The Giants took on the hottest team in baseball in their own crib and dominated every phase of the game for an easy win to start off the 3 game series. Key lines:
Freddy Sanchez- 2 for 5, 2B, HR(2). BA= .306. Freddy has been peppering baseball fields with basehits. He muscled up and got one of the Giants 3 dingers in this one. Freddy has been trending toward more power starting with the second half of last season.
Aubrey Huff- 1 for 3, BB. BA- .254. Huff just missed getting the 4'th HR of the night for the Giants.
Pablo Sandoval- 0 for 1, 3 BB. BA= .333. Pablo is showing more selectivity at the plate and it's paying off. Maybe some of those conversations with Barry Bonds in the offseason resulted in a change in approach on the field?
Pat Burrell- 1 for 3, HBP. .200/.333/.533. Yeah, you can pretty much forget about BA when it comes to evaluating Burrell's offensive production. OPS= .866? Yeah, I'll take that! No way should Burrell go to the bench when Ross and Torres get back.
Nate Schierholtz- 3 for 4, HR(1). BA= .292. OMG! The HR Nate hit just might be the longest I've ever seen. I'm sure Barry Bonds hit some that went farther in his career, but I don't think I saw them. This one landed 2-3 rows into the upper deck in RF, which is the 3'rd deck in Coors Field WAY up high! It's games like this that make people wonder what Nate could do with a steady starting gig while completely healthy.
Tim Lincecum- 7.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 10 K's. ERA= 1.67. Timmy did not allow a baserunner until the 4'th inning and did not allow a hit until the 7'th. He was hitting 95 MPH on the gun late in the game. I thought he had started laboring a bit before he gave up the hits and run in the 7'th, but he recovered enough to end the inning with a flourish. He gave away to Vogelsong after allowing a runner in the 8'th.
Ryan Vogelsong- 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. I'm sure this counts and Ryan's throwing day and he's still on track to make his start in Zito's slot on Friday night at home against the Braves. In this one, Vogelsong flashed a 92 MPH heater that had late movement and a "second stage" that made it look like it was jumping past hitters. He has a changeup that he developed in Japan that he is proud of, but he didn't throw it much tonight as the Rockies couldn't handle his fastball. Between Timmy and Ryan Vogelsong, the bullpen got a full day off tonight.
The W moves the Giants' record to 9-7 and to 3 games behind the NL West leading Rockies. This was a much needed win for the Giants who needed to slam the brakes on the Rockies runaway train. The one thing the Giants couldn't afford was to come into Coors and get swept, something that was not out of the question given the Giants history with this place and how hot Colorado has been. They took care of that tonight with the easy victory. I'm sure the Giants have every intention of sweeping the series. I'll be ecstatic if they can win one more and take their 4'th series in a row.
Jonathan Sanchez takes the mound tomorrow night against Ubaldo Jimenez who is coming back from a nail or blister issue. Ubaldo's velocity was down in his only start of the season. Whether that was due to the finger issue or if there are other issues at work, Ubaldo is a guy who could very easily turn the tables and dominate tomorrow.
Cody Ross comes off the DL tomorrow and it looks like Brandon Belt will be the one to go as the Giants will use their first option out of 3 on him. He needs to work on getting the bat started on the fastball a bit quicker and getting around on pitches on the inside corner.
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ross is looking very good in lv tonite
ReplyDeleteso belt goes down and ford stays up? ford needs to be playing everyday too
if timmy had gotten a no no in coors...wouldve been epic....but i will take a dominating performance in which he made tulo look like a kid just called up from aa
and i am now 100 percent positive that burrell is dave kingman 2.0
showtime has gotta be lovin their decision on using the giants as the team to kick off this reality series...cuz the vogelsong call up...with zito go on the dl...makes for great tv
lets hope that durty can go at least 6 tomorrow, cuz i still think some of the arms need rest
and look for whiteside to be doing the catching...no way should posey be the backstop
Nate's HR received no love. If I'm not mistaken dead center is 415ft at Coors and they estimated his triple-decker at a mere 462? Give me a break!
ReplyDeleteI think Belt belongs in AAA at this point. I know people are going to say that 1B is crowded in Fresno, but let's be honest, the Giants basically were willing to give TK away to keep Belt, and Pill hasn't ever been considered a legitimate MLB 1B prospect. Belt takes all precedence over the two of them at 1B. Maybe they even boost their own stock by proving versatility in the OF?
As for Darren Ford needing to play every day, I disagree. He is an older, advanced prospect who is near his ceiling in a lot of ways. If he helps the Giants win games at the major league level as a defensive replacement, then that's where he belongs at this point. We're not talking about the Kansas City Royals giving prospects time to check out major league pitching, we're talking about the defending champs. Ford is in no way in the plans as a future starter in the OF. Additionally, Huff @ 1B with Torres and Ross in the OF give the Giants better chances of winning than Belt in the lineup right now - no disrespect, as he will be a phenomenal player, just needs some brushing up.
The philosophy here should not and is not to let some prospects get some ML seasoning. Belt was put on the roster because Bochy legitimately thought the team would be better with him... unfortunately that hasn't quite panned out, but we have seen that Belt isn't far off, so down he goes and we will see him again soon.
Anon,
ReplyDeleteNot sure what you are talking about with Nate. If you are referring to my post, go back and read it. I gave it a whole lot of love! I believe I called it possibly the longest HR I've ever seen! Just to elaborate further: The 3'rd deck he hit it to was in straightaway RF. There have been 31 HR's hit to that level in the history of Coors. Barry Bonds hit 2 of them. Nate's estimated distance was about 10 ft farther than either of Barry's shots. A mighty impressive jolt!
Darren Ford is only up until Andres Torres comes back which should be quite soon. I agree with Anon here. When you are the defending WS champ, the focus has to be on what's best for the team right now. You need new blood on the team, but if they aren't ready, they need to get the seasoning in AAA, and if coming off the bench at the MLB level is what is needed, then that's what they need to do.
DrB, you gave Nate props, I just think the estimate from ESPN and MLB was a bit short for a ball that seemed like it was just starting to lose some steam as it got to the third deck!
ReplyDeleteKeep up the blogging, really great posts, especially with the minor leaguers, I will definitely be making an account and reading regularly!
Sorry, I misunderstood what you were getting at. Yeah, Nate's blast was definitely epic. That one will stick in my mind for a long time as one of the longest, if not THE longest HR I've ever seen.
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