Marlins centerfielder Starling Marte broke open a pitchers' duel in the bottom of the 8th in Miami with a three-run homer off Wandy Peralta. Giants starter Anthony DeSclafani had another fine outing, six innings of four-hit, one-run ball, but was pulled for a pinch-hitter in the top of the 7th with the game tied 1-1. Tommy La Stella lined out to end that inning. The lineup didn't get much going, only five hits overall. Matt Wisler pitched a scoreless bottom of the 7th, and got the first out in the 8th before walking pinch-hitter Jesus Aguilar. That was the only walk allowed by the Giants. It turned out to be the winning run. Peralta came in and gave up a single to Corey Dickerson before Marte launched his bomb.
It's a shame to waste a good start. The hitters are not hitting. But I like what I've seen from the pitchers overall. Yes, sometimes guys will come in out of the 'pen and give up the ghost, but that happens to all of them. As long as it doesn't happen too many times! Like I said, the Giants have gotten some good pitching so far. Let's hope the lineup starts producing more consistently.
Aaron Sanchez tomorrow. Game time 3:10 PDT.
Go Giants!
--M.C.
5 comments:
Giants are going to have to start to hit. That second home run by the fish was said to be 427 feet. Seemed to me to be quite an under-estimate. Dodgers won in 12 innings, and both the bums and the Pads played sloppy. They also used a lot of pitchers. Hope they keep wearing each other out.
It was a big fly indeed. The pitch was horrible though and it seemed like a stupid matchup in the first place. I mean Marte is their biggest threat by far, isn’t he? So there is anew rule where you have to face 3 batters?.? Interesting. That makes for strange tactics like pitching around people in tight situations, like last night. Sorry that seems like something that is way over Kapler’s ability. I’m trying to keep an open mind but I still haven’t seen anything (least of all results) to make me impressed by the skipper.
I'm not really sure why everyone is so down on Kapler. They just won a bunch of games with good performances out of the bullpen--does he get credit for those? Seems like all the guys on the Giants know what's expected of them and what their roles are. They all have the coaching and support to be at their best. The team seems well-run and well-organized to me. The matchups are all do-able. The lineup and bullpen moves are all defensible, reasonable choices. In the end the players have to perform. When they do the manager is a genius. When they don't we wring our hands and blame it on the manager.
Managing is a hard job, evidenced by the fact that only a handful of guys can get hired by big league teams. (Why do baseball lifers and all-around good guys like Hensley Muelens and Ron Wotus NOT get managing jobs? Maybe those guys would be over their heads and GMs and owners know that. Otherwise you'd think they'd have been managers by now.) I haven't seen anything by Kapler that suggests he's over his head. Every manager makes mistakes. The key is learning from them and going forward. Kap has always owned up to his blunders and, it seems to me, grown from them and gotten wiser. What more do want? Not one manager in our lifetime stepped into the job and put up a clean sheet. Ever. They all had to stumble, and fail, and learn the hard way.
Giants are playing good ball. Kap isn't the reason they lost last night and is not the reason they will lose some more games in the future. He's doing his job. When the ballplayers do theirs, too, good things will happen.
Posey had multiple chances with runner(S) in scoring position. He just did not have it last night. I watched the dodgers game, and with a man in scoring position and Turner up, he just seems to find a way to poke a base hit, as the situation demanded. We need Posey to hit. He is the guy that could change us from a 75 win team to a 90 win team with more than just his elite catching skills. Giants need to start scoring runs. Period. I do not expect the pitching to hold up the way it has all season long.
Station to station baseball for the giants, and taking the extra base for the Marlins may have been the difference today. And for the first time this year, our closer did not have it. Giants should have scored twice in the 10th, but did not. Miami continues to be a burden for the giants. They do not need Stanton to give us problems. Giants played okay, but just not good enough to win. Sunday is another day. Of interest: the Marlins' announcers kind of ticked me off, but may they were right. They said: "the giants are a good fielding team, when the ball is hit right at them." It may have been the Marlins speed and athleticism that beat the giants today. Also their ninth inning hitting, looked like they just wanted to hand the ball off to their closer and go home. Another one inning game, but this time not in our favor. How about the team totally breaks out of their hitting slump. like the Cubs did today, and win big in a laugher tomorrow.
Post a Comment