Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Game Wrap 05-05-2010: Giants 3 Marlins 2

Barry Zito pitched another great game, something we are starting to become accustomed to. Gamer had the key hit of the game again. The bullpen did it's job, albeit not without giving us all a scare. The Giants once again take the first two games of a series with a 3-2 win over the Florida Marlins. Key lines:

Aaron Rowand- 1 for 5, HR. BA= .317. Rowand's two run HR in the 6'th inning was the difference in the game.

Matt Downs- 2 for 2, 2 BB. BA= .417. Downs is in one of those zones that young players sometimes get into. The key will be how he handles the slump when it comes. A perfect night tonight, though.

Barry Zito- 7 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 4 K's. 4 of the seven hits were given up to start the 8'th inning. Fortunately, the Marlins only advanced 1 base at a time on each hit. Zito runs his record to 5-0 with a sparkling 1.49 ERA. Competition for Timmy for Cy Young?

Sergio Romo- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. The K was Hanley Ramirez with the bases loaded and 0 outs. How huge is that? The next batter grounded into an inning ending DP. Romo really saved the game right there atoning for almost blowing last night's game.

Brian Wilson- 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. Wilson has reverted to his myocardial infarction inducing tightrope acts as he loaded the bases with no outs, but ended up only allowing 1 run. With a 2 run lead, it was enough to preserve the W and get credit for his 5'th Save. I feel like Wilson was a little unlucky as he was in the Timmy game he blew. There was nothing unlucky about Uggla's leadoff single. Wilson was lucky it stayed in the park! Uggla can hit the heater! The next batter, Paulino hit a slicer that split the right side gap. That was luck! On the HBP, it looked to me like Carroll moved up on the plate. When Molina lined up his glove, it was almost behind Carroll. I knew it was going to be a HBP before Wilson even delivered the ball! By this time, Wilson had his heater warmed up to 99 MPH and just blew away the last two batters of the inning to save the game.

This win runs the Giants record to 16-10. Hoss is going tomorrow against Ricky Nolasco. Both pitchers are on my Savvy Vets fantasy team. I'll hope for a low scoring game and a Giants win! Come on, Hoss. Bring the broom tomorrow!

7 comments:

  1. Yes, another great game for Zito, great win for the Giants.

    How about that dunce Torres running when you have Sandoval batting and he gets thrown out at 3B (even though it was a bad call, it appears he was safe, but why take that risk?!?).

    Luckily we didn't need the run he would have scored (plus that would have kept the inning alive for at least another batter, maybe we could have gotten more and knocked him out earlier), but it would have been huge if Rowand didn't homer, could have costed us the win, or at least could have forced us to burn the bullpen again in extra innings.

    Yeah, Downs has been very nice offensively, but according to the new stats on BB-reference.com, his defense at 2B is pretty bad, would cost us a win over a full season. Still, if he could hit like this all the time, that would certainly make up for that poor defense some. At least he is hitting while Renteria is on the shelf and Uribe has been in a bit of a cold spell.

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  2. Oh, when I get two of my pitchers going against each other, and one of them is a Giant, I just can't bear to start the other guy, for if he does well, then I would have benefited from a Giants loss, possibly.

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  3. I don't believe in letting my own fan loyalties get in the way of winning in fantasy baseball. I go ahead and start both, hope they both do well, but the Giants win.

    I got home too late to see the Sanchez gaffe. It is very seldom a good idea to try to steal 3B. It only improves your chances of scoring slightly if you are successful, and the downside is huge if you get thrown out.

    I remember Lou Brock, who knew a thing or two about basestealing, said he almost never tried to steal 3B because he felt like he could score from 2B on almost any hit. I guess the counter-argument would be that if you can get to 3B with less than 2 outs, you can score without the benefit of a hit, but again, you have to be sure you are going to make it, because the downside of getting caught is huge.

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  4. honestly, i feel bad for the fish

    forced to play in a crappy stadium before less fans than what show up to most aaa games

    those kids have talent...hanley is a scary offensive presence, how romo got him to swing at 3 bad pitches in a row is beyond me

    what is the worst thing about the team, is that their management seems demoralized...which is sad...i would love to work with a group of kids like that.

    it was so quiet at the park that for the first time, i heard the umps calls and pitchers screaming out obscenities....hilarious.

    wilson scared the bejeezus out of me tonite...it was like nenn was back on the mound.

    in following up my freddy comment, baggs posted the following on his blog...

    "The quick version on Freddy: Manager Bruce Bochy called Sanchez Tuesday to let him know the organization expects him to begin a minor league rehab assignment within the week. Bochy told me he wants to get Sanchez’s clock going.

    By his clock, Bochy is referring to the rule that rehabbing position players can remain in the minors for a maximum of 20 days. Sanchez might need most of that time to make up for the absence of a spring training to get ready for the season.

    Bochy didn’t tell me this, but my sense is that the Giants want to give Sanchez a deadline he can’t back away from. I also sense they’re getting a little short on patience with him. All along, he’s told reporters that he remains “ahead of schedule,” even when the schedule keeps getting bumped back again and again.

    Look, Sanchez wants to be sure he’s 100 percent when he comes back. Nobody will begrudge him that desire. He doesn’t want to be physically compromised in any way. I get that. You don’t want to fail in front of a fan base which already seems to have made up its mind about you.

    But when you’ve got Aaron Rowand begging to play with three broken bones in his face, well, let’s just say it doesn’t look good to the rest of the room."

    ok, so maybe bochy didnt say anything, but im getting the vibe that someone in the org passed on some information to baggs that freddy is malingering. its not like they havent done this before.

    and as much as sabean doesnt want to lose face in the wake of what is becoming a totally worthless trade and fa signing....why mess with something that aint broken? let freddy take his time...shoot, send him to the bahamas

    my nightmare is that freddy returns, is a clone of what is going on with derosa, and bochy plays musical chairs with the two, trying to find places in the lineup where they wont kill the offense.

    and i like downs...and his d has been a heck of alot better than it was last year.

    and i know that team chemistry doesnt mean crap...but i think this team has balance

    on the one side you have the goofy nutballs like timmy, romo, panda and zito....on the other you have the gamers like rowand and nate and in the middle, you have everyone else...dont mess with the balance...

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  5. btw, ogc...why are you looking at stats when you can use your own 2 eyes....downs has looked good in the field

    his d will cost us a win over a season??? was that said tongue in cheek?

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  6. Bacci,

    Eyes can be deceiving. It's probably too small a sample size to mean much with Downs, but personally I'd believe the stats before I'd believe my eyes.

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  7. OGC, I think that we may need to hold off on placing judgement on downs defense for SSS, rule of thumb is that you get an idea after 1200 innings and unless these new stats are for his minor league numbers they need to be taken with a grain of salt.

    Romo was throwing some crazy frizbee sliders last night. They had to be starting behind Hanley and were cutting all the way across and landing a foot outside and in the dirt. The horizontal movement had to be in the 3 foot range and he made one of the best young hitters in the game look foolish.

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