Post by garyd4sf on Sept 10, 2020 11:16:58 GMT -5
OK, I know there isn't a lot of great baseball going on but as a mostly optimist I have to say I like what I see. This team has improved over last year.
That is clearly apparent in the offense. The starting lineup has these batting averages after what would normally be 1/4th of a season: (.294/ .266/ .353/ .337/ .283/ .258/ .282/.262). And the one thing I always said is that to compete in the league the Giants needed to hold up their end on offense and especially the HR equalizer. And sure enough the batting coaches have come through. This team started roughly (without Belt and Longoria) but since coming back they added to the overall wealth of the offense. Just looking at these numbers and team ranking in the NL tells a lot: Bat Ave-.271 (2nd in NL), HR (60- 1.4 per G- 6th) , Runs per game (5.3-4th), Slg. Pct. (.460- 5th). The team recently won for the 11th time by comebacks - that last one was from 4 runs down. The offense is a keeper.
On defense- not so good. The Giants lost several times by misplays that opened the doors to losses. Yaz for instance blew 2 catchable balls Tuesday. The middle of the infield has been iffy many times (Flores). The outfield has also been iffy, but I do like this Dubon kid at CF. Belt and Longoria are steady at the corner infield. Fielding average is .979 (13th in NL). But errors have lost SF at least 6 games.
In pitching. this team has blown big leads- a stretch of 3 games had losses of 3-7 run leads late. But surprisingly the patchwork relief pitching IMO has done OK though sporadic except for Watson and J Garcia- who have been good. Gott is a particularly bad pitcher this year after a decent record coming in. Rogers is a cross-your-fingers participant Certainly no Ace in the starters (Cueto has had bad luck) but the high runs scored by SF helps a lot. Rankings- ERA (4.76- 9th in NL). WHIP (1.33- 7th), Saves (11-5th). The relief actually has held onto most leads as seen in the Saves, some requiring a 2 or 3 pitcher hold.
So we stand at 23-21 with a tough schedule ahead. Only 2 at Seattle and 4 at home vs. Colorado are vs. below .500 teams. We are in 6th place today and within 1/2G of 5th, 2G of 4th.
That is clearly apparent in the offense. The starting lineup has these batting averages after what would normally be 1/4th of a season: (.294/ .266/ .353/ .337/ .283/ .258/ .282/.262). And the one thing I always said is that to compete in the league the Giants needed to hold up their end on offense and especially the HR equalizer. And sure enough the batting coaches have come through. This team started roughly (without Belt and Longoria) but since coming back they added to the overall wealth of the offense. Just looking at these numbers and team ranking in the NL tells a lot: Bat Ave-.271 (2nd in NL), HR (60- 1.4 per G- 6th) , Runs per game (5.3-4th), Slg. Pct. (.460- 5th). The team recently won for the 11th time by comebacks - that last one was from 4 runs down. The offense is a keeper.
On defense- not so good. The Giants lost several times by misplays that opened the doors to losses. Yaz for instance blew 2 catchable balls Tuesday. The middle of the infield has been iffy many times (Flores). The outfield has also been iffy, but I do like this Dubon kid at CF. Belt and Longoria are steady at the corner infield. Fielding average is .979 (13th in NL). But errors have lost SF at least 6 games.
In pitching. this team has blown big leads- a stretch of 3 games had losses of 3-7 run leads late. But surprisingly the patchwork relief pitching IMO has done OK though sporadic except for Watson and J Garcia- who have been good. Gott is a particularly bad pitcher this year after a decent record coming in. Rogers is a cross-your-fingers participant Certainly no Ace in the starters (Cueto has had bad luck) but the high runs scored by SF helps a lot. Rankings- ERA (4.76- 9th in NL). WHIP (1.33- 7th), Saves (11-5th). The relief actually has held onto most leads as seen in the Saves, some requiring a 2 or 3 pitcher hold.
So we stand at 23-21 with a tough schedule ahead. Only 2 at Seattle and 4 at home vs. Colorado are vs. below .500 teams. We are in 6th place today and within 1/2G of 5th, 2G of 4th.
