Kuzul

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Orange Fridays just aren’t as magical as they used to be.

There’s really not much to be said about this game. The Giants lost 3-0 because they simply could not execute. They grounded into two double plays (Pablo  Sandoval wasn’t the culprit of either), both of which killed legitimate threats to score.

In the third, with runners on first and second and nobody out, Bumgarner failed to lay down a bunt. The ball flew off of his bat and one-hopped to McGehee, who then turned a double play. Renteria then failed to get the runner home from third base.

In the fight, Pat  Burrell led off with a single, but Uribe fouled out and Jose  Guillen grounded into a double play to end the inning. The Giants couldn’t take many pitches because Randy  Wolf pounded the strike zone, but their aggressive style didn’t work too well, either. Through the first six innings, Wolf only had to throw 22 pitches through innings four, five, and six combined. The Giants just couldn’t make him work hard.

Their defense was also atrocious. Juan  Uribe made an error for the second game in a row, while Jeremy  Affeldt made a decision to throw home on an easy come-backer in the seventh inning (it wasn’t a force out, but it was an easy play) and threw the ball over Buster  Posey, allowing the Brewers to score their third run. And these are only the obvious signs of poor defense.

When Madison  Bumgarner pitches well, but gives up nine hits (his final line: 5.2 IP, 2 ER, 9 H, 1 BB, 5 K), it’s clearly the result of mediocre defense. Very few of the hits he allowed were hit hard, but Burrell, Ross, and Guillen don’t cover much range in the outfield at this point. For now, Triple’s alley will be home run’s alley until Torres returns.

Bumgarner was able to pitch out of many tough situations, though, which could be a sign of his maturity as a pitcher and his ability to stay focused on the mound. He has received zero runs of support over his last three starts.

The Giants’ pitching is most likely going to keep them in games every day from here on out, so they need to start hitting. No more double plays. No more low pitch counts for opposing pitchers. No more failed bunt attempts. No more stranded runners in scoring position. They just can’t afford to fail to execute basic fundamental baseball; at this point, it will cost them a ticket to the postseason.

Luckily, the Padres faced the same fate as the Giants on Friday, losing 14-4. They still remain right on the Giants’ tails, though, with just half a game back. The Giants’s next five games are against losing teams, so now’s when they need to take advantage and build upon their NL West lead.

Tomorrow: Pitchers’ duel. Gallardo vs. Lincecum. Uribe has a 3-for-5 against Gallardo in his career, but collectively, the Giants don’t hit him well (.235 career average). Lincecum has pitched well lately, and will be at home, where he’s at his best. It should be a good match-up.

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Up against the young Dodgers’ ace Clayton Kershaw, the Giants failed to score a run. Barry Zito, too, was dealing for a while until the sixth inning, when he hit Reed Johnson with a pitch and then walked Rafael Furcal and Andre Ethier. With the bases loaded and two outs, SS Juan Uribe bobbled a groundball, allowing Reed Johnson to score.

Zito was then taken out of the game because of bad numbers against Kemp in his career. His final line: 5.2 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 3 BB, 5 K. The Giants reached base only four times in the entire game, but a few positives can still be taken from this:

First of all, Cody Ross wasn’t hitless. The man playing center, Aaron Rowand, was hitless, however. If Cody Ross keeps hitting, which he is clearly capable of, and Rowand keeps struggling, which he is clearly capable of, Cody Ross will soon be the starting center fielder.

He’s no Andres Torres, but he’s certainly a big step up from Aaron Rowand. He plays better outfield defense, and his bat has a bigger upside than Aaron Rowand, who seems to consistently linger around a .230 batting average.

The second positive, and probably more important, is that Barry Zito pitched well for the second start in a row. This means that the Giants rotation is consistently serviceable from top to bottom. For a team that is built around their rotation, this is highly critical.

The third and final positive, once again, relates to Torres’ absence. Of the Giants’ four hits, Freddy Sanchez had two of them. With Torres gone, Freddy Sanchez needs to fulfill the role of a table-setter. Batting in front of Buster Posey, Aubrey Huff, Pat Burrell, and company, he needs to get on base, so he can be the one scoring those runs.

When the Giants score three runs or more, their record is 72-22. That’s the best of any team in the majors, but they need to be able to score three runs. Tuesday night, they couldn’t score a run. And it’s excusable, because they were facing Clayton Kershaw, one of the best pitchers in the National League.

But the Giants will continue to face good pitching, though: Billingsley, Ted Lilly, Yovani Gallardo, Ryan Dempster, and the list goes on and on.

Tomorrow Matt Cain will face Chad Billingsley. It will most likely be a pitcher’s duel, as most of the Giants games have been recently. The Giants, thus, will need to execute small ball: getting bunts down, taking extra bases, etc. If there’s a runner on third with less than two outs, it’s absolutely critical that they get that guy in. There’s no excuse for not being able to hit a sacrifice fly.

The Giants are still in great shape. Only six remaining games against winning teams, 11 of their 17 remaining games are at home, and they have a couple of days of rest in the remaining weeks, which will hopefully keep them fresh. One and a half games back in the National League West, and one and a half games back in the National League Wild Card. They’re in the thick of things right now.

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The Giants are once again tied with the Padres for first place in the NL West after beating them to win the series finale.

Tim Lincecum pitched well for the third time this month, allowing just one earned run in seven innings while striking out nine.

Buster Posey hit a two-run homer in the first inning to give the Giants an early lead, and they added on later: Jose Guillen hit a sacrifice fly in the third inning, and Lincecum hit a two-run single in the fourth inning.

Mat Latos, who had gone a major-league record 15 consecutive games with five-plus IP and two ER or fewer, lasted just four innings, giving up five runs.

The Giants went on to win the game 6-1, as they finished their road trip with a 7-3 record.

The key factor in the Giants’ success against the Padres was their ability to contain Adrian Gonzalez. He was just 3-for-15 in the series without a single RBI or run.

Notes

• Andres Torres is likely out for the season due to appendicitis. This will undoubtedly be a big blow to the Giants’ offense (in spite of his recent struggles) but will be an even bigger blow to their defense. Pat Burrell, Aaron Rowand, and Guillen might very well be the worst outfield defense in the majors. Hopefully, Nate Schierholtz and Cody Ross will get a lot of playing time. In a lineup with Ross in center, it’d be interesting to see who leads off…possibly Freddy Sanchez? Torres will be missed sorely…
• Lincecum reached the 200-K plateau for the third consecutive year, becoming the fourth Giant in history to do so and the first Giant since Juan Marichal did it in four straight seasons from 1963-1966. He also took the NL lead in strikeouts with 208. He could become the third pitcher in the post-World War II era to lead the NL in strikeouts in three consecutive years, joining Warren Spahn and Randy Johnson. 
• The Giants rotation is on a serious roll: 11 quality starts in their last 14 games. On a similar note, the Giants’ ERA this month is 1.84.
• Four Giants (Burrell, Posey, Aubrey Huff, and Juan Uribe) had a multi-hit game on Sunday…nice to see after the Giants had batted .207 over the first nine games of this road trip.
• The Giants are 8-3 in September. The Padres, meanwhile, have posted a 4-7 record this month.
• After going four consecutive seasons (’05-’08) with records below .500, the Giants have clinched their second consecutive .500-plus season.

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Saturday’s game was characterized by dominant pitching and poor umpiring behind the plate. Madison Bumgarner pitched a beautiful game, allowing only one earned run on three hits through seven innings. The lone blemish was a third inning solo shot off of the bat of Yorvit Torrealba. Bumgarner only needed 79 pitches to get through seven innings, as he pitched extremely efficiently.

His counterpart, Tim Stauffer, also pitched very efficiently, going six scoreless innings, allowing just three hits. The bullpen trio of Gregerson, Adams, and Bell came in and shut the Giants down, to secure the 1-0 victory, but more importantly, to reclaim first place as their own.

Jerry Crawford, the umpire behind the plate, just called a bad game overall. His strike zone was too wide, expanded on the outer half of the plate, forcing the Giants to protect pitches outside. The effect it had on them was noticeable: Buster Posey, for example, struck out twice and grounded into a double play, not the kind of game one would expect out of him after a day of rest.

This is not the first time that this umpiring crew has given the Giants troubles. Earlier in the second half of the season, Travis Ishikawa had scored the game-winning run in a home game against the Mets, but umpire Phil Cuzzi called him out. From the video replay, it was pretty obvious Ishikawa was safe.

It’s unfortunate that the Giants had to face this problem in such a critical game—any game against the Padres is critical at this point. The Giants are now one game back in the NL West, and will need to win the series finale in order to once again pull into a tie for first place.

Notes:

Madison Bumgarner has had a very decent rookie campaign, but one of the most impressive numbers he has put up is his road ERA. After Saturday’s quality start, he now has an ERA of 2.14 in nine road starts. 

The Giants rotation is finally dazzling. Ten of their last 13 starts have been quality. Andres Torres has put up impressive offensive numbers this year. His 64 extra-base hits, for example, are among the top 10 in the National League. He is struggling mightily of late, though. He’s 8 for his last 60 (.133 avg). This has taken away a large part of the Giants’ running game, too, as Torres is now rarely on base. 

Pablo Sandoval seemed to have altered his batting stance during his pinch-hit at bat on Saturday. It will be interesting to note if he does this again on Sunday…

Are the Giants turning into the Padres? The Padres are characterized by three main factors: low scoring, dominant rotation and bullpen, and speed on the basepaths. The Giants are scoring very few runs, and their rotation and bullpen have been lights-out for the most part.

Without many runs coming by virtue of the longball, they’re trying to steal more—like Huff’s steal on Friday, or Ford’s attempted steal, which ended Saturday’s game.

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May 6. 

That is the last day the Giants were in 1st place. Four months later, the Giants stand atop the NL West, tied with the San Diego Padres.

They won 1-0 on Friday thanks to yet another strong pitching effort. Jonathan Sanchez went five scoreless innings, allowing just one hit, but walking eight (one intentionally). Despite his lack of control, he did his job. He kept the Giants in the game, and gave them the opportunity to win.

Aubrey Huff was hit by a pitch to start the seventh inning, at which point Clayton Richard was removed from the game and replaced with Luke Gregerson. While Pat Burrell was swinging at strike three to make the first out, Aubrey Huff took a bold steal of second base. Jose Guillen reached on a fielder’s choice, and Nate Schierholtz was put in to pinch run for him.

With one out and runners on the corners, Uribe hit a chopper to shortstop. Cabrera flipped the ball to Eckstein, who threw to first, but the inning-ending double play couldn’t be completed as Uribe was safe by half a step. Nate Schierholtz slid with all of his force into Eckstein to break up the double play, and it probably made the difference, allowing the Giants to take the lead.

With a 1-0 lead, the Giants’ bullpen was able to shut the Padres down with a spectacular effort. They combined for four scoreless innings, allowing just two hits.

The Giants won this game the way they were expected to win and supposed to win ballgames this year—by shutting down the opposition. The rotation of Lincecum, Cain, Zito, Sanchez, and Bumgarner has always the had the potential to perform at an elite level, but it’s finally coming to fruition.

They’re pitching like they’re the best rotation in baseball…and perhaps they are—or at least they could be if they can be consistent.  The bullpen, too, is pitching incredibly. On this road trip so far, the bullpen ERA has been 0.43. In 21 innings of pitching, the bullpen has allowed just one earned run. The rotation, meanwhile, sports an impressive 2.82 ERA on the road trip.

Every play matters: Huff’s stolen base, Schierholtz’s hard slide into second, Jonathan Sanchez’s ability to induce a double play with one out and runners on first and second against Adrian Gonzalez.  They played hard, executed in certain key moments, and walked away with the victory.

Quite possibly the most impressive part of this game is that they did this without any assistance from Buster Posey, whose absence weakens the Giants’ offense significantly (not to mention what he brings to this team defensively…).

Notes:

Brian Wilson has allowed just one earned run in his last 18.2 innings of work. He’s the best closer in the National League at this point, an established all-star closer whose kept the ball in the park, struck out 82 batters in 65 innings, and had an ERA of 1.80—nearly one lower than his previous career best. 

Freddy Sanchez, who was 2-for-4, has had multiple hits in 11 of his last 23 games. He’s made it harder to notice Andres Torres’ struggles at the plate, as he’s been getting hits at inconceivable rates—he’s batting .414 since August 12. 

Jonathan Sanchez is starting to find his rhythm, showing a bit of consistency at the moment: he’s allowed just one earned run over his last three starts (20 innings). While tonight’s start wasn’t flawless (the seven walks were certainly noticeable…), he did only give up one hit. 

The Giants are 8-2 in September, performing well now that their pitching is prospering. 

The Rockies are starting to become a serious issue. They’ve won eight in a row, and stand just 2.5 games behind the Giants. Troy Tulowitzki has hit seven home runs in his last nine games. 

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• Five Giants had multi-hit games on Thursday—Huff, Sanchez, Burrell, Uribe and Posey combined to go 12 for 18 with four home runs and seven RBIs. 
• Matt Cain has been a horse for the Giants—he’s gone at least six innings in 25 of his 29 starts. 
• Pablo Sandoval was 0 for 4 with two double plays and leads the National League with 26 GIDP (grounded into double plays) this season. I looked it up, and Sandoval could easily tie or set a record for most GIDP in a season by a switch hitter. It is currently held by Ted Simmons and Dave Philley, who each had 29. The record for most in a season by any hitter is 32, held by Miguel Tejada, who set it in 2008 with the Astros. 
• Watch out for the Rockies: they’re currently riding a seven-game winning streak and stand just 2.5 games behind the Giants. 
• The Giants continued their great pitching on Thursday—nine of their last 11 starts have been quality starts. And they’ve prospered behind their great pitching, going 7-2 in September thus far.
• The Giants have been scoring by virtue of the long ball on this road trip (even at Petco Park on Thursday). According to Comcast Sportsnet, they have scored 73.1% of their runs on this road trip (19 of 26) from home runs. 

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From the start of Tuesday’s game, the Giants’ bats were working. Andres Torres – who had been struggling – led off with a double, and two batters later, Aubrey Huff hit a two-run homer. Buster Posey then doubled and scored off a Jose Guillen RBI single. With three runs of support, Tim Lincecum began dealing, not allowing a hit until the fifth inning. Through six innings, he had struck out nine; but in the seventh inning, it all collapsed for the Freak. Kelly Johnson led off with a triple, followed by a Chris Young home run. Two batters later, Miguel Montero singled, then scored on a Tony Abreu triple, which marked the end of Linecum’s night. Nevertheless, his line was respectable, especially after such an awful August: 6.2 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 11 K. The high K rate, as well as the fact that he allowed just five hits through 6.2 IP are promising signs. The ball does have a tendency to fly in Arizona, after all.

The Giants offense put up six runs, which is more than enough. Huff, Sanchez, and Burrell each homered, and Posey, Torres, Renteria, and Guillen each doubled. Torres and Huff are starting to heat up – just in time for the big Padres series. Everything that can be taken from this game is positive. Even the relievers did an excellent job, surrendering just zero earned runs and just one hit through 2.1 innings pitched. The defense, as usual, wasn’t stellar, but it also wasn’t dreadful enough to the point where the Giants came close to losing the game…and in the end, that’s all that really matters.

Notes:

• The Giants are now 6-1 in September. For comparison’s sake, in July, when they went 20-8, they began with a 4-3 record. 
• The Dodgers’ record has now sunk below .500: they are 69-70. Unfortunately, it’s hard to be happy about their failures while they are playing the Padres. 
• Seven of the Giants’ last nine starts have now been quality starts. 
• Tim Lincecum seized the National League lead for strikeouts with his 11-K performance on Tuesday. He stands at #1 with 199 K. The next closest are Kershaw and Halladay who have 197 and 196 strikeouts respectively. Jonathan Sanchez is at #10 with 172 K, despite logging fewer innings than most of the others in the top 10. He has pitched 164.2 innings whereas Halladay, for example, has logged an incredible 221 innings already. 
• Seven of the Giants in the starting lineup had extra base hits – not something we see every day. 
• The Giants are now 61-10 when they score four or more runs. That is the target number: four. 
• Despite winning the last two games to end their 10 game losing streak, the Padres’ offense is still struggling. They’ve scored just six runs in those two wins. 
• With Torres’ leadoff double, he moved to 2nd in the majors in doubles. He’s tied with Evan Longoria with 43 doubles. Jayson Werth is 1st in the majors in doubles with 44. 

Tomorrow: Barry Zito will pitch against Daniel Hudson. The day we have come to dread is tomorrow: Zito’s start. And Daniel Hudson’s put up some impressive numbers this year, like his 3.03 ERA. Last time he faced the Giants, he went seven innings, allowing 2 ER, just four hits, and striking out six. At least Zito won’t pitch against the Padres; and the final game of that series is going to be a great matchup: Lincecum vs. Latos.

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From the start of Tuesday’s game, the Giants’ bats were working. Andres Torres – who had been struggling – led off with a double, and two batters later, Aubrey Huff hit a two-run homer. Buster Posey then doubled and scored off a Jose Guillen RBI single. With three runs of support, Tim Lincecum began dealing, not allowing a hit until the fifth inning. Through six innings, he had struck out nine; but in the seventh inning, it all collapsed for the Freak. Kelly Johnson led off with a triple, followed by a Chris Young home run. Two batters later, Miguel Montero singled, then scored on a Tony Abreu triple, which marked the end of Linecum’s night. Nevertheless, his line was respectable, especially after such an awful August: 6.2 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 11 K. The high K rate, as well as the fact that he allowed just five hits through 6.2 IP are promising signs. The ball does have a tendency to fly in Arizona, after all.

The Giants offense put up six runs, which is more than enough. Huff, Sanchez, and Burrell each homered, and Posey, Torres, Renteria, and Guillen each doubled. Torres and Huff are starting to heat up – just in time for the big Padres series. Everything that can be taken from this game is positive. Even the relievers did an excellent job, surrendering just zero earned runs and just one hit through 2.1 innings pitched. The defense, as usual, wasn’t stellar, but it also wasn’t dreadful enough to the point where the Giants came close to losing the game…and in the end, that’s all that really matters.

Notes:

• The Giants are now 6-1 in September. For comparison’s sake, in July, when they went 20-8, they began with a 4-3 record. 
• The Dodgers’ record has now sunk below .500: they are 69-70. Unfortunately, it’s hard to be happy about their failures while they are playing the Padres. 
• Seven of the Giants’ last nine starts have now been quality starts. 
• Tim Lincecum seized the National League lead for strikeouts with his 11-K performance on Tuesday. He stands at #1 with 199 K. The next closest are Kershaw and Halladay who have 197 and 196 strikeouts respectively. Jonathan Sanchez is at #10 with 172 K, despite logging fewer innings than most of the others in the top 10. He has pitched 164.2 innings whereas Halladay, for example, has logged an incredible 221 innings already. 
• Seven of the Giants in the starting lineup had extra base hits – not something we see every day. 
• The Giants are now 61-10 when they score four or more runs. That is the target number: four. 
• Despite winning the last two games to end their 10 game losing streak, the Padres’ offense is still struggling. They’ve scored just six runs in those two wins. 
• With Torres’ leadoff double, he moved to 2nd in the majors in doubles. He’s tied with Evan Longoria with 43 doubles. Jayson Werth is 1st in the majors in doubles with 44. 

Tomorrow: Barry Zito will pitch against Daniel Hudson. The day we have come to dread is tomorrow: Zito’s start. And Daniel Hudson’s put up some impressive numbers this year, like his 3.03 ERA. Last time he faced the Giants, he went seven innings, allowing 2 ER, just four hits, and striking out six. At least Zito won’t pitch against the Padres; and the final game of that series is going to be a great matchup: Lincecum vs. Latos.

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On Monday, the Giants did what their team was built to do: win behind dominant pitching, and just enough run support.

Madison Bumgarner had pitched a gem (7.1 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 7 K), but the Giants failed to score any runs in the first 10 innings of the game. In the 11th inning, Nate Schierholtz stepped up to the plate with runners on first and second and crushed a triple to make the score 2-0. Brian Wilson came in and recorded his 41st save of the season, as the Giants cruised to their fifth victory of September; they are now 5-1 in the month.

The Giants are starting to get the drift of things: that their pitching and defense is what’s going to win ballgames for them.

The outfield was at one point manned by a trio of Cody Ross, Andres Torres, and Schierholtz, almost the defensive equivalent of Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton, and Ben Zobrist. And to be honest, Pat Burrell and Jose Guillen are not much of an offensive upgrade over Ross and Schierholtz—at least not enough to outweigh their poor defense and lack of speed.

Schierholtz really deserves more playing time: he can hit with pop; his K rate is lower than that of Burrell, Guillen, Ross, and Torres; he has speed, plays excellent defense, and has a cannon in right field. Hopefully, when Burrell and Guillen are nothing but faded memories next year, Nate will finally be given a chance to live up to his potential.

Notes

• Aubrey Huff was 2 for 5, and did not strike out once. He’s starting to find his groove again…hopefully. He’s the team’s MVP, and the Giants can’t afford to have him struggle. Torres has been struggling, too, though his 1 for 5 with two strikeouts is not as promising of a performance as Huff’s day at the plate. These have been their most valuable player for the year, and are key to the Giants’ success. 
• Freddy Sanchez took a hat trick: three strikeouts. Maybe that day off was not a good idea?

• Brian Wilson is making a strong run at the Rolaids Relief Man Award. According to RolaidsReliefMan.com, “The [award] is based objectively on statistical performance, rather than subjective opinion. A reliever is given 2 points for a win, 3 points for a save and -2 points for a loss.” Wilson is currently first in the NL standings, so he would win the award if the season were to end today. It’s hard not to question the legitimacy of the award, though, when Luke Gregerson ranks 253rd in the NL standings for the award.

• Six of the Giants’ last eight starts have been quality starts, which is good to see after a dismal overall pitching performance in August. Once Huff and Torres get their bats going, the Giants will truly be a potent team. 

• Bumgarner’s ERA ranks fifth in the majors among the 18 rookies who have started at least 10 games.

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