Baseball gods must have deemed that Brandon Belt could sink no further Tuesday night.
The rookie first baseman had just flubbed a Little League bouncer that he should have played into an out with a play at home but instead extended the Dodgers' three-run fourth-inning rally by a run and an out.
Just moments earlier, in the bottom of the third inning, Belt struck out into a double play, wasting a leadoff single by Miguel Tejada. Not sure what Bruce Bochy was thinking, other than hoping to stay away from a double play ground ball or trying to force Belt to make contact. But, given the number of swing-throughs for the kid, maybe you do that with less than two strikes.
He had hit a 3-for-31 nadir, and the only way out seemed to be a bus ticket to Fresno.
And, in the fifth, when Belt fell behind 1-and-2 to Chad Billingsley, there was about as little expectation for Belt to come through as there is for the Ball Dude down the left field line to make a diving foul-ball stop.
At least he'd made contact on the first two strikes, fouling them both off. Hey, you take progress where you can take it. And then a thing of magic: A little looper, off the label of the bat, was placed just beyond the reach of shortstop Jamey Carroll and in front of the onrushing left fielder Marcus Thames. I didn't say it was a thing of beauty. But it was beautiful to Belt, who could finally stand on first base, who hadn't so much as sniffed that bag with even a fielder's choice during his sub-.100 slump.
And it wasn't just a single to free the prisonors. It started a rally that would give the Giants a 4-3 lead. Belt was eventually bunted over to second and scored on Aaron Rowand's RBI single. When he returned to the bench, Belt was greeted as if a warrior who'd come in from the cold, though some of the high fives he received appeared to be less congratulatory than, an 'ok, maybe this will get you going.'
The thing about Belt's slump is that for the most part, Belt has looked overmatched by Big League pitching. Not only has he fallen prey to the slider in, but the fastball straight down the middle. He hasn't been in a patch of bad luck; he's just been plain bad.
But, that may have little to do with talent. With every pop out and strikeout, Belt seemed to have lost that sense of belonging that he'd created in spring training. Even Willie Mays, who had his own awful start in 1951, questioned whether he belonged and even begged Leo Durocher to send him back to Minneapolis. It's one thing to go through a slump as a rookie, and quite another to start out your entire major league career in a slump. It's tough to feel like you belong when you haven't had any success at all.
Still, that little single, not much to boast about in terms of pure baseball brawn, may have released the confidence hounds for Belt, who, in his next at bat in the sixth, walked and stole second. To watch him run the bases with his long loping strides reminds you of the potential to be tapped: can you imagine a guy who hits .300, hits for power and has the ability to steal bases?
Ah, the titillations of promise. Belt's next at bat, he grounded out to second. Back to worrying about the next 30 at bats.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Bochy slow on trigger, Zito pays for it
Barry Zito's line was ugly Sunday, particularly the five walks and four earned runs in 5 1/3 innings. But Zito deserved better.
For one, Bruce Bochy misread things, leaving Zito in too long. And two runs were added to his ledger because Aaron Rowand missed Skip Schumaker's slicing drive into left center in the decisive sixth inning of the Giants' 6-1 loss.
Going into the sixth, Zito had turned in a solid performance, locked in a 1-1 tie with Kyle Lohse. He got some critical outs in dangerous spots: In the third, after the first two Cardinals reached, he got Albert Pujols to ground into a double play and, then with runners at first and third, jammed Allen Craig for an inning ending pop out.
Zito induced an inning-ending double play in the fourth and had a 1-2-3 fifth, doing most of this work without his curve, relying on an effective cut fastball and changeup.
But by the sixth, it was evident, after 80 pitches, Zito was losing his effectiveness. Ironically, that's when he momentarily re-discovered his curve, getting the slumping Pujols to ground out to lead off the inning. He battled Matt Holliday nicely with a beautiful changeup and a nicely located fastball but Holliday worked the count full, and then walked on a fastball that missed badly.
At that point, Zito was at 90 pitches, and he was spent. If you know Zito's history, you know he fades as he gets to around 90 to 100 pitches. So, you get someone ready in the bullpen heading into the inning. But Bochy didn't get Guillermo Mota up until during Allen Craig's at bat.
That meant Zito had to labor through a five-pitch walk to Allen Craig. Now well past his expiration date, Zito remained out there against David Freese, who promptly smoked a changeup down the left field line for a run-scoring double. Even if Bochy hadn't yanked Zito before, nothing should have compelled him to stick with him now. But he did, thinking he'd take advantage of a lefty-on-lefty matchup. Which would have been fine if Zito had anything left.
He didn't. Schumaker jumped on his first pitch, a fastball down the middle, shooting a drive into left center. It was well stroked, but catchable. Rowand got there, but it glanced off the fingers of his glove -- not the tip, but inside the glove, a few inches away from the pocket. If he catches it the damage is limited, and perhaps the game remains 2-1 and the Giants wouldn't have had the uphill climb that a 4-1 deficit poses.
Bochy said Rowand "thought he had it. He just didn't hang onto it. Still the ball was hit hard."
Bochy said he wanted to stick with Zito, partly because he thought he was still effective and partly to try to save the bullpen
In the last week, the Giants played five games and had two days off.
In that time, Mota pitched twice for 4 IP (before Sunday); Ramon Ramirez pitched in four games for 3 2/3 IP; Sergio Romo twice for 2 IP; Brian Wilson twice for 1 1/3 IP; Jeremy Affeldt threw twice for 1 IP; Javier Lopez once for 2 IP; and Dan Runzler twice for 2 IP (Friday and Saturday).
If Bochy had anyone to worry about, it would have been Runzler and Ramirez, who both pitched on Friday and Saturday. As it turned out, he went to Mota for the third time this week and allowed him to go 2 1/3 IP, he brought in Affeldt for an out and put Romo in for an effective ninth.
He could have done precisely that, only three batters earlier.
**********************************************************************************
Brandon Belt wasn't charged with an error on an inconsequential pop fly he dropped in the ninth that was rendered moot when Pujols struck out two pitches later. But the drop was emblematic of the struggles the rookie is going through. After taking an 0-for-4, Belt dropped to .161 (5-for-33), and is in the throes of a 3-for-24 slump (.125).
The question is whether the Giants are willing to ride this out until Cody Ross returns in a couple weeks, and hope he irons out his swing. Or, whether they will decide the buzzsaw that he's fighting isn't doing him any good and send him to Fresno to help him get his swing back under a lighter glare. That would open up an opportunity for Travis Ishikawa to return as the backup first baseman, bring Huff back to his natural position, and force the Giants to work out the outfield mess with a possible callup in the offing, depending on the injured Andres Torres' status.
**********************************************************************************
Mike Fontenot couldn't have had a more frustrating first three at bats. Ten pitches, nine strikes, three strikeouts.
**********************************************************************************
Three Cardinals' regulars -- Colby Rasmus, David Freese and Skip Schumaker -- entered the three-game series with the Giants without RBI on the season. By the end, all three had collected their first RBI: Rasmus on a solo HR Saturday, and Freese (3) and Schumaker (2) on Sunday.
**********************************************************************************
Rowand hit the ball hard three times, but only had one hit, his 9th inning double, to show for it. He went 1-for-4 and is now 1-for-8 as a starter after starting out 6-for-10.
**********************************************************************************
Pablo Sandoval is at .400 after nine games, and has hit safely in all seven games he's started, including three multiple-hit games. He drove in the Giants' only run Sunday on a broken bat line drive single (yes, he still hit it hard despite cracking his bat) in the first. He has also shown patience in the last several games, holding back on pitchers' pitches such as sliders down and in and fastballs up.
**********************************************************************************
Pujols came into San Francisco in a serious funk and left it even worse off.
He was hitting .182 (4-for-22) coming in, and after a 1-for-13 series, he's dropped down to .143 (5-for-35), which fans behind home plate were doing their best to remind him with chants of One-Four-Three! It's his worse start to a season, and it comes as he's looking for a major contract extension. He insists it's typical for him, pointing to the cooler weather, the sharper pitching and the difficulty in adjusting to the travel schedule.
Pujols had a similar April stretch last year, going 5-for-34 in a seven-game spell, but never fell below .275 that month, and finished up with 7 HR, 19 RBI, .345 BA.
Here's how Pujols did in previous Aprils:
2009: 8 HR, 28 RBI, .337 BA (he had a 1-for-10 "slump")
2008: 5 HR, 20 RBI, .365 BA (he had a 2-for-13 spell)
2007: 6 HR, 15 RBI, .250 BA (he hit .160 through April 17 before breaking out of it with a 4-for-11 in San Francisco)
2006: 14 HR, 32 RBI, .346 BA (despite a 3-for-19 stretch)
2005: 6 HR, 19 RBI, .322 BA
2004: 7 HR, 17 RBI, .287 BA (including a 4-for-19 stretch)
2003: 5 HR, 16 RBI, .385 BA
2002: 5 HR, 19 RBI, .295 BA (including a 5-for-25 stretch)
2001: 8 HR, 27 RBI, .370 BA
The numbers show that he indeed has had some history of rough patches in April, but nothing has matched what he's started out with this year.
Unfortunately, the Giants won't face the Cardinals again until May 30 for a four-game series in St. Louis. Undoubtedly, Pujols will have rediscovered his stroke by then.
For one, Bruce Bochy misread things, leaving Zito in too long. And two runs were added to his ledger because Aaron Rowand missed Skip Schumaker's slicing drive into left center in the decisive sixth inning of the Giants' 6-1 loss.
Going into the sixth, Zito had turned in a solid performance, locked in a 1-1 tie with Kyle Lohse. He got some critical outs in dangerous spots: In the third, after the first two Cardinals reached, he got Albert Pujols to ground into a double play and, then with runners at first and third, jammed Allen Craig for an inning ending pop out.
Zito induced an inning-ending double play in the fourth and had a 1-2-3 fifth, doing most of this work without his curve, relying on an effective cut fastball and changeup.
But by the sixth, it was evident, after 80 pitches, Zito was losing his effectiveness. Ironically, that's when he momentarily re-discovered his curve, getting the slumping Pujols to ground out to lead off the inning. He battled Matt Holliday nicely with a beautiful changeup and a nicely located fastball but Holliday worked the count full, and then walked on a fastball that missed badly.
At that point, Zito was at 90 pitches, and he was spent. If you know Zito's history, you know he fades as he gets to around 90 to 100 pitches. So, you get someone ready in the bullpen heading into the inning. But Bochy didn't get Guillermo Mota up until during Allen Craig's at bat.
That meant Zito had to labor through a five-pitch walk to Allen Craig. Now well past his expiration date, Zito remained out there against David Freese, who promptly smoked a changeup down the left field line for a run-scoring double. Even if Bochy hadn't yanked Zito before, nothing should have compelled him to stick with him now. But he did, thinking he'd take advantage of a lefty-on-lefty matchup. Which would have been fine if Zito had anything left.
He didn't. Schumaker jumped on his first pitch, a fastball down the middle, shooting a drive into left center. It was well stroked, but catchable. Rowand got there, but it glanced off the fingers of his glove -- not the tip, but inside the glove, a few inches away from the pocket. If he catches it the damage is limited, and perhaps the game remains 2-1 and the Giants wouldn't have had the uphill climb that a 4-1 deficit poses.
Bochy said Rowand "thought he had it. He just didn't hang onto it. Still the ball was hit hard."
Bochy said he wanted to stick with Zito, partly because he thought he was still effective and partly to try to save the bullpen
"You can always look back when the guy gives up a hit and say, well, I should've taken him out," Bochy said after the game. "But he had been doing a pretty good job in traffic, making pitches when he had to. It was a 1-1 game and I wanted to give him a chance there to get out of it because he's got a knack for doing it.
"But we have been using the pen quite a bit so I was hoping he could find a way to get through that inning. He had that one right hand hitter and the lefty. I knew his count was getting up there a little bit. But that's the way this goes. The pen has been used quite a bit. It's hard to go them these guys in the sixth inning every game. We had an extra inning game. We've had some guys throwing quite a bit."
In the last week, the Giants played five games and had two days off.
In that time, Mota pitched twice for 4 IP (before Sunday); Ramon Ramirez pitched in four games for 3 2/3 IP; Sergio Romo twice for 2 IP; Brian Wilson twice for 1 1/3 IP; Jeremy Affeldt threw twice for 1 IP; Javier Lopez once for 2 IP; and Dan Runzler twice for 2 IP (Friday and Saturday).
If Bochy had anyone to worry about, it would have been Runzler and Ramirez, who both pitched on Friday and Saturday. As it turned out, he went to Mota for the third time this week and allowed him to go 2 1/3 IP, he brought in Affeldt for an out and put Romo in for an effective ninth.
He could have done precisely that, only three batters earlier.
**********************************************************************************
Brandon Belt wasn't charged with an error on an inconsequential pop fly he dropped in the ninth that was rendered moot when Pujols struck out two pitches later. But the drop was emblematic of the struggles the rookie is going through. After taking an 0-for-4, Belt dropped to .161 (5-for-33), and is in the throes of a 3-for-24 slump (.125).
The question is whether the Giants are willing to ride this out until Cody Ross returns in a couple weeks, and hope he irons out his swing. Or, whether they will decide the buzzsaw that he's fighting isn't doing him any good and send him to Fresno to help him get his swing back under a lighter glare. That would open up an opportunity for Travis Ishikawa to return as the backup first baseman, bring Huff back to his natural position, and force the Giants to work out the outfield mess with a possible callup in the offing, depending on the injured Andres Torres' status.
**********************************************************************************
Mike Fontenot couldn't have had a more frustrating first three at bats. Ten pitches, nine strikes, three strikeouts.
**********************************************************************************
Three Cardinals' regulars -- Colby Rasmus, David Freese and Skip Schumaker -- entered the three-game series with the Giants without RBI on the season. By the end, all three had collected their first RBI: Rasmus on a solo HR Saturday, and Freese (3) and Schumaker (2) on Sunday.
**********************************************************************************
Rowand hit the ball hard three times, but only had one hit, his 9th inning double, to show for it. He went 1-for-4 and is now 1-for-8 as a starter after starting out 6-for-10.
**********************************************************************************
Pablo Sandoval is at .400 after nine games, and has hit safely in all seven games he's started, including three multiple-hit games. He drove in the Giants' only run Sunday on a broken bat line drive single (yes, he still hit it hard despite cracking his bat) in the first. He has also shown patience in the last several games, holding back on pitchers' pitches such as sliders down and in and fastballs up.
**********************************************************************************
Pujols came into San Francisco in a serious funk and left it even worse off.
He was hitting .182 (4-for-22) coming in, and after a 1-for-13 series, he's dropped down to .143 (5-for-35), which fans behind home plate were doing their best to remind him with chants of One-Four-Three! It's his worse start to a season, and it comes as he's looking for a major contract extension. He insists it's typical for him, pointing to the cooler weather, the sharper pitching and the difficulty in adjusting to the travel schedule.
Pujols had a similar April stretch last year, going 5-for-34 in a seven-game spell, but never fell below .275 that month, and finished up with 7 HR, 19 RBI, .345 BA.
Here's how Pujols did in previous Aprils:
2009: 8 HR, 28 RBI, .337 BA (he had a 1-for-10 "slump")
2008: 5 HR, 20 RBI, .365 BA (he had a 2-for-13 spell)
2007: 6 HR, 15 RBI, .250 BA (he hit .160 through April 17 before breaking out of it with a 4-for-11 in San Francisco)
2006: 14 HR, 32 RBI, .346 BA (despite a 3-for-19 stretch)
2005: 6 HR, 19 RBI, .322 BA
2004: 7 HR, 17 RBI, .287 BA (including a 4-for-19 stretch)
2003: 5 HR, 16 RBI, .385 BA
2002: 5 HR, 19 RBI, .295 BA (including a 5-for-25 stretch)
2001: 8 HR, 27 RBI, .370 BA
The numbers show that he indeed has had some history of rough patches in April, but nothing has matched what he's started out with this year.
Unfortunately, the Giants won't face the Cardinals again until May 30 for a four-game series in St. Louis. Undoubtedly, Pujols will have rediscovered his stroke by then.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
A flinch, a drop, and another thrilling finish
Miguel Tejada will continue to face questions over his range at shortstop and his power dropoff, but he has bought himself some early goodwill with key hits in the first week of the season, not the least of which delivered the Giants' 3-2 win Saturday night over the St. Louis Cardinals.
It was ruled a double, a charitable call that fit more easily into the narrative of magical endings than an error would have -- as if an error might somehow diminish the storyline. To be sure, it was a blast that may have cleared the fence in left center on another day. But the swirling winds coming off of McCovey Cove knocked it back, allowing center fielder Colby Rasmus to catch up to it in the gap near the warning track.
Rasmus, though, flinched at the last moment, apparently sensing left fielder Jon Jay closing in on the ball. Instead of running through the ball, Rasmus stuck his glove out basket style and fumbled it in the end zone. That moment's lapse can only otherwise be explained by pixie dust that has been sprinkled over AT&T for the first two games there.
Cardinals beat writer Joseph Strauss could barely conceal his contempt for the scorekeeper's ruling, doing everything he could to avoid describing the game-winner as a hit:
Equally reluctant was SF Chron's Henry Schulman (whose visage, by the way, is in a large framed print I have on my wall: it's a 1990 Sports Illustrated photo of Jose Canseco being hounded by the press, and there I am, then covering the A's for the Vacaville Reporter, with what looks like an expression of utter dismay, which inspired the headline, "Whaddya Say, Jose?").
That's ok. The Giants have been accused of being more charmed than good but they're the ones who raised a World Championship flag on Friday and basked in the glow of ring ceremonies Saturday. Two straight walk-off victories added to a sense of predestination to the weekend of celebrations.
Tejada, who had to watch from the sidelines as his new teammates were presented rings, put on a determined and focused at bat in the bottom of the ninth that befits a man in search of his own brush with championship baseball.
Before his game-winning at bat, he'd contributed to the Giants' only other scoring in the fifth inning, singling sharply into left field ahead of Mark DeRosa's dunk RBI single into right field that fell in front of a late-responding Lance Berkman.
(By the way, what is it with managers going after No. 8 hitters with runners in scoring position with two outs? A day after 8-hole hitter David Freese burned Bruce Bochy with a two-out RBI single ahead of pitcher Jake Westbrook, Tony LaRussa went after DeRosa rather than face starter Matt Cain with two outs and the bases loaded).
Giants' color man Mike Krukow was thinking along the same lines in describing Yadier Molina's visit to the mound. Molina was reminding Garcia that "you do have a base open with the pitcher on deck." That went out the window on the first pitch, which DeRosa stroked so softly into right field.
Back to Tejada's night. He also made a remarkable running, sprawling catch on a pop fly into shallow center field in the top of the fourth -- covering for Andres Torres, who had been rendered immobile a play earlier on a heel injury (more on that in a moment).
In the bottom of the ninth, with Buster Posey at second and Pat Burrell on first and two outs, Tejada quickly fell behind Cardinals closer Ryan Franklin 0-and-2 on a fastball on the corner and another that he fouled back.
Tejada, who'd shown great patience in the third in drawing a walk against stellar starter Jaime Garcia, worked the count full. He'd taken two close pitches and fouled off three more -- twice just barely getting a piece of the ball to stay alive. On the ninth pitch, he hit his gapper. Tejada had the pose of a man who thought he hit it out before he realized the ball was going to stay in the park.
And then he had the dance of a man who'd been touched by fortune, leaping giddily into his teammates' arms. That was a leap representing a single step toward his ultimate goal.
**********************************************************************************
Torres' injury could dramatically change the landscape for the Giants. First, it puts Rowand into the starting role Bruce Bochy had tried so hard to avoid. After Rowand's 0-for-4 performance Saturday night as a starter, I'm beginning to think that he thrives playing with a chip on his shoulder and against lowered expectations, but once the burden of hope is placed on him, he shrinks from the challenge.
Either way, it looks like Rowand will be the man in center field for some time. Here's a thought: if Rowand reverts to form for, say, three or four straight games, Bochy should give some consideration to putting Nate Schierholz in center field. He's got good speed and he played some center field in spring training.
But that stopgap solution may become untenable if it stretches into some duration. Rowand and Schierholz are role players for a reason: they've shown little reason to inspire faith as starters and taking at least one of them out of their role as a backup alters the tricky balance of the Giants' roster.
With Cody Ross still at least two weeks away from a return -- he's only now going to start jogging -- the outfield dilemma could become desperate -- just as the Giants are about to embark on a tough road segment of their schedule.
If Brandon Belt continues to fall prey to the slider down and in, it puts more pressure to bring Huff in to play first base, opening two starting spots in the outfield. Starting both Schierholz and Rowand necessarily weakens the bench, but, more important, brings the Giants' lineup down a peg or two. The Giants may have to dip into Fresno for a backup -- possibly Darren Ford, who has started out nicely for the Grizzlies (4-for-13 with a home run and stolen base), but is hardly the answer.
It was ruled a double, a charitable call that fit more easily into the narrative of magical endings than an error would have -- as if an error might somehow diminish the storyline. To be sure, it was a blast that may have cleared the fence in left center on another day. But the swirling winds coming off of McCovey Cove knocked it back, allowing center fielder Colby Rasmus to catch up to it in the gap near the warning track.
Rasmus, though, flinched at the last moment, apparently sensing left fielder Jon Jay closing in on the ball. Instead of running through the ball, Rasmus stuck his glove out basket style and fumbled it in the end zone. That moment's lapse can only otherwise be explained by pixie dust that has been sprinkled over AT&T for the first two games there.
Cardinals beat writer Joseph Strauss could barely conceal his contempt for the scorekeeper's ruling, doing everything he could to avoid describing the game-winner as a hit:
Six strong innings from Jaime Garcia followed by center fielder Colby Rasmus' seventh-inning home run and 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief weren't enough for the Cardinals Saturday night as Rasmus' two-out, ninth-inning dropped ball on the warning track allowed the San Francisco Giants to steal a 3-2 win at AT&T Park.
Rasmus and left fielder Jon Jay converged on shortstop Miguel Tejada two-strike drive. Rasmus attempted a last-minute basket catch but fumbled the ball as two runs scored.
Equally reluctant was SF Chron's Henry Schulman (whose visage, by the way, is in a large framed print I have on my wall: it's a 1990 Sports Illustrated photo of Jose Canseco being hounded by the press, and there I am, then covering the A's for the Vacaville Reporter, with what looks like an expression of utter dismay, which inspired the headline, "Whaddya Say, Jose?").
With two outs in the ninth inning, the Giants down a run and down to their last strike, Tejada took a swing that won the game.
He hit a long drive to left-center field that popped out of Colby Rasmus' glove as he tried to make a basket catch at the warning track. Two runs scored and the Giants won 3-2, beating the Cardinals after trailing in the ninth for the second straight game.
That's ok. The Giants have been accused of being more charmed than good but they're the ones who raised a World Championship flag on Friday and basked in the glow of ring ceremonies Saturday. Two straight walk-off victories added to a sense of predestination to the weekend of celebrations.
Tejada, who had to watch from the sidelines as his new teammates were presented rings, put on a determined and focused at bat in the bottom of the ninth that befits a man in search of his own brush with championship baseball.
Before his game-winning at bat, he'd contributed to the Giants' only other scoring in the fifth inning, singling sharply into left field ahead of Mark DeRosa's dunk RBI single into right field that fell in front of a late-responding Lance Berkman.
(By the way, what is it with managers going after No. 8 hitters with runners in scoring position with two outs? A day after 8-hole hitter David Freese burned Bruce Bochy with a two-out RBI single ahead of pitcher Jake Westbrook, Tony LaRussa went after DeRosa rather than face starter Matt Cain with two outs and the bases loaded).
Giants' color man Mike Krukow was thinking along the same lines in describing Yadier Molina's visit to the mound. Molina was reminding Garcia that "you do have a base open with the pitcher on deck." That went out the window on the first pitch, which DeRosa stroked so softly into right field.
Back to Tejada's night. He also made a remarkable running, sprawling catch on a pop fly into shallow center field in the top of the fourth -- covering for Andres Torres, who had been rendered immobile a play earlier on a heel injury (more on that in a moment).
In the bottom of the ninth, with Buster Posey at second and Pat Burrell on first and two outs, Tejada quickly fell behind Cardinals closer Ryan Franklin 0-and-2 on a fastball on the corner and another that he fouled back.
Tejada, who'd shown great patience in the third in drawing a walk against stellar starter Jaime Garcia, worked the count full. He'd taken two close pitches and fouled off three more -- twice just barely getting a piece of the ball to stay alive. On the ninth pitch, he hit his gapper. Tejada had the pose of a man who thought he hit it out before he realized the ball was going to stay in the park.
And then he had the dance of a man who'd been touched by fortune, leaping giddily into his teammates' arms. That was a leap representing a single step toward his ultimate goal.
**********************************************************************************
Torres' injury could dramatically change the landscape for the Giants. First, it puts Rowand into the starting role Bruce Bochy had tried so hard to avoid. After Rowand's 0-for-4 performance Saturday night as a starter, I'm beginning to think that he thrives playing with a chip on his shoulder and against lowered expectations, but once the burden of hope is placed on him, he shrinks from the challenge.
Either way, it looks like Rowand will be the man in center field for some time. Here's a thought: if Rowand reverts to form for, say, three or four straight games, Bochy should give some consideration to putting Nate Schierholz in center field. He's got good speed and he played some center field in spring training.
But that stopgap solution may become untenable if it stretches into some duration. Rowand and Schierholz are role players for a reason: they've shown little reason to inspire faith as starters and taking at least one of them out of their role as a backup alters the tricky balance of the Giants' roster.
With Cody Ross still at least two weeks away from a return -- he's only now going to start jogging -- the outfield dilemma could become desperate -- just as the Giants are about to embark on a tough road segment of their schedule.
If Brandon Belt continues to fall prey to the slider down and in, it puts more pressure to bring Huff in to play first base, opening two starting spots in the outfield. Starting both Schierholz and Rowand necessarily weakens the bench, but, more important, brings the Giants' lineup down a peg or two. The Giants may have to dip into Fresno for a backup -- possibly Darren Ford, who has started out nicely for the Grizzlies (4-for-13 with a home run and stolen base), but is hardly the answer.
Sorry that steroids continues to intrude on the game, Jayson Stark
A passage from ESPN's Jayson Stark's column today may have been meant as a sarcastic shot at Manny Ramirez for his abrupt retirement from baseball after being tested for performance enhancing drugs. But I've detected a frustration among the elite baseball writers that the steroids story continues to intrude on the game, a general feeling that they just wish the issue would fade away -- rather than a desire to force baseball to make a genuine effort at cleaning up the game.
Here is what he wrote:
Not just one, but two unfortunate infringements of the PED law of the land -- both of them coming at a point in his career when his Hall of Fame ticket had already been punched, had he just been savvy enough to avoid apprehension.
But nope. Couldn't do that. Couldn't dodge the testing strike force. Couldn't even muster up one last flimsy alibi to try to make it look good.
The suggestion is that if Manny had been smart enough, we wouldn't have to deal with the messiness of tainted baseball. That, as long as the Alex Rodriguezes and Miguel Tejadas and Magglio Ordonezes could continue to mask their drug use with non-detectable PEDs, the game is in good shape. Cheat, if you must, but please spare us the work of having to open our eyes to the unseemly side of the game.
Sorry, Jayson, if part of your job is to keep a wary eye on ballplayers, who are finding more sophisticated means to avoid the testing "strike force" every day. Sorry, Jayson, if the Manny story doesn't comport with the narrative that the Steroids Era is over.
Giants' 5-4 win wouldn't be so gratifying if not for the torture
We all know the storybook ending to the Giants' 5-4 home-opening victory over the Cardinals Friday: the dramatics provided by Aaron Rowand with his 12th inning game-winning bases loaded single off the left-center field wall. But, the deliciously circuitous route to the victory is what made it so gratifying.
Let's lay out the many and various components of torture that the Giants can offer their growing fan base on a given night:
Bottom of the second, scoreless tie:
1) Buster Posey walked and Pablo Sandoval slashed a single through the left side for an intriguing start.
Pat Burrell then smashed a drive right back to the box, snared by Cardinals' starter Jake Westbrook. It had the makings of a triple play, if Westbrook had only made a major league throw to second. But his inner Little Leaguer erupted, and he threw wildly into center field, with Posey moving to third.
Though it looked like an RBI single off the bat, the Giants had to be feeling lucky after the Westbrook catch to have runners on first and third. (Posey, by the way, was heads up in making sure he tagged second before moving up to third; Tony LaRussa looked petulant in jogging out to the field to briefly argue the call, as if he assumed Posey wouldn't have been smart enough to tag up).
So, the Giants still had a nice scoring opportunity, until Brandon Belt broke his bat into a 4-6-3 double play, only the first of 17 runners left on base.
2) Bottom of the third:
The Giants scored a pair in the third inning but were left wanting for more. Miguel Tejada led off with a home run on the first pitch he saw at home, a nice return to the Bay Area for the former A's star. Then, Jonathan Sanchez, on a 2 ball 2 strike count laced an opposite field double into the left field corner. After Andres Torres failed to move him over, Freddie Sanchez picked him up with an RBI double inside the right field foul line, a beautiful inside-out swing on a curve away with two strikes -- the kind of hitting that evokes thoughts of another batting title for Freddie.
Aubrey Huff followed with yet another two-strike base hit, a hard hit single to left -- so hard that F. Sanchez had to hold up at third.
But for the second inning in a row, the Giants squandered a first and third opportunity on yet another inning ending double play ground ball -- this time by Buster Posey. Just as TV color man Mike Krukow was extolling the virtues of how Posey's inside-out swing matched Westbrook's sinker-ball style, Posey got greedy on an inside sinker and tried to pull a sinking fastball in on his hands, rolling into an around-the-horn twin-killer.
3) A leadoff drag bunt single by Torres went for naught in the bottom of the fifth. After being sacrificed to second by F. Sanchez (Bochy trying dearly to stay out of a double play), Huff hit a first pitch ground ball to second and Posey's smash to third was snatched up by David Freese to end the inning.
4) Pat Burrell homered in the bottom of the sixth to give the Giants a 3-1 lead -- his fourth hit of the year and third HR, which clattered around the TV camera stand beyond the center field fence, a "big man's home run," as Krukow put it. But they could have had more. With two outs and Brandon Belt on second with a double, Nate Schierholz reached on an error and Torres coaxed a walk to load the bases, knocking Westbrook out. F. Sanchez drew a full count off hard throwing Mitchell Boggs but flew out to end the threat.
As the game wore on, the missed opportunities became more ominous and, more to the point, allowed the Cardinals to remain close, crawling to within a run in the eighth.
Brian Wilson gave up the tying and go-ahead runs in the ninth, all after nailing down the first two outs. But he didn't pitch as bad as his line suggests: after retiring Skip Schumaker and Lance Berkman, Wilson walked Yadier Molina on a full-count cut fastball that just missed the strike zone.
He induced what should have been a game-ending ground ball from UC Davis alum Daniel Descalso, a bounder over the mound and to the right of second base. F. Sanchez appeared positioned to field it, and could have made an easy flip for the force at second ahead of the slow Molina. But Tejada cut in front of Sanchez, only to make an off-balance and late throw to first.
Krukow made the call: "If Tejada goes to the bag and covers, I think they get the force and get Molina. Sanchez was there."
You kinda hope that Sanchez feels comfortable enough to approach Tejada about that, and ask him to stay off his turf.
Instead of Game Over, Wilson had an extended inning -- not the best tonic for a guy recovering from an injury and who's trying to build arm strength from time missed. After hitting John Jay to load the bases, Wilson entered into a twilight zone confrontation, a 12-pitch duel with Ryan Theriot, who fell behind 0-and-2 before working up a full count.
"This is just like old times," said Duane Kuiper.
Theriot fouled off six two-strike pitches, including four payoff pitches.
"This is working its way into the Kaz Matsui situation," Kuiper said, referring to Wilson's epic 15-pitch game-ending battle last year with the ersatz Houston Astros infielder.
Wilson lost this confrontation, though, as Theriot poked a grounder into left field for two runs and a 4-3 lead.
It was almost as all the torment of the first 8 1/2 innings of the home opener was meant to evoke the spirit of their championship season still so fresh in the consciousness of Giants fans. And it only became readily apparent after two were out in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Up came Rowand, the impeached and scorned, the target of unrelenting public vitriol and resentment, cast aside as dead weight and kept on the roster for purely economic reasons (if his status had depended solely on so-called baseball decisions, he would have been long gone, but because of the $26 million left on his contract for the next two years, has remained verboten for other teams).
But Rowand may be slowly crawling back into the hearts of Giants fans. He's kept his head down, avoided any bitterness to show through even as he faced the indignity of assuming a limited role, and has started off the season with a steadier presence at the plate.
His sharp single up the middle off a Ryan Franklin knuckler was nice, a display that showed Rowand was still putting in stolid effort, has remained committed to contributing when given the opportunity. Nothing more, nothing less. But, his base hit took on a more serious tenor when Franklin threw a knuckler to the backstop, sending Rowand to second.
A pitch later, Posey had walked, bringing up the Giants hottest hitter, Pablo Sandoval. Just as Krukow was saying "they're not going to give him anything across the plate, at least for a couple pitches," Sandoval got one in his wheelhouse, a fastball middle-in, which he shot into right field (past Pujols who appeared to be either guarding the line or trying to sneak in behind Posey at first just as the grounder went by him), scoring a triumphant Rowand to tie the game.
But the Giants weren't done with the torment.
5) Still tied, 4-4, the Giants wasted another scoring opportunity in the bottom of the 11th when they failed to cash in on Torres' leadoff double, and a wild pitch that sent him to third base with no outs. Nifty psychological warfare by LaRussa had something to do with that.
LaRussa stacked his infield defense with a fifth fielder, bringing in leftfielder Allen Craig, a former third baseman, to play third. With two outfielders roaming the vast expanses of AT&T, all Sanchez needed was to lift a fly ball. But Sanchez struck out on yet another payoff pitch (I need to count them up), Craig dove to stop Rowand's smash down the third base line, catching Torres in a unique 7-2-5 rundown; and pinch-hitter Mark DeRosa went down looking, stranding Rowand at second.
But the tortuous ways of the Giants were accepted and forgiven -- dare I say embraced -- after Rowand's game-winner in the 12th.
Let's lay out the many and various components of torture that the Giants can offer their growing fan base on a given night:
Bottom of the second, scoreless tie:
1) Buster Posey walked and Pablo Sandoval slashed a single through the left side for an intriguing start.
Pat Burrell then smashed a drive right back to the box, snared by Cardinals' starter Jake Westbrook. It had the makings of a triple play, if Westbrook had only made a major league throw to second. But his inner Little Leaguer erupted, and he threw wildly into center field, with Posey moving to third.
Though it looked like an RBI single off the bat, the Giants had to be feeling lucky after the Westbrook catch to have runners on first and third. (Posey, by the way, was heads up in making sure he tagged second before moving up to third; Tony LaRussa looked petulant in jogging out to the field to briefly argue the call, as if he assumed Posey wouldn't have been smart enough to tag up).
So, the Giants still had a nice scoring opportunity, until Brandon Belt broke his bat into a 4-6-3 double play, only the first of 17 runners left on base.
2) Bottom of the third:
The Giants scored a pair in the third inning but were left wanting for more. Miguel Tejada led off with a home run on the first pitch he saw at home, a nice return to the Bay Area for the former A's star. Then, Jonathan Sanchez, on a 2 ball 2 strike count laced an opposite field double into the left field corner. After Andres Torres failed to move him over, Freddie Sanchez picked him up with an RBI double inside the right field foul line, a beautiful inside-out swing on a curve away with two strikes -- the kind of hitting that evokes thoughts of another batting title for Freddie.
Aubrey Huff followed with yet another two-strike base hit, a hard hit single to left -- so hard that F. Sanchez had to hold up at third.
But for the second inning in a row, the Giants squandered a first and third opportunity on yet another inning ending double play ground ball -- this time by Buster Posey. Just as TV color man Mike Krukow was extolling the virtues of how Posey's inside-out swing matched Westbrook's sinker-ball style, Posey got greedy on an inside sinker and tried to pull a sinking fastball in on his hands, rolling into an around-the-horn twin-killer.
3) A leadoff drag bunt single by Torres went for naught in the bottom of the fifth. After being sacrificed to second by F. Sanchez (Bochy trying dearly to stay out of a double play), Huff hit a first pitch ground ball to second and Posey's smash to third was snatched up by David Freese to end the inning.
4) Pat Burrell homered in the bottom of the sixth to give the Giants a 3-1 lead -- his fourth hit of the year and third HR, which clattered around the TV camera stand beyond the center field fence, a "big man's home run," as Krukow put it. But they could have had more. With two outs and Brandon Belt on second with a double, Nate Schierholz reached on an error and Torres coaxed a walk to load the bases, knocking Westbrook out. F. Sanchez drew a full count off hard throwing Mitchell Boggs but flew out to end the threat.
As the game wore on, the missed opportunities became more ominous and, more to the point, allowed the Cardinals to remain close, crawling to within a run in the eighth.
But the Giants' blown opportunities would have been even more poignant if the Cardinals hadn't skewered a few of their own.
1) In the top of the first, starter Jonathan Sanchez put the first two runners on via the walk with the dangerous Albert Pujols up. Sanchez put on a clinic, jumping ahead of Pujols on a couple 93 MPH fastballs, and three pitches later, inducing a weak double play groundball on a beautiful split finger. He stranded a runner at second when he blew a high fastball by ex-Cal Bear Allen Craig for the first of seven strikeouts.
Sanchez nearly pitched out of trouble in the second, getting two outs after a leadoff double by Freese (wind blown over the star-crossed Aubrey Huff in right field), but gave up an RBI single to the 8-hole hitter, Tyler Green. Bruce Bochy won't have to face any questions over that questionable call because of the winning outcome, but it was puzzling to see them go after the No. 8 hitter with two outs, a runner in scoring position and the pitcher on deck.
2) In the top of the 8th, the Cardinals drew to within a run on a Pujols two-out RBI single. Pujols stole second in a bizarre play: he took a good five steps before Sergio Romo threw the pitch, hesitated when Posey jumped out of his crouch yelling at Romo to step off, then continued on easily into second when Romo ignored all the signals. For all the wackiness of that play, it didn't amount to anything: Romo struck out Craig on a slow curve to end the inning.
3) In the top of the 11th, the Cardinals had runners at first and second with no outs (on a walk and an error by Javier Lopez), but couldn't cash in. John Jay bunted into a force at third, Ryan Theriot flew out, and with Pujols standing on deck, Lopez struck out Colby Rasmus on a slow curve on yet another key payoff pitch.
Brian Wilson gave up the tying and go-ahead runs in the ninth, all after nailing down the first two outs. But he didn't pitch as bad as his line suggests: after retiring Skip Schumaker and Lance Berkman, Wilson walked Yadier Molina on a full-count cut fastball that just missed the strike zone.
He induced what should have been a game-ending ground ball from UC Davis alum Daniel Descalso, a bounder over the mound and to the right of second base. F. Sanchez appeared positioned to field it, and could have made an easy flip for the force at second ahead of the slow Molina. But Tejada cut in front of Sanchez, only to make an off-balance and late throw to first.
Krukow made the call: "If Tejada goes to the bag and covers, I think they get the force and get Molina. Sanchez was there."
You kinda hope that Sanchez feels comfortable enough to approach Tejada about that, and ask him to stay off his turf.
Instead of Game Over, Wilson had an extended inning -- not the best tonic for a guy recovering from an injury and who's trying to build arm strength from time missed. After hitting John Jay to load the bases, Wilson entered into a twilight zone confrontation, a 12-pitch duel with Ryan Theriot, who fell behind 0-and-2 before working up a full count.
"This is just like old times," said Duane Kuiper.
Theriot fouled off six two-strike pitches, including four payoff pitches.
"This is working its way into the Kaz Matsui situation," Kuiper said, referring to Wilson's epic 15-pitch game-ending battle last year with the ersatz Houston Astros infielder.
Wilson lost this confrontation, though, as Theriot poked a grounder into left field for two runs and a 4-3 lead.
It was almost as all the torment of the first 8 1/2 innings of the home opener was meant to evoke the spirit of their championship season still so fresh in the consciousness of Giants fans. And it only became readily apparent after two were out in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Up came Rowand, the impeached and scorned, the target of unrelenting public vitriol and resentment, cast aside as dead weight and kept on the roster for purely economic reasons (if his status had depended solely on so-called baseball decisions, he would have been long gone, but because of the $26 million left on his contract for the next two years, has remained verboten for other teams).
But Rowand may be slowly crawling back into the hearts of Giants fans. He's kept his head down, avoided any bitterness to show through even as he faced the indignity of assuming a limited role, and has started off the season with a steadier presence at the plate.
His sharp single up the middle off a Ryan Franklin knuckler was nice, a display that showed Rowand was still putting in stolid effort, has remained committed to contributing when given the opportunity. Nothing more, nothing less. But, his base hit took on a more serious tenor when Franklin threw a knuckler to the backstop, sending Rowand to second.
A pitch later, Posey had walked, bringing up the Giants hottest hitter, Pablo Sandoval. Just as Krukow was saying "they're not going to give him anything across the plate, at least for a couple pitches," Sandoval got one in his wheelhouse, a fastball middle-in, which he shot into right field (past Pujols who appeared to be either guarding the line or trying to sneak in behind Posey at first just as the grounder went by him), scoring a triumphant Rowand to tie the game.
But the Giants weren't done with the torment.
5) Still tied, 4-4, the Giants wasted another scoring opportunity in the bottom of the 11th when they failed to cash in on Torres' leadoff double, and a wild pitch that sent him to third base with no outs. Nifty psychological warfare by LaRussa had something to do with that.
LaRussa stacked his infield defense with a fifth fielder, bringing in leftfielder Allen Craig, a former third baseman, to play third. With two outfielders roaming the vast expanses of AT&T, all Sanchez needed was to lift a fly ball. But Sanchez struck out on yet another payoff pitch (I need to count them up), Craig dove to stop Rowand's smash down the third base line, catching Torres in a unique 7-2-5 rundown; and pinch-hitter Mark DeRosa went down looking, stranding Rowand at second.
But the tortuous ways of the Giants were accepted and forgiven -- dare I say embraced -- after Rowand's game-winner in the 12th.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Giants 'free the hostages' with offensive barrage, Lincecum's brilliance
Mike Krukow said it after Brandon Belt got the first of his two hits Wednesday night, though it could have applied to the entire Giants' roster:
"That'll free the hostages right there," said Krukow, the quickest baseball wit in the West.
The Giants' 13-hit parade in Wednesday's 8-4 win was one big jailbreak for a team that had played most of its first week as if it had been kidnaped, bound and gagged. And Tim Lincecum's dominating 13-strikeout two-hit stopper performance over seven innings was the undercover rescue mission that set them free.
Lincecum peaked at 95 miles and hour, though he mostly stayed in the 92-to-93 MPH range, tapering down to 90 MPH toward the end. But it was his artistic blend of curves, split fingers, changeups and sliders that had Padre hitters befuddled all night, reprising memories of his brilliant October. It was the kind of night where fielders had to keep from losing their concentration because Lincecum wouldn't share much of the action.
"You get into a rhythm -- the rhythm of watching," said play-by-play man Duane Kuiper of the mindset of infielders playing behind Lincecum.
Watching Lincecum deceiving Padres hitters was like watching a hypnotist putting a whole theater audience to sleep. Though the 13 strikeouts suggests power, Lincecum is not the power pitcher that he was when he arrived in San Francisco four years ago on Willie Mays' birthday. He certainly uses his fastball to great effect, but it's more as a deterrent to hitters who might try to cheat and sit on one of his off-speed pitches (as they were doing during his month of horrors last August).
He's every bit the thinking man's pitcher that Hall of Famer Greg Maddux was, but with a power arm. Try to guess along with the hitter which arrow he'll pull out of his quiver, and you'll get an idea of how tough it is to face Timothy Leroy.
But it was also a night of exorcising ghosts from the lineup. Buster Posey finally found his stroke, or rather, the two swings that had brought so much glory last year: the power job that produced a two-run HR in the first inning, and his slashing inside-out piece of work that sent a shot into right field for another two runs in the sixth inning.
Though they entered the sixth inning leading 4-1, the four-run rally in the sixth was a breakthrough and revelation for a team that needed both.
Belt had stretched his hitless streak to 13 at bats when he struck out in the second inning ("he's probably gripping it a little bit -- young players do that," Kuiper said). But he'd broken through with his hostage-freeing single in the fourth on a two ball-two strike count, taking advantage of a Tim Stauffer front-door sinker that faded too far back to the heart of the plate.
Leading off the sixth, Belt again had two strikes on him and fouled off two straight two-strike changeups from submariner reliever Pat Neshek before stroking his second hit of the day.
A guy can get a reputation for grinding out two-strike hits like that.
After a four-pitch walk to Miguel Tejada and a Lincecum sacrifice bunt (beautifully laid down the third base line), Torres struck out against lefty Corey Luebke, failing for the second time in two days to drive in a run from third with less than two outs (was anyone thinking Aaron Rowand at this point against the lefty?). To be fair, Torres had a good overall day for a leadoff hitter: he walked twice and doubled in five plate appearances.
The Padres' decision to intentionally walk Sanchez, tho a bit unconventional (not too many No. 2 hitters are walked in front of No. 3 hitters), appeared smart. On a 2-and-2 count, Luebke tied up Huff with a slider away, inducing a weak ground ball that by all rights should have been a rally killer.
Except that Huff's grounder was more like a squibber heading ever so tantalizingly to that no-man's patch between the mound and third base. It was the Karmic answer to those half-dozen squibbers and duck snorts that the Dodgers had parlayed into rallies through the first four games of the year, and maybe even to Huff's embarrassing encounters with dodgy fly balls in right field.
Huff's third hit and third RBI would ultimately prove to be the decisive run, thanks to a late rally by the Padres against a shaky bullpen in the 9th. But, they weren't finished. Posey collected his third hit, that opposite field scorcher, and Pablo Sandoval got his third hit, a liner to right field, making it three straight two-out RBI hits and an 8-1 lead.
A rusty Brian Wilson in a shaky ninth inning put some doubt into the affair before Ramon Ramirez nailed down the final out with his fifth career save. The 8-4 win was a perfect segue into Friday's home opener and ring ceremony, where the Giants can bask in the glow of San Francisco love and plot out their next Great Escape.
"That'll free the hostages right there," said Krukow, the quickest baseball wit in the West.
The Giants' 13-hit parade in Wednesday's 8-4 win was one big jailbreak for a team that had played most of its first week as if it had been kidnaped, bound and gagged. And Tim Lincecum's dominating 13-strikeout two-hit stopper performance over seven innings was the undercover rescue mission that set them free.
Lincecum peaked at 95 miles and hour, though he mostly stayed in the 92-to-93 MPH range, tapering down to 90 MPH toward the end. But it was his artistic blend of curves, split fingers, changeups and sliders that had Padre hitters befuddled all night, reprising memories of his brilliant October. It was the kind of night where fielders had to keep from losing their concentration because Lincecum wouldn't share much of the action.
"You get into a rhythm -- the rhythm of watching," said play-by-play man Duane Kuiper of the mindset of infielders playing behind Lincecum.
Watching Lincecum deceiving Padres hitters was like watching a hypnotist putting a whole theater audience to sleep. Though the 13 strikeouts suggests power, Lincecum is not the power pitcher that he was when he arrived in San Francisco four years ago on Willie Mays' birthday. He certainly uses his fastball to great effect, but it's more as a deterrent to hitters who might try to cheat and sit on one of his off-speed pitches (as they were doing during his month of horrors last August).
He's every bit the thinking man's pitcher that Hall of Famer Greg Maddux was, but with a power arm. Try to guess along with the hitter which arrow he'll pull out of his quiver, and you'll get an idea of how tough it is to face Timothy Leroy.
But it was also a night of exorcising ghosts from the lineup. Buster Posey finally found his stroke, or rather, the two swings that had brought so much glory last year: the power job that produced a two-run HR in the first inning, and his slashing inside-out piece of work that sent a shot into right field for another two runs in the sixth inning.
Though they entered the sixth inning leading 4-1, the four-run rally in the sixth was a breakthrough and revelation for a team that needed both.
Belt had stretched his hitless streak to 13 at bats when he struck out in the second inning ("he's probably gripping it a little bit -- young players do that," Kuiper said). But he'd broken through with his hostage-freeing single in the fourth on a two ball-two strike count, taking advantage of a Tim Stauffer front-door sinker that faded too far back to the heart of the plate.
Leading off the sixth, Belt again had two strikes on him and fouled off two straight two-strike changeups from submariner reliever Pat Neshek before stroking his second hit of the day.
A guy can get a reputation for grinding out two-strike hits like that.
After a four-pitch walk to Miguel Tejada and a Lincecum sacrifice bunt (beautifully laid down the third base line), Torres struck out against lefty Corey Luebke, failing for the second time in two days to drive in a run from third with less than two outs (was anyone thinking Aaron Rowand at this point against the lefty?). To be fair, Torres had a good overall day for a leadoff hitter: he walked twice and doubled in five plate appearances.
The Padres' decision to intentionally walk Sanchez, tho a bit unconventional (not too many No. 2 hitters are walked in front of No. 3 hitters), appeared smart. On a 2-and-2 count, Luebke tied up Huff with a slider away, inducing a weak ground ball that by all rights should have been a rally killer.
Except that Huff's grounder was more like a squibber heading ever so tantalizingly to that no-man's patch between the mound and third base. It was the Karmic answer to those half-dozen squibbers and duck snorts that the Dodgers had parlayed into rallies through the first four games of the year, and maybe even to Huff's embarrassing encounters with dodgy fly balls in right field.
Huff's third hit and third RBI would ultimately prove to be the decisive run, thanks to a late rally by the Padres against a shaky bullpen in the 9th. But, they weren't finished. Posey collected his third hit, that opposite field scorcher, and Pablo Sandoval got his third hit, a liner to right field, making it three straight two-out RBI hits and an 8-1 lead.
A rusty Brian Wilson in a shaky ninth inning put some doubt into the affair before Ramon Ramirez nailed down the final out with his fifth career save. The 8-4 win was a perfect segue into Friday's home opener and ring ceremony, where the Giants can bask in the glow of San Francisco love and plot out their next Great Escape.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Posey should be dropped from cleanup, etc
Thoughts from Sunday night's game, a 7-5 loss to the Dodgers:
-- It's early, but it may be time to rethink Buster Posey as cleanup hitter for the Giants. He's whiffed on two big opportunities to put a dent in the 2011 season in the opening series with the Dodgers: striking out with the bases loaded in the seventh inning of Game 2 when the Giants were down, 4-3, and grounding out weakly to end the game as the potential tying run in a 7-5 loss.
He had the advantage of a 2-and-0 count against Dodger closer Jonathan Broxton, who'd already given up a home run to Aaron Rowand and a single to Freddy Sanchez. The 300-pound closer grooved a fastball right down the middle, which Posey topped easily to short.
Posey seems jumpy at the plate, as if he's trying to live up to all the expectations of a returning champion/rookie of the year rather than letting his smooth stroke work itself out. He showed a glimpse of his signature inside-out-swing earlier in the game with a two-out RBI single to right field, but in big moments so far, he has looked overwhelmed. He has admitted to early-season jitters. Maybe it's too much to have him in the four-hole, in the same way Pablo Sandoval was asked to take up a leadership role as the No. 3 hitter last year.
-- It's a tough call to know when to take out one of the buffaloes in the Giants' outfield, but Sunday night, Manager Bruce Bochy was probably kicking himself for not pulling the trigger in the bottom of the 7th.
The Dodgers' four-run seventh might have happened anyway, but Aubrey Huff's misplay on a deep but playable fly ball by Marcus Thames that ended up as an RBI triple opened the floodgates. If Nate Schierholz had entered as a defensive replacement in right field, he likely catches it, there are two outs and the Dodgers' hit parade might never materialize.
But Pat Burrell had just hit a home run to tie the game, 3-3, and Bochy was still thinking he needed his big bats in the lineup.
It's part of the conundrum that having Brandon Belt in the lineup poses. If Bochy wants to keep the two big bats, Huff and Burrell, late in a tie or close game, he could bring Huff in to first base with Schierholz going into right. But that creates confusion with Belt: Do the Giants see him as a potent asset in the lineup or not? Or is he just a movable part who isn't valuable enough to keep in the lineup in late innings?
-- That doesn't even touch on the issue of what happens when Cody Ross returns. Belt could be on a short leash: if he winds up slowing down from his spring training pace, it may force the Giants to rethink their decision to start with him on the roster. But if he does enough to stay up, what happens to the outfield configuration? Does Huff move over to left field and Burrell to the bench? Or, if Huff and Burrell are hot, does Ross return to the roster as a reserve?
(It's a tough enough call for the Giants to decide who will have to leave the roster, and it looks more and more than Schierholz is the odd man out.)
-- Belt passed a test in the eighth when Matt Guerrier walked Burrell to load the bases to get to the rookie. The veteran reliever couldn't get Belt to bite on the first three just out of the strike zone. Guerrier got the 3-0 pitch that should have been Ball 4. But Belt did a great job to draw the bases loaded walk, letting a slider down low go by. A marvelous job of patience by the kid, made all the more impressive when veteran Miguel Tejada got himself out on the first pitch by swinging at an ankle high fastball to pop out and end the threat.
"The rookie showed him up," said ESPN's Bobby Valentine, correctly. "It was a ridiculous approach."
-- Another interesting moment: Keeping Sandoval in to face lefty Hong-Chih Kuo with one out and two runners on in the eighth. Sandoval falls behind 1 and 2 before chasing a hard breaking curve in on his hands and above the letters for the punchout. Bochy has told Pablo he is not platooning him, so couldn't very well have pinch hit for him in that spot. But Sandoval will have to come through in those moments and disprove all the evidence from last year that begs for a platoon.
That situation cries out for Mark DeRosa if Sandoval doesn't get cracking soon from the right side.
-- Rowand keeps inserting himself into the picture, with a pinch-hit home run following a two-hit game on Saturday. Not to take anything away from the production, but it should be remembered that Rowand's home run came on an 88-mile per hour slider from Jonathan Broxton, and his two hits came off soft-tossing lefty Ted Lilly. The key is putting Rowand in positions where he can succeed: against middling pitching.
-- When the game was still in the balance, starter Barry Zito came through with a performance that would have been more memorable if the Giants had won.
Zito had just walked two straight with one out in the sixth inning, appearing to have lost the bite off his off-speed stuff. Matt Kemp, who has long tormented Zito (he came into Sunday's game with a .419 lifetime batting average against him in 43 at bats), stepped to the plate. Kemp had already notched a monster home run in the first inning off Zito. Yet, no one in the bullpen was even close to ready.
It looked like Bochy was caught unprepared as Kemp strode to the plate with Guellermo Mota just beginning to warm up. Zito was a man stranded on an island with sharks circling, and fell behind in the count, 3 and 1 to boot. But Zito induced Kemp to fly out to right field on a fastball just above the strike zone. And he got the dangerous Juan Uribe to pop out to get out of the threat.
That nice performance, which capped five straight hitless innings after a shaky first inning, got lost in the ensuing 7th inning collapse. But it should be remembered when all the talk lathers up before his next start.
-- It's early, but it may be time to rethink Buster Posey as cleanup hitter for the Giants. He's whiffed on two big opportunities to put a dent in the 2011 season in the opening series with the Dodgers: striking out with the bases loaded in the seventh inning of Game 2 when the Giants were down, 4-3, and grounding out weakly to end the game as the potential tying run in a 7-5 loss.
He had the advantage of a 2-and-0 count against Dodger closer Jonathan Broxton, who'd already given up a home run to Aaron Rowand and a single to Freddy Sanchez. The 300-pound closer grooved a fastball right down the middle, which Posey topped easily to short.
Posey seems jumpy at the plate, as if he's trying to live up to all the expectations of a returning champion/rookie of the year rather than letting his smooth stroke work itself out. He showed a glimpse of his signature inside-out-swing earlier in the game with a two-out RBI single to right field, but in big moments so far, he has looked overwhelmed. He has admitted to early-season jitters. Maybe it's too much to have him in the four-hole, in the same way Pablo Sandoval was asked to take up a leadership role as the No. 3 hitter last year.
-- It's a tough call to know when to take out one of the buffaloes in the Giants' outfield, but Sunday night, Manager Bruce Bochy was probably kicking himself for not pulling the trigger in the bottom of the 7th.
The Dodgers' four-run seventh might have happened anyway, but Aubrey Huff's misplay on a deep but playable fly ball by Marcus Thames that ended up as an RBI triple opened the floodgates. If Nate Schierholz had entered as a defensive replacement in right field, he likely catches it, there are two outs and the Dodgers' hit parade might never materialize.
But Pat Burrell had just hit a home run to tie the game, 3-3, and Bochy was still thinking he needed his big bats in the lineup.
It's part of the conundrum that having Brandon Belt in the lineup poses. If Bochy wants to keep the two big bats, Huff and Burrell, late in a tie or close game, he could bring Huff in to first base with Schierholz going into right. But that creates confusion with Belt: Do the Giants see him as a potent asset in the lineup or not? Or is he just a movable part who isn't valuable enough to keep in the lineup in late innings?
-- That doesn't even touch on the issue of what happens when Cody Ross returns. Belt could be on a short leash: if he winds up slowing down from his spring training pace, it may force the Giants to rethink their decision to start with him on the roster. But if he does enough to stay up, what happens to the outfield configuration? Does Huff move over to left field and Burrell to the bench? Or, if Huff and Burrell are hot, does Ross return to the roster as a reserve?
(It's a tough enough call for the Giants to decide who will have to leave the roster, and it looks more and more than Schierholz is the odd man out.)
-- Belt passed a test in the eighth when Matt Guerrier walked Burrell to load the bases to get to the rookie. The veteran reliever couldn't get Belt to bite on the first three just out of the strike zone. Guerrier got the 3-0 pitch that should have been Ball 4. But Belt did a great job to draw the bases loaded walk, letting a slider down low go by. A marvelous job of patience by the kid, made all the more impressive when veteran Miguel Tejada got himself out on the first pitch by swinging at an ankle high fastball to pop out and end the threat.
"The rookie showed him up," said ESPN's Bobby Valentine, correctly. "It was a ridiculous approach."
-- Another interesting moment: Keeping Sandoval in to face lefty Hong-Chih Kuo with one out and two runners on in the eighth. Sandoval falls behind 1 and 2 before chasing a hard breaking curve in on his hands and above the letters for the punchout. Bochy has told Pablo he is not platooning him, so couldn't very well have pinch hit for him in that spot. But Sandoval will have to come through in those moments and disprove all the evidence from last year that begs for a platoon.
That situation cries out for Mark DeRosa if Sandoval doesn't get cracking soon from the right side.
-- Rowand keeps inserting himself into the picture, with a pinch-hit home run following a two-hit game on Saturday. Not to take anything away from the production, but it should be remembered that Rowand's home run came on an 88-mile per hour slider from Jonathan Broxton, and his two hits came off soft-tossing lefty Ted Lilly. The key is putting Rowand in positions where he can succeed: against middling pitching.
-- When the game was still in the balance, starter Barry Zito came through with a performance that would have been more memorable if the Giants had won.
Zito had just walked two straight with one out in the sixth inning, appearing to have lost the bite off his off-speed stuff. Matt Kemp, who has long tormented Zito (he came into Sunday's game with a .419 lifetime batting average against him in 43 at bats), stepped to the plate. Kemp had already notched a monster home run in the first inning off Zito. Yet, no one in the bullpen was even close to ready.
It looked like Bochy was caught unprepared as Kemp strode to the plate with Guellermo Mota just beginning to warm up. Zito was a man stranded on an island with sharks circling, and fell behind in the count, 3 and 1 to boot. But Zito induced Kemp to fly out to right field on a fastball just above the strike zone. And he got the dangerous Juan Uribe to pop out to get out of the threat.
That nice performance, which capped five straight hitless innings after a shaky first inning, got lost in the ensuing 7th inning collapse. But it should be remembered when all the talk lathers up before his next start.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Sanchez wilted under the pressure of a soft one-hopper
Bruce Bochy's decision Friday night to leave Jonathan Sanchez in the game in the 6th inning with two outs, two runners on and a 3-2 lead appeared to be justified when Sanchez elicited a nice, easy one-hopper back to the mound from career minor leaguer Hector Gimenez.
He would escape the jam with the lead in hand, and preserve the heroics of rookie sensation Brandon Belt, who provided all of the Giants' offense with a three-run, Will Clark-evoking home run to straight-away center field.
What wasn't in hand was the softly hit ground ball that floated ever so tantalizingly through the L.A. smog toward the strange-looking leather appendage that stuck on the end of Sanchez' non-throwing arm. They call it a fielder's glove, but it could very well have been a pair of tongs or a lunch pail for all the good it did him.
With eight strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings, Sanchez was mostly in command and remained so through his last pitch. Sanchez had handled mini-jams through the night, scripting what looked like a new narrative for himself: holding up under pressure by combining a sharp curve, a tumbling split finger and a live fastball, keeping the game close with a steady hand. He rose to the occasion in the bottom of the third when he struck out the dangerous Marcus Thames with runners at second and third and two outs, a run already in.
And at the key juncture of the game, with two outs in the sixth, he elicited that one-hopper on a perfectly executed pitch: a split-fingered fastball diving down to Gimenez' shoetops, exploiting the journeyman's jumpiness at the plate as he stood at the plate with two strikes.
But in the act of fielding that Little League bouncer, all the weakness of baseball character that has followed Sanchez throughout his career, all the demons that have tormented him in high stress moments, came flooding back into view. It's as if he can't escape his destiny.
Maybe it was that Sanchez was so focused on the task at hand -- making the pitch -- that he lost sight of his other job: fielding. Maybe he was so excited to get that ground ball that he wanted to get rid of it before he even fielded it, like a wide receiver who wants to run before he catches the pass.
There's little that can explain a flubbed one-hopper except a lack of concentration. But for Sanchez, it goes deeper. He gets distracted. He panics. He gets flustered in tough spots, allows his emotions to blur his focus. That is his brand.
But it wasn't the ground ball that sparked his panic. It's what came before, the nagging little warts of the game that prick at Sanchez' soul.
The unraveling was set in motion by Dodger outfielder Matt Kemp's burst of speed and guile: After opening the inning with a single, he raced all the way to third on a slow ground ball to the left side. He'd gotten a tremendous jump off the lefty Sanchez (who seemed to pay no mind to the Dodgers' top base-stealing threat), and never broke stride when third baseman Pablo Sandoval fielded the grounder and threw across the diamond for an out.
Kemp, who in the first two games of the season is looking like the game-changer that scouts have predicted for years, scored on a James Loney sacrifice fly ball to make it 3-2. With two outs and nobody on base, though, Sanchez was in a position to limit the damage.
Instead, he gave up a single to Rod Barajas, and then a slow roller to the left side to Aaron Miles that Sandoval should have eaten. But he made an ill-advised and poor throw, which went careening up the line, moving runners to second and third, and drawing a visit from Bochy.
In retrospect, maybe Bochy should have recognized that a play like Sandoval's wild throw would set off the fuse of panic in Sanchez.
Bochy now must face the second-guessers over his decision to leave in Sanchez. He was proven right that Sanchez still had his good stuff and that he could make a tough pitch under trying circumstances. He just wasn't counting on Sanchez wilting under the pressure of a soft one-hopper.
He would escape the jam with the lead in hand, and preserve the heroics of rookie sensation Brandon Belt, who provided all of the Giants' offense with a three-run, Will Clark-evoking home run to straight-away center field.
What wasn't in hand was the softly hit ground ball that floated ever so tantalizingly through the L.A. smog toward the strange-looking leather appendage that stuck on the end of Sanchez' non-throwing arm. They call it a fielder's glove, but it could very well have been a pair of tongs or a lunch pail for all the good it did him.
Sanchez fumbled the grounder, and the game was tied, 3-3. More important, it paved the path to the 4-3 loss. Guillermo Mota gave up the game-winning single to Rafael Furcal on a fat changeup down the middle, but that was a mere formality. The game had turned on Sanchez' shaky glove.
With eight strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings, Sanchez was mostly in command and remained so through his last pitch. Sanchez had handled mini-jams through the night, scripting what looked like a new narrative for himself: holding up under pressure by combining a sharp curve, a tumbling split finger and a live fastball, keeping the game close with a steady hand. He rose to the occasion in the bottom of the third when he struck out the dangerous Marcus Thames with runners at second and third and two outs, a run already in.
And at the key juncture of the game, with two outs in the sixth, he elicited that one-hopper on a perfectly executed pitch: a split-fingered fastball diving down to Gimenez' shoetops, exploiting the journeyman's jumpiness at the plate as he stood at the plate with two strikes.
But in the act of fielding that Little League bouncer, all the weakness of baseball character that has followed Sanchez throughout his career, all the demons that have tormented him in high stress moments, came flooding back into view. It's as if he can't escape his destiny.
Maybe it was that Sanchez was so focused on the task at hand -- making the pitch -- that he lost sight of his other job: fielding. Maybe he was so excited to get that ground ball that he wanted to get rid of it before he even fielded it, like a wide receiver who wants to run before he catches the pass.
There's little that can explain a flubbed one-hopper except a lack of concentration. But for Sanchez, it goes deeper. He gets distracted. He panics. He gets flustered in tough spots, allows his emotions to blur his focus. That is his brand.
But it wasn't the ground ball that sparked his panic. It's what came before, the nagging little warts of the game that prick at Sanchez' soul.
The unraveling was set in motion by Dodger outfielder Matt Kemp's burst of speed and guile: After opening the inning with a single, he raced all the way to third on a slow ground ball to the left side. He'd gotten a tremendous jump off the lefty Sanchez (who seemed to pay no mind to the Dodgers' top base-stealing threat), and never broke stride when third baseman Pablo Sandoval fielded the grounder and threw across the diamond for an out.
Kemp, who in the first two games of the season is looking like the game-changer that scouts have predicted for years, scored on a James Loney sacrifice fly ball to make it 3-2. With two outs and nobody on base, though, Sanchez was in a position to limit the damage.
Instead, he gave up a single to Rod Barajas, and then a slow roller to the left side to Aaron Miles that Sandoval should have eaten. But he made an ill-advised and poor throw, which went careening up the line, moving runners to second and third, and drawing a visit from Bochy.
In retrospect, maybe Bochy should have recognized that a play like Sandoval's wild throw would set off the fuse of panic in Sanchez.
Bochy now must face the second-guessers over his decision to leave in Sanchez. He was proven right that Sanchez still had his good stuff and that he could make a tough pitch under trying circumstances. He just wasn't counting on Sanchez wilting under the pressure of a soft one-hopper.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Huff's swing as good as his new look
Aubrey Huff's new look -- a full head of slick-backed hair -- gives his buddy Pat Burrell a run for the money in movie star looks. But his swing Monday night was a thing of beauty. After looking awkward at best, uncomfortable at worst, against lefty Brett Anderson's steady diet of curve balls, Huff jumped on a fastball that Anderson tried to sneak by him and sent it toward the Bay, stopped only by a beer-sloshing fan.
Here's how color man Mike Krukow described his swing:
Play-by-play great Jon Miller was a bit quick in calling it a splash hit, saying, "that one's going to get wet," when it was actually smothered by a fan. Krukow was quick with the wit:
Huff's home run, his sixth of the spring to go along with a team-high 17 RBI and a .350 batting average, proved to be the game winner. If you're wondering why Anderson tried to sneak that fastball by him, go back to his first AB, when Anderson got Huff to pop out on a fastball down the middle on a 3-1 count. Huff was just waiting for him to try it again.
And it capped a night of key hits from the middle of the order. Burrell had a two-out RBI double that put the Giants ahead of the A's momentarily, 3-1. And Buster Posey drove in the Giants' first run with an RBI groundout.
Burrell's double to the right-center field gap was good to see. He's been going the other way all spring, showing that he's locked in, staying back and using the big parts of the field. That kind of swing can get a lot of Rib Eyes.
Matt Cain showed good command early, hitting his spots with his fastball, showing a nice breaking ball and effective change. He did look like he tired a bit early, though, and was out after 5 1/3 innings and 88 pitches.
Miguel Tejada hit a bullet to center field, a line shot to second and a scorcher to third in his first three at bats (before popping out in his final AB) with nothing to show for it but the knowledge that he's heading into the regular season squaring it up.
Will the Giants bring back those black jerseys with orange lettering and piping? It's a good look; had an intimidating feel.
Good to see Andres Torres with a pair of solid ABs against lefty Anderson: a line single to left and a hard hit fly out (sandwiching a couple strikeouts). Still, jury's out on whether he can regain his '09 form as a right handed hitter.
Scary moment: Pablo Sandoval just missed getting hit in the face by inches, turning his back shoulder into the pitch just in time. It didn't help viewers that Sportsnet Center's Amy Gutierrez was interviewing Eric Byrnes the entire sequence.
Sergio Romo's appearance as the closer in place of injured Brian Wilson -- one scary beard replaces another -- kicked off the rumors, or the closer controversy, over who Boss Bochy would use. I wouldn't be surprised to see others fill the role, depending on the circumstance.
Romo got the save on a nice over-the-shoulder catch by Sandoval, who sprinted a long way up the left field line into foul territory, a ball he would not have caught last year. It came after he made a terrible throw to first on an easy grounder, saved nicely by Brandon Belt on a difficult in-between hop.
Belt didn't look great at the plate, but that's a tough assignment: fighting off big lefty curve balls in his first night in San Francisco. We'll see if the nerves calm down some tonight as DH in Oakland.
Interesting thoughts from the 'casters:
Krukow said that Freddie Sanchez, who's hitting only .250 in the spring, prepares for the season by taking a lot of pitches. He wants to get his strike zone down.
Duane Kuiper said infielders were happy to be out of Arizona, with the hard clay infields under the hot sun. "It's impossible to get into a groove in Arizona."
Burrell's four-pitch walk in the second inning was a "big AB," Krukow said, because a two-out walk not only "keeps the line moving" but it "messes with the mind of a pitcher."
Cain showing no "ill effects" of elbow injury he sustained early in spring, Krukow said.
After a pair of "duck snorts" -- little flares that fall just out of reach of infielders and onrushing outfielders -- dropped in for the A's, Kuiper said, "I had 951 of those bad boys."
Krukow describing Anderson's knuckle curve grip: "It forces your hand to stay high, and you get good hand action similar to hammering a nail. If you throw a slider or a curve, your grip will get lazy and you get a rolling curve. If you spike or knuckle a curve, it gives you better hand position."
Kuiper, on whether you can sit on a curve ball. "You can go up looking, but if it's a good curve, you're still not gong to hit it well."
Great Giants promos: Brian Wilson, in the back seat of a car with Bochy and Burrell, listening in as a driving school teacher berates the poor student for going through a yellow (accusing her of going through a red light): "Why don't we turn down the attitude and turn up the volume?" as he turns the radio up, to the delight of the girl.
Krukow on Eric Byrnes, who's taking over F.P. Santangelo's spot on KNBR as baseball analyst: "You will be entertained and informed." Let's hope he's as solid as F.P. was last year.
Here's how color man Mike Krukow described his swing:
He's a rare hitter: he's a tall hitter with a flat swing. When he catches a high fastball and backspins it, it goes a long way.
Play-by-play great Jon Miller was a bit quick in calling it a splash hit, saying, "that one's going to get wet," when it was actually smothered by a fan. Krukow was quick with the wit:
And it did get wet. A guy spilled his beer on it. ... You say how'd it get wet? It got wet in the beer.
Huff's home run, his sixth of the spring to go along with a team-high 17 RBI and a .350 batting average, proved to be the game winner. If you're wondering why Anderson tried to sneak that fastball by him, go back to his first AB, when Anderson got Huff to pop out on a fastball down the middle on a 3-1 count. Huff was just waiting for him to try it again.
And it capped a night of key hits from the middle of the order. Burrell had a two-out RBI double that put the Giants ahead of the A's momentarily, 3-1. And Buster Posey drove in the Giants' first run with an RBI groundout.
Burrell's double to the right-center field gap was good to see. He's been going the other way all spring, showing that he's locked in, staying back and using the big parts of the field. That kind of swing can get a lot of Rib Eyes.
Matt Cain showed good command early, hitting his spots with his fastball, showing a nice breaking ball and effective change. He did look like he tired a bit early, though, and was out after 5 1/3 innings and 88 pitches.
Miguel Tejada hit a bullet to center field, a line shot to second and a scorcher to third in his first three at bats (before popping out in his final AB) with nothing to show for it but the knowledge that he's heading into the regular season squaring it up.
Will the Giants bring back those black jerseys with orange lettering and piping? It's a good look; had an intimidating feel.
Good to see Andres Torres with a pair of solid ABs against lefty Anderson: a line single to left and a hard hit fly out (sandwiching a couple strikeouts). Still, jury's out on whether he can regain his '09 form as a right handed hitter.
Scary moment: Pablo Sandoval just missed getting hit in the face by inches, turning his back shoulder into the pitch just in time. It didn't help viewers that Sportsnet Center's Amy Gutierrez was interviewing Eric Byrnes the entire sequence.
Sergio Romo's appearance as the closer in place of injured Brian Wilson -- one scary beard replaces another -- kicked off the rumors, or the closer controversy, over who Boss Bochy would use. I wouldn't be surprised to see others fill the role, depending on the circumstance.
Romo got the save on a nice over-the-shoulder catch by Sandoval, who sprinted a long way up the left field line into foul territory, a ball he would not have caught last year. It came after he made a terrible throw to first on an easy grounder, saved nicely by Brandon Belt on a difficult in-between hop.
Belt didn't look great at the plate, but that's a tough assignment: fighting off big lefty curve balls in his first night in San Francisco. We'll see if the nerves calm down some tonight as DH in Oakland.
Interesting thoughts from the 'casters:
Krukow said that Freddie Sanchez, who's hitting only .250 in the spring, prepares for the season by taking a lot of pitches. He wants to get his strike zone down.
Duane Kuiper said infielders were happy to be out of Arizona, with the hard clay infields under the hot sun. "It's impossible to get into a groove in Arizona."
Burrell's four-pitch walk in the second inning was a "big AB," Krukow said, because a two-out walk not only "keeps the line moving" but it "messes with the mind of a pitcher."
Cain showing no "ill effects" of elbow injury he sustained early in spring, Krukow said.
After a pair of "duck snorts" -- little flares that fall just out of reach of infielders and onrushing outfielders -- dropped in for the A's, Kuiper said, "I had 951 of those bad boys."
Krukow describing Anderson's knuckle curve grip: "It forces your hand to stay high, and you get good hand action similar to hammering a nail. If you throw a slider or a curve, your grip will get lazy and you get a rolling curve. If you spike or knuckle a curve, it gives you better hand position."
Kuiper, on whether you can sit on a curve ball. "You can go up looking, but if it's a good curve, you're still not gong to hit it well."
Great Giants promos: Brian Wilson, in the back seat of a car with Bochy and Burrell, listening in as a driving school teacher berates the poor student for going through a yellow (accusing her of going through a red light): "Why don't we turn down the attitude and turn up the volume?" as he turns the radio up, to the delight of the girl.
Krukow on Eric Byrnes, who's taking over F.P. Santangelo's spot on KNBR as baseball analyst: "You will be entertained and informed." Let's hope he's as solid as F.P. was last year.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Defending a world title won't be easy
We're all still a bit drunk from last year's magic, and I sense a giddiness among the faithful as the Giants prepare to defend their world championship.
Me? I'm wary of being the hunted. I enter this season with a whole lot of trepidation, if only because last year proved that the intangible (luck, timing, momentum and locker-room chemistry) are just as critical as big-name talent and numbers. Who knows how the team chemistry will play out if hubris and overconfidence creep into the clubhouse after an off-season in the glare of celebrity, not to mention bad luck, bad breaks and a tough early schedule? And, who knows if there are other Brooks Conrads out there, waiting to hold down the cloak of Southern hospitality for the Giants? (If he makes the play at second on Buster Posey's hard-hit ground ball that skipped under his glove in the ALDS, do the Giants even go on to play in the NLCS, never mind the World Series?)
What I like, though, as the season opens, is that some key players are healthier than last year, and promise to add special new dimensions to the offense.
Pablo Sandoval's story is well documented: he worked hard over the winter, lost 38 pounds of fat (gained some in muscle), and has shown more agility and better footwork on defense and has found his lively bat, especially from the right side. If he returns to his '09 form, that's a middle-of-the-order presence that could make the Giants an offensive force.
Add to that a healthy Freddie Sanchez, who played all of 2010 in pain with a surgically repaired shoulder, though he still finished as one of the hottest hitters in the major leagues. Remember, he missed the first month. After making his season debut on May 19, Sanchez hit .343 for the first month but by Aug. 11 sank to .255 after a 47-for-216 slide (.224). He'd gotten into a funk of trying to inside-out everything in shooting for the right side, and forgetting about his other strength: using the gaps that made him a doubles machine in Pittsburgh. He got his swing back in time for a great last two months, hitting .367 from Aug. 11 on (79 for 215). He could be that guy all year in 2011. Maybe another batting title in his sights?
Mark DeRosa's return from wrist injury will be key to the Giants' bench. He will provide spells for LF Pat Burrell, 3B Sandoval, and SS Miguel Tejada, a versatile guy with a veteran presence and professional hitting skills. Watch him.
Still worried about Tejada. Slow springs are apparently his m.o., but it's the slow spiral to his career that concerns me. Though, I have to say, if he can produce 15 HR and a .269 average from the 8-hole, I will take that.
Brandon Belt should make the Giants' opening day roster, but likely won't (financial considerations are unfortunately driving this: the Giants want to push back his service time a couple months so they can hold onto him at cheaper rates for an extra year). I'm fine with that from a baseball standpoint. He didn't have much time in Triple A last year, and 20 or 30 games more won't hurt.
But I like that Boss Bochy is still considering him, saying the other day that it would be nice to have a left-handed bat with pop in Cody Ross's absence.
Aaron Rowand might have a couple weeks to show he still belongs, as Ross heals from his calf strain. Remember, last year Rowand started out hot. He was hitting .304 when he took a Vicente Padilla fastball to the eye, including a 14-for-34 run (.389 avg.) in games 3 through 9. If he can replicate that, then that'll alleviate the pressure on Ross to return too quickly.
That assumes an outfield alignment of Pat Burrell in LF, Aaron Rowand in CF and Andres Torres in RF. I'm more comfortable with Torres in CF and Nate Schierholz in RF. Schierholz is recovered from a shoulder injury that hampered him last year, and I believe he is on the cusp of maturing. This would be a good time to let him show it.
Me? I'm wary of being the hunted. I enter this season with a whole lot of trepidation, if only because last year proved that the intangible (luck, timing, momentum and locker-room chemistry) are just as critical as big-name talent and numbers. Who knows how the team chemistry will play out if hubris and overconfidence creep into the clubhouse after an off-season in the glare of celebrity, not to mention bad luck, bad breaks and a tough early schedule? And, who knows if there are other Brooks Conrads out there, waiting to hold down the cloak of Southern hospitality for the Giants? (If he makes the play at second on Buster Posey's hard-hit ground ball that skipped under his glove in the ALDS, do the Giants even go on to play in the NLCS, never mind the World Series?)
What I like, though, as the season opens, is that some key players are healthier than last year, and promise to add special new dimensions to the offense.
Pablo Sandoval's story is well documented: he worked hard over the winter, lost 38 pounds of fat (gained some in muscle), and has shown more agility and better footwork on defense and has found his lively bat, especially from the right side. If he returns to his '09 form, that's a middle-of-the-order presence that could make the Giants an offensive force.
Add to that a healthy Freddie Sanchez, who played all of 2010 in pain with a surgically repaired shoulder, though he still finished as one of the hottest hitters in the major leagues. Remember, he missed the first month. After making his season debut on May 19, Sanchez hit .343 for the first month but by Aug. 11 sank to .255 after a 47-for-216 slide (.224). He'd gotten into a funk of trying to inside-out everything in shooting for the right side, and forgetting about his other strength: using the gaps that made him a doubles machine in Pittsburgh. He got his swing back in time for a great last two months, hitting .367 from Aug. 11 on (79 for 215). He could be that guy all year in 2011. Maybe another batting title in his sights?
Mark DeRosa's return from wrist injury will be key to the Giants' bench. He will provide spells for LF Pat Burrell, 3B Sandoval, and SS Miguel Tejada, a versatile guy with a veteran presence and professional hitting skills. Watch him.
Still worried about Tejada. Slow springs are apparently his m.o., but it's the slow spiral to his career that concerns me. Though, I have to say, if he can produce 15 HR and a .269 average from the 8-hole, I will take that.
Brandon Belt should make the Giants' opening day roster, but likely won't (financial considerations are unfortunately driving this: the Giants want to push back his service time a couple months so they can hold onto him at cheaper rates for an extra year). I'm fine with that from a baseball standpoint. He didn't have much time in Triple A last year, and 20 or 30 games more won't hurt.
But I like that Boss Bochy is still considering him, saying the other day that it would be nice to have a left-handed bat with pop in Cody Ross's absence.
Aaron Rowand might have a couple weeks to show he still belongs, as Ross heals from his calf strain. Remember, last year Rowand started out hot. He was hitting .304 when he took a Vicente Padilla fastball to the eye, including a 14-for-34 run (.389 avg.) in games 3 through 9. If he can replicate that, then that'll alleviate the pressure on Ross to return too quickly.
That assumes an outfield alignment of Pat Burrell in LF, Aaron Rowand in CF and Andres Torres in RF. I'm more comfortable with Torres in CF and Nate Schierholz in RF. Schierholz is recovered from a shoulder injury that hampered him last year, and I believe he is on the cusp of maturing. This would be a good time to let him show it.
On pitching:
The late-spring breakdown of the starting pitching staff is a concern: you like to have these guys enter the season on a roll. Especially this year, when two-thirds of their first 30 games are on the road.
Brian Wilson's tenuous health -- and the question mark that will loom over the closer role if he's absent for any length of time -- is an example of why teams don't repeat as world champions. Everything has to go right, starting with healthy bodies. If he goes down for any length of time, and other injuries crop up, all that drunken giddiness will start feeling like a hangover.
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