Brandon Crawford finally hit his 20th home run! He had been stuck on 19 for what, over a month? But he looked good tonight to give the Giants their first run, he was on base 3 times and scored twice. Madison Bumgarner was on the mound. This might have been his 20th victory, but, after his first try at #19 against Arizona that was thwarted by the Giants inept offense, this try was thwarted by the bullpen. With help from the offense.
Angel Pagan led off the game with a double. On Matt Duffy's single with 1 out, Pagan took a weird route and made a weird slide at home and was called out. Brandon Crawford chalked up the first Giants score when he led off the 2nd inning with a home run. The Giants then proceeded to put men on 1st and 2nd, only to have Kevin Frandsen (remember him?) ground into a double play. That put Marlon Byrd at 3rd with Madison Bumgarner at the plate. Madison struck out and it seemed to rattle him, he thought the called 3rd strike was a ball. Joe West was behind the plate, and of course Madison did not make things easier on himself by questioning the strike call. He may have carried it onto the field as he then gave up a walk to one of the Uptons, a single to Gyorko and a home run to Matt Norris. Still, the Giants managed to eek out 3 runs by the middle of the 5th for a 4 - 3 lead, with the final run coming on a balk by Ian Kennedy. Madison went 7 strong, threw 120 pitches gave up the 3 runs on 3 hits, walked 3 and struck out 9. He has netted 228 K this season, a best for him.
The bullpen wasted no time giving this game away, however. Strickland in the 8th walked the first batter, after Lopez did his job against Cory Spangenberg, Sergio Romo allowed Matt Kemp to tie the score. In the 9th, Mike Broadway put a runner on before Josh Osich allowed a single and lost the game (Broadway got the L) on 2 pitches. The offense however, deserves mention. Matt Duffy had 3 hits, Pagan 2, De Aza 2, Byrd 2 and Tomlinson 2. But the Giants were 2 for 15 with RISP.
So the Giants drop another series and LA has knocked 4 games off of their magic number in the last 2 days. They're coming from behind to win, we are coming from ahead to lose. So the Giants are 11 - 8 against San Diego this season, and 8 - 11 against Arizona, with final series to be played against LA and Colorado.
4 comments:
The last two nights have been bullpen nightmares. Boch channeled his inner Felipe the other night with all those changes. I guess when everyone you put out there stinks it up you have to try the next guy. Really the team should have scored a hell of a lot more last night, there were too many wasted chances. Buster could have had 5 RBI! And Joe West is a douche. Sure, Bum doesn't help himself out with the chest-thumping, but West is looking for a fight, and that's unprofessional. Umpires should be like stage managers in a play--doing a crucial job but without attracting attention to themselves. Joe wants to be part of the drama and that's not what he's there for. I can't believe we've had to watch his childish antics for all these years.
I'm happy to see Crawford looking healthy again. He's so goddamn valuable to the team!
I thought you'd be kicking, screaming, and dropping f-bombs after the Giants blew another one for Bum. Looks like "20 wins" probably won't happen for the big fella. I'm not much on personal milestones, I have to admit. I used to care about that stuff, then Matt Cain came along and showed the folly of it all by being great and barely cracking .500. Then the team won the Series and everything else cease to matter except the final score!
Speaking of the team, they are going flat real fast. It ain't pretty.
https://youtu.be/CtGxusvUT3k
I more or less expected it. If the rotations hold, Madbum will face off against Kershaw and then pitch the last game of the season. So in order to get him to 20, Bochy could let him pitch the last game, if he picks up a W against Kershaw. I am sure he will give it his best. Last night, he and Boch had a conversation before the 8th. He was already 120 pitches in - it's not like he was sitting at 95 or something manageable. Then again, with the number of hits the Giants put up, they should have had 6 or 7 runs.
As I commented earlier, let's just get the waiting over before LA gets to SF. Oakland has Sunny Gray going tonight, a couple quick wins by the smog suckers over the Roxies, and we're done with this charade.
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