with Arizona for second-place in the NL West.
5 comments:
Giants signed Paul DeJong to play SS. BCraw is out at least a week, maybe 10 days.
I don't know what the roster move will be but I suppose Schmitt will be optioned.
FanGraphs took a look at Harrison's debut.
I think Harrison's "control issues" can be attributed to adrenaline. He mostly threw strikes. And with the completion of Arizona's game, the Giants are in third in the division and no longer a wild card team. I expected some movement in the final month when teams mostly play in their own division, but didn't expect the Giants to flail their way out of the race by then. The Giants have had a lot of success with their bullpen, but it's hard to expect them to be perfect. We have a lot of games left against LA and Colorado, but only 2 against Arizona.
Harrison walked a lot of people in the minors (4.8 BB/9). It looks like he's got a lot of movement on his fastball and can get swings-and-misses even without the elite velocity. All the balls hit off him last night were crushed. He mostly threw the four-seamer but he's got a "sweeper" that Statcast calls a "slurve."
He just turned 22 (last week) so it's very exciting to have him on the big club. Matt Cain got seven starts in 2005 and managed to make it through 46-1/3 IP (including a CG!) which was pretty impressive for a 20-year old. Cain was the youngest player in MLB that year. When Logan Webb was a 22-year old rookie in 2019 he got 8 starts and managed 39-2/3 IP. He didn't put his game together until two years later in 2021. It will be interesting to see how Harrison's rookie season unfolds.
Six rookies saw action last night. Besides Harrison we had Walker, Bailey, Sabol, Matos, Meckler, and Schmitt. When's the last time the Giants fielded so many rookies?
I guess my math is off--that's a total of SEVEN rookies! With Tristan Beck that makes EIGHT on the 26-man roster.
Paul DeJong joins the team. Looks like he's wearing #18. He was second to Cody Bellinger in Rookie of the Year votes in 2017. In 2019 he was a 3-WAR player and an All-Star but his career has been on a downward trajectory since. He'll be the starting SS I suspect until BCraw returns. Hjelle and Ramos went back down to AAA and Mathias went to the IL.
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