I attended this game. You can't afford to fall behind in a game Clayton Kershaw is pitching, ever. Tim Lincecum gave up some hard hits early, fell behind 2-0 after two innings and the Giants blew and opportunity to come from behind in the 8'th inning. They had a run in on CStew's home run. Kershaw had walked two batters and was out of the game with just 1 out. Pablo pinch hit for Kepp and struck out swinging. Beltran then came up and struck out looking. More on that later. That sequence was a killer and very painful to watch. Key Lines:
Carlos Beltran- 2 for 4. BA= .303. Beltran was the one an only hitter in the lineup that Kershaw might have had a slight worry about. Although the line looks OK, Carlos did not have a good game. He was picked off 1B and CS after a single in the first inning, the second CS of the inning, BTW. He also came up in the 8'th with two outs and 2 runners on base against Kenley Jansen and looked at 4 pitches, 3 for strikes. Ball game! Not sure how a professional hitter doesn't get the bat off his shoulder in that situation, but man, that was a killer!
Brett Pill- 0 for 4. BA= .280. Pill actually looked the most comfortable of any Giants batter against Kershaw and took some strong hacks. He hit one to RF that I thought had a chance to go out, but the RF tracked it down with an overhead catch going away. Give the kid credit for not being intimidated up there.
Justin Christian- 2 for 3, 2B, SB(3). BA= .192. Personally, I would have preferred Brandon Belt's chances against Kershaw, even though Belt hits lefthanded. Doubtful he would have done better than Christianson though. He made it to 3B after the double by stealing it, but was left stranded. Later, he became one of 3 CS in the game for the Giants.
Chris Stewart- 2 for 3, HR(2). BA= .213. Perhaps the other Giants hitters should ask CStew what he's figured out about Kershaw. He hit the ball hard twice with the HR being a long line drive that skipped off the top of the left-centerfield wall.
Tim Lincecum- 7 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 2.59. Timmy had to hang tough to stay in this one. He was getting banged around pretty good. A lot of the outs were long flyballs too. Obviously not his best stuff, but maybe his best effort. In the end, his team had a chance to win.
The D'Backs lost to Pittburgh 5-3 so the Giants remain 4.5 games behind in the NL West with 8 to play. Arizona's magic number counted down to 3. ATL also won, so the Giants are 4.5 back in the Wild Card race too. Looking pretty grim, folks.
Ryan Vogelsong takes the mound tonight against Dana "Cy" Eveland in Dodger Stadium.
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Just a bad beat. I was going to go to the game as well, but kids got in the way of that. 4 times with the same result with Timmy-Kershaw is just bitter. Timmy looks shell shocked. Getting thrown out 3 times on the basepaths including the 2 in the first in what was obviously going to be a close game was just weak. The team looked tense, dead and emotionless. Quite a contrast from the rocky mountain high. I thought it was a good summation of the season that Huff grounds to the right side for the game ender with Belt sitting on the bench. After the highs of last year - thank you for writing about the lows. Its not as fun.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Why did Bochy put Huff at the plate? Even with his rally thong I would rather have Belt at the plate. I am hoping that Belt and Pill kill it in spring training and Huff is no longer needed. The guy had a horrible year and I can see him and Zito being possible DFA's toward the end of next season or earlier. Both of them came unprepared for spring training last year and have no drive in them to do well. At least with Zito he might get you through 6 innings. Huff is just a waste of roster space at this point with Pill hitting well and Belt showing some power his last few games. Belt will be off to the Dominican winter league and hopefully he can correct his swing on the low and inside pitches where he misses a lot.
ReplyDeleteWe really need to be talking extensions with Cainer and Timmy soon. Hopefully we can get Cain @ 17mil/year and Lincecum @ 18-19mil/year. But if that doesn't happen, I would rather keep Cain. He is a very hard worker and pretty durable.
last night pretty much should shut the door on the giants negotiating with carlos to keep him in the org
ReplyDeletehe is not a big game player...not any more
bochy got outmanaged
why is manny put in to pinch run, if he is gonna stick to first base? why was huff put in to ph?
Yeah, it can be tough to get motivated to write up a Game Wrap about a loss, expecially one as tough to swallow as this game.
ReplyDeleteBeltran has been an important part of the Giants recent winning streak, and no player can be great every AB every game, but man that K without him even so much as a check swing sure was disappointing.
ReplyDelete