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Post by rxmeister on Sept 9, 2014 8:54:53 GMT -5
Nineteen games left, and all with the NL West. Six each with the Dodgers and Dbacks and seven with the Padres, who surprisingly aren't dreadful. The Dodgers will play six with the Rockies and three with the Cubs who ARE dreadful, so they'll be tough to catch, although if we take 4 of 6 from the Dodgers (not outrageous to ask for) it's basically a one game deficit.. Fortunately our lead in the wild card looks safe at this point. Three over the Pirates for the first spot and 4 1/2 over Atlanta and Milwaukee. Since those two are basically .500 clubs who have both played poorly lately, that deficit looks insurmountable for either team. Taking two of three from these easier teams the rest of the way probably nails down that first WC spot, but if we're going to catch the Dodgers we need sweeps. The DBacks are a team that needs to be swept to win the division, so let's go about that starting tonight.
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Post by Rog on Sept 9, 2014 17:23:17 GMT -5
Do we enter the stretch in order to wind up the season?
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Post by Rog on Sept 10, 2014 18:41:08 GMT -5
I was surprised at how strong the Giants are in the Wild Card race. They trail the Dodgers by just a game -- and are tied on the loss side! Things are looking better than they have in a long, long while -- certainly since the All-Star break.
So what does that tell us about the rest of the season? Pretty much nothing. The Giants are well-positioned, and they are fairly hot. As for the future, wouldn't we be lying if we said we truly have a handle? And isn't that makes it exciting? The Giants are strongly in it, and almost anything could happen the rest of the way.
They call it the stretch run, but, really, there's very little time to get up and stretch. 18 more days, and we'll know about the post season. 19 at the most.
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Post by donk33 on Sept 11, 2014 1:28:27 GMT -5
I was surprised at how strong the Giants are in the Wild Card race. They trail the Dodgers by just a game -- and are tied on the loss side! Things are looking better than they have in a long, long while -- certainly since the All-Star break. So what does that tell us about the rest of the season? Pretty much nothing. The Giants are well-positioned, and they are fairly hot. As for the future, wouldn't we be lying if we said we truly have a handle? And isn't that makes it exciting? The Giants are strongly in it, and almost anything could happen the rest of the way. They call it the stretch run, but, really, there's very little time to get up and stretch. 18 more days, and we'll know about the post season. 19 at the most. dk...they trail the Dodgers by 2 1/2 for the division...and they are 1 up for the wild card over the Cards(?)....and they are over 4 up over the 3rd team in the wild card race....2 teams go into the wild card game.... |
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Post by donk33 on Sept 11, 2014 1:38:04 GMT -5
dk...the Giants lead the Pirates by 4 for the #1 wild card spot...and 5 1/2 over the #3 and #4 teams in the wild card race....
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Post by Rog on Sept 11, 2014 6:06:59 GMT -5
dk...they trail the Dodgers by 2 1/2 for the division...and they are 1 up for the wild card over the Cards(?)....and they are over 4 up over the 3rd team in the wild card race....2 teams go into the wild card game.... Rog -- When I wrote my post I was thinking the Giants were 2 1/2 back, but when I looked it up, amazingly it showed the Giants with the same number of losses, but two fewer wins. I'm not sure if it was an old standings or simply wrong (or I read it wrong, although I looked more than once, since I was surprised). The Giants do have a four-game edge in the Wild Card, since as you mention, there are now two Wild Cards. Every win helps whether it picks up a game or not, since it makes the finish line a game closer. Tough pitching matchups with the Dodgers this weekend, but we've all seen excellent pitchers lose and poor ones win. Read more: sfgiantsmessageboard.proboards.com/thread/2437/stretch#ixzz3D0J5qzLu |
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Post by rxmeister on Sept 11, 2014 6:54:57 GMT -5
Giants have it going on all cylinders right now, so it's the perfect time to play the Dodgers. Kudos to Ryan Vogelsong for his clutch walk of Gregorious last night that got Collementer out of the game! You know we're hot because we're back to getting Jean Machi cheap wins!
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Post by Rog on Sept 11, 2014 7:12:04 GMT -5
Nice result for Ryan Vogelsong, although he threw only 59 strikes among his 102 pitches. Lots of walks but only two hits. The bullpen was back on the stick again.
For the second game in a row, Buster was just a little off. Blanco continues to hit, being the only Giant with two hits. We don't expect power from him, but he has four doubles, two triples and two homers in his last dozen games.
Very nice hit by Matt Duffy and one that was important to the win.
Great pivot by Joe Panik, leaping over a flying Mark Trumbo, who was running on the pitch. Panik's throw to first was late, but given that Pablo Sandoval's throw moved him directly into Trumbo, Panik made a fabulous play in simply getting the throw off. I don't believe anyone replied when I asked this earlier, but isn't Joe particularly good on the pivot? He actually seems to be pretty good at just about everything in the field.
There is actually talk now of Panik for Rookie of the Year. I don't even know what the competition is doing, but there is precedent for a player with a relatively small number of games winning the ROY. Willie McCovey won it in just 52 games 55 years ago.
There is also talk of Buster Posey for MVP. If he stays on fire the rest of the way and the Giants beat out the Dodgers as a result, he might have a chance. But right now I would consider him to still be a long shot. Might not Clayton Kershaw be in the driver's seat on that one?
At the end of the regular season, Kershaw will be 26 years, 6 months and 9 days old. Has any pitcher been this good through that age? Sometimes I laugh, Mark, remembering how you -- who are right about as much as anyone around -- didn't think much of Kershaw when you saw him pitch his second major league game on May 30, 2008.
It's easy to see how, given that Clayton gave up four runs on nine base runners in 3.2 innings. To add to his lack of accomplishment, he threw only three swinging strikes among his 83 pitches. Just goes to show how when we know what we saw, sometimes we don't. Too often, we go by the results, not what truly happened and/or what it means for the future.
As great as Kershaw has been in the past, he actually had something of a breakout year this season. Both his 10.7 K/9 and his 1.4 BB/9 are easily career bests, leading to an astronomical 7.78 K/BB ratio, which is the 19th-best all time.
Believe it or not, that is only THIRD-best this season. Recalling conversations here about Phile Hughes and about the uncertainty of foreign prospects, we likely have our eyes opened by Phil Hughes' best-ever 11.0 ratio and Hisashi Iwakuma's 11th-best 8.6. Pitchers with multiple appearances at the top of that leader board include Pedro Martinez (2 times in the top 12), Greg Maddux (2 times in the top 18), Curt Schilling (2 times in the top 20) and Cliff Lee (two times in the top 21). Lee actually has three seasons in the top 29.
It doesn't always seem that way, but we're seeing some of the best pitching ever. Kershaw has a career 2.48 ERA. Much different situation, but at the same age, Sandy Koufax stood about a run and a quarter higher. Sandy was about to embark on fabulous 1.88, 1.74, 2.04 and 1.73 seasons. Kershaw has already gone on a run nearly that good, going 2.28, 2.53, 1.83 and 1.67.
Those numbers aren't quite as good as Sandy's, but they also occurred at an age four years younger. In addition, Kershaw's 161, 150, 196 and 216 ERA+ figures (compared to league average, adjusted for park effects) compare favorably with Sandy's 159, 186, 160 and 190 numbers. Barring injury, Kershaw has a shot at replacing Sandy as the Dodgers' best-ever pitcher.
Heck, if Kershaw is durable, he might put up an argument for being the best pitcher ever. Long way to go for that, but I'm not sure anyone has had a stronger beginning through age 26.
This season Kershaw is 18-3. He was hammered in one loss, but in the other two he gave up three runs each -- in 7 and in 9 innings. That record has come despite an injury that kept him out of action for a month and a half. Christy did pitch a whole lot more innings than Kershaw has -- but the game was much different back then.
The Giants' best pitcher through age 26 was Christy Mathewson, who went on to be a top 5 all-time pitcher by most accounts. Christy's ERA was even lower than Clayton's, although it came in the dead ball era and actually wasn't quite as impressive compared to his peers as Kershaw's has been.
To give an idea how dominant Kershaw has been this season, despite missing a quarter of the season, he is ranked #3 in the National League in strikeouts (behind only Stephen Strasburg and Johnny Cueto).
When all is said and done, we might have had the pleasure these past few seasons of watching a top-5 pitcher (Kershaw) and top-5 position player (Mike Trout). I think we can be reasonably certain we are watching a top 5 right-handed hitter in Miguel Cabrera, and of course we have had the pleasure of watching easily the best reliever of all time (Mariano Rivera).
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Post by rxmeister on Sept 12, 2014 9:06:45 GMT -5
Well, Kershaw should have four losses, because we had him beat in LA until two outs in the ninth when Sergio served up a game tying two run HR to I believe Hanley Ramirez. We won that game anyway, but Kershaw got lucky! Should we call up Brandon Hicks for Kershaw's start this weekend?
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Post by Rog on Sept 12, 2014 12:21:58 GMT -5
Having to face the Dodgers in a five-game series would be tough, with Kershaw's getting two starts. On the other hand, in 2012 the Giants had the prospect of facing Justin Verlander twice or even three times in a seven-game series, and swept.
But, really. Would you want to face Kershaw twice out of five games? You'd be delighted if you beat him even one of the two. It does happen though. That's one of the reasons they play the games.
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