Thursday, June 30, 2011

Game Wrap 6/30/2011: Cubs 5 Giants 2

This game probably ranks fairly high on the list of most frustrating games in the recent history of the Giants, and that's saying something! Another terrific start by Matt Cain wasted, 2 blown Saves, losing in extra innings, more than 10 innings without so much as a hit. I'm tellin' ya, this game had it all! Key LInes:

Andres Torres- 0 for 6, 4 K's. BA= .222.
Pablo Sandoval- 2 for 6, 2B, SB(2). BA= .293.
Nate Schierholtz- 0 for 3, 2 BB. BA= .264.
Matt Cain(RHP)- 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 3.02.
Sergio Romo(RHP)- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 2.45.
Brian Wilson(RHP)- 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 0 K's, HR. ERA= 2.61.
Ramon Ramirez(RHP)- 0.2 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 1 K. ERA= 2.51.

Any chance this offense has of improving depends a lot of how Sandoval hits, so this game is good from his standpoint. At least Nate drew a couple of walks. What can I say about Cainer? He's allowed just 1 ER in his last 21 IP, yet has just 1 Win to show for it. Wilson has given up a lot of hard outs lately. It finally caught up with him in this one. Still, it's only his 3'rd BS. From Baggs' desecription of things, Ramirez was monumentally unlucky in this one. Should have been out of the inning but lost out on a close check swing non-call that should have been strike 3, out #3.

Andres Torres was putrid in this one. Bochy is going to sit him for a couple of games again. Not sure how many times you can do that without deciding he just isn't going to turn it around. I'd probably go with an OF of Burrell in LF, Ross in CF and Nate in RF for the time being and see if they can gel into something. Burrell struck out 3 times this game though, so Bochy will probably go with Rowand, Ross and Nate. That's not a criticism of Bochy, BTW.

The Reeling Rockies were the only other NL West team in action today and they lost to the ChiSox 6-4. That leaves the Giants 2 games ahead of the D'Backs, 6.5 games up on Colorado, 9 games up on San Diego and 10 games up on the Dodgers. All things considered, not a terrible place to be in at this point of the season.

Madison Bumgarner takes the mound in Detroit against Brad Penny. Who's going to DH? Fortunately, the Giants don't face Justin Verlander this series. THAT could be a perfecto! The Max Scherzer game on Saturday might not be too much fun to watch though.

6 comments:

  1. Maybe Torres' sleep problems are affecting him at the plate? Baggarly mentioned that he (Torres) said he didn't know what was going wrong.

    There's just so many problems with the offense. Of course, everyone in the league is suffering from lowered O, but it seems like the Giants are having the brunt.

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  2. bleh...the offense sux

    movement in the minors

    adrianza is in sj

    fairly goes to ct

    dont know if anyone is getting bumped from ct as christian already went to fresno

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  3. How long until we see Neal in SF? I figure a RoRo trade (with the G's eating 90% of his salary) has to be in the works somehow to make room. The offense needs SOMETHING...

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  4. A big part of the problem here is there is just too much to fix! If it was just one or two positions that were not producing, you could make a trade or two and be in great shape. In the Giants case, there are only one or two hitters hitting at all. That makes it kind of tough to fix it via trades or callups. At least 2 or 3 current players are going to have to step up and produce. I think I'd give Burrell one more extended try in LF, and somehow Huff needs to get it going.

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  5. A No-hitter within a game. I don't remember seeing that one before.

    As Doc says, just problems everywhere. Burrell can still play. But, just have to keep him on a moderately short leash. It becomes pretty clear when he is slumping. (See 2010 WS)

    I'm hoping when Belt comes back, he plays. I think with him a Burrell being more patient at the plate, it may catch on a little bit. (Dempster's low pitch counts by inning yesterday were ridiculous.)

    Maybe Bochy can try some stuff. Have the hitters first time through take one or even strikes.

    I don't think being more patient fixes too much, but it makes the opposing pitchers throw strikes. And maybe taking some pitches, our guys relax a little bit. Just watch the pitches without trying to do anything with them.

    Just looking for some antidote to everyone pressing.

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  6. At least no Verlander... I could see another no-hitter in the making.

    The interior defense seems adquate defensively but Torres has to carry a load with the bat. If Torres doesn't get back to going, the Giants might want to get their hankies out as the D'Backs and Rockies got flying by.

    At least the win streak defies that the team can't survive without Buster and Freddy.

    The pressure on the pitching staff is becoming astounding and maybe yesterday and the day before was a hint. Either pitch a shutout or lose.

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