Mike Tauchman's biggest moment in orange-and-black, the game-saving catch in LA against the Dodgers, upstaged a Giants legend. Last night in Texas his grand slam, the second-biggest moment in his orange-and-black career, was upstaged by another Giants legend. The first time, Buster Posey's three-run homer got lost in the shuffle of a highlight-reel victory. The second time, Brandon Crawford's historic day took center stage in a blowout win.
It was 4-2 Rangers in the 8th and a frustrated Giants lineup kept missing out on their many scoring chances. Tauchman, batting ninth in an AL park, came up with the bases loaded and two outs and calmly stroked a liner into the right-field seats for a game-changing blow. It was a big hit for the team and also for the struggling lefty who has had a hard time getting results with the bat.
That's not the case with Brandon Crawford who is hitting as well as he ever has. He hit a solo homer in the 6th to give the Giants a short-lived 2-1 lead. He hit a three-run shot in the 9th to make it a laugher. That's the fifth time he's hit two homers in a game. But the real accomplishment was becoming the Giants all-time leader in games played at shortstop. His 1326th game is the most in the 138-year history of the franchise. That's one hell of an accomplishment and we got to watch all of it. In addition to the two homers he--of course--made a couple of brilliant Crawfordian plays to help shut down the Rangers.
Early game today (11:05). Zack Littell will get the opening nod with Sammy Long making his debut in long (we hope!) relief.
Go Giants!
--M.C.
p.s. Update: Giants lose getaway game 4-3 in 11 innings. Late-game relief let the team down. Tyler Rogers blew saves in back-to-back chances and Jake McGee gave up the winning run in his inning. A mostly punchless offense must shoulder some of the blame, too. Fine debut from Sammy Long, at least. They are in Washington, D.C. tomorrow, game time 4:05 Pacific.
p.p.s. Update: Thursday's game postponed. Friday will play as scheduled. Saturday is now a doubleheader. Anthony DeSclafani tomorrow against Max Scherzer. Kevin Gausman will pitch one of the DH games.
4 comments:
In the loss, the later inning hitting was anemic, nor did they seem to work the pitcher they way they usually do. The fielding although errorless in the ninth and tenth was not tight and contributed to the loss. If what I read is correct, the giants are now 2-5 in extra inning games. It would be nice for those situation to have a strike out artist. Too bad Long did not get his first win. I am hoping that the Cubs will hold off the Padres today. I was a little surprised that Belt was not protecting the line on a doubles defense, had he been, the ninth inning rally probably never would have started. A good throw by Tromp would have had the runner at second during the steal, and he took third on a tag up on a medium fly to center. I did not know that Duggar's arm was so weak. Lack of play seems to have affected Slater's timing at the plate. Texas played like a tough National league run creating team today, and not like an American league team. They are now, one game under 500 at home. This would have been a very nice win for the giants, but the baseball Gods had an other outcome in mind. If you cannot add on, you better have shut down setup men and a shutdown closer. I don't like extra's with a man starting on second, when we have a closer that only strikes out a bit over 4 men per 9 innings. I think tomorrow the giants see Scherzer. A win over Max will help the sour taste of today's loss go away.
Giants DFA'd Nick Tropeano and he was claimed by the Mets.
They also DFA'd Matt Wisler, who they signed to a major-league deal in the off-season, and then they worked out a trade with the Rays. Giants get a LHP prospect names Matt Plassmeyer. He's 24, played college ball in the SEC (Missouri), and will likely be assigned to AA. He's mostly been a starter.
I'm disappointed about Wisler. It looked like he was starting to figure it out. I suspect he will get it together and pitch well for the Rays. Sometimes a player needs a change. The Giants at least got something for Wisler. They had to send money to the Rays as part of the deal. I suspect that means Plassmeyer is a pretty good prospect and that Wisler's $1M guaranteed salary was a bit of a barrier to the deal.
Is Missouri in the SEC? Two teams that use metrics a lot, in a trade? If all the giants pitchers that are hurt and on the DL became healthy we probably would not need to make a big signing at the trade deadline to amp up the bullpen. There are a lot of good arms currently on the DL. Looks as if Beede once again had a relatively rough outing yesterday. Hopefully he can figure something out.
They used to be Big-12 but baseball, like football, is now SEC.
Conner Menez looks good. So does Dominic Leone. Caleb Baragar is back. Jimmie Sherfy got a call-up. Sammy Long had a great debut. Maybe they felt like they could cut their losses with Wisler because they have some depth emerging.
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