The Giants lost to the Reds in large part because of really bad luck. Cain made essentially one mistake, the two-run bomb to Phillips, Brandon Belt had the most exciting and productive o-fer I’ve ever seen, and all of our line drives were caught. On to the first must-win game of the season.
UPDATE: Wow. Easily the worst Giants game of the year, a game in which the entire team, Bochy included, simply could do nothing right. What a dismal last game of the season in 2012, barring the impossible. There’s just so many things that went wrong that it’s not
the least bit worth it to recap.
UPDATE: Via Baseball Prospectus:
…. Bronson Arroyo picked Sunday to have the best start of his career. Maybe not the very, very best start of his career. He’s thrown three-hit shutouts before, and he has struck out 12 in a game before. But this was pretty darned close: he went seven innings, allowed one hit and one walk, and threw 91 pitches before he left the game in an act of mercy and before his teammates started circling the bases at will and humiliating a 94-win Giants team.
Ninety-four wins is a lot of wins, not much fewer than the 97 that the Reds won. The teams are, factually speaking, not very far apart from each other. But in two games, the Reds have outscored their opponents 14-2 and outhit them 22-9. They’ve hit their fly balls farther, they’ve hit more line drives, and when they’ve allowed line drives they’ve been perfectly positioned to field them.
Bochy should have managed this game like the must win it was. Instead, he left Bumbarner in the game until he allowed 4 runs, a catastrophic act of indecision that was compounded by wasting Lincecum in a game that was thisclose to being already over. Now, I can’t imagine Lincecum being available unless the Giants can somehow force
a Game 5, which seems incredibly unlikely at this point.
Anybody still think this team couldn’t use Melky?
Anybody still think this team couldn’t use Melky?
Did he use the 6 weeks off learning how to pitch?
Disappointing end to season in which Giants outperformed expectations. Amazing that the hitters produced (until postseason) and the pitchers often struggled. Time to start planning for next spring:
1) Pence is probably not worth the arbitration offer he’d have to get. That leaves a hole in right and a moon crater in left, unless Sabean wants to bring back Melky (who could be a bargain). Pagan is also a free agent — what’s he worth?
2) Scutaro was a great pickup — arguably the best deadline move. But he’s also 37, and his glove skills aren’t great. Can’t give him a long-term deal.
3) Is it time to trade Timmy? He’s 28 (turns 29 in June). Signed for only one more season. Does he want to stay — if not, has to be dealt while he still has value. Also, has he peaked? Obviously velocity is down — Sabean & Co. have to decide if this is a one-year problem or a trend that will continue (I vote for the second).
3) Giants will save $15 million with departure of Huff and Freddie Sanchez (Huff has $2M buyout), as well as $13.6M because Aaron Rowand finally comes off the books. If Melky’s gone, that’s another $6M off the payroll. Probably have to sign Pagan and Affeldt, and Posey will get a huge raise. Still, there’s some $$ to play with (as well as new TV money on the way from MLB deals). Sabean has to be smart — Dodgers are now loaded financially and hve shown they’ll spend; Pads are improving and Snakes won division last year. Giants got a lot of use from spare parts and role players this year, but you never like to be on that happening twice in a row.
Sabean has core guys (Cain, Bummer, Posey, Belt, [slimmer?] Panda) under control for a while. Has to add to core to compete over long term. Not sure he’s up to the task.
tell you one thing. even if melky return to being an average hitter, his d is a hell of a lot better than pence’s
how the fuck does a guy who cant run out a pop up or hit a cutoff man earn 13 mil?
and melky would not have been eligible till game 5
Yeah, I know. Just wishing….
neither nady nor blanco are starting lft fielders….pretty much knew that the loss of melky was gonna get felt in the post
pagan and scoot going cold at the same time is bad
pence is not a good player….he is a band box hitter who cant play d
was nice to see 2 innings of vintage timmy
kontos is a keeper and craw can pick it