Sunday, July 31, 2016

Game Wrap 7/30/2016: Giants 5 Nationals 3

The Giants got an immediate boost from newcomer Eduardo Nunez and 5 shutout innings from the bullpen to salvage a shaky start by Jake Peavy.  Key Lines:

Eduardo Nunez- 2 for 5, 2B, SB(28).  BA= .297.  Brandon Crawford was unavailable with a sore hand(although he did come in to play SS in the 9'th inning), so Nunez stepped in and batted leadoff despite a minuscule walk rate.  Of course, he came up with the bases loaded 3 times.  He did deliver a 2-run double in the 4'th to drive in the Giants first two runs.  He left 7 others on base, but hey, that's better than what the Giants have been doing with the bases loaded!

Buster Posey- 2 for 4, BB. BA= .287.  Maybe with Pence in the lineup, Buster won't be going up there as often needing to hit a HR to get the Giants back in the game.

Hunter Pence- 1 for 3, 2B, BB.  BA= .299.  Giants needed a good hitting OF a the trade deadline.  Maybe Pence is that guy.

Brandon Belt- 1 for 1, 3 BB.  BA= .282.  With Pence back in the lineup, maybe Belt can walk his way out of his slump?

Joe Panik- 1 for 3, SF.  BA= .251.  Panik got the Giants an insurance run with a bases-loaded sac fly.  Hey again!  That's better than what the Giants have been doing with the bases loaded!

Jake Peavy- 4 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 7 K's.  ERA= 5.47.  From the K's and BB's, Peavy was dealing but he'd thrown 78 pitches through 4 IP, and with with runners on base, Bochy lifted him for PH Mac Williamson who drew a walk to load the bases and set up Nunez' double.  Mad eventually scored on a groundout.

Bullpen- 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K's.  This bullpen is still capable of games like this where they win the game by shutting down the opposing team, not just for 3 or 3 innings, but 4 or 5.  New lefty Matt Reynolds started the 5'th inning buy walking Ben Revere, but he struck out Bryce Harper.  Hunter Strickland pitched 1.2 shutout innings.  Javier Lopez walked his 8'th LH batter this season(he's also hit one with a pitch).  Casilla got the 2-run Save(23).

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The Dodgers lost to the D'Backs 4-1, so the Giants were able to extend their lead in the NL West to 2 games.

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Matt Cain tries to salvage a series tie today facing Gio Gonzalez.

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Around the League:

Indians acquire Andrew Miller from the Yankees for prospects Clint Frazier and Justus Sheffield.  Apparently the Yanks like those two better than anything the Giants could have given them.  The Indians may also be close to acquiring Jonathan Lucroy, although Sheffield was rumored to be part of that trade too.

The Padres were able to get a net savings of about $25 M on Matt Kemp's contract by shipping him to the Braves for Hector Olivera, another guy with a bad contract.  The Padres immediately released the troubled Olivera.  So, why didn't the Braves just release Olivera themselves?  They get a net gain of about $3.5 M in the deal, although now they have to figure out what to do with Kemp.  My guess is Kemp is immediately on the trading block for another bad contract.

The Pirates waived a white flag on the season by shipping closer Mark Melancon to the Nationals for a couple of low level prospects.  Seems like the Giants could use Melancon and could afford a better trade package, but what do I know?

The A's shipped out Billy Burns to the Royals for aging prospect Brett Eibner in a head scratching move from the A's standpoint.

3 comments:

  1. the tribe is also going all in this season. they dont want the cavs to be the only winners in that city...cashman is doing a very good job at replenishing his farm system
    friars are still a mess and kemp was never really happy there.
    beane does what beane does

    i have a feeling that craw is gonna get a lot of days off during the stretch run. nunez was a very good trade

    great to see pence and his energy back in the lineup

    really hope cain can give the team at least 6 innings today

    in regards to the giants making anymore trades before the deadline on monday...i just dont see it happening. they dont have to go all in....3 ws in 5 years gives them the luxury of not needing to go all in. and the ability to develop players is what has allowed them to go to the fa market and get guys like cueto.

    despite what has happened since the break, this team was able to hold serve with a questionable back end of the rotation, a mostly 4a lineup and an inconsistent pen...that's not bad

    still wish that bochy had given the team the lollygagger speech earlier than he did

    bacci

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  2. Lucroy refused to waive no-trade after the tribe wouldn't void his 2017 option. Deal is dead.

    Didn't a major league reliever go to pirates in melancon deal?

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    1. If you want to be precise, yes, Felipe Rivero, a lefty reliever with 2 years of MLB experience and an ERA of 4.58 went to Pittsburgh along with a hard throwing lefty prospect from the lower minors. Doesn't change the equation that it seems like the Giants could have topped that offer if they wanted Melancon.

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