Sunday, August 28, 2011

Game Wrap 8/28/2011: Astros 4 Giants 3

I will give the Giants credit for battling to win this game. That would be a good sign for the future except for 2 inconvenient truths: 1. The Giants are rapidly running out of time 2. Their offense was utterly dominated for the first 6 innings of this game, perhaps like they haven't been dominated before this season, and that's saying a LOT! By the time the offense came to life, they had already lost too many potential opportunities to score runs. They didn't even get so far as to HAVE opportunities. Key Lines:

Matt Cain- 8 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 2.87. When the Giants scored 2 runs in the 7'th inning to take a 2-1 lead, I really thought Cainer might make that stand up the rest of the way. He was only at 85 pitches and was cruising. Alas, 31 pitches later, the game was tied and Cainer was done. Otherwise just another stellar pitching performance from the Hoss.

Bud Norris- 7 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 10 K's. ERA= 3.68. 2 of the hits and the BB came in the 7'th. For the first 6 innings, he might as well have been pitching a no-hitter. He was that dominant, maybe more so than a lot of no-hitters.

The D'Backs finished off their sweep of the Pathetic Padres 6-1 and the Giants drop 4 games off the pace on the NL West. That is now a deficit that cannot be made up with a H2H series sweep. It ain't over till it's over, but right now the D'Backs have the momentum and the Giants have whatever the opposite of momentum is.

The Cubbies are coming to town for a 3 game set with Timmy taking on Randy Wells in the opener tomorrow night.

11 comments:

  1. i just hope that premiere bowtie is taking notes for next season

    next time...stick to your guns regarding trading for straight rental players...the cost is not worth it

    beltran is not bonds...he does not make the players around him better

    i know other teams are noting this...and its gonna cost mr beltran and his agent plenty...karma, it is a bitch

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hindsight I think we should of went all in on Hunter Pence. He has a couple years left and with Posey back next year we could have had a great lineup with Sandoval, Belt, Pence and Posey in the middle. Instead we lose our top rated prospect and are in danger of losing him for nothing meaning no playoffs. If we could pick up just one game per week we would be in. But to go 5 or 6 games back will be the nail in the coffin.

    I believe with our young pitching we have to go all in the next couple years. Meaning we may need to overspend for some offense. But we dont want to sacrifice defense so Fielder is out. Reyes and BJ Upton are 2 that come to mind. Both can hit and play defense although Upton's avg is down. We cant just sit back and hope for lightning in the bottle. We need good hitters to get 3 runs a game. 3 runs is usually all we need. Unfortunately there is not many others available unless we want to trade either pitching or prospects. I am just hoping we dont take a step back next year because our window is now.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hopefully Belt gets better at protecting the plate with 2 strikes. Taking a called 3rd strike in the 10 inning was brutal with the winning run at 2nd base. 2nd straight start Cain makes a mistake on a 0-2 pitch with the 8th inning HBP and it cost them the game. Maybe they should start DeRosa since he's a good hitter when healthy. I think the Giant need to win at least 4 out of the 6 games this week to have a realistic chance at catching the DBACKS.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Bacci,

    The 2 big problems with rental players is: 1. The small sample size you get them for. Even great players have slumps that can last for a few weeks. 2. Injuries. Beltran has had both factors go against him. Nobody thinks he is Barry Bonds, but when he is healthy and performing at his usual level, he is a difference maker.

    With the uncanny string of injuries and slumps this team has suffered, I'm coming to the conclusion this just wasn't their year. We're seeing why it's crazy hard to repeat a championship in MLB.

    Roger,

    I would not have been against trading 4 prospects for Pence. My only hesitation is he would be moving from a favorable hitting environment to an unfavorable one. The Giants play a total of 102 games in AT&T, Petco, Dodger Stadium and Oakland every year. That's brutal for hitters!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Cain= great game, great season, great pitcher (obviously)...but HORRIBLE at shutdown innings. Goodness.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Drb, its too early to tell whether Neukom regrets approving the Beltran trade, but he might if Wheeler becomes a good MLB starting pitcher. Don't like rental player trades, but they had to do something big to improve their chances of making the playoffs. Their offense is the worst in baseball. If they didn't do anything, it would send the wrong message to the clubhouse and fans that they're not going for a 2nd WS title. I remember 1993 when the Braves edged the Giants out on the last day of the season, what was upsetting was the Giants only acquired Jim Deshaies for the stretch run.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anon1,

    I don't know if I would use the word "horrible" in connection with anthing Matt Cain does. His strengths, obviously, are consistency and durability. He's going to give up a run here and there, so he's not going to win many 1-0 games for you, last post-season notwithstanding.

    Anon2,

    Agreed.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I would not have been for trading more prospects for Pence as it would have cost us Gary Brown along with Wheeler (he was the equivalent in quality to what Houston got from Philly), and you see how losing Torres this season cost our offense. We need him to be the offense starter, and hopefully he can do it for us in the near future.

    In addition, as nicely as Pence has hit overall, Houston is skewed towards more homers while SF is skewed towards less (Philly more), and that's why he wasn't even an .800 OPS hitter on the road while at Houston. That was about average for a corner OF during his career.

    I'm not giving up Wheeler AND Brown for an average corner OF, even if we control him for a few more years. Randy Winn was an average offensive corner OF, bouncing around .800.

    I would rather the Giants try for the brass ring this season by getting Beltran, who is a superior hitter, in hopes that he can carry the team to the playoffs. He's strongly incented to do so because he wants a good showing into his free agency.

    Plus, we will get back Posey next season and hopefully Belt will get the butterflies out and hit like he can up here, instead of striking out so much. Plus Franchez batting second would be key too. Both of them returning would make getting Pence less of a need for the offense.

    And if Brown can take a leap, either in AFL this year (if he can get in) or next season in minors, he could be our leadoff hitter by mid-season.

    Or, if Neukom could finance it, if teams balk on Beltran and only offer him 3 year deals, we might be able to get him on a 2 year deal by paying a little more and he could take his chances again in a couple years. After Torres poor season and Ross' fade the past month, we need a good hitting CF again...

    ReplyDelete
  9. And I'm against Reyes because he will want a 7-10 year deal for mega-bucks, and that would cause the Giants to not keep around one of their top pitchers long-term.

    Beltran, if things fall right, could only take a 2 year commmitment, after which the money would go to the pitchers.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh, and I'm for going all in if the Giants have no plans to keep the pitchers long-term, but if they are planning on keeping Lincecum and Cain together for many more years, then I would rather they take the long-term view and not give up a lot of young prospects in trade in hopes of winning any particular season.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I hope Belt doesn't turn into the next Freddie Lewis. Freddie took way too many pitches when he shouldn't have.

    ReplyDelete