Monday, September 3, 2018

Lefties Labor in Loss

COL 9  SF 8
Madison Bumgarner did not have the good stuff today in Denver. The Giants ace southpaw gave up three homers in his five innings of work, leaving with the Rockies ahead 7-2. Lefty reliever Steven Okert, bucking the day's theme, had an efficient, scoreless 6th. Righty reliever Pierce Johnson kept things quiet in the 7th. The Giants, meanwhile, made an explosive comeback, surging ahead 8-7 with a run in the 6th, two in the 7th, and three in the 8th. Chris Shaw's first major league hit was a spectacular two-run bomb pinch-hitting for Johnson. Alas, Tony Watson gave it back in the bottom of the 8th and the Rockies reclaimed the lead with two runs off the normally stalwart lefty. The Giants score EIGHT runs in one game but still lose. There's the season in a nutshell!

--M.C.

10 comments:

Russian River said...

That was another of a string of losses that was tough to watch. I think the sweep in Cincinnati was the end for me. At that point, I stopped believing in a miracle comeback and potential playoff appearance. I've finally admitted to myself that this years Giants team is at best a .500 team. A far sight better than last years team and hopefully a precursor of better things to come. I'm hoping that the final series of the year against the Doggers might mean something. Like if the Giants win, they can keep the boys in baby blue from making the playoffs. That would be a fitting end to this frustrating and injury filled season. The big question is....can we find an offense next year? To be continued................GO GIANTS!

Brother Bob said...

The "season in a nutshell" thought occurred to me too. Bum was bad then he was good, we couldn't hit then we erupted. We heroically came back, then failed anyway. Chalk it up to Coors Field madness. Shaw's homer was a beaut, wasn't it? And Hansen continues to impress.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Hanson has a .286 OBP! That needs to improve if he wants to be a regular. But 28 of his 67 hits are for extra bases, and with his speed any ball in play is a potential hit. And his ability to play multiple positions is also good. The low OBP is a team-wide problem: Longoria, Panik, Hernandez, etc. Can't score runs if you don't put guys on base.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Abiatal Avelino, one of the players from the McCutchen trade, is getting the call. I have to say that is quite a moniker. I've never met any Abiatals. Being a schoolteacher for 30 years, I saw A LOT of names! And following baseball for 50 years, you see a lot of names. But Abiatal is a new one. So--how do you say it? "ah beeyah TAHL"? (Ron help me out here, man!)


Ron said...

A-bee-AHT-al would be my guess, although it is a unique name indeed. Normally, absent any compelling reason otherwise, the accent would be on the penultimate syllable.

Ron said...

I guess that I meant 'ah-bee-AHT-al' - capitalized the first 'a' by accident.

M.C. O'Connor said...

That's easier to say, for sure. Thanks! (I remembered from HS Spanish my teacher saying over and over again "if a word ends in a vowel, n, or s the accent is on the next-to-the-last syllable!" So I figured with the consonant ending it would be the last syllable, but I suppose names are different. I'm sure Jon Miller will be all over it tonight. Nothing he likes better than showing off his Spanish pronunciations.)

M.C. O'Connor said...

Looks like Samardzija to 60-day DL to make room on the 40-man. That's it for his season, obviously. Figured that was coming after he could not seem to recover from his injury. Let's hope he heals up and rehabs over the winter and is ready for Spring Training!


nomisnala said...

Score 8 runs lose by one, score on run lose by one, score zero runs lose by one. Once in a while we will lose by 4. But I see a pattern here.

nomisnala said...

At the moment, it seems that the giants are now playing to ascertain a better draft choice. I wonder how long it will take the giants to get Shaw to lay off that high fastball, that he has of yet not put the bat on. Supposedly the higher you place in the overall standings, the more shared money each player gets, but it is not a lot, and perhaps a bunch of losses down the line will get the giants a better pick in the next draft. I wonder what the status is going to be for Bruce Bochy going into the 2019 season. St.Louis had the balls to fire Matheny, and somehow against the odds, they are now seriously in the playoff picture.