After their terrible first series to open the season, the San Francisco Giants have met every challenge that has been thrown at them. They split a two game series in San Diego and they have taken two out of every three games since then. I know a lot of fans are disappointed that they haven't swept any teams (they should have swept the D-backs) but if they keep winning 2 out of every 3 games, then they are on pace for a 108 win season.
The series against the Rockies was absolutely as big of a series as you can get this early in the season. The Rockies were rolling over the competition and had a nice lead over the Giants coming into the series. To take 2 out of those 3 games, in Colorado no less, reminds the baseball world that the path to the World Series still runs through San Francisco.
That brings us to the series starting today.
The Giants and Braves meet for the first time since their NLDS series last October. Atlanta is struggling a little bit with a 4-6 record over their last 10 games and an 8-12 record overall. I wouldn't put all that much stock in their record because I still think this team is at least as good as last season and I doubt that they will finish the season below .500.
The Giants, as I mentioned before, are rolling right now. Despite this stupid schedule that had them in Colorado Wednesday, home for 3 games starting today, and then in Pittsburgh on Tuesday. I think they are set up to have a good series with Bumgarner going today and then Timmy, and Dirty going on Saturday and Sunday.
I also think that today's start is going to be the one where we see the Madbum of last season. Remember, he had a rough beginning to last season and it ended with him twirling a shutout in the World Series. Plus, I think his last start against, Arizona was a big deal. He gave up the four early runs and then stayed in to shut the Dbacks down. I really am glad that Boch left him in there to clean up his own mess.
I want to just say one last thing about Brandon Belt. I think that the Giants handled the situation about as good as they could have handled it. His season last year, plus his spring this year earned him a shot at sticking with the big club. Whether it was because of Ross' injury or not. The bottom line is he didn't hit well enough to stick, small sample size or not. If he had been hitting .280 or had 3 or 4 HRs, then Darren Ford would be in Fresno right now. Also, if Aaron Rowand hadn't got off to such a hot start, then Belt may still be around. The bottom line is, the only way to know for sure if a guy is ready for the bigs is to let him play in the bigs. Sure, in a perfect world, you want to get the guy 100 or so ABs. But this world isn't perfect and the Giants gave him all the opportunity that they could. They can't afford to let the guy hit .180 for much longer and it really would be mishandling him to have him sit on the bench. Now, he goes to Fresno where he can work out the kinks in his swing and he already has all the lessons he learned from the big boys. It's all just a part of a young player's development. This kid isn't Buster Posey. Those kind of guys are once in a generation type players. He is gonna have to take a little more time to develop like 90% of big leaguers.
Showing posts with label atlanta braves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label atlanta braves. Show all posts
Friday, April 22, 2011
Monday, October 11, 2010
Giants advance to the NLCS
GIANTS 3 - BRAVES 2The San Francisco Giants will face the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS starting Saturday.
Until then we will have a week to bask in the glory of the hard fought four game NLDS win over the Atlanta Braves. Hopefully the Giants will be able to find a little bit of offense along the way as well!
But for now we can celebrate. This was a Giants team that was written off and left for dead during the season. Both by the fans and by the media. Hell, at some point during their 7 game losing streak I even purchased a Fire Sabean T-shirt!
That was before an epic run by the starting pitching and just barely enough offense to make that epic run stand up.
In the NLDS, they won the first game 1-0, gave game two to the Braves, tried to give back games 3 and 4, but the offense just eeked out enough runs to defeat the Braves and send the citizens of Atlanta back home with their foam tomahawks between their legs.
Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, Madison Bumgarner. These are your NLDS MVPs. Sure the media is going to say that, if there was an NLDS MVP award (and why isn't there?), it should go to someone like Cody Ross or Buster Posey. But in reality, the Giants MVP(s) is that 4 man rotation. It has been all year long and it will be what the Giants need to ride if they are to slay the beast from the NL East.
It's going to be a tough series, but then again aren't they all? The Giants will face the only other rotation in the playoffs that can hang with theirs but with a better offense. They will be the underdogs. I would call them the Giant killers but that somehow doesn't sound right.
Anyway, enough with the rambling and random thoughts. Congratulations G-men! But don't get too comfortable, there is still more work to do!
NLDS Trivia:
Did you know that the two Giants who hit homeruns in the NLDS were Pat Burrell and Cody Ross? Yes they were the two guys that the Giants claimed off waivers for nobody in return and, if you are to believe some reports, to keep them away from the Padres!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Giants snatch victory from the jaws of defeat
GIANTS 3 - BRAVES 2
As Giants fans sat completely shocked after Sergio Romo gave up the go-ahead homer in the bottom of the 8th inning something happened to the Giants offense.
They figured out how to string some hits together.
The ninth inning was a thing that will go down in Giants' lore as a game to remember. The Giants' backs were to the wall. They were about to go down 2 games to 1 to the Atlanta Braves with one more game left to play in Atlanta. Not a good recipe for winning s best of 5 series.
The ninth inning started with Cody Ross popping out. Travis Ishikawa worked a 6 pitch walk. Then Andres Torres struck out and Freddy Sanchez was down to his last strike and the Braves were just waiting to celebrate. Then it happened. Sanchez hit a seeing-eye single up the middle which got Ishikawa into scoring position. Next came Aubrey Huff, who had two hits in the series so far, he stroked a single to right field which scored Ishikawa. Huff was followed by Buster Posey who poked a grounder to Braves second baseman Brooks Conrad. Conrad strengthened his case for the Giants' MVP of the series by totally whiffing on the grounder and letting it go into rightfield which allowed Freddy Sanchez to score the third and final run of the game.
It was quite a turn around and it showed the never-say-die attitude that these same Giants had shown so many times during the season. All day long it appeared that the only run the Giants, or the Braves for that matter, would score would be the unearned run the Giants scored in the second inning when Brooks Conrad (more evidence he should be the Giants' MVP) dropped a medium deep popup to rightfield which allowed Fontenot to score from third after his leadoff triple. The Giants apparently need their backs against the wall to put runs on the board when Pat Burrell isn't driving everybody in with homeruns I guess.
I would not be doing the game justice however if I failed to mention the pitching duel that led to all the theatrics in the 8th and 9th innings. Jonathan Sanchez did his best to outdo Tim Lincecum's game 1 performance and darn near did it to. He held the Braves hitless into the sixth inning and his 11 strikeouts broke the Giants postseason single game strikeout record that was held by Carl Hubbell in 1933!
I will admit that I thought that the Giants made a mistake by not trading Sanchez for Adam Dunn at the trade deadline. Although I believe the Nationals wanted a little more than just Sanchez for Dunn. But now I am glad they didn't trade him away. This guy has been showing a lot of signs of maturity this season and he has been the Giants most consistent starter since the beginning of September with a 1.08 ERA in his last 8 starts. Hell, he even was the team ERA leader this season with his 3.07 ERA! (technically Madison Bumgarner's 3.00 ERA was lower but he didn't throw enough innings in the bigs to qualify as the leader.)
This puts the Giants in the best possible scenario. Tomorrow's game is kind of a luxury. The Braves backs are now to the wall and the Giants don't have to throw Lincecum on short rest. The Braves will face the rookie Madison Bumgarner who pitches well on the road and the Giants don't have to get the win. Obviously you want to close it out if at all possible but it sure feels good knowing that the Giants will return to San Francisco with Mr. 14k's waiting to see how many more strikeouts he can add to his total. Derek Lowe will be going on 3 days rest because, well, the Braves don't really have anybody else who they trust to start tomorrow.
Go Giants!
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| Freddy Sanchez scoring the winning run in the 9th |
They figured out how to string some hits together.
The ninth inning was a thing that will go down in Giants' lore as a game to remember. The Giants' backs were to the wall. They were about to go down 2 games to 1 to the Atlanta Braves with one more game left to play in Atlanta. Not a good recipe for winning s best of 5 series.
The ninth inning started with Cody Ross popping out. Travis Ishikawa worked a 6 pitch walk. Then Andres Torres struck out and Freddy Sanchez was down to his last strike and the Braves were just waiting to celebrate. Then it happened. Sanchez hit a seeing-eye single up the middle which got Ishikawa into scoring position. Next came Aubrey Huff, who had two hits in the series so far, he stroked a single to right field which scored Ishikawa. Huff was followed by Buster Posey who poked a grounder to Braves second baseman Brooks Conrad. Conrad strengthened his case for the Giants' MVP of the series by totally whiffing on the grounder and letting it go into rightfield which allowed Freddy Sanchez to score the third and final run of the game.
It was quite a turn around and it showed the never-say-die attitude that these same Giants had shown so many times during the season. All day long it appeared that the only run the Giants, or the Braves for that matter, would score would be the unearned run the Giants scored in the second inning when Brooks Conrad (more evidence he should be the Giants' MVP) dropped a medium deep popup to rightfield which allowed Fontenot to score from third after his leadoff triple. The Giants apparently need their backs against the wall to put runs on the board when Pat Burrell isn't driving everybody in with homeruns I guess.
I would not be doing the game justice however if I failed to mention the pitching duel that led to all the theatrics in the 8th and 9th innings. Jonathan Sanchez did his best to outdo Tim Lincecum's game 1 performance and darn near did it to. He held the Braves hitless into the sixth inning and his 11 strikeouts broke the Giants postseason single game strikeout record that was held by Carl Hubbell in 1933!
I will admit that I thought that the Giants made a mistake by not trading Sanchez for Adam Dunn at the trade deadline. Although I believe the Nationals wanted a little more than just Sanchez for Dunn. But now I am glad they didn't trade him away. This guy has been showing a lot of signs of maturity this season and he has been the Giants most consistent starter since the beginning of September with a 1.08 ERA in his last 8 starts. Hell, he even was the team ERA leader this season with his 3.07 ERA! (technically Madison Bumgarner's 3.00 ERA was lower but he didn't throw enough innings in the bigs to qualify as the leader.)
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| Bobby Cox: I knew I should have retired last season |
Go Giants!
Friday, October 8, 2010
Giants throw game 2 away
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| Burrell's 3-run homer had us excited early |
Then came the 8th inning.
The normally steady duo of Brian Wilson and Sergio Romo came on and coughed up the lead. A bad throw by Pablo Sandoval allowed one of the Braves 8th inning runs to be unearned making 2 of the Braves runs on the night unearned.
Romo and Wilson had to get over their postseason jitters I guess. Romo didn't retire a single batter while allowing 2 baserunners. The Sandoval on a slow roller to third with runners on first and third in the eighth inning wouldn't have prevented the runner on third from scoring but the runner who scored the tying run on Alex Gonzalez's 2 run double wouldn't have been on base to score the tying run.
In the bottom of the 10th the Giants were in position to win the game with the bases loaded, one out, and future rookie of the year Buster Posey at the plate. All the Giants needed at this point was anything other than a double play. A double play is exactly what the Giants got. One of the storylines of the 2010 season returned to bite the Giants in the ass at the worst possible time. The momentum suddenly was in the Braves dugout.
In the 11th Ramon Ramirez served up a fat pitch on a plate for Rick Ankiel who hit what has to be the longest homerun of his career to put the Braves up to stay. It looked like Travis Ishikawa caught ahold of one in the bottom of the 11th but it was off the end of the bat was just a fly ball out.
The Braves and Giants will head to Atlanta for game 3. The Giants need to just win one game in the Atl. Johnny No-no will be taking the mound for the Giants while the Braves will counter with Tim Hudson. It's gonna be another tough battle for the Giants and probably another torturous game. But us Giants fans are used to those so it will be no problem.
We can all worry about any heart conditions after the Giants win the world series!
Lincecum steamrolls Braves
GIANTS 1 - BRAVES 0
That was the first 1-0 Giants game this season that didn't feel like torture!
Now let's take a break and talk about instant replay here. There are a lot of blogs pointing to this play as a reason as to why baseball needs instant replay. I do agree that baseball needs instant replay, bit this is a bad example. instant replay would have had zero effect on this play. Nobody on the field even questioned the call. Not the second baseman, not Bobby Cox, Buster Posey didn't even look surprised to be called safe. Cox said of the play: “Some of the guys came down after that inning and said he was out by 6 or 8 inches. From the dugout you can’t see anything, and I didn’t see a reaction from our infielders.” So even if baseball had instant replay it would never have been used in that situation.
That was the first 1-0 Giants game this season that didn't feel like torture!It just seemed like no matter what, the Braves weren't going to be scoring any runs off of Tim Lincecum. He was that dominant. Matt Diaz summed Timmy's performance up best when he compared it to the game earlier this season in which the Braves were no-hit by Ubaldo Jimenez: “We had two hard-hit doubles. Other than that, we might have hit more hard-hit balls in the no-hitter, and got no hits. We only really had two balls hit hard at all tonight.”
It was that good of a performance.
It was also a performance for the record books. Both the Giants' record books and MLB's record books. Lincecum set a franchise postseason record of 14 strikeouts in a single playoff game. He also tied the record for most strikeouts in a postseason debut. Last night he joined the likes of Bob Gibson, Roger Clemens, Sandy Koufax, and Mike Scott who all struck out at least 14 in a single postseason game. (Livan Hernandez did too but that game will forever live in infamy as the game with the largest strike zone of all time!)
The game wasn't without controversy however. Buster Posey's steal of second base in the fourth inning and led to the only Giants run of the game was the source of said controversy. Pat Burrell struck out while Buster was on the move in what only could have been a broken hit and run. The throw to second looked like it might or might not have got Posey and he was ruled safe. TV replays showed Posey was clearly out by a good 6 inches or so but there was no disagreement on the field. A few batters later Cody Ross grounded a ball that magically eluded Omar Infante's glove and scored Posey in what was the only run of the game.
Now let's take a break and talk about instant replay here. There are a lot of blogs pointing to this play as a reason as to why baseball needs instant replay. I do agree that baseball needs instant replay, bit this is a bad example. instant replay would have had zero effect on this play. Nobody on the field even questioned the call. Not the second baseman, not Bobby Cox, Buster Posey didn't even look surprised to be called safe. Cox said of the play: “Some of the guys came down after that inning and said he was out by 6 or 8 inches. From the dugout you can’t see anything, and I didn’t see a reaction from our infielders.” So even if baseball had instant replay it would never have been used in that situation.But the real story of the game is Tim Lincecum. He has been called the franchise and last night he proved it. Rarely does a young pitcher come out and pitch like a veteran in his first postseason game. Usually the nerves get to him and it takes an inning or two to settle down. Last night it took Lincecum exactly one batter to calm down. Calm down he did!
I think this is going to be a special playoff run.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Giants - Braves 2010 NLDS preview
But they play the games for a reason.
The Giants bring their historically good staff into the first round of the playoffs to face the Atlanta Braves staff which isn't too bad itself. In fact, the Giants led all of baseball with a 3.36 ERA and the Braves were the third best with a 3.56 ERA. The most impressive stat coming in to the series though is the fact that the Giants entire pitching staff, not just the starters, has allowed 2 runs or less in 15 of their last 19 games.
The hitting is surprisingly close. Giants hitters own a .257 season average while the Braves hold a .258 season average. Also, in perhaps the shocker of the playoffs, the Giants have outhomered the Braves 162-139. However the Braves hold the edge in runs scored 738-697 seeing as how the Giants are the lowest scoring playoff team from the National league.
In order for the Giants to win this series their pitching needs to keep up it's amazing pace. If they can continue their run of 2 runs or less then they have this series in the bag. (Atlanta owns a 5-39 record when scoring 2 runs or less) The offenses are so closely matched with the Braves having scored 4.6 runs per game this season to the Giants 4.3 runs per game. This series may come down to which team hits the clutch homerun.
Over the past 2 days there has been a lot of speculation over who will and who won't make the postseason roster. Most of that speculation has focused of 3 guys: Barry Zito, Aaron Rowand, and Edgar Renteria. I really expect all 3 guys to make the roster. Rowand rakes against Derek Lowe (11-23 .481) and Tim Hudson (8-21 .381) in fact, he has the best numbers against those 2 guys on the team. So expect to see a lot of Rowand in this series. Renteria makes the team because realistically he is the only guy other than Juan Uribe who can play shortstop.
That leaves Barry Zito.
Zito has been both brilliant and horrible this season. He choked his chances of starting in this first series away on Saturday against San Diego. But I can't even imagine a scenario in which a guy who threw 199 .1 innings for your team doesn't make the postseason roster. He is one of the few guys on the team with postseason experience, in fact he is the ONLY starter with postseason experince.
But having said all of that, I still believe there is a chance that Zito is left off the postseason roster.
t's going to be series with a lot of 2-1 and 1-0 games. Both of these teams have trouble scoring runs (the Braves lost two games out of their last 3 to the Phillies who had absolutely nothing to play for). But the Giants are just a little bit better at keeping the other team from scoring.
Giants in 4.
Monday, August 9, 2010
A disappointing trip
BRAVES 6 - GIANTS 3
The Giants finished the roadtrip 2-4. They scored 10 runs in one game and didn't score any more than 3 runs in any other game scoring a total of 9 runs during those 5 contests. No matter how you look dissect the numbers, it was a bad trip.
Looking on the bright side as I try to do in this blog, the Giants are still just 2 games out of first place, they are starting a homestand in which they face the not very good Cubs and have a first place showdown with the Padres. The NL west could have a very different look after this weekend.
In keeping with the positives the Giants are 33-20 at home and 30-29 on the road. Even after their bad road trip. This is a huge improvement over last season when they were 36 and 45 on the road. Their inability to win on the road likely cost them the division.
The reality of this season is that the NL west is going to come down to September. The Giants play every game, except for a 6 games against the Brewers and Cubs on Sept. 17-23, against NL west teams.They play 5 games against the Dodgers, 4 against the Padres, 4 against the Rockies and 6 against the D-Backs including the final 3 game series of the season. This is where the NL west will be decided. As much as we want to look at games here in early August and predict what will happen to the Giants, the fact of the matter is they won't determine the outcome of the division.
Also, with 7 games against the Padres, the Giants will need to figure out how to beat them a few times. it doesn't matter how they do against the other teams, they have to beat the Padres or they will not win the division. That's all it boils down to.
Links of the day:
Giants prospect Sharlon Schoop had 6 RBIs yesterday for the Giants AA affiliate Richmond Flying Squirrels. Schoop is a little farther down the prospect hierarchy, but he is 23 and a guy that the Giants have some confidence in. He's hitting .294 for Richmond after hitting .281 at A ball Augusta. Keep an eye on him while you are looking at how guys like Brandon Belt, Thomas Neal, and Conor Gillaspie are doing.
It also looks like the Giants have called up Emmanuel Burriss to deepen their bench. No word on who they are moving to make room for him on the roster but I will go out on a limb and predict it's a pitcher.
Speaking of going out on a limb. After taking the loss against the Braves yesterday Jonathan Sanchez came out and predicted that the Giants would sweep the Padres this weekend. Hopefully it gives the guy something to focus on when he throws against the Padres this weekend. But I like it. It shows a little bit of confidence from the lefty. Something that is called into question about him every once in a while.
The Giants finished the roadtrip 2-4. They scored 10 runs in one game and didn't score any more than 3 runs in any other game scoring a total of 9 runs during those 5 contests. No matter how you look dissect the numbers, it was a bad trip.
Looking on the bright side as I try to do in this blog, the Giants are still just 2 games out of first place, they are starting a homestand in which they face the not very good Cubs and have a first place showdown with the Padres. The NL west could have a very different look after this weekend.
In keeping with the positives the Giants are 33-20 at home and 30-29 on the road. Even after their bad road trip. This is a huge improvement over last season when they were 36 and 45 on the road. Their inability to win on the road likely cost them the division.
The reality of this season is that the NL west is going to come down to September. The Giants play every game, except for a 6 games against the Brewers and Cubs on Sept. 17-23, against NL west teams.They play 5 games against the Dodgers, 4 against the Padres, 4 against the Rockies and 6 against the D-Backs including the final 3 game series of the season. This is where the NL west will be decided. As much as we want to look at games here in early August and predict what will happen to the Giants, the fact of the matter is they won't determine the outcome of the division.
Also, with 7 games against the Padres, the Giants will need to figure out how to beat them a few times. it doesn't matter how they do against the other teams, they have to beat the Padres or they will not win the division. That's all it boils down to.
Links of the day:
Giants prospect Sharlon Schoop had 6 RBIs yesterday for the Giants AA affiliate Richmond Flying Squirrels. Schoop is a little farther down the prospect hierarchy, but he is 23 and a guy that the Giants have some confidence in. He's hitting .294 for Richmond after hitting .281 at A ball Augusta. Keep an eye on him while you are looking at how guys like Brandon Belt, Thomas Neal, and Conor Gillaspie are doing.
It also looks like the Giants have called up Emmanuel Burriss to deepen their bench. No word on who they are moving to make room for him on the roster but I will go out on a limb and predict it's a pitcher.
Speaking of going out on a limb. After taking the loss against the Braves yesterday Jonathan Sanchez came out and predicted that the Giants would sweep the Padres this weekend. Hopefully it gives the guy something to focus on when he throws against the Padres this weekend. But I like it. It shows a little bit of confidence from the lefty. Something that is called into question about him every once in a while.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
The season is not slipping away
There are a lot of people out there who are very unhappy that the Giants did not get a bat at the trade deadline. They will point to the last 3 games in Atlanta as proof that the Giants offense can't get the job done and the fact that they are no longer dominating now that they are playing better teams will be another reason that the Giants can't get it done.
They would be wrong.
Now look, you can never go wrong with more offense but the cost to the Giants would have just been too great. There is no way that you can justify giving up a pitcher in the starting rotation even for a guy like Adam Dunn.But the Giants were shut out last night!
The way Hudson was pitching last night, the Giants could have had Albert Pujols in the lineup and still get shut out. He looked more like the Tim Hudson on the right than the Tim Hudson of the last few years.
I'm not saying that we have the best offense in the world. It would have been nice to improve the offense, nobody is disputing that, but it did not happen.
The last few games are what are supposed to happen. You have a tough time against good teams. Teams don't just steamroll through the regular season too often. You beat up on the bad teams as the Giants have done and then hold your own against the good teams.
The Giants are doing that. This loss evened the series series against the Braves at 3 games each. They have a 2-1 season series lead over the Phillies and Cardinals, they are tied with the Reds at 2 games apiece, and they are tied with the Dodgers at 6 games each. The only teams they have had problems beating this season are Colorado (5-7) and San Diego (1-7).
The Giants will be in position to tie the series today. Which would be a huge accomplishment when you consider that the Braves have the best home record in baseball, are tied for the most wins, with the Giants and Padres I might add, in the National League, and have three pitchers who have over 8 wins already.
Then it's back to San Francisco to face the Cubs!
Link of the Day:
Jerry Rice officially went into the Hall of Fame yesterday. Rice was the best player ever to put on football pads. He thrilled us for so long here in the Bay Area and he showed us how to win and dominate at the wide receiver position.Congratulations Jerry! You deserve it!
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Giants dodge a bullet and Bochy is the whipping boy
GIANTS 3 - BRAVES 2
The Giants looked destined for a 2-1 loss last night. Then a couple of errors, a couple of walks, and a sacrifice fly later, the Giants were 3-2 winners in extra innings. They had 4 hits all night and all of the scoring was done on an RBI groundout, a throwing error, and a sacrifice fly.
You might say the Giants were lucky. Brian Wilson said: "I don't feel fortunate, we won the game because we played the fundamentals of baseball and we lasted a little longer than they did. We're going to play like the stud ballclub we are."
I agree with Brian.
The Braves struck out 10 times last night against Barry Zito, who continued his excellent season on the mound, and 15 times total against the Giants pitchers. The Giants were outhit 4 to 6, but six hits isn't all that much better than 4 until you realize that the extra two hits from the Braves were homeruns. (By the way, all of the Braves runs in this series have scored via the longball) The Giants drew 8 walks to the Braves 2.
The reason all of this is important is because, after a 90 minute rain delayed start to the game, the Braves spent a lot more time in the field when they got to the crucial 9th inning. Because they had been putting the ball in play all night long rather than striking out, they had been putting pressure on the defense all night to make plays. That pressure finally got to the Braves when it mattered most and the Giants, like thegood stud ballclub they are, took advantage of it.
It seems like Bruce Bochy has come under more fire than ever before this week. Lefty Malo was all over him, so was the Bleacher report, hell there even is a fire Bruce Bochy facebook page! I have my problems with the guy like why is Juan Uribe still batting 5th instead of Pat Burrell? But really, would the Giants be any better than 63-47 with any other manager at the helm?
We will never know.
Link of the day:
Saturday August 14th is Bruce Bochy Bobblehead day at AT&T park. It makes me wonder how in touch with reality the Giants marketing department is. I mean seriously, do they really think that kids will be begging their parents to take them to the ballpark so they can get a bobblehead of THE MANAGER? Also, do they think that the fans actually like Bochy?
I don't know the answer to either of those questions but I have provided you with photographic proof that there is indeed a Bruce Bochy Bobblehead out there.
Oh and last but not least:
The game recap from the San Jose Mercury News reports that the Giants did indeed put in a waiver claim on Adam Dunn. They were blocked by a team with a worse record. Who do you think that team was? Well if you said the Dodgers then you would be correct.
I hate those guys.
The Giants looked destined for a 2-1 loss last night. Then a couple of errors, a couple of walks, and a sacrifice fly later, the Giants were 3-2 winners in extra innings. They had 4 hits all night and all of the scoring was done on an RBI groundout, a throwing error, and a sacrifice fly.
You might say the Giants were lucky. Brian Wilson said: "I don't feel fortunate, we won the game because we played the fundamentals of baseball and we lasted a little longer than they did. We're going to play like the stud ballclub we are."
I agree with Brian.
The Braves struck out 10 times last night against Barry Zito, who continued his excellent season on the mound, and 15 times total against the Giants pitchers. The Giants were outhit 4 to 6, but six hits isn't all that much better than 4 until you realize that the extra two hits from the Braves were homeruns. (By the way, all of the Braves runs in this series have scored via the longball) The Giants drew 8 walks to the Braves 2.
The reason all of this is important is because, after a 90 minute rain delayed start to the game, the Braves spent a lot more time in the field when they got to the crucial 9th inning. Because they had been putting the ball in play all night long rather than striking out, they had been putting pressure on the defense all night to make plays. That pressure finally got to the Braves when it mattered most and the Giants, like the
It seems like Bruce Bochy has come under more fire than ever before this week. Lefty Malo was all over him, so was the Bleacher report, hell there even is a fire Bruce Bochy facebook page! I have my problems with the guy like why is Juan Uribe still batting 5th instead of Pat Burrell? But really, would the Giants be any better than 63-47 with any other manager at the helm?
We will never know.
Link of the day:
I don't know the answer to either of those questions but I have provided you with photographic proof that there is indeed a Bruce Bochy Bobblehead out there.
Oh and last but not least:
The game recap from the San Jose Mercury News reports that the Giants did indeed put in a waiver claim on Adam Dunn. They were blocked by a team with a worse record. Who do you think that team was? Well if you said the Dodgers then you would be correct.
I hate those guys.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Round one goes to the Braves
The game started off good. The Giants had Jair Jurrjens on the ropes in the first inning and were unable to deliver the knockout blow. The same in the second. As a matter of fact he was on the ropes in almost every one of the first 5 innings. But one of the things that has plagued the Giants all season long came back to bite them.
Hitting with runners in scoring position.
The Giants were 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position, They hit 5 doubles and were only to get Andres Torres home in the 1st.
Tim Lincecum did not pitch too poorly either. He went 6 1/3 innings gave up 6 hits, walked 3, and struck out 7. He hung a curve to Alex Gonzales which landed in the left field bleachers and Eric Hinske took a high fastball over the centerfield fence on a flyball that just seemed to keep carrying and carrying and landed maybe 2 feet over the wall. In fact, both homeruns Timmy gave up just barely made it out. That's how close this game was.
This has led some people to theorize that their great July was against subpar competition and not against any first place teams. They say that August will be much tougher and the Giants will be exposed against teams like Atlanta, San Diego, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Cincinnati.
What they fail to realize is that, other than San Diego, the Giants have winning records against all of the teams mentioned. The Braves did tie the season series at 2-2 last night, but the Braves have the best record in the NL and the best record in baseball at home. A split in this series would be a huge success and is still very possible.
Link of the day:
We should know the fate of Adam Dunn sometime today. Apparently the Giants put in a claim on him but a team lower in the standings blocked them. It could really be any team other than the Padres and Braves since they are the only 2 teams with better records than the Giants. I wouldn't be surprised if it was St. Louis.
The Royals DFA'd Jose Guillen yesterday as well. The Royals have 10 days to trade, waive, or release him. I guess that the Giants are internally weighing their options with him but nothing is concrete. I, for one, would not be too disappointed if we didn't get him because the more I think about it, the more I think he duplicates Pat Burrell and he could possibly not be a good fit in the clubhouse.
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