The Giants got thumped by the Mets last night. They also found out that Alex Wood's hamstring injury will keep him off the field for "several weeks." Bad news comes in bunches. The Giants stocked up on starting pitching in the off-season but so far it hasn't paid off. Overall the pitchers have allowed 94 runs in 18 games (5.22 rpg) which is not going to get the job done. The league average is 4.62 rpg. The offense has scored 83 runs which is just a tick (4.61 rpg) below the league mean. The Pythagorean projection says the Giants should be 8-10. Certainly they've blown a couple of games they seemed likely to win. Last night wasn't one of them. Tristan Beck made his debut in a long relief effort. He pitched the final 5-1/3 innings after starter Sean Manaea was knocked out. Beck gave up nine hits and four runs but struck out five and walked only one.
The series with the Mets continues through the weekend. Anthony DeSclafani goes tonight at 7:15 PT.
Go Giants!
--M.C.
9 comments:
It should be noted that the Giants would have lost had Beck held the Mets scoreless. Now just barely over 4.6 innings per start. I wonder if Tristan Beck has Cornish ancestry.
One has to wonder if Manaea was effected by the two line drives that hit him. He sure seemed to lose control fast. How do these pro-athletes who stretch all the time and work out, get such bad injuries, ala Alex Wood, when fielding an infield grounder? At my age I get injuried thinking about just changing my position while I am in bed half asleep. But these guys are young, in shape athletes. Smyly lost a perfect game on a swinging bunt today when he and the catcher collided. Both could have gotten the out. Dodgers looked worse than the giants as the Cubs crushed them. Giants thought they could upgrade Manaea in a way that they did for so many pitchers. So far their two big off season starter acquisitions seem to be pitching no better, or worse than previously. Strippling, seems to be just a bit less crisp in his location. The one guy pitching nicely so far, is Tyler Rogers, but how long can that last? Several of the Mets hitters were just looking to put the ball in play against the defense.
Yeah the injuries always befuddle me, too. I suppose it is the stop-and-start nature of the game. You go from zero to fast in an instant and then from fast to stop in another instant.
Let's hope Stripling and/or Beck can pitch some quality innings.
Some pros and cons about Friday night's loss. Giants outhit, the dodgers and Padres combined. What some may have called the top 3 teams in the N.L. West, all were shutout. And it seems so far at this time, the Diamondbacks are the class of the division. The other day with one out, Ohtani gave up a double. With one out, he threw 2 wild pitches, and the runner on second scored. It was not an earned run. Deslafani with 2 outs, losing 1-0, had Joey Bart toss a softly hit ball to first, it hit the runner. He would have been out. The scorer said it was a hit, and the error came in allowing the runner to score. I played it back multiple times. The runner would have been out. So the 3 runs that scored after that were earned for Deslafani. That was a scoring nightmare for him. Nevertheless, he seemed upset and then grooved one to alonso, who he had handled nicely in his previous AB's. I suspect if his name was Ohtani, those runs would have been unearned. Who you are matters in the way the official scoring goes. Furthermore, I saw a game last week, (two other teams). There was a similar play at first. Because the batter was hit on the play inside the foul line, it was called interference and the runner was out. I played that back, and he was hit inside the foul line. Just like when Manaea was getting his era below 4, he imploded, similar situation for Hjele. Just as he was getting his era below 5, he imploded. Extending these guys is not helping them. In one AB, I think it was a 2-2 count, Davis was called out on an outside pitch, not even in the area code. Probably one of the worst called strikes of the year, even though it perhaps was not totally crucial to the game. In Flores first AB, one pitch 3 or 4 inches high was called a strike, but Flores ended up crushing a double. It was a balloon busting game, and I hope that Webb gets his first win on Saturday, because if he loses, he will start the year 0 wins 5 losses. Seemed as if almost every time the giants got a guy to first base, the double play was automatic. Perhaps Villar needs better contac lenses, as he seems to not even come close to the ball. I hope Slater, Hanniger, Pederson and Conforto can get healthy quick and Crawford can het healthier because he looks terrible at the plate. giants continue to K way too much, and are not taking as many walks lately.
I think earned and un-earned runs are stupid. They all count the same!
Apparently the in/out of the baseline call is NOT reviewable. Over the years umpires have mostly ignored the first base running lane. I've seen lots of bunts turn into doubles because the runner and throw collide. If they extended the first base bag to the foul side of the line then the runners would have no excuse for getting hit with the throw.
Just do not like the random way this issue is called from game to game. Very inconsistent. Not just about earned vs unearned, but about official scorers favoring so called baseball royalty.
A scorer's decision is a judgment call. The assigning of errors (was it the throw? the catch? was it ordinary effort?) has a lot of variability.
Indeed, but had that ball been caught, the hitter would have been out. It is clear on replay. Maybe that is why today the bunt in the eighth, that was not handled on a bounce throw from the pitcher was called a hit. Crawford, had a key hit, but he still seems to be swinging at so many bad pitches. His plate discipline so far this year has been poor. Maybe because he is not seeing the ball well enough? Not sure, but with all his big league experience, one would think by now he would have it. Villar hitting the ball hard today with only a sac fly to show for it. Seems as if Muncy likes to hit against the Giants and the Cubs.
Muncy's off to a great start. He's still a great hitter even if he didn't look like one last year. And in 297 career PA (75 G) vs SF he's slashing .274/.384/.635 with 25 HR. Those 25 HR are 16% of his career total (154). His career total PA (2806) means he's seen Giants pitchers about 11% of the time. He has similar PA total vs AZ, SD, and CO of course and has hit 22 HR vs the Rockies.
And he has 10 against the Cubs in 136 PA.
At Oracle Park in SF (38 G, 155 PA) he's slashing .297/.419/.625 with 11 HR.
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