SF 7 WSN 3
The Giants put on a stellar display tonight in Washington, powering past the Nationals for their eighth victory in their first eighteen games. The team has completed one seasonal inning: 1/9 of their 162-game schedule. Even Longoria, Steven Duggar, and Brandon Belt all homered off Stephen Strasburg to back Dereck Rodriguez who struggled early but finished strong. D-Rod needed 94 pitches to get through five innings but he held the Nats to just one run on five hits and three walks (he'd had only one in his previous 17-1/3 IP) while whiffing six. He left with a 4-1 lead. Reyes Moronta threw a dominating 6th and the Giants tacked on two more in the 7th. Sam Dyson gave up two in the bottom half to make it close--those two "insurance runs" gave the team a nice cushion, not something we've seen much of this season. They tacked on another in the 8th to make it 7-3, taking advantage of a struggling Nats bullpen. Tony Watson, Mark Melancon, and Will Smith wrapped things up.
I'm still reeling a bit from the three homers! We all know the Giants have been anemic offensively so tonight was a nice break from the torture. The pitching however has been very strong, and the fielders have delivered a lot of big plays, including tonight, as Buster Posey threw out two runners trying to steal. The outfield defense in particular has been a bright spot here in the early going. FanGraphs likes the Giants pitching staff, rating it fifth in WAR (2.7), fourth in FIP (3.43), and third in xFIP (3.83) out of the 30 teams. In 18 games (163 IP) they've allowed 58 runs or 3.22 per game, second-best behind the AL East-leading 13-4 Tampa Bay Rays, who sit at a paltry 2.50 rpg. The MLB average is 4.68 rpg.
Jeff Samardzija and Jeremy Hellickson tomorrow at 4:05 Pacific.
GO GIANTS!
--M.C.
p.s. Not to spoil things with bad news, but the Giants number one prospect, catcher Joey Bart, broke his hand playing in A-ball. He'll miss 4-6 weeks.
4 comments:
Happy 64th Birthday, Bruce Bochy!
To your praise for the pitching, MC, can be added some stats about defense: the Giants are the only team in MLB with positive Defensive Runs Saved at every position, including those in the heretofore woebegone outfield; and with 25 DRS overall, as of a couple of days ago, they lead the major leagues by a large margin. For years obsessivegiantscompulsive has stressed that championships are disproportionally won with pitching and defense, not hitting; and if so, this year’s Giants, Farhan Zaidi’s Giants, may put on a better showing than their testy, embittered, snidely cynical fans now believe they can.
Indeed, the run-prevention side of the equation has been working well, and that is the most important side of things, no question. But to be a winning team you have to have a roughly league-average offense. Giants have scored 54 runs, exactly 3.0 per game. That's not going to do it! But I'm certainly encouraged by tonight's performance. The Giants CAN score runs, it seems. But right now Belt (.338) and Panik (.304) are the only regulars with OBPs above .300, and that has to change. Still, to be almost .500 with that poor of an offensive output is crazy. The pitchers and fielders have really come up big.
You have to wonder what they have done to the ball to increase home runs. As much as I love dingers (especially when hit by Madison), I strongly prefer small ball. Lots of action and suspense. Crazy defensive plays. Bunts. Love it all. I hope we focus on moving the line and not on launch angles. Meanwhile, I for one am enjoying this season. We are not good, but we don't suck all the time.
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