Kevin Gausman out-pitched Blake Snell, going seven innings and giving up only one run on four hits. It was another excellent start. Kap pulled him after 96 pitches and trusted the 8th inning to Tyler Rogers. It worked for two outs and then Will Myers (who else?) hit the game-tying homer. This is a funny year. No one knows how the pitchers will respond to the full-season workload and teams are understandably cautious with their aces. All of their starters, in fact. I can't fault the decision to sit Gausman after a superb day's work. He'll be stretched out as the season goes on. At some point the relievers have to get the job done. Rogers made a mistake, a fat pitch up in the zone, and he paid for it. Jake McGee, who threw 25 pitches on Monday, delivered a 1-2-3 9th inning and the Giants stayed alive. I thought it was interesting that Kap used McGee there, in a tie game. Perhaps he sees some increased urgency with the new extra-inning rules, or maybe he just wants multiple guys to be able to close games.
Darin Ruf hit a two-run homer off Snell in his first at-bat in the 2nd to open the scoring. Ruf's job is to mash lefties and he has done so. The ball bounced out of the center fielder's glove and over the fence so it was nice to catch a break there. It should have been enough with Gausman dealing, but the Padres and Myers forced it into extras. The Giants, miraculously, pushed the automatic runner across in the 10th on a sacrifice fly from Donovan Sandoval.
Wandy Peralta was called on to get the save, and he got it done, stranding the automatic runner in the bottom of the 10th. Peralta got a big strikeout for the second out and has really started to emerge as a bullpen weapon. Kap seems to have a lot of confidence in him. It was his first career save.
The Giants played three pitchers' duels in San Diego and came away with two wins and finish the road trip 3-3. They've shown resilience since their opening day debacle. It was a massive win today!
Off-day tomorrow. The Home Opener is Friday at 1:35 Pacific against the Rockies. Johnny Cueto takes the hill. Both Saturday and Sunday are day games, 1:05 PDT start times.
Go Giants!
--M.C.
8 comments:
Gausman batted with the bases loaded in the 4th and struck out. They'd walked Dubon to get to his spot even though there were two guys on already!
I hate that "strategy" and you'd see a lot less of it with a DH lineup. I'm an old NL-purist but I'd prefer to see 9 hitters. There are no "easy-outs" in baseball any more and I think that is an improvement to the game. It would be one thing if the #9 hitter was just a little worse than the #8 hitter, but with a pitcher the #9 hitter is WAY WORSE than the #8 hitter, making the IBB a too-easy-to-make call by the manager.
Oh, that was the only bases-loaded situation the Giants have had this young season.
Perhaps pitchers need to take a modicum of batting instruction and practice. Especially those in the N.L. Most of them are good athletes, and with some practice should at least be an accidental threat to make significant contact. The first hit of the game for the Padres was by Snell.
Saw a very interesting play in the Colorado Arizona game today, with Gray on the mound for Colorado, and LoCastro at the plate for the Dbacks. Gray threw a pitch that looked like a called strike on a check swing. I think it was called a strike by placement and not on the checked swing. However, on the check swing the bat hit the catchers glove. Also, the ball seemed to be already in the catchers glove by the time the bat hit the glove on the check swing. Arizona asked for the play to be reviewed for catchers interference. The bat clearly hit the glove, but under the circumstances that I already stated. The umpires ruled that he does not get the base, and that it remains a strike. They did not explain on what basis the N.Y. umpiring crew in the video office made their decision. It seemed odd that this play could be reviewed especially when a Padre hit a grounder that was an easy out and the player and the ump said it hit the players foot, when on replay it did not. Kruk and Kuip said that the play was not reviewable. I guess foul and fair calls may not be reviewable, but that was a foul call based on the ball hitting the batter, and not based on its placement on the field. I find the rules determining whether a play is reviewable quite perplexing and somewhat randomly assigned even if the rules are supposedly clear. Situations make clarity a relative term.
Yeah my attitude is everything should be reviewable, but that there should be a limit to how many a team can ask for. Umpires should also be encouraged to "ask for help" to get the call right.
Pitchers take batting practice. But they stopped hitting in amateur ball and in the minors. And in the AL of course. Kevin Gausman has been in the majors for 9 years and has 64 PA. No one can be expected to hit if they get that little opportunity. That ship has sailed. Pitching is too important. It is in fact the most important part of the game. They would be better off working on their fielding--it would help the team more.
I hate when managers make tactical decisions that are no-brainers. And when you have an automatic out in the lineup managers will use it every time! It's a no-brainer to walk the #8 hitter. Mauricio Dubon is still trying to prove he is an ML hitter and he is ten times better than any pitcher on the team. And those guys are never going to catch up because they have to focus on pitching.
Another odd call in a game today. The ump called a strike on a Mets hitter, only to change the call to HBP. But it was not the classical swing at an inside pitch, and then dealing whether the batter did swing or not. It was a pitch the UMP called a strike, but it hit the batters elbow right in the middle of the strike zone. He basically stuck his protected elbow in the strike zone. No way should that have been a HBP. There was no replay request. I do not know, if the Marlin's had any requests yet, or if it was not a reviewable play. I did not watch the entire game. There are just too many weird situations going on today. Calls which are obviously wrong to the fans, should at least be reviewable. There are not that many of them, but there are enough that it demands that the calls be made correctly. Even if they get it wrong on the first try.
In the Gausman game, just like last year, the home plate umpire seemed to have no clue. Except this time, he seemed to have a much more even distribution when it came to making bad ball and strike calls against each team. I still believe that he has no business being a major league umpire calling balls and strikes. Too many mistakes, and way too inconsistent. I wonder what the players must think when they know that there is an unpredictable strike zone.
I'm in favor or robot strike zones. I don't think the tech is quite ready, but I'm OK with the idea.
Umpires should be encouraged to huddle and talk to each other. The crew chief should ask "who had the best view of that play?" and let one umpire over-rule another if necessary.
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